devo_stevo's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[nosmo]

That scarf joint looks great. I may have to make one of those jigs one day. The neck is coming along well. You're right, the ash looks sweet.

Don't worry about your pace - you'll be miles ahead of me by the time I get back to my shop!

[nosmo]

Hey, it's been 3 days now and I'm starting to worry about your pace

[devo_stevo]

Originally Posted by nosmo

Hey, it's been 3 days now and I'm starting to worry about your pace

Don't worry. I'm still here.

There has been some progress but I haven't had the rime to post an update yet. I'll try to get to it tonight. I got the neck tapered and the truss rod routed. Also got the fingerboard glue on tonight. It's in the clamps now actually. I still need to get pictures then I'll post them too.

Thanks for keeping me on track. :p

[devo_stevo]

Oops

[devo_stevo]

Dang. Sorry for the triple post.

[devo_stevo]

Got some work done on this over the last couple of days.

First, I rough cut the body "wings" from some ash. Gives a good idea of what the finished guitar will look like. It actually looks like a tele!



Then I stuch the neck template to the neck blank and routed along the edges.

Then I took the template off and finished routing the rest of the thickness of the neck.

After that, it was time for a truss rod slot. I mounted a 1/4" straight spiral upcut bit in the router with a brass guide collar.


Set up a straight edge and clamped it all down. Then routed the channel in three passes getting progressively deeper with each pass until I reached the correct depth to get the truss rod the fit perfectly in the slot.


I'm using a two way truss rod from Grizzly. I've used these in all of my other necks and they are quite nice and easy to install and work great.

[devo_stevo]

Tonight, I got the fingerboard glued to the neck. I had the cut it to length first then line it all up on the center line of the neck. I dry clamp it to the neck and mark the outline of the neck on the back side of the fingerboard. This way I have a line to line it up with when I glue it to the neck and I clamp it down. Sorry, I was in a hurry and didn't get pictures of this part of the process.

With my marks on the back of the fingerboard, I place that on the top of the router table upaide down and spread glue on the neck after placing masking tape over the truss rod. I then remove the tape and place the neck on the fingerboard and while carefully lining it up with the lines on the side of the neck, I tighten the clamps. And that is where it sits for tonight. It will stay there for tonight and sometime tomorrow, I'll take the clamps off and trim the fingerboard to the sides of the neck.

[mkhhunt]

Nice work on the neck. That ash is looking really good. What finish are you planning to use?

[nosmo]

Man, that neck looks great with the wings on it. Nice clean truss rod job too.

OK, you can slow down now - you're getting ahead of me again

[devo_stevo]

Originally Posted by mkhhunt

Nice work on the neck. That ash is looking really good. What finish are you planning to use?

Thanks this is going to get Formby's tung oil on it. I like the feel of an oil finished neck better than lacquer or poly.

[devo_stevo]

Originally Posted by nosmo

Man, that neck looks great with the wings on it. Nice clean truss rod job too.

OK, you can slow down now - you're getting ahead of me again

Thanks nosmo. I'm sure that I'll slow down soon enough. Summer is coming and it only gets busier from here.

[devo_stevo]

Tonight was fingerboard radiusing night. I know it's really exciting.

First, I trimmed the fingerboard close to the edge of the neck with the bandsaw, then used a flush trim bit in the router to trim it right to the neck.


Then, after I taped off the headstock and a little bit of the neck at the body end, I started with 60 grit paper on a 12" radius sanding block from Stew Mac.


I used the 60 grit until the whole board was radiused, then moved on to the progressively finer grits until I git it up to 600 grit. And there I stopped.



Next up will be cutting the fret slots deeper and drilling for side markers and then fretting. I'm not a big fan of dots or other inlays on the face of a fingerboard, so this one will stay nice and simple just like it is.

Thanks for looking.

[emoney]

That board is so pretty it doesn't need dots or markers distracting from it. Nice work!

[devo_stevo]

Originally Posted by emoney

That board is so pretty it doesn't need dots or markers distracting from it. Nice work!

Thanks a lot. I like the look of bloodwood and it makes a great fingerboard. I'm going to try to get out in the garage today to make a bit more progress on this.

[nosmo]

Man the color combination is awesome. It all looks so good together. Can't wait to see it finished.

[devo_stevo]

Originally Posted by nosmo

Man the color combination is awesome. It all looks so good together. Can't wait to see it finished.

Thanks nosmo. I got a bit more done on it today but I don't have the time just yet to post the pictures. It's starting to look like a guitar neck.

[devo_stevo]

Got some more work done on the neck in the last couple of days.

Once I got the fingerboard radiused, I had to recut the fret slots to the correct depth.


With that done, it was time to sand the volute and transition at the body end of the neck. This was done by measuring the depth of the truss rod slot at the headstock and adding about .25" to get the thickness of the neck.


Then draw a line on the side of the neck so that I don't sand too much off.


Then head to the GOSS(?) and sand the back of the neck to the line. Like this.


Then do the same at the other end for the neck to body transition.

[devo_stevo]

Then it was time for the side dots to go in.

Put some tape on the side of the neck so that I could see the lines I drew and marked the locations of the dots.


Then marked the locations of the holes with a center punch and drilled the holes.


A dab of CA glue in each hole and the dots are in.

[devo_stevo]

I also got a atart on carving the neck. Started with the volute and transition area at the headstock.



Got that far then realized that I should probably put the frets in before I got too carried away.

[devo_stevo]

So I did the frets tonight. They turned out much better than my first fret job which was a relief.


I've still got to finish up dressing the ends, but they have been filed flush with the fingerboard and I put a bevel on them. I'll get to that this weekend, then I can start on the body for real.

Almost forgot. I also sanded the edges of the fingerboard so that they are nice and round and comfy.


This was of course done before I put the frets in.