CarlosN's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[tklaavo]

I like the truss rod and neck mounting ideas here! Good looking spruce.

[emoney]

I think you made an awesome truss rod there. You could always bring it "out" at the
headstock end couldn't you?

[Ryden]

That's a clever truss rod!

[Guitar novice]

Looking good so far.

Re the photos. I found life much easier after setting up a photobucket account. From there you can copy and paste the image. I'm using an iPad with the photobucket app which is great. Only prob with iPad is autocorrect makes me look like I write like a 7 year old.

Cheers

[CarlosN]

Short update here. Had some time this week to sand and glue the maple cap to the hollowed spruce body, applied as many clamps as possible and probably way too much glue. Next week I'll have more time to route the body, neck etc.

Been tied up lately with some health issues, but I'll be ok - just takes way too much time from guitar building.

I think I have finally decided on on what kind of finish to use on the build. EM6000 wiped or sprayed and tinted with dye, available from a disti in Canada (shipping from the states is harder than you'd think for finishes and dyes etc). The vendor is Woodessence, and the pricing and shipping seems reasonable. http://www.woodessence.com/EM6000-Pr...cquer-P55.aspx

EM6000 is all water based, low VOX etc, these things are now really important to me (trying to avoid toxins and be kind to my liver). You'd be surprised how much acetone, naphtha, etc you can suck up through your skin or inhale if you are not careful. I'd rather try out this stuff and see if it holds to the hype, it all sounds good on the bottle!

Still have not decided on colours but that will be figured out.
More to come this week for sure!

[emoney]

I've heard and seen great results with that EM6000. There was a whole thread devoted
to it on another forum with plenty of detail and the finish the guy got was stunning.
Good luck with your health issues and glad to see you're playing it smart by avoiding as
many toxins as you can.

[CarlosN]

Wooo, finally got some more work done on the project! The body is now glued together, time to sand the top flush, route and sand the body to final thickness, and route the final dimensions of the body.

The maple cap i glued on is very hard, even with 80 grit belts on the belt sander it is still slow going levelling the top. By contrast, the same 80 grit belt on the spruce bottom chews through like butter. A very light touch is required there. Not having a thickness planer, what I did to thin down the body was set a flush bottom router bit at 1/8" depth (what was needed to bring the body to 1 3/4") and make multiple passes along the bottom of the body leaving enough little "fences" up to keep the depth accurate. Maybe not the best way, but no jig was required, and it actually worked really well, in that the bottom is level, and the body is the correct thickness.

And, set up the router table, and was able to set it to the heights needed to follow the body template, and when i ran out of height, i removed the template, and used the route on the body as the guide for the pattern router bit. I was able to complete this in 3 stages, each with multiple passes because I left about 1/2" of wood beyond the final measurements. I can see why people get as close to the line with their band saws, but I only have a jig saw that I don't quite trust to hold true around corners.

[CarlosN]

I was quite happy with the routing job today. No big messes or gouges or tear-outs to have to repair, yeah! The maple cap actually machined much nicer than the softer spruce body, that I found interesting. I though I was going to have problems around the horn areas, but i was either lucky enough, careful enough, or skilled enough (probably not that one) to have very few problems. Some sanding will be required, but that's why i've bought sandpaper.

Another thing i've wanted in this tele is a belly cut. My tele that I have (and love) is a CV 50 BSB, and while very retro styled, it could be a bit more comfortable to hold onto. On this build I've rounded the edges with a 1/4" round-over bit, and added the belly cut.

I've been working in my brother-in-laws basement shop, and while he does not have all the big power tools that I would love to have (jointer, thickness planer, tablesaw) he seems to have every other little hand tool, file, saw, chisel, etc that I could ever want. When I described to him how I was going to make the belly-cut he went in and dug around and pulled out coping saws, japanese razor saws, chisels, etc.

What I used in this case, and what was fast and easy, was to mark the approx outer dimensions of the belly cut with pencil, then just went to work with a very sharp coping saw. I at first was just going to experiment and see what tool would work the best to make the cut, but the spruce just cut so nicely with the saw that it took about 15 minutes total to make the rough belly cut. And now, its nothing that a few minutes with my belt sander cannot shape to something perfect.

[nialldabass]

Looking good, great job on the truss rod, and great idea on the bolts

[CarlosN]

Hi Everybody,

Eh, nothing really new and exciting to report here, just figured I'd update the thread to comply with the rules.

Since the last update... Sanding, and... More sanding, and then more sanding. No pics, but you can use your imagination here. The body is nicely snapped and sanded out, just waiting now for me to mangle it with the router when I cut the neck pocket and pickup routes. Overall I am vey happy with the way the body has come out. I'll weigh it next time, but I am thinking it's very light...

All the rest of the parts are in the post, and I am hoping that the rest of the build should come together quickly. Meanwhile, I am having fun reading almost all of the rest of the builds, and I am constantly impressed with the talent and creativity of you guys on this site! Forgive me when I start stealing ideas for jigs and builds, I promise I won't claim divine inspiration.

And still trying to figure out the "best" water based finish for me. I'm really hoping that I can brush something on and get a good result with lots of sanding and TLC. We'll see about that I guess.

Cheers all,
Carl

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by CarlosN

Hi Everybody,

Eh, nothing really new and exciting to report here, just figured I'd update the thread to comply with the rules.

Since the last update... Sanding, and... More sanding, and then more sanding. No pics, but you can use your imagination here. The body is nicely snapped and sanded out, just waiting now for me to mangle it with the router when I cut the neck pocket and pickup routes. Overall I am vey happy with the way the body has come out. I'll weigh it next time, but I am thinking it's very light...

All the rest of the parts are in the post, and I am hoping that the rest of the build should come together quickly. Meanwhile, I am having fun reading almost all of the rest of the builds, and I am constantly impressed with the talent and creativity of you guys on this site! Forgive me when I start stealing ideas for jigs and builds, I promise I won't claim divine inspiration.

And still trying to figure out the "best" water based finish for me. I'm really hoping that I can brush something on and get a good result with lots of sanding and TLC. We'll see about that I guess.

Cheers all,
Carl

Looking good so far, and looking forward to seeing it come together - BTW, I don't know about water based finishes, but if you have Minwax Antique Oil Finish up there - I just started using it and it is perfect if you just want a minimal low luster finish. I may hit it with a coat of shellac to give it a little luster.

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by CarlosN

Thanks Dave,

It was actually reading your thread from last years build that inspired me to enter. So glad I stayed up late Monday reading a bunch of the build threads, great ideas and suggestions, techniques etc- seeing that they have all been temp removed during the 2012 builds. I should have been taking notes, just have to rely on my memory now.

Flattered and humbled . Your building a sweet guitar yourself

Dave

[czook]

Nice job on the body. There are several options for sound holes other than a traditional F Hole shapes. I had an older Hamer Duotone with Round Holes.

Belly cut is nicely done, I have been thinking about using the same technique instead of the spindle sander.

[emoney]

You're doing great work. A suggestion on the finishing; Deft is now making a water-based
Lacquer in rattle can. Just like the original, it comes in Glossy, Semi-Gloss and Satin.

[CarlosN]

Thank you all for your replies! For finishing I do plan on using shellac flakes mixed with DNA for the sealer coat, and then as well for the color coats (mixed with dye). From everything I have read this is compatible with WB finishes, and should make the grain "pop" enough to be interesting. For the neck, I will either use Tung oil or tue-oil on the maple part, and some sort of finishing oil for the fretboard (lemon or orange oil). I've ordered both rosewood and bubinga blanks, and when they show up I will choose which one would work best on this build.

My main hangup here is figuring out the top coat on the body. Of course I am looking for a perfectly smooth and glossy surface in the end. I can grab a prevail sprayer if needed, or use rattle cans, but i would prefer to try to brush on a WB finish (maybe lots of coats to get good thickness) and then just sand it down and polish from there. Everyone seems to spray, and love nitro, but I am going to be stubborn and not use nitro for health concerns (I'm recovering from some major surgery in the fall from cancer, and want to avoid carcinogens and take it easy on my internal organs - rather not have cancer pop up again) and i would prefer to brush on simply because of work space, and also so that participants are not airborne around me.

Good things seems to be said about the new generation water based finishes, and all claim that they can be applied with a brush. I think I'm just going to have to grab some and experiment and see if this is going to work at all. I am happy to experiment, and I think that's what I need to do, I've pretty well exhausted most of the info that I can find on the ole Internet superhighway.

[CarlosN]

Progress update:

I've been avoiding working on the neck, i don't have any fancy templates to radius the fretboard or carve the back of the neck, but i can't let that stop me, I think I've figured out how to do that without jigs.

I'm using an unusual home-built truss rod in this neck, it seems to work on the bench and I cannot see why it would not work to adjust a neck (we'll see won't we?). I routed the channel for the truss rod, a little thicker than needed at 1/4", but thats all I could do, the truss rod itself is 3/16", but I see lots of people with the same issues, and the truss rods do seem to work even if there is a little lateral slop in the channel. After routing the channel I bolted on the neck template and routed the outside dimensions - only a little tear-out and burnout in places, but actually nothing disastrous that cannot be sanded out. I better keep praying to the router gods and making my sacrifices to them, they seem to like me.

The last pic here shows the truss rod installed in the shaped neck. A little more sloppy than I was shooting for, but I can brace any gaps with scrap wood inside while still allowing the rod to flex. Overall I am happy for a first build!

[CarlosN]

A jig that I really needed to make was one to route out the neck pocket, so thats what I build yesterday. Very similar to the 100s that I've seen here on TDPRI (again, an amazing resource!!). Used the neck templates to accurately set the walls for the neck pocket template, and routed that out. I do plan on building more bodies, so templates like this do have a definite future with me.

Last pic shows the template mounted on the tele body.

[CarlosN]

Took the plunge (yes very punny!) and routed the neck pocket. Being very precise and anal in creating the templates really do allow for the completed parts to fit together really well. Again, very happy with this first build.

The only thing I am not thrilled about was the kindof mangled hole I made in the neck for the truss rod anchor. I have filled that with scrap maple and glue so its a nice tight fit now, and will be invisible under the fretboard - I'll still know its there though. Something to fix in build #2 - going to use a more conventional truss rod in my next build - I already have that sitting on my desk. This was more of a proof of concept, and since I spent a few hours making the darn truss rod I figured I might as well use it, it does work.

Holes in the neck are for the neck bolts, any holes you can see in the body were for mounting the router templates - and will themselves be routed out - they are where the pickups will eventually go.

[CarlosN]

And now, off to go make some more sawdust for the day!

[jpbturbo]

That's looking great.