nosmo's 2012 Challenge Build Thread -- COMPLETED

[Midnighttoil]

Hi from Cedar Creek, Texas! It seems we are part of the middle-aged-guys-with-Ridgid-sanders-who-make-Telecasters contingent! I'm impressed with your shop construction project. At least you got to start from scratch! I'm working at undoing some work done by the local, er, craftsmen, before I can start mine.

Oh, and I covet your air conditioner port!

[nosmo]

doctorrockit - That ROSS is a pretty handy machine. I find myself doing all sorts of stuff with it. Thanks for the shop comments, it is Texas, how could you have a shop without A/C.

(Of course right now mine is competing with 1000 watts of this


Get too close to that and it gives a whole new meaning to 'redneck'!

[nosmo]

So....yesterday, before I quit I did some work on the body & neck.

Here's my all purpose/router/table saw outfeed/workbench in router/planer mode.


The pecan was almost 2" (and slightly cupped) so I had to take off a bit.

Once that was done I cut it into 2 pieces with my trusty circular saw.

Notice the old blade that tried to burn through it. There's way too much sawdust on the floor for me to be creating that kind of smoke. Changed it out - all good.

Then I ripped it. I don't have a joiner, but one side was fairly straight. I just trimmed a little off each side.


When I put the 2 pieces together, there was a noticeable gap like the cut was not 90 degrees. This should not have been a problem since I rip with the top side up on 1 piece and the top side down on the other. This usually will compensate for the blade being off a couple degrees. When I checked closer, the boards varied in thickness from one side to the other just over 1/16".

Who would have thought that when you build an all purpose/router/table saw outfeed/workbench it has to be perfectly flat. Duh!

Solution - set it up again on the table saw (I know that's flat).


You can see here on the first pass how well my first attempt at a router sled worked.


Once that was done I dressed the edges a little with sandpaper wrapped around one piece as I rubbed the other against it, then swap and do it again.


Clamp it up.


And start to work on the neck.

[nosmo]

The Brazilian cherry board for the neck was not straight enough to just rip as you can see here.


So I used a bit of MDF that I had cut off earlier and attached it to the board with brads.


Adjust the fence and rip away.

SAFETY WARNING: If you try this I would suggest you use a guide board a little closer to the width of the piece you are trying to square up. I was just trimming about a saw kerf at a time and I was being very careful. I love a table saw, but it can mess up your day real quick.

OK then - I came out of that with all my digits so lets rip some maple & cherry for the neck.


Resaw some maple.


And get it square & even on the ROSS.


Looks like a pile of.....neck parts.


Glue them up.


And go have a beer.

[RogerC]

I realy want to do a laminated neck on my next one. Love the look.

As for your router planer-- I've had the same experience, so I've given up on it altogether. I'm probably just going to sell some things and save up to buy a 15" planer... at least that's the plan.

[Allthesound]

Off to a great start keep up the good work man!

[nosmo]

Well, I took the parts out of the clamps and everything stayed together so today started out well.

Look - the neck even grew some ears last night.


Sanded it down.



Looks pretty flat that way, but from end to end it looked like it had a slight twist. Not really the wood, more like my sanding. Sooooo... I rigged this up to lap both sides.

And just like that its as flat as your 6th grade sweetheart.

Chopped it at the dumb end and set it aside.

[nosmo]

This is where it starts to get a little nerve-racking. Since this is my first neck, I'm not sure of the sequence of the next steps. I'm sure it can be done several different ways, but this is what I was thinking.

1:Rout truss rod slot (while the neck is still square)
2:Mark it, cut it & rout it to shape
3:Thin out the headstock (and do some fancy secret stuff to it)
4:Radius the fingerboard
5:Cut the fret slots
6:Install the markers
6 1/2:Drill & Install truss rod
7:Attach the fingerboard to the neck
8:Rout fingerboard to shape
9:Contour the neck
10:install frets

What would the pros do?

[RogerC]

*EDIT- Nevermind. I just didn't read closely enough. that's what I get for trying to do this while I'm working hehe

[nosmo]

The body came out of the clamps too. So here it is being sanded.



Looks pretty flat to me, but I'm standing on that uneven sawdust.


Mark it.


Cut it.


Sand it.


Ready to rout.


About half way through cutting it out on the bandsaw, I realized that there was a specific end I wanted to use at the bridge end of the body and I hadn't even looked at it when I marked it.

I am one lucky SOB. So once again through the virtue of clean living and great Karma, I managed to avert a (minor) snafu.

[nosmo]

Roger that Roger. It will have a separate (well, not when its finished) fretboard. Yeah, the truss rod - it is 2-way. I hope I don't forget to install it like I almost left it off the list.

[nosmo]

Hey Roger if you lived closer I'd split the damed planer with you. Boy I miss having one.

[Muzikp]

Your neck plan will work and lots of people do it just like that but... I'm no pro, that said I like to cut my fret slots before radiusing and before shaping the neck. Only because I find it easier to cut straight slots in a square, straight, flat piece of wood then to do it on a curved tapered piece. But that's just me. This is a great looking build so far, excellent quality.

[OpenG Capo4]

Originally Posted by nosmo

This is where it starts to get a little nerve-racking. Since this is my first neck, I'm not sure of the sequence of the next steps. I'm sure it can be done several different ways, but this is what I was thinking.

1:Rout truss rod slot (while the neck is still square)
2:Mark it, cut it & rout it to shape
3:Thin out the headstock (and do some fancy secret stuff to it)
4:Radius the fingerboard
5:Cut the fret slots
6:Install the markers
6 1/2:Drill & Install truss rod
7:Attach the fingerboard to the neck
8:Rout fingerboard to shape
9:Contour the neck
10:install frets

What would the pros do?

Sounds like you've got your order of operations mostly right. I usually wait until the fingerboard is on to thin the headstock and do the transition.

[nosmo]

Muzikp - Good point. I was planning to cut the slots when the fingerboard was still square, but I think I zoned out there for a minute when I made the list. Thanks, I'll just swap steps 4 & 5.

OpenG - I've seen guys do that here. Actually, I will end up doing the final transition after the fretboard, but I need to do that fancy secret stuff before I put it on.

I really appreciate the input. Thank you all.

The scary thing is I'm starting to over think all this. I mean, it's not like I'm building a piano. Oh, wait.......

[tklaavo]

I feel embarassed when I compare my work with yours, mr. first-timer

[nosmo]

tklaavo - Thank you very much. I used to be a woodworker for a living, but that was quite awhile ago. I'm pretty impressed with the way you are doing your build. I wish your grandmother was around here.

Stick around the build gets ugly soon.

[nosmo]

Well - I got all the way to step 2. Had a little hiccup on step 1.

So here is all the stuff I'll need for the truss rod. It even came with instructions cool.

The piece of pine is for testing the router set up. The BFH actually was used a little later on.

I set up a router table with a fence and a 1/8" straight bit. Made a few passes with the pine, measure, adjust, more passes, measure, adjust. I set it up so once it was set, the fence would stay and I would just have to run each side of the neck against the fence and I'd have the perfect centered slot. Aint nothing to this, be done in a few minutes.

See the nice slot?

See how well centered it will be after I run the other edge? Great eh?

Only problem is I routed it into the wrong side of the neck!

I think I taught myself some new words. I used all the bad ones in my vocabulary so I just started making up new ones.

Alright, calm down, I've seen guys on this forum fix worse things than this. Look over there - there's a strip of neck cherry left over from the center stripe. OK.........this could work.

Cut a piece off & round the ends a little on the ROSS.


Thin it down and match the grain. Try a test fit.


Glue it before it moves (or I drop it on the floor. If that happens I have to cut another piece 'cause I'll never find it).


Wait for it to dry some - not completely because I want the sawdust to fill any gaps - and cut it kind of flush.


Sand it flush.


And its all gone.

Really!!


Whoa I almost got a fat head there - until I remembered why I had to fix it in the first place. OK that wasted most of the day. Lets see what we can mess up next.

[flatfive]

You say you haven't built a guitar before!??

I may actually be glad I'm not participating in the beginner category.

[nosmo]

Oh yeah, I did get the truss rod routed and fit.

First I marked the neck.


Then I routed the groove.




Marked the neck and cut it out.


Routed with the template.


Drilled the adjustment hole and fit the truss rod.


Thats it for the neck for now.