Homemade Airline Build

[Customisbetter]

^^Thank you Dr.Ow!

I have a bit of machining experience from secondary school, but i don't use woodworking tools on a daily basis. I do know to take precaution though, and I appreciate your reminder. :)

Originally Posted by Ironwolf

Stop! Don't even think about using a belt sander on a neck! And especially not pine.

Get yourself a spoke shave or hand plane. A belt sander is a virtual guarantee of ruining the neck. They are much to hard to control and impossible to do delicate work with.

I actually need to get a rasp and spokeshave at some point as well. Im getting the beltsander for flush sanding bodies.

And can I seriously shape that entire neck with a hand plane?

Thanks!

[Ironwolf]

[quote=Customisbetter;2116987I actually need to get a rasp and spokeshave at some point as well. Im getting the beltsander for flush sanding bodies.

And can I seriously shape that entire neck with a hand plane?

Thanks![/QUOTE]

Yes, although it is easier with a spoke shave. Keep in mind I'm talking about a small block plane, not one of the full sized jobs. A block plane and/or a spoke shave, some cheap rasps and a sanding block with very course up through fine grits are all you'll need; and it doesn't take very long.

I finish shaped my first neck last weekend. It only took a little over an hour using those tools, and keep in mind it was hard maple, not soft pine.

[Customisbetter]

^Alrighty thank you!

man i want to get out of work and get building. hehe

[Casual_Reader]

Originally Posted by Dr.Ow!

Congrats CIB. I am glad you've posted this and I enjoy seeing a young guy go for it in his garage. Entertaining read too.

I'll echo both you and scubadoo.

It's a funny ole world... whatever we get interested in seems to soon become a life lesson in patience and discipline. When I was 19? heh, I didn't have either... and I'm still working on it.

templates? jigs? who had time for those? It was all "git r done!"

I'll also echo the safety concerns.

"I thought I was bulletproof." - chalk outline

[Dr.Ow!]

Originally Posted by Casual_Reader

I'll echo both you and scubadoo.

It's a funny ole world... whatever we get interested in seems to soon become a life lesson in patience and discipline. When I was 19? heh, I didn't have either... and I'm still working on it.

templates? jigs? who had time for those? It was all "git r done!"

I'll also echo the safety concerns.

"I thought I was bulletproof." - chalk outline

Many of us who now build things for hobby or pay had to dive in becuase there was little local support in our personal life. My grandad and dad were both very adept at building as most boys in that era had close relatives who made livings with their hand work. But as manufacturing technologys dated hand workers the common skills faded. I was in the middle period of this and caught the tail end of the public school trade technology education. So whenever I see a young man with interest it as cheers, but caution and inform as best possible where the troubles may be had. I think all of us older survivors, irregardless of our status, owe the young men and women our full support and encouragement. Looking back I certainly appreciate the ones who lent me that I revere those people deeply for it. We all find such gratification at the end of the struggles to get something made and shared with the bigger world outside our door.

Thanks all for such a great and vibrant forum, and the kind replies given to all here, a great forum it is.

[joe desperado]

I would love for someone to explain to me in real terms with real results or examples why Pine would not work perfectly fine for a electric guitar neck. This is gonna be good.....

In the mean time, I have seen many one piece Pine neck Telecasters that stayed perfectly straight without even a truss rod or re-inforcement. The wood type itself has very little to do with whether or not it will work as a neck. Grain orientation will overcome a lot. Spruce (basically a type of pine) has extremely high tencil strength per weight and is why its used in air craft, accoustic guitar bracings etc. Its light, it resonant and readily available at local shops.

So please..someone explain to me why pine won't work.

J

Joe

[TheDev01dOne]

Great build thread. Wish I had the guts to give things a go more, I might have to try something like this myself.

Looking forward to seeing more progress. Looks like it will be a cool, unique guitar when you get it finished.

[Groovey Records]

Originally Posted by joe desperado

I would love for someone to explain to me in real terms with real results or examples why Pine would not work perfectly fine for a electric guitar neck. This is gonna be good.....

In the mean time, I have seen many one piece Pine neck Telecasters that stayed perfectly straight without even a truss rod or re-inforcement. The wood type itself has very little to do with whether or not it will work as a neck. Grain orientation will overcome a lot. Spruce (basically a type of pine) has extremely high tencil strength per weight and is why its used in air craft, acoustic guitar bracing's etc. Its light, it resonant and readily available at local shops.

So please..someone explain to me why pine won't work.

J

Joe

Again all you pine evangelists out there (I own 3) I never said you couldn't use pine. I said the OP should have used more time making his choices and sought advice to be better prepared.

He is not making a solid pine neck, he is using 4 2x4's of the shelf from home depot without drying or giving them time to breath or warp.

I applaud his goal but only wish he had given it more thought and preparation

[Customisbetter]

^I am mildly worried about the pine.. but another competitor used Maple and his turned out like this...

[joe desperado]

Sorry for the rant... A 3 piece laminate pine neck can be very strong and last forever. The main thing when choosing a softer piece of wood is to ensure the grain is running the "best" direction. Luckily when you buy pine, 99% of it is flat sawn. While flat sawn is not the greatest for strength, when you turn it on its side to glue up a neck, you now have quartersawn which is very strong and stable. I would not hesitate to use a laminate pine neck on a bolt on guitar. Pine is not my choice mostly for tone reasons, but it is an excellent tone wood too.

I recentely was asked to make a mahogany neck for someone. I found a really light weight piece of Luan Mahogany. Luan is somewhere between pine and honduras mahogany in hardness. It has turned out to be a wonderfull neck. I have no doubts it will be around a long time too.

[scubadoo]

Originally Posted by Customisbetter

dear god! How is that guy going to bend a string? methinks he should have recessed those markers somewhat

[Customisbetter]

^Yeah i think his might be a wall hanger for sure. :) But his body design is very cool, and he used a hand chisel for most of his cavities, and that takes mondo guts.

[Customisbetter]

UPDATE

i got my bandsaw and beltsander today. First off, operating a bandsaw is MUCH harder than i expected.

here are the results...



My glue seams are almost nonexistant. So there is one victory at least...

[Customisbetter]

here is a picture of my trashcan with a beltsander beside it.



All together again!


These are EXTREMELY rough cuts and i might take the rest off with a router or something...

[barkley]

that geetar is lookin pretty sweet!!
what did you use to make the frets/fretboard?

[Customisbetter]

^I haven't made the fretboard yet. I think im going to use some MDF or something "home depot-y".

[tuuur]

Originally Posted by Customisbetter

^I haven't made the fretboard yet. I think im going to use some MDF or something "home depot-y".

Hmmmm... MDF? Wouldn't that be too soft? Maybe you'd better use some harder wood...

[Customisbetter]

^im not sure if its actually MDF, but there was a fiberboard looking material i saw at homedepot that i think would be cool to use as a fretboard. its was way smooth on one side... ill try to get a picture when i get it.

[jkingma]

MDF or hardboard or fiberboard or any other pressed wood product is not suitable for a fretboard and you WILL regret using it.

[Customisbetter]

:(

[barkley]

oh, i thought i saw a fretboard back there somewhere.

hmmmm fibre board would prob be a bit crap seeing as it is really just glue and sawdust. Imagine when your fingers work thru that outer layer of glue.... puff! your fret board becomes powder! I would definetly use some actual wood.

Im not familiar with home depot ( i dont think it exists in oz) is it just a hardware shop? what will you do for things like pickups, tuners etc?

[Zatar]

Am I reading this correctly? Is that a pine neck?! Would love to hear what your experience on using it would be!

[Customisbetter]

Home Depot is a large country-wide chain of hardware and lumber stores.

I think i can do that fiberboard and size it, cut the fret slots and then Lacquer it. I think that way i should last for a while.

[Customisbetter]

Did a tad bit of work today... I have come to the conclusion that this is my practice neck. There are too many mistakes so far to sontinue using it. Luckily the post i used is big enough for two necks, so ill start on that this weekend. Anyways, i practice routing the outside shape of the neck using my new template bit. it went well.



Here is the board i used at a straight line template...



looks pretty straight...



Mr. Mophead playing on doomed lumber....

[mcgeorgerl]

How about heading over to the Flooring Department? My HD has some hard maple.

I'm not sure if this would work but HD also sells HPL (Formica) in sheets. They have some stuff that sort of reminds me of turn-of-the-century (uh, that would be the 1900 one and not the 2000) instruments that had Mother of Pearl/Toilet Seat fretboards and headstock overlays. Check out 250527925372 on eBay.

[StraightNeck]

Originally Posted by scubadoo

dear god! How is that guy going to bend a string? methinks he should have recessed those markers somewhat

Besides that its a pretty nice neck.

[Customisbetter]

ok guys. my bench plane gave up the ghost.

should i get another one or get a smaller plane...

what do i need to plane the fretboard side of the neck?

[Groovey Records]

knee deep in the big muddy

[Customisbetter]

^Uh... no comprende.

[Groovey Records]

your up to your neck in problems Literally

Its a quote from a song "Knee Deep in the big muddy"

[Casual_Reader]

Originally Posted by Customisbetter

what do i need to plane the fretboard side of the neck?

at top of the home depot forum is a sub forum titled: 2009 $100 Tele Challenge

you might want to take an hour or two and read through those builds.

I believe ScatterLee made his own radius block by setting up the router to cut semi-circles in mdf and then gluing them together... that's before he put together the neck radiusing jig.

[oigun]

Originally Posted by Customisbetter

ok guys. my bench plane gave up the ghost.

should i get another one or get a smaller plane...

what do i need to plane the fretboard side of the neck?

Sharp handplane and a straightedge or a long sandingblock and a straightedge. I mean before you glue on the fretboard.

[Customisbetter]

ok i got a 6 1/2" block plane....
its really all i could find at HD...

also picked up a needle file set for slotting the nut
and this rasp thingy...

i sanded the test neck a ton and i think i can fix all the mistakes, so im keeping it.

ALSO the fretboard is Oak. Deal with it.



as you can prolly see, im recessing the heel a lot. the neck nees a lot more shaping too.

[oigun]

Oak will work as a fretboard.

[tuuur]

Yeah, oak is hardwood and won't crumble to dust under the strings like MDF would...
Keep up the work! You almost got me so far that I attempt to make a pine neck myself.

[Nick JD]

I wish people would stop using the word, "Pine" and actually refer to the species.

"Pine" is not a type of wood. It is a genus with over 100 species - all of which are different!

[barkley]

I wish people would stop using the word, "Pine" and actually refer to the species.

"Pine" is not a type of wood. It is a genus with over 100 species - all of which are different!

I'm with JD on this one. In australia when someone says 'pine' its generally refering to radiata pine which is pretty much considered junk wood. Its always treated with nasty chemicals and i wouldnt really consider it good for instruments

[Customisbetter]

^Same with "Mahogany". Some luthiers get pissed,

"ITS SIPO!!!"

also, i don't know the exact species of wood I'm using since i got it from home depot. lol

[pchilson]

[quote=Customisbetter;2137383
also, i don't know the exact species of wood I'm using since i got it from home depot. lol[/QUOTE]

Then its "whitewood"...

[Customisbetter]

New jig day!






I think this is as much as i can do today. i have a few guitars to pack and deliver plus a lawn to rake and mow.