Mikes First Build

[mworm]

Hi everyone, I have wanted to build my own guitar for several years and after viewing many build threads I am finally ready to post my first build. It is a work in progress so I will try to keep this thread updated as I go. Got to say a special thanks to Lee from the forum who supplied me with his outstanding laser cut templates and some free advice http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-Mak...#ht_500wt_1413.

Templates
From the plywood templates I made some 20mm MDF "working" templates. I don't want to ruin the good ones. This was my first use of a template bit on a router table and they have turned out nice.


Neck
First up I started my first ever neck. It will be two piece neck made from ash with a maple fretboard. Why ash? well i had it left over so I thought I would give it a go.
Truss rod channel routed. I am using a No9 truss rod from Chguitar on Ebay.


Next it was off to my new band saw. Another Ebay bargain.


I actually made two necks from the one piece on ash. Here they both are after being routed. You can see the truss rod and the template to the right.


Access hole drilled and countersunk at the heal of the neck. The neck is currently 1 inch thick, I will decide on it final thickness after I fit the fretboard.



I have bought a pre slotted maple fretboard for one of the necks and I am going to try and slot my own rosewood fretboard for the other neck.

Its been a busy day here and I have totally caught the guitar making bug.

I will post some updates as soon my my new router bit arrives to help me complete my first body.

Mike

[crazydave911]

Welcome to the forum! , a neck builder, I like that . Good luck with your build, I'm looking forward to it!!

[mworm]

Originally Posted by crazydave911

Welcome to the forum! , a neck builder, I like that . Good luck with your build, I'm looking forward to it!!

Thanks Dave. I have been viewing the forum for a long time and finally decided to take the plunge. I have learned a lot very quickly, especially with regards to routing and having the correct tools for the job. Measure twice and cut once is a very good rule to follow.

[mworm]

Update!
Next onto the body
The body will be 2 pieces of teak. The timber has come from some old workbenches in a science lab. As this is my first build I have decided to make a prototype body out of pine. I thought it was best to make my mistakes on something cheap first. I looked around my garage and had this length of pine.

Next I ripped it down into 5 pieces. I smoothed each one and glued up with PVA and clamped. When the glue dried I was left with this.

Here is the body after being cut out and routed with the template bit then the flush bit. I had tried to cut the body with a jigsaw but the blade had undercut the lines on the curves. I then had to move the template and recut after I picked up a bandsaw on Ebay, hence the lines on the body. I can’t stress enough how much easier it is with the band saw.

Next I took some forstner bits and got rid of most of the cavities. I have ordered a 1/4 inch template bit so I can finish it off. I’m a bit worried that I may have gone too deep by a couple of mm on the neck pocket so the heal of my neck might have to be a little thicker to compensate. But hey, that’s what prototypes are for.

Some Tonerider Hot Classics arrived today. I’m going to wire the guitar with a 4 way switch. I do wonder what an ash neck; teak body guitar will sound like. Well guess I won’t know till I’ve finished lol.
Mike

[Muzikp]

Off to a great start, that body is going to look fantastic with that grain and knots. I hope you are going with a translucent finish on that knotty wood. Have you been properly warned that this is highly addictive? Consider yourself warned

[mworm]

Update.
The neck was 1 inch thick without the fret board so I decided to thin it down. I ran it through the band saw and took ¼ inch of the back of the neck. I was really pleased it came out well.

Next I decided to tidy up the neck pocket and pickup cavities. This turned out OK but I could still see the point from the bottom of the forstner bits from drilling. Next time I will probably drill less deep before routing. I had a little tear out at the bottom of the control cavity when the bit hit the knot but this is covered by the control plate.

Couldn’t resist a quick mock-up...

Wheyy! Its actually starting to look like a guitar .
Next job is to route the round over on the test body and attach the fret board to the neck. I have decided to paint this body and use it with the second neck I have made.
Keep watching,
Mike

[junk mutt]

Good luck with the rest of your build Mike, youre doing great.
Oooh, I do like me a pineycaster.
How heavy is that teak body going to weigh? I've heard it can be a back breaker.

[mworm]

Originally Posted by junk mutt

Good luck with the rest of your build Mike, youre doing great.
Oooh, I do like me a pineycaster.
How heavy is that teak body going to weigh? I've heard it can be a back breaker.

I think its going to be heavy! I will do some weight relief, which will be easier because it will be two pieces laminated on top of each other.

[mworm]

I Lined up the centre lines on the fret board and the neck, although the light on the camera makes them difficult to see. I then clamped and drilled 2 small holes through the fret slots (2nd 20th) and hammered in a pin in each hole. I then cut the heads of the pin so I could lift off the board.






Now when I'm ready to glue up I know that the the pins will keep the fret board correctly aligned.
I'm not ready to glue up yet, just want to make sure the front of the neck and the back of the fret board have been sanded flat. I will then use Titebond glue and a lot of clamps. Once glued I will pull out the pins and radius the board.

You might be able to see another little project in the background of the last pic
Mike

[iluvteles]

Coming on great Mike. The web makes the world small!
Lee

[mworm]

Neck Update!

Finally glued up and clamped the fret board on to the neck.

After sanding the front of the neck and the back of the fretboard I wiped them down and applied the glue. Although this photo doesn't show it I did use a credit card to smooth out the glue on the neck and board.



Next up I double checked the alignment with the centre lines and started to add the clamps - Lots of them!



I cleaned up any glue squeeze out with a damp cloth. I will now leave this clamped up over night before I can trim the fret board level with the sides of the neck using a flush cutting bit in the router.

While I was out after work I picked up a drum sanding set for my bench drill. These have come in very handy in smoothing the edges of the body.



Mike

[CraigB]

Sweet! I'm enjoying reading and looking at this. You and I are at about the same point in our builds. But I'm not so good about taking pics of my progress like you are!

[mworm]

Neck Update!
Well, I took the clamps off and all was well. There were no air spaces and the join between the fret board and the neck looks solid. I then trimmed the board flush with the neck on the router table



Next I cut the headstock to thickness on the bandsaw


I was left with a lot of sanding to get the curve correct.


And more sanding


And then... Doh! I had cut the curve to much so it was back to more sanding...


An hour or so sanding later and it looks like this
Headstock thickness is 14mm, 1mm thinner than I was going for


Whole neck


Headstock transition


I’m pretty pleased with how it’s looking so far. Next up is fret board inlays and radiusing over the weekend.
Mike

[fretman_2]

Originally Posted by mworm

Update.
The neck was 1 inch thick without the fret board so I decided to thin it down. I ran it through the band saw and took ¼ inch of the back of the neck. I was really pleased it came out well.

Next I decided to tidy up the neck pocket and pickup cavities. This turned out OK but I could still see the point from the bottom of the forstner bits from drilling. Next time I will probably drill less deep before routing. I had a little tear out at the bottom of the control cavity when the bit hit the knot but this is covered by the control plate.

Couldn’t resist a quick mock-up...

Wheyy! Its actually starting to look like a guitar .
Next job is to route the round over on the test body and attach the fret board to the neck. I have decided to paint this body and use it with the second neck I have made.
Keep watching,
Mike

What brand of band saw is that and what's the resaw depth??

[mworm]

Originally Posted by fretman_2

What brand of band saw is that and what's the resaw depth??

It is only a cheap 9" band saw by Performance Power (model HBS9-4). It can cut timber up to 80mm thick.

I picked it up for £30 on Ebay, although not very refined it does a really good job and was well worth the money.
Mike

[mworm]

Small Update!

I rounded over the front and the back of the body with the router.


Also did more sanding on the headstock to get it level. Here is a quick mock-up.


I will be spending the next week sanding a 9.5" radius on the fretboard and hopefully getting the inlays fitted before attempting my first fret job.

Mike

[JonnyPM]

That's going to be nice!

Jonny

[mworm]

Fret board Update!

I managed to get my inlays fitted into the fret board this morning.

First up I found the centres for the dots. Then used a small Philips screwdriver to punch the centre.



Next up I double checked the size and depth of the dots. In this case I needed a 6mm flat bottomed drill bit to a depth of 3mm. The point on the bottom of the drill bit really helps to align it. I used a hand drill to drill the holes.



Holes all drilled. You can see my test piece from an off cut from the board.



I then put a drop of Titebond into each hole and used a flat piece of maple and a hammer to get the dots fitted. They were a nice and snug fit and the drill had cut a really sharp hole.



Dots all in! After wiping any squeeze out with a cloth this is what the fret board looked like.



Now its on to lots of sanding to get the correct 9.5" radius.



Don't worry I have it set up in my garage with a straight edge jig to keep the radius correct. This pic is for illustration purposes only LOL

Mike

[mworm]

Well, after alot of elbow grease I think i'm about there with the radius. I ended up using my work mate to keep the sanding block aligned. I used some offcuts as wedges to keep the neck centred.



I started with 60 grit then moved onto 80 then 120 and then polished up with some 200 grit wet and dry.



I now need to cut my fret slots deeper after sanding the radius. I have ordered a fine kerf gents saw from Ebay to help me cut the slots and keep them snug for the frets.

Next up will be my first fret job

Mike

[tomringg]

Very nice project! Keep those updates coming!