Birth of a body- another work in progress

[Rich Rice]

I received some really gnarly looking rough cut ash a while ago, and contemplated sending it back. Being busy, along with being a World Class procrastinator, I never did. In the meantime, I have been thinking about a good way to use it. I finally decided on a course of action, and figured you low-tech guys might dig seeing how it goes..

I cut the one piece into 16" lengths, and played around with the pieces until I liked the grain orientation and the usable areas of the lumber.



Once I had determined the surfaces to be joined, I ran the edges on the jointer to square them up, and to give a nice, tight seam.



Once the pieces fit together, I applied some wood glue on one edge



and smoothed it out with my finger, to check for foreign matter, and to make sure there was 100% coverage. You can see the waxed paper in the background, and the board it is sitting on is 12 ply birch. I use this board all the time, as it is very smooth, flat, strong, and stable.

[Superc_1]

Keep it coming. I just started a build and it would be great to see your process and method of building. I'll try to get a few pis's together and post.

[Rich Rice]

At this point I set the waxed paper below the seam area, and put the two true edges together. Tha waxed paper keeps the work separated from the work table.



I temporarily put a pair of bar clamps on, to hold both pieces together, and set my template on top. This way I can physically make sure that the usable areas of the wood are going to work, and the bark/spalted/yuckky stuff will be trimmed away. It's close, but this one looks great. Lucky me. ;)



Now that I know the wood will work for a tele, I clamped everything down to the table (for alignment of the surfaces), and then squeezed the joint tightly with some bar clamps. Once the glue squeezed out, I wiped the surface off with a damp rag. It will need to sit overnight now, and I'll continue tomorrow.



If you noticed the roughness of the wood, and the low spots at the seam, don't worry. I'll show how to deal with these problems as the thread continues.

[jaydawg]

So how you gonna deal with that center seam? Daddo it out and scab in some more ash? Fill it with epoxy or bondo? Or leave it? Might be a cool look.

This should be a cool thread. I love seeing how other people make their bodies. Every one has there own cool tricks.

[Rich Rice]

I'll trim the excess from the sides, and run the slab through a thickness planer first. Once the body starts to settle in to where I like it, I'll check the thickness and decide if I should chamber it and add a nice top, or run the body thinner. The weight and the look will determine the process. I'm not planning on a solid color at this stage, otherwise Bondo would be just the ticket. If everything looks great (doubtful) I would just leave it alone. Fortunately, I glued up a half dozen tops about a month ago- so it may wind up as a chambered tele or esquire with a fancier top. Just have to wait and see tomorrow. I'll know pretty quickly what I want to do with it. Whatever the body demands...

[Buckocaster51]

Gnarly?

Yeah, that's gnarly.

Thanks for sharing. I can't begin to describe how much I have learned from TDPRI members over the last few years.

This is such a great place!

[Rich Rice]

Superc_1, I'd love to see some pics of your build.
Bucko, I always watch your builds, too. I've enjoyed each one. This piece was pretty nasty looking, but the wood inside that rough exterior is really nice.

[Rich Rice]

Here's the rough wood after the clamps came off:





I measured and cut both sides down to wind up with just over 13".



By treating both sides the same, I've maintained my center line. Once the piece was trimmed to size, I started running it through the thickness planer. Heck of a machine, for sure. ;)

[Rich Rice]

I kept passing the rougher side through until it started to look better, and then flipped it over to true up the back side.





Quite an improvement! I ended up with approximately 1-5/8" thickness, so I'll end up putting a pretty top on this one. I haven't weighed it yet, but it feels fairly heavy. This will end up being chambered, which will make it lighter and more resonant. As stated earlier, each piece of wood dictates how it needs to be handled. That's half the fun for me, seeing what develops.



All the planing generates lots of shavings, which I can use for starting campfires... Nothing goes to waste around here.

[Rich Rice]

After looking at this piece, I'm thinking I may not do a tele body with it after all. This will be something a little different.

[GilmourD]

Oh, this one should be good. :) Is there any of the weirdness still visible?

[Rich Rice]

The grain is now interesting, asymmetrical. The uglies are gone. Weight after rough cutting is currently 5.5 lbs. That's gonna change right quick. ;)



This body style is our "Osprey". No, it doesn't fly. ;) I drilled three holes through my template and into the slab, to keep everything straight. Then I pinned it with three 1/8" steel pins.





Once the template was secured, I ran a soft lead pencil around the perimeter, to mark the finish shape on the slab. then removed the template and pins.

[Rich Rice]

Once the slab was marked, I put it on the band saw for rough shaping. This saves lots of time, as well as wear and tear on the routers and router bits. I want to cut pretty close to my lines, without touching them.





In the tighter curves, it is a good idea to make several relief cuts, otherwise the blade can bend, overheat, or snap. This is the same with jigsaw blades or band saw blades. The key is to go slowly, and don't bind the blade.



See how the relief cuts work? I always love this part.. ;)

[Rich Rice]

Rough cut top.



Rough cut back.



Now I need to clean up the shop before I trip and hurt myself.. More to come.

[Jack Wells]

It's good to see someone else using primitive tools. Rich ..... you definitely qualify to be a member of the Caveman Guitar Builders Guild. Ed Hawley doesn't qualify.

[Rich Rice]

Originally Posted by jwells393

It's good to see someone else using primitive tools. Rich ..... you definitely qualify to be a member of the Caveman Guitar Builders Guild. Ed Hawley doesn't qualify.

Thanks Jack. I feel kinda sorry for Ed, he can't help that he's cursed with all that knowledge and equipment... It's really not his fault...

[tonewoods]

Lots 'o bug damage in that ash....

Did they lighten it up a bit for ya??

[Rich Rice]

It doesn't bug me, though.. I kinda like it. Nobody will ever mistake one of mine for a PRS. Gives it a little personality, IMO. Better than a serial number.

[OaklandA]

Can't wait to see the final result. Really looks promising.

[ehawley]

Originally Posted by jwells393

It's good to see someone else using primitive tools. Rich ..... you definitely qualify to be a member of the Caveman Guitar Builders Guild. Ed Hawley doesn't qualify.

I heard that!!.... ....Looks good and gnarly. Almost like the pine tele Fuzzy had the picture of with the knot that looked like a cyclops eye in it!! Gonna' put a Bigsby on it?..(every time I say that I think of that Elton John song "Grimsby" )

This will be fun!

Cheers
ED

[Rich Rice]

Well, I got busy yesterday- and made good progress on this body. Here are some pics to give a quick rundown of what went down..

I put the template back on, and re-keyed it with the pins



Then ran around the edge with a top bearing router bit in a hand held router



Then followed with a tall bit on my router table



This could have been accomplished with just a hand held router (I've done many bodies that way), but the table offers more stability, accuracy, control, and safety. I also find it is a bit faster. Looking good!

[Rich Rice]

The template and the body are identical. Notice I left the pins in the body



Then put my second template on, to cut the neck pocket. Chris saved me at this point, as I want the neck pocket to be 5/8" deep on the finished body. I set the router bit to a 5/8" depth- forgetting that I plan to do a top on this body. Right before I made the cut, Chris walked by and asked me about the depth of cut. Whew.... So I reset to 1/2" depth. My top will add about 1/8", and I'll trim the pocket after the top is glued on. Glad somebody's thinking...



The rout was made with a 1/2" top bearing bit in the hand router.



Once that was completed, I did a rough sanding of the edges on my oscillating spindle sander. What a great machine. ;) I used to sand the edges with a sawed off broomstick handle covered with sandpaper. This machine just saved two days of screwing around, and it does a better job- plus keeps the edges square to the faces.



If you look at the edge of the neck pocket in the above picture, you can see there is a little material left where you would normally see a notch. I made the pocket a bit skinnier than usual, in order to hand fit it to the neck after the top is on. I would rather have it smaller, as once the wood is gone, it's gone.

[Rich Rice]

Here I put a flatter spot on for the output jack, using a 9" disk sander.



Then over to the drill press to drill a few holes for the chambers. I started with a 5/8" diameter forstner bit and hit the corners of my chambers





Then put a big mother on there to hog out the rough shape

[Rich Rice]

Once I had the bulk of the chambers drilled out, I played "connect the dots" with several passes of the hand router. I could have made another template for this, but opted to just carefully route these by hand. Once the top is glued on, they will be buried forever anyway.







At this point I had to leave to go teach guitar lessons, and this is where it sits right now. I weighed the body, and it is now at 3 lbs., 6 oz. It is starting to "ring" when I knock on it, I'll bet it's going to be very lively.

[Jack Wells]

Is that a granite top router table? That could be crossing the line on your Caveman Guild membership.

[Rich Rice]

Originally Posted by jwells393

Is that a granite top router table? That could be crossing the line on your Caveman Guild membership.

No worries, Jack. It's home made, granite Formica.

I think the countertop cost me $17.00.

[Rich Rice]

I decided to clean up the chambers a bit more, and thin out the back.. I'm just over 1/8" thickness now. It really opened up the tone when I knock on it. Better.



Here is the top I chose for this project. I bought some flame maple a couple of months ago, and sawed it up into tops (resawed on the band saw). I glued them up, clamped them, and let them settle down (they were very thin and wanted to warp). Now that they have stabilized, I looked through them (there were four) and decided that I like this one for this guitar. I bookmatched the others, this one is not. So much the better, as I think this is in keeping with the spirit of this instrument. I did offset the pieces to get a cool grain orientation, though. It will show much better when I do some finish.



I placed the top upside down on the counter, and put the body (face down) on top of it. Then checked to make sure the center lines of both pieces lined up properly.

[Nick88]

wow. great stuff. this makes me want to make my own thinline body, but all i have is a handheld router and elbow grease for sanding - might take a little longer

[Rich Rice]

Originally Posted by Nick88

wow. great stuff. this makes me want to make my own thinline body, but all i have is a handheld router and elbow grease for sanding - might take a little longer

I did it that way for years. Go for it! ;)

[Rich Rice]

Once in position, I traced around the body to get an idea of where everything will fall when it's assembled.



Once the outline was on, I have several points of reference as far as control location, bridge, etc.



My concern here is that I don't want to dampen vibration, but need the top to be stronger where the control plate is ultimately mounted. Since the top is only 1/8" thick, I need to reinforce the area in the interest of durability, and provide some wood for the mounting screws.

I cut out a 1/4" thick piece of mahogany, slightly bigger than the control plate



I like to dampen the areas to be glued, as it helps open the pores of the wood and creates a better bond.

[Rich Rice]

I clamped it down and set it aside. Once it's dry, I can continue the build.

[Stefan]

While you are at it, why don´t you build the entire guitar and show us the progress?! I love these threads!

[ehawley]

[QUOTE=Rich@wildriceband.com;957390]
I like to dampen the areas to be glued, as it helps open the pores of the wood and creates a better bond.
[QUOTE]


great tip!

[GuitarJunkie84]

Im always impressed by these threads. Maybe one day Ill make a few guitars. Not a hobby I could get into at the moment though!

[LaRSin]

Looking great , keep it coming, One day I would like to try it and these threads are very helpfull, Thx.

[kerc]

Awesome thread!

[Rich Rice]

Thanks guys. Glad you visited. It really is interesting to see how others do this. It has taken years to develop my style, (good or bad) and hopefully seeing my way will help you avoid some of the pitfalls. I've really only had to put one body in the fireplace- I modded it to death...

I pulled the clamps, and tried to seat the top- no bueno. One corner of my cleat was too close to the inner rim of the body. A sharp chisel and a dull mind fixed it right up.



I then assembled all the clamps I thought I would need, and my trusty birch plywood. It's a good idea to have all your stuff handy before you start gluing things together... I applied some wood glue, and spread it with my finger. Again, many use a stick or a brush, I like to get my fingers in the glue to massage it into the (pre-dampened) wood. This way I can feel if I accidentally got wood chips, dirt, etc. in the glue and can take steps to have the joints immaculate.



All set. Just the way I like it. Just enough glue for good coverage, but not a horrible mess to clean up afterward.



At this stage, I had to move quickly, and couldn't stop to take a pic. I placed the top on the body, and flipped the whole thing over. Then I adjusted the top and bottom center seams, and visually placed the body inside my pencil outline. This isn't real scientific, but it is very effective.

Once I was satisfied with the placement, I put a second piece of 3/4" birch plywood on top, and started clamping it together.



I want to see a small amount of glue squeeze out all around the joint, and make sure there is solid pressure all the way down the center. I don't want any loose spots, as they could resonate or rattle.

[Rich Rice]

The solution? MORE CLAMPS!!



Here's what I like to see. Just a little bit of glue.



Good thing I'm not superstitious, it ended up with 13 clamps to get it where I wanted. Now outside to dry for a while...

[wikur]

Thanks Rich!!
Great thread! Just what I needed to get me started on my own build.
Great photos too!!Very impressive!!!
Cheers,Wikur!!!

[Superc_1]

Rich, thanks for the pics it has already answered some of my questions. Here are a few pic's of the build I have started. The body wood is swamp ash I've been carrying around for 32 yrs. The neck is flamed maple. Keep your build coming with pics. Like they say a picture is worth a thousand words and as slow as I am they are are worth 10,000 words to me.