Hollow body II build

[1bad914]

Finished the truss rod channel this morning. It lays in the nicely.

Made a template for the fretboard. It will be bound so I made it smaller to accommodate the binding on 3 sides. Rough cut and routed it flush with the fretboard. Then installed flame maple binding. Fretboard is rough, but I will leave it like that until I install the inlay.

 

[OmegaWoods]

Really beautiful wood! Watching this one for sure.

 

[printer2]

I forgot to mention that I told the owner that I was interested in a mandolin set, but was concerned about bending torrified sides as it can be brittle. He walks me over to this pallet of wood and says “can you resaw this?” Yes I can. “You can have it. Try to bend it and let me know if it works. “ He hands me this beautiful 1x2x28 piece of torrified flame maple. Just a great experience.

I have had luck baking wood in my oven, easier to bend the sides and then put them in for an hour. Lot of posts here on people that have done it. Good to have a wife that tolerates you though, a quick scrub with oven cleaner afterwards is in order. For the already baked wood I would get a bottle of Super Soft II. Coat it twice and after the secon coat it dry bend it right away. Go slow.

 

[lammie200]

It would be nice to do it without the rear route. Just a thought.

 

[JohnnyThul]

Finished the truss rod channel this morning. It lays in the nicely.

Made a template for the fretboard. It will be bound so I made it smaller to accommodate the binding on 3 sides. Rough cut and routed it flush with the fretboard. Then installed flame maple binding. Fretboard is rough, but I will leave it like that until I install the inlay.
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Seeing this, how do you keep the fretslots clean from the glue while binding? Or do you clean them up later? I use teflon strips in the fret slots to keep them clean while gluing the binding, but maybe there is a better way?

 

[1bad914]

It would be nice to do it without the rear route. Just a thought.

I am not sure what you mean? Did you mean the back route?

 

[1bad914]

Seeing this, how do you keep the fretslots clean from the glue while binding? Or do you clean them up later? I use teflon strips in the fret slots to keep them clean while gluing the binding, but maybe there is a better way?

I use CA, not a lot left over in the slots. I do clean them out after I sand the inlays down with a combination of little tools, such as dental picks, razor blades and compressed air.

 

[lammie200]

I am not sure what you mean? Did you mean the back route?

Yeah. I mean that it mostly hollow. I don't see any reason to mess up a clean backside of wood when it can be wired without a rear route. That said, I know that such a route doesn't bother most people. Just my 2 cents.

 

[1bad914]

Yeah. I mean that it mostly hollow. I don't see any reason to mess up a clean backside of wood when it can be wired without a rear route. That said, I know that such a route doesn't bother most people. Just my 2 cents.

This one will have no back access. It will be like a 335, electronics fed through the pup routes and f holes.

 

[1bad914]

Back from vacation. I had a little time today to drill the holes for the alignment pins. These will stay in the guitar when I finally glue it up. The front and back have them. They are a little over 1/8 inch into the top and back.

 

[1bad914]

The alignment pins are all set. Now I have to concentrate on the neck as it has to be almost complete before I can cut the neck pocket. I dry mounted the headstock template and fretboard and installed alignment pins. I will now sand the back of the headstock flat and cut the neck out.

 

[1bad914]

The neck is all cut out. I just need to shape the back. I used the bound fretboard to make a template that I used for the neck shape, then used the template I made for the headstock to router that shape. I could have done it on the router table, but I think I can control it better with the colt. I then made sure that the heel had the proper 3 degree angle.

 

[erix]

Glad to see you back at work!

 

[dazzaman]

I never found plans for an HB II, so I am basing the shape on a PRS 22 Custom set of plans. I used those plans to make a foundation template. All parts will be based on it. I use 3/4 MDF. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike MDF. Lol The smell gets me. I wear a good mask while cutting this stuff.

This build is looking great! I can’t wait to see what you are doing on the inside with the carving etc.

A question - where did you get that set of plans from? They look (weird headstock shape excepted, though I see you are using the correct shape on your build) to be the best set of plans of a PRS I have come across, especially in relation to the top contours. Apologies if you did say it and I have had momentary blindness.

 

[1bad914]

This build is looking great! I can’t wait to see what you are doing on the inside with the carving etc.

A question - where did you get that set of plans from? They look (weird headstock shape excepted, though I see you are using the correct shape on your build) to be the best set of plans of a PRS I have come across, especially in relation to the top contours. Apologies if you did say it and I have had momentary blindness.

These plans came from Genone Luthier Supply. The headstock shape came from the German site (the name escapes me). The only reason I bought them was for the body contour template drawing. It was the only one I could find.

 

[1bad914]

Templates are basically done, no wait…I have to make the f hole and neck pocket templates. Sigh!

 

[1bad914]

Started to make the f-hole template. Thanks to @Ripthorn for the template. Will work great.

 

[1bad914]

I made the f-hole template. The edge rides on the center line and the bottom is marked for alignment. I mounted it on 1 side and drilled holes, then flipped it and did the other. I then used a jigsaw to rough cut them out. The intent was to file it close and then use a 3/16 pattern to clean it up. I just decided to file it all the way, more work, but less risky. All the f-holes and neck pocket must be done before I start to carve.

The right side is almost dialed-in in the pic above. Just an FYI I have 39 hours into this build so far. I can build an acoustic in about 80. I think this one will be around 120 once done.

 

[erix]

WOW! I forgot how thick that top is. F-holes are painful enough to do by hand when the top is only an 1/8” or so, I can’t imagine the agony of doing those whil trying to keep the cut perpendicular to the face! Nice work!

 

[Steve Holt]

Man that's a lot of templates!! LOVE the guitar shape. Reminds me of a certain Beatles guitar whose lawyers love to protect their copyright. But I'm not saying anything

When I did my first carved top, I did it the poor man's way. I had a basic sort of topographical map like you had with all the lines and numbers. And then I figured out how deep tocut each layer, glued my map to the guitar, and traced it free hand with the router. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. Left me with an Aztec pyramid type look that I worked out with various sanders, belt and otherwise.