Junior-esque Type Build

[gitlvr]

Hi! I thought I would post my current in progress build. It is a Jr style, but will be built in my own way.
The wood for this instrument comes from a house constructed in 1940, so it is roughly 80 years old Pine.


Thickness was 2.25". Normally I thickness with a hand plane, but half an inch is a lot to hog off by hand, so into the router sled it went.

At which time I encountered one of the joyous moments of working with reclaimed wood.

Yes, that is metal. I removed everything I could find, and went over the body with a rare earth magnet, but you just never know until you start working the wood. Thankfully it was small and posed little issue. I will leave it and work around it.


After thicknessing I ran it through the table saw, then trued the joints up with the hand plane......

 

[gitlvr]

....and this is where we stand at the moment.

Thanks for looking. This build will most likely be updated weekly, so bear with me.
There will be a video of these steps uploaded to my channel soon.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1MItleSx-SFHutPVjfCzA

 

[nojazzhere]

View attachment 970215

....and this is where we stand at the moment.

View attachment 970217

Thanks for looking. This build will most likely be updated weekly, so bear with me.
There will be a video of these steps uploaded to my channel soon.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT1MItleSx-SFHutPVjfCzA

Following.

 

[gitlvr]

So, when I join a body blank, the join is almost never even; there's always a bit of slip. So the first job is to address that. My Stanley #5 offered it's services.

 

[gitlvr]

Once that is done I need to address the knots and cracks in this old wood. So I mix up some epoxy.....

 

[gitlvr]

And start filling everything in.

I know this is supposed to be 5 minute epoxy, but the wood will sit and cure for a couple of days. I want the epoxy to get as hard as possible. Then I will remove the high spots with my plane, and sand it all smooth so we can roll on. Thanks for watching.

 

[gitlvr]

So, after the epoxy cured it was time to cut out and rout the body outline.
But before I did that, I made an alteration to the template.

After tracing the outline onto the body blank I cut it out with a jigsaw.....

 

[gitlvr]

....and awaaayy we go.

Took a couple of passes for full body depth.

And we are here.

 

[gitlvr]

And a link to the Youtube video for those interested.

 

[gitlvr]

My apologies for the miserably slow progress of this build thread. I'm juggling a lot of different things, including another guitar build and a speaker cab build. I appreciate those who continue to keep abreast of this thread. It is greatly appreciated.

 

[gitlvr]

Just like the body, the neck will be made from reclaimed lumber; in this case, Black Walnut. You can see it here with the neck template.

 

[gitlvr]

I took a handplane, cleaned it up, sized it, and squared it off.

 

[jays0n]

Watching.

BTW, my house was made in 1943 … hmm wonder how many guitars we could get out of it … we’ll probably zero, the Mrs. ain’t gonna like that at all

 

[gitlvr]

Then marked the angle of the scarf joint, and cut it.

 

[gitlvr]

Thanks, jays0n!

 

[gitlvr]

Trued it up with the plane....

......and using an old technique I learned here years ago, from whom I cannot remember.....

 

[gitlvr]

I glued and clamped the snot out of it.

 

[gitlvr]

And, the video for all of that.

 

[crazydave911]

Not taking credit at all but I cut my scarf joints by hand. So good to see you out in the Virginia woods being faithful to yourself

 

[gitlvr]

I tried years and years ago to make one of those angle cutting sleds for the table saw: my table saw came close to flying in about 7 different pieces and seizing up when I tried to use it, lol.
But I prefer a hand saw anyway, and any other hand tool that will do what I want. They are quieter, mostly leave behind curls of wood instead of microscopic sanding dust, and are fun as all heck to use.