Guitar Build #2....In Progress

[Knottscott]

Updates for 8-18-10

Some cosmetic changes took place last night...the two-toned back revealing the natural ash is out, and the back is black again, as planned. It was just too sloppy and detracted.

Here's the painted back, and the top with a couple of clear coats sitting on the back:


Today I added a curly maple veneer to the front side of the neck headstock to match the front of the guitar.

Here's the neck with the veneer in place:


After receiving black dye:


After sanding the black away, the green dye goes on:


Back to work tomorrow to find out if I'm still employed...

[Knottscott]

August 20th Update

Here’s today’s update:



Adding the shop-made curly maple veneer to the front of the headstock was a little tricky because it’s attached to an existing neck. My plan to rout down the face to accommodate the thickness of the veneer didn’t pan out as planned because the radius on the fretboard made it rock. Instead, I ended up using the flat edge and back of the “paddle blank” as a reference and sliced the cutout on the band saw. Once the veneer was in place and glued, I cut the shape with the BS as much as I could, then sanded to final shape with my OSS. The headstock is now shaping up fairly nicely. The back of the neck will get black paint, then I’ll reveal the natural curly maple edge on the headstock like the front of the body. Next I’ll drill the holes for tuners, give it more clear coats, and some fine sanding, etc.




I’m at what I consider the high risk stage…after hours of planning, cutting, shaping, staining, and sanding, I’m now cutting holes in the front of the guitar. It’s easy to inflict a few battle scars, and it generally just stresses me out a little.





The guitar is coming along pretty nicely and faster than I planned, but I’ve been going at it pretty hard the last couple of days. The shop’s a mess, I’m tired, stressed, and need to back away for a while before I really goof something up! (it definitely happens!) Time to mow the lawn, take a nap, tidy up and the shop, and hit the shower. Better to rejuvenate and come back to this later…after all…this is for fun, right?

[Knottscott]

Update for 8/21/10

Update for 8/21/10:

The pressure's on! (on both of us!) I glued and clamped the front to the back today....definitely a critical step. I used the guitar templates to help even the clampling load, and used a piece of scrap plywood to put pressure in the middle....19 clamps in all.



I've also put a coat of paint on the neck and the cavity cover:


Gotta work the next couple of nights, so won't be making much progress for a few days.

[sparkeyjames]

Gold leaf.

Oh OOO Raises hand. I have an idea. For the band of curly maple left un colored just below the top use gold leaf as accent to match gold hardware. You could also run a 1/16 stripe of that around the headstock top.

[Knottscott]

Oh OOO Raises hand. I have an idea. For the band of curly maple left un colored just below the top use gold leaf as accent to match gold hardware. You could also run a 1/16 stripe of that around the headstock top.

Hhhmmmm....me like it! Before coming to working tonight, I sanded the paint away from the edge of the curly, but gold pin striping would cover it....or even enhance it by using both. I like the gold leaf idea to for that spot. Good idea...I'll try to get in touch with "junior" before he leaves for work in the morning, but that'll be tough considering I'll be hitting the hay about 6:30! Thank God for "texting"!

[KenBurris]

Pretty !

You may have other plans, but I had planned, on an abused "project" guitar that I later abandoned, to make a truss rod cover from laminate samples that I got at the Borg - though they may be too thick.

[Knottscott]

Thanks for the suggestions fellas. Not sure which way we're going to go with the truss rod cover, but we'll ponder the options as we progress.

[Knottscott]

Update for 8-29-10

Here's the latest:

The "final" clear coat has been applied (a couple of times! ...hopefully this is the last). The neck is drilled and the tuners are mounted. The pickups are mounted to their trim rings, and the final electronics scheme is worked out. From here it's a matter of waiting for the lacquer to cure and deciding how much rubbing out I want to do...the results from the spray can are glossy and smooth in most places, but there's some orange peel and overspray spots in a few areas. Once that's done we bolt the neck up, wire the pups and pots together, mount the chamber cover, string it, and find the ear plugs!

I did run into a slight problem on the back where the neck and body meet. When I rounded over the back of the body, I should have stopped at the base of the neck....the neck is now narrower than the neck plate. A smaller two-piece neck plate is on order and will hopefully fit. It's one of the many small things amateurs like me are likely to run into, and fortunately, there are several decent alternatives.

Here's the front of the body with the most recent "final coat":


...And the back with its most recent "final coat":


Here's a look at the original style neck plate that will no longer fit, and the two-piece replacement:


Here's the finished neck and the pups in their trim rings:


And the back of the neck:


For those who are interested, here's the wiring scheme we'll be using:



A couple of 12 hour night shifts and some family obligations will likely keep me from until mid week, but I'm hoping to be done by the end of next weekend. More to come!

[sparkeyjames]

You know there is nothing wrong with using a small bore into the wood behind the neck pocket and using a washer instead of a neck plate. Several guitar companies have done this in the past and I don't think it detracts from the looks of the guitar at all.

[Knottscott]

You know there is nothing wrong with using a small bore into the wood behind the neck pocket and using a washer instead of a neck plate. Several guitar companies have done this in the past and I don't think it detracts from the looks of the guitar at all.

That's an excellent idea...thanks.

I forgot to mention in today's update, that we'll probably come up with a truss rod cover of some sort too. Fortunately it can be added, so it's not urgent..had a couple of good ideas offered here so far!

[tommyt654]

Finally decided to check out your post Knotscott, nice axe your makin there. Ought to call it the Batguitar cause for some reason your design reminds me of somethin Batman and Robin would design for themselves

[Knottscott]

Well, it's finally starting to look like a guitar. I spent today mounting the neck and the pickups. It appears that I still need to develop some sort of "string-thru" system for this type of bridge system...a realization I wished I'd had prior to adding a finish, but we'll figure something. There's always risk with anything that penetrates the finish at this stage, but it is the back, and I'm not sure there's a viable way around it....if we don't go thru the back, he'll need to remove the bridge everytime he restrings it. Suggestions welcome!

Note that I went with the "SparkeyJames" suggestion on the neck washers.


The mounted neck and pups:


Still to go - wiring of the pups and switches, mount the 5-way switch & pots, put some screws in the cover, and string it....then we'll see if it sings! This will hopefully be the last of the documentary style posts on this. Once finished, I'll make a new post for a completed project.

Completed and posted on 9-3-10.

[Norm in Fujino]

Awesome work!