Wip

[old_picker]

Started work on the thinline project again at the weekend.

http://www.aargent.com.au/postings/posting_pix/body-routs_thinline.jpg

Next comes the back and front zipper stripe. Why? Its a long story. Then the binding rebates [front and back] I am not sure whether to double bind with black and white or just use black or white umm prolly white.

I rigged up a rebater on a router bit which cuts a perfect rebate for the binding. I slogged away with the stewmac dremel base on two previous bodies and it was such a pain I got the right bearings and bit sizes that will make it a 5 minute job on the router table instead of a two hour grind with mutiple passes using the dremel. It is way underpowered for rebating binding chanels

[Malibu]

Nice looking job there Ray :)
I like the timber top, what sort is it? What sort of finish are you thinking of?

I found the same thing with the stewmac style dremel router doing rebates... (although, mine was a home-made one, so that could have been half my problem!) I found it was too hard and open prey to an easy slip. I rigged up a quick fix on the router table and used my bosch router with a 12mm carbide bit which was a breeze to use on the main body!
For the smaller rebate on the headstock, I did the same thing with the dremel router base with a 3/32" rotary file and mounted it to a table as well. I found that the solid mounting of the dremel and in the upside-down postion made it a much easier and safer way to do things. :2tsup:

[martrix]

Next comes the back and front zipper stripe. Why? Its a long story. Then the binding rebates [front and back] I am not sure whether to double bind with black and white or just use black or white umm prolly white.

:B issues with joining the book match?



I rigged up a rebater on a router bit which cuts a perfect rebate for the binding. I slogged away with the stewmac dremel base on two previous bodies and it was such a pain I got the right bearings and bit sizes that will make it a 5 minute job on the router table instead of a two hour grind with mutiple passes using the dremel. It is way underpowered for rebating binding chanels
Can you take some progress pics when you do the binding? I am interested in the process as I want to build a tele and I think they look cool with white binding. Is that curly Western Big leaf maple on the top? How thick, 6mm?................lookin good

[contrebasse]

what's all that writing in the neck mortice??

[old_picker]

I might try malibu's idea of the solid mount dremel btw. Good idea for the headstock binding.

Actually the bookmatch was picture perfect until the day I left in the tin shed over a couple of 40+ days last summer and the maple opened up down the seam about 25mm in from the back end. :?

I tossed it on the shelf and left it till now. I pulled the table saw into the join right through the guitar about 30 mill in and filled it with an offcut from the original bigleaf maple and fiji mahogany laminated board. It kinda spoils the effect on the great looking bookmatch join and the cut wasn't 100% vertical so the top of the fillet, where it really counts, was a bit off the centre line. Seeing as its off centre i will need a use a 1/4 back strip like on a accoustic in stead a that cool 1/8" herringbone purfling i figured i would use. Thats on its way from stewmac.

Tell you what, you get good with a router and good at covering up crap work building guitars, even a simple solid body is a excersise in perfection. I was totally crapped out with this body when I found that split as I was real proud a the way the bookmatching come out.

So now I figure its gonna be a pretty guitar anyhow with that nice wood, a great neck i got off warmoth and some hot duncans in there so i am just lookin at it as a good exersise in patch up. I am looking forward to tryin out some duncan vintage tele stacks or a set of no2 duncans which twang great but are nice and meaty. Will be good for blues i reckon.

[old_picker]

what's all that writing in the neck mortice??

um I usually write its date etc and the type of wood in the body and also sign on it. Maybe one day in the future some guy will take it apart for repairs or whatever an he can see something about who made it and when and out of what. It's a bolt on so takin it off is a 1 minute job. Maybe its pretensious but hell I dont care I just kinda like to do that.

I have a deal with swmbo that I can make guitars an buy lots of tools but I got a hard limit on the number of gitars I am allowed to keep here. I usually play em for a while then sell em off as new one comes in. I use the money to finance new projects.

So i will have this one as my "player" for a few weeks or months. Maybe I will sell one of the others intead and keep it for a few years if its a real nice player

[martrix]

Actually the bookmatch was picture perfect until the day I left in the tin shed over a couple of 40+ days last summer and the maple opened up down the seam about 25mm in from the back end. :?

I tossed it on the shelf and left it till now. I pulled the table saw into the join right through the guitar about 30 mill in and filled it with an offcut from the original bigleaf maple and fiji mahogany laminated board. It kinda spoils the effect on the great looking bookmatch join and the cut wasn't 100% vertical so the top of the fillet, where it really counts, was a bit off the centre line. Seeing as its off centre i will need a use a 1/4 back strip like on a accoustic in stead a that cool 1/8" herringbone purfling i figured i would use. Thats on its way from stewmac.

Tell you what, you get good with a router and good at covering up crap work building guitars, even a simple solid body is a excersise in perfection. I was totally crapped out with this body when I found that split as I was real proud a the way the bookmatching come out.

So now I figure its gonna be a pretty guitar anyhow with that nice wood, a great neck i got off warmoth and some hot duncans in there so i am just lookin at it as a good exersise in patch up. I am looking forward to tryin out some duncan vintage tele stacks or a set of no2 duncans which twang great but are nice and meaty. Will be good for blues i reckon.

Doh! I know what you mean about the extreme heat.
When we had hot blast a month back I had veneered some 3mm MDF panels (both sides) and they cupped badly. After flipping it over for 1/2 an hour it would go back the other way. I could manipulate it any way I wanted by just wiping a damp cloth on either side and it would react instantly because it was 40 degrees and about 12% R/humidity.

Is the neck you bought Rock maple with a maple fretboard? Did you consider making your own neck?......and are you gonna keep it natural or go the dye route?

[Malibu]

Ray, if you want and it helps, I can take a few quick photo's of the dremel setup and post them. I'm sure you can improve on it, because this was a quick fix on my part, but worked well in the end :D

[old_picker]

The neck is maple and india rosewood. Whatever warmoth chooses for neck maple i dunno but its damn smooth grained and will ding easy if it get hit with steel . I got a board of nice quarter sawn vic ash the other day which I am going to make a try with for a neck on a L5 ish project I got sitting by. The idea of vic ash in a guitar I pinched off of Jim Dyson who swears by it. I will start with a bolt on F style with pres lotted stewmac board in case she warp or something so I can take her right off an plug in another. LOL. havent quite worked out about cutting the slots on the table saw but I guess its a matter of time. I like to take it in small stages. The first one I bought the lot, body everything. I get more adventurous as my skills get better so i guess a full neck job aint that far off now. I gottta justify all this dough i spent on tools. :D

The first job I ever done on a guitar was when I got my old tele back from a reno job an the neck was on wrong. Even though I was freak out I just pulled her off, shimmed it an plugged her straight back in and then she played sweet like before the make over.. That got me started.

Yeah malibu some pics would be good on that dremel setup. Also the jig you use to cut the binding chanels on that big ole dished body you workin on in the other thread. It looks cool man an i bet you cant wait to get her up an playing

[kiwigeo]

Ray, if you want and it helps, I can take a few quick photo's of the dremel setup and post them. I'm sure you can improve on it, because this was a quick fix on my part, but worked well in the end :D

Ive given up using a Dremel for anything except fine inlay work. Its underpowered and the Stewmac router jig is too flexible and occasionally the setting knobs can slip.

I do my binding channels using Trend T5 router and Stewmacs cutter/bearing kit. To get a really clean cut I go around with a Schneider Gramil before using the router.

Cheers Martin

[Jackspira]

The idea of vic ash in a guitar I pinched off of Jim Dyson who swears by it.
I can second that ray, I've used vic ash for quite a few necks and its been exceedingly reliable.
Jack

[Malibu]

Ray, here's a few pics of the setup I used on the binding for the headstock. The binding channels on the body were done the same way, but I used a Bosch 1/2" router for that with the same principal.
The only tool I've bought specificaly for this guitar has been the dremel base, and as I usually find with dremel extras, it's a bit ordinary. If I was doing it again, I'd make a more sturdy mount with some sort of plunge action via a screw in depth mount on the base.
I mounted it upside down on the router table as with the bosch router (I think I used double sided tape to hold the dremel base in!).

1st pic: The base with the dremel mounted. The red arrow is a slide that I used to set the depth against the headstock to set the rebate. It's 3/32" thick, the same diameter as the router bit. I just squeezed it in between some MDF to hold it all in place.
2nd: Under the table, it's mounted just like a normal router. I can still get to it to adjust the height of the rebate. The dremel is turned on, and I just switch it on and off from the power point.
3rd: Setup the depth of the rebate by tapping the wooden guide in or out to suit the job. I did a couple of runs with the dremel, setting the depth a bit more each time...
4th: You just need to make sure of a couple of things... the center-line alignment of the bit and the guide should be inline... When you route, keep the guide perpendicular to the piece you're working on, and... keep the piece flat against the table. None of these requirements were too hard to do!
5th: Routed! Take your time and go nice and steady. You shouldn't have a problem! :)

If I was going to do more guitars and had the time when I did this bit of dodgy work, I would have made a proper, sturdy setup. As it was, I slapped this together in about an hour and it worked better than I thought it would!
As I said before, the main body was done in exactly the same way, but just using a bigger router and bit. The only thing I did different was to mount a spacer under the guitar edge to keep it all level (being an archtop, it got a bit wobbly!)

I hope this helps and gives a few ideas! If you can improve it, go for it! Let us know how it all turns out. Of course, practice on a scrap bit first! :D

(Sorry, the photo order got messed up, but you'll figure it out...)

[old_picker]

What you have there is effectively a mini pin router.

[Malibu]

What you have there is effectively a mini pin router.
Yeah, pretty much... and that's what started me on making this contraption. I ended up with the sliding guide because I couldn't figure out a way to mount a pin.
I'd like to make a more stable and permanent one with a guide that accepts varius sized 'pins' to suit any size router bit...
Another future project! :rolleyes:

[old_picker]

I can second that ray, I've used vic ash for quite a few necks and its been exceedingly reliable.
Jack

show us a pic or two jack :2tsup:

did you stain em, grain fill?

I always reckon it was nice wood, hard, strong, straight grain, easy workin but pretty plain lookin....I am putting a back on another thinline project of 1/4" vic ash right now. She dont match too good with the rest which is myrtle so i'll paint the back n sides solid colour

[rhoads56]

No need for tassie oak to look plain!! Its a pain to grain fill, the pore structure is real open.

http://www.ormsbyguitars.com/galleries/workshopss/images/IMG_2686.jpg

http://www.ormsbyguitars.com/galleries/workshopss/images/103.jpg

[Jackspira]

Wow thats lovely! I don't have any pics on file on this computer ( at workshop) but heres one I got off the net. Ash neck, blackwood body.
Jack

[old_picker]

mmm very nice......
i would love to find some a that nice fiddleback but its gettin hard to find
the guys at my timber yard got nice all kinds a timber but ask for flame or quilt an they say dont see much anymore. they get the very occaisional piece in a pack.

I remember as a kid choppin wood to go through the stack and avoid the fiddleback stuff cos i didnt hit hard enough to break it. The ole man was pretty pi$$ed to find all thats left after me choppin through a yard that all that was left for him was the real tuff fiddleback stuff. He would kick me up the #####. :oo: There'd be qiute a few in a stack
a

[old_picker]

Some one asked about the process of the binding chanels.
Well I just done em now and heres some pics..
The whole job includng set up the router bit took about 10 minutes.
As you can see theres a deal of burnout on the maple and maybe I shoulda gone down a bit in speed. Also bein a tele you got that real tight return on top at the neck pocket which I will hog out with the dremel and the [shudder] stewmac dremel base
You can also see the real neat job of the zipper backstrap i did to cover up where she split open last summer.

http://www.aargent.com.au/postings/posting_pix/tele_bind_routes.jpg

http://www.aargent.com.au/postings/posting_pix/tele_bind_route2.jpg

http://www.aargent.com.au/postings/posting_pix/tele_bind_route3jpg.jpg

Not a great shot of the actual bit but its just a 1 1/4" carbitool 1/4" shank rabbett bit with a one of their ally bearings screwed on in place of the original bearing which gave a good 1/2" rabbett. The bearings aint cheap at around $15 a piece an I got 4 to get the right size. It fits the stewmac binding and most others pretty snug with a biot of room for glue.

You can also see my hitech router table :D
Most blokes on the router forum would kak their daks over a rough and simple table like mine but it does what i need it to do an it takes not much floor space.

[Malibu]

Most blokes on the router forum would kak their daks over a rough and simple table like mine but it does what i need it to do an it takes not much floor space.

Looks pretty good Ray :D
The table seems to be a better option than the dremel base, as I found out too. Rough and simple is good... Mine's held together with double-sided tape! :2tsup:

I was tossing ideas around this afternoon while doing some french polishing on the archtop and thought I'd do a Tele TL for my next one. The main reason is I have a set of pickups already... besides, I've always liked the look of the Tele's

[old_picker]

Just found out this arvo the tables warped in the heat :((
Shouldn't have used ply
I'll redo it in mdf and put some 2x1 h/wood stiffeners on the back.
meanwhile here's the TL all binded up

http://www.aargent.com.au/postings/posting_pix/body-routs_thinline3.jpg

The glue I use tends to make the binding go a bit spongy so I'll let her sit for a few days and then hit it with final sand up ready for finishing.

Trying to figure out whether to paint the inside edges of the F hole black or just leave it natural.

[Malibu]

I always try and keep a few bits (full sheets or big offcuts) of Malamine around for this sort of occasion. :)
The hard surface has better wear resistance and is a little more slippery than MDF. I've also had MDF warp on me, which I put down to humidity change, but never had a problem with Malamine. It also looks pretty classy finished off with some iron-on edging if you want to go that far into detail :D (most of the time I don't)
The downside is that it's harder to work and a little more pricey than MDF, but it might be another option to consider :)

Back to your WIP though... are you using plastic binding, and what sort of glue do you use?

[old_picker]

Stewmac Plastic binding and Weldon#16 I got from a place in braeside.
The glue works pretty good. Some guys use Super glue and I reckon I would be leavin a lotta skin on the guitar if I used it :oo: AAKKK!!!