Thread: New Build - 1st from Scratch

Some progress. I spent parts of last week sanding the neck down to 1200 grit and achieved a super smooth finish with a nice natural shine. It came up better than I thought. Ive masked the fretboard and did some fret filing and dressing. Still more to do but wanted to start testing finishes soon.

Over the weekend routed the wiring channels before eventually gluing the cap onto the body.



Ill leave that for a day or 4, and then I can finish the neck pocket depth and fit the neck to lineup the strings/bridge for final bridge placement.

Whilst I wait I started testing some finishes. I bought a can of Minwax wipe on poly, and started applying coats onto the control cavity plate and a neck plate I also made from the Tiger Oak offcuts. With a light sanding in between to remove any dust or bubbles, Ive managed to apply 3 coats per day. The control plate is starting to shine and achieve some serious build up now after 14 light coats and Im guessing Im half way until I reach the desired buildup.



There are little ridges in this grain pattern but they are filling in nicely. There is some "tanning" or a slight deepening of the coloration towards a tobacco but so far I like.

More later this week.

Cheers Manny

Today, I routed the neck pocket and bolted the neck on. The fit was good, and I marked the center line again in prep for positioning the bridge.











I also made a neck plate with the same material as the cavity covers.

I'm not pretending to be an expert here, but won't your wooden neckplate split as soon as you tighten the screws? I thought they needed to be metal because it's able to spread the screw force across a larger area of wood.
Maybe that oak is a lot stronger than I realise though. Just didn't want you to wreck some of your hard work - it's a great result overall, the neck carve is particularly impressive.

the bottom of his holes look flat as oppose to countersunk, he might be using button heads instead of countersunk screws?

hmm good observation there

what are you doing manny

Originally Posted by Andrew_B

the bottom of his holes look flat as oppose to countersunk, he might be using button heads instead of countersunk screws

Looks like you're right - but usually you either need a plate or nice big ferrules to withstand the tension of a strung neck, right? A glue joint is spread out across a much larger area.
If the plate split do you think the tension applied to the body directly could crack it?

Originally Posted by Andrew_B

the bottom of his holes look flat as oppose to countersunk, he might be using button heads instead of countersunk screws?

hmm good observation there

what are you doing manny

Good points by both Andrew and Matt. Matt, Im still learning so any comments or advice is welcome.)

If you look closely, youll notice there are chips in the corners of the plate already. This was due to an error on my part in that I cut and thinned the plate down to size (about 4 mm), before I drilled and countersunk the holes. Andrew is right I will be using a flat bottomed half round nickel screw head. 35mm 10g - and when I drilled the 3.5mm pilot holes the tiger oak laminate split in the corners - because my drill is #####.

I used it in the photo for size and to project the plan. Its scrap now, but Im testing wipe on poly on it though to see how many coats I need to get a decent buildup. With the control cavity plate, Im up to 25 coats and its almost there. Looks like glass, but this oak laminate has some deep grain marks which still show up (the deeper ones of course). I plan to use it on the main body as well.

Andrew, how is the finish on your Tele holding up? If I can recall you also used wipe on poly. How many coats did you use? i also recall you were in a hurry to finish it!

What I will do is re-drill another piece, hopefully the torsion wont tear the corners in a thicker blank, then thickness the plate to 4 mm - unlike say a 2mm metal plate. I was planning to recess the plate into the back (hence the thickness) rather than bolt onto the surface.

The countersunk holes do have a flat face as Andrew suggested.

Cheers.

true matthew, guess we will have to wait and see what happens

hmm i have no idea how many coats i ended up doing on the tele...
the bass was done in wipe on poly too, that one came out better,
the tele had an oregon back and got absolutely trashed from general knocks and buckle rash in the extremely short period i played it before deciding the neck was crap and pulled it apart again lol

the number of coats you put on will depend on if you are wanting to fill the grain or not...
i didnt really want to fill the grain on either or have a flat mirror type surface... just put enough coats on then buffed by hand

also since your using button heads, drop a washer in the hole before dropping the screw in

doesnt ook like you have left enough room there for ferrules,

would the holes match up to a standard tele neck plate?

Originally Posted by Andrew_B

true matthew, guess we will have to wait and see what happens

hmm i have no idea how many coats i ended up doing on the tele...
the bass was done in wipe on poly too, that one came out better,
the tele had an oregon back and got absolutely trashed from general knocks and buckle rash in the extremely short period i played it before deciding the neck was crap and pulled it apart again lol

the number of coats you put on will depend on if you are wanting to fill the grain or not...
i didnt really want to fill the grain on either or have a flat mirror type surface... just put enough coats on then buffed by hand

also since your using button heads, drop a washer in the hole before dropping the screw in

doesnt look like you have left enough room there for ferrules,

would the holes match up to a standard tele neck plate?

I want a mirror finish, so yeah, the first 20 coats are essentially shiny grain filler )

I have a black Fender Plate, that i used as a template for the plate and holes, I guess I can always use that or get a chrome one to match the hardware. If I use the metal plate Ill use the flat heads.

why dont you get some grain filler

i have a can of it here somewhere, never used it though lol

What if you rout in a little way, use the metal plate for the neck bolts (might have to cut the screws a little or find shorter ones) and then shape a thin oak veneer, with a recessed strong magnet on the underside? That way you'd have a clip-on veneer cover concealing a metal plate for strength.

Originally Posted by Andrew_B

why dont you get some grain filler

i have a can of it here somewhere, never used it though lol

LOL. If I did that It would end up like yours..sitting on a shelf somewhere.

Originally Posted by MatthewK

What if you rout in a little way, use the metal plate for the neck bolts (might have to cut the screws a little or find shorter ones) and then shape a thin oak veneer, with a recessed strong magnet on the underside? That way you'd have a clip-on veneer cover concealing a metal plate for strength.

Might be a little too much trouble. I could reinforce the veneer piece with the metal plate and use it as a cover, or the metal plate could look sufficient on its own as the other hardware is chrome anyway. It would contrast nicely.

Ill do some tests.

This week I did the rounding over the body edges. Now I had a challenge because the veneered face is very thin and when I routed the round over on a scrap piece found the veneer splintering if I went close to the edge.

I ended up improvising by routing further into the body on the thinnest sides and ending up with an effect that I am happy with. The round over is a minor bevel/carve transitioning into the proper round edge.

Pictures may explain it more. The first shot shows the effect best, although the next shot will show the transition better. I transitioned the route on the face and the back as I liked the effect. Here it almost looks like a pick guard attached. The laminated cap also gives a fake binding effect.




This shot shows the transition better.





There's a couple nice scratches I picked up. Sanded out now. string holes not perfect but ferrules hide imperfections.




Mock up -



Ive drilled the jack cup hole and spent pretty much the whole day final sanding the edges and faces with 180 - 240 - 320. One good clean up and she's ready for the wipe on poly.

Cheers

Manny

Its looking good Manny. Are you putting a ring on the neck pickup?

Greg