Thread: First guitar build worklog.

Not entirely happy with the interface between fretboard and neck, but it's going to have to do; can't exactly pry it off and try again. I'll be giving fretting a go in the next few days.

how much did ya shell out for the.... shell
lol

hammering the frets in or pressing?

either way,
spend the time leveling and radiusing your board perfectly...
mark it with white pencil to check yor progress.....

a level fretboard will help your frets all seat more consistent, meaning less leveling

Sorry about the belated reply.

I believe the shell cost around $100 for the ounce, but I don't recall exactly.

I pressed the frets with an ironbark offcut, radiused to 12" and with a groove cut into it to accept the top of the fretwire. The fretboard was indeed perfectly level and radiused; came from Ormsby that way, but I checked it thoroughly.

I'll post up some pics soonish, but the frets are in - and I'm not hugely happy with my effort. Number of mistakes that I made, including but not limited to; not grinding off the fret tang before pressing and not bending most of it to the proper radius

As such, the ends up standing up a little bit; only half a mm, but it's definitely there. Cut off the excess with a dremel and cutting disk, but they're yet to be filed and ground down properly. Currently razor sharp - good for shredding fingers. Literally. Because the profile of the neck didn't match the cork support I've got for it, I decided to just use a rubber-capped clamp to press them with the block I prepared, and as a result, have a number of small dents along the back of the neck. Will get them out with a steam iron, but still a huge annoyance and pain. Will have to jack up the nut somehow, as currently it isn't tall enough

Really quite disappointed and frustrated, but at least I know it won't happen with the next one! This'll almost certainly end up on the wall and not in my hands. On a more positive note, currently going through the different grade sandpapers over the body; 80 and 120 have already been done, now I've got 240, 400, 800 and 1200. When that's done, I'll apply the tung oil and see how she comes up. The neck will get oil on the bottom, and beeswax on the top. No inlays, but fret positions will be marked on the side. And the new tuners swapped out for the old ones that I stole from my BCR Warlock parts guitar.



Detail pics to come.

hmm the cork lined neck support should have been ok....
were the sides of the neck touching but not the back?

i made up my own cork lined support since i do 7 strings... wasnt fun
but i also have a standard one, never had problems with it...

throw some super glue in the ends of the fretslots and clamp them down till dry...

Have you considered removing the frets and having another go? Provided you didn't glue the frets in (makes life more difficult) they should come out without too much FB slot damage (be careful)......then bend up a new set, file down the tangs etc and have another crack .

Also, if you don't have a proper fret press setup, go with a fret hammer....easy! Finally, whenever I have needed to raise the height of a nut, I simply super glue the nut down onto a piece of 0.5mm or 1mm maple veneer....let it dry........trim the edges and then sand flush......good to go. Either use the same coloured maple veneer or colour it with paint etc and the veneer blends into the nut material very nicely (easy also).

Jon

Thanks Andy, Jon. I shall indeed have another crack at fretting - I've come across a device that I can make up to do the fret bending for me, so I'll investigate making one. Should make things so much easier.

I didn't glue them, Jon - so no issues with taking them out, apart from having to be careful to not damage the fretboard too much. I shall use your strategy for raising the nut, too - was thinking about doing something similar anyway

Ultimately this is the sort of stuff which lets me improve on future builds, so while frustrating, it's in the end for the better.

First coat of tung oil on the body:




Fretboard closeup:




The second coat of tung oil has since been applied, and now I need to wait a week before polishing with carnauba wax. Second application deepened the colour again.

Haven't done anything on the second build yet, apart from reducing the size of the bottom horn a small amount to increase fret acccess and remove a router tearout mark. Much better.

Alrighty. I've got the neck of the second guitar cut out, truss rod channel routed, headstock prepared, and pocket cut to fit for width and height. I'm going to need to play some more with it to get it to fit tightly with the end of the pocket, but that's a job for after the fretboard goes on.

Neck was rough cut with a bandsaw before using a router bit with bearing and a very carefully positioned and clamped straightedge. Turned out as well as I could have hoped. Future builds will be done with perspex templates which I'll get precision cut to size and shape at the local plastics shop. Make things much easier, and much more accurate. It's not cheating too much, is it?

Headstock veneer glued and cut at the nut interface to be at 90 degrees to the neck. Nut should (or will,) butt up against this nicely when the time comes. A small bit of tearout again from the router, but not nearly as serious as previous incidents. I'm getting better at it, I guess. Creating the volute will take care of most of it, but I'll wait until the fretboard is on before attempting that. The truss rod access hole is pretty filthy, but I'll cover that up with a .. cover. Considering using a piece of shell to make it flashy, but yet undecided. May just use a thinner piece of the jarrah and use the shell for some sort of highlight further up the headstock. An identifying logo or somesuch. That'll be fun.




Back of the headstock. Again, this will be cleaned up when the volute is carved.




Overall view of how it is now. Coming together a hell of a lot more quickly than the first (which still isn't finished. Need to work up the courage to attempt the fret repairs!)

Originally Posted by Stygian

Future builds will be done with perspex templates which I'll get precision cut to size and shape at the local plastics shop. Make things much easier, and much more accurate. It's not cheating too much, is it?

not cheating
iv been meaning to do this for ages....
never found anyone to do my CAD drawings for me

Originally Posted by Andrew_B

not cheating
iv been meaning to do this for ages....
never found anyone to do my CAD drawings for me

Ah, that hurts. Can't have a muck around with AutoCAD somehow? Whilst hardly intuitive, grasping the very fundamentals isn't overly difficult. Certainly enough to eventually wrangle out what you want

(... just don't try using Adobe Illustrator )

Originally Posted by Stygian

Ah, that hurts. Can't have a muck around with AutoCAD somehow? Whilst hardly intuitive, grasping the very fundamentals isn't overly difficult. Certainly enough to eventually wrangle out what you want

(... just don't try using Adobe Illustrator )

hmmm i dunno man, i downloaded a few free trials, but i cant figure it out... ahahaha

i dont like to read... i like to do...

Originally Posted by Andrew_B

hmmm i dunno man, i downloaded a few free trials, but i cant figure it out... ahahaha

i dont like to read... i like to do...

Dont like to or cant?? HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I actually just asked my dad today about making a template for me at his work for my necks. It would only take him 5 mins so should get it during the week!

Originally Posted by floody_85

Dont like to or cant?? HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I actually just asked my dad today about making a template for me at his work for my necks. It would only take him 5 mins so should get it during the week!

hahaha i can read...

send me over a couple

After receiving a decent package from StewMac, I've been able to get some more done on #2. Pickup cavities cleaned up, output jack hole drilled, all little stuff like that. Have just done a test fit of parts, and all is well!





The jarrah looks a bit pale here, but with a polyeurethane finish, it'll hopefully end up looking like my desk. Coincidentally, also jarrah.





Next up is slotting the fretboard and continuing on the neck. Have started the refret of the first neck - first fret is in, and nicely cleaned up. No sharp edges now, and it's seated nicely.

Fretboard slotted.





Fretboard attached!









Things that I still need to do, besides the obvious:
Deepen neck pocket a touch;
Put some sort of abalone inlay on the headstock;
Wire up electronics.