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4-String scroll CM#1 for Chris.gotfunk

erikbojerik

erikbojerik

Sep 11, 2005
1,643
9
Gaithersburg, Maryland
#1
OK, this is a scroll 4-banger for Chris. It has a couple of cool unique features that I'll highlight as the build progresses, and how I go about making them happen.

Walnut body w/ flame maple stringers
EMG 35DC with wenge pickup surround & wenge control plate
Hipshot A 0.750" brass (black)
bolt-on 3-pc laminated rock maple neck, CF rods
wenge headstock overlay & backstrap
quartersawn wenge fingerboard, 24+ frets, zero fret
double-action truss rod w/ access underneath end of fingerboard
Hipshot ultralights (black)
Tru Oil finish
Straplocs (black)

Chris wants a pretty low string profile above the body, so it will end up as a bit of a carve-top thinning slightly toward the body edge. I like this solution better than routing a recess for just the bridge.

Here's a shot of the mock-up (blueprint really) from CAD:

MockUp.jpg


And here's a shot of my lumber selection:

warehouse.jpg
 
#2
Wood selection is probably one of the most important steps right off the bat. We didn't want to go crazy with any figured walnut on this one, so I found a nice dark flatsawn piece with some interesting grain.

For the laminated neck I like to find flat-sawn 4/4 stock, cut the lams, then flip them 90° to yield quartered lams. So the lams will come from the left side of the maple piece.

The last bit on the right is some perfectly quartered wenge (view is of the flat-sawn edge).

CMlumber.jpg
 
#3
After rough-sawing, the neck lams are first planed flat on one quartered face using a power jointer, then squared on one flat-sawn face using the same. This yields a perfect 90° angle whose sides yield a flat register for the thickness sander.

neck1.jpg


After truing up in the 16-32 they're ready for gluing in my glue press, which amounts to a pair of 2" aluminum angles clamped shut with 8 screw-type bar clamps. Here's a shot of it with a different neck in the press. The clamps are the ends keep all the lams clamped down to a flat piece of MDF underneath the press (can't see it from this shot), so that the lams don't float around while squeezing the angles shut.

IMO it's really important to have the lams flat and true (all 90° angles) at this stage.

GluePress.jpg
 
#5
Hey we got the same jointer:p How do you like it? Another Scroll build AWESOME! If this turns out anything like bass you won guitar of the month with its going to be sweet. :hyper:
 
#13
Here's how I'm doing my straight fingerboard radius these days. First the nicely quartered wenge FB blank is thickness sanded a hair on the thick side of final spec...talking 0.01 or so. Then it is double-stick taped to the trusty (but straight and true) length of black limba (not neck-worthy due to a well-placed knot..).

neck2.jpg


Now rotate 90° and walk it over to the router table...

neck3.jpg


...where there's a fence set up flush on the bearing of the oh-so-special router bit...the 10" radius bit!!

neck4.jpg


eek2.gif
eek2.gif
eek2.gif
 
#14
Good to see those million dollar radius bits going to good use. I'm looking forward to seeing more work done, it's nice seeing pricey power tools put to work. Once I sell my grizzly drum sander I plan on going for a Performax or Jet 16-32 drum sander. Being able to thickness whole body blanks will save a lot of time!
 

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