Body Build for the P-Yama

[lark_z]

Never been that pleased with my body I built a few years back for the neck from my old Yamaha RBX, I wanted a more classic P shape, but the 24 fret neck presented a challenge. At the time, I dealt with it by making the upper cutaway deeper, leaving the horn intact to help with neck dive. While it hangs like a dream, I just don't like the look. This time, I will leave the cutaways like a standard P, but just move the neck pocket into the body as needed.

I want to do a LIGHT relic in black.

I'm (again) using construction lumber leftovers, pine/fir. Ton of it laying around. My other two bodies are the same. The one with the 4 inline headstock is a bit neck-divey, likely due to the lightweight body.

Here's the old body.

Here's the obligatory wood and clamp up pictures.

 

[lark_z]

I forgot to add....

The other two body builds, I had access to a full woodshop with planers et al. This time, it's just my shop. Chop saw, tabletop bandsaw, hand planes, power hand tools. No router, no planer.

Did a LOT of hand planing on the glueing faces before gluing. Took it slow, not too bad. Little or no sawdust floating around, which is nice. I likely have some belt sander work on the blank, once it gets above 40 here in the MIdwest.

 

[Slidlow]

I forgot to add....

The other two body builds, I had access to a full woodshop with planers et al. This time, it's just my shop. Chop saw, tabletop bandsaw, hand planes, power hand tools. No router, no planer.

Did a LOT of hand planing on the glueing faces before gluing. Took it slow, not too bad. Little or no sawdust floating around, which is nice. I likely have some belt sander work on the blank, once it gets above 40 here in the MIdwest.

Lucky, I did my first body with a coping saw, rasp, hand plane and sanding blocks. Luckily my dad had a router for the pickup and control cavities or I would have had some chiseling to do.

 

[FugaziBomb]

 

[lark_z]

Lucky, I did my first body with a coping saw, rasp, hand plane and sanding blocks. Luckily my dad had a router for the pickup and control cavities or I would have had some chiseling to do.

Yeah, I'm hoping judicious work on the drill press will minimize the chiseling. We'll see.

 

[lark_z]

View attachment 7135552

Ha ha. I felt like that a couple of times after nearly an hour planing by hand.

 

[lark_z]

Warmed up to almost 40, wow! Twenty minutes with 40 grit belt sander and 80 grit oscillating sander in the driveway and it's looking better. Looks like I'm in the vicinity of 1 7/8" thick. Now for some cleanup planing. Then start layout.

 

[Lo-E]

Did a LOT of hand planing on the glueing faces before gluing. Little or no sawdust floating around, which is nice.

This is one of the three things I love about using hand planes. The other two being: 1) they’re beautiful industrial art that’s still functional after 100+ years and 2) they’re quiet.

 

[lark_z]

This is one of the three things I love about using hand planes. The other two being: 1) they’re beautiful industrial art that’s still functional after 100+ years and 2) they’re quiet.

Yes, I bought three hand planes last year. A #5 transitional (~100 years old), which I'm using for scrub work. A #5 Victor (~1950s?) which is a joy to use. And a #4 Stanley for smoothing. I love it, I can go down into the shop and work while someone is sleeping.

 

[Lo-E]

I think I’m in the minority, but I don’t listen to music in the workshop. I enjoy the quiet.

And, of course, if I’m using machines I can’t hear it anyway.

 

[lark_z]

Hmm. Well I guess the flatter side will be the front. I'll do more planing on the back side, but I'm not shooting for perfection. It's worse nearer the edges and a lot of that will end up as scrap.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

C'mon, radius body just waiting for you to plane it that way...

 

[lark_z]

Hmm. Attaching pattern to wood. Last time I just used wood glue. It was kinda a pain to remove. I have some spray adhesive on the way.

 

[lark_z]

Decisions, decisions. I want a single volume knob without tone (I'll solder up a wide-open tone resistor/cap to bury in it). So, it's some style of two hole control plate (input and vol) that I need. BTW - also no pickguard.

'51 Tele bass plate looks interesting... Amazon.com

This "Strat style" input with one pot hole in black looks perfect... Amazon.com

And this - would just need to paint it black. MGB Control Plate Birch

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I was going to suggest an Ibanez Talman type control plate but it’s your second link. They’re pretty cool looking.

 

[lark_z]

Sanded to 220 grit.



Cavity work next. I'll do that before the trim. More flat surface and weight on the table.

 

[lark_z]

Some rough cutting to give me more clearance on the drill press. Wrong blade (too wide) in the bandsaw due to laziness.

Joinery looks ok, thickness is in 1 7/8" range. I'm good.

 

[lark_z]

Laying out neck pocket.

 

[lark_z]

Started hogging out the neck pocket with forstner bit. Still not sure what to do with the extra wood past the end of the heel. If I level all that, then they'll be a barely noticeable gap on the E side. Or I could coat the back of that part of the neck with wax and fill it with wood filler and clamp the neck in to form a slope. We'll see.

 

[lark_z]

Lots of frustration with the cavity chiseling. And the chisels are scary sharp. The soft pine isn't helping. And the stop slipped on the drill press and one of the forstner holes for the pickup cavity is too deep. Sigh. That's why they make wood filler, I suppose. I ordered a manual router plane to see if it helps. Yeah, I could have just driven to HF and bought a real router for the same $$. I guess I'm committed to doing it manually.

Moved on to other things to get back into the spirit. Control plate wired up. I left the 0.0047 loading capacitor that's been in it for a few years. The ceramic cheapo pickup was a bit 'harsh' before that. I also wired up a 'dummy' tone control and soldered it in. I used 200 k resistor instead of 250 k to also tame the beast a little bit. I do really like the Talman style control. My old black spray painted chrome volume knob with a tad of the paint worn off is just the look I want.

Bridge ground and pickup wiring channels drilled successfully. Yeah!