Building a guitar with what I've learned here. Walnut/Maple/Ash/Eastern Red Cedar

[suraj]

I see the quality of your work is dramatically improving

 

[crazygtr]

That board is looking like a million bucks, congrats.

 

[lbridenstine]

Thanks guys! I'm really hoping this guitar will turn out much better than the last bass. Then hoping that the next bass will be even better.

One thing I'm worried about so far on this build is that I put the magnets for the control cavity cover so close to the edge and I'm worried that the roundover might cut into the holes. I'm going to have to do my best to prevent that from happening.


So... I live in Michigan and Michigan is weird. It's supposed to be about 59 degrees tomorrow, then like 17 by the end of the week. So, I'm going to see if I can get myself to work on getting the headstock glued up tomorrow instead of waiting until the weekend. Then maaaybe I can shape the headstock and neck soon?

 

[lbridenstine]

Alright, I got the headstock thinned down, leveled, and glued on. Before I did that, I decided to install the frets, sand the ends flush with the fretboard and bevel them. I also got my tone block ready to glue up, but don't have enough clamps to glue both the headstock and tone block at the same time. I did some various other levelings that I needed to get out of the way too.

First, the frets. This gold evo fretwire was MUCH easier to cut/nip than the nickel fretwire I used on my bass. It is smaller though, so that's probably got something to do with it.

I think the figure on the fretboard pops more with the frets in.

The streaks across the fretboard on the top of the photo are from superglue... whoops.

And here they are beveled. I only used 60 grit for now, I'll smooth them out more later. I'll probably wait until right before finishing to level and crown them.

This is what I'm using for a tone block. Eastern red cedar split in half with maple in between.

This is what will be at the heel of the neck.

Aaaand, the most frustrating clamping job of this build... I was hoping to do the toothpick or nail thing, but there wasn't really any room for it in the glued area, so I had to deal with pieces of wood sliding around and clamping on angles.

So, I glued the veneer first and let it sit for a little while, then added the headstock once it was set enough to where it wouldn't move too.

And I put 6 clamps in about a 2.5" x 2.5" square, which was also really difficult. I ended up just tightening them as much as I could, then I went and got a wrench to turn the handles further with.

I'm going to wait and see how that walnut veneer looks when it's leveled down before I decide whether or not to put a veneer on the front.

 

[Hopkins]

The streaks across the fretboard on the top of the photo are from superglue... whoops.

Just a bit of advice, that works well for me.

Don't try and put glue in the fret slots before pressing or hammering your frets.

The way I do it, is to install the frets and bevel them. Then mask off the top, and sides of the fret board, leaving only the bottom of the fret slot exposed.
Then turn the neck on its side, and drop thin CA glue into the fret slots under the installed fret, and let it run through to the other side.
It takes a while to get the slots completely filled with CA, but this accomplishes three things.

It firmly glues the frets in place

It fills the voids under the frets

And it keeps CA glue off of the fret board. It is a royal pain to get the CA off of the fret board with the frets already installed. Which I am sure you are aware of.

 

[lbridenstine]

Just a bit of advice, that works well for me.

Don't try and put glue in the fret slots before pressing or hammering your frets.

The way I do it, is to install the frets and bevel them. Then mask off the top, and sides of the fret board, leaving only the bottom of the fret slot exposed.
Then turn the neck on its side, and drop thin CA glue into the fret slots under the installed fret, and let it run through to the other side.
It takes a while to get the slots completely filled with CA, but this accomplishes three things.

It firmly glues the frets in place

It fills the voids under the frets

And it keeps CA glue off of the fret board. It is a royal pain to get the CA off of the fret board with the frets already installed. Which I am sure you are aware of.

I actually did drop the glue in from the sides after they were seated, but I didn't mask the fretboard and a little bit of glue was spilling out around the fret, I wiped it with a paper towel, then went to wipe the next few just in case and didn't notice that there was glue on the paper towel where it was touching the fretboard, so it spread it that way. :-/ I dinged up the fretboard a little bit with the fret hammer too, so I think I'll have to attempt some light sanding between frets. Hopefully that will at least get rid of the glue, if not some of the dents too.

And thanks for the advice, I'll have to do it that way next time.

 

[Hopkins]

I actually did drop the glue in from the sides after they were seated, but I didn't mask the fretboard and a little bit of glue was spilling out around the fret, I wiped it with a paper towel, then went to wipe the next few just in case and didn't notice that there was glue on the paper towel where it was touching the fretboard, so it spread it that way. :-/ I dinged up the fretboard a little bit with the fret hammer too, so I think I'll have to attempt some light sanding between frets. Hopefully that will at least get rid of the glue, if not some of the dents too.

And thanks for the advice, I'll have to do it that way next time.

No problem,

I know how big of a pain it is to try and touch up a fretboard with frets already installed, so just passing that along

The build is looking great so far. Its obvious that your skills have grown since your bass build. Keep up the good work

 

[lbridenstine]

No problem,

I know how big of a pain it is to try and touch up a fretboard with frets already installed, so just passing that along

The build is looking great so far. Its obvious that your skills have grown since your bass build. Keep up the good work

Definitely, I had to try sanding between frets on the bass and it wasn't fun.

Thank you! I'm trying to get better at it.

 

[suraj]

This is looking very very good..!! The rosewood board with the abalone dots and the gold fretwire make a top notch combination..!!

I have a question. In the near future I will have to fret my build, and i'm really scared about using a hammer to do it, would be much more comfortable pressing them in. Obviously I don't have the resources to do that, but how comfortable are you with a hammer ? i'm sorry this is a very weird question, but i'm sure you'll have a tip or two from your own experience to share I have seen youtube tutorials, but getting first hand experiences from a fresher would be interesting.

 

[lbridenstine]

This is looking very very good..!! The rosewood board with the abalone dots and the gold fretwire make a top notch combination..!!

I have a question. In the near future I will have to fret my build, and i'm really scared about using a hammer to do it, would be much more comfortable pressing them in. Obviously I don't have the resources to do that, but how comfortable are you with a hammer ? i'm sorry this is a very weird question, but i'm sure you'll have a tip or two from your own experience to share I have seen youtube tutorials, but getting first hand experiences from a fresher would be interesting.

Thank you. I'm not crazy about the gold frets yet, but I think once I get the body together with the gold hardware it will look really nice.

I honestly keep hitting the fretboard with the hammer. What I did this time, which was kind of weird and didn't work perfectly but it helped, was put several layers of painters tape on each side of the fret slot I was working on and I laid the fret saw (I have a Japanese style one) on it's side with the plastic guard on it of course, over the tape on one side (the side with the empty slots as I moved along) and I figured that would be a little layer of protection for it. I couldn't think of anything else I had here that I could use, but something really thin and flat, but flexible and hard at the same time was what I was going for. I didn't use it for a few frets and that was where I dinged it up, so it did seem to help when I did use it. You're a lot more inventive than I am, so I'm sure you can come up with some sort of fretboard protector while hammering.

Anyways, basically, you hold the hammer in about the middle of the handle and flip your wrist so you hit it with a quick solid blow and it has to be as flat against the fret as you can get it. Do that to one end, not over the edge where it might bend it, then do the other end, then just pound the crap out of it going across. It was a lot easier on rosewood than maple.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Just a bit of advice, that works well for me.

Don't try and put glue in the fret slots before pressing or hammering your frets.

The way I do it, is to install the frets and bevel them. Then mask off the top, and sides of the fret board, leaving only the bottom of the fret slot exposed.
Then turn the neck on its side, and drop thin CA glue into the fret slots under the installed fret, and let it run through to the other side.
It takes a while to get the slots completely filled with CA, but this accomplishes three things.

It firmly glues the frets in place

It fills the voids under the frets

And it keeps CA glue off of the fret board. It is a royal pain to get the CA off of the fret board with the frets already installed. Which I am sure you are aware of.

A thin line of CA gel directly on top of the slot prior to hammering/pressing frets in works well.

Also, Q-Tip + Acetone makes very short work of excess CA, even in very porous woods.

 

[lbridenstine]

Also, Q-Tip + Acetone makes very short work of excess CA, even in very porous woods.

After it's dry too or just when it's wet? If it works when it's dry I'll try that.

 

[lbridenstine]

Here's how the headstock looks so far. Not pretty. I can't wait until I get it done, it should look a lot better. I guess I will put a veneer on the front though.

I worked on the neck a little, but only for like 45 minutes. I just started shaping one side.

I glued on one of the three pieces of my tone block too. I decided to just glue them on one by one so it'll be easier for clamping. I'll try to get the rest glued on before Friday, then hopefully find a piece of walnut to glue on the back of it and another for the headstock veneer.

 

[lbridenstine]

Not much of an update, but I got the ears glued on the headstock and worked on the neck shaping a little bit more. It still has a ways to go. I only had about 30 minutes to work on the neck this time.

The neck looks a little bowed in the picture, but it's just from the wide angle lens distortion.


Oh yeah, the tone block is all glued on too. I just didn't take pictures of it. I need to get walnut over it.

 

[suraj]

Anyways, basically, you hold the hammer in about the middle of the handle and flip your wrist so you hit it with a quick solid blow and it has to be as flat against the fret as you can get it. Do that to one end, not over the edge where it might bend it, then do the other end, then just pound the crap out of it going across. It was a lot easier on rosewood than maple.

I guess I will have to practice on some scrap, although for that I need more fretwire. The only reason I have to hammer them is because I won't be able to press them in on a radiused fanned fretboard. I would require a different caul for every fret Thanks for the tips I will keep them in mind.

 

[lbridenstine]

I guess I will have to practice on some scrap, although for that I need more fretwire. The only reason I have to hammer them is because I won't be able to press them in on a radiused fanned fretboard. I would require a different caul for every fret Thanks for the tips I will keep them in mind.

Yeah, I could see how fanned frets would make that hard! I wish I had a caul... and drill press... band saw... planer... a lathe would be cool too.

 

[suraj]

Haha, those along with assorted sanding machines would be my dream tool set

 

[stümper]

..., then just pound the crap out of it going across.

I would not recommend pounding the crap out of fretwires. By doing that you are bending it into different radiuses and giving it stress. There is a reason for fretwire to be pre-bent to a radius that is a little smaller than your fretboard and the only reason you have to use superglue is that you are pounding much to hard on your soft fretwire.

There were guitars before there was superglue...

 

[lbridenstine]

I would not recommend pounding the crap out of fretwires. By doing that you are bending it into different radiuses and giving it stress. There is a reason for fretwire to be pre-bent to a radius that is a little smaller than your fretboard and the only reason you have to use superglue is that you are pounding much to hard on your soft fretwire.

There were guitars before there was superglue...

When I say "pound the crap out of", I just mean go all the way across it with the plastic hammer, not hit the living daylights out of it.

 

[lbridenstine]

I made some progress. The headstock is shaped. It looks weird. That walnut veneer didn’t turn out how I was hoping it would on the front or back. I wanted to see how it looked without a front veneer before I put one on. Not sure if I'm actually going to put one on there or not. I think the cosmo black tuners would look really nice against that maple...

I finished shaping the neck.

I smoothed this out

So I could glue some ash and walnut onto it.

Shouldn’t be long before I get the body glued together.