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First Build! Guitar for my brother

J

J Lund

Aug 6, 2008
198
0
Omaha, NE
#1
Hello everybody.

I have been lurking around this forum for the past five years studying and gathering all the information I could. I have always wanted to build an instrument for myself, but haven't had the tools or resources. An opportunity presented itself to me when my brother offered to "commission" a build. So I put together a parts list and got started!

Here are the specs:

Neck - 5 piece Curly maple/Purpleheart neck
Fingerboard - Macassar Ebony
Body - Black Walnut
Top - Spalted Flame Maple
6 Stings, 25.5" scale length
24 Frets
H/S/H pickup configuration (Dimarzio)

I had already laminated curly maple and purpleheart a couple years ago that I was going to use for two bass necks. Then I realized there was plenty for three necks. But I had no money, so all building was halted.

This summer, I borrowed a friend's table saw to cut the neck into 3 pieces. One piece is for my brothers guitar, and one is for a bass for myself. I think it will be cool for the two of us to have instruments with necks from the same neck blank!

So far I have:
laminated the neck woods
cut the neck blank
cut and glued scarf joint
created body template
joined the two body halves
planed the body to thickness
joined the top wood

Pictures and updates coming soon!
 
#3
P_Bass_Manny said:
Sounds good!
Nothing compares to the excitement of that first build, best of luck to ya, may your bandsaw stay sharp and true and so on... :)

Manny
Click to expand...

Speaking of which, I just purchased a 10" bandsaw off of Craig'slist for $40 last week. It's not great, but it's a heck of a lot better than a jigsaw.


Okay, so here are the neck woods being glued up three years ago. :rolleyes:
DSCN0642.jpg


DSCN0671.jpg


Here it is cut into 3 sections (scarf already shown here).
070900_090500.jpg


Here is the scarf joint cut and being sanded for gluing.
070700_192400.jpg


070700_203700.jpg


This is where it is now. Has not been cleaned up after gluing yet.
070800_094500.jpg


Here's the lovely walnut I found at a local store.
061800_104400.jpg


My camera died, so I don't think I have pictures of the body halves being glued. Most of these pictures are from my phone -which surprisingly takes better pictures anyway.

I needed to plane the body down about 1/4 inch. Not having a planer, I decided to use a circular saw to cut grooves in one side, giving me somewhat of a depth gauge across it's surface.
062500_123000.jpg


Then I figured out I could use a router to "plane" most of the waste away.
062600_102600.jpg


Then I went over the whole surface with my hand plane. Warning! - 3 hours of hand planing will incapacitate you!

062800_112900.jpg


Shooting the spalted maple topwood.
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I used a gluing method that I saw someone use online for acoustic tops.
070800_205500.jpg


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Here is the top fresh off the press this morning!
070900_090700.jpg


Next step is sanding the top and getting ready to glue the top to the body.

Josh
 
#6
I've gotten a little bit more done. Here is the truss rod channel being routed.
071100_220200.jpg


The rod fits! Not bad for first time...
071100_220000.jpg


I cut off some bits of wood to be used as ears for the headstock from excess off of the bridge end of the neck.
071200_201600.jpg


071200_201800.jpg


Ears being glued
071200_203700.jpg


From the purple heart center, I made a truss rod cover.
071200_205400.jpg


Right now, I'm working on finalizing the headstock design and deciding if I want to put a veneer on the front or not... Then I'm going to glue that on - or not, and finish the truss rod access, cut the headstock to thickness, cut the neck taper and headstock shape. Phew.

Oh for those of you who think I am comitting blasphemy by posting a guitar build, here is it's companion.
B1.jpg


My brother and I will then have matching custom instruments. :bassist: That's the goal anyway.

Josh
 
#9
bronzehydra said:
This is gonna be awesome haha
The only thing I would change about the bass's design is the treble side horn, it looks like it sticks out pretty far
but other than that, I really like the build!
Click to expand...

A good suggestion. I worked with the bass design a bit and reposted above. Let me know what you think.

I can't afford to buy parts for the bass right now, so I'm focusing on the guitar at the moment.

Josh
 
#10
I decided on a headstock veneer, and I got that glued. Flamed maple with black accent piece.
071300_140500.jpg


071300_141000.jpg


071300_141900.jpg


071300_174900.jpg


I also made a big step today and glued the all the body woods together. Spalted flamed maple top, black accent, and walnut.
071500_201800.jpg


071500_202600.jpg


071500_203600.jpg


I hope that all works out alright. I found it a little difficult to line up the center lines. I realized at this point that it might have been easier to glue the woods together as "wings" first, and then glue the wings together.

After this is dried and glued well *crosses fingers*, I'll be ready to cut out the body shape, and get going on the fingerboard and neck.

Please let me know what you think of both the guitar design and the bass design. Also, if you have any tips or tricks for things coming up, I'd be happy to hear them.... or if you have any advice on how to fix poor craftsmanship I may have already commited, that would be helpful too. :help:

Josh
 
#13
bronzehydra said:
I would maybe scoot the smaller horn a little closer to the body
Click to expand...

I would like to leave the treble horn where it is for fret access. If I move it in any closer, I'll start losing that. And in my opinion, it looks good as it is now.

Another big day - I got the body shape cut with my new bandsaw!
071600_155700.jpg


071600_194200.jpg


071600_195200.jpg


I realize more and more that this band saw is a piece of crap, though. It's way under-powered, most of its mechanisms are finicky or falling apart, it's table is super small and has no miter slot or fence rail, the blade guides are tiny and the blade tends to pop out - which seems dangerous.... Anyway, after about 45 minutes, I had the body cut out properly.

It looks like the body woods glued up nicely - so that is a weight off my shoulders.

071600_200200.jpg


I also am trying to get the truss rod access finished, too. I didn't have a cove bit, so I experimented with a chamfer bit and thought it would work. Well...it would've taken me 30 seconds with a router table, but since I don't have one, it took 30 minutes to rough out something I'm definitely not happy with. :rollno:
071600_222100.jpg


But I am confident that I can carve it out by hand and make it look nice.

Thank you all for checking this out. Again, please offer suggestions if you have any.
 
#14
Lots more done now.

The body has been routed with the template I created.

072000_194800.jpg


072000_201600.jpg


I had to take two passes because I don't have a long enough template bit.
072000_201700.jpg


What a mess...
072000_204800.jpg


072000_204600.jpg


072000_204601.jpg


The double layer in the Walnut is just from the two passes I took with the router. That will go away after sanding.
072000_204700.jpg


072000_204602.jpg


There is a little chip-out on the inside of the horns. :scowl: The chips are only about 1-2 mm deep. I think I will adjust the shape on my template a little, and then re-attach and re-route that area again.
072000_204200.jpg


I fixed this....
071600_222100-1.jpg


Into this!
072000_214900.jpg


And something else kind of cool, a good friend of mine in Seattle sent me this Abalone shell. I don't know what I can do with it, but I'm sure I'll find something!
071700_173100.jpg


Thank you all for looking.

Josh
 

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