I'm building a new guitar

Looking sweet, I have been wanting to build my own guitar for a while now. If I had the tools I would be on it straight away, after I saw Dylan from Daemoness guitars work I was mesmerised
 
AbacuS said:
Looking sweet, I have been wanting to build my own guitar for a while now. If I had the tools I would be on it straight away, after I saw Dylan from Daemoness guitars work I was mesmerised
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It really isn't that hard depending on what goals and expectations you set yourself. I've built a few and I always spot what I can improve next time. What were you thinking of building?
 
My disappointment with the finish, has kept me away from the red guitar. I've decided to wait until it hardens totally, sand it down , and refinish with products I'm familiar with. My attempt to go green has been a failure for now.

meanwhile back at the ranch... I'm working on a few others. Two are for friends that I'm helping. One is a bass for my daughter, and another a pseudo strat for myself.

A big thanks out to milnoque for his help with templates. He did some very nice work that really saved me some time.
table1_zps25ec27e1.jpg

The bass
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I've been waiting for a nice day to re-spray the tele. I was rather frustrated for a while, but with some new red paint I'm ready to move on. In the meantime, I've made some progress on other projects. My Daughter's bass is to the point where I can glue in the neck, but first I need to decide which bridge I'll use. I'm excited to be making one for her, so this has been fun. It was her idea to style it after a Gibson Artist Series.
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My first inlay, a star at the 12th fret.
inlay1.jpg


I designed my own body shape for the pseudo S type. It'll be SSS with a hardtail.
ssstrat01.jpg


I did something different with the neck on this one. Strats, and Teles with bolt-on necks are pretty clumsy past the 15th fret where the neck screws on to the body. To make the heel smaller, while using a vintage fender style truss rod nut I put a step on it that will attach much deeper into the body under the pickup rout. Doing this will allow much better access to the upper frets. I wish I had thought to do this with the tele. It's got better upper fret access than a fender, but nothing like this S type will be. Live and learn...
ssstrat02.jpg


I've built a new router jig that was inspired by muttley. It's not complete yet, but I can see how it should be very handy in the future. I was very careful with my tolerances, and after checking the accuracy I'm very pleased so far.
With a 1/2" bit installed the cutting area is >14"w X 25"l The only problem is it's quite large to store in my limited space. Maybe I'll hang it on the wall when it's not in use...
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Looks solid good job. On the wall, under the bench, either is good. You'll get a lot of use out of it I'm sure. If you have a bit of spare time build a second router base for it that allows the router to sit higher and thicker pieces of work to pass underneath. I did that right away with all of mine and use them all the time..
 
I made some progress this weekend. the necks are glued in on the bass and guitar, and I've begun repainting the tel.
gtrs1-20-13.jpg
 
The woodwork is done on the strat thing, and I've started on the finish. It's pictured after grain filler, and sealer. This one's going to be black. It's rapidly catching up to the tele thing which is in the process of re-doing the finish. No more waterborne components for now. I'll stick to products I'm comfortable with this time. I'll spray the clear on them at the same time. I'm excited about this guitar. It's really coming out nice.

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Meanwhile... Went and picked out some wood for new projects yesterday, and found a beautiful piece of american walnut with flames all through it, and some nice maple for neck blanks.

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My daughter's bass is coming along also. I've finished shaping the neck. Next up is routing, and drilling the body.
 
What did you grain fill with and what is the base timber? It looks quite open grain so you may want to go a second and maybe a third time with the filler or are you relying on the undercoat to fill and sand back..


As for the figured walnut. POIDH...:thumbs up:
 
muttley600 said:
What did you grain fill with and what is the base timber? It looks quite open grain so you may want to go a second and maybe a third time with the filler or are you relying on the undercoat to fill and sand back..
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It's African Mahogany, I used spackling compound to fill the grain, and then sealed it off with lacquer sanding sealer. The picture was taken after the first session. I repeated it twice more. It worked well, and didn't take much time. I shot some color on it at the end of the day. I probably should have waited because it had cooled off, and the lacquer blushed a little. It's the first coat, and will be sanded anyway, so it's no big deal. The weather is supposed to be nice this week. I should be able to complete the finish on both guitars.
newstrat_zps64eca9a0.jpg

newtel_zps6b9ba7b1.jpg


As for the figured walnut. POIDH...:thumbs up:
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I love it when I go shopping for lumber, and one certain piece seems to call out to me. Compared to this, the rest of the walnut that they had on the rack seemed plain and not very interesting. I can't wait to see it shimmer when it's finished.
figuredwalnut_zpsa7e3ec0b.jpg
 
I have always wanted to make some guitars, but I always figured it would cost a lot of money buying tools and stuff I would need to actually make one. Then on top of that it would probably be the shittiest guitar in history lol... Yours look cool though. Good work :D
 
JCH said:
It's African Mahogany, I used spackling compound to fill the grain, and then sealed it off with lacquer sanding sealer. The picture was taken after the first session. I repeated it twice more. It worked well, and didn't take much time. I shot some color on it at the end of the day. I probably should have waited because it had cooled off, and the lacquer blushed a little. It's the first coat, and will be sanded anyway, so it's no big deal. The weather is supposed to be nice this week. I should be able to complete the finish on both guitars.
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Ah right, have you finished that stuff before. I only say that because most African Mahoganies have really open grain. Finish will drop in to those pores really easy and even when you think you have it covered it shows up along the way. I'm sure you've got it done though you ain't a noob at this.;

As a side, I use clear epoxy on all those types as a filler these days. If I'm going clear on top I'll colur the epoxy down to the darkest fleck. If I'm going with a solid colour it's no biggy.

Both are looking really good. Can't wait to see and hear them strung up.:)
 
JCH said:
I love it when I go shopping for lumber, and one certain piece seems to call out to me. Compared to this, the rest of the walnut that they had on the rack seemed plain and not very interesting. I can't wait to see it shimmer when it's finished.
figuredwalnut_zpsa7e3ec0b.jpg
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Nice. That looks almost like European Walnut. Much browner than the American Black. Whats the dimensions of the board? I have plenty of ideas for it. When ever I get an unusual board I keep picturing things that it is should be every time I walk past it. I got a lot of stuff to do..:o
That board looks like it needs to be at least one bass guitar and a few drop tops.

Cut that waney edge off soon though. You'll never use it and it will only harbour moisture and possibly other nasty crawlies.;) How dry is it?
 
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