Building a guitar in 24 days - photostory

[OC1]

Today we will close the body.

First we need to chisel the opening for braces that go through kerfing.
Also we need to examine everything with mirror from inside for bad fit (like for example a top stiffener would go under top block - we don't want that)


This is the last time we see the top bracing. We are going to glue it now.


The guitar sits on 15 foot board which is the arc of back.


Go bars off and here we have closed body!


That is certainly enough for today. Tomorrow we will be doing purfing and binding channel and perhaps even glue the binding/purfing.

[cpabolting]

Looks like a lot of bracing. Is that a particular pattern? How did you determine the configuration of the bracing?

[OC1]

Making wedge

Using router I routed a V wedge on the bottom


I will go with Sapele binding so I used the same stock to make wedge. Added black and white purfing strips.


The channel router.
This is a setup where the router is static and you hold the guitar vertically and run it around the bit. It is a bit scary doing it first time, but this setup makes it very fast for normal production.


I am going for a miter with the purfing so here it is cut to the miter angle (which is a bit tricky because the wedge doesn't have miter on 45 degrees)


I think that's enough for today. I will leave gluing the purfing and binding for tomorrow.

[OC1]

Gluing the purfing

First I glued the black and white strips to the Sapele binding strip, then bend it on hot iron to get somehow to the guitar shape (Sapele likes to chip when stressed) Then used other strips to match with rosette.


While it sits under tape I am going to prepare wood for neck. Let's just dig out this huge chunk of mahogany


And then bite a neck from it


The binding is done, let's take out the tape


Let's look at the miter. Pretty good for an amateur cut! I must say I am pretty impressed with myself.


One more thing today, let's take the cutout wood from back and glue it together to make enough width of material to fit the veneer for the neck head.


That's all for day 9.

[Mary]

It's a pretty box!

[OC1]

Now most of the work will be on neck.

First let's make the neck wood flat on the head and fingerboard with plane then glue the veneer


Prepare template for the head. I drew something that I combined from looking at my old guitars in house, then created only half of it on piece of wood and then used router to make exact copy of it for both sides of the template. This way I know the sides are exactly the same (I use non-symetrical top of the head which I will not cut on router but finish with file)



Here is the newly created template on the bench and a freshly cut and sanded piece of ebony for fingerboard, that I just tapered to correct angle. (Now deciding which way would be up)


This looks like a short day, tomorrow I will cut slots for frets and continue on the neck.

[kscobie8]

And you say you've never built a guitar before? That's some impressive natural skill there then, wow!
Very cool to watch this process. Make sure you post some video or audio recordings of the debut performance.
Are you gonna build more after this? Open a shop? You may have some eager customers on the forum...

Bel isi,
-kyle

[OC1]

First thing in the morning - cutting slots in the ebony fingerboard using a martin template


Gluing the Heel block


and routing the head shape using the template made yesterday using hand routers.


The routing of the head is tricky as we have to always go into the router bit. First I used band saw to saw as close to the template as possible for the router to cut as little as possible. Even so, there is chance for the router to chip out when going out of the corners. In the real-life production the template would be build from two different pieces to avoid any possibility of chipping on the piece. (so the router enters and exists the wood far from the actual shape)
For only one neck it would be actually safer to avoid using routers and just to cut close on band saw and then finish using files and sandpaper.

That's all for today. Tomorrow we need to route dovetail on body and the neck

[OC1]

Gluing ebony binding to the fingerboard. Some people also glue the same type of wood that is used for body binding, but ebony is fine.


Now we have to fit the neck heel to the body in correct angle before we make dovetail. This takes some time with checking the angles and using sander to make it good.
Making dovetail to body using a dovetail template and a hand router


The counter dovetail in neck:

The holes in neck are where the template was fastened with screws.

Checking the fit and also the angles again. then using shims to make the fit as good as possible before I can continue.


The holes on the top are where the dovetail template was mounted with screws. This will be under fingerboard.

Tomorrow I will glue the fingerboard to the neck.

[Fliss]

This is looking great, I'm really enjoying watching this guitar take shape!

Fliss

[Brent Nelson]

This may be my favorite thread ever. Thanks for sharing this experience!
Brent

[15 Man]

That's looking really good! Can't wait to see (and hear) the finished product.

[Berf]

OC1 you are a legend... this thread is great. I can't even get Ikea furniture right but you're inspiring me to have a go... one day...

[OC1]

Sorry for some time off - chrismass shopping etc and I didn't know if anybody is actually watching this tread.

So we have fingerboard slotted, veneer glued and neck adjusted. Now it is time to glue the fingerboard.
On this image the fingerboard is just placed there, it is notglued yet, we need few things first


The first thing is to add the dots. I never fully understand why so many people put fret dots on top of the fingerboard. To see them while playing you actually have to bend away from a good playing position. So I am putting them where they are visible to the player, not to spectator - on the edge.
This is easy - the mother of pearl tiny pieces are actually sold in the shape, so all you need to do is drill a small hole and then glue them there. Note they are close to one edge (This is the bottom edge) because we will be shaping the fingerboard on the other side so they will actually end up in the center.


One last thing is to route the truss rod channel. I can choose to either have it adjastable from top head or from inside the guitar. It is easier from top (otherwise I would need to route the channel also on the body). But then I need to make also truss rod cover... but it is easier adjustable from top than from inside of body. The channel is routed using hand router and a simple template and it is exactly so the truss rod fits tightly.


The gluing needs a lot of presure and a good time to cure on clamps (I used polyurethane glue this time, otherwise I would need to wait a very long time if a wood glue is used)
Here it is glued....


Enough for today already! Now it really start looking like guitar or maybe with the uncarved neck as a sitar.

[OC1]

It is a good time to cut a soundport. I previously glued a black fibre stiffener on a piece of side where the port will be, before I closed the body. Now I simply took trim router, deep breath and route a circle handheld - as close as I could. Then use some file and sanding block to finish it. Many people put oval, I put a circle and I can now joke that it is attachement for a hoover vacuum for better clean up. Of course I didn't yet bevel anything on the body so I also keep the hole sharp for now. There will be enough time for dusty work later.


Now it is time to carve neck. Our neck is still a bit wide so lets cut the excess wood on band saw as close as I can....
Here I am just beginning to carve, using a rasp and really just trying topremove material quickly at this point.


And in few minutes... eeh, hours the neck is nearly finished. If you are ever afraid of this job, don't be - this is probably most fun - I was before afraid how to keep symetry etc - but it simply work by itself, just be careful to always keep the thickness of the neck as it should be or you will endup with a toothpick.


Let's finally drill the holes for machines. This depend on the machines (also the thickness of the head has to be matched to favorite machines as some are longer than others).
On this image I am gluing back a chip from veneer I even don't know how happened (not first and not last) - anytime something chips, save the little part as it can be always glued back with the right glue. For dark wood it is fine to use superglue (on light wood it will leave a dark line). If you can't find the chip dark wood is very easy repaired with any small piece of the same wood - glue it there then sand it back to shape and nobody can see any difference.



That's definitely all that can be done today - we are nearly there - having all rough work behind us. Now I am coming to the phase that calls for lot of sanding paper and a dust. I need to work on both the body and neck. The body still has lot of sanding scratches from thicknessing - till now I never used anything higher than 80 grid, but tha would soon change, right?