Gee Wally, A Voneville Single Cut JR Guitar Build Thread!

[voneville]

I've been on the fence about building a guitar for a while (okay, years) but for multiple reasons it hasn't happened. The other day I finally took the plunge and ordered/procured the materials to get started. I've really enjoyed watching other people's build threads and hope someone out there might enjoy this one.

 

Step one. The body blank. A single plank of Mahogany 6" wide and 2" thick (or 4/8 in wood terms I think). Cut three pieces and ran them through the Jointer plane in the shop. I matched up the grain as much as possible with minimal waste. I couldn't fit my design on 2 pieces, so a third smaller piece had to be added, I chose to put it on top since the bottom is going to be routed out for the control cavity. After getting them where I wanted I marked my wood on the back for index points and then glued and clamped using Titebond II. The result is this here.

 

 

A while back I did a drawing of a Single Cutaway Electric Guitar. Rather then trace a Les Paul or purchase the blue prints from Stew Mac and build a replica I decided to go another route and traced out the body of my Vantage SV650 and then modified it to be a single cut. Technically it's an original design even if it looks familiar. The design procress went full circle I guess. When I was happy with the drawing I traced out my drawing and transfered it over to a piece of 1/4 Plexi we had laying around the shop. After cutting the Plexi on the scroll saw I then cleaned it up by hand with a dowel and sand paper.

 

 

Early this morning I hit up the bandsaw and did my rough cut. Originally I was going to clean the edges with a router (after I ran it through a planer at the hobby shop on base, which is closed this weekend for the 4th of July holiday). I think I got it close enough that I may just use a spindle sander. I also didn't cut the waist as deep, and I want the front a little less Tele-ish and more blockish similar to a Gretsch Jet. Here is the result of that, I really like how it's shaping up (no pun intended).

 

 

I have the material I need for the neck with the exception of the fretboard, frets and Truss Rod. Next payday I'll be ordering that stuff from Stewmac. I thought about making my own Truss Rod from scratch, but it would take me more time then it's worth I think. Same for the fretboard (I'm ordering a pre-cut, pre-radiused).

 

 

The Specs:

 

Slab Mahogany Body (3 Piece), Mahogany neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, Silver Dot Fret Markers. Pigtail wraparound bridge and vintage Dimarzio Coil Tapping Humbucker Pickups forward and aft (salvaged from the SV650 which is another story for another thread). Finish is called "rosewood" but on my test piece it was a nice deep reddish brown mahogany color that looked really nice. After I stain it it's going to get the Nitro treatment (That should be fun).

 

Basically we're looking at a LP Junior/Special/Melody Maker type guitar, nothing earth shattering. I wanted to go with P-90's originally, but I decided if I'm not happy with the buckers then I get a set of H-90's from our good friend at BG. I think I'm gonna dig the Dimarzio's though, they sounded really good in the Vantage and I love the sound of them when you the coil tap toggle.

 

 

I've built guitar bodies in the past, but this will be my first ground up build. More pics to follow, but I figured I would start out the basic info. I'm really enjoying myself, this is a pretty fun hobby for me. I've got maybe 4 hours total into this project all together (not counting dry time) and it's all been spare time on duty days at work. In essence the tax payers are paying me to build my guitar (actually they're not, but it's fun to think they are).

[GreatDane]

this will be really sweet to watch~ thanks!

[voneville]

Todays update:

Got my order out to Stewmac this weekend. The ship gets underway on the 10th for a couple weeks, so I don't think my order will arrive before I leave. The good news is that most of the supplies I need to finish will be home by the time I return. By then I should have everything ready for the neck and assembly.

 

Haven't decided if I want to go Nitro or use the water based Laquer for the finishing. Anyway, that's my update. I re-read the AJC Les Paul JR thread, and it looks like I'll be covering most of the same ground, there's only so many ways to build a set-neck LP JR type guitar. That thread was my inspiration for building my own guitar in the first place.

[BlackHatHunter]

Very cool! And thank you for serving