Members Freeman Keller Posted October 16, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 16, 2014 The next day when the glue is cured I routed a slot for the truss rod. This thing is called a router table, the router is underneath and the bit sticks up thru the table, it is handy as hell for tasks like this (that is the ES neck, it does have the heel glued on) As I've mentioned before, I use LMI or StewMac double acting truss rods and I feel strongly that if you are going to put the adjuster in the headstock it needs to be as small a pocket as possible. I have fixed way to many Gibson type guitars with broken headstocks, I think the combination of the scarf joint and small pocket make the neck much stronger Compare this to that big hurking nut on a standard Gibson threaded rod (not to mention that a threaded compression rod doesn't work nearly as well as this double acting one) End of rant about truss rods. I actually don't mind fixing them - every time some bozo knocks his guitar off a stand I can make a hundred bucks or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 19, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 19, 2014 Ho, hum. Glued two pieces of the cutoff from the top together to be the headstock plate and glued the heel pieces to the neck. Started laying out the neck angle on the top. Sources vary, but Gibson necks are roughly 4 degree with respect to the top (some where between 3 and 4-1/2, but some also seem to be around 1-1/2). It all depends on the height of the pickups and bridge, scale length, contour of the top and probably some other mojo I'll go with 4 and see what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 21, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 21, 2014 I have to chuckle when I look at that last picture. Its pretty difficult to measure anything with a protractor very accurately so I had laid a couple of pieces of wood on the top and measured the difference in their height above my work table. My wife came into the shop and asked me what I was doing, I told her that if I measured the length of the board and the difference in the ends that would give me the sine of the angle and I could then know if the angle was four degrees. She said "you're using math?" I said, "yea, basic high school trigonometry" She walked out of the shop muttering something about "Engineers..." Having decided to use 4 degrees, its time to make the neck tenon. I try to do as much cutting as I can on the band saw and to do that I need to keep as many flat square surfaces as possible. The tenon gets made before any shaping of the neck is done Next I tilted the table of the drill press to roughly 4 degrees and drilled out some of the waste wood for the neck mortise I guess I didn't take a picture of routing it out, but when it all fits together it looks like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 21, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 21, 2014 Here is what the more or less completed mortise and tenon joint looks like And here I'm showing off - the joint is nice and tight and I can lift the weight of the guitar with nothing holding it together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted October 21, 2014 Members Share Posted October 21, 2014 Excellent once again! Looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members t_e_l_e Posted October 22, 2014 Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted October 22, 2014 Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 . . . My wife came into the shop and asked me what I was doing' date=' I told her that if I measured the length of the board and the difference in the ends that would give me the sine of the angle and I could then know if the angle was four degrees. She said "you're using math?" I said, "yea, basic high school trigonometry" She walked out of the shop muttering something about "Engineers..."[/quote'] Several years ago, during the Summer months, I tried to get our daughter (who is quite smart) to use math in everyday life. Her reply was, "No fair, it's Summer!" Personally, I like approximating square roots in my head to see how close I can get so basic trig is almost fun. That said, the build looks great as usual. Looking forward to further installments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Preacher Posted October 22, 2014 Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 Wow, this thing is looking great... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 22, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 Something weird happened in my last post. The picture was definitely sideways when I posted it but somehow turned itself around - must have been gravity, eh? Anyway, lets carry on Marked the shape of the pickup cavities (it will get humbuckers) and drilled out most of the waste wood. This just makes it easier for the router Stuck the pickup template on with double sticky tape and a couple of screws in the mounting holes Note that the neck cavity gets routed with the neck in place - some of the end of the tenon is routed off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 22, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 22, 2014 Remember that piece of rosewood that I bent for the binding? Time to put it on I spent a lot of time trying to figure out just exactly how to clamp it. On a gradual curve like an acoustic or a guitar with no cutaway its usually possible to just tape the binding in place with masking tape but I wanted it really tight in the horn. Finally ended up with a maze of clamps and blocks and stuff, looks like this Bent the bass side and glued it on The pup cavities make a nice place to hook the ends of the clamps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 23, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 23, 2014 Bumping along, with the sexy body bound (is this going to get kinky?) lets work on the neck. As I've mentioned before, it is important to do each step in the right order so you can maximize the use of flat square surfaces. First I cut the back of the neck and the curve at the heel using a flat side, then I put the neck on its top surface and cut the sides The width at the body joint is critical as it affects both the fretboard and the way the neck mates into the curve of the cutaway The other critical reference point is the width at the nut - in this case 1.688 inches. As always I cut things oversize and remove material - its really hard to put it back on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 23, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 23, 2014 Shaping a neck is one of the really fun parts of building - you go from a fat square hunk of wood to the thin rounded (yea, sexy) shape that just feels right in your hand. Start by "faceting " the neck - take flat cuts that are half way across the back and sides Then facet those again. I use a variety of cutting and shaping tools - planes, chisels, spokeshave, rasps, and a drill motor with a sanding cylinder Round the faceted surfaces off into a nice c-shaped curve and make the headstock flow into the neck Checking as I go with a couple of templates taken from another guitar, as well as the width and depth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted October 23, 2014 Members Share Posted October 23, 2014 Fine looking guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted October 24, 2014 Members Share Posted October 24, 2014 Have you decided what pickups are going in this? I love Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers a lot myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tom Mc1 Posted October 25, 2014 Members Share Posted October 25, 2014 I like the way that you were able to get the wood binding to conture around the lower horn. Very nice. That is hard to do with out snapping the binding. I think that 4 deg on the neck is good because you can always adjust the bridge. My LP Special build ended up with a neck angle of 3.4 deg. This is the hardest part of a home build of a Gibson style guitar. Looking forward to the next installment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 25, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 25, 2014 Have you decided what pickups are going in this? I love Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers a lot myself. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know diddly about pickups. If I was building it for myself I would put P90's in it since I already have a guitar with humbuckers but my friend wants 'buckers (he says his Tele has too much hum). I'm happy with the Parson Street PAF clones, but as I said, I probably couldn't tell the difference from anything else - I'm going to put them in this one also. That means that the only difference between this guitar and mine is the chambered body - we'll have a chance to A/B them. I like the way that you were able to get the wood binding to conture around the lower horn. Very nice. That is hard to do with out snapping the binding. I think that 4 deg on the neck is good because you can always adjust the bridge. My LP Special build ended up with a neck angle of 3.4 deg. This is the hardest part of a home build of a Gibson style guitar. Looking forward to the next installment. Thanks Tom. The binding had a very slight split right at the horn but I pulled it together and wicked super glue into it - it will be fine. On my other Lester I used plastic binding - that was my fall back here if I couldn't get it bent. I still have the headstock to bind but that should be easier. The final neck angle will get finessed when the hardware arrives. If I do many more of these I'm going to build a better neck pocket routing jig - I've seen one that is adjustable for angle and width - I'm just too lazy to build it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 25, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 25, 2014 Speaking of the headstock, its time to work on that end of the neck. I've made a template that kind of looks Gibsonesq, my concession to not being a pure copy is that it doesn't have the dimple in the middle of the end. Besides, that is a very difficult miter to make and bind - the router won't follow that point and it makes bending the binding very difficult. When I routed the shape I got one little splinter at the point - its important to move the router in the direction that the tool is rotating (called "climbing cuts") or it will tear out pieces of wood. Anyway, I found the splinter and glued it back in place If you remember back a while, we made a book matched veneer out of some of the scraps of the top - time to glue it on Route once more for the binding channel, bend the binding on the hot pipe and glue it in place (little trick here - the block of wood is to back up the clamps but it wants to slide on the headstock so I put two drill bits thru two tuner holes. The block is tight against them and I can clamp the binding) Unfortunately I didn't get it completely seated in the channel and there was a little gap at the end Yea, I could fill that with some putty but its a simple matter to just route it out and start over again. This is much better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slvrsrpnt Posted October 25, 2014 Members Share Posted October 25, 2014 always fun watching these go together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 28, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 28, 2014 Well, with my bad eyesight and shaky hands I could never be a tattoo artist, but I try to add a little inlay to each of my guitars. I've settled on very simple initials on the headstock and nice tasteful fretboard markers. Since we've decided to do all the shiny pieces in gold I thought the inlay should be gold MoP - so here we go. Put on my best pair of reading glasses, pull the desk lamp down real close to the bench and rout some little cavities for the initials. This is a Dremel being used for what its really intended for - I've got a 3/32 bit and a precision adjustable base - I just wish I could stay inside the lines Here are the inlay pieces ready to go into the headstock. BTW, I buy my pearl precut from Andy DePaule - there is no way I would try to cut the pearl with my 70 year old eyes I really wanted to put a bunch of skulls in the fretboard but at the last minute decided maybe traditional Gibson style blocks would be better. Again, excavated the cavities with the Dremel ( because the fretboard is already radiused at 12 inches I had to put some shims along the sides to make it flat for the router. One of the tricks (here I am giving away all the secrets) of doing inlay is to use epoxy with a little bit of powered wood (in this case rosewood) mixed in it - that will fill any voids around the pearl and will be virtually invisible (I'll use a bit of the Spanish cedar for the headstock). Everything ready to go together And the final product Oh, that's a little rosewood truss rod cover that I whipped out - cheap plastic ones just look, well, cheap and plastic. And I did go back and put one more marker in for fret one - some LP's have them, some don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted October 28, 2014 Members Share Posted October 28, 2014 Sweeeeeet!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members travisty Posted October 28, 2014 Members Share Posted October 28, 2014 Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tom Mc1 Posted October 29, 2014 Members Share Posted October 29, 2014 The neck jig that you refered to works great. Because it's fully adjustable, it will do both Gibson style angled necks and flat Fender style bolt on necks. It's kind of finicky and needs some fine tuning. As far as pups go, I've always liked the classic PAF style in a hum. Others will disagree. I guess it's up to the buyer's playing style as to what will sound like what he wants to hear. What kind of music will he play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 29, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 29, 2014 Thank you, Tom. This is only my second electric and since there is a pretty good chance I'll build more I definitely will make the neck jig. Ironically, my son, who also builds guitars and is making a double cut LP Jr as we speak did make the jig - unfortunately he lives a few hundred miles away so I need to make my own. I do enjoy making the tooling and it seems like each project brings more jigs and fixtures (and often another tool LOL). As far as the pups - I have received some very good suggestions, but I'm going to start with something I know which are the PAF clones that StewMac sells (their "Parson Street" pickups). There are probably lots of better ones and I realize that different players want different sounds. My customer has played mine (with the Parson Streets) and likes it - he plays mostly classic rock with a leaning towards blues.. I grew up listening to Butterfield and the Allmans and lots of blues so that is the sound I associate with this type of guitar - hope I am making the right choice. I did get the neck set today (my pictures are often a couple of days behind) - it looks like somewhere between 3 and 4 degrees puts the fretboard plane a bit above the bridge at its lowest position - I have lots of adjustment so it should be perfect. Pictures will follow.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted October 31, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2014 The beat goes on. Shiny pieces arrived today - this represents about three hundred bucks. Good components without going overboard - Gotoh bridge, tailpiece and tuners, Parson Street PAF type pups. StewMac wiring kit, saves going down to Radio Shack and buying all the little bits and pieces. Some odds and ends of screws and fittings and stuff There was some fretwire in that shipment so I can go ahead and fret the board. Different people do it at different times during the build - I like to press the frets in and it is easiest to do before the board is glued to the neck. This fretboard will be unbound which makes it pretty easy. First I use my home made bender thingie to curve the wire at 12 inches Cut the wires to a bit over size and line them up ready to go. The little gizmo on the left if a radiused pressing caul that I put in my drill press - I have inserts for the most common fretboard radiuses - in this case 12 inches. I like to wick a tiny bit of medium CA into the slot, tap the fret in with the hammer, then put it in the drill press and hold it for 10 seconds while the CA kicks off. They usually come out just about perfect this way which is more than I can say when I hammered them in Dress the ends of the frets down to the edge of the board and glue it on to the neck Finally, sand the neck to the fretboard (it was a hair oversized) and it looks like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted November 1, 2014 Members Share Posted November 1, 2014 I like the way you left the neck a bit proud and then sanded back to the fingerboard. Excellent idea. Looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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