Building my first guitar Ric-style

[WarmMachineHead]

jetglo

[kingblud]

Keep it natural, or at least something where you can see the grain. It's such a cool build, you'll want to be able to see everything, not just paint it black. Really cool project, thanks for posting the pics, it's actually pretty informative.

[d_dave_c]

Maybe do the top natural with black sides and back?

[Unto The Sky]

I love the natural look, personally

 

Really enjoying this build, love the radius block idea, really impressive!

[Beatle Beatnik]

Reading this thread, and the links that you've provided......I really really really want to do the same and build my ric than spend the grand+ to get one

[thick_mike]

Reading this thread, and the links that you've provided......I really really really want to do the same and build my ric than spend the grand+ to get one

 

Don't tell Mr Hall :poke:

 

You'll get me banned!!

 

Seriously, I have quite low expectations of the quality of the guitar I'm making. It won't be a patch on a proper Ric, probably won't be a patch on a cheap knock off Chinese Ric (if one exists). It's more about the journey solving problems and learning.

 

The next guitar I build will be slightly better...and the next one better than that.

[thick_mike]

Working on the finger board, got it to the right radius and finished with 1500 grit paper, but it's 8mm (about 5/16") thick.

 

' alt='>'>

 

' alt='>'>

 

Is this too thick? The trussrod slot is 12.5 mm (about 1/2") deep and I'm aiming for an overall neck thickness of 28.5 mm (1 1/8") maximum. That would leave only 8 mm of wood below the trussrod rout. Is that enough, or does the fingerboard need thinning to allow for more wood behind the trussrod?

[thick_mike]

Made some progress today (my wife Angie has been very tolerant of my latest obsession and she left me in the shed for most of the day).

 

I convinced myself that the fingerboard was too thick, so I shaved it down with the jack plane to 6.5mm thick, then re-sanded it to the correct radius. This meant that I needed to re-cut the fret slots as they had lost 1.5 mm of depth. All went well...

 

 

Until I got cocky cutting the very last slot and slipped with the saw :mad:

 

 

I've seen others use sawdust and superglue to repair fretboards, so...I pushed some of the dust I've been collecting from the radiussing into the cut and then dripped superglue into it. It actually gets drawn into the dust quite nicely.

 

 

Once it cured (about 30 minutes), I taped either side of the blob to protect the fingerboard and started to remove it with a fine file.

 

 

 

Then I flatted it off with some sandpaper.

 

 

It's not perfect, but most of it will be covered by the fret.

[thick_mike]

I've been looking forward to getting the frets into the fingerboard for ages. I bought my fretwire about two years ago (for a cigarbox guitar that I didn't finish).

 

I've done some research on ways to bend (over-radius) the fretwire so that the ends don't spring out of the board. I've gone for the low-tech option (again).

 

Step 1: Cut a slot just wider than the fret tang into a piece of wood you were going to throw away:

 

 

Step 2: You're done!

 

You just pull the wire against the slot (I've put it in my bench vise) until you have the radius you need:

 

 

 

Then I cut the wire to the right lengths and put them into a little holder (just 24 3 mm holes drilled into a piece of scrap wood):

 

 

I also drilled the holes for the fret marker dots and superglued them in:

 

 

Sanded them flat with the radius block

[thick_mike]

Tapped the frets in, had to put a few spots of superglue into the slots to stop some of them being a bit springy in the middle. Maybe I over-bent them?

 

 

Then I filed the fret ends flat to the fingerboard:

 

 

Stuck some 400 grit paper to the base of my jack plane and used it to bevel the ends of the frets:

 

 

 

Looks like a proper fretboard now:

 

 

I'll leave finishing the frets until the guitar is nearly finished.

[thick_mike]

Glueing the fretboard on now. From reading other people's build threads, one thing that can cause problems is the fretboard moving when the clamps are tightened. I decided to use a method that has worked for others.

 

First I hammered two panel pins into the neck, then cut the pins off just a couple of mm above the surface:

 

 

 

I sharpened the bits sticking up with a file (not shown) and then pressed the fretboard down onto them. This makes holes in the back of the fretboard which can be used to locate it during glueing and stop it from moving under clamping pressure.

[sgt mukuzi]

in!

[thick_mike]

Putting the trussrod in with a couple of spots of silicone sealant to prevent rattling:

 

 

 

Then covering the trussrod with masking tape to stop it sticking to the back of the fretboard:

 

 

Then glue it all up using Titebond II and lots of clamps:

 

[JohnLucente]

smart idea with the nail, had similar problems when gluring up my fretboard today

[Beatle Beatnik]

anything new?

[thick_mike]

anything new?

 

I've been on holiday this week visiting family, but I've made a bit of progress...

 

Fingerboard is fretted and glued on, so next step is the one I've been looking forward to the most...shaping the neck.

 

I've got a Yamaha acoustic that I really like the neck on, so I decided to make a couple of profile templates (one at the 1st fret and one at the 12th fret).

 

I took a piece of plastic sheet (cut from a milk carton) and cut it larger than the neck, then I lined the profile with plasticene.I covered the neck with clingfilm, then pressed the plasticene against the neck to form the profile.

 

 

 

 

I traced the profiles onto a piece of hardboard and cut them out with a fretsaw.

[thick_mike]

Started shaping the neck using a spokeshave and a rasp file.

 

I shaped it to fit the profiles at the 1st and 12th frets and then joined the two points on the neck so that the neck was straight and smooth. Here's a couple of pictures of the first go:

 

 

[thick_mike]

Shaping the heel:

 

 

And the neck after some more work:

 

 

 

[poolshark]

Pretty.

[thick_mike]

Drilled the holes for the machine heads using a bench press drill to keep everything perpendicular. I had to drill from the front to make the holes wider for the bushings and had a problem getting the bradpoint bit in the centre of the hole. I came up with the idea of putting some masking tape over the hole and then touching the drill bit against the tape, it made it easy to line up the bit:

 

[thick_mike]

Pretty.

 

Cheers Poolshark. BTW you have the best avatar...

[thick_mike]

I don't have a spindle sander, so I decided to make one.

 

Anyone that has followed this thread will know that my favourite place on Earth is the Ikea bargain corner, so I had this circular foot from an old Ikea sofa. I put a bolt through the hole and chucked it into my drill press. I used an old saw to cut it to the right diameter:

 

 

Then I used a rasp to smooth it off:

 

 

 

Then chiselled a slot into it and then screwed a piece of aluminium into it to hold the abrasive paper in place:

 

[linusâ„¢]

i approve of your diy sensibilities. looking good. i need some of that plastic stuff, where should i look for it?

[Steadfastly]

Well, I looked at your whole thread from start to finish, well at least to where you are now. You have done a great job with just the few tools you have. I am impressed.

 

I thought it was interesting about the table since I have an old one I was going to use to build a guitar this winter. I had some solid pieces though, so I was surprised to see the core when you sanded away the laminate.

 

I'll be looking with interest at the rest of the build.

[thick_mike]

 

i approve of your diy sensibilities. looking good. i need some of that plastic stuff, where should i look for it?

 

 

The stuff I used was from a milk carton, but it was too flexible to be honest. You could just use a thin piece of particle board. As long as it's bigger than your neck profile, it doesn't matter if it's neat or not.

 

I traced the plasticene outline onto hardboard and then cut it out very carefully using a fretsaw, then made sure it was very smooth using sandpaper. Once you get close, you can keep checking it against your target neck until it's perfect (ONO).