Eve: A Guitar 3 Years in the Making (kind of...)
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All the more for carving
. Speaking of which, anyone know a good way to do a Horizon-esque carve? Preferably not 'with a chisel and a lot of patience'. Update time:
Made myself a routing jig, all I need is some aluminum angle pieces and I can use my router as a pseudo-CNC machine.
As for the body itself, I sanded the sides and got rid of the burns and what not. Also sanded out the nasty gouges that the crappy router bit left (found another one on top of the one on the back).
Got a drum sander bit for a cordless drill to get inside the horns. This was MUCH easier than doing it by hand, thank god I was able to find the bits at Canadian Tire for relatively cheap, still wish I had a spindle sander though.
Only sanded the sides with 60 grit so it's still quite rough.
Got this in a couple days ago, looks much more sturdy than the other one I had. I think I will end up using the old LFR as a fixed bridge in another build.
Only had to modify my template for the bridge route a little bit to fit the OFR.
Put the new locking nut on the neck and it looks much more promising than the old one. The strings line up much better on it and I don't think I am going to have a problem with it. It isn't absolutely perfect, still a fraction of a millimeter lower on the treble side of the neck, but it shouldn't make a huge difference. You can see it here:
It's only really noticeable to the touch but even then, it's an improvement.
Tomorrow I will screw in the sides of the router jig to the MDF base just for extra sturdiness, then hopefully I can start routing out the neck pocket and pickups and all that nice stuff.
Made myself a routing jig, all I need is some aluminum angle pieces and I can use my router as a pseudo-CNC machine.
As for the body itself, I sanded the sides and got rid of the burns and what not. Also sanded out the nasty gouges that the crappy router bit left (found another one on top of the one on the back).
Got a drum sander bit for a cordless drill to get inside the horns. This was MUCH easier than doing it by hand, thank god I was able to find the bits at Canadian Tire for relatively cheap, still wish I had a spindle sander though.
Only sanded the sides with 60 grit so it's still quite rough.
Got this in a couple days ago, looks much more sturdy than the other one I had. I think I will end up using the old LFR as a fixed bridge in another build.
Only had to modify my template for the bridge route a little bit to fit the OFR.
Put the new locking nut on the neck and it looks much more promising than the old one. The strings line up much better on it and I don't think I am going to have a problem with it. It isn't absolutely perfect, still a fraction of a millimeter lower on the treble side of the neck, but it shouldn't make a huge difference. You can see it here:
It's only really noticeable to the touch but even then, it's an improvement.
Tomorrow I will screw in the sides of the router jig to the MDF base just for extra sturdiness, then hopefully I can start routing out the neck pocket and pickups and all that nice stuff.
iRaiseTheDead
Ashes Of Rebirth
thats a pretty thin neck!
1-5/8" at the nut, the contour on the back is Warmoth's standard/thin option but yeah it feels promising, can't wait to play it after having it sit around for over 2 years
. Got my router jig up and running. Unfortunately I couldn't find any angle iron around so I settled for wood instead. Not too pleased with the result as the wood kinda bent with the weight of the router. Next time around gonna look harder for some metal.
Anyways, pictures:
That's the bit at its maximum depth. Nowhere near the body. I took some scrap MDF and made a riser platform for it.
Was still too short, the bit was just grazing the top so I added another scrap sheet of particle board under the whole thing.
Well that's the final result. From eyeballing it, everything seems pretty level, but there are a lot of ridges and lines and stuff that need to be planed down. Gonna either sand the whole top level or go at it with the planer. THEN I will finally start routing the neck pocket and pups.
Anyways, pictures:
That's the bit at its maximum depth. Nowhere near the body. I took some scrap MDF and made a riser platform for it.
Was still too short, the bit was just grazing the top so I added another scrap sheet of particle board under the whole thing.
Well that's the final result. From eyeballing it, everything seems pretty level, but there are a lot of ridges and lines and stuff that need to be planed down. Gonna either sand the whole top level or go at it with the planer. THEN I will finally start routing the neck pocket and pups.
After a week and a half of ass-tastic weather, some sun started to show and it finally feels like summer so I started working on it again. I sanded the ridges and imperfections out of the body as best I could with a palm sander to prep it for routing.
I think the router bit pushed in a little into the template so the neck probably won't be as snug as I would've liked but hopefully it should be fine still.
So that's where I'm at now. Only went about 6.7 mm in to the Floyd route which according to the site is the minimum depth (the shelf part where the studs are). I didn't want to go too deep on the neck pocket and pickups so I'm gonna find out how deep I have to go and then finish up later today or tomorrow hopefully. Wish I had a normal router instead of a plunge
.
I think the router bit pushed in a little into the template so the neck probably won't be as snug as I would've liked but hopefully it should be fine still.
So that's where I'm at now. Only went about 6.7 mm in to the Floyd route which according to the site is the minimum depth (the shelf part where the studs are). I didn't want to go too deep on the neck pocket and pickups so I'm gonna find out how deep I have to go and then finish up later today or tomorrow hopefully. Wish I had a normal router instead of a plunge
.
scherzo1928
has wood for you
Looks ´pretty clean, great job.
b7string
Well-Known Member
Great work dude! Looking sharp
Rusti
Well-Known Member
Hey! nice job there
next time you could try with some plywood for holding the router. turn the ply vertically and it wont bend
next time you could try with some plywood for holding the router. turn the ply vertically and it wont bend
Yeah after the MDF mishap yesterday I was thinking that maybe next time I will use plywood or something. It might have been the humidity outside while I was routing. Makes me more excited to move because now I'll actually have a workshop in a garage with benches that aren't cluttered with random stuff.Hey! nice job there
next time you could try with some plywood for holding the router. turn the ply vertically and it wont bend
Update: basically finished the pickup routes, gotta make the middle one a tad bit deeper bat that's about it. Overall very happy with how they turned out. The neck pocket is pretty decent too, there might just be a small area where it went a bit too deep, I'll check later when I do a test fit.
PICTURES!
This is after all the routing was done. I had to square off the pickup routes for the humbuckers though so they would fit. Used a chisel for that:
There as one small booboo (the left circle in this picture) where I think the chisel slipped or something. I ended up having to make the route a bit bigger as the pickup didn't fit so this was taken care of, no pic of that though. The other circle is where I noticed a slight gap between the two pieces of the top wood. After I stain it and everything I will probably fill it with some epoxy, good idea? If not, lemme know of a better one.
Test fit the pickups; I'm liking it.
Here's the neck pocket.
Cleaned up the edges a bit.
Edit: Checked to see how well the neck fits with the body. Wasn't too please, right now the edge of the fretboard comes out and would probably interfere with the pickup ring. So I think I might put a small shim at the back of the neck pocket (closest to the pickups) so it fits better or cut the end of the fretboard a bit. We'll see, but I would rather have a tighter fit on there.
PICTURES!
This is after all the routing was done. I had to square off the pickup routes for the humbuckers though so they would fit. Used a chisel for that:
There as one small booboo (the left circle in this picture) where I think the chisel slipped or something. I ended up having to make the route a bit bigger as the pickup didn't fit so this was taken care of, no pic of that though. The other circle is where I noticed a slight gap between the two pieces of the top wood. After I stain it and everything I will probably fill it with some epoxy, good idea? If not, lemme know of a better one.
Test fit the pickups; I'm liking it.
Here's the neck pocket.
Cleaned up the edges a bit.
Edit: Checked to see how well the neck fits with the body. Wasn't too please, right now the edge of the fretboard comes out and would probably interfere with the pickup ring. So I think I might put a small shim at the back of the neck pocket (closest to the pickups) so it fits better or cut the end of the fretboard a bit. We'll see, but I would rather have a tighter fit on there.
kylendm
Electrical Mercenary
Needs. MoAr. Lacquer!
Just kidding dude. It's looking nice as hell! Keep it up.
Just kidding dude. It's looking nice as hell! Keep it up.
Not gonna lie I was tempted to lacquer it up right then and there so I could play it sooner but I will be patient. Anyway, UPDATE!
It finally cooled down a bit today and wasn't humid so I took advantage of the situation.
I did some routing and chiseling to make the little shelf and was prepared to do more chiseling to make the slot for the block until I remembered I made a template just for this reason.
I still have no idea why I made the template so small, it seemed like a good idea at the time. In any case it worked out fine though.
I reached maximum depth from the front so I had to break out the drill press and p.o.s. Mastercrap routing bit to finish it up.
Turned out okay. I'm really not too worried about the stuff in the trem cavities since they will be covered up anyway.
Slight mishap here: the bearing rode up a bit too high and it bit into the body where I didn't want it too. This shouldn't be a problem though, I'll just route it a bit more into a smooth semicircle and say that it's easier access to removed the covers that will be held on by magnets.
I also realized that the control cavity template I made is too big, which is good news for me since I was thinking of making a smaller one anyway. Most likely just gonna end up having a volume knob and pickups switch anyway so I don't need a ton of room.
That's all for today.
It finally cooled down a bit today and wasn't humid so I took advantage of the situation.
I did some routing and chiseling to make the little shelf and was prepared to do more chiseling to make the slot for the block until I remembered I made a template just for this reason.
I still have no idea why I made the template so small, it seemed like a good idea at the time. In any case it worked out fine though.
I reached maximum depth from the front so I had to break out the drill press and p.o.s. Mastercrap routing bit to finish it up.
Turned out okay. I'm really not too worried about the stuff in the trem cavities since they will be covered up anyway.
Slight mishap here: the bearing rode up a bit too high and it bit into the body where I didn't want it too. This shouldn't be a problem though, I'll just route it a bit more into a smooth semicircle and say that it's easier access to removed the covers that will be held on by magnets.
I also realized that the control cavity template I made is too big, which is good news for me since I was thinking of making a smaller one anyway. Most likely just gonna end up having a volume knob and pickups switch anyway so I don't need a ton of room.
That's all for today.
Rusti
Well-Known Member
Why don't you just extend the routing on the bottom side for a couple mm making that side straight again?
...moments like these that make me question why I'm in engineering
. For some reason I thought I was somehow limited with the cover, but of course it isn't made yet, duh. So yeah that's a great idea Rusti, should I make a slot or something in the cover itself to get it off easier or leave it all nice and flush and use other magnets to take it off when I need to? Fixed the trem cover route.
And finished up the trem route.
The top and bottom part of that larger route are freehand as I'm sure many of you can tell.
Turned out okay but the stupid flipping bearing kept riding up which made a bunch of inconsistent grooves and stuff in there, luckily it will be covered up.
Also drilled out for the bridge posts.
For some reason the picture is on its side, but it looks like the trem route as a whole is mortified. That's probably because the trem posts that I drilled are too big
. Gonna have to go out and buy a 1/2" dowel now and fill it up, guess I'll have to drill for 3/8" instead. This is actually kind of a good thing because the one post I drilled for broke through into the route a little bit because I was stupid and made the back trem route too big. This is the first fuck up along with the bridge posts being too big but hopefully with the dowel and the smaller posts it will be fixed. Here's a shot of what I mean about it breaking through to the route:
I'll go buy the dowel today and glue it so it can be finished up tomorrow, while I'm at it I might as well get a bit more MDF to start making the templates for the top carve.
Edit: GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! Found me a bit of angle iron when I went to get the dowel and MDF. Haven't been able to use it yet but I guess I didn't look hard enough last time.
And finished up the trem route.
The top and bottom part of that larger route are freehand as I'm sure many of you can tell.
Turned out okay but the stupid flipping bearing kept riding up which made a bunch of inconsistent grooves and stuff in there, luckily it will be covered up.
Also drilled out for the bridge posts.
For some reason the picture is on its side, but it looks like the trem route as a whole is mortified. That's probably because the trem posts that I drilled are too big
. Gonna have to go out and buy a 1/2" dowel now and fill it up, guess I'll have to drill for 3/8" instead. This is actually kind of a good thing because the one post I drilled for broke through into the route a little bit because I was stupid and made the back trem route too big. This is the first fuck up along with the bridge posts being too big but hopefully with the dowel and the smaller posts it will be fixed. Here's a shot of what I mean about it breaking through to the route: I'll go buy the dowel today and glue it so it can be finished up tomorrow, while I'm at it I might as well get a bit more MDF to start making the templates for the top carve.
Edit: GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! Found me a bit of angle iron when I went to get the dowel and MDF. Haven't been able to use it yet but I guess I didn't look hard enough last time.
Rusti
Well-Known Member
Lol yeah i wasnt sure about to suggest that cause i thought there was a reason why you didnt do it already
CrushingAnvil
Ironically enough, now in Jesus Land
Good thread, dude. Nice move with the floyd - That logo looks horrible though 
Good thread, dude. Nice move with the floyd - That logo looks horrible though
Yeah the wood burning tool wasn't very even but it's gonna be covered by flame maple anyway. I'll get around to sanding the clear off of the headstock soon.
