First guitar build

[Megaton_900]

I decided to give making my own guitar a go.
Thought it would be handy to share my first attempt with others, to see were the difficulties are and potential problems to avoid.
Before i start, i would like to point out that i have had no previous wood working experience, so this was more for the learning experience than getting a top guitar at the end (i can hope ).
My selection of tools, and workspace are also highly limited.

I started with buying some wood.
Not as easy as i i thought, in Australia.
Around were i live, there is Bunnings, Bunnings and, wait for it... Bunnings. (Im sure there would be some kind of lumber yard, but as a complete novice, i was lost)
So, i picked up this

It is what they advertise as 'hardwood' but a few google's suggested it might be Victorian ash? (hopefully someone else can confirm? Also, as far as a quick google went, vic ash = tas oak = actually some kind of eucalyptus?)
Either way, i wasn't too fussed.
It wasn't soft pine, and it looked ok. Perfect for a 1st build.

After cutting into 1/4's i smoothed the sharp edges on the ends, and got carried away and smoothed the length side too slightly.
Not the best idea, as i had to join there shortly...

I dont have a jointer, but i do have a hand plane.
So to cut down the sides i rounded and make them flat i tried using a 'shooting board' pictured.
It made a nice shiny cut (after i sharpened the blade a bit) but i must have been rocking it around a little, as the edge appeared slightly rounded at the end.
So i decided just to go for it, by hand/eye with a straight edge.
This turned out better.

Had to buy 2 cheap sash clamps to glue them together ( i later bought a 3rd, witch probably would have helped at this stage)

 

[Megaton_900]

After a quick smooth to get rit of bits of excess glue, this was the join.
Not bad in the middle, but a bit of a gap on the ends.
This slab was still much too large, so most of the ends will be cut off anyway. (hopefully with the gaps)

Other side is nicer.

I traced my template (witch i cut out from mdf, from tracing my mtm2) and attempt to cut ~1cm from the line with a jigsaw, to make it easier for the router.

I had to do it in parts, as the little jigsaw struggled to cut through wood this thick & tough.

 

[Megaton_900]

Anti guitar
As you can see from the offcuts, the region around the horns was quite challenging to get around.
It was too tight a circle for the jigsaw to happily cut, so i had to hollow out little spots were i could start at a more severe angle.

 

[Megaton_900]

Time to route to the template.

Routing is much more of an art/skill than i had thought.
With my complete underestimate of the tool, i managed to escape with only 1 major tear-out and a few bits were it went wobbly (fixable by sanding).

The tear-out/chip

not sure what to call this, but its not how its supposed to be.

The router base was getting wobbly on the 1 horn.
Luckily this only happened in 1 spot, and not particularly deep.

Aside from those bits, i was happy with the results.

 

[Megaton_900]

Using my sash clamp again.
i found one of the chips that flew off while routing, and squared off both the chip and the hole with a chisel as best as i could.

Glued it in, with the flexy plastic coaster to stop the wood gluing onto the clamp (i used far too much glue for this bit, just to be sure)

After letting it dry, and sanding flush.

Re routed, to trim it back into shape.

Only really visible from the side, and i planned on rounding the edges slightly anyway.

Here is the join, behind were the bridge will be.
Flush most of the way, except the end 5mm, witch makes it appear as a crack.

 

[Megaton_900]

Getting a start on the neck, as it want to have the neck before i route the neck pocket in the body (and place the bridge and pickups etc)

More 'hardwood'. This was from the trimmings isle, for skirtings etc.
i found an exceptionally light piece that i liked.

Cut down to size, and in a mockup of how i will glue them.

The bits for the headstock.
Note, this is all the same species of wood.
The sides of the headstock are the darkest i could find, and the middle is the lightest.
The out parts of the neck was the same light piece, and the middle sections are the average color available in the shop.

 

[Megaton_900]

All glued up

Running out of clamps

Happy with how this turned out. About to give it a quick pass of the planer, to make it flat.

Looking a bit grubby, but promising.

Cleaned up with hand plane, and a quick sand. Also trimmed the ends so they are even lengths.

The future neck

 

[Megaton_900]

The scarf joint.
I did a quick test run on a soft pine neck i made (forgot to take pictures).
This went ALOT smoother (on the actual neck) after having sorted out how i was going to approach this, and getting in a bit of practice.

Marking off the angles.

Obliterated the excess with an electric hand planer (that thing is vicious), then made it nicer with a (proper) hand plane, and a quick sand. (pictured is immediately after the power planer)

Flipped it over, and glued.

I sanded the join (and the rest of the top of the neck) flat.
Routed for a truss rod.
The black ring is a burn mark, it is actually quite smooth and even.
This step was harder than trimming the body, as i didn't have a template.
I had to clamp a straight piece of wood to my bench and follow it with the flat side of the router base.

 

[jahosy]

Shaping up nicely there mate!! And yeh love Bunnings hahaha

For more timber selections maybe try Lazarides (QLD)
Imported Timber

or Mathews timbers (VIC) at nunawading / mitcham
Timber Melbourne | Exotic Timber Supplier | Timber supplier Melbourne

 

[Megaton_900]

A month later (after being very busy) i got back to it.

Bought some sanding drum drill bits, to smooth out the edges.
I did NOT want to get rid of some of those bumps on the inside of the horns by hand.
This worked surprisingly well for such a cobbled together kinda... duct tape solution. (excluding inhaling a good 100g of dust)

It looks quite nice (imo) now. Got rid of all the bumps, and things.
Cleaned up the patched chip a bit too.
After this picture was taken i sanded by hand a little too, to get rid of the little burn marks.
left of the chip is a discontinuous dark band (witch sanded out) and just after that is a little wiggly line that has since routing appeared.
Not sure what to do about that yet.

After sitting for a good month, the join seems to have gotten worse too
Its still the same length that is affected, but its just opened up a bit more.
Looks like i mite have to forgo a nice oil finish for a solid color...
Anyone have an idea of what to do?

 

[Megaton_900]

Planed some merbau (by hand again), this was actually a decking plank.

A mock-up

put a piece of tape over the truss rod for gluing.
I think i read this was a good idea somewhere?
I forget now, but i did anyway.

Glue-d

(now up to date, so posts will be -much- further apart )

 

[Megaton_900]

Oh wow. That's about 5mins away.
Now i know, thanks for that

 

[pondman]

You've got worm holes in that wood , lots of worm holes .
Make sure they have vacated

 

[XxJoshxX]

Did you try to route the body in one pass?
Unless your using one of those scary monster upcut spiral bits, I wouldnt recommend it.
Looks nice though.

 

[DistinguishedPapyrus]

Looks very good so far, especially for a first build. I have had the same issues in the past with router tear out and such, just gotta take it down in several layers and several passes, a bit deeper each pass. Routers are not really made to dig into bulky material removal, they're more suited for shaving small precise layers.

 

[Megaton_900]

You've got worm holes in that wood , lots of worm holes .

Yeah, the 2nd set i cut has none, but his has quite a few
Not quite sure how to make sure they are dead/gone, but i don't really mind the look (not that id intentionally make more).
Any pointers? Poke with a piece of wire?

Did you try to route the body in one pass?
Unless your using one of those scary monster upcut spiral bits, I wouldnt recommend it.
Looks nice though.

Looks very good so far, especially for a first build. I have had the same issues in the past with router tear out and such, just gotta take it down in several layers and several passes, a bit deeper each pass. Routers are not really made to dig into bulky material removal, they're more suited for shaving small precise layers.

Almost, i did it in 2 or so passes, but even so i probably should have done more. I see what you two mean now.
If i had a band saw i probably would have done closer than 1cm for the rough cut.

Thanks for all the comments

 

[Megaton_900]

Ah yes,
of the hardware that has arrived so far:
Gotoh 510 wrap around bridge (chrome)
A500k pot (still not sure if this will be necessary, certainly not going to include a tone knob)
Barrel input jack
3 way toggle, i was thinking wiring it coilsplit/humbucker/off
GFS Crunchy rails pickup (seemed like a reasonable time to try one, i have a few spare pickups to replace it if i need too)

I have also ordered some Wilkinson locking tuners 3L3R (which i have used in the past, and thought suited balance of cost to function needed here)

Going for the excruciatingly simple setup

 

[pondman]

Yeah, the 2nd set i cut has none, but his has quite a few
Not quite sure how to make sure they are dead/gone, but i don't really mind the look (not that id intentionally make more).
Any pointers? Poke with a piece of wire?




Almost, i did it in 2 or so passes, but even so i probably should have done more. I see what you two mean now.
If i had a band saw i probably would have done closer than 1cm for the rough cut.

Thanks for all the comments

They could be inactive but you seriously don't want those beetles emerging into your house and laying eggs. Boron is the usual treatment .

 

[Daf57]

What a great build project! And you appear to be going at it very well! Should be epic when done! Subbed for updates.

 

[Megaton_900]

I got back to work today, to tidy up the neck.

Here i Just trim the fretboard flush with the neck so i can hold it in my vice.

I was quite worried how the scarf joint and fingerboard glue line would turn out. Before i cut it back it looked pretty dodgy (sorry, forgot to take a picture)
After it looked like this, which was heaps cleaner, but still not as good as i was hoping.

Marked off the final thickness, on both sides to make sure its level, and got to work with the power planer (no hand plane to take off 2cm excess ).
After i planed across the neck a few times were it will be rounded, but stopped when i remembered i still needed it flat to route

Thankfully the routing went ok this time, and the scarf joint looks much cleaner after this. note this is were it will be rounded, so only really the fretboard has to be cleanly routed at this spot.