I know, I know….

[casper100]

This is a Warmoth build site. And I will buy all the hardware I need from Warmoth. But I decided to go all out, put my woodworking skills to the test and build a body and neck myself.
Roasted maple neck blank was from Stewmac, cut out with a Stewmac template.
Ebony fingerboard from Exotic wood zone, shaped and fret slots cut with the Shaper Origin handheld CNC. Gold abalone fret markers (I cut the holes too deep, so I had to put two markers in each, lol.
White Wenge body purchased from a local wood shop. I have something creative in mind to lower the weight, since this is a very dense wood.
Mango top purchased from Australian Guitar Timbers.

Gonna be a Les Paul Junior type body mashed up with a Fender neck.

 

[Spud]

This is a Warmoth build site. And I will buy all the hardware I need from Warmoth. But I decided to go all out, put my woodworking skills to the test and build a body and neck myself.
Roasted maple neck blank was from Stewmac, cut out with a Stewmac template.
Ebony fingerboard from Exotic wood zone, shaped and fret slots cut with the Shaper Origin handheld CNC. Gold abalone fret markers (I cut the holes too deep, so I had to put two markers in each, lol.
White Wenge body purchased from a local wood shop. I have something creative in mind to lower the weight, since this is a very dense wood.
Mango top purchased from Australian Guitar Timbers.

Gonna be a Les Paul Junior type body mashed up with a Fender neck.

I dub this one "The Mothmnan" !!!

 

[aarontunes]

Oh.....it's on! This will be fun to watch.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Nothing wrong with that.

 

[rockandroller]

That's gonna be unbelievably cool!
Bonus points for a Magnatone Mk. VII body outline...

 

[casper100]

Body shape cut. 12 inch radius sanded into the fretboard. Nut slot cut for LSR roller nut. Headstock thinned and shaped into the fretboard.
The least interesting part of the white Wenge body is the face grain, and the body needs to lose weight, so I am going to do something crazy. I’m gonna chamber the body from the back, shape, smooth, sand and finish the chambered cavities and leave it open.

 

[casper100]

I don’t know how high Warmoth sands its fretboards, but I went up to 800 grit and it looks and feels great. Installed the side dot markers this weekend and just eyeballing it without any template, it’s not the best. Any additional fretboards I do I might do something that incorporates side markers with fret markers, like a stripe of contrasting wood that extends to the sides. Just to simplify.

Installed the frets. After sanding in the radius, it was clear my fret slots were not deep enough, so I finished them by hand. Lesson learned, if you have to do that, bevel the edges of the fret slots with a triangular file to prevent chip out.

Frets are pretty level and adequately seated with a 1 ton arbor press and caul. Ready for proper fret work now.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

That wood grain on that top is mesmerizing!

 

[rockandroller]

I have an "open-back-chambered" guitar and it sounds magnificent:


(Here's the front view...)

 

[casper100]

I have an "open-back-chambered" guitar and it sounds magnificent:
View attachment 67962

(Here's the front view...)
View attachment 67963

Cool! Glad I’m not gonna be the only one.

 

[stratamania]

@casper100 you can insert images using the insert image icon or CTL+P so they show up in the post itself rather than adding them as attachments.

 

[casper100]

@casper100 you can insert images using the insert image icon or CTL+P so they show up in the post itself rather than adding them as attachments.

Sure. I didn’t see that icon. I will start doing that. Thanks.

 

[casper100]

Did my first neck carving this weekend. Started with a gigantic round over bit on the routing table. That got me about 1/2 the way there and more importantly did a great job with the shoulders all the way to the fretboard. The rest I did with rasps, files, sanding. All in all, it took me about 4 hours of work to carve the neck and another hour or so of sanding.

 

[Rick]

You got skills!

 

[rauchman]

Did my first neck carving this weekend. Started with a gigantic round over bit on the routing table. That got me about 1/2 the way there and more importantly did a great job with the shoulders all the way to the fretboard. The rest I did with rasps, files, sanding. All in all, it took me about 4 hours of work to carve the neck and another hour or so of sanding.
View attachment 68138View attachment 68139

Terrific idea on using a router bit for the initial carve.

 

[Hodgo]

Terrific idea on using a router bit for the initial carve.

Just like papa Leo

 

[gutter0909]

This is awesome to see the progress because I'm fairly close to starting this process for the first time myself. Thanks for documenting this!

 

[casper100]

Figured the best way to set the neck template was with a laser level. Although I made the neck from a template, after excessive sanding and tweaking, it really didn’t fit my neck template so I had to make my own. Honestly, it doesn’t matter how much you check and recheck, routing that pocket is butt puckering, lol

 

[casper100]

Until I retire in a couple of years, guitar building will just be a weekend thing. This weekend I routered the neck and P90 cavities. Drilled for the neck bolts, installed the threaded inserts and put finish on the neck.

If you buy a roasted maple neck blank from Stewmac, you can buy no flame for 80 bucks, highly flamed for over 200 bucks or an intermediate flame for 130 bucks. If figured it was a 50/50 shot I would ruined my first neck, so went with the middle of the road. It has some nice flame down near the heel and at the head stock, but the rest is pretty plain.

 

[Hagwood]

Awesome work !!