Scratch build 2 - Hollow body

[Danuda]

It begins.
This is a continuation from some planning I did to build myself a scratch built guitar.  (http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17945.0)  Now that all the planning is out of the way it is time to get started.  I used GIMP to draw out the body.  Sort of a Gretsch/Gibson 335 but more Gretsch than anything.  Then had it printed out full scale at a print shop.

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The body is 18.5” long by 15.25” wide and 2.25” thick.  Larger than a Les Paul but not huge since I am a smaller person (5’7”) and I didn’t think an enormous guitar would be comfortable.  I was going to do a carve top, but I changed my mind and decided to go flat.

I bought a piece of acrylic and cut the shape of the body out.

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I originally planned on using this as a routing template for the body itself but I changed my mind.  The maple I am using has an annoying tendency to tear out so I will just rough cut and then sand it.  I will use this later for the neck pocket route though.

Next I cut out and shaped the neck in some acrylic.

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This is just the taper from the nut back the heel.

Then I shaped the heel.

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I debated using a warmoth neck to match the heel so it would be a universal joint.  I don’t have a spare neck and I only have one guitar and would rather not take it apart.  Laziness prevails and it won’t be compatible with Fender style necks.

I took my maple and rough cut the shape off from the acrylic template.  Then it was time to glue the pieces together.

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This sucker weighed a lot!  Good thing it will be hollow.

I never really have the exact tool I need so I always improvise.

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I used my drill press as a spindle sander to get the maple to approximate dimensions.  I bought a fitting for a spindle sander and then just stuck it in the press.  Then I added some plywood and clamped it down for a larger platform to work with.

This is the result.

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I put the maple and walnut tailpiece I am making on the get an idea of how it might look.  It isn’t finished.  It is still too thick and the walnut and maple inlay needs a little finish work still.  not bad for never having done inlay before.  I also marked the edges of the body for cutting out the hollow. I forgot to take pictures but basically I drilled a hole and then used my jigsaw to cut out the cavities.  It is hollow all the way around except at the pickups and the bridge.

Now it was time to put the walnut caps on the top and bottom.

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I used walnut that is slightly under 1/4 “.  I am going to be doing a 1/4 “ binding so I didn’t want any walnut showing.

I have seen a lot of people join the two pieces first, but with the tools I have that seemed more difficult.  Instead I put it on one piece at a time.

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I used a scrap board to help clamp the first side down evenly.

After that I just repeated with the other side and then flipped it over and did the back.

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Here it is with all the pieces on.  Some of it has already been cut down a little.  I ran out of “don’t piss the neighbors off” time and had to stop.  The top doesn't look even because it isn't.  The walnut was not an exact thickness.  That will be sanded down later.

After I rough cut the walnut I used my makeshift spindle sander to finish it off.

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I also sanded the top and bottom level.  It was driving me crazy.  I think it is turning out quite nicely.

Next was the “f-holes”.  I drew the design on the body and then used the drill press to make starter holes.  I purchased a small scroll saw blade for my jigsaw and rough cut out the design.  Then I sanded it to the exact design.

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I think it turned out pretty nice.

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Another picture with the tailpiece on.  Any more work will have to wait.  I can’t cut the next hole because of noise issues so here it sits until the weekend when I can use my power tools.

Next up the last f-hole, the binding and controls.  The neck pocket is going to have to wait until I am done with the neck.  I want to do a scrap piece and test the neck pocket out and make sure it is snug before I start cutting into the body.

Also, that chip at the bottom of the walnut is driving me nuts.  I have no idea when that happened or how it happened.  I need to think of a good way of repairing it.  some of it will be covered with the binding but still.  :icon_scratch:

 

[Eric Banjitar]

Wow! beautiful work there! Keep us posted!

 

[NonsenseTele]

Wow! beautiful work there! Keep us posted!

+1

 

[mgaut051]

Looking good!

 

[Schmitty]

Amazing work! That will look fantastic once it is complete. I really likeyour tail piece.

 

[rapfohl09]

Wowww great job! Your builds are stunning! :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

Very nice and interesting work! That's going to be a real showpiece!

I'm curious about that tailpiece, though. Is that decorative, or do you intend to run the strings through it? If it's functional, is the wood over a metal frame of some sort? If not, how is that to be attached? My concern is that if it's functional and non-reinforced you're going to be putting a large shear load parallel to the wood grain, which is mechanically weak. First time you string it up and bring it to tune, you're liable to tear that tailpiece off. But, if the whole piece is glued directly to the top, it may not be an issue.

 

[Danuda]

Very nice and interesting work! That's going to be a real showpiece!

I'm curious about that tailpiece, though. Is that decorative, or do you intend to run the strings through it? If it's functional, is the wood over a metal frame of some sort? If not, how is that to be attached? My concern is that if it's functional and non-reinforced you're going to be putting a large shear load parallel to the wood grain, which is mechanically weak. First time you string it up and bring it to tune, you're liable to tear that tailpiece off. But, if the whole piece is glued directly to the top, it may not be an issue.

I am going to attach it with a hinge.  I am hoping that the wood is strong enough to support the string tension.  Archtop guitars often use Ebony tailpieces that are unsupported.  As an example - Benedetto. 

If the maple ends up being so weak that it breaks then I will make an ebony one.  I was just hoping to have things match a little.  I could possible route the back and hide a support system, but we will see.

 

[greywolf]

Beautiful work , can't wait to see the final result

 

[dmraco]

flat top or carved top?

 

[Danuda]

Flat top.  The walnut I was able to get wasn't thick enough to book match and do a carve top.

 

[DangerousR6]

WOW, that's looking awesome... :headbang1:

 

[whitebison66]

Looking really nice!

 

[Danuda]

Working on the neck and doing some binding.
I missed some pictures working on the neck but basically all I did was use my trusty Skil jigsaw and cut out the headstock angle on some birdseye maple.  If your stock is 3/4 “ then draw a box 3 ¼” wide and cut diagonal.  Done.  Then I attached the wings.



Next up was doing the binding.  I was incredibly worried about this part.  I don’t particularly like using routers and I was really nervous about tear out.  All the work could be ruined by one slip.  Turns out I was overly concerned.



The binding channel is really shallow so it cut very smooth and easy.  I used a router bit that was sized for the binding I was using on Stewmac’s website.  It worked great.

Next was to put on the binding.  I chose white plastic binding since I heard it was easy to work with.



Yep super easy.  It bends without much effort and stays (for the most part) how you bent it.  The glue I used was basically what Stewmac recommends.  It dries very fast so make sure that you do small sections at a time.  It is a little like lacquer though.  If you mess up you can put more glue in and the new glue melts the old glue.

These two pictures are just for fun.  The binding is off and I lined things up as much as I could to get an idea of what it will look like.  Again the color is messed up.  The light above my table washes everything out and makes it look weird.  The prior pictures give a better idea of what the walnut looks like.  The headstock of the neck will also have a walnut cap and have a binding.





You can see in this picture how overly thick the tailpiece is.  I still have not gotten around to thinning it out.  It will probably be half as thick as it is now.

I am getting close to being finished.  All that is left is the truss rod channel, attaching the fretboard, shaping the neck, attaching the headstock veneer, binding it, drilling the tuner holes and then routing the neck pocket (another step that makes me nervous, there will be many test runs on scrap wood) and routing the pickup cavities.

 

[CrackedPepper]

Amazing - thank you for sharing your progress.

 

[ramonet]

Really nice. Cool design and good execution. Keep on workin, we want to see it finished (I think you too...). Building guitars from scratch it's a good way to entertain yourself

 

[rapfohl09]

Great work! You've inspired me to take the step into a semi-hollow build that I have wanted to do for a lonnnggg time.

 

[Danuda]

Great work! You've inspired me to take the step into a semi-hollow build that I have wanted to do for a lonnnggg time.

Glad I could be an inspiration.  I have wanted to make a hollow body for quite a while myself.

 

[Danuda]

Practice first and learning something new

I forgot to take a few picture but basically all I did was glue the fretboard to the neck and trim the sides.  That left me with this.



I like how there is a subtle flame effect on the sides of the maple.

Next I wanted to shape the back contours for the neck.  What I did was take a piece of graph paper and scale out a cross section of the neck.  I then drew the curve I wanted and measure out what angles would need to be filed out to build the curve.  I think the picture may explain it better.



I started filing (I used a rasp actually) from one line on the top to a line on the side.  I am not really sure if that makes much sense, but it is an easy way of getting a uniform curve if you don’t have any templates to work with.

Here it is with one side done.



I repeated the same steps on the other side and then sanded it by hand. 



The picture is kind of blurry but you get the idea.  The neck is basically like Warmoth’s 59 roundback but just a little thinner at the first fret and a tiny bit at the 12th.



After I was done (or a few days later, I was up till 5 AM finishing the neck contour) I put the peg head face on.



I used leftover walnut from the guitar body and glued one side on at a time.  Joining wood that thin seemed more difficult than splitting it up that way.  It worked in the end and I trimmed the excess with my trusty, paid itself over 100x Skil jigsaw.  I again missed taking pictures.  Ooops.

Here is where I wish I would have done some practicing.  After I finished I decided I wanted to have binding on the headstock.  So what did I do?  I grabbed my router and went at it.  I should have practiced first, I wasn’t used to working on something that small and it was hard to work with.  I got tear out at one of the corners too.  Boooo!  I spent the next 8 hours of work time fixing the mistakes.  With the walnut tear out I cut the corner off that had the issue and recut another piece to match and glued it back on.  Then it was just putting the binding on.  It didn’t turn out bad (there are a couple of spots I am not super happy with that my wife tells me I am just being picky).  The trim piece needs to have some fill.  It will mostly blend in when it is done.



If you look at the lower left corner of the peg head you can see the tear out repair.  It was a huge chunk that came off.  Also as you can see the holes for the tuners have been drilled.  I am putting Schaller vintage open back tuners on.  I liked the retro vibe they had and it seemed to fit with my design.  It requires a larger hole at the top for press bushings.  I just locked the neck down on my drill press and switched bits so the holes lined up perfectly.



Side view.  You can see the pencil mark for where the excess wood has to come off to get to the correct thickness.



Here is a better picture of the back of the neck.



Its starting to come together.  Even though it was a PTA I am glad I went with the headstock binding.  It really brings it together I think.  I drilled a couple of holes for the controls, but I got lazy and stopped.  The hole on the lower bout is for a master volume, and the one by the “f-hole” is a master tone, there will be another hole on the upper bout for the pickup selector but that has a different hole size so I didn’t bother installing it.  I am still on the fence about the master tone.  I have thought about having individual tone or individual volume controls over there.  We will see.  After that there is only one more scary thing left to do, route the neck pocket.  Ugh, I am not looking forward to that.  I may avoid it till the last minute like I always seem to do.

I have also abandoned the maple and walnut tailpiece.  After I got the neck done and did my mock up by laying it all on the floor I didn’t like it.  There is no maple on the top of the guitar, it just looked wrong so I ordered a chunk of ebony and will make a new one out of that.  The truss rod cover will be ebony as well.  Just to keep things all matchy matchy.

 

[Updown]

:dontknow: how did I miss this great thread 

My hat goes off to you Danuda ...
WOW ... this is very interesting and detailed work, plus a great looking guitar coming on here.  :icon_thumright:
Excellent work  :hello2:
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