a first build..

makepeace · 2012-01-29T23:02:21+00:00

Howzit dudes and dudettes ? I thought it was eventually time to start a thread detailing the first guitar build that I've been preparing for, hopefully to be able to provide you with a good read and some insight, and to hear your ideas and tips, but also for myself - just to draw some inspiration/motivation and get the show on the road :yup: You'll also have to excuse me at times, as I'll be juggling this between the studies and work :?. Ok so, a few of you might have some slight ideas of my plans - and for some insiders and good eyes, fully fledged ones even - but for the others its a surprise for the moment! But as all good surprises are preceded by hints, it only seems fitting to furnish you with some pics! The blanks are slightly darker and browner than in the photos. I bought 25mm and 50mm planks from Rarewoods, both 2.5m long and about 200 wide. I'll have enough for two bodies, and I'll be doing them one at a time to get my chops up so I'll have at least one great body. The first top has quite a plain, straight grain, however as you see the second set at the top will be a little more interesting. If you had a good eye, you'd see they've been planed to about 40mm and 7mm using an awesome friends awesome planer-thicknesser. Very cool tool. I've already joined the first top and back using a router with a flush trim bit for the jointing, and loads of clamps, wax paper and cold glue. The joints came out pretty well I think: Really love the marble-y grain of these pieces. A bit of a pity about the knots, but they have been strategically placed, and fortunately won't factor in the aesthetics of the finished product as they'll be hidden, either by things, or they'll be on the inside. I've kept some sawdust from the planing which I'll mix with some glue to use as a filler for these knots just for integrity's sake (although if anyone has other ideas, I'd love to hear them!). I also have a couple of pieces of 400x500 perspex that I'll have CNC'd to a set of plans so that I'll have a set of near to perfect templates. More soon, lets hear some guesses (although it should be pretty easy by now) ?

Wizard

If you're lazy:
http://www.liberon.co.uk/french-polishes/gallery_files/site/2136/7731/7746/7776/16482.pdf

AlanRatcliffe

Proper French Polishing is an art and takes years to learn to do properly - I used to know a pro FPer and he reckoned he only started getting the hang of it after five years of doing it all day every day. I've done a few guitar bodies and they ended up looking stunning - it really does bring out the depth of the wood. However, six months later they were all scratched, dinged and scruffy. Shellac is also highly sensitive to liquids and spill alcohol on it once and it's ruined...

makepeace

Thanks for the insight Alan. Guess I'll have to do lots of practice.

However, six months later they were all scratched, dinged and scruffy. Shellac is also highly sensitive to liquids and spill alcohol on it once and it's ruined...

Yeah this is the main thing I'm worried about.. They say that flaws are easily fixed (if you know what you're doing of course), so that will probably be a hassle from a maintenance perspective. I've also read that a lot of people apply a poly top coat at the end - the most common one I've read about is the Minwax wipe on poly. I would imagine this puts paid to an potential repairs though, and probably affects the tone a tiny bit, but that's probably not noticeable. At least it will protect against moisture of all kinds..

makepeace

I've been a very bad build report poster.. This seems to be taking forever. Things are going to start hotting up from now on though; got my templates cut on the CNC mill at vac work, pictures of which I will post this weekend. Everything is pretty much ready to go!

makepeace

OK, go time. These are the templates that I cut myself on a XYZ SMX5000, or rather I told it what to do, which was cool.

Started messing around today. Tried to do a rough cut of the profile with the bandsaw, however the blade wasn't narrow enough, and the thing was labouring a bit with the thickness of the wood - its actually a meat-saw :/. So it was a bit of a pain. Resorted to using the Forstner bit - which was tedious, but ended up working out pretty well.

Marked everything out properly with the template.

Decided to do the cavities first. I set the drill press for the tip to bottom-out at about 8mm from the bottom of the body. Going for a face thickness of about 6mm - same as the top.

Went at them with the 22mm Forstner at about 700rpm. First time I've used one of these bits for anything and I must say I really like them.

The walnut is also proving to be very easy to work with which was one of my initial worries..

Jusqu'ici tout va bien ?

G-Man

Very impressive, it's looking good man!

shaunf

Looking very cool. Love the templates.

nicovlogg

Very nice!

makepeace

Been a pretty eventful morning.

Finished rough cutting the cavities.

Screwed the template on and got ready to route the cavities.

Set the router depth to the thickness of the top.

That plate that you can see attached to the bottom of the router is the one I made for the router table. Coming in use here to give me a wider base to prevent any stuff ups.

Distaster strikes! One of the commutater contacts decided to disintegrate ☹

Fortunately I have a spare router exactly like the one I was using - the problem with that one is one of the handles had broken off. Was planning on using it for the router table. Took the rotor out and put it in the base with both handles.

Also decided to clean the bearings.

Finished routing the first cavity.

Both cavities done:

Unfortunately I forgot to put the plate back on and managed to put a gouge in the top cavity >☹

Right where the f-hole will be. Perfect :-[.

Mixed some swarf with a bit of meranti wood-filler and cold glue to fill the gouge.

Hopefully it turns out alright, was waiting to stuff something up.

Neon-Gecko

Be careful when you rout the profile. Certain areas will be more prone to chip-out, I have seen more than one build head south because of this. The only suggestion I can make is to be certain that the router bit is sharp and to go really slow...

makepeace

Yeah, I noticed chipping of the bits that stick out from the forstner cuts, but as you said before, they chipped 'perfectly' and didn't chip into the profile. Will make sure to be very careful. Think I'm going to get a new bit for the outer profile, cause I've noticed this one is struggling a bit. I won't rout flush to the template, but will rather make up a sanding drum to do the final millimeter or so.

Gearhead

Yep, that's the longer safer way: drill, rout, drum sand. Makes no sense for the pro but a lot of sense for us mere mortals since we'd rather take the time. Keep at it!

nicovlogg

Looking very neat!

Neon-Gecko

makepeace wrote Yeah, I noticed chipping of the bits that stick out from the forstner cuts, but as you said before, they chipped 'perfectly' and didn't chip into the profile. Will make sure to be very careful. Think I'm going to get a new bit for the outer profile, cause I've noticed this one is struggling a bit. I won't rout flush to the template, but will rather make up a sanding drum to do the final millimeter or so.

I picked up a handy tip the other day from a bloke who builds in Israel. He drum sands to within a half mil to a mil of the template and then routs the rest out to minimise the potential chip-out. Having said that though, I have yet to try this technique out for myself, so I'm a little hesitant to recommend it at the moment.

makepeace

Neon Gecko wrote
makepeace wrote Yeah, I noticed chipping of the bits that stick out from the forstner cuts, but as you said before, they chipped 'perfectly' and didn't chip into the profile. Will make sure to be very careful. Think I'm going to get a new bit for the outer profile, cause I've noticed this one is struggling a bit. I won't rout flush to the template, but will rather make up a sanding drum to do the final millimeter or so.
I picked up a handy tip the other day from a bloke who builds in Israel. He drum sands to within a half mil to a mil of the template and then routs the rest out to minimise the potential chip-out. Having said that though, I have yet to try this technique out for myself, so I'm a little hesitant to recommend it at the moment.

I would of thought the other way round works better? You can get a better finish with a sander than a router bit. Think I'm just going to use one with a follower wheel, like this:

Neon-Gecko

That was my thought too, but I think the reason the bloke went with the sanding drum first and then router bit route was because his drum sander didn't have a profile bearing. I am currently looking for a way to mount bearings onto our various drum sander drums.

makepeace

What I would try first is to take the shaft of a normal drum sander out, drill the hole all the way through, and then get another longer shaft made up that sticks out on the bottom and whack a bearing + spacer assembly onto the bottom with a fixed interference fit. Should be pretty easy to get a suitable shaft made up for a reasonable price.. These things are hard to find and expensive, this should work out pretty cheaply.

Gearhead

The big deal is not to make up a drum, whether you do or do not include the bearing+follower. The big deal is making it to the size that you can get paper for - otherwise the thing will last as long as the one side of your guitar body.

makepeace

Hence my suggestion. You will be using something that already exists and for which the consumables are available and cheap.

Nicholas-L

I like this ?. Giving me some insight to one day when I grow up and build my own guitar.

Keep them coming.

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