The Luthier Community

So I now consider the guitar to be at its final shaping stage. I'm trying to make everything transition smooth from one section to the next. I'll get rid of the bulk in the horns by taking out what I can with the oscillating sander and then I'll go back and fill away the rest. After that I'll start my sanding work.










I'll final thickness the headstock and shape my mock volute. I'll then finish the headstock by making my trusrod cover.







I then took the guitar to a Halloween show that my customer was playing and here are the 2 shots I took just after I took it out of its case to show him. He was speechless, it was fun to watch.

So now it's time to layout my bridge location as the fretboard is in and I can adjust for any changes in squareness. After I layout the location of the posts I'll drill the holes out with my drill press.





Then I'll seat the posts with a garage door wheel and a mallet, after I've inserted my ground wire. The green wire isn't what I usually use it was just what was available in order to take the photo. If you'll notice, my electronics cavity preroute runs right underneath the bridge post so I've already got a channel to feed my wire to the electronics cavity.





I tested my bridge to make sure my spacing wasn't off and you'll also notice my actual ground wire is in place. When I was at the Halloween concert my customer and I placed his knob positions. I pre drill the center and then place and route the cavity templates based on my holes. But with his locations I had to redesign my cavity from scratch. So out came the French curves and I drew a new cavity and surround.





And then the tracing paper and the plexi to make templates. I hog out the bulk in the middle with a router and I sand with the oscillating sander.





Before I route the cavity I place the location of the input jack and drill out the hole. I recess the electro-socket just for the cool factor.




And then I'll route the cavity.






And have my logo inlay done.

Todd,

What a blast watching this one come to life!

A really cool looking axe, and it will look even better when shot with finish.

Thanks for taking the time to document and share this!

Dennis

Now the "driver dots" or positon markers. I just measure em out, pencil em in. Drill and glue.






Hurray!!!!! Now the frets!!!! Pretty standard. I bend, clean with naptha, cut and place, and then press them in. I do hammer from the 14th-ish fret up.







Then I cut flush, tape and bevel with the J. Brown fret bevel, level with the stewmac level and round over with my round over files, edge files and 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 4200, 6000, 8000, and 12,000 micro mesh papers. All that before I take it over to the buffer and buff the frets before pealing the tape.





Before finishing I'll place in a nut and for fun to show my customer I placed in some pick ups for show. I also punched the hole from the PU cavity to the electronics cavity.

Finish. I used a catalized laquer and was just so so with the results. But I shot it with 2 coats of vinal sealer let dry, and shot 2 more coats. Cooked it in my hot room and sanded with 400 grit paper. I final sand before spray to 220 and wet sanded the with 320 grit to "raise the grain." You can see the flame through the sealer. The I shot 6 to 8 more layers over the course of another 3 days for my final build. Then 3 days cooking at 89 degrees and 3 days to cool before sanding and buffing.





Then wetsanding. Starting with 800 grit paper, then 1200, 1500 for everything. Tops get 1800, 2400, 3200, 4000 and 6000 Micro Mesh. You might have noticed that I didn't pour full my back and sides. My thinking is why, when the kids is just going to beat the thing half to death anyway. So I saved myself 2 days work!!!

Here's out of the booth.



Oh forgot to metion that I sign and serialize the guitar inbetween sealer and final coats. Here's photo's and final sanding and buffing.









Up next assemley!!!

Tuners and Pickups in.





Recessed strap locks, yes recessed!!! I forgot to take photos of that.




Electronics. I tin my cavity with tape because I like shinny things. Pre tin my pot ends, prewire my drop in and install. I finish it all with a clear pick guard because, why not? If I'm clean why not show it off.









All that's left is the strings and nut. I almost posted it all in one day. Crazy. Todd

Nut: So I trace and mark my profile onto the nut and I take it over to my edge sander and with 2 pliers I sand away the bulk and I roll the nut to get my fall away. I've got the Ryan nut layout jig, imagine that, and I use that to space my strings.





I rounded over all the edges and sanded to 600 and buffed it before gluing it in with a couple drops of glue. And that was that. It sounded like a piano with those long strings and the neck through. Thanks for looking here are the final pics.







Oh yeah, I almost forgot the final test, the cool Check!!!! I was going for the laugh, my customer thought it was great.

Wow, what a great journey. I've never made an electric but I was going to make an acoustic baritone and now I'm leaning toward a prebaritone. You mean I can just use a banjo scale?

Thanks for this,

Tom T.