Neck build pt 2 – April 2020

Posted on April 21, 2020 by gryder
Attempt number 1 of building a 12mm MDF template from the CNC headstock template. You can see there is an awkward transition around the nut.

Due to this I’ll abandon this template. Instead, I’ll extend the head stock template to the first fret and reprint it. The neck rough shape is fine, as we’re only talking <1mm out.

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Neck build – April 2020

Posted on April 21, 2020 by gryder
Firstly, I have a new router. The little Trend T4 has done remarkably well for many years. It had one big limitation, it’s plunge depth just isn’t deep enough for working on guitar bodies and I had to improvise an number of times.

That wasn’t enough to warrant changing it, however, the bits started to slip. At best I’d end up with cuts I can’t control the depth of, at worst a 20,000 RPM spinning blade fired across the garage (!)

I spent a long time trying to decide which router to replace it with and have decided to jump up to a 1/2″ router. This is a lot heavier and is taking some getting used to. The hope is the wider variety of bits I can use with it.

I’m hoping the investment is worth it, as I use a router a lot in my build process, probably more than any other tool. As you can see I’ve gone for a Festool 1400, which means it works nicely with my existing dust extractor.
As with most routers, it comes with a side fence for cutting parallel channels. I didn’t really do that many practice cuts with the new router and that was an obvious mistake!
We got to the end result ok, but the first pass went pretty far off straight. Luckily it improved for the deeper cuts. While the router is powerful enough to cut deeper, I need to stick to my old habits of taking off a little in each pass. This allows for more control, which stopped it wandering.

A change for this build, I cut a wider channel at the end for the truss rod using a 1/2″ straight bit, instead of counter drilling by hand later in the build (which is always tough to get right)

I’m sure as I get used to the router, I’ll get a feel for the speed and depths of cuts that work well with it.
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Small CNC Machine – April 2020

Posted on April 21, 2020 by gryder
While trying to come up with a design for this build, I realised that building the same again wouldn’t be that furfilling. Espcially after a long break, chances are the quality wouldn’t actually be higher. Instead I started wondering about CNC machines. I have zero knowledge of them.

I know it is possible to build your own for guitar building, but that seemed a rather large first step. Instead I picked up a 3018 pro off Amazon and started having a play. Combined with Fusion 360 (free for non comercial / <$1000 a year turn over) it’s given me the chance to see if I like the CNC world. It’s taken most of the last couple of weeks to learn Fusion and figure out how to get a cut out of the machine that is half way acceptable.
This is the current progress. As you can see I didn’t get the depth quite right (I set it by eye). However it cleaned up fine. Outside size is correct (to within 0.1mm) however the tuner holes are small (9.6mm instead of 10mm). They drilled out easily enough. I’ve yet to figure out the flaw in the process.

The machine can build tempaltes 30cm x 18cm (hence it’s name) x 4.5cm, far too small for an actual guitar! I’m hoping the pickup templates can be cut on it, along with a drill guide for the bridge (another Schaller Hannes which I had in the house).

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Lockdown build (Guitar 4) – April 2020

Posted on April 21, 2020 by gryder
Black limba / korina body wood. I bought this as lock down was about to happen in case I needed a project. The neck will be padauk and fretboard maple, as these are the spares I had left over from previous guitars.
This is the first time I’ve tried gluing up a body blank, little nervous as I do not own a planner, so I have no option but to glue on the planned side it came with!

Unlike previous builds, I don’t yet have a clear idea of the design of this guitar

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First Assembley – Nov 2016

Posted on October 29, 2016 by gryder



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Finish Attempt 2 – Nov 2016

Posted on October 29, 2016 by gryder

These photo’s aren’t colour correct- I’d lost a bit of the love for the project at this point – so these are the photo’s taken quickly during the refinish. I found that if I never retouched a wet bit of the top, I could minimized the amount of colour removal. However this still lead to a fairly uneven finish – far better than the first attempt, but one that I’m calling “Faded Purple Denim” in the final shots.



The finish over the headstock suffered from a lot of “orange peel”, on leveling I ended up going back too far and scratching the logo. I had to re-do the finish on the headstock (I left the logo as is) and decided I could live with a more satin finish headstock the second time around.

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Finish Compatibility Failure – Oct 2016

Posted on October 29, 2016 by gryder

I was really happy with how cleanly the side came up after dying – so I proceeded to use the water based sanding sealer of Rothko and Frost (I had be advised by them it was compatible with their spirit dye). It’s say to say the end result is that it is really not!

The sanding sealer pulled the dye straight out and started to push it about – leaving a mess. I took a while off the build after this. The only thing was the sand the top back to bare wood and repeat the whole process…..

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Body Colour – Sept 2016

Posted on September 26, 2016 by gryder

Starting point, double taped edges to try and get less over-run. Sanded to 220 grit.

Two coats of black.

Sanded back with 180 and then 220 grit. Grain lifted around pickups and edges more, however the end result is fairly even.

Two coats of purple dye. Interestingly how much the inconsistencies of the black come through at this stage. Happy with the result and very little cleanup is needed on the edges.

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Headstock colour – Sept 2016

Posted on September 26, 2016 by gryder

Sanded back the black. In retrospect I should of spent some more time hand sanding with a small pad to remove the inconsistencies. After that I applied two coats of purple and left it for 24 hours to dry.

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Pickups (finally) arrived – Sept 2016

Posted on September 20, 2016 by gryder

The pickups are *finally* here after 7 weeks. Next time they will be the first thing I order! Having to go via a UK dealer probably added a couple of weeks, as they are built to order.

Other than this time they have black covers, they are the same as the last build as I really liked the combination. I did originally think about the hum-cancelling bridge, but decided to stay the same so I can compare the guitars. There are huge numbers of pickups out there, however these sound really good and fit my style of play. I can always swap in other ones down the road if I want to try out some others.

Exact models:
Bridge pickup – Lindy Fralin P-90 – bridge – stock winding
Neck pickup – Lindy Fralin Blues Special – neck – stock winding

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