# Twin Guitar Projects (Solid Body Electric)



## ByronBlack (2 Jan 2008)

New year, new project (or three) 

Here's a couple of pics of my latest project. The walnut explorer shape body was premade and purchased from ebay, I'm going to be making the neck for this one. The other guitar is one of my own designs, the body is made from english yew and topped with some lovely figured maple, I've ordered a pre-made neck for this one.

The reason for the pre-made components is two fold. The first being I need the guitars quite quickly, as one is a for a mate who gigs regularly and has some recording due in about a months time, and I also need a new guitar quite quickly. Secondly, the parts were cheaper than I could make them and represented a great bargain.

The third guitar project which I'm currently preparing the timber for will all be completed myself bar the pre-slotted fingerboard.

Both guitars are for rock/metal and will feature humbuckers and maybe some on-board effects such as compression and distortion.

The other picture shows some walnut laminates which will be the neck for the explorer. I've clamped them together dry and left them indoors for a couple of weeks to settle. I'll then glue together and square up and leave to settle for another week or so before attaching the fingerboard and carving the neck profile ('59 les paul for those interested).

Hopefully it won't be too long before I can show some more progress, but i'm hamstrung at the moment while I wait for parts and materials.

Neck laminates






Walnut Explorer





Elm & Maple Custom





Ditto





Another shot of the explorer body


----------



## Philly (2 Jan 2008)

Wow! Going to be some pretty guitars! You leaving the explorer natural? The walnut looks tasty.
I'm awaiting some flame maple I ordered from Canada to arrive - then I'll be having a go at another guitar.
Cheers
Philly


----------



## superunknown (2 Jan 2008)

Superb, hope you will keep this thread updated with plenty of photo's. That explorer is going to rock!

I made one guitar and have been wanting to make more ever since. 

This is the guitar I made. Now it bits in the garage.


----------



## ByronBlack (3 Jan 2008)

philly - aye, the explorer is going to be a tung-oil finish, it's just going to be a bedroom and studio guitar so it doesn't need anything to tough, whereas the maple custom is for a mate so i'll be using rustins plastic coating for that one as his gigs can get a little roudy and will probably need a strong finish (which is also the reason for the bolt-on neck, a lot easier to replace if and when he breaks it! 

Nola - I like the look of that, seems to be a real rocker!


----------



## Green (5 Jan 2008)

Love Explorer style guitars.

How much did it set you back?


----------



## ByronBlack (5 Jan 2008)

Green - The walnut explorer body cost me about £40 or so, from ebay.

*Update*

Made some decent progress this week. It took me a few days to gather the various hardware parts needed and I had to wait for some stuff from america (Stew Macs) and various odds and ends that were needed to get going.

Anyways here are the pics of the current neck building proceadure:

Neck lamination being thicknessed (to 20mm)






Working out headstock angle and scarf-joint location






12 degree angle marked on neck blank as well as various 'stop' points (fingerboard, nut etc.)






Cutting scarf angle with Incra and tablesaw






Nice smooth result






Using my lovely 'Philly Plane' special baby coffin smoother






Taping of scarf joint similar to how I do mitre joints






Glue the joint






Clamping of the scarf joint






Actual size fingerboard drawn onto 6mm ply and cut out as a master template






Headstock bandsawn and rasped to shape - it's designed in such a way that the strings pass directly into the path of the machinehead so they don't have to angle away and create tension on the nut, it took a number of hours to get this design correct


----------



## Slim (5 Jan 2008)

Looking good BB. Don't show me up though by finishing these too quickly.  :wink:


----------



## ByronBlack (6 Jan 2008)

Hi Simon,

I doubt i'll be showing you up, your LP project is a lot more involved than this one, no body to make or carve etc.. although I would like to try my hand at something similar after these ones.

Some more good progress today, despite the cold I managed to get the neck about 80% complete.

On to the pics:

Truss rod installed on my lo-fi router table setup 






Neck shape drawn on and taper cut on bandsaw (oversize ready to trim to a template)






Actually starting to look like a neck






Headstock thicknessed and volute 'roughed' out ready for smoothing






Smoothed out with rasps and sandpaper






Making veneers from spalted maple for the 'backstrap' of the headstock, I'll also have one on the front.






1.5mm Veneers cut and smoothed ready for gluing






Backstrap veneer glued onto the rear of headstock. I've used a dowel to ensure that the veneer follows the curve of the volute.






Truss rod installed, fingerboard aligned and glued on






Today has gone surprisingly well. It's always a little nerve racking cutting into a blank that has taken sometime to laminte, thickness, square etc.. but luckily it's all come out quite nice.

I had to get a little creative with the bending of the veneer, I didn't have any facility to 'steam' it so I dampened it with a sponge and a little water, wrapped it in tin-foil and heated it under the grill for about 8minutes, this made it very pliable and able to follow the curve perfectly using a large dowel as a 'former'.

Tomorrow should see the final piece of veneer glued on for the front of the headstock, the shape cut and the neck itself trimmed to the template with a pattern bit.

Then it's the nerve wracking prospect of fretting the neck!


----------



## Green (6 Jan 2008)

Very interesting thread.

I wouldn't even attempt to fret a fingerboard. Hats off.


----------



## p111dom (6 Jan 2008)

Great build Colin very interesting especially for me. Can I ask where you get your specialist items like the Truss rod etc. Have you made your own fret board? If so how? If not, where did you get it? Where will you be getting pick ups etc. 

Many Thanks


----------



## Philly (6 Jan 2008)

Making great progress, Colin!
Philly


----------



## Shadowfax (6 Jan 2008)

It's looking really good, Colin. Excellent work.
Cheers.

SF


----------



## Rich (6 Jan 2008)

BB, looking great, my lad is following this thread with great interest, he's got 7 G's of his own, one of which he built himself from a kit, got him a gibson for xmas, keep the pics coming, he cant wait to see your finished product.
Cheers, Rich.


----------



## ByronBlack (6 Jan 2008)

Hi all, thanks for the nice comments!

Dom: I ordered all my 'technical' gear such as truss-rod, pre-slotted fingerboard (it also comes pre-radiused), fretwire, graphite nut and the radius sanding block from 'Stewmacs': http://www.stewmac.com/

The rest of the hardware such as the tune-o-matic bridge and the machineheads I got from various sellers on ebay. At the end of the project I'l post a full costing of the project. It's cost me about £158 so far including all the postage. It's worth noting that the stuff from stewmacs arrived quicker than an axminster delivery (2 days from when I ordered it) and so far I've not been invoived for the duty or handling.

If you prefer to get your gear in this country including tonewood, I can highly recommend David Dyke at http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/ - very friednly and helpful. 

As for pickups, I'll most probably be using some hand-wound custom humbuckers from a UK company called 'Bare Knuckle Pickups' http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/

Back to the fretboard; it's more than possible to make your own. I actually have a number of rosewood fretboard blanks ready for slotting and radiusing, the reason why I chose to go for a pre-slotted and pre-raduised fretboard was mainly due to speed, but secondly because I didn't have the costly tools to do the job reliably, you really have to perfect with the spacings otherwise the intonation can easily be out, but if I start to make more, then I'll probably invest in these tools.

If you have any further questions, then feel free to ask, my head is currently full to bursting with luthiery information!!


----------



## mrbingley (7 Jan 2008)

Looking really good BB  


Chris.


----------



## ByronBlack (7 Jan 2008)

Another update, things are starting to move quite quickly now which is good, all the tricky stuff is out of the way, here's the pics from today's work:


This is how it looks out of the clamps, pretty rough, but ready for trimming to the master template.






Template attached to the fingerboard, and trimmed with pattern bit (note: guard was not in the photo but was used for the actual routing)






Neck trimmed, and amazingly, it fits perfectly:






Glueing a couple of blocks to accept the extended 'horns' of the headstock






Headstock trimmed to template






Rear of neck showing of the backstrap veneer






Starting to come together





Tomorrow will see me starting the first process of carving the profile of the neck. I'll also most probably add the front-veneer, although I'm debating with myself whether the spalted maple would look too out of place on the front, what do you all think?

I've placed another Stew Mac order today for some fretting tools (cutters, benders and files) when that arrives I can stuck into the fretting.

In the meantime while I wait for that stuff to arrive, I'll be fitting the pre-made neck to the maple custom body as that arrived today, I'll also be making a new template for the explorer body as I want to modify the shape a little, at the moment it's a little to 'round' and soft, I'll be making the angle and edges a wee bit sharper and straighter.

My budget for these projects has now reached £221, the fretting tools and other bits and bobs from todays orders bumped it up a bit. The fretting tools are quite expensive, but I'd rather do the job well with the correct tools than hash it up with inadequate tools.

I'll have to wait until next month to get the electrics, pickups and finishing supplies, but it's really starting to come together.


----------



## p111dom (8 Jan 2008)

Again very nice Colin. Was the template for the neck your own design or bought? How did you attach the template to the finger board without screwing into it? Order numbers or part numbers from the Stewmac web site would be nice. Thier web site's a bit bamboozling to the uninitiated.

Cheers


----------



## Philly (8 Jan 2008)

Wow! You are the man progress, Colin :lol: 
As for the headstock veneer - how about walnut instead? I have some I can send you if you need some?
Just my 2p worth,
Philly


----------



## ByronBlack (8 Jan 2008)

Dom

Here are the part numbers of the stuff that I ordered from Stew Macs

0020 Stewmac Medium Super Glue 20 Gram
0619 Fret Nippers - $28.98 
1696 Fret Bending Pliers - $32.88
1826 Dressing Stick with 8 Belts - $8.95 
3357-B Black Neck Screw x 8 - $0.92 ea
5562 Sandpaper Sampler Package - $15.88

And the first order:

0002-G Inlay 5mm Gold Pearl Dot x 10 - $0.60 ea
0150 High Fretwire - 2ft piece x 5 - $5.22 ea
0417 8in Sanding Block with 12in radius - $15.95
0964-G Gold Pearl Inlay Side x 10 - $5.50 
0982 2-Way Hot Rod Truss Rod - $15.09 
1058-R Rosewood Gibson Scale Fingerboard - $18.36
1869 3/16in Slotted Trem-Nut - $6.53 
4895 Fretting Hammer Brass/Plastic - $19.60

Philly - I do have some walnut, and did consider it but it's a bit bland the piece I have - do you have any burr walnut by any chance (If thats not too cheeky to ask)?


----------



## Slim (8 Jan 2008)

Looking Excelent BB. Great Progress. I think I know what you mean about the explorer being a bit too rounded.

What about an ebony veneer for the headstock. I bought some for my LP project. It has some nice colour flashes through it. I have loads if you want some.


----------



## p111dom (8 Jan 2008)

Thanks for that Colin I'll save this thread for future reference. Keep it up!!!


----------



## Slim (8 Jan 2008)

BB, here is a pic of the Ebony. I believe it is Macassar Ebony.







If you want a piece just let me know.


----------



## ByronBlack (8 Jan 2008)

Simon, thats some lovely looking wood, thanks for the offer, I'll have to mull it over if thats ok, I don't want to make a rash decision after all this effort, but it certainly looks fantastic! Out of interest, did you veneer your headstock?

Dom, I forgot to answer your other question. With regards the neck template, all it does is add the correct taper, you have to work this out yourself depending on a number of factors such as; string spread on bridge, nut width, how much space you want on the edge of the fretboard etc..

Basically, you need to decide what hardware and string-spread you are going to use and then using these values draw it out and the length of the fingerboard - this will depend on what scale length you are using. I'm using the gibson compensated scale length and only using 22 frets instead of 24, so my neck is shorter than say a strat neck, it can be a minefield to work out, but stew-macs has a fret spacing calculator to help you work these things out.

To stick the template on, I just used double sided tape, you have to makesure that all your centre lines line up, and with a pre-radiused board you have to be careful because the template is only stuck on in the middle so it has the potential to rock either side of the radius if you push down to hard during the routing. Ideally, you would do this on a non-radiused fretboard, and then add the radius in afterwards.


----------



## p111dom (8 Jan 2008)

Thanks again!


----------



## Slim (8 Jan 2008)

ByronBlack":1he7vqms said:


> Simon, thats some lovely looking wood, thanks for the offer, I'll have to mull it over if thats ok, I don't want to make a rash decision after all this effort, but it certainly looks fantastic! Out of interest, did you veneer your headstock?



No worries BB. If you want a piece, PM me your address and I will pop one in the post.

I haven't veneered my headstock yet, but I am going to use the ebony when I get round to it.


----------



## ByronBlack (8 Jan 2008)

thanks simon, thats very kind of you, I'll mull it over the next few nights and let you know


----------



## ByronBlack (10 Jan 2008)

Neck carving!

This is one of the stages I was probably more worried about, not really about the process, but the potential to end up with a neck profile that gives me cramp - which I've had over the years with various guitars; usually skinny 'Ibanez JEM' style necks hurt my hands. Actually, the maple neck you see in some of these photo's for my other project is actually a skinny neck, but alas it's not for me so I don't have to worry about playing it! 

The aim for me today was to just get the rough carve done, to remove the excess square stock and to work out the heal and headstock transitions, once that section is complete, I'll make up some templates of a profile that I want ('59 Les Paul) as used on beautiful gibson explorer I used to own, it was a joy to use! Because I have thick hands that cramp easily I prefer more neck wood to fill my hand more - makes it easier for me to play, I'm quite tactile with the neck rather being all fingers and thumbs!

So, here's the pics of todays work:


Square neck blank ready for carving, transition points drawn on






First transition brought to height, this and the heal transition act as 'gauges' for the rest of the neck.






Heal transition being rasped into shape






Finished heal section






Using a spokeshave to 'join the dots' of the two gauges, knocking of the edges first and then blending the meat of neck with the two ends






Further rasping/spokeshaving and a little sanding of 80 grit brings me to stage 1 of the rough carve






You can see in comparison how much more chunky my neck is with the maple one, also my neck generally is wider at the nut end which will result in a wider string spread and increased ease in playing for someone with larger hands/fingers like me, i'm not quite sausage fingered but I do prefer a little more space between the strings.

Tomorrow should see the shape and profile refined and sanded upto around 800 grit and a couple of sealer coats to go on and then sanded upto 2000grit/0000 steel wool until uber smooth! I've also received my fretting tools from Stew Macs (only 2 days since ordering again - amazing service!) so I migh get time to start that process

I've yet to decide on the front headstock veneer, I think i'll apply some finish to the spalted maple and see how that looks before making a final judgement.


----------



## wizer (10 Jan 2008)

I love this sort of woodworking. So satisfying to work those shapes to your own specification.

Looking good mate.


----------



## Slim (10 Jan 2008)

Excelent job BB. Looks great. I'm starting to wonder now whether I am doing my neck in rather the wrong order. :? 

Keep up the good work.


----------



## ByronBlack (11 Jan 2008)

Tom, your right, working a shape like this by hand is very rewarding, and surprisingly easy, it's a lot more straight forward than I thought it would be.

Here's todays progress:

Sanded to 400 grit






Single coat of danish oil






Close ups of the transitions











With the weekend coming up, I'm confident of getting the headstock issue resolved, some more finish of the neck, the fret-board sanded and oiled, and of course the frets installed! Its getting quite exciting now!

Simon, I think your going to be really pleased with your LP, this Walnut is similar to yours and is looking really good with just a bit of finish on. What finish are you going to use for yours?


----------



## Slim (11 Jan 2008)

This is all progressing far too quickly BB. Where are the mistakes?

The Walnut LP is actually my brother in law's. Mine is Yew. I think he is planning on clear laquer for the Walnut. I was going to try some sort of burst on my yew, but I don't know if I have the guts. :?


----------



## ByronBlack (11 Jan 2008)

Simon - you can actually see a mistake in the last pics, I didn't position the veneer correctly so it doesn't fully cover the volute. I could repair this by attaching another piece of veneer, but not sure whether I should go to that trouble as it's quite a minor thing. Also, I've yet to do the fretting - could be plenty of potential mistakes lurking in that process!

As for doing a burst, there pretty easy by all accounts. I've not done one myself yet as I like natural wood finishes, but I do have a body blank for a 'metal tele' project later this year that I intend to 'burst'. I plan to use the cardboard and push-pin method, there is a tutorial on it on the main Project Guitar website looks relatively straight forward. Will you be spraying your finish?


----------



## Slim (12 Jan 2008)

Yeah, I saw the cardboard-push pin technique. Seems like quite a good idea. I only have a bandit compressor, so spraying with an air line isn't an option. I have read Stewmacs articles on spraying with cans and it seems as long as no more than half of each can is used (to avoid splatering) it should be ok. They only problem I can see is the expense, as tests will have to be carried out with colours and techniques.

Have you used spaycans before? Or do you have the kit for air spraying?


----------



## ByronBlack (12 Jan 2008)

I've not finished a guitar with cans, but I have other things (RC cars, boats and planes) to good effect, but they can be very temperamental. I have a small compressor and have borrowed an airline and gun from my dad (who sprays cars) but the fittings aren't right so I haven't had chance to try my luck at spraying. For the explorer i'm going to use a wipe on varnish called 'Arm R Seal' - it can be brushed or wiped on, dries quickly, builds well and can be buffed to a glossy finish.

The other alternative to a strong 'clear' finish is Rustins Plastic Finish, you can get amazing results with that and it can be applied with a brush - it's also a lot cheaper compared to a bunch of nitro cans.

Todays Progress:

I managed to squeeze in a couple more hours today. I removed the spalted maple veneer from the headstock, it just didn't work. I've made up some veneers from the walnut I had for the neck blank and will be using that. Thanks to Philly and Simon for your generous offers of your veneer.

It was time to turn my attentions to the fret-board. It required cleaning up and sanding, heres me using my radiused sanding block. I went through the grits upto 800grit







Once it was sanded to an almost mirror finish, I wiped on a little bit of oil to help lubricate the fretboard, it really brings out the richness of the wood and feels really silky, I can't wait to get the chance to play it.







While that was drying, it was time to turn my attentions to the body. It was quite 'rounded' and didn't really have the look of a real rock/metal explorer, so it was out with the ROS and 80 grit to sharpen up the edges, this worked remarkably well. 







Then it was time to sand the body all the way upto 400grit to receive the first sealer coat:







And here's the body at the end of todays work with a single shellac sealer coat:





Tomorrow, I'll be putting another shellac coat, and then wet sand to aid in filling the grain, I should be receiving my finishing product (Arm R Seal) during the week and that will be used to give a nice strong but natural protective finish.

I'll also be sanding and sorting out the new headstock veneer as well as applying another coat of oil to the back of the neck, I'm going to leave the fretting until monday (The mrs' is at work and will allow me to concentrate without getting nagged about something or the other).


----------



## Philly (12 Jan 2008)

Looking good, Colin!
Philly


----------



## ByronBlack (14 Jan 2008)

Some more progress today. I seemed be getting bogged down with quite fiddly tasks at the moment, they seem to take a long time and don't show much for a lot of time and effort, but at least it's progressing albeit slowly.

Here's what I've completed today:

- Headstock venneer cut/filed to shape and blended in
- Headstock edges sanded smooth
- Dot markers inlayed and sanded flush
- Neck flattened
- Second coat of oil added to neck
- Body wet-sanded and given a second coat of shellac
- Truss-rod rattle fixed

I checked the neck yesterday with a straight edge and was quite annoyed when I discovered that it had a slight bow in the middle, so I had to spend some time getting this down so the neck was flat, I then had to re-sand the neck a second time after I forgot to put the inlays in first, doh! I haven't lost much in thickness though so it's all fine, just very tedious and not particularly pleasant sanding this rosewood.

I also had to make a quick repair because the truss-rod brass nut was rattling a little at the back end of the neck, to fix this, I just drilled a hole in the end of the neck (body end) down to where the brass nut was, and with a thin applicator applied a little superglue to keep the nut in place, this has worked a treat.

Here's some pics of todays work:

Headstock veneer (front) brought to shape and sanded






Completed headstock veneer, makes it look a lot nicer now that you can't see the joint lines






Inlays installed and sanded






Body wet-sanded and then given a second of shellac - it's starting to have a nice satin sheen, should look better when sanded to 2000 and the first coats of oil go on


----------



## mr (14 Jan 2008)

Am really looking forward to seeing this Explorer finished Colin, looks good so far. Im (still) thinking about a tele and walnut is my current first choice so as I say looking forward to seeing what yours looks like when your done. 

Cheers Mike


----------



## DavidE (14 Jan 2008)

Hi Colin,

That is looking good and it's very interesting to see the progress shots. One day I might get round to making an electric guitar! This thread and others are very useful.

Cheers
David


----------



## Slim (14 Jan 2008)

It looks much better sharpened up. Good call. I also really like the ofset inlays - very contemporary.


----------



## ByronBlack (15 Jan 2008)

Fretting was the order of the day this afternoon. 'twas easier than expected.

The pics:

Essential tool kit: Fret bending pliars (for radius), fret cutters, fretting hammer and the most crucial to the success of this operation; a bounty bar






Frets cut to slightly over length:






First few tentatively put in place:






All frets installed and trimmed to fingerboard:





How it looks so far:





I have to file a 35 degree angle on the ends of the frets to make them smooth, I'll also be flattening the frets so they are all level, then it's a case of re-filling the round 'crown' on each fret, polish and fret-dress and it's ready to be installed on the body.

I have received my wiring kit and sheilding, as well as some final hardware pieces (jackplates, switches etc..). The pickups are due tomorrow. With that, it brings my spending on this project to £377.72 so far, and that should be it for this project, not bad really.

For those interested, the pickups are Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB in the bridge, and a matching Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck position (Classic heavy rock/metal combo, high output distortion/gain from the JB and glassy cleans from the Jazz). I was going to go for handwound 'Bare Knuckle' pickups, but with recently purchasing an amp, I ran out of funds and the SD's were the next best option at around half the price.

Tomorrow will see the rest of the fret work being completed, and hopefully the drilling of the mounting holes for the bridge in the body. The guitar shoud be finished by the end of the week, ready for a weekend of playing and tweaking/setting up the action and intonation.


----------



## Philly (15 Jan 2008)

Byron
Great stuff - never attempted a re-fret yet. How difficult was it?
Oh - and I prefer Kit Kat Chunky to Bounty for guitar work :wink: 
Philly


----------



## ByronBlack (15 Jan 2008)

Gotta love them kit-kat chunky's!!  \

The fretting was surprisingly simple really. There are two things I've learnt from the process though, the first being to over-cut the length of the fretwire by at least 10mm on each side as the pliers tend to mash the 'tang' of the fret so if you cut them only a little over size, the altered tang stops the fret from going in perfectly, I only had one like that, but it was simple enough to remove the fret and put in another.

The other tip is to radius the fret wire a little tighter than the radius of the fret-board, this ensures that the ends stay in when you tap in the middle section of the fret, you don't get the ends 'popping' up as you would if the fretwire was flat.

I'm pleased that I've done it as it makes the thought of making more necks a lot more 'do-able'. I would highly recommend anyone to have a go, it's a lot more simple than it first looks.


----------



## Philly (16 Jan 2008)

Thanks Colin - might have a go then. 
Cheers
Philly


----------



## ByronBlack (16 Jan 2008)

With the frets installed, it was time to file the sharp edges off from the ends that were left when trimming back to the fretboard, the frets also needed to be levelled, as there is no guarantee that they were all perfectly the same height due to the inconsistencies of the hammering process. The fret ends also needed to be bevelled (approx 35deg) and 'dressed' this is to take of any sharp edges from the bevelling process. 

Filing of the sharp bits from the trimming:







Here's a tool I made to present the file at a 35deg angle to bevel the ends of the frets:






It's just held in a groove with three wood-screws.






A piece of cloth is attached to the underside as not to damage the frets, you can see how by running the file down the fret board, the file is presented at a consistent angle






nicely bevelled fret ends, these still require to be dressed and have the sharp edges either side of the bevel removed, I need to take a small triangle file to the grinder to adapt it for this task so as not to scratch the fretboard






Using my radius block and 320grit and 400grit abrasive paper, I level the frets. This was done by felt-tipping the tops of the frets and sanding until all the ink was removed, I now know that all the frets are equal height, and match perfectly the radius of the board





However, as you can see from the picture, it leaves a flat top to the fret which is not at all good for playing, it will dull the note and often cause a lot of buzzing and general intonation problems.

So therefore the next challenge is to 'crown' the frets by re-introducing a round profile, this is done by filing the two side of the fret so they meet in the middle, it will be done by again adapting a larger triangle file. When the frets have been crowned, it's time to polish them!

This work is pretty slow and quite intensive, lots of manual skill and checking and double checking, but it's very rewarding, the more work put in at this stage should lead to a fantasic playing instrument.


----------



## Slim (16 Jan 2008)

Riviting stuff BB. I had no idea so much work was involved with fretting. I'm glad i had the chance to see you do it before I attempted it on my LP. It looks like we are getting another guitar building session this weekend, so I should have some more progress to post next week.

Smashing work so far. Keep it up. :wink:


----------



## Fecn (17 Jan 2008)

Absolutely superb work BB. I can't believe how fast you're working.


----------



## ByronBlack (17 Jan 2008)

Slim - If you need any help in regards sourcing tools for the fretting, just give me a shout and I'll send you some links, as stew-macs are overpriced for their tools, I bought mine before I realised there were very cheap alternatives! 

Fecn - It's coming along nicely, it feels really slow for me because it's constant work on the neck and not much physical progress on the guitar as a whole, but they are all quite intricate time intensive jobs, so it's nice to see it coming along. I'm only spending about an hour to and hour a half every evening, but each night I seem to manage knock off another line on my very long to-do list 

My pickups arrived today!! This should motivate me to get the neck finished so I can concentrate on the body and get it put together for its first test!


----------



## Slim (17 Jan 2008)

Byron, consider yourself shouted at.  I would really appreciate the links as I was thinking that Stewmac were pretty pricey - even with the exchange rate.


----------



## mr (17 Jan 2008)

Stewmacs prices have been one of the things that have stopped me getting on with my long promised tele project. Having said that I was watching a modern tele neck on the bay last week, it ended up going for somewhere in the region of £140 which was a bit on the steep side I thought. 

Cheers Mike


----------



## mailee (17 Jan 2008)

WOW! Now surely Colin this can't be the same Byron Black that requested so much help on his workshop build? :shock: That is excellent work mate and so fast too! that is way beyond my skills got to admit. Well done mate. Can't wait to see it completed even if I can't play one. :wink:


----------



## ByronBlack (17 Jan 2008)

Simon, I'll post some links up here tomorrow (my bookmarks for these things are at work).

Mike - Thats not bad for a tele neck assuming it's a fender one. You would be hard-pressed to get a good aftermarket (warmoth) for any less - of course, it's not overly difficult for you to make your own! Or I could always help you out in that area if you're interested.

Mailee - The workshop build was quite a long time ago now, which is quite surprising as the time has gone by quite quickly, so thanks mainly to chaps like yourself and others on this forum, I feel I've improved on the whole woodworking malarky a little, although to be fair, I did have a little experience of guitar building before getting into the woodworking thing, so I find doing this work is a lot more in my comfort zone than furniture/workshops etc.. 

On to todays progress.

Today's work has been the most laborious, its not a task that can be rushed and is one instance where a dedicated tool is probably worth the cost, i'm talking about fret 'crowning'. 

Yesterday, I left with the frets levelled, but flat on top, so crowning is needed to restore the rounded shape, I decided against an expensive dedicated file for the job and ground a 'safe' edge on a triangle file, this worked to a degree, but was very slow.

The pics:

Safe edge ground on a triangle file






Board taped up ready to file the crown back into the frets






You can see the 'triangle' shape on each side of the fret, the flat top starting to disapear, I kept going until there was only a small slither of flat on top of each fret.






Using a stew-mac fret dresser, I filed the shape I wanted in the green stick, a belt of abrasive is then installed and rubbed up and down the fret to polish away the deep filing scratches, it comes with a number of abrasives, and you just work up the grits, removing each successive scratch pattern, this also helps restore the shape of the fret.







About half-way through the abrasive dressing processing - you can now see how the fret has lost it's flat top and has a nice round profile.






After the dressing, the frets are rubbed with various grades of steel wool until they shine! It's hard to photograph how shiny these are, but they are like mirrors now, should be nice to play on!





I didn't get as much done tonight as I hoped, just this process of crowning, dressing and polishing took over 2 and a half hours! Much longer than I anticpated, mostly due to the inadequate file, I shall be investing in a dedicated crown file for future work.

But, thats the hard-work now all finished!! I just have small jobs left now, such as drilling the holes for the bridge mountings, and the machine-heads, then I can put on the final finish, add the electrics and then it's a case of perfoming the final setup of the action, setting the nut, and testing for intonation - then, it's metal time!!  

If I can get hold of a video camera, I'll try and upload a vid and record some riffs.


----------



## MIGNAL (18 Jan 2008)

Fancy fretting tools. I use a £2 Chinese ball pein hammer, a back saw that cost £2 (new!) and induction hardened end nippers at £4. I did make the mistake of buying one of those 3 in 1 re-crowning files but only ever used it on 1 single fret. It seemed more appropriate for an agricultural Blacksmith. I now use one of the small flat Axminster (Grobet?) smooth cut files. I doubt that the specialist re-crowning files are any quicker, at least that one I tried. You'll spend more time trying to get rid of all the deep scratches they leave behind.


----------



## ByronBlack (18 Jan 2008)

Mignal - I did look at the crooked handle 3-1 file and was tempted to buy it, but glad you mentioned it was no good, I have heard a lot of good things about their diamond cut files, quite a few ppl on some other boards seem to get on well with them.

Slim, here's some links that might be useful to you:

Fret pre-radius Jig
http://projectguitar.com/tut/bender.htm

End Nippers
Cheap pair from screwfix etc.. (might need to grind them flush)

Crowning file (and other useful files):
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axmi ... -32487.htm

Radius Sanding Block/Neck Radius jig
http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index ... opic=32216

Cheap Arbour fret-press
http://www.setchellguitars.co.uk/ant/blog/?p=160


----------



## Slim (18 Jan 2008)

Thanks very much for the links BB, much appreciated. :wink:


----------



## ByronBlack (20 Jan 2008)

Completion is near!

It's been quite a productive saturday, I managed to knock off early from work and get motoring on with the explorer.

I've managed to get the neck attached, the bridge installed, the nut fitted, the machine-heads installed, and I even managed to get the wiring complete (first time with a soldering iron - went surprisingly well). I've only wired in a single humbucker so far just to see if the wiring works (Its all got to come out again so that I can apply a finish to the guitar).

Here are the pics:


Machineheads installed






Drilling the counter-sinks for the neck screws (not using a metal plate)






Neck attached






Drilling of bridge holes to hold the studs (modified auger bit was used with the thread ground off, gives a very smooth hole)






Bridge and tailpiece fitted, can anyone notice the mistake? (I was due a mistake sooner or later)






Nut adjusted and fitted, and strung up (A relief! The string spacing has worked out fine - the joy of centre-lines).






Looking quite smart (Without finish applied)






Wiring completed with the bridge pickup installed - sounds great on my new little modded valve head! (I just need to make a new cab for it)






So there we are. I need to dismantle it and start the sanding/finishing process, there are a few set-up tweaks that I need to make, the action is a little high at the heel so I need to alter the neck angle a little, but it's only off by about a mm so I'm pleased with that, the neck plays really nicely, although strangley I find the profile a little heavy even though it's a template of one I used to enyoy - I must have gotten used to a thinner profile on my other guitars, I need to alter this a little with some gentle sanding.

It's a shame having to take it all apart again to finish because it's such funn playing it, it sounds better than I thought it would and plays surpisingly well off the bat without a setup, so thats encouraging.

While this is in the finishing process, I'll be starting work on the maple guitar, and also making another neck for a third project, I was back at my old home (mums house) last week and found a really old guitar that I forgot I had in the garage, it's a complete wreck, but I can salvage the body and the truss-rod and use this as a basis for a new project!


----------



## Philly (20 Jan 2008)

Sweet! Must be a relief to have the thing strung up and playing  
Look forward to seeing it all shiny,
Philly


----------



## ByronBlack (20 Jan 2008)

Aye, I was a bit worried about the general action, luckily I only need to make a few small adjustments.

Here are some pics of the electrics - I made a little platform with holes that matched that of the guitar to make the soldering a little easier, trying to solder inside the cavity is a real test in skill and patience - none of which I have!

You can see my wiring diagram sketch, and my little jig






The wiring coming along nicely. I've used some good quality shielded wire to help keep the hum down, the cavity will also be lined with sticky back copper.






Wiring fits perfectly in the cavity (due to making the support jig) and it's a simple process of soldering the pickup wires which is relatively straight forward.


----------



## Slim (20 Jan 2008)

Looks great. Can't wait to hear a little tune.  . Are the pots for volume or tone?


----------



## ByronBlack (20 Jan 2008)

Simon, there is a master tone pot and master volume pot, I was considering have an individual tone and volume for each of the pickups, but I've never really used that setup so decided to keep it simple. The pots in this are 500k but I was thinking of changing them too 1meg pots as they bleed less treble and give a brighter tone

Do you have your electrics already? If not, I can recommend the wiring kit from www.axesrus.com they do a gibson LP kit (2xtone, 2xvol, 3-way switch and jack, wiring etc..) for just £21, nice quality kit too - the cables are shielded and the pots are 'Alpha' which are considered to be quite a good make.


----------



## Slim (20 Jan 2008)

Thanks BB, I have bought some machine heads from Axesrus before and their service is pretty good.

I have been studying the pictures to try and spot your mistake. Should the Tuneomatic not be set at an angle?


----------



## ByronBlack (20 Jan 2008)

You're correct! It should have been 3mm further back on the bass side to account for the compensated scale, but being paranoid about the positioning, I drew a straight line and forgot to mark the compensated position.

However, I tested it with a tuner and the intonation is fine - so I got lucky in that respect, otherwise I would have to plug the hole and re-drill.


----------



## ByronBlack (24 Jan 2008)

I've started work on the maple custom, I intend to re-visit the explorer after this custom is finished so that I have a guitar to play while I build the other.

So, on to the pics:


Using some 12mm ply, I make some template pieces. The neck is clamped in place, the strips are butted up against the neck and double-taped down, they'll be held with clamps after. This creates an accurate template for hte bearing guided bit to follow.








I use a drill press and forstner bit to remove the majority of the waste, meaning the router only has to do a small amount of work. I've also glued on some angled wedges, these make sure that the router is presented to the pocket at the correct angle (2 degress for this particular job).







Pocket has been routed, and neck currently being glued in. I've chosen to glue this neck as I wanted something different to the bolt-on of the explorer, it will also allow a much smoother transition from the back of the body to the neck.






Neck has been glued on.





Later tonight, I shall be routing the pickup and electrical cavities. The tone and volume knobs will actually be recessed into the side of the body like the jack socket, this is to ensure the least amount of clatter on the front of the body as I want to show as much of the flame maple as possible.

This guitar will have a solid colour on the back of the body and neck, and a clear nitro finish on the front with either a trans-black or trans-red colour to bring out the flame figure of the maple.


----------



## Slim (24 Jan 2008)

I really like that one, apart from the little point at the end. That is just my opinion though. The tiger maple is going to look stunning. As this one has a maple top, are you going to bind it? Is that the neck you got from ebay? The inlaying is beautiful.


----------



## superunknown (24 Jan 2008)

Looking superb!

What sort of music do you play and I am also interested what your influences are in your playing?

I am guessing from the style of the guitars rock/metal? The explorer shape is classic Hetfield. :twisted:


----------



## ByronBlack (27 Jan 2008)

Slim - I'll be leaving a natural 'binding' edge of the maple when I come to spray it, i'll be doing something similar to the 'blue' tutroial on the stew-mac site. I'll most probably use nitro from aerosol cans (from Behlin). The neck is from ebay, really good value for money (was just £50) the seller was 'woodycustom' well worth looking out for his stuff.

Nola - you're exactly right. Hetfield is my guitar icon, he is the reason why I picked up the guitar, all my first songs/riffs that I learned to play were Metallica tunes. I've always wanted a natural wood explorer like his signature 'Ken Lawrence - Samurai' explorer, hence the reason for this particular build, I've had explorers before and love the shape, they are just perfect for metal rhythm playing.

This maple one will be more for solo playing, hopefully more progress will be made soon.


----------



## ByronBlack (28 Jan 2008)

Here's a few more pics of the maple custom. I've not been in the shed much this last week, having a bit of time off and to clear my head of all this guitar building stuff, but today I decided to go back and re-start work.

I wanted to shape the rear of the body to remove material for a 'belly' scallop, as well as shaping the cutaways, one of the main motivating factors for this guitar was to make it as thin as poss, it's just abit of 35mm at the moment, which will be reduced a little more, but for now I wanted to start the rough carve of the rear-shaping.

The pics:

Spokeshaving the material away to a pencil line






First stage complete






Cutaways shaped






Rough carve complete, just need to sand smooth





The next session will see the smoothing of this shaping work and the routing of the cavities, jack point, and the recesses in the side for the volume/tone knobs.


----------



## Slim (28 Jan 2008)

That's really looking great now. What pickups are you sticking in this baby then?


----------



## ByronBlack (29 Jan 2008)

Hi Simon, depending on finances, I'll probably go for a Bare knuckle 'cold sweat' humbucker - just the one on this guitar.


----------



## mrbingley (30 Jan 2008)

Are you gonna shape the top, or leave it flat ?

Both guitars look very good bye the way  

Chris.


----------



## ByronBlack (30 Jan 2008)

Chris, thanks for the compliments 

This maple one will be left with a flat top, I quite like the contrast between the flatness and the carved back - almost a reverse of the standard shape. I also want to keep it flat to preserve the square edge of the maple as this will be left clear to provide the natural binding. If I carved it, I would lose quite a lot of the thickness off the edge and it wouldn't be suitable to use as binding.


----------



## ByronBlack (2 Feb 2008)

Just a couple of small jobs today.


I've also done a fair bit of filling and sanding on the underside of the body, I've also filled the gap between the underside and the neck, this will allow a nice smooth transition from body to neck heel. I've also marked the areas for the electrics and these will be drilled tomorrow. Once that job is complete, it will be time to start the sanding, and then the finishing process.


----------



## Slim (2 Feb 2008)

Woo hoo! Nearly there. 

I'm really looking forward to the finishing, so don't miss anything out in your WIP pics.


----------



## ByronBlack (31 Aug 2008)

I thought it was time for a quick update on this project.

The walnut explorer is finished!! *although in the picture, its missing a pickup ring on the neck pickup, which will be fitted shortly, and the volume and tone pots, which are still in the post.*

I used chestnut finishing oil to finish both the body and the neck. I managed to get a glossy finish by applying about 4 coats, sanding in-between in coats, and using some fine wire-wool to apply the final coat.

It's been sold, so I made my money back on it, which I can re-invest into my next model. The maple guitar from eariler in this thread (apologies about the missing photo's) will take the next priority.


----------



## Slim (9 Sep 2008)

Really really nice BB. Can't wait to see the maple one finished.

Did you go for the Bare Knuckle pickups in the end? How does it play? Any sound clips?


----------



## Ironballs (9 Sep 2008)

Same here, will be interested to see what finish you go for on the maple


----------



## ByronBlack (9 Sep 2008)

The maple one will indeed have the BareKnuckle Warpig and matching distressed pickup ring - a single volume knob will complete all the controls.

The finish will be a black stained figure on the maple to pop the grain, and then given a red stain for the main colour. It will have a nitro-cellulose spray finish. I'll probably be leaving the finishing of that until next year when the weather picks up a bit, unless I get time/resources to build an extraction based spray booth in the workshop.

In the meantime, I think i'll be building another explorer, a lighter more brighter toned one this time, and will probably have EMG active pickups - I'm thinking of an all white finish with classic hockey-stick headstock.


----------



## Ironballs (9 Sep 2008)

Do you spray the nitro from cans? I'm many months away from this dilemma, but might have a practice first as I want a great finish but don't want to buttocks up the guitar near the end!


----------



## ByronBlack (9 Sep 2008)

Ironballs, yes, I'll be using cans. As long as you follow some basic rules, you can get a finish as good as a sprayed one. If you have a look on the Stewart McDonald website, they have a good tutorial on how to stain and spray finish using cans - lots of good information there.


----------



## Philly (10 Sep 2008)

Explorer came out real nice, BB! Must be a great feeling playing it?

Guess I should shake a leg and finish my Weissenborn. Scared to bend the sides - Who? Me? :lol: 
Keep up the good work,
Philly


----------



## ByronBlack (10 Sep 2008)

Philly, I was very surprised by how well it played. Better than my Gibson Explorer in-fact, which is a real boon, it's almost a shame that I'm selling it, although I could change my mind, I havn't handed it over yet... tough decision.

Good luck with the bending!


----------

