Bench Press alternative

[wooster]

Hi

I'm a complete novice at woodworking projects but recently I've become interested in building an electric guitar from a kit as a sort of lockdown project. The only trouble is that in order to drill holes for the bridge screws they need to be completely perpendicular to the guitar top and I only have a hand drill. The rest of the project is fine and pretty easy but if I don't get these holes right the whole thing could be flawed.

Is there either a very inexpensive drill arrangement I can use to do this as I believe proper bench press drills are very expensive? Please bear in mind I'm inexperienced and my only previous use of a drill has been things like sticking in rawlplugs to put up shelves As this is probably the only time I will use one I don't want to spend a fortune. I only need to drill 6 small holes and so a hand drill thing would do as long as I can accurately angle the drill for these holes.

I should make clear that the guitar body isn't completely flat and has curves on it so using a dowel jig like this probably wouldn't work

Thanks for your help

 

[marcros]

you could use something like this Big Gator Tools MDG1000NP V Style Portable Drill Guide - METRIC, 17 Hole | eBay and clamp it down to the guitar.

same principle, slightly different Axminster Drill Guide Kit

you could easily make one, all that you need is a single hole drilling correctly in a piece of timber (ideally hardwood). It needs to be designed to last for say 12 holes to give it some life. The commercial ones are designed to last for longer because you would be annoyed having paid for one it it didn't last.

where are you? somebody may be able to help you, it would take me longer to unlock the garage door than to make you a guide.

how deep are the holes into the guitar and what size?

 

[Ttrees]

A hand drill would work surely, as there not deep holes you need to drill.
Drilling in a line is the challenging part.
I would think that a "pillar drill" would take some setting up to do this well,
Is the body actually parallel is another thing.

Guessing you are thinking down the road or maybe looking at things like Robo-sanders and safe-t planing things.
I bought my pillar drill for forty pounds, solid old yolk from the far East..
presumably old school machinery, it was used in a plastic machining factory
and got a hard life.
It needs work but it does the job, and Im fixing various parts as I need to/can afford.
The handles are a common thing to break off, and you could score a deal buying used.
A chuck is about twentysomething and a return spring is less than a fiver.
Just incase you see something cheap.
Good luck
Oh and I forgot to mention the official luthiers forum has a kit building section.

Tom
Tom

 

[marcros]

sorry, I didn't see the last part of your post about it not being flat, but I think you could make it work. when drilling, there would be some work in setting it up but at least you know where the drill bit is pointing and in what direction.

 

[wooster]

Thank you both.

@marcros and @Ttrees I'm afraid I only belatedly put the last part in after I re-read my post and realised I hadn't made the curved surface bit clear. My mistake and apologies.

I had seen some of these things you mention but assumed the curved surface would make it impossible to use. As I say I'm a complete novice and wasn't feeling confident that I am skilled enough to set up such a thing on such a surface unless there's a really easy way I don't know about.

Having considered this a bit more though, this is the bridge I'd be screwing onto the body and as you can see it's flat so the guitar surface in that small area must be flat enough to screw this in and so maybe I could use one of these bits to keep the drill perpendicular. Would it work if the hole was on the edge of the flat area before it sloped off into a curve?

I also initially wondered if a pillar drill type thing would work but thought it would be really tricky getting a large guitar body in position and keeping it there while drilling.

As you can tell, I really know nothing so all help is appreciated.

 

[D_W]

Hi

I'm a complete novice at woodworking projects but recently I've become interested in building an electric guitar from a kit as a sort of lockdown project. The only trouble is that in order to drill holes for the bridge screws they need to be completely perpendicular to the guitar top and I only have a hand drill. The rest of the project is fine and pretty easy but if I don't get these holes right the whole thing could be flawed.

Is there either a very inexpensive drill arrangement I can use to do this as I believe proper bench press drills are very expensive? Please bear in mind I'm inexperienced and my only previous use of a drill has been things like sticking in rawlplugs to put up shelves As this is probably the only time I will use one I don't want to spend a fortune. I only need to drill 6 small holes and so a hand drill thing would do as long as I can accurately angle the drill for these holes.

I should make clear that the guitar body isn't completely flat and has curves on it so using a dowel jig like this probably wouldn't work

Thanks for your help

i'm confused about what this guitar is (I've built a few). If it's a fender type with strings through, then a jig like you're showing is what most would use, but you could get reasonably hard hardwood and make the same thing. the holes in the back need to be close enough to the holes drilled from the front, but cups are usually used and the front hole doesn't have to be dead centered with those from the back.

If the surface is curved, then find something to shim it (cork, etc) that won't damage finish or dent the top (you're likely going to be surfacing it after the holes are drilled, though).

Brad point bits or something that doesn't wander and influence the jig are a must.

Commercial guitars are locked down and drilled by a mill and have been for a long time - I've seen some pegheads still being drilled by hand, but I doubt most large companies do that now.

 

[D_W]

by the way, I use a cordless drill and sight vertical - but a tall jig like the one you should would work. I've never come up with a prescriptive way that I'd do this each time, either - but it strikes me that I'd locate the bridge first and drill a through hole from one end of the bridge on the front with a narrow bit and then use the jig after that. (locating the bridge relative to the neck (centered) and nut or 12th fret is obviously seriously important. Make sure the saddles are where you'll want them or your hole may not line up with the saddles when you intonate and you'll have a big problem(the holes are under the bridge, though, so you can plug them and do it again.

 

[wooster]

Hi @D_W

Thank you. Yes I want to build a Strat - type guitar. The string - through holes are already drilled and I was going to stick on a Gotoh bridge like the one I linked above so I assumed this would be easy. I'd just have to stick the bridge on top of the guitar body, and line the holes up with the string through holes then drill small pilots for the bridge screws.

When I mailed the company I was buying the body from to make sure they more or less confirmed this, however they also said: " As the string - through holes are pre drilled this offers a mark as to where the bridge will sit allowing you to hold it in place and mark up where the fixing holes need to be drilled. It is important to make sure these holes are drilled straight and in the right position as any discrepancies will cause problems when setting the guitar up." ( my emphasis) and this combined with my inexperience, made me a bit anxious.

I'm not sure how important this perpendicular thing would be and maybe I'm making too big a deal of it and just doing my best with a hand drill would do the job. I assume the string through holes already drilled would be at the right point to ensure intonation was correct and that small errors would be correctable with the saddles. Is this right?

Am I being too pernickety? Also if I needed to use one, would the flat area around the bridge be large enough to make using such a jig viable as mentioned above viable ?

 

[marcros]

I (personally) would shim it and clamp the jig, but I bow down to the experience of those that have done a similar task before. If I were actually doing it for real, I would ask d_w because I know that he has built guitars!

 

[wooster]

The distance from the saddles ( where the strings rest at the bridge ) to the end of the nut ( where the strings rest at the other end of the neck ) has to be 25.5" on this guitar. The strings go through holes from the back of the guitar, over the saddles then up the neck to the nut and are fixed on the tuners at the head. The saddles are adjustable a few mm each way so there is a margin of error allowable.

I'm assuming the holes the strings go through are drilled at the correct position to allow the bridge to be sited using them as the supplier said in their email to me and this should be reliable. Maybe when he said they holes for screwing the bridge to the body need to be straight he didn't mean I should be obsessive in the way I'm taking it?

 

[D_W]

I get it now. Yes, the holes will be in the right place, just make sure you have the saddles where you want them before you determine the final bridge location (some movement each way).

I think the reason the seller is telling you to drill the holes perpendicular is that the countersink screws won't be flush with surface if the aren't.

 

[Orraloon]

I have done a couple of those and the holding screws need to be reasonably upright. It can be done with a hand held drill and some care. The string holes can be used to get the rough position of the bridge but as said the positioning is the more important bit. The adjustment gives you some play so with it set about middle of the travel then measure up as per kit instructions. A bit like this guy does.

How To Position A Bridge On An Electric Guitar Body - YouTube

You could do a practice run fitting the bridge to some scrap wood if you are worried about the screw holes being strait.
Regards
John

 

[wooster]

Thank you both. That Highline video is really interesting.

I notice he uses a hand drill and seems to manage it - though no doubt he's done it a thousand times before. Am I really making too big a deal with the perpendicular thing and is it not as critical as I imagine?

I wish I could get into this stuff properly. It's something I've been on youtube investigating and I've got really fascinated by it. I'd always just assumed it was something I could never attempt and so it remained a closed book to me.

 

[Orraloon]

As I mentioned try attaching the bridge to a bit of scrap wood a few times to get the feel for it before committing to the real thing. You can use other screws about the same size so as not marr the good ones while practicing. No harder than doing a hinge.
The great thing about kits is they get you over the big first step and you realise guitars are not such a mystery after all. After you know how it works then the next step is make one from scratch. After that each one will be a bit better than the last. All the best with the build.
Regards
John

 

[Mick p]

Thank you both.

@marcros and @Ttrees I'm afraid I only belatedly put the last part in after I re-read my post and realised I hadn't made the curved surface bit clear. My mistake and apologies.

I had seen some of these things you mention but assumed the curved surface would make it impossible to use. As I say I'm a complete novice and wasn't feeling confident that I am skilled enough to set up such a thing on such a surface unless there's a really easy way I don't know about.

Having considered this a bit more though, this is the bridge I'd be screwing onto the body and as you can see it's flat so the guitar surface in that small area must be flat enough to screw this in and so maybe I could use one of these bits to keep the drill perpendicular. Would it work if the hole was on the edge of the flat area before it sloped off into a curve?

I also initially wondered if a pillar drill type thing would work but thought it would be really tricky getting a large guitar body in position and keeping it there while drilling.

As you can tell, I really know nothing so all help is appreciated.

Where abouts are you in the uk if you’re near a member of this group I’m sure you’ll be able to use a pillar drill of someones im in Havant Hampshire your welcome to use mine

 

[wooster]

Where abouts are you in the uk if you’re near a member of this group I’m sure you’ll be able to use a pillar drill of someones im in Havant Hampshire your welcome to use mine

Thank you Mick. I'm very new here but I'm really impressed with the members' generosity. I'm in Kent near Brands Hatch, and lockdown is making it difficult to travel to other people too. I am beginning to feel I could just get a jig and manage as the holes are so small.

I will give it a trial run on a plank before doing the real thing. As said above I guess if I botch it I can fill the holes in and try again

 

[Ttrees]

Not a bad idea to practice.
Get some layers of tape on the bridge to protect it from scratches.
And you may also want to check out some information on clocking screws aswell, if your using flatheads.


Did you have a look over on the OLF?

 

[wooster]

Not a bad idea to practice.
Get some layers of tape on the bridge to protect it from scratches.
And you may also want to check out some information on clocking screws aswell, if your using flatheads.


Did you have a look over on the OLF?

Hi. Yes I had a look. It's very interesting with lots of different levels of skill and approaches there. Some of the acoustic discussions got me interested in different ways of attaching necks mortis and tenon joints and how glued guitar necks are made and i ended up spending a lot of time watching you tube videos of this and disappeared down a rabbit hole watching loads of building techniques. It's way beyond my skill set but it fascinated me and I'd love to be able to do it.

What I really would love to do is build a guitar from scratch using a bit of timber salvaged from an old mantlepiece or somewhere, and shape the neck and body, then make one of these tricky neck joints and glue them together. I was watching a guy chiselling a mortis ( or tenon - whichever one I mean ) and it was absorbing. I just don't have the eye for that kind of stuff. Also my hands are weak and getting pretty old and arthritic so it's never going to happen, but it was great to watch.

I'm not sure if watching all these is giving me a false sense of confidence, but I'm feeling pretty up for doing the drilling I was worried about. Mind you I suspect its a bit like watching Bob Ross in the Joy of Painting: I'd always finish watching the programme feeling convinced I could paint

Anyway, nothing ventured nothing gained so I'm going to give it a go