feral_smurf Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 (edited) I'm thinking of my first proper guitar project. I was perusing about a ash body with a matt black finish. But lately I think i would prefer a walnut body, with clear laqeur and then a mahogany/walnut set-in neck. Any opinions? For the body shape i was thinking something like this tobias but with more rounded horns Any Advice or Warnings? Edited April 11, 2009 by feral_smurf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Have just bought the wood for the laminate neck. Sapele Mahogany for outside Middle strips of walnut. Hopefully there will be enough wood for multiple necks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Just ordered the walnut body pieces. Hopefully glue them together quickly and get working. Pictures will come as i progress Got these from ebay of all places. Will give me blank 1 3/4" by 23 1/2" by 12 1/2". Just big enough for the small bass i want to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Just ordered the walnut body pieces. Hopefully glue them together quickly and get working. Pictures will come as i progress Got these from ebay of all places. Will give me blank 1 3/4" by 23 1/2" by 12 1/2". Just big enough for the small bass i want to make. Please,don't do anything quickly..even if it is just two pieces of wood for a body,it is not a just slap together thing.You may already know this ,but thought I would respond ,just in case.The wood choices look nice.Good luck !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 I get where you are coming from dean. The last thing I want to do is to rush this and screw it up. By the way I am thinking of getting a router table and some drum sanders to create a make shift spindle sander. Is this a good idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 I get where you are coming from dean. The last thing I want to do is to rush this and screw it up. By the way I am thinking of getting a router table and some drum sanders to create a make shift spindle sander. Is this a good idea? If you're thinking about chucking a sanding drum into a router, no, that's a very bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 It's interesting that you say that since I googled it and have come up with different opinions. Some say it is a great idea some say it will tear up the sand paper others say it could be dangerous. Ideally I would like to do instead of getting a router table and a spindle sander I could just get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 A router table only needs to be a table or a piece of plywood or melimine is best on sawhorses, the store bought tables seem way too cramped for me. I would use spindle drums in a drill press inside. A separate machine is best of course I ended up getting a used one off craigslist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 The reason I say it's a bad idea is that routers spin at RPMs that are way, way beyond what sanding drums are designed to handle. The danger is that the drum will spin itself apart and send shrapnel flying in all directions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 The reason I say it's a bad idea is that routers spin at RPMs that are way, way beyond what sanding drums are designed to handle. The danger is that the drum will spin itself apart and send shrapnel flying in all directions. That does sound quite bad. I think I will do it on a pillar drill instead. Seems much safer but I will need to build some sort of table to have a flat surface for the work. Found rough idea on google images I think I might do this jig first then post some pics of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Some of them stringers have some BIG knots in them... I hope you didn't pay for all that unusable wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Some of them stringers have some BIG knots in them... I hope you didn't pay for all that unusable wood. Walnut has quite a lot of knots in it naturally, but yeh i don't think i payed too much. £9.99 for all bits + p+p and i payed for them to be planed as well. They are anywhere from 34" to 46" by 1" and anywhere from 3/4" to 2 3/4" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova9 Posted April 13, 2009 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 I don't mean to be rude, but you've bought some bad wood there. You can see knots in the sapele towards the end of the first piece of wood you've bought - that'll stop you getting the full two outside pieces for the neck first off. As for the second set of walnut bits, there's a reason they're on ebay at that price - and I know the seller you got them from, gibson craftwood. They're not an instrument wood seller, they aren't picking wood for guitar building. And those walnut pieces have horrendous knots in them, I don't want to think what that means in terms of grain direction or run-out, but I'd dismiss those out of hand. Buying wood from ebay for the first time builder is not something I'd recommend. Go to a reputable dealer, like David Dyke, Touchstone or even Craft Supplies. You might get lucky with those bits of wood, or you might get far into your project just to realise the wood's warped and undone all your hard work. It'll cost you more to buy from the dealers, but that's because you get what you pay for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 (edited) I don't mean to be rude, but you've bought some bad wood there. You can see knots in the sapele towards the end of the first piece of wood you've bought - that'll stop you getting the full two outside pieces for the neck first off. As for the second set of walnut bits, there's a reason they're on ebay at that price - and I know the seller you got them from, gibson craftwood. They're not an instrument wood seller, they aren't picking wood for guitar building. And those walnut pieces have horrendous knots in them, I don't want to think what that means in terms of grain direction or run-out, but I'd dismiss those out of hand. Buying wood from ebay for the first time builder is not something I'd recommend. Go to a reputable dealer, like David Dyke, Touchstone or even Craft Supplies. You might get lucky with those bits of wood, or you might get far into your project just to realise the wood's warped and undone all your hard work. It'll cost you more to buy from the dealers, but that's because you get what you pay for. Yeh i understand that there are some horrendous knots in some of the bits but i believe i have enough good stuff to get enough for what i want. The sapele is actually longer than it looks 100" or so. so i definitely have enough from the good end. The walnut body blanks i are from a bespoke table manufacturer. I am going to laminate the neck so that will hopefully negate most of the warping if it is going to do that. Also a don't see a few knots in the mahogany as a bad thing. To be honest if knots are not that big and don't make working with the wood difficult they can add character. Hopefully as i progress in knowledge and skill i might find a good dealer but around kent in the UK there are few places that i know of that sell hardwood of any sort let alone the likes of mahogany. Edited April 13, 2009 by feral_smurf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 The neck wood has arrived. Much more than expected. The walnut has a very nice grain, there are a couple of knots as per the photo but i still have alot useable wood. The mahogany is big enough to make a solid mahogany neck without the walnut strip in the middle and i am considering just making a solid neck, still glue in though. That would let me save the wood for another project. Any thoughts, one Piece or laminate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhead28 Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 What does the grain look like on the mahogany? If it didn't look awesome, I would laminate the neck just to make sure it's more stable. I do laminated necks on everything anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 The grain on the mahogany isn't particularly tight but it is 4" wide so spilting it with a band saw and inserting the walnut would waste quite a lot of wood. Personally i would prefer to keep the wood for more projects, get full value from it. This a picture of the end i want to use. Picture isn't great sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 ripping it in two with a band saw would waste very little wood, actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 ripping it in two with a band saw would waste very little wood, actually. I feel it would as i would have to cut off around 2" from the mahogany when the neck it cut, i suppose it isn't too much so i might laminate it for the strength. I doubt anyone wants there dream handmade guitar to have a snapped neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 Oh, I understand what you were saying now. I thought you meant you would lose a lot of wood to the cut itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 I'm planning the whole thing in my head and on paper, just so i actually know what i'm doing before i start. Would having a headstock made of two pieces of wood with a glue join in the centre be weak? It doesn't seem that there is any particular stress going through it. The reason i am thinking of this is as i would like a walnut headstock to tie in with the body and i have lots of spare walnut from the neck laminating material. N.B I am planning to scarf joint the headstock on to get the angle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2009 Hey, well i've actually done something now. Below is a pic of the body glued up and the rough outline cut out. I will sand it down in a bit using a drum sander on a pillar drill. This is a picture of the sapele-walnut laminate neck cut to the rough profile and with the scarf jointed head-stock being glued. The next step is to get the headstock flush with the neck as i haven't cut it yet. After that i will getting the neck and the body to the right outline and shaping in the contours etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted April 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2009 Have belt cut and belt-sanded the scarf joint till it is all flush. I'm still undecided on the headstock design, i was thinking a slightly shortened les paul style affair but does anyone else have any better ideas that go with the body shape above? Not too complicated as i want to keep it simple, first build and all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted May 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 package from stewmac came today. Pretty impressive as i only ordered it Tuesday evening and they attempted delivery on friday over here in england. Got my rosewood fingerboard then the rest of the electrics. Have cut the rough headstock shape with a coping saw but need to wait till my really simple taper jig (photo coming) has been glued up. Just a quick question, are there multiple shapes for p-bass pickups? I am asking here as it doesn't really deserve its own thread and also as the routing template i ordered from stewmac does not fit the pickups i have. They are only relatively cheap copies but they are thinner and have sharper corners meaning that if i used the template provided there would be around a 2mm gap on each side of the pickup. Does this mean i should make my own template or just leave it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feral_smurf Posted May 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 My newbie build continues as i have constructed a VERY simple taper jig. I am actually quite proud of it but i doubt i am the first to build such a thing. Its basically just a sled with slots for small g-clamps. The rails underneath are so the head of the clamps clear the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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