My New Guitar

[shiftbmw]

I figured I'd throw a thread up, since many others seem to post pictures of their random projects.

Anyways, one piece of lightweight swamp ash. Nice looking grain, going to get a semitransparent finish. It's going to be sweet. Taking my time with this one...been planning for 3 months and finally got my blank today.

[trent]

I dislike ash. To light/wussy sounding -- unless you are building something with single coils. Mahogany is by far the best I feel, or Korina. Make sure you get some good Tom Anderson pickups for that badboy, whatever it will be, they will make a trash can sound good.

[shiftbmw]

I dislike ash. To light/wussy sounding -- unless you are building something with single coils. Mahogany is by far the best I feel, or Korina. Make sure you get some good Tom Anderson pickups for that badboy, whatever it will be, they will make a trash can sound good.

I'm building a tele with a thick nocaster style neck and ebony fretboard. The neck will either be Wenge or Maple...haven't decided yet.

Pickups I haven't decided upon. There are so many options nowadays that it's hard to choose. I'm currently thinking some really nice, glassy single coils or a pair of P90's. Whatever I do though, I can assure you this guitar will sound amazing.

[tg318is]

ooo going to keep my eyes on this!

[trent]

I'm building a tele with a thick nocaster style neck and ebony fretboard. The neck will either be Wenge or Maple...haven't decided yet.

Pickups I haven't decided upon. There are so many options nowadays that it's hard to choose. I'm currently thinking some really nice, glassy single coils or a pair of P90's. Whatever I do though, I can assure you this guitar will sound amazing.

That wood is perfect for a tele. Look up the Andersons. I have used just about every brand of pickup known to man, including very hard to find Bareknuckles (UK), and the Andersons always win in everyway.

What style music will this guitar be playing?

[shiftbmw]

What style music will this guitar be playing?

Blues, Jazz, Rock, Funk

I'll definately check out the Anderson Pickups. They seem to be well liked by everyone.

[Midnight Sun]

My friend built a guitar with Dave Bunker that looked liked an AK47 a couple of years ago for his high school senior project...

Was pretty dope... sounded like shit.

[shiftbmw]

Next step in the process is making a router template out of particle board.

[delfin]

please post all the steps

[z31maniac]

Awesome, looking forward to your progress.

[shiftbmw]

The edges of the particle board template became rounded, so I decided to use 1/4" MDF, which would be easier to make the edges as close to vertical as possible. Also, MDF tends to work a bit easier than particle board, and is cheaper.

A note about MDF...the adhesive they use to bind the material is toxic. Wear respiratory protection when working with this stuff...even if you're just sanding.






I rough cut the template with a coping saw, and then carefully sanded down the edges to match my drawing. I glued the drawing directly to the MDF.

If you plan on doing this, be creative with sanding tools. I found that a little block of wood with sand paper wrapped around it made it easiest to keep the edges square and to "fine tune". For the tight curve near the neck pocket, a deep socket worked well. A foam sanding pad was easy on the hand for the less precise stuff. Long smooth motions work well.






As for the template, it doesn't need to be perfect. If you are trying to copy a fender or whatever, you aren't going to notice .020" variance. Also, remember that you will sand your body after it's cut so there's going to be some variation anyways.

[shiftbmw]

After I finished my first template, it was time to build a router table. A few things that should be noted at this point.

1)This job cannot be freehanded...period. A template is a must. If you're planning on building a guitar, make a template. Even if you're designing your own shape, make a template.

2)A router table is not optional. Not only does it make the job easier, but it's also a matter of safety. If you aren't paying attention, a router can catch on the wood. If your router is freehand, your router can go flying across the room. A router will cut you 100 times before you can even react, and another 100 before you pull your hand or whatever else away. With a router table, worst that can happen is wood can go flying...you can make the call...


For the router table itself, pretty simple. A piece of particle board and some 2x4's. Then drill holes for the router bit and mounting holes to attach the router to the bottom. Sink the screws beneath the wood surface on the top plane otherwise the templates will catch.

For the router itself, I used a little 5.6 amp Porter Cable laminate trimmer. It has been sufficient thusfar.










A drill makes building a table much easier. Just picked this baby up...on sale.

[shiftbmw]

Now that the first template is cut and the router table made, I'm ready to make the other 3 templates. One will 1/4" MDF and the other two will be 3/4" MDF.

Why? The two 1/4" will be the master templates. One will accomplish the outline of the guitar and the other will accomplish things like pickup cavities, neck pocket, control cavity, etc. The 3/4" MDF will be your working templates. If you screw these up during cutting, you use your master to cut a new working template. The only time you should use the master template is to cut out a working template.

First, trace the existing master template onto the 1/4 MDF with a pencil. Now remove the master template(don't want to cut it with a saw by mistake) and rough cut the shape of the body with a coping saw(you may prefer a jigsaw if you have one). Cut it as close as your comfortable. The goal is to have the router do as little work as possible. You want to do most of the material removal with a saw and just clean up the edges with the router.




Next it's time to stick the master template to the soon-to-be new template. When doing this you want to accomplish two things:

1)You want your template to stick and stay! If it slips, so could your hand, which is not a good thing near a moving router bit.

2)You want to be able to remove your template once your done cutting.

For this task, I prefer to use the double sided tape stick things you can get to hang pictures or clothing hooks to your wall. Be cautioned that these things REALLY stick though. They will rip chunks out of drywall to give you an idea(ask me how I know). I found 3 to be more than sufficient. Whatever you choose to use, TEST IT FIRST before finding out the hard way that it didn't work.

[shiftbmw]

Now it's almost cutting time.

Before thinking about cutting, think about safety. Respiratory and eye protection are always a must.



A nice clear place to work with minimal distraction is a good idea. The last thing you should do before turning your router on is plug it in. The router should not be plugged in unless it is in use. Unplug it if you are going to mess with the bit, remove it from the table, change bits, etc. Same goes for all power tools. Do not walk away and leave your router live. You may forget and make a mistake when you come back.

Now its time to cut. Take your time, go slow. There is no rush. Just like cutting aluminum or steel, take many small passes(in the picture if looks like I took one big one but I assure you it was the product of maybe 5 or 6 passes). If you get tired, fatigued, or just want to take a brake, DO IT. No reason to get sloppy.

Just follow the template with the guide bearing, take your time, and it's a breeze.




Once you get all the way around, you're done!



Rinse and repeat for the 3/4" MDF templates.

[shiftbmw]

This is turning into half tutorial, half build thread. Either way, I'm rolling with it.