# First build and seven string ever



## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 8, 2013)

Hello SS.org, the time has almost come. My parents are going on vacation next week and I will be house-sitting for them, so I will have the chance to use my fathers home workshop. I hope that I can get most of the wood work done in that week, and I will work all day to get it done.

So, other than my first build ever, this is also going to be my first seven string guitar ever, so this is very exciting. I have "borrowed" some design ideas from my favourite guitars and made some changes to them.

The specs (for now) are:
3 pcs. European alder body ~30mm thick
Bookmatched Sycamore (European maple) flamed AA top ~20mm thick
5 pcs. Sycamore/Wengé/Bubinga/Wengé/Sycamore neck, 27" Ibanez Wizard-ish profile similar to my RG1570z
Maple Fretboard, no inlays, 17" radius, 24 jumbo frets
Hipshop Bridge, black
BKP Warpig ceramic set, white no covers
Volume /w momentary kill pot, push-pull coil tap tone, 3-way toggle switch
Graph Tech Black TusQ XL nut
Schaller M6(?) locking tuners
Schaller locking strap pins

Here is a mockup, just for you to get an idea of what I'm aiming for






And the place I bought the wood from send me some pictures of tops to choose from, this one is mine




I have measured, and the knots in the wood should be cut away when I make the neck pocket, so they wont show. This piece had much nicer figure than the others I had to choose from, I think maybe this one would have been AAA if not for the irregularities.

Building should start this Saturday, I can't wait 

BTW, I can't find any place in europe that sells hipshot bridges, and ordering from USA is quite expensive. Anyone know of a place?
Also, does anyone know of a place where I can buy Planet Waves locking tuners individually? I had originally planned on using those, but it seems you can only buy them in packs of 6, which is no good.


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## patata (Jul 8, 2013)

....ing DO ET!

It's gonna be legen...wait for it


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## mcd (Jul 8, 2013)

dary


NINJA'd


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## Daf57 (Jul 8, 2013)

Sounds like a fun project! Good looking grain, the top is going to gorgeous, man! Good luck and be careful with the power tools.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 8, 2013)

patata said:


> ....ing DO ET!



I am doing it 



Daf57 said:


> Sounds like a fun project! Good looking grain, the top is going to gorgeous, man! Good luck and be careful with the power tools.



I'm gonna buy some scrap wood to practice on and MDF for templates


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## TDR (Jul 8, 2013)

FruitCakeRonin said:


> I'm gonna buy some scrap wood to practice on and MDF for templates



Good idea! 

As a fellow first builder I'll be following with interest, best of luck man!


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 8, 2013)

I drew the plans on actual paper today, since its the only thing I can do until Saturday, which seems so far away.





It took me three times as long to draw the shape of the headstock so I didn't take a picture. How can it be so hard to draw a damn headstock!

Seeing it in full size really is something completely different. Cant wait to get to work on the wood.

also notice my amazing desk art.


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## nicktao (Jul 8, 2013)

Looks like what would happen if a Daemoness and Broderick soloist had a kid, I dig it! 

Looking forward to updates.


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## Suitable (Jul 8, 2013)

Nice


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Jul 10, 2013)

make sure to post plenty of pics.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 13, 2013)

The wood still hasn't arrived, it should be here Monday. I went shopping for the last few pieces and bits I needed, but I didn't get any work done since I am a bit hung over. I got a piece of MDF that I will be working on tomorrow, cutting templates.

I also finally got to open the boxes that have been piling up at my parents house.



assorted bits and parts, only PUs, bridge, tuners and the tone pot still needs to be bought.

And I got a nice little surprise aswell. In the package with my fretwire there was this letter, adressed to a Graham Hall in Australia




complete with post card and a bunch of paper articles.





Pretty weird, but oh well.
more tomorrow!


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Jul 13, 2013)

If you can pull off that paint job let me know how you did it. Shits gonna be sick. Might have to rip the paint job for my build if I decide to go with maple.


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Jul 13, 2013)

And yea, seeing it full size is definitely amazing. I finished my and first design recently and then printed it full size and it definitely sends the excitement level through the roof. Hope everything turns out well.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 14, 2013)

CircuitalPlacidity said:


> If you can pull off that paint job let me know how you did it. Shits gonna be sick. Might have to rip the paint job for my build if I decide to go with maple.



The only worry I have is that the white dye might not be 'powerful' enough

So I started working today. I spend the day familiarising myself with the tools, making templates and realizing how many tools Im still missing.


I cut out the paper templates and outlined them on some MDF





Got jiggy with the jigsaw and cut the templates. There were no tear-outs in the MDF at the cuts are pretty straight, so thats good





Here is the router I borrowed. It has all the bits I need and although I have never used a router before, it seems like a really nice one. You can also see my makeshift clamping work space thingy. My dads workshop isn't really equipped with tools to hold the wood you're working on in place, so I had to make my own system. It's less than ideal, but it will have to do





It makes really nice cuts. There were some small burn marks at the end of the channal I routed, but other than that, very easy and smooth.





I also did begin to make a control cavity template, but then the router decided to teach my a lesson, so that one is completely useless.


Fingers crossed that the wood will be here tomorrow.


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## Suitable (Jul 14, 2013)

Watch ya fingers and eye balls!


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 15, 2013)

The wood did _not_ arrive today, so that sucks. So I just made a PU template today. I tried a few different ways before I found one that worked.

I found the specifications for BKP 7 string pickups which states that the corners of the pickups have a radius of 4mm. So I popped an 8mm drill into the pillar drill and used that to make the corners of the hole.





That one isn't the final template, cause I screwed it up, but I made another one the same way.

Then I used the router with an edge guide to remove the wood between the holes





Sanded a bit and voila





Pay no attention to the one on the bottom, that is another of the failed attempts. The left side on the right one is nicer than the right side, so I might just cut the template in half and only use the left half somehow. The reason I haven't made room for the feet of the pickup on the template is that I will just use a drill for that

And now Im just waiting for that darn wood, sigh...


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## jarnozz (Jul 15, 2013)

That last template is a bit small. Imagine balansing your router on that. The rest looks great! Lovely top


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 15, 2013)

jarnozz said:


> That last template is a bit small. Imagine balansing your router on that. The rest looks great! Lovely top



No problem, Ill just clamp down another piece of MDF next to it


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## AwDeOh (Jul 15, 2013)

Nice work man, good templates are the key to accurate work, so don't be afraid to spend a fair amount of time on them. They're never given the credit they deserve.

That router looks a lot like the current Black & Decker 1/4" model, but with a few differences.. maybe made in the same factory or something. I've had to return a couple because the cast aluminium baseplate cracked when I tightened down the clamping screw that holds the arms of the parallel guide. Just something to be aware of, the baseplates are sometimes quite brittle. Aside from that though, they're great little machines.


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## DistinguishedPapyrus (Jul 15, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> Nice work man, good templates are the key to accurate work, so don't be afraid to spend a fair amount of time on them. They're never given the credit they deserve.




^ I'll second that. I spend more time making templates and setting up proper jigs than I do actually cutting the pieces of the guitar material.


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## JEngelking (Jul 15, 2013)

I really dig the design of this, man.  Gonna keep an eye on this thread, I definitely wanna try building a guitar of my own some day.


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## sandalhat (Jul 15, 2013)

Love the design! I'll be watching this thread in anticipation of the coming awesomeness. As someone who recently finished their first build, I congratulate you for taking the plunge and hope it turns out the way you want! Remember the old saying, measure twice and cut once.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 18, 2013)

I just got word from the wood supplier. My order has been seriously delayed due to most of the staff being on vacation, so it will ship tomorrow, which means I will begin the real work early next week. Well, at least I got a nice vacation at my parents house.


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## skisgaar (Jul 18, 2013)

This is gonna be the hypest shit.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 23, 2013)

Rejoice my friends, the day has finally come! My bundle of joy arrived this afternoon and boy was I happy. After waiting two long weeks, the wood is here and the work can begin





The top has a really nice figure even without any mineral oil or water on it, and the "spots" are much smaller that I thought. The fretboard has a really nice curly figure and a nice bright colour, I am very pleased with that





The woods for the neck. I think they go together very nicely. The Bubinga has this almost furry looking grain some places





Look at that grain, oh man that is sweet!





So, I started out with the top. I wanted to get that glued and I thought it would take no time. The edges that are to be glued weren't completely straight and flat so I thought I'd just plane and sand them down. How naive of me





This wood is so damn hard. Sanding for 5 min. barely even removed 1mm. Also, I found out the planer has a broken blade, so that is useless.





after having gotten it as straight as I thought I could, I went to glue it. NOPE! first of, Im an idiot because I didn't cut the edges that the clamps are gonna be pressing against straight, so the odd pressure made the wood pop open like a book





Got that taken care of today at least. I think im gonna have to do a similar thing to the edges that Im gluing, cause they aren't completely flat still. Does anyone have a good idea on how I can get those edges nice and flat. I am having trouble sanding them with a belt sander since the surface is so small and its easy to slip over the edge and make it round.





So yeah, not a lot of work got done today. I learned that wood working isnt as easy as I thought. Atleast I got to enjoy the weather working outside.





this is all I have to show off so far. I made two rentangular pieces of wood. Yay!





The dust from sanding the Sycamore is so fine, like flour. I look like ive been baking bread.









So now I retire for the day, fingers wounded, but spirits still healthy. Ill be back tomorrow.


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## Suitable (Jul 24, 2013)

Nice timber!!!  

If you want to join pieces I use my 1/2" router with a long straight router bit. Measure the distance from the edge of the router base where your going to run off the straight edge to the cutting edge of the router bit, clamp a straight edge or level using that measurement off the line I want to be straight and square. I put 2 strips of masking tape on the straight edge for the first run so its about 0.5-1mm off the line then take the tape off and do the final run which will clean up any bit burn etc. There are other methods but this works great.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 24, 2013)

Suitable said:


> Nice timber!!!
> 
> If you want to join pieces I use my 1/2" router with a long straight router bit. Measure the distance from the edge of the router base where your going to run off the straight edge to the cutting edge of the router bit, clamp a straight edge or level using that measurement off the line I want to be straight and square. I put 2 strips of masking tape on the straight edge for the first run so its about 0.5-1mm off the line then take the tape off and do the final run which will clean up any bit burn etc. There are other methods but this works great.



Yes! great success. I did actually think about using the router, but for some reason I didn't think about just using the baseplate as a straight guide until I read your post.


So first up today was that pesky top wood. Using Suitable's advice I quickly got down to business.





The bits I have aren't quite long enough to cut the whole width at once as you can see, but I just used a copy bit afterwards and it was k





Sanded a bit and it was smooth and straight like never before.





Got the other piece done aswell with no hassle. They were not able to stand like this before, not even close





Then it was finally time to glue. I smeared some glue on both edges and gave em the clamps.





Looks pretty good (although now that 5 hours have passed there is a pencil thin line where the joint is. Im thinking this will get less noticeable when I have sanded it)





I then started the work on the neck. The Buginga was my first victim. First I cut the piece in two, since a 4 inch thick neck is a bit too much









I then turned to my newfound god once again. The router. If this thing breaks down I will fall into an endless pit of despeair. I used a straight bit to take off the excess wood and get down to a 10mm width.





Many wood chips were spawned





This is why its a good thing Im working outside





'nother progress picture





This is the finished piece after sanding. It looks very nice.





Then I cut the Maple and Wenge, same as the Bubinga.





I didn't have time to work on the Wenge today, but I did sand the edges on the maple and tried lining up the wood. The wenge will ofcourse be the same width as the bubinga when Im done with it





Wenge is my new favourite wood. I think you can guess why





And thats it for day two. I am much more hopeful about this project after today, since I actually got things done and I know how to proceed from here. But I am still very surprised at how hard this wood is to work with.
Tomorrow I will finish the wenge so I can glue the neck and begin cutting the body, hopefully.


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## Kullerbytta (Jul 24, 2013)

This is so darn interesting to follow! 
Looks pretty damn fine so far


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## icos211 (Jul 24, 2013)

Now what is this about the wenge being the same width as the Bubinga? As in you are going to take it down to 1 cm? How you have it right there just looks so bad ass, I know I wouldn't have it any other way. But it's your build and your call. It is shaping up mighty fine no matter what.


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## callankirk (Jul 24, 2013)

Great start on your build! You'll learn a LOT more as time goes on, but it will only help with future builds. Looking good so far.


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## bob123 (Jul 24, 2013)

Before gluing anything up, be sure to clamp the boards together and draw a rough profile on the end grain. This way, you can see where your neck will actually fit into the wood. Right now, that neck looks massive as ...., and you wont have much, if any maple showing if you did a standard ibanez type carve. 


If its not too wide, then cheers, continue on 

If it is too wide, you could probably split one of those maple peices right down the middle, and make 2 maple strings to go outside the bubinga, making wenge the dominate wood.

All in all, great first attempt! hopefully continues smooth for you


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 24, 2013)

You are absolutely right. I am gonna change the neck wood layout to incorporate more wenge.


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## muffinbutton (Jul 24, 2013)

...... I feel like I'm the only person not using wenge right now. I should fix that. You can use it for fretboards right?


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## bob123 (Jul 24, 2013)

FruitCakeRonin said:


> You are absolutely right. I am gonna change the neck wood layout to incorporate more wenge.




cool man. Just remember, its YOUR build, you do what YOU want!! It looks great either way.


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## AwDeOh (Jul 24, 2013)

muffinbutton said:


> ...... I feel like I'm the only person not using wenge right now. I should fix that. You can use it for fretboards right?



Yup, can look super-mega sexy with some tasty binding:

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb345/dogchicken/IMG_20110331_223103.jpg


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## muffinbutton (Jul 24, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> Yup, can look super-mega sexy with some tasty binding:
> 
> http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb345/dogchicken/IMG_20110331_223103.jpg



hmmm. I have some ideas now. Thanks.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 24, 2013)

Wenge fretboard would definitely be nice, and I don't believe wenge requires any finish, so you can have that nice unfinished feel on it.

And bob dont worry, Im not changing the build just because you guys recommended it. The grain on the wenge is just too beautiful, I dont have to heart to cut it down. One thing is certain, this guitar in gonna look amazing, but wether it will play that way as well, remains to be seen.


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## Suitable (Jul 25, 2013)

Nice work


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 25, 2013)

So today I got the neck glued together but I didnt have time to work on the body due to rain

First I had to route down the last two pieces. I set up the same way as yesterday and got to work









Routing done, ready for sanding





all the pieces, sanded and ready for test fitting





I clamped them together without glue to look for gaps. This is what the neck is gonna look like





There were some uneven spots, especially in the bubinga, as you can see





Unfortunately I had to use the broken planer to get the pieces flat





After a lot of planing, sanding and test fitting, I was finally ready to glue





Its not perfect, after half an hour I can see some spots where glue haven't been pushed out between the pieces, mostly near the ends, I think maybe I didn't space the clamps well enough, or didn't use quite enough glue. Hoping it will turn out fine after planing and sanding a bit.





Tomorrow, work on the body begins


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## icos211 (Jul 25, 2013)

Using something straight and flat for the clamps to clamp onto rather than the wood itself would probably distribute the pressure better, helping reduce spots where it doesn't join as tightly as you'd want it. It would also reduce the possibility of the clamps marring the wood from putting pressure directly on it. Wenge is a hard ass wood, though...

@muffinbutton, Wenge fretboards are awesome. That's what I am using. The grain can be just shit your pants incredible. I have been warned about tear out when cutting or fret slotting, but I bought a test strip and fretted it with no problems. It did have a very straight grain, though.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 25, 2013)

icos211 said:


> Using something straight and flat for the clamps to clamp onto rather than the wood itself would probably distribute the pressure better, helping reduce spots where it doesn't join as tightly as you'd want it. It would also reduce the possibility of the clamps marring the wood from putting pressure directly on it. Wenge is a hard ass wood, though...



I actually do know about that, and Im gonna do it when gluing the top on the body, don't know why I didn't think to do it with the neck

I have a question for you guys. The files I have, that I was gonna use to carve the top and neck are just no good. The wood is too hard, they just scratch the surface a little. What tools can I use for carving the wood ?


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## AwDeOh (Jul 25, 2013)

Angle grinder:



For Walterson: Yep I know.. but his videos are just so easy and available when I want to demonstrate something!


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## TDR (Jul 25, 2013)

FruitCakeRonin said:


> I actually do know about that, and Im gonna do it when gluing the top on the body, don't know why I didn't think to do it with the neck
> 
> I have a question for you guys. The files I have, that I was gonna use to carve the top and neck are just no good. The wood is too hard, they just scratch the surface a little. What tools can I use for carving the wood ?



Scrapers (they take a bit of maintaining though), spokeshave, carving chisels or if you've got the brass nuts then angle grinder + 60grit sanding disc.

For me I slugged it out with saw tooth file to get rough neck contour at the headstock & heel, then used a spokeshave to get it all down. 

My body doesn't have too many carves, just one for some upper fret access and I did that with a dremel + sanding bits + fine hand + a lot of time


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## Suitable (Jul 25, 2013)

Router to take the bulk off carefully leaving it a mm or 2 off the line where it will actually be, then rasp files, 80 grit sand paper on a orbital sander then follow with 120grit by hand increasing the grit as you go taking each of the last grit papers scratches as you go untill your happy. If its a big carve thats how I do it on a work surfarce that starts off flat.

Ps that looks like heaps too much glue! Did you use something to even the glue out on the pieces before joining then rub them together to even it out more before clamping? I really hope your neck dry's straight, if not there is a way to fix it! Fingers crossed! That selection of laminates looks wicked


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## icos211 (Jul 25, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> Angle grinder:
> 
> 
> 
> For Walterson: Yep I know.. but his videos are just so easy and available when I want to demonstrate something!




That man's balls are 67.935% larger than anyone else's I have ever encountered. I think my screaming of protest could have been heard by him all the way in the UK. And then he did the neck with it too...


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## Suitable (Jul 25, 2013)

icos211 said:


> That man's balls are 67.935% larger than anyone else's I have ever encountered. I think my screaming of protest could have been heard by him all the way in the UK. And then he did the neck with it too...



I think you ment "brains"... 

These guys need to tie their massive steel balls back to stop them dragging along the ground...

Dream Lines IV - Wingsuit proximity by Ludovic Woerth & Jokke Sommer - YouTube

Sorry... Back to the topic


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 26, 2013)

Thank you for all the suggestions, much appreciated. BTW how would I go about using a router like the one I have as Suitable suggested ?
Also, yes I do spread out the glue, but not all the way to the edges, as I wanted to quickly get the pieces put together before the glue started to harden. I took of the clamps today and it looks pretty good, I think it will be fine once I have sanded and planed it.

Today I started the work on the body, which I have been very excited about.
First I had to take off 5mm of the thickness





The body, sanded and ready





The body drawn onto the back of the piece, just barely big enough





Cutting commenced! Very smooth lines with minimal tearouts.





I was very close to messing up, this is where I stopped cutting to rest my hand. whoops





Here it is, roughly cut out





I then carefully used the router to take it down to the actual shape





I quickly found that it was a bad Idea to do the tips of the horn with the router. Took out a big chunk and nearly messed up, again.





I used my files on the tips instead, which turned out to work quite well





The horns all straigthened up





I sanded the edges to remove the burns and tearouts, of which there were many, and voila





Then I decided to get the top cut out before continueing with the body. First I planed it flat(ish) and sanded









The glueline is almost invisible on picture, barely in real life





Marked out the body shape, and head shape as it turns out I have enough for a matching top for that





And there it is. The near finished body and roughly cut tops.





Work on the body and top will continue tomorrow, hopefully I can get them glued before the end of the day.


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## JEngelking (Jul 26, 2013)

Regardless of the little hiccups here and there, this is looking quite nice so far.


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## Suitable (Jul 26, 2013)

Wicked! To use the router to take the bulk off for a carve I use a ball bearing guide with a straight cut bit and set the depths as I go so it steps like the gradient lines on a topographical map to cut about 1mm off the actual inside depth. Then use an 150mm orbital sander like how old mate uses his grinder etc.

With that top, (you might be doing this already but) I would suggest gluing it on first, then use a flush cut bearing bit to follow the body like a template. That way itll be perfect. Just remember to even out the glue before mateing the peices together


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## bob123 (Jul 26, 2013)

Good work. The neck looks MUCH better like that to my eyes mate. Very nice choice!!!!!


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 26, 2013)

Suitable said:


> Wicked! To use the router to take the bulk off for a carve I use a ball bearing guide with a straight cut bit and set the depths as I go so it steps like the gradient lines on a topographical map to cut about 1mm off the actual inside depth. Then use an 150mm orbital sander like how old mate uses his grinder etc.
> 
> With that top, (you might be doing this already but) I would suggest gluing it on first, then use a flush cut bearing bit to follow the body like a template. That way itll be perfect. Just remember to even out the glue before mateing the peices together



Ah, yes I guess that could work. Thank you for the tip


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 27, 2013)

Work on the top and body continued today

First, I cut the top with the router like I did the body yesterday





Then I used a copy bit on the top with the body as a template to get them to match. I lost focus a few times and the router took it out on the heel. I didn't glue them together before doing this. You will see why later.





Filed the horn tips and sanded with a rough grit and there you have it





I will sand the edges with a finer grit after gluing both pieces together

So, the reason I haven't glued the top to the body yet is because my router bits aren't very long, so I would not be able to make the electronics cavity after gluing them. Speaking of which





I drew the outline of the cavity and used a router set to a few mm to make a shallow hole in the back of the body. This will be the depth of the ledge the cover will sit on, and therefore the covers thickness





Then I drew the actual shape of the ledge and removed the wood in the middle









A lot of burn marks yes but I don't really care, since you won't be able to see it anyway.

Tomorrow I will finish the elec. cavity and make pickup cavities and the neck pocket, hopefully.

I have to say, at first I was surprised at how hard the wood is. But now Im more surprised at how physically exhausting this work is. I work 6-8 hours a day on the guitar and I am completely beat at the end of the day.


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## AwDeOh (Jul 27, 2013)

^ Yep.. it's deceiving how tough it can be on the body when you kinda go into auto-pilot mode with a rasp or sanding blocks.

Just a thought - how sharp are your router bits? Sorry if someone asked already, but I just wondered if dull cutting blades might be adding to the tear out. Also if someone hasn't already mentioned it, one way to deal with burn marks is to put 1-2 layers of tape (something thick that'll stick to end grain) around the template before you do the routing. When you're done with that, take the tape off for a final pass, you'll only be taking off a fraction of a millimetre, so you're not as likely to get burn marks.

Looking good dude, and you're making really quick progress.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 27, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> ^ Yep.. it's deceiving how tough it can be on the body when you kinda go into auto-pilot mode with a rasp or sanding blocks.
> 
> Just a thought - how sharp are your router bits? Sorry if someone asked already, but I just wondered if dull cutting blades might be adding to the tear out. Also if someone hasn't already mentioned it, one way to deal with burn marks is to put 1-2 layers of tape (something thick that'll stick to end grain) around the template before you do the routing. When you're done with that, take the tape off for a final pass, you'll only be taking off a fraction of a millimetre, so you're not as likely to get burn marks.
> 
> Looking good dude, and you're making really quick progress.



I don't know how sharp the bits are. Chances are, not very. And that's a good idea with the tape, thx


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## mman36 (Jul 27, 2013)

Man, all of these sick as heck build threads are really inspring me to try and take a crack at this. Really looking forward to seeing how this guitar pans out for ya man!


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## Suitable (Jul 27, 2013)

Just so you know for future reference, I dont know what size the bit your using is, but you can extend the router bit further out of the collet so you can cut deeper as you go, as long as you keep at the very least 15mm of the shank of the router bit in the collet and torque it up nice n tight, check by spining it by hand to see it still true, and your good to go  

Always have the router unplugged from the power source when changing or adjusting the bits!!! Its very easy to accidently bump switch and there go's a finger or 2!!! Unfortunately Ive seen it happen...


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 28, 2013)

Suitable said:


> Just so you know for future reference, I dont know what size the bit your using is, but you can extend the router bit further out of the collet so you can cut deeper as you go, as long as you keep at the very least 15mm of the shank of the router bit in the collet and torque it up nice n tight, check by spining it by hand to see it still true, and your good to go
> 
> Always have the router unplugged from the power source when changing or adjusting the bits!!! Its very easy to accidently bump switch and there go's a finger or 2!!! Unfortunately Ive seen it happen...



The copy bit I have is 15mm i think so I have had to that a few times. And I always unplug before switching bits. I like having 5 fingers on each hand

The body is very close to being finished. Other than drilling a few holes and some final sanding, all I need to do is shaping and carving it.

First up today, I finished the electronic cavity





I put the top on the body and outlines the cavity. Then I routed about 7mm away so the "wall" is about 10mm





The cavity doesn't look great, but as I said, you cant see it, so I don't care too much about it.

Then I prepared to cut the neck pocket and PU cavities in the top





First hole roughly cut and filed





And both holes cut. You can definitely tell that this is a home build by hand guitar. Not that it looks bad, but there are a lot of little flaws if you look close.





Then I cut the neck pocket in the top. The lines do follow the width of the neck





Then I did the same on the body, and also made some channels for the PU wires to run to the E.cavity.





Used a pillar drill and some files to make the extensions for the PU feets





And glued them together





I tried using less glue and spreading it out more evenly this time. It appears to have worked quite well.





It really is starting to look like a guitar now. Tomorrow I begin working on the neck.


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## AwDeOh (Jul 28, 2013)

Are you going to use a template and router for the pickup/neck cavities? That 'home build' look will disappear quick once you whip those edges back clean like you've done with the body outline.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 28, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> Are you going to use a template and router for the pickup/neck cavities? That 'home build' look will disappear quick once you whip those edges back clean like you've done with the body outline.



I'm not sure. I did use a template for the pu cavs. I think any clean up work will be done by hand depending on how things look when the body is complete


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## Solodini (Jul 29, 2013)

That top is SO thick! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with that!


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 29, 2013)

Solodini said:


> That top is SO thick! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with that!



17mm, making the guitar 47mm total. And I am very excited to get to the carving.

Anyway, today was a very long day. 9 hours I worked on the neck and nearly ruined the whole build.

First I planed and sanded the top of the neck





The belt sander makes these neat little lines of individual dust





I am pleased to announce, that even though the gluing had me worried, it looks great!





But then, disaster. I was going the saw away the bottom 15 or so mm, but the saw wont go deeper than 40mm and the neck is 70-something mm wide so I had to cut twice, from each side. And of course, after cutting the bottom from one side, I flipped the piece and cut the other side. From the god damn top. So not only had I just wasted a lot of time making the top nice and flat, I had also just made the neck a few mm thinner than it needs to be to fit in the neck pocket.

Luckily though, I had sawn off a piece of the body blank that is big enough the be glued on the neck as an extension of the heel, making it thick enough. whew.

Here is the too thin neck after getting both sides flat again





And as they say, nothing is so bad as not to be good for something. The strips I had cut off can be used to make the side markers for the fretboard. And perhaps, a little extra something...





So with that out of the way, I went on the plane and cut a matching top for the headstock





Then the top and body had dried so I could finally get my hands on all the clamps. I set up this little rig to cut the headstock angle

Notice the chair. I just had to sit down today, my back is killing me





Although it turned out to be more of a hassle than a help to use, so I cut most of it free-hand. Here it is after planing and sanding





Then I glued on the heel extension





And extra bits of Bunbinga for the headstock





This is the body just after removing the clamps, no clean up done, yet I think it looks great, very pleased with that, despite the pickup cavs being a little shady.





Thats all for now. Thank you for the kind words, help and likes. I really appreciate it.


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## AwDeOh (Jul 29, 2013)

Awesome progress dude. Perfect glue lines in the neck like you achieved are always beautiful to see, they look even more amazing when you get to carving the neck, volute etc.


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## BlackMastodon (Jul 29, 2013)

Great work man! You may call it a disaster but I think that heel extension will look awesome when you carve up the heel real nice like. Love the body shape, too.


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## TDR (Jul 29, 2013)

Great work man, and you're making such fast progress, pretty excited to see the final product which at the rate you're going won't be too far away!


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## bob123 (Jul 29, 2013)

crap crap crap... now that I see the pics, I would tell you to route the pickup wire channels a little deeper. When you glue the top on, some glue will go into the cavity and fill it up. You may be able to stick some flexible metal (large gauge string perhaps? haha) and clean it out... 



Anywho, other then that, looks pretty clean, especially for a first time build.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 29, 2013)

BlackMastodon said:


> Great work man! You may call it a disaster but I think that heel extension will look awesome when you carve up the heel real nice like. Love the body shape, too.



It felt pretty disasterous before I found the spare wood peice 



TDR said:


> Great work man, and you're making such fast progress, pretty excited to see the final product which at the rate you're going won't be too far away!



I expect ill be done with the wood work by this week. I actually just went down to glue the neck and head together, in the middle of the night, because otherwise I would loose a whole day of work later on while waiting for that to cure.



bob123 said:


> _crap crap crap... now that I see the pics, I would tell you to route the pickup wire channels a little deeper. When you glue the top on, some glue will go into the cavity and fill it up. You may be able to stick some flexible metal (large gauge string perhaps? haha) and clean it out..._
> 
> 
> 
> Anywho, other then that, looks pretty clean, especially for a first time build.



100% this. I thought exactly the same. But I went pretty easy on the glue, so I don't think it will be a major problem.


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## bob123 (Jul 29, 2013)

ah never go "easy" on glue haha.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 30, 2013)

I spend all day today working on my 'little extra something' which proved to be a lot more time consuming than anticipated.

So here is a little teaser





Hopefully I will get more done tomorrow


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## Erick Kroenen (Jul 30, 2013)

keep up the nice work cheers


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## GiveUpGuitar (Jul 30, 2013)

So ....ing awesome


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## Pikka Bird (Jul 30, 2013)

Very good, sorta fast progress and totally decent quality workmanship, especially for a first. From the looks of things I'd advise you to take shallower passes with the router to avoid some of the tearout and burn marks. Also, thing about the direction of your cut so you're easing the cutter into the grain as much as possible.

...wouldn't it look tidier with wenge ear tips on the headstock? Looks like there's going to be plenty of suitable offcut wood...


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 31, 2013)

Pikka Bird said:


> Very good, sorta fast progress and totally decent quality workmanship, especially for a first. From the looks of things I'd advise you to take shallower passes with the router to avoid some of the tearout and burn marks. Also, thing about the direction of your cut so you're easing the cutter into the grain as much as possible.
> 
> ...wouldn't it look tidier with wenge ear tips on the headstock? Looks like there's going to be plenty of suitable offcut wood...



It's true, I have been a bit aggressive with the router. 
And it may have been better with wenge, but when I glued it I didn't have any spare wenge at the time, so I took a chance with the bubinga


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 31, 2013)

So, the thing I spend all of yesterday doing, and finished today is, an inlay! I thought it would be no big deal making one. I was very wrong

I started by cutting the hole in the fretboard





Then I cut out the individual pieces, and this is what took me so long. Working on such small pieces is a real pain in the ass.





I sanded a bit to make them more or less flush with the fretboard surface.
BTW, if I turns out I did a horrible job and there are too big gabs around the inlay, how would I go about fixing that?





Anyway, I then went on to work on the neck. First I planed and sanded the headstock to get closer to the final thickness





And once again I didn't think ahead. I forgot that after making the headstock thinner, the point where the headstock meets the fretboard is moved, and the bubinga blocks I glued on are no longer in the right place.





Fortunately, moving the headstock back ment that I could cut off the tip to use instead, making the extensions wenge, like Pikka Bird mentioned.





Then I started working on the truss rod channel





all done, pretty neat Id say





The truss rod has maybe half a mm space to sit in. I put of few pieces of tape around the one end as it was a little more wiggly than the other.





And then I glued the whole thing together





Tomorrow I hope I can complete the body


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## Tesla (Jul 31, 2013)

This is coming along nicely man, can't wait to see it come together!


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## Solodini (Aug 1, 2013)

Looking nice. Looking forward to seeing how the final inlays turn out.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 1, 2013)

Today I carved the body. And damn am I beat, got blisters all over my right hand

First I did the horns





Cleaned up with a finer file and sand paper





Then the forearm cut. Did the step thing with the router, but I think my steps where a bit too big.





Eventually got that cleaned up aswell though









And speaking of the inlay. I took a detour to revisit and fix the inlay. I wasnt safisfied with how it looked so I routed out the parts I didnt like and put in new pieces. You can't see on the picture because of the bubinga saw dust grain filler, but the way it looks now, the middle vertical line is wengé and the horizontal and diagonal lines are bubinga.





Back to the body, this time the belly cut, Deamoness style.





And thats it. The only thing I need to do to the body now is adjust the neck pocket size when the neck is completed and make holes for hardware. And tonnes of sanding of course

Now enjoy some pictures.


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## Suitable (Aug 1, 2013)

Nice  

You gotta get some sharper router bits though!!! Looks like it turned up a treat! Stain, oil then sand to 1500+ grit and thats gonna look insane!


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## bob123 (Aug 1, 2013)

Suitable said:


> Nice
> 
> You gotta get some sharper router bits though!!! Looks like it turned up a treat! Sand to 1500+ grit and thats gonna look insane when oiled, stained etc!



Yeah, don't sand maple to 1500 grit if you plan to apply ANY finish at all...


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## Suitable (Aug 1, 2013)

Not even tung oil, tru oil or stain?


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## DistinguishedPapyrus (Aug 1, 2013)

I've never done an inlay in any of my build attempts yet, but I've heard of a way to help out alot in doing those... Cut out the little pieces to be used first, get them to the perfect shape, then lay them on the fretbosrd, trace an outline with a real fine sharp point scribe, and carefully route the space right up to the outline. Use an x-acto knife to true it up. With practice this technique will give you pro looking results cause the piece will fit in the pocket with very little gap if any at all.


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## BlackMastodon (Aug 1, 2013)

Suitable said:


> Not even tung oil, tru oil or stain?


I think even 300 grit is a bit excessive. You want the finish to stick to something.


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## bob123 (Aug 1, 2013)

Suitable said:


> Not even tung oil, tru oil or stain?



Nope! Especially stain. Maple is fairly closed grain, so if its super slick, the stain will get super splotchy and look like ass.


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## Suitable (Aug 1, 2013)

Learn something new each day


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## icos211 (Aug 1, 2013)

So what is the recommendation sanding for staining maple, and how is it to be finished after staining?


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## TDR (Aug 1, 2013)

icos211 said:


> So what is the recommendation sanding for staining maple, and how is it to be finished after staining?




My pre-stain sanding is at 120-180grit, I'll be staining this weekend so we'll see how well it takes. I'm finishing it with wipe on poly then wet sanding up to 1500ish then buffing (obviously not all going to get done this weekend due to drying times etc but you get the idea)

The stains I have say they work best with "danish oil" but will work with lacquers & polys etc so the finish to go over the stain is up to you.


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## bob123 (Aug 2, 2013)

icos211 said:


> So what is the recommendation sanding for staining maple, and how is it to be finished after staining?




When I stain maple, I sand to 220-240 (whatever paper I have haha). I then WET the top. This makes the grain stick out and it will absorb the stain more evenly. 

I will then sand with 400 grit to sand back, then stain another color usually. From there you can finish with whatever product you want. Oil, paint, whatever.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 2, 2013)

Really glad you all had that whole maple and sanding discussion. I probably would have sanded way too fine if you hadn't.

Today I worked on the fretboard. Sadly I did not get to completele it yet

First I sanded to get the goo off the inlay and make the whole thing flat





I am so glad I went back and changed the inlay, looks much better now

Then I prepared to cut the width of the whole thing.





Very rough, not sanded yet, but this is the final width





And here I have it sanded to 240 grit with my home made radiused block.





And then I cut the slots for the fret. No progress pics though





I don't know if it's just my bad nerves affecting my eyes, making it look worse that it is because I've told myself the entire time that this is the hardest part and can ruin ruin the guitar, so I won't make any judgements on the fret slots yet

And unfortunately the saw I used for the fret slots is a tiny bit too wide for the frets so they won't quite stay in. So now I need to know the best way to glue in frets.

Im thinking I will bend the frets so they are a bit more round than the fretboard. Then put a little dab of glue in each slot and push the frets as far down as I can. Then the middle part will be protruding a bit and I can put a piece of wood over all the frets and clamb it down. In theory, the middle part should then be pressed down and cause the frets the be bend into the same shape as the fretboard.

Any other ideas ?


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## icos211 (Aug 2, 2013)

FruitCakeRonin said:


> I don't know if it's just my bad nerves affecting my eyes, making it look worse that it is because I've told myself the entire time that this is the hardest part and can ruin ruin the guitar, so I won't make any judgements on the fret slots yet
> 
> And unfortunately the saw I used for the fret slots is a tiny bit too wide for the frets so they won't quite stay in. So now I need to know the best way to glue in frets.
> 
> ...



I know the feeling with those slots. I'm using a piece of Wenge with a really great grain, really curly and crazy. I hope its just that playing an optical illusion, because a lot of these frets look crooked as all hell, but I used a miter box... That, in addition to the uncertainty of whether or not I got the spacings actually right... God fretboards are stressful.

As for the installation, when you say press, are you talking with a drill press? You can get fret cauls from Stewmac that will attach to a drill press and I've heard that it produces really great results, very even heights, good seating, etc, etc. I know that I will drop the money for one, because after my first attempt at a refret with a hammer and radiused caul I got badly mixed results.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 2, 2013)

No drill press. just a piece of wood and good ol' clamps. I don't want to use any tools I cant borrow.


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## BlackMastodon (Aug 2, 2013)

Inlay looks much better.  Nice work so far!


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## CD1221 (Aug 3, 2013)

Learning a lot, this building is not as straightforward as it looks.

Really liking the build. Good job.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 5, 2013)

Im back, after the annual family get together.'

first thing I did today, was getting the neck and body to fit together





As you can see, it first snugly enough that the neck stays in the pocket without any support





But it is not a perfect match. The jigsaw I used to cut the neck width was anthing but straight, causing this...





I can probably find a way to fill out the hole. Suggestions welcome.

Then I went on to thicknessing the neck













And roughly cut out the headstock shape





Already got the matching top for it ready





And this is my idea for the truss rod cover. A piece of the fretboard left over, in the same shape is the top of the headstock





tomorrow I will shape the neck. If I can get that done in one day, I should be done with the wood work by wednesday or thursday


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## CD1221 (Aug 6, 2013)

I had a similar problem with my build. The neck template wiggled a little and left the pocket a bit too big. I glued a thin veneer in there that is the same as the top wood, and re-did it. Unless you look closely, it isn't visible. I would recommend that approach here.


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## goldsteinat0r (Aug 6, 2013)

This is a great thread. Can't wait to see the finished product!


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## MetalBuddah (Aug 6, 2013)

Really digging that body shape  very aggressive and well-contoured.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 6, 2013)

CD1221 said:


> I had a similar problem with my build. The neck template wiggled a little and left the pocket a bit too big. I glued a thin veneer in there that is the same as the top wood, and re-did it. Unless you look closely, it isn't visible. I would recommend that approach here.



I read this half an hour too late. Already went ahead and glued in the neck. Perhaps this can still be done though.

So I finished the neck today and I am almost done with the headstock. This means that all that is left now is holes for the hardware, and the finishing touches on the headstock and then I can finally go home to my own appartment and complete the build there.

First up today, rough shaping of the neck





I had assumed that turning the truss rod clock-wise would bend the neck upwards, I quickly found out I was wrong after the rough shaping





This is after some sanding, of course not nearly done sanding the neck. wengé splinters quite easily and my hands are full of said splinters. So Im gonna spend a lot of time sanding the neck later on.





Not completely straight yet either. But here you can kinda see how thin it is. about 20mm, so Ibby wizard prestige thickness.





Shaping the 'convolute' I think its called.





And all done with the filing and rough sanding. A lot of fine sanding will be needed. You can again see the the neck staying in the pocket without support, so Im hoping this means that it will set nicely.





Closeup of the heel. Don't worry, the big gap is there because the body is just hanging on the neck heel.





The truss rod cover. May dye this





Completed the elec. cav. cover aswell. Not a perfect fit, but better than plastic still imo.





Then I went on to glue the last pieces together.

















You are probably gonna say that I should have made the holes for the hardware before gluing the neck on, and you are correct. But if I wanna be done by tomorrow I have to do it this way. And I really wanna go home.


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## icos211 (Aug 6, 2013)

FruitCakeRonin said:


> This is after some sanding, of course not nearly done sanding the neck. wengé splinters quite easily and my hands are full of said splinters. So Im gonna spend a lot of time sanding the neck later on.



Disinfect the .... out of that. Wenge splinters are septic and get infected very easily. Also, why do I keep hearing that wenge splinters so easily? I have cut it by hand and with tools, surformed it, spokeshaven it, took a rasp to it, and sanded with the coarsest grits of sandpaper I have. Never have I experience splintering or tearing out at all...


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## Deegatron (Aug 6, 2013)

icos211 said:


> Also, why do I keep hearing that wenge splinters so easily? I have cut it by hand and with tools, surformed it, spokeshaven it, took a rasp to it, and sanded with the coarsest grits of sandpaper I have. Never have I experience splintering or tearing out at all...


 
This may be related to those of us noobs that dont have RAZOR sharp tools. my limited experience with wenge is that it was real finicky with grain direction and tool sharpness... your milage may vary....


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## HanShock (Aug 6, 2013)

Nice work :3


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 7, 2013)

Last day at my parents house today, finally. Finished the headstock and drilled all the holes, so now al that needs to be done is sanding, finishing and installing hardware.

First up, the headstock cut out with truss rod cover glued on, ready for drilling





Truss rod cover





Test fitting the tuners and marking the holes for the little fixing screws. I still need to buy the seventh tuner individually





all done





And then the holes for the e.cav. cover





Holes for the volume, switch and tone. Had to lower the switch since it is very short





The jack test fitted





Then I made the holes for the bridge (made the one for the grounding cable later)





The only reason I wanted a pillar drill was for making these very holes. And of course the holes are too far in on the body for the drill to reach them. So I had to do them by hand and I suck





But with the holes for the ferrules made it doesn't look completely disasterous at least.





And thats it. All done with the wood work. took me 16 days, minus 2 days where I was gone for the family get-together. But I probably still spend at least 90 hours.
From now on updates will be much slower, since Im going back to school next week and there is a lot of tedious sanding work ahead of me.


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## icos211 (Aug 7, 2013)

God this has been a great build. I wish I had the opportunity to do mine faster. I was probably in this thread every single day to see an update. AAA grade work, it looks nice.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 7, 2013)

You are much too kind. I wouldnt pay half the price this guitar has cost me if someone else had built it.
But I still really like it. Just hope it will play decent


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## AwDeOh (Aug 8, 2013)

^ Yet you could pay 20 times that price on a guitar building course, and not come away with half the lessons you've learned here, that's priceless. There might be a few cosmetic spots that you're not happy with, but I'd say you're going to come out with a VERY playable guitar.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 8, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> ^ Yet you could pay 20 times that price on a guitar building course, and not come away with half the lessons you've learned here, that's priceless. There might be a few cosmetic spots that you're not happy with, but I'd say you're going to come out with a VERY playable guitar.



I sure hope you are right. Also, today I found out that the PU cavities might be a tad too small. Of course, the only thing I didn't do a test fit of 
At least too small is never a big issue.


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## AwDeOh (Aug 8, 2013)

FruitCakeRonin said:


> At least too small is never a big issue.



So long as we're only talking about guitar building..


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## GizmoJunior (Aug 8, 2013)

This may be the best home build I've seen. The updates were great and very detailed. I've been wanting to do my first build but don't have the money or tools for it at the moment. 

However I keep learning so much from SSO, especially this thread.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Aug 8, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> So long as we're only talking about guitar building..



As soon as I wrote that I knew a comment like this was gonna appear 



BCrotchett said:


> This may be the best home build I've seen. The updates were great and very detailed. I've been wanting to do my first build but don't have the money or tools for it at the moment.
> 
> However I keep learning so much from SSO, especially this thread.



Thanks, I did try to take relevant photos because I know it might be of help to someone, as others have been to me.

Sitting here with it next to my plain black ibby, the ibanez just looks so incredibly boring. If my custom will play anywhere near as good as the ibanez, im afraid ill never touch the ol' blacky again


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## THB430 (Sep 4, 2013)

Update please. I have been watching since day one.


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## riffer_madness (Sep 4, 2013)

Photobucket!!! Aaaaaargh!!!


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## DeathPaupiette (Sep 4, 2013)

Just received the email, came here thrilled by the appearance of a wild update ... OP, we need MOAR PICS. Please.


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## icos211 (Sep 4, 2013)

I was so excited for a second....
Seriously, no work has been done?


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## Carnage (Sep 4, 2013)

neeed more picsss, looking forward to seeing this build


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## chrisxrome (Sep 5, 2013)

Dude, this looks great.


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## FruitCakeRonin (Sep 5, 2013)

The thing is, I can't really get anymore done until I have the PU's, because I might need to make the cavities larger, and so I can't dye and finish until that has been taken care of. And we just got an extra bill for heat, so I need to get some more money for the PUs. Sorry guys, you'll just have to wait.

Edit: For some reason I can't edit my older posts, so I'll just have to give you these links to two imgur image albums. They have all the pictures, in case the photobucket limit is reached.

http://imgur.com/a/GSPGb#74
http://imgur.com/a/WGBup#0


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## FruitCakeRonin (May 4, 2015)

"And then he continued to post as if nothing had happened and nearly two years hadn't passed"

Alright so this weekend I was housesitting for my parents and I thought it was about damn time I moved my ass and got back to this project. The guitar had been sitting right next to me and I've looked at it every day and one thing that really bothered me was the horns.

The first thing I did was redo the carve on the horns, particularly the upper. Since I worked nearly 6 days nonstop that first summer I was really tired towards the end and some things ended up not getting the attention they deserved.

I also spend the past years looking at a lot of pictures, and Im sure a lot of you can see where Ive gotten my inspiration from. So I wanted to make the curves sharper, more aggressive and more pronounced. And I gotta say, Im really happy I did this. It would have haunted me forever if I ended up not changing this.

Here's a before and after shot of the horns.












Next thing was the heel. After joining the body and neck I didn't get around to cleaning up the heel. Before it looked like this:






And I thought to myself that it was absolutely horrible and I was gonna have to just paint the whole thing over. But, it ended up being much easier and looking much better than I had hoped for. Dont mind the gap, it will be filled before finishing.











Then, as the sun set on Saturday, I had time to work a bit on the neck. two summers ago I kind of gave up on the neck. I was not entirely happy about how straight it was but I thought I didn't have the tools to do a better job. Over the past two years I've looked at the neck many times and ended up deciding that it was just not good enough. So I spend the last couple hours of sunlight adjusting the truss rod, sanding and grinding away at the fretboard, and ended up with a result that I am actually quite happy about.

You can't tell from this picture, but I like the shot so here you go






I also realized that the fret slots was nowhere near deep enough for the frets, so I had to cut them a lot deeper. "Old cut" on the right and "New cut" on the left






I actually ended up having to cut some of the slots a third time.

Not a lot of pictures from Sunday. I spend almost the entire day sanding the entire guitar and getting sunburned. I also got out a chisel and redid the PU cavities. When I recieved my Pickups I found out that the cavities weren't large enough, particularly around the corners. So I made them a bit bigger.
New one on the right.






And today I found out that they still need to be 1 or 2 mm longer, so I'll have to do that at some point.

Sunday evening and today I spend fretting the thing. I was pleasantly surprised that the slots were narrow enough that I didnt need to glue them in, so I got to spend the day bashing the guitar with a rubber hammer.

But of course I didnt bend the frets before cutting them, so I had to do that first. I used this piece of scrap wood that I happened to have to bend the frets over with the hammer.






And then I started inserting them






I gently nudged the endes of the frets down into the slot, and then I came down on the middle of the fret like the hand of Thor.






After some removing and recutting and bashing and swearing I finally got them all in






They are not perfectly level, but of course that is to be expected. I am pretty confident that if I do a good job crowning and dressing the frets, it will be a pretty decent instrument.






Finally I cut the ends of the frets and then it was time to go home and rest my back. The fret job is the only really big thing left before I can start doing the finish. So hopefully it should not take another 2 years for this to be done.


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## BlackMastodon (May 4, 2015)

Looks great! The new bevels on the horns look much better. Glad to see you didn't give up.


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## FruitCakeRonin (May 4, 2015)

BlackMastodon said:


> Looks great! The new bevels on the horns look much better. Glad to see you didn't give up.



Its funny, it looks a lot smaller now sitting next to me. I see you also ressurected an old build. Good for us.


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## FruitCakeRonin (May 6, 2015)

Today I started on one of the things about the build that I have been most worried about.

First up I did the fret ends. I pretty much just had at it and did what I thought seemed right. They are not as smooth as the fret ends on my Ibanez, but I don't feel anything when running my hand up and down the neck as I would while playing.

First half done






And after a couple hours, the entire fretboard. I can tell you right now, I am not ever building a guitar with SS frets.






Then it was time to level the frets. I made sure the neck was straight and marked the middle of the frets with black marker.






And then I started grinding. 20th and 24th frets were quite low, so I had to do a fair amount of work. I hope they're still jumbo frets 






Did about 4 hours of work today and now the frets are completely level and flat as a 12-year-old.






Gonna have to wait to finish the frets till tomorrow. It was gonna rain today so I had to work inside on the floor and my back is pretty sore.

I did have time to go pick up some oil. And since I'm such a huge patriot I will of course be using Danish Oil






The rest of the supplies should be here by Friday so I can do the finish this weekend. And then it's pretty much done.


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## FruitCakeRonin (May 7, 2015)

Today I began crowning the frets. It's pretty slow work because I really wanna do a good job with this so I only made it about one third of the way. Hoping I will be done tomorrow.


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## FruitCakeRonin (May 10, 2015)

FINALLY I'm done with the frets, except polishing after everything else is done. This was definitely the part I liked the least. Its much harder to work the frets because they are so small, but Im glad to be done and satisfied with the result.











Then I had a few gaps that needed to be filled. First off, the heel of course. That big nasty gab that the jigsaw caused. 






The spots are just water from cleaning the excess filler.

I received my Hipshot Bridge and found out that the screw holes I made are a bit too large. Fortunately, they were way too shallow aswell and the filler is supposed to be able to hold screws firmly. So I filled the screw holes and will make some new ones. This means that I will have to wait till wednesday to move on since I need to borrow a drill. The holes on the back on the guitar for the ferrules also need to be a bit larger.






And then I decided that I don't want dot inlays for fret markers on the side on the neck so I filled those holes aswell






Things left to do now:


New holes for the bridge and string ferrules
Sanding the spots that was filled
Making the pickup cavities a tiny bit larger
Applying finish
Installing hardware


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## Gallardo147 (Jun 1, 2015)

Any more updates? Really interested in seeing progress!


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jun 10, 2015)

Sorry about that. It actually has been finished for a few weeks but I dont have any new progress pics as I did the finish at night mostly, in cycles between sleeping and eating. I just posted an NGD though http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/se...cakeronin-1-custom-first-7-a.html#post4387673

So that's it, it's done.


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