# 7 String Black Limba Star Guitar Build



## JSil13 (Oct 4, 2022)

While I'm on the finishing stage of my current build I've been collecting all the parts for my next build. I've been loving my last star guitar that I made using a Warmoth neck and since I sold my baritone build I wanted something for that low B again. I've never owned a 7 string, so this is my first attempt at making one as well. 

Here's the last build. Basswood body, metallic gray duplicolor, Black Winter, Hipshot bridge and tuners, and a Warmoth neck.


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## JSil13 (Oct 4, 2022)

I got a pretty good deal on this Explorer sized black limba blank. The last build I had to glue on a piece for the bottom wing which wasn't a big deal since it was getting painted. I also picked up some figured maple for my last build and got an extra piece of flame maple. It will be getting the ziricote fretboard that I already slotted, a set of Black Winters, Tusq XL nut, jumbo frets, Hipshot bridge, and Hipshot open gear Grip Locks.


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## JSil13 (Oct 4, 2022)

Using the nut width, scale length, and bridge string spacing I drew up the neck. I'm using a larger version of the headstock I use on my last build. The nut width is 50mm, but I may make it 48mm just to get a little thinner. The heel width is 65mm which I guess is the same as some Charvels and other guitars. This leaves 1/8" on the sides of the strings to the edge of the fretboard.


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## JSil13 (Oct 4, 2022)

Since I don't have a drill press I use this jig for my string through holes and ferrules. I wasn't sure that it was going to work on this build because the string through holes are angled. So I did a test. I drilled the low B,high B, and high E holes all the way through, flip the piece over and attach the drilling jig, then drill the ferrules using a 5/16" forstner bit. Then after I have those 6 drilled I slid the jig over a space and drilled the last hole. It looks like this will work.


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## JSil13 (Oct 11, 2022)

Back to working on this one a bit while I'm still wrapping up my last build. I made a simple radiusing jig to use with my new radius beam. It's still a workout, but it works so much better than the little wooden blocks I was using before from Aliexpress. 





Then I routed the truss rod into the maple. I still have a few of these Bitterroot truss rods. They work fine, but the require three different sized bits to get the rod to fit. I can't remember the size off the top of my head, it's either 1/4" or 5/16", then I use a chisel for the wider part before the nut, and then a cove bit for the nut and the rod access point on the headstock.


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## JSil13 (Oct 11, 2022)




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## JSil13 (Oct 11, 2022)

Once the glue has set I can route the neck using the fretboard as a template and then finish the headstock shape by hand. I still need to joint the body blank. Not sure how I'm going to go about it yet. I may call a few cabinet makers around me to see if they can throw it on their jointer for me. I don't have a jointer. I know I can use a router, but I'll have to look into the best way to go about it.


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## ChrispyFinch (Oct 12, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> Once the glue has set I can route the neck using the fretboard as a template and then finish the headstock shape by hand. I still need to joint the body blank. Not sure how I'm going to go about it yet. I may call a few cabinet makers around me to see if they can throw it on their jointer for me. I don't have a jointer. I know I can use a router, but I'll have to look into the best way to go about it.


if you can afford a couple hundred $ you could go the hand plane route, as i did. Get yourself a #7 and hand jointing isnt all bad and has taught me a bunch about wood and tool keeping (if youre into that kind of thing).
Love your first star build, my kind of guit for sure!


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## Naxxpipe (Oct 12, 2022)

That is *chefs kiss*!


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## Shawn (Oct 12, 2022)

Very nice! Love the neck and really like that headstock design.


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## JSil13 (Oct 12, 2022)

ChrispyFinch said:


> if you can afford a couple hundred $ you could go the hand plane route, as i did. Get yourself a #7 and hand jointing isnt all bad and has taught me a bunch about wood and tool keeping (if youre into that kind of thing).
> Love your first star build, my kind of guit for sure!



I've thought about going that route as well. I like using hand tools when I can, but I never got into using planes. I always wanted to though. 


Shawn said:


> Very nice! Love the neck and really like that headstock design.



Thanks man. I used a strat template originally and then kind of mixed the Jackson headstock with a bit of my Schecter. I might make this one a little smaller than it is right now, but I want to figure out the definitive tuner locations first.


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## JSil13 (Oct 12, 2022)

And this is where I screwed up. The bearing on my router slipped before I noticed it and gouged out a bit of the fretboard and the heel. It isn't very deep, so I may end up making the heel 63-64mm instead of 65 and still be alright with the outside string spacing. It's my fault for using the Stew Mac bit without using one of their teflon spacers. Also for not noticing right away.


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## abeigor (Oct 12, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> While I'm on the finishing stage of my current build I've been collecting all the parts for my next build. I've been loving my last star guitar that I made using a Warmoth neck and since I sold my baritone build I wanted something for that low B again. I've never owned a 7 string, so this is my first attempt at making one as well.
> 
> Here's the last build. Basswood body, metallic gray duplicolor, Black Winter, Hipshot bridge and tuners, and a Warmoth neck.
> View attachment 115340


Extremely cool. Great choices here!


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## dmlinger (Oct 12, 2022)

Bummer man, I hope you can salvage it. What if you bound the fretboard? Not ideal to do it after the fretboard is glued on, but some guys do it that way.


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## JSil13 (Oct 12, 2022)

dmlinger said:


> Bummer man, I hope you can salvage it. What if you bound the fretboard? Not ideal to do it after the fretboard is glued on, but some guys do it that way.


I actually already have some black binding on the way because I was thinking of binding this body. I hadn’t even thought about doing the neck for some reason. I think it would be tricky too since it already has a radius on there.


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## JSil13 (Oct 12, 2022)

On a more positive note here's the guitar I'm currently finishing up. It's looking pretty good. Still need to shoot more clear on the body and then let it cure for awhile.


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## JSil13 (Oct 12, 2022)

I think that I've decided to change the heel width to get rid of my dumb mistake. I can use the fretboard template and slide it over 1mm on each side. That will leave me with a 63mm heel and should get rid of the little divot there.


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## JSil13 (Oct 13, 2022)

One of the reasons I'm against trying the binding to fix this mistake aside from how difficult it would be is how cool the heartwood of the ziricote looks on the side.


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## JimF (Oct 13, 2022)

Love this and especially love your recently completed build above!
How did you stop the black stain colouring the black limba body?


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## JSil13 (Oct 13, 2022)

JimF said:


> Love this and especially love your recently completed build above!
> How did you stop the black stain colouring the black limba body?


I was originally going to do the faux binding thing, but some of the dye bled into the contour and no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to come out. As for the dye I used Transtint mixed with denatured alcohol. When I masked the faux binding and contour I used dewaxed shellac to mask it. Big mistake since apparently denatured alcohol dissolves shellac. So when it came time to dye the sides and the contour I used Zpoxy since that was what I used to grain fill the black limba. I thinned the last coat with denatured alcohol and used a small paint brush to cut it in like I was painting a wall by a ceiling or something. Then just used painter's tape. That seemed to work pretty well.


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## JimF (Oct 13, 2022)

Great tip thank you! I've been decorating a lot recently so that analogy suited me!
I actually prefer how it turned out than the fake binding on the contour, so that was a happy outcome!


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## JSil13 (Oct 13, 2022)

Well, I ended up thinning the heel a bit too much unfortunately. The string spacing would be too close to the edge with the Hipshot bridge. Fortunately this neck isn't totaled. It just won't work on this build, but it will work on another 6 string. I already ordered a new ziricote fretboard blank and I'm currently looking at new maple. 
Things I've learned: Use the teflon spacers with my flush trim bit, get a more accurate ruler, and I don't like using the fretboard as a template to route the neck. I'm going to make a template from MDF for the neck this time.


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## BlackMastodon (Oct 15, 2022)

Pick up some Plexiglas for a template if you like what you make out of the MDF. Use a template to make a more permanent template. 

I'm also not sure what the proper order is, or if it's just personal preference, but maybe radiuaing the fretboard after the gluing and routing to the correct width will make things a bit easier.


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## JSil13 (Oct 15, 2022)

BlackMastodon said:


> Pick up some Plexiglas for a template if you like what you make out of the MDF. Use a template to make a more permanent template.
> 
> I'm also not sure what the proper order is, or if it's just personal preference, but maybe radiuaing the fretboard after the gluing and routing to the correct width will make things a bit easier.



I'm still kind of working out my order of operations for this stuff. On the neck I dyed black I made separate templates for the fretboard and neck, routed them separately, and then glued them up. I don't know why I didn't do that this time. So I plan on making a template for the neck and reusing the fretboard one since that one is still good. 

I don't have a bandsaw, so cutting plexiglass is tricky. I cut some pickguards with my jigsaw in the past and it wasn't fun. What I should do is make copies of the templates out of more MDF and keep the other ones as the master template.


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## JSil13 (Oct 15, 2022)

I drew up the new neck template using the fretboard template for the dimensions. I don't route the headstock shape and typically do it with the spindle sander, files, and rasps etc. The fretboard overhang is about 1 1/4" which is similar to my Warmoth 24 fret neck. I'm spraying lacquer today so I don't want to throw dust around, so I'll cut this out tomorrow or Monday. The new wood will also be here next week.


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## JSil13 (Oct 15, 2022)

Since I now have that messed up neck that will be good for a 6 string I've been thinking about what to use it for. I have this sapele blank and I just got some binding from Stew Mac. My old main guitar was a Gibson Flying V, so I've been thinking about a bolt on version of that. Or something kind of similar. 25.5" scale length, 24 fret, maple/ziricote neck, cream binding, chrome hardware, and I'm contemplating doing something like a gold top. I've never done binding before so it's a bit of an experiment.


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## JSil13 (Oct 17, 2022)

Just got the ziricote blank for the remaking of the 7 string neck. It's from the same batch as the first one, so it looks pretty similar. I got it slotted today and tomorrow I'll trim it, route it, and then radius it. 




Then I remade some of my routing templates. Well at least I got the straight parts routed. The headstocks and heel areas I'll do by hand. This time I even made them the correct widths.


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## JSil13 (Oct 17, 2022)

My binding bits and bearings also came today. So I did a little test to find the right bearing for the Stew Mac binding. I found the right one, but on the next test I won't go as deep so that I have some binding up above the body. I won't be binding a body for awhile so I can work on my technique.


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## JSil13 (Oct 17, 2022)

The curly maple for the neck should be here tomorrow. I'll route the truss rod channel before cutting, spindle sanding close to the line, and then routing it.


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## JSil13 (Oct 18, 2022)

Routed the new 7 string fretboard and it fits the new neck template perfectly. This fretboard isn't as pretty as the other one, but it's still pretty cool. I love the lighter heartwood sections.




My maple also came today. From curlymaplewoods which is where I got my last few pieces of maple. I haven't mapped out the neck onto it yet, but I'll probably get to that later on today. Here it is wetted with naphtha. 




The former 7 string neck got routed to 6 string specs. This neck might be cursed. While I was removing the routing template the damn fretboard lifted off. Old me would have Bo Jackson'd this thing on my knee, but this time I decided to fix it. Again. I used a heat gun, a paint scraper, and a tiny spatula that I normally use for delicate food work. Once I got the fretboard off I removed all the glue from both pieces, cleaned them up, and reglued them. I used quite a lot of glue and quite a few clamps. I won't even look at it until tomorrow.


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## JSil13 (Oct 18, 2022)

It turns out that this piece of maple will be big enough for two necks. Probably for the best seeing my success rate on my last one. I traced another 7 string neck on there since it is currently the biggest neck that I've made. I didn't think this neck had as much figuring on it, but you can really see it in the second picture. I don't plan on dyeing this one black like the last one, so I may pick up some amber transtint and experiment with that.


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## JimF (Oct 19, 2022)

Tha's a lovely looking piece of wood! Any reason why you didn't do the necks pointing in opposite directions, or was it just to catch the nicest figuring?


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## JSil13 (Oct 19, 2022)

JimF said:


> Tha's a lovely looking piece of wood! Any reason why you didn't do the necks pointing in opposite directions, or was it just to catch the nicest figuring?



Thanks man. I wanted to avoid the dark inclusions on the maple, but no real reason other than that. This was the plainer side since I want the back of the neck to be the most figured.


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## JSil13 (Oct 19, 2022)

I've got the fretboard radiused to 12" and sanded to 320. I ordered some new self adhesive sandpaper in 120 grit after doing the last one with 220. It was still quite a bit of work, but much easier than last time. Then I got the truss rod routed. These Bitterroot truss rods work great, but having to use one bit, then a chisel, and then another bit for the access point is kind of aggravating. I have one more after this since I bought a 5 pack of them awhile back. Then I think I'm going to go back to the Stew Mac Hot Rods.


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## JSil13 (Oct 20, 2022)

Got the neck cut and routed using my new template. Here it is with the other necks I’m currently working on. Right now I’ve got the truss rod installed and tomorrow I’ll glue on the fretboard.


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## JSil13 (Oct 21, 2022)

Getting ready for the glue up. The two little dots you see on the maple are little nails that I hammer in and then cut short. Once the fretboard is lined up I push the fretboard into the nails and then drill corresponding holes into it. This keeps everything lined up while I'm glueing and clamping. I saw this years ago on here somewhere and it's worked for me so far. The tape over the truss rod channel gets removed before the final glue up. I've heard it helps keep glue out of the channel, but I would assume that if I'm getting squeeze out on the outside that I'm also getting squeeze out into the channel however. So it may not really do anything.


Since my fretboard got ripped off on my last neck I've been using a significant amount of glue. This looks like a pretty even amount of squeeze out. This is before I cleaned up what I could with the clamps in the way.


And here it is in it's current state. I'm going to let it sit like this until tomorrow.


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## JSil13 (Oct 23, 2022)

Got the frets all cut and the fretboard reslotted to depth after I did the radius. I made a little depth tester out of a spare fret that I filed the barbs off of. I did a test on a piece of scrap to get the correct depth and then resawed all the slots. Tomorrow I'll trim all the tangs and start pressing them in. I also used a small triangle file on each slot. I've never done that before but I've seen others do it, and supposedly it helps seat the fret. Then I rounded the edges of the board a little bit. I didn't go too extreme, and I'll probably hit it again once the frets are installed.


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## JSil13 (Oct 24, 2022)

For some reason I can't currently post pictures, but I got all the fret tangs trimmed and filed, hammered the frets in place, and then used my makeshift Harbor Freight fret press to press them all in. These ones seated much better than the last neck. I think making the depth tester helped a bit, maybe the triangle file helped. I'll just keep doing it that way from now on. 

I then wicked some CA glue beneath each fret. In a few hours I'll file them to the edge of the board and then add a bevel. 

In the meantime I got some more MDF to make a template for the body. My last star guitar build has some wings that aren't exactly straight, so I figure a template will help fix that. I may make both a 6 string and a 7 string version and use the extra 6 string neck on another one. I thought about a gold top V, but I may make a gold top star with that sapele blank that I have. Gold on top, cream binding, chrome hardware, and sapele sides and back. I'll have to glue up some of the cut offs to make the size right like I did on the last one, but that one was painted a solid color.


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## JSil13 (Oct 24, 2022)




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## JSil13 (Oct 24, 2022)

I traced my other star guitar onto the MDF and also did the Explorer plans. What I'm going to do is trace the star guitar onto the Explorer plans, cut them out, and then trace that. I might tweak it a little bit, but I like how this guitar came out, just need to fix some things on it.


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## JSil13 (Oct 24, 2022)

So something like this.


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## JSil13 (Oct 25, 2022)

The good. Got started on the side markers. Did it the way I've done it multiple times by measuring, marking, and then getting starter holes going with an awl. 



And here's the bad. When I got to the 24th fret markers the awl chipped out a piece. I've spent an hour looking for it and I'm currently taking a break. My basement must be a pathway to another dimension. If I can find it I can just glue it back on. If not I'm not really sure. I know it's there somewhere.


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## JSil13 (Oct 25, 2022)

Well I can't find that damn piece. I ended up moving everything in my little shop. Plus now it's somewhat cleaned. I've thought of a few ways to fix it. Easy- Make it 22 frets and cut off the broken piece. Hard- chisel and cut out the broke piece and glue in a new piece. 

In the meantime here are the blanks with the cut up plans traced on them. Dry first and then wet with naphtha. Still need to figure out how I'm going to joint the limba body.


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## JSil13 (Oct 26, 2022)

Did some more work on the star templates changing the Gibson heel into a Fender style, widened the 7 string heel, and deepened the cutaway to get more upper fret access. I'll leave a few extra mm on the width of each heel to allow for some sanding without making them skinnier than the necks which I've definitely done. 





Then I started to do some wet sanding on the other guitar I'm finishing up. So far I've done 800, 1000, 1200, and 1500. Tomorrow I may do 2000 and then start polishing it. Or I may try polishing it to see how it's looking.


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## JSil13 (Oct 26, 2022)

Got this one all wet sanded and polished up. Tomorrow maybe I’ll start putting it together.


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## JSil13 (Oct 27, 2022)




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## JSil13 (Oct 27, 2022)

Having some issues with fretting out and currently trying to figure out what's going on. This neck is a bit bigger than the normal 1" thickness, so I may need to deepen the neck pocket. I have it intonated and tuned up at the moment, and I'll leave it be for a bit then adjust the truss rod again.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Oct 27, 2022)

Leave it strung up under tension for a few weeks to let it acclimate, see if it “settles”, then you may have to re-level/crown/polish.


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## JSil13 (Oct 28, 2022)

Rough cut out the 6 and 7 string star templates before I head to work today. Tomorrow I'll hit them with the spindle sander and do the straight parts with the router.


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## Slaeyer (Oct 28, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> View attachment 116291


That looks great!
Any chance for some wiggle-room in the neck pocket? Might help you with getting the lower string closer to the center of the fretboard.


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## JSil13 (Oct 28, 2022)

Slaeyer said:


> That looks great!
> Any chance for some wiggle-room in the neck pocket? Might help you with getting the lower string closer to the center of the fretboard.


Yeah I noticed that too after I strung it up. Ultra tight neck pockets aren’t my forte so there should be some room there. I’m going to have to take the neck off to route a bit anyway. Plus I think I’ll level, crown, and polish again.


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## JSil13 (Oct 29, 2022)

Got the fret ends filled with ziricote dust and CA glue on the 7 string neck. Still need to clean up some of the spillover that I got on the frets and fretboard. I also got a new Hosco flush trim cutter to replace my crappy one and Stew Mac was having a sale so I ordered their fret tang trimmer and some other little things. I like not having the tangs be visible.


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## JSil13 (Oct 30, 2022)

Tested out the new flush cutters and cut all the frets for this neck. It's so much easier it's unreal. I could cut with one hand and not have the cut off bits go flying all over the place. Plus these are actual flush cutters. Before I would end up with 1/16"-1/8" left over that I would need to file back. I'm hoping the tang nippers work as well as these do.


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## JSil13 (Nov 2, 2022)

The fret tang nippers work great. It took so much less time doing all 24 frets than it did using my homemade ones. Just a little bit of filing and they were good to go.



I made the first cut on the sapele body so that I could glue some back on to make up the length needed for the lower wing. The grain match isn't perfect, but it will work. This thing weighs a ton, so I'm thinking about chambering it and using a top on it. I was planning on painting the top and binding it, so I'm trying to find something reasonably priced that I won't mind painting. 





And here is the rough cut out body. This stuff was pretty tough on the old jigsaw. It's very dense, but it smelled pretty great when cutting. Right now it's 2" thick, so I'll have to use the router sled to get it down to around 1 3/4" if keeping it solid or 1 1/2" if I'm using a top. I'll be hitting it with the spindle sander to get rid of all the jagged crappy jigsaw cuts.


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## JSil13 (Nov 2, 2022)

Here's the last sapele body I did after being grain filled with Zpoxy and then cleared with lacquer.


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## JimF (Nov 3, 2022)

I love this thread


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## JSil13 (Nov 3, 2022)

Got the body spindle sanded to the line. Still have a bit of waviness in some of the longer wings that I may route out with a straight edge. Now I've busted out the router sled to level and to plane to width. I'm going to do one more pass on the top and then switch to the back. I'm doing a 1/4" drop top so I'm taking it down to 1 1/2" in small passes using my new Whiteside mortis bit for the first time. So far it's going well and since it's a bit wider than my other bit it won't take as many passes.


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## JSil13 (Nov 4, 2022)

The maple drop top came today while I was at work. This thing looks better than I thought for the price I paid for it. I was originally going to do a gold top with cream binding, but I think I'll leave this natural with the natural sapele back and sides with the cream binding. It's about 24"x16"x1/4" so it should be big enough since I shortened the lower wing a bit. If not I'll try to grain match it if I can.


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## JSil13 (Nov 5, 2022)




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## JSil13 (Nov 5, 2022)

Finished planing the top and I’m down to one last pass on the back. I’ll finish it up tomorrow and then start figuring out which way I want to go with chambering it.


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## JSil13 (Nov 7, 2022)

Got the top jointed a glued up. 



Finished thicknessing the body and then routed all the straight bits with a straight piece of MDF. Then I cleaned up the corners and the heel with the spindle sander. This thing is still 5 or 6lbs. 



Which brings me to what I'm planning to do for chambering. 1/2" walls, 3 1/2" center block, lower bass side wing completely hollow aside from a spot for the strap button, upper bass side solid since I have a feeling I'd screw up and carve the rear contour into the chamber, and then hollowed out the treble side aside from a spot for the heel access contour. Next step is to make some templates, hog most of it out with a forstner bit, and then get back to routing. I'm curious to see how much weight it actually loses.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 7, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> When I got to the 24th fret markers the awl chipped out a piece. I've spent an hour looking for it and I'm currently taking a break. My basement must be a pathway to another dimension. If I can find it I can just glue it back on. If not I'm not really sure. I know it's there somewhere.


How did you fix the tearout? You could just sand it flat, glue on a piece of Ebony and saw/sand it flat to the fretboard sides.


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## JSil13 (Nov 7, 2022)

Lemonbaby said:


> How did you fix the tearout? You could just sand it flat, glue on a piece of Ebony and saw/sand it flat to the fretboard sides.


Honestly that shit pissed me off so much that I haven’t tried to do anything with it yet. I’ve thought about cutting and grafting a piece in which would be tricky. Maybe making it 22 frets which would take care of most of it.


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## JSil13 (Nov 7, 2022)

Finished making templates for the weight relief chambers. The round parts are for the heel contour on the big one and the strap button on the smaller one. 




Then I started hogging out a bunch of the wood with forstner bits. I'm doing this with a hand drill very carefully, but man is it tiring after awhile. I didn't drill to final depth just to make extra sure I didn't drill too deep. It's getting a bit late for power tools and the vacuum so I'll be continuing this tomorrow.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 8, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> Honestly that shit pissed me off so much that I haven’t tried to do anything with it yet. I’ve thought about cutting and grafting a piece in which would be tricky. Maybe making it 22 frets which would take care of most of it.



Don't think that's necessary. Sand away as little material as possible so you get straight edges on the two outer sides. Using a dark or transparent glue will make the joint line almost invisible if the wood piece is halfway similar. The more I look at it, the more I think it should work.


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## JSil13 (Nov 8, 2022)

Don't think that's necessary. Sand away as little material as possible so you get straight edges on the two outer sides. Using a dark or transparent glue will make the joint line almost invisible if the wood piece is halfway similar. The more I look at it, the more I think it should work.

I think I understand what you’re saying. I’ll take a few pictures of it later when I get up and get to working on I m it.


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## JSil13 (Nov 8, 2022)

From this…



To this… all in all I think it lost somewhere around 1.5lbs. It’s now around 4lbs.


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## JSil13 (Nov 8, 2022)

Got the top rough cut out and then out came the clamps. There's about an 1/8" overhang that I'll spindle sand as close as I can and then route to the rest of the body. Then the next step will be routing for binding. I've never done it before, so it will be a bit of an experiment, but I have all the Amana rabbet bits with the various bearings. I'll be doing several tests before I hit the body with them.


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## JSil13 (Nov 8, 2022)

Lemonbaby said:


> Don't think that's necessary. Sand away as little material as possible so you get straight edges on the two outer sides. Using a dark or transparent glue will make the joint line almost invisible if the wood piece is halfway similar. The more I look at it, the more I think it should work.


Here are those pictures I'd said I'd get this morning while I was still half asleep. I moved everything in my basement/workshop and couldn't find the piece anywhere. I'm sure it will pop up eventually. The easier fix would be to make it 22 frets. There would still be a chip out, but it would be a lot smaller. The more difficult fix would be to sharpen my chisels and use them and a small pull saw to cut out a square piece and then cut and glue a new piece in.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 9, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> Here are those pictures I'd said I'd get this morning while I was still half asleep. I moved everything in my basement/workshop and couldn't find the piece anywhere. I'm sure it will pop up eventually. The easier fix would be to make it 22 frets. There would still be a chip out, but it would be a lot smaller. The more difficult fix would be to sharpen my chisels and use them and a small pull saw to cut out a square piece and then cut and glue a new piece in.



Using a chisel to create a rectangular cutout sounds like a lot of trouble for this little issue. Sand it to a sloped surface and glue on a piece of the original fretboard wood. File and sand down the overhangs or use a kugihiki (if you have one).


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## JimF (Nov 9, 2022)

Slanted fretboard? 22 fret bass side, 24 fret treble side?


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## JSil13 (Nov 9, 2022)

Lemonbaby said:


> Using a chisel to create a rectangular cutout sounds like a lot of trouble for this little issue. Sand it to a sloped surface and glue on a piece of the original fretboard wood. File and sand down the overhangs or use a kugihiki (if you have one).


Dude thank you for the illustration. That is a much simpler approach than what I was thinking. I just ordered one of those saws since most of my pull saws are huge. I should have some scrap ziricote around somewhere.


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## JSil13 (Nov 9, 2022)

JimF said:


> Slanted fretboard? 22 fret bass side, 24 fret treble side?


That’s another idea that I hadn’t thought of.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 9, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> Dude thank you for the illustration. That is a much simpler approach than what I was thinking. I just ordered one of those saws since most of my pull saws are huge. I should have some scrap ziricote around somewhere.



Hope it works out. And everyone needs a Kugihiki, super useful for a lot of tasks when building guitars.


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## JSil13 (Nov 9, 2022)

The clamps came off and then I sanded and then routed the top to the body. All those corners were tricky with the handheld router. At least with this I can sand out minor imperfections, but not so much with the binding routes. I was planning on doing two passes around the body. The first one with a larger bearing for a smaller cut and then the actual bearing. It looks good without binding, but the black limba star is going to get black binding so I wanted to practice.




Plus a little mockup with the neck. It still has the 7 string sized headstock, so that will be a bit smaller. I just need to thin the bass side of the heel a bit so it's flush with the neck.


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## JSil13 (Nov 9, 2022)

Lemonbaby said:


> Hope it works out. And everyone needs a Kugihiki, super useful for a lot of tasks when building guitars.



I filed and sanded the fretboard. Now the tricky part is figuring out how to clamp at a weird angle like that. I may need to cut a small triangle to get a flat surface.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 9, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> I filed and sanded the fretboard. Now the tricky part is figuring out how to clamp at a weird angle like that. I may need to cut a small triangle to get a flat surface.


You could try wrapping an elastic masking tape around the fretboard with the new wood piece. What also helps stopping the wood from sliding around is a tiiiny pinch of salt.


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## JSil13 (Nov 10, 2022)

Did two passes using cut offs from other bodies to keep me from sliding off of the corners. Came out pretty awesome.


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## JSil13 (Nov 10, 2022)

Probably could have gone for an easier shape with my first attempt at binding. It’s a little tall so I’m going to have a lot of scraping to do.


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## JSil13 (Nov 10, 2022)

It looks like that worked. I'm currently filling in the gap on the side with some ziricote dust and CA glue. Hopefully that covers the wood glue, but if not I can figure something out. 





Lemonbaby said:


> You could try wrapping an elastic masking tape around the fretboard with the new wood piece. What also helps stopping the wood from sliding around is a tiiiny pinch of salt.


I used a little bit of salt, some tape to hold it in place while I got it clamped, and then used my new kugihiki.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 11, 2022)

JSil13 said:


> It looks like that worked. I'm currently filling in the gap on the side with some ziricote dust and CA glue. Hopefully that covers the wood glue, but if not I can figure something out.
> [...]
> I used a little bit of salt, some tape to hold it in place while I got it clamped, and then used my new kugihiki.



Great job for your first time... that's what she said. You could hide the glueline a little better with a mixture of dark Ziricote dust and Epoxy (or Superglue). Just deepen it a little first with a file or sandpaper folded over a sharp edge.


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## JSil13 (Nov 11, 2022)

Lemonbaby said:


> Great job for your first time... that's what she said. You could hide the glueline a little better with a mixture of dark Ziricote dust and Epoxy (or Superglue). Just deepen it a little first with a file or sandpaper folded over a sharp edge.


I have some two part epoxy that I usually use to grain fill. I should have used that, but here it is after filling the gaps with dust and CA glue. Came out pretty nice


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## JSil13 (Nov 11, 2022)

Got the binding down to the top using a card scraper. This looks way better than I thought that it would. I still have a few gaps that I need to fill with some of the goop made with binding dissolved in acetone.


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## JSil13 (Nov 11, 2022)

I can live with this.


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## Lemonbaby (Nov 11, 2022)

Absolutely brilliant! To be honest, the guitar also would have looked worse with the cut off fretboard. I always find it quite satisfying to fix screw-ups in my builds with some creative idea and a little patience... once I get over the first 30 minutes of aggresion where I just want to burn the whole fucking thing.


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## JSil13 (Nov 11, 2022)

Lemonbaby said:


> Absolutely brilliant! To be honest, the guitar also would have looked worse with the cut off fretboard. I always find it quite satisfying to fix screw-ups in my builds with some creative idea and a little patience... once I get over the first 30 minutes of aggresion where I just want to burn the whole fucking thing.


Every build I've done so far is littered with little mistakes that I've had to somehow come up with ideas to fix. They've all also got drops of my blood on them. Thanks for the idea for the fretboard though. I never would have thought of that, and it's way easier than what I was thinking about doing.


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## JSil13 (Nov 12, 2022)

Got the neck pocket routed with only a minor binding catastrophe. Also a bunch of hardware came in. Going with some LP design ideas. Chrome hardware, witch hat knobs, pickup rings, as well as the maple/mahoganyish bound body. Don't think I'll be able to use the tall pickup ring so I'll need to find another flat short one somewhere.


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## JimF (Nov 14, 2022)

This is stunning! Any likelihood of direct mount pickups? Then it would be absolutely perfect!
Also, nice Higonokami - I have a very similar one on my desk at work. It is insanely sharp.


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## JSil13 (Nov 14, 2022)

JimF said:


> This is stunning! Any likelihood of direct mount pickups? Then it would be absolutely perfect!
> Also, nice Higonokami - I have a very similar one on my desk at work. It is insanely sharp.



I've done the last few builds with no pick guards or pickup rings, but I wanted a different kind of look with this one. The original plan was to do a gold top with cream binding and black pickguard/pickup rings etc. Now it's essentially the same idea, but with a natural finished maple top. Probably no pickguard though. 

I love my Higo. I have a few of them. I'm a chef and have quite a few Japanese knives and I actually bought Higonokamis for all my back of the house co workers. I sharpen mine on wet stones and can get it pretty damn sharp, but I still want to grind off the bolster so I can sharpen the heel part of the blade better.


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## JSil13 (Nov 14, 2022)

Got the bridge located, drilled, and drilled for the string ferrules. Also deepened the neck pocket a bit since this neck is a little thicker than the standard 1”. 





Here’s my high tech rear contour template.


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## JSil13 (Nov 14, 2022)

Got the rear roundover done and the neck pickup routed. Going to put down the power tools til tomorrow and carve the rear contours now. Also working on a control cavity cover from a cut off of the top. I think I'll make a diamond shaped one for the 3 way switch to go in the Explorer position on the upper treble side horn.


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## JSil13 (Nov 14, 2022)

Need to clean up some file marks and even out the heel access contour a bit, but got the the contours carved out.


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## JSil13 (Nov 15, 2022)

Spent some time scraping excess CA glue off the fretboards of the 6 and 7 string necks. I'm not worried about the burn marks from the spindle sander since the headstocks aren't in their final shape yet. I love the look of this ziricote.



Routed both pickup cavities. 



Then I drilled/routed the first control cavity. Felt like I was trying to get a pick out of an acoustic guitar every time I was trying to get the dust out. I used a tele control cavity template, and then a template I made for a tele control cover for the recess. Then I muffed the cover trying to make it fit by sanding/filing. I have enough maple for a few more tries, but I think that I'll make a template for it.


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## JSil13 (Nov 15, 2022)

So I ordered a one piece black limba body blank so that I could start the 7 string build without having to joint anything. Now I can figure out the jointing process later and have an extra Explorer sized blank. This one is surprisingly light which is nice. I've ordered a few blanks and some tops from this supplier so they sent me a few fretboard blanks for free. Quilted maple, roasted maple, birdseye maple, and roasted birdseye maple. 




But ziricote just looks so good with black limba.


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## JSil13 (Nov 15, 2022)

Rough cut out this body. It is super light almost like basswood. If I had to guess I’d say somewhere between 3-4lbs. Luckily the Hipshot open gears are pretty light, but I’ll also put the strap button on the neck plate to make sure there’s no neck dive.


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## JSil13 (Nov 16, 2022)

Hit the body with the spindle sander.Still going to use the router on the straight parts and then need to thin the heel to the neck. 

Anyway here are some gratuitous grain shots.


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## JSil13 (Nov 17, 2022)

Straight parts are routed and the heel is thinned to the neck. Doing some practice for the binding. Still haven’t figured out the correct bearing yet. The last one the binding say proud of the body a bit and this time it’s a little inside the body. At least this way I could sand to the binding without thinning it out.


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## JSil13 (Nov 18, 2022)




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## JSil13 (Nov 18, 2022)

I haven’t glued the binding in yet, but I have it all bent and taped in tight. 

I also made a neck pocket template. It may be a bit too tight right now, but I’ll test it out on some scrap.


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## Shawn (Nov 18, 2022)

Amazing work! Great job.


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## JSil13 (Nov 19, 2022)

Got the binding glued in, scraped level, and it's currently covered in sanding marks. So I'll have to go over all of it with the scraper to smooth it out again. But this came out better than the last one which is always good. Still have a few gaps to fill in with the goop which is currently dissolving.


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## JSil13 (Nov 19, 2022)

Also did a test of the neck pocket template and it looks like it will work.


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## JSil13 (Nov 21, 2022)

Got the neck pocket routed. Had issues again with the router tearing some binding out. So I repaired the damage after I finished routing. I may try to route the neck pocket before the binding next time despite people saying not to do that.I could use double sided tape to tape a block in the neck pocket to give the router and the binding something to dig into. 



Then I reestablished the centerline using the edges of the neck. 


Then I measured the 25.5" mark from the nut. On my charcoal frost star I made I'm running out of room to intonate the low E so I need to find a better method for locating the bridge. I've been extending the saddles about 75-80% of their travel. This one has staggered ferrules, but that shouldn't change the amount of string from nut to saddle.


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## JSil13 (Nov 21, 2022)

I also swapped the tuner buttons while restringing my Schecter. I love these tuners, but I hate the tuner buttons. The look is fine, but they're so wide at the ends that it feels like I have fat sausage fingers.


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## JSil13 (Nov 21, 2022)

Got the body and neck drilled and then mounted the neck. I love how light this thing is. I’ve had some pretty heavy black limba but this has to be the lightest one I’ve ever had. 


A little mock-up. I need to make a template for the seven string pickups. I was going to use my six string humbucker template and do one side at a time, but it looks to wide from top to bottom for body mount pickups.


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## JSil13 (Nov 22, 2022)

Located the bridge and drilled for it and the ferrules. For the ferrules I still used my jig, but just moved it over one space when I got to the high E. I did a test for this awhile back. Got a tiny bit of tear out on the low B, but I think the lip from the ferrule will cover it. If not I could use CA glue and dust.


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## JSil13 (Nov 22, 2022)

And here is where they're both at currently. Soon I should be caught up on the black limba one and then I can proceed to doing the same things two times in a row like drilling for tuners, thicknessing the headstocks, carving the necks, fretwork etc. I also noticed the neck plate on the sapele/maple one is a different shape than I made the heel for, so I can spindle sand that off too. They're like brothers.


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## eaeolian (Nov 22, 2022)

Damn. Nice work, and nice documenting. Kind of inspiring me to do the same thing with a Warrior...


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## JSil13 (Nov 22, 2022)

eaeolian said:


> Damn. Nice work, and nice documenting. Kind of inspiring me to do the same thing with a Warrior...



Thanks man. Yeah, I like doing build threads. Reading other people's was how I learned and still learn to do things. Plus when I forget how I did something I can read my old threads to remember. Honestly I was just trying to remember why I decided to go with the Voyager/Random Star kind of shape. I think it was because I wanted something I could sit classical style like I did with my V, and normal style while I practice on the couch. 

A Warrior would definitely be cool with the same black limba/black binding. Maybe an Ironbird. I've been getting my body blanks from Kimball hardwoods. He's one of the only people I've seen with Explorer sized blanks for a decent price. I still have an extra one that I'm not sure what I'll do with yet. I do have an extra Jazz bass neck that I want to build a body for. Something I can tune to B to go with the 7 string.


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## JSil13 (Nov 23, 2022)

Got the rear roundover done today before I have to head into work. After working with sapele this piece of limba feels like nothing. It's very easy to work. Almost too easy that it dents just by looking at it like basswood does. Then I set myself up to carve the rear contours either after work tonight or tomorrow when I get up. The heel contour will be going through some pretty intense figuring, so it should look pretty cool.


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## JSil13 (Nov 23, 2022)

I probably shouldn't have, but I just foolishly bought this awesome claro walnut top because it was 25% off. I've been wanting to try working with walnut for a long time and the dude I buy my wood from is doing a Black Friday sale. It will most likely be going onto the other black limba blank that I have that needs to be jointed still. Not sure what I'm going to make yet, but I still have some curly maple for the neck and a smorgasbord of fretboard blanks to choose from.


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## JSil13 (Nov 24, 2022)

Carved the rear contours. Got some cool figuring in the heel access. You can also see how soft this wood is from the dent from the neck plate.


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## thrashcomics (Nov 24, 2022)

This. Is. Fucking. Awesome.


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## JSil13 (Nov 25, 2022)

Made my seven string humbucker template. Definitely the best pickup template that I've ever made. The ears I carefully cut with the jigsaw and then went over with a file. These things are definitely big. For a bit there I was worried about going too deep and into the rear contour, but luckily these are body mounted so only 3/4" deep. Now I just need to worry about the mounting screws.


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## JSil13 (Nov 26, 2022)

Got both pickups routed. Next up is the control cavity and drilling some holes. Then I can start carving both of these necks. 



A little mockup. I think I'll be using the tele control cavity shape, so the toggle switch will be where the volume knob is now.


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## JSil13 (Nov 28, 2022)

Put the nut in the six string neck and marked straight lines to mark where the tuners will go. Then I put the Hipshot back plates on and marked them on center.



Since I'm drilling by hand I use the drill block and start at 1/8" and work my way up. By the time I get to the actual size it's freehand, but I have around 1/16" of an inch left by that point.


And finally no tear out on the back. This time I double clamped it to make a tight seal with the wood underneath it. It looks like you can also see some of my music notes. Trem picking and 3rds.


Tomorrow I'll do the same with the seven string neck. Then I can move on to thicknessing the headstocks and making my facet drawings for carving.


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## JSil13 (Nov 29, 2022)

Drilled the tuner holes for the seven string neck. The bit wondered a bit on one or two of the holes. I think I'll use the plethora of gift cards I'll receive for Christmas on a drill press. Luckily these tuners use a mounting plate so the tuners will still line up. Then after I screwed that up I thicknessed the headstocks to 5/8" using a combination of my spindle sander, orbital sander, and then block sanding. Then I changed the shape of the 7 string headstock to make it a bit thinner, sanded off all the burn marks, and fixed all the straight edges. They both have some nice figuring, but that 6 string neck is going to look crazy.


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## JimF (Nov 30, 2022)

Oooft. Get some mineral spirits on it quick so we can have a preview!


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## JSil13 (Nov 30, 2022)

JimF said:


> Oooft. Get some mineral spirits on it quick so we can have a preview!






Here is the first set of facets with some naphtha on it. Still a ways to go.


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## JSil13 (Nov 30, 2022)

Now I'm glad that I couldn't say no to that Black Friday 25% off. First pic is dry and second is wet with naphtha. You can ignore the P bass drawn on there. It came like that to show the size. Not really sure what I'll do with it yet, but I have another black limba blank and I've been working on a Flying V design. I want to draw up something like a mix between a Gibson V like my old one, and an offset V like the Rhoads. That's just an idea right now.


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## JSil13 (Dec 1, 2022)

Got the other facets carved in. This one definitely feels much better than my last few. Not as beefy and more of a C shape than a D shape. There is a bit of a V feeling, but I’m going to sand that out to a more typical C. I still need to do the heel and the headstock transitions, but I’m happy with it so far.


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## JSil13 (Dec 2, 2022)

Carved the transitions in. I might tweak the heel a little bit, but I'm really happy with how this neck feels overall.




Then I started prepping the 7 string neck for carving. The mistake I kept making before was doing the facets and carving before I got the neck to thickness. That's why I ended up getting D shaped necks all the time. I missed a step on the "Let's Build a Neck" thread on TDPRI repeatedly. So to get these one to thickness I used a spindle sander. I should have bought the spindle/belt sander combo. So it isn't perfectly flat, but most of it will be getting carved off anyway, and I didn't go to full thickness.


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## JSil13 (Dec 3, 2022)

Tuners for the 6 string came in while I was at work. I love these tuners. Hate the buttons, but the tuners work great, have a decent ratio, and I think the open gears look cool. First time in chrome though.


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## JSil13 (Dec 3, 2022)

Doing a few mockups to see which fretboard wood to go with with the walnut top. The first two are my favorites. The neck itself will be the same curly maple that I used on both the 6 and 7 string star necks. 

Roasted birdseye



Bocote



Curly Maple



Birdseye


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## JimF (Dec 5, 2022)

My vote is for the curly maple fretboard, but I like contrast between neck & body. Face it, you're not going to go wrong with any of those, they're all gorgeous!


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## Shawn (Dec 5, 2022)

Nice work so far, really cool. Also, that walnut top is amazing.


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## JSil13 (Dec 5, 2022)

JimF said:


> My vote is for the curly maple fretboard, but I like contrast between neck & body. Face it, you're not going to go wrong with any of those, they're all gorgeous!


I'm kind of leaning towards the bocote. Plus it smells like pickles when you cut it. It does almost match the walnut but with a different grain. I'm still not even sure what I'm planning on building with it. The black limba blank is Explorer sized so I want to make use of the size. Thoughts I've had are a Flying V, Firebird, Destroyer, or an Explorer. The walnut may not be big enough for a full size Explorer or Destroyer, but I could shrink it down to fit. 


Shawn said:


> Nice work so far, really cool. Also, that walnut top is amazing.



Thanks man. Still a learning experience for me, but each build is getting better.


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## JSil13 (Dec 5, 2022)

Didn't take many progress pictures, but here are the first facets on the 7 string neck.




And here is where it's at now. I still need to work on the heel transition, but it feels pretty good. Today's carving soundtrack was provided by Mgla.


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## JimF (Dec 6, 2022)

Nice! I love Mgla too. Also check out Groza if you don't know them, and fancy a slightly more melancholic version of that sound. Slightly.
I'd never considered carving the facets in before shaping the neck profile. It's a good way to make it more uniform.
Ever considered doing an Endurneck type profile?


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## JSil13 (Dec 6, 2022)

JimF said:


> Nice! I love Mgla too. Also check out Groza if you don't know them, and fancy a slightly more melancholic version of that sound. Slightly.
> I'd never considered carving the facets in before shaping the neck profile. It's a good way to make it more uniform.
> Ever considered doing an Endurneck type profile?



I have only heard of the Endurneck. There is a Strandberg dealer nearby though, so I should go check them out sometime. 

As for the facet carving method, it's something I picked up from TDPRI originally but have seen all over the place since. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of shaping profiles. 

The whole thread is a great source of knowledge, but this is where the facets come into play. 






Let's make a neck!


I decided to try something different and went to the edge sander to sand the taper in there. It's a matter of holding it straight and not going beyond the pencil lines. I used to do this with a router and a couple shims on the neck to get an angle. I also bandsawed it off. Then I realized...




www.tdpri.com


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## JSil13 (Dec 6, 2022)

JimF said:


> Nice! I love Mgla too. Also check out Groza if you don't know them, and fancy a slightly more melancholic version of that sound. Slightly.
> I'd never considered carving the facets in before shaping the neck profile. It's a good way to make it more uniform.
> Ever considered doing an Endurneck type profile?



Also listened to an album from Groza. Was pretty cool. Added a few songs to my winter playlist. Lately I've been kind of obsessed with that Black Braid album. I also just discovered Wayfarer which is like if the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack had some black metal thrown in.


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## JimF (Dec 7, 2022)

Thanks for reminding me about Black Braid! I loved the singles but haven't checked the album yet! Will check out Wayfarer too


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## JSil13 (Dec 12, 2022)

Finally got around to carving the heel contour on the 7 string neck.


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## JSil13 (Dec 12, 2022)

I spent the past few days making leather strops for my coworkers for Christmas. We can use them after we sharpen our work knives on water stones. Both are roasted maple and birdseye maple. One has a black limba handle and the other bocote/purpleheart. I have to resand them again after I glued the leather on which also means I need to redo the Tru-oil, but they came out pretty nice. 




I also made them some hats sewing patches of bands they like on there. Made some for myself too.


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## JSil13 (Dec 13, 2022)

Got the frets leveled and started working on the crowning. It's tedious work, but I just throw on an audio book or music and get to it. I'll finish up the crowning tomorrow and may move on to polishing. I also still need to carve the heel contour on the 6 string neck, but I need to reshape the heel on the body first. The neck plate was a totally different shape than the one I used to shape the body.


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