XBIGJIMX Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 So where do you start when you have a 1000 ideas you want to do. Well base it on what you play. So the start is my number 1 for the last 10 years "Molly" A Heritage CM-150. but make the changes I needed. So first the woods Mahogany body Maple tops Necks Maple Jatoba 5 ply With Jatoba fret board. Purple heart maple 5 ply with Willow fret board So I start as always with a hard board "master" template that is transfered to 3/4 MDF After I am happy with everything its the glue up of the 2 part body and the top after resawing the maple cap looks nice Now originally I was going with purple heart necks which you will see later went to hell The original Billets and necks Starting to early in the morning and took to much wood of on the jointer and made some fire wood So grab a fresh blank and redue the scarf joint. I cut these at 13degrees on the band say then even out on the jointer Now truss rod cut on the router table Then some wings for the head stock Now moving on to the bodies, After the glue up its off to the thickness sander to get them to thickness and clean them up. First a trip to the band saw Seeing the cut outs never gets old And hogging out the control cavity before template time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 Now I use a combo of the Shaper and overarm pin router I also do my tops the same way. Now on my templates I put in register pins so to a line everything up and to prevent slipping in the glue up. and then its back to the necks Rough cut on the band saw then over to the pin router When I carve the tops I take a little off the top with the pin router for a guide and to speed things along I do the main carve with a angle grinder then with a scraper and a hockey skate blade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I have a template made for the neck pocket. The depth I always measure with each guitar just to make sure Finished neck pocket with back angle And a test fit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 These are gonna be sooooooo sweet! Nice choice of wood species. I think the colors are going to look great. Can you tell me what the advantage of the overarm pin router is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 These are gonna be sooooooo sweet! Nice choice of wood species. I think the colors are going to look great. Can you tell me what the advantage of the overarm pin router is? Its real advantage is any time your working with templates or plunge cuts. Regardless of the piece and keeping things square as the head presses to the table so you dont get that tilt you can with and held router or even a table. It can be as creative as you want to be with the jigs. Almost like a manual cnc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Well first off took some days to do some shop "upgrades" New band saw tires cool blocks and these beauties I also got a few fret boards slotted One of Jatoba and one of Willow. Now I have never done binding before, so i king had to figure out how I wanted to do this. I wound up using an offset pin on the pin router. Then glued the wood binding to the fret board. Maple and Purpleheart. Then a quick trip on the jointer and drum sander to level it Now I was little off on replacing the final trim out so I will half to remember that for next time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Great journal so far Jim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Willow for a fretboard????? The willow in my part of the world is almost spongy soft. Where does one find willow hard enough for a fretboard? Those are looking very nice, by the way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Willow for a fretboard????? The willow in my part of the world is almost spongy soft. Where does one find willow hard enough for a fretboard? Those are looking very nice, by the way. This very well could be a bad idea but it looks so good were gonna find out. I figure see what happens after poly. It does mill very nicely though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Might be a good application for 'stabilized' wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Here is the fretboards sanded to 12 and then polished to 1000 grit then buffed. No finish applied Then Putting the trust rod in Then clamping the fretboards on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 Lookin' sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 What'd you use to radius the fretboards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 What'd you use to radius the fretboards? It's a pre radiused sanding block made out of wood from LMI. It is about 6" lond and It does the job but damn its a work out. I am going to invest in the 18" aluminum one people say he extra length and weight make all the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted February 18, 2015 Report Share Posted February 18, 2015 It's a pre radiused sanding block made out of wood from LMI. It is about 6" lond and It does the job but damn its a work out. I am going to invest in the 18" aluminum one people say he extra length and weight make all the difference. I've got those same blocks. They are a lot of work. Grizzly has an attachment for their g1140 edge sander that does radiusing real fast http://www.grizzly.com/products/Guitar-Fretboard-Radiusing-Sander/G0574 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 I've got those same blocks. They are a lot of work. Grizzly has an attachment for their g1140 edge sander that does radiusing real fast http://www.grizzly.com/products/Guitar-Fretboard-Radiusing-Sander/G0574 If I had a just extravagance that would be it. i have thought about building a jig like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted December 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Well it has been awhile but sometimes life gets in the way or our mental health but hey with that fixed or at least medicated lets get back to building. Now on the last step I jumped the gun and glued the fret board on before putting in the side dots not the end of the world, but it makes the job harder. I use aluminum for my side dot so the shine up really niceI got all the sanding and carving doneAfter I drilled out the string holes and for the bridge. It was then I realized I did the neck pocket to deep or not enough pocket angle either way a recessed bridge can fix that. BUT..... in the process we had our first real disaster. The router was set way to deep and dug out a trench and blew out the pick up wall a bit so this was all going to have to be filled and hid. Lucky for me it happened under the bridge which makes almost unnoticeable, But with some timber mate we got it fixedThen comes my least favorite thing grain filling. So then on to the finish which was was desided on sunburst-ish see though blue. So I sanded the body down to 320Step one mask off the natural binding and the neck binding.Then with a cotton rag and water based stain I wipe on the black for reasons one to make the grain pop in color and to raise the grain to sand flush. So add the blackAnd sand off the blackThen add the blueThen logos which was just a basic mask and sprayed with an airbrushAfter the color got done i scrapped the binding for any seepageI used a 2 part clear post catalyzed lacquer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Fill, sand repeat as nessacary...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XBIGJIMX Posted December 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Last but not least the finished productOne of the things I love about using stained tops is that I can fix them pretty easy is I burn though them while level sanding. as you can see in the before and after pic. A couple quick wipes of stainSo after another 3 coats and a level sanding from 500,800,1000,1200 It was off to the buffing wheel that I built from my drill press (there is tutorial pinned in this site) I moved on to electronics which were a standard 1 volume one tone and a 3 way switch and a set of old Ibanez super 58's from an old artist I was saving. I then put it on the home made stew mac fret jig and did all the fret work. And finally put on the magnets that hold on the trust rod covers and control plate. And 1 of the Molly's is complete. the other is waiting.All and all it came in at 10lbs1oz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Terrific work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Looks awesome, BigJim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Beautiful work! Thanks for journaling this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Page Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Nice work! Thanks for sharing the process, I'm in the middle of an acoustic build and seeing how you approach the neck answers a lot of questions.Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted December 15, 2015 Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 Wow! What a pleasure to read through and see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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