Guitar project update

What a great feeling...
My first fret job! I have them leveled, beveled and filed the bevel.
I'll dress them later on in the build.
I glued the body wings on and just unclamped them so
now I can finish shaping the neck to body and the end of the neck-thru to
the body.
Ebony dust is all over the guitar so it looks dirty. I'll do some sanding shaping
before I router out for hardware but not much.
I decided to have another 4 day weekend to see how far I'll get.
 
 
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So far so good...pretty amazing considering how spaced-out I can get.
Hope I make to tuning.
 
Some of you may be wondering how I'm going to get the wires from the
pups to the controls without covering channels with a pick-guard.....
For the curious ask me after it's completed and I'll let you know. To date
I haven't found another one that's been done the way I'll be doing it.
(no I won't be drilling from the end of the body or the jack hole)
Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Ebony, Soft maple (back wings) and Zebra (top)
and holley veneer dyed black (for seperation line of body laminates)

I'm getting excited.

Christmas is almost here.

Mike that's exactly what I did. If I read the tape right when
I router for the pups and controls the channel should show up.

Bapu if this will tune and play I'm going to take another chance for sure.
But Christmas?? geeze you have a lot of faith in me. But I thinks it's
HO, oh, no.

Phil, "luthier" is a title I sure haven't earned. This is my first shot.
I sure wish I knew a luthier. I just figured after having one in my hands
for almost 50 years I should be able to build one. So I'm going to find out.
I did read and study for many months...didn't just jump in. That was my only resource
though and it would be great to have somebody with experience. The added
safety and assurance would be comforting.

Thanks for the kind words guys.
Michael

Been shaping with 80 grit in prep for routering. A little moisture from
wiping can be seen. 
Still much shaping to do on neck but that's later on.

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But Christmas?? geeze you have a lot of faith in me. But I thinks it's HO, oh, no.

Just yankin' yer chain Michael.

But my birthday is Feb 7th.

Looking good buddy!

Rich I do apologize for not having documented this build very well.
I didn't take pics or film any of the work in progress.
What I've done is take pictures when I finished something...really just surprised
and excited. ( and every step I've finished wondering if the next one is when I blow it.)

Installing frets is easy. It's getting the fretboard ready for them and the "fret job" after
they're installed that I found hard.
I have a fret press instead of hammering them into the slots.
I used black super glue as it is an ebony fretboard.
I'd start the fret so it would "stand up" ready and then lower the press to rest on it. Then I'd swipe the super glue across the tang and press it in, lock the press down and let it set-up. Same for each fret.
Then I cut of the access fretwire pretty flush to fretboard.
I have a bevel file to run across the ends so no big deal about snipping them off. Just don't cut them to close and at an angle over the fretboard.
So if the fretboard is right the frets install perfectly easy. Really boring job too.
Put one in a wait about 5 minutes and do another one.

Rich I'm not sure I could have documented the build. There are just so many small
things to do. Would be best to have somebody focused on that. They'd be thinking about the right things to capture. 
It was and is taking every bit of my attention to do the build as this is my first.

Here 
         Is the link that has all the photos I have taken.
Rich if you have questions I'd be glad to answer them If I can and maybe stage a photo
for you to see.
Well I'm filing the body contours today...filing I don't mind but sanding is boring.
A few more hours and I'll post a lighter version of this axe , lol.

Thanks Mark. I took apart the pickguard last night. I noticed Dimarzio had done a very smart thing...they moved the volume knob farther away from the bridge pup. About 1/4 inch. - Ace.
I wanted to use the guard to mark locations.

What I'm wondering is can I make a fretless bass from one that has frets.  Would I need to fill in the grooves or can I just pull the frets and sand it smooth.  Seems like leaving the grooves would make nice position markers.  i have a spare bass I want to do this with.

That is looking sweet, Spacey. Can't wait to see it with the finish on. All that wood is going to so come to life.
The closest this I have come to this was building a four poster bed.
Dead of Winter, 20 degrees in the garage, my trusty kerosene heater next to the lathe. No duplicator, so after the first post was turned, the remaining three were duplicated by eye and markings.
It didn't demand the precision you have with this project, but was still immensely satisfying.
Thanks for sharing this experience. There is really nothing like working wood from concept to finished vision.

I'm not really even a guitar player, but I agree this looks beautiful and it seems you're doing a wonderful job with it.  I imagine some of the sanding gets a little boring.  Maybe that will make up for the sheer terror you might be tempted to feel when you router something.  :-)  Thanks for posting the pictures! 

spacey

Where's the 5th string?

spacey


Hope you find that CD Bapu. Would be cool to hear that.

Mark I can't see why you couldn't.
I'm thinking there'd be two major tricks. Getting frets out without damageing the
fretboard and getting the nut filed.

I wouldn't try without a fretwire puller. Getting the nut filed is not a problem
if you know someone. The files are expensive if not needed much.

I'd sand wood, type of fretboard and make a filler with the dust. Sanded dust is better than having/sawing dust for filler. Yellow wood glue works fine.
Another thought Mark is to sand the frets down and leave them as markers.

Oops, sorry I missed this post.  I think that's a great idea about just sanding the frets down and leaving them for markers.  No matter what I do, it's a $50 pawn shop peavy bass, so I'm not too concerned abouty screwing it up.

RobertB


Marcos, I'd be inclined to just grind the frets down.
If memory serves, from when I built my dulcimer, the fret wire has little barbs that are likely to blow out the fretboard if you try to pull them out.
Actually I think it would look pretty good with just the narrow lines.
You would probably want to grind the frets close, then finish with a fine file. if you try to sand them down, the fretboard may dish around the frets, as the wood is much softer. I would be concerned about this causing fret buzz.

Ya, I refretted my '62 strat and it was a task not blowing out the wood pulling the old ones.  I think a good bench grinder and then file or sanding block should get it.

The sanding block I use is radiused aluminum. The great thing about it
is that one could file the frets and dress the fretboard too with no worries.

I don't know about your next one Bapu but when I build one if doesn't
have 5 strings there will be plenty of fretboard left for some inlay stuff
or LED's...sumpin.

Thought I'd point out something;
I stated earlier that I did the body contours different from Fender- if you
look at the Holly line on mine and then the one on the Pedulla you'll notice
mine is curved opposed the straight one on the Peddulla.
Curious if one looks better to folks or if you even noticed. Obviously I liked the
curve. I like the thicker holly on the Pedulla though.

Carl Thompson is a bass luthier. He builds or has built for Stanley Clark.
Youtube has many of his video's and they are cool. He's a cool guy and
interesting. Surely worth sharing.

Mike- thank you! If you look close you can see where it meets the
control cavity. Who'd a thought it...right at volume pot! I don't know
if that's a problem but will soon enough. lol.

Spacey
This guitar is really looking awesome.  What an array of emotions you must be going through right now being so close to finishing.  And what joy you will feel when you're done.  So where are we all getting together to hear you play it and celebrate?