A couple of works in progress - Page 2 - Woodworking Talk

The Everyman Show · 08-24-2009, 08:18 AM

Truly phenomenal Frank. A great story, a fantastic project and a summer with her dad that she will remember for the rest of her life.

Kenbo · 08-24-2009, 09:40 PM

I don't need to say anything about this project. The look on your daughter's face pretty much sums up how good this project really is. 'nuff said.

Ken

jdixon · 08-25-2009, 11:42 PM

Frank that is just too cool. What a great couple of projects! The best part is when your all done the fun really begins because you guys can jam together!

I just ask you make me head of security when you guys start touring.

John

frankp · 08-31-2009, 10:40 AM

Not too much to update as my mom has been in town to see the new baby and I haven't gotten much done. MIMF, however, is having a $100 telecaster challenge... build a telecaster guitar for $100 or less. This inspired me to add one more axe to the mix. I am currently designing (mostly finished with that part) a "baby tele" for the baby to play as he gets to about 4 years old or so. In the meantime, I'll use it as a travel guitar so I can try to practice when I'm on the road.

21" scale (standard is ~25-26", half is 19") with a basswood body, walnut top, mahogany and walnut neck, and cocobolo fretboard. It will be a thinline style tele (means it's hollow) to save on weight and the whole thing will be less than 36 inches in length and about 9 inches wide. On paper the design looks great. I'll take some pictures tonight (hopefully) of the start woods before making any cuts.

In the meantime, I rewired the pickups for my guitar to "tap" the coils of the humbuckers so I can select them as individual pickups or as a humbucker. I also drilled for the strap buttons and added one. I need to fill the other with epoxy and re-drill a la drill-fill-drill style used in making boats, because I don't think the cedar will hold the screw without stripping in short order. I'm going to try and route all the channels for the wiring tonight and maybe do some sanding. Can't do too much though because mom is still in town. Pics as I get some noticeable progress.

frankp · 09-02-2009, 12:46 AM

Not a huge amount of progress because I was dealing with some other new things tonight (pallet wood... what a find).

Anyway, here's a shot of the plan for the baby tele (if it can be seen at the smaller size) and a shot of the woods I'm going to use for it.

frankp · 09-08-2009, 01:00 AM

So I got some more work accomplished on my guitar(s). I drilled the wiring channels on my big body and got all the holes for the knobs and switches drilled. Sanded the body to 600 and it's almost ready for stain and then finish. Just need to install the frets and sand the headstock and neck to 400 and she'll be completely ready for final finishing.

For the baby guitar, I got the neck glued up, built a truss rod, routed a truss rod channel, and prepped the body blanks for gluing. Also planed the fingerboard and got the fret slots cut (not shown) in it, so once I finish getting the neck completely ready (have to fix a fairly significant mistake first) I'll glue it down and then radius the fret board.

A few pics... fingerboard1, fingerboard2, neck and truss rod, neck and wings, big body:

frankp · 09-08-2009, 01:02 AM

And a close up of the big body as it is right now.

frankp · 09-08-2009, 10:46 AM

And here's an "artist's rendition" of what she might like look finished. The finish plan doesn't really match with the wood selection for the neck, but I'd always planned on the prismatic effect for the top, the woods were just what I had on hand. As such, the color scheme wins out. The idea is that the colors look like prismatic water drops on a pond surface or something like that. It's supposed to be in keeping with the "zen" and "balance" theme of the guitar.

garryswf · 09-08-2009, 10:53 AM

Frank,
It always amazes me the things folks do with a simple chunk of wood. They look great. Is that the first time making one, and, did you have a plan.

frankp · 09-08-2009, 11:53 AM

garryswf,

Yes these are the first I've made. We didn't have a plan from someone else, but I checked some library books out that gave the basic steps and we drafted our own plans. I think there may be a picture in this thread of one, if not I'll add some pics later for others to look at. At least make them dark enough that people can see the details of what's in the plans. Basically they are just drawings of the guitar face with a few key dimensions included. Pretty simple, really. I don't usually work from anything other than sketches and my mind's eye anyway, so this was actually more detail than I'm used to working with... so far they've turned out fine.

My daughter's guitar plays well, smoother than the one we took the components from, anyway. I'll reserve judgement on the other two until I actually get them strung up.

jdixon · 09-09-2009, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankp

a "baby tele" for the baby to play as he gets to about 4 years old or so.

You know what they say The family that rocks together, rolls together!

Awesome work Frank. Look forward to the progress pics.

John

frankp · 09-09-2009, 10:30 AM

So I finished fretting my guitar last night, and stained it psychedelic dots similar to the "artist rendition" I put up yesterday. I'm not sure I'm going to keep it though, and may go with a two tone kind of thing instead... we'll see. Pictures later.

frankp · 09-13-2009, 12:12 PM

Latest update: I got the neck finished on my guitar, and waxed it. I won't put any other type of finish on the neck but will be adding some pore filler (epoxy) and KTM-9 then install the electronics and it will be finished. My wife ended up really liking the "drops", which I'm surprised about. You can't really tell from the pictures but the top is quilted maple. I'm thinking perhaps putting something to help bring out the grain a bit, anyone have any suggestions as to what might be the best method of doing that? I was thinking Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) or Tung oil but I'm open to any finishing suggestions as I feel that's perhaps one of my weakest points.

So the details: neck and head stock were sanded to 400 and the body is sanded to 600. Two coats of color. Electronics will be split humbuckers (I don't know what brand) configured for neck humbucker, bridge & neck humbuckers, bridge humbucker and then some verson of the neck split with the bridge humbucker, bridge split with the neck humbucker and then the neck north coil with the bridge south coil. I haven't decided whether I can include some phase changing in the 5way and 3way switches that I have, but I probably won't bother. Too many sound effects and I'll never actually learn how to play this thing.

Now, on the baby/travel tele, I had some minor issues... I was sanding the transition from the neck to the headstock and got a little overzealous. I ended up sanding into the nut and truss rod area so I'll have to repair that. I did get the frets slotted though, so when I get back from my travels I'll finish up the repair and then continue with that project. The "challenge" deadline is Oct 31 so I should be good to go. I bought tuners and a pickup on ebay and got some brass door hinge pins to use as a bridge and a nut, so that should work out pretty well.

frankp · 10-05-2009, 08:59 AM

So this weekend I got back to work after a few weeks away on business. I ended up using Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) to bring out the grain of my psychedelic water spots top a bit, and then put a couple coats of epoxy on it. One coat of epoxy on the back.

I also took the afternoon yesterday to put the body wings of the "baby tele" on the neck and start the repair of my mess-up on the headstock. Pictures to come later today or tomorrow.

frankp · 10-07-2009, 06:12 PM

And to prove all this hard work, a few pictures. Latest progress is hollowing out the body cavity for the baby tele and putting the fingerboard on the neck. Pictures are 1) body cavity, 2) Neck repair, 3) full body with fingerboard, and 4) full body without fingerboard.

slabmaster · 10-07-2009, 09:22 PM

That tele looks like it's comming along just fine.I like the neck through body idea alot.I'm finishing up two strats right now myself.They have a one piece figured maple bodys with birdseye maple necks with rosewood fretboards and ablone inlays.I'm just waiting for the nitro to cure so they can be polished and assembled.It always feels better playing a guitar you built yourself.

frankp · 10-08-2009, 10:00 AM

slabmaster, so far all three I've built have been neck-through and I like it as a build method. I don't think it's particularly hard to do, though I read in some book or another that it's considered one of the more complicated neck designs. I'm not sure why as I think routing a pocket with the right angles and such would be much harder than shaping a neck in place. Maybe it's just me.

slabmaster · 10-08-2009, 04:25 PM

You are right about neck through body necks being harder to do.But i think it's well worth it because the better sound transfer and tone they produce.I plan on building my next that way too.It does take more wood for the neck, and the top is harder to sand flat with the neck being there, it can't be run through a thickness sander.I think that's why most factories don't build them that way to often.But even Gibson knows they do sound better as they have lenghtened the neck tenon on there Les Pauls since 08.

Kenbo · 10-12-2009, 11:53 AM

Okay, so here I am on Frank's advice to try and get out of a posting slump...................um................nope, I got nothin'.

Quite seriously though Frank, the guitars are looking great. Keep posting photos. I always enjoy the guitar build threads. They are like watching a good television show......you just can't wait until next weeks episode to see what happens next.
Ken

frankp · 10-12-2009, 12:38 PM

Just for you I'll put up some more pics tonight, Ken.

For now, it's just words:

Got the inlays finished on the baby tele. Also came up with a couple ideas for how to do the bridge and tailpiece, as well as the electronics panel. Should be able to make some more progress on that this week, and hopefully get the top on as well. Almost out of time so I need to do it soon.