DLP Les Paul - 1 - Shaping On The Fretboard

I recently finished a Les Paul style guitar, it was a prototype I made to test different construction methods and different materials.  Specifically the back of the guitar was hollowed out and it was my first attempt at a scarf joint.  While I was making the first neck I also started a second and so I decided to start work on the fret board using my profiling jig.

Put simply the jig consists of 2 pieces of wood parallel to each other and secured to the bench, with another piece between them also secured to the bench.  The profiled block then rides between the two sides and the fret board blank is secured with double sided tape in the middle of the base.

I picked up a piece of mahogany from my local wood yard which was already ripped to about 12mm thickness, much to thick as it stands but with some elbow grease and a little planing I should be able to get it to a usable thickness.

I use a couple of clamps at each end just to ensure the sides stay parallel and the profile block slides up the middle of the track.  After some sanding with 60 grit sandpaper the profile starts to form but not enough material was been removed and the fret board would end up too thick so I planed a couple of mm away and started with the profile block again until I had the thickness I wanted.

The blank is oversize but I will trim it a little and then glue it to the neck once I have installed the truss rod.  I have attached a fret cutting guide with double sides tape marked the fret positions.

It looks like that's all this side of Christmas folks.  Have a great one where ever you are :-)

Telecaster III - 19 - Some Serious Body Work

I have been laying out the top of the Telecaster body and chiseling out the cavities for the pickups and controls.  I plan to fit a P90 as the neck pickup and a single coil in the bridge.  I previously built a telecaster with two P90s and loved the sound from the neck pickup in particular but i wanted to preserve some of the traditional feel of a Telecaster by using a traditional bridge and single coil pickup.

Over the past couple of nights I continued chiseling the cavities remembering to cut out a section at the neck to accommodate an  adjustment rod as the nut to adjust is at the heel of the neck.  I also drilled holes between the pickup cavities and the control cavity as well as a hole for the jack socket.

The only bit I'm dreading is drilling the holes for the strings which I would like to line up perfectly on the back of the guitar.  I will use my drill stand to do this.  I have seen some builders drill from both sides (and meet up in the middle of the body) to keep everything accurate so I think i will try that approach.

I have put a coat of sanding sealer on the back and sides in preparation for the first coats of grey primer I plan to use.  Although I'm waiting for slightly better weather before I start spraying the body.

Workshop Roundup

During the weekend I have been continuing work on the Telecaster neck including adding fret markers to the side of the neck and paining a thin black over the join between the fret board and the back of the neck.  I did it the wrong way round though and added the pinstripe first so i have to repaint this once i had installed the fret markers.

I also started laying out the positions of the bridge and pickups etc on the Telecaster body.  It will feature a P90 pickup at the neck and a standard single coil pup at the bridge housed in a traditional 'ash tray' bridge.

I also have a couple of other ongoing projects which I managed to make a little progress with this weekend.  I have been working on a Stratocaster style kit for some time now and have attempted to repaint it a couple of times now and never been happy with the results and most recently the colour!  I want a RED Strat!

The previous colour was too dark (Heritage Red) and was more appropriate on a Gibson SG than on a Strat.

So I sanded back the finish a little to allow the bright red to adhere and sprayed 3 coats from an aerosol can. I will let this set hard and then lacquer over the top.  This is much more like what I was after.

i have also been working on re-finishing an Encore Bass guitar I have owned for years.  It was originally back and I liked that but I wanted to give it something extra so I decided to paint ivory racing stripes on it.  I masked the body and it only took two coats of paint to give a nice even finish.

I always love the reveal when I peeled back the masking tape.  The lines are very sharp and the contrast is great.

Once again I will let this set hard for a week or so before applying lacquer over the top.  And I will need to apply enough so I don't start cutting into the ivory paint when I wet sand before polishing as the Ivory stands slightly proud of the black background.

Telecaster III - 18 - Shaping and Carving the Neck

Over the past couple of nights I have been carving the back of the Telecaster neck.  I drilled the holes for the machine heads at the start of the week and couldn't put the carving off anymore although it is very enjoyable when everything goes well.

To start with I needed to get the thickness of the neck right so I marked out the areas i didn't want to carve and then marked the depth I wanted on the side of the neck.

I used my small end grain plane as well as a chisel to get the required depth and then sanded everything smooth giving me a nice flat area to mark out on.

With a nice clear centre line marked on the back of the neck I laid out the head and heal transitions and started to tidy them up with my chisel.  It's about now I start to realise how important it is to keep my tools sharp!

Once I was happy with the neck and heel I started to lay out marks along the length of the neck.  I would draw a line from one end to another about 4mm at the head end and 6 mm at the heel end and then use my plane to take off material until I got the the line, finishing each end off with the chisel.

I usually use a rasp file at each end and then the plan in the middle but this leaves a lot of tool marks.  Using the chisel and plan is more time consuming but so much more accurate.

Unfortunately the hole I drilled under the fret board for the truss rod anchor was a little too deep and I have chiseled through to it.  Nothing a little filler made up of wood glue and sawdust wont cure though and it will be all but invisible once finished.

There is still a bit more fine sanding to be done.  The profile is quite flat across the middle and the neck is nice and thin.  Once I have finished filling the hole and some final sanding this neck will be ready for a nut slot and then finishing.

Telecaster III - 17 - Finishing the Fret Board

Over the past couple of days I have been continuing to fit the frets.  I was finding it slow going until I realised the slots were a little too narrow so I carefully widened them by moving the saw a little left and right in each of the slots. 

Finally I'm getting somewhere now, It's the same with most jobs required to build a guitar, it takes practice and a little improvisation to find the best way to do something.

All the frets are now fitted to the neck, there is a little over hang on each side so I need to file the frets flush and to a 45 degree angle.

I used my home-made fret leveller and beveller to do the job, the file makes short work of the overhang.

The neck is really starting to take shape now and looking so professional.

Next I need to level the frets.  I will take my time and make sure the frets are level across the whole width of neck.  I want to make sure there are no high or low spots on the neck which will cause issues later.

 I started by drawing a blue indelible line across the top of each fret and then used my aluminium spirit level as a sanding bar.  I had previously used double sided tape to attach  sand paper to one side of the level.

After a short time it becomes apparent where the high and low spots are as the blue ink either starts to disappear on the higher spots or linger on the lower frets.

Once I was happy and notices I was removing blue ink from each fret taped between the frets to protect the fingerboard and started crowning the frets.  Once again I drew a blue line on each fret and then used a 3 sided file to bring a sharp high point on each fret.

Once I was happy with that I moved to 600 and then 1500 grit sand paper to smooth away the marks left by the file.

Finally I used my dremel to polish up the frets, I use a small buffing wheel and a little abrasive compound.  I then removed the tape protecting the fretboard to reveal the almost finished neck.

Wow! I think it has come out looking great.  I have a little filling to do on the ends of each fret slot and a little around the last fret marker.  I will mix some sawdust and wood glue to squeeze into all the gaps.

After that I will mark up for the machine heads and then carve the back of the neck.  Nice to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Telecaster III - 16 - Fret Markers

I sanded down the epoxy which had set overnight to reveal nice black dots circled with a brass ring.  I could not be any more please with how these have turned out!

Maybe I need to source more of this brass rod.  The diameter is probably a tiny bit too large and shows up on the higher frets.  The final fret marker is too close to the fret slot for my liking.  However I think the brass adds a little bit of sparkle and quality to the neck.

Telecaster III - 15 - Cutting The Fret Slots And Fret Markers

It took a couple of days and some new sand paper but I'm now happy with the neck profile.  My block and jig worked a treat and I have a nice radius on the neck now.

The next step is to mark up for the fret slots.  I have another neck so i will transfer the measurements directly from that neck to this one.

With everything marked up I drew a line along each side of the neck 2mm from the face, I can cut the slots all to an even depth then knowing there slot will be deep enough for the frets.

I have a set of pre-cut frets and the tang has already been trimmed at each end so I will fill the ends and want them to be nice and even.

I use my mitre box and wedges to line up the neck for each fret and start each cut and then take the neck out of the box and finish the cut on the bench.  I can control the depth perfectly then.

Once all the frets are cut I mark up for the fret markers. I have been using black epoxy for the markers.  I like the look but the hole has to be perfect otherwise the edges can be a little fuzzy so I found some brass tube in the garage and cut 10 pieces out and inserted them in the holes.  These should give a nice clean line and a little bit of a shine!

Tomorrow I will sand the epoxy smooth once it has had chance to thoroughly set.  there is a chip that needs filling under the last fret as well and plenty more sanding to do, but I'm excited about this neck now and cant wait to finish it off.

A Blast From the Past!

I was in the loft getting the Christmas decorations out at the weekend when I happened across an old cardboard guitar box.  When I opened it I was shocked to find my very first guitar... and also my very first attempt at customizing a guitar! Inside the guitar I wrote 1983 so this was 30 years ago when I was 15!  I found a gold ring in the street and been a good citizen I went and handed it into the local police station and when it wasn't claimed a month later they said it was mine so I went into Birmingham and traded it for this guitar.

  It is a very cheap guitar nylon string guitar and looks like its made of plywood.  After a few months I decided I wanted to fit steel strings to the guitar and went about modifying it and also painting it.

I attached the steel strings to the existing bridge and they pulled it off so I made a 'floating bridge' out of meccano. I also modified the head by adding a couple of extra bits the the side of the head to make individual machine heads fit replacing the existing 3 a side all in one tuners.

You could drive a truck between the gaps in the nut and I also painted the fingerboard with white spray paint including the frets! I eventually scraped the paint off the frets but they are almost buried in paint and varnish!  It used to have a clip on pickup in the sound hole which I still have to this day.  The pick guard is strange as it actually stands proud of the body.

I sprayed the body blue and then hand varnished it with the red flash added for impact!  What was I thinking!!!  Still, that was my first venture into any type of luthiery and i'm pleased the guitar never got thrown away!  The biggest problem at the time was that I didn't know what a truss rod was... so after a couple of weeks the neck bent making the thing totally unplayable!

It looks like my girlfriend of the day was called Karen (Kaz) and my brother and I made a band called 'Take 4' along with 2 other boys from our road.  We practiced our 2 songs in my dad's garage and I have a tape somewhere where you can hear my mum calling us in for tea!  Maybe I will restore it one day, or maybe I will just hand it on the wall in my garage as a reminder... and a lesson!!!

Telecaster III - 14 - Fret Board Profile

I had intended my next job to be cutting the fret slots but looking at the fret board I decided it is too thick and that I would like to take some of the thickness out of it before cutting the fret slots so it's out with the jig I made earlier in the year.  It is simply 2 pieces of wood screwed to the workbench with a radius block which slides up and down to shape the fret board.  I put a clamp at one end just to stop any movement in the guides.  

It works perfectly but I'm rapidly running out of provisions and the sand paper I have is fine for finishing but not much good at removing the couple of mm I would like to get rid of.  I will try and get some courser sand paper at the weekend and update after that.  In the ideal world I would have a planer thicknesser in my workshop and this would just take a couple of passes and be done!