Fixing a build error

Kalimna

Greetings folks,
Rightyo, after my mini-guitar build, I decided to revisit my first home-built guitar. It has a padauk body inlaid with strips of maple/sycamore/walnut and indian rosewood in the fashion of a rather well known partscaster-alike.

The body shape is of my own design, but is roughly PRS-meets-Les Paul with a sucked-sweet rounding off. Aesthetically, I could not be happier with the body, and apart from being a little thin the neck is pretty good too (perhaps too much relief, but that should be fixable). Sound comes via a pair of BareKnuckle Abraxas humbuckers through standard 4-controls.

However, and this is the reason I have hardly played it (well, this and the weight - it makes a Les Paul feel rather svelte), I ballsed up both the neck angle and the bridge position. In other words, I can't get the intonation right because there isn't enough travel on the bridge, and the neck angle is too shallow meaning that the action is too high because I can't lower the bridge enough.

So, the easiest answer seems to be to remove the bridge (including the very tight bridge studs), widen the holes and plug with dowels, rout out a shelf for the bridge to sit on a little lower, reposition the bridge and sort out the neck relief. 

First job. Remove bridge, studs and control knobs to allow a router template to sit over where the bridge will be : 

https://i.imgur.com/bIUBfPW.jpg

If I have chance tonight I will try and make and glue in the dowels.

The finish is several coats of Tru-Oil and no pore filling. I like the look, but the neck has unattractively yellowed in places.

Thoughts? Comments?

Cheers,
Adam

NickL

I can't tell from the picture, but if it's a bolt-on neck, a shim at the body end of the neck pocket should fix the angle without any need for routing under the bridge. It's also easily reversible so worth a go before getting the router out.

Kalimna

Hi Nick
Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately it's a glued in neck. A fairly large surface area has been glued, and the cheek on one side is very thin. I had explored the possibility of heating the glue to loosen it, but discounted due to potential for cockup.
Cheers,
Adam

WezV

Recessing the bridge is a fine solution and will suit the style

Kalimna

Thanks Wez - all finished and now with a much better action, though it has now developed an annoying buzz which is definitely not coming from a fret.....

A few piccies of the repair, hopefully someone will find them useful at some point....

With the old studs removed, and holes drilled out to 12mm, I needed a plug to fill the hole. Using s spare bit of EIR, I drum sanded to a smidge over 12mm x 12mm, and planed off the edges to an octagon. A few judicious whacks with a hammer through a dowel plate, and voila.

https://i.imgur.com/5DJ5J3U.jpg

Trimmed to length, and glued in with a little Titebond. Not fussed about squeeze-out as it will be routed away.

https://i.imgur.com/OI3x5Fx.jpg

Roughing out a routing template. The corners will be rounded by the diameter of the router cutter. And when glued up (using masking tape as a clamp), run through the drum sander to level the surfaces.

https://i.imgur.com/vByw1cd.jpg

Almost ready to rout

https://i.imgur.com/6skffQO.jpg

A couple of depth tests in scrap (offcuts from my mini-guitars)

https://i.imgur.com/BNBzbNg.jpg

And the pocket routed out. New stud holes partly drilled prior to routing. Don't have any Tru-Oil, so will leave bare.

https://i.imgur.com/FazwgN7.jpg

Effect of 4 years of Tru-Oiled padauk open and covered by control knob. The guitar has mostly been in a cupboard too, so minimal UV exposure.

https://i.imgur.com/9g1Bo7J.jpg

And bridge installed, re-strung and looking shiny.

https://i.imgur.com/es0U2HO.jpg

From the back

https://i.imgur.com/3j6S4WQ.jpg

And lastly a close up of the neck joint

https://i.imgur.com/zdWSWi9.jpg

As always, comments and critique welcomed

Adam

WezV

it looks excellent, well worth saving.    Its good the inlaid stripes go nice and deep as it makes the recess look planned.

I made a solid paduak guitar once, finished in rustins plastic coating, it started a beautiful deep red - brown within 2 years

WezV

it looks excellent, well worth saving.    Its good the inlaid stripes go nice and deep as it makes the recess look planned.

I made a solid paduak guitar once, finished in rustins plastic coating, it started a beautiful deep red - brown within 2 years

Andyjr1515

Beautiful guitar .

Lovely job and really accurate routing on that bridge save. How deep are the inlayed stripes?  Again, top drawer stuff...

Andy

Corvus

That looks great, good stuff all round - wish my first build looked anything like as good..

mart

That body looks absolutely amazing! The stripes are jaw-dropping, but the shape itself looks so nice. And that was your first build? Wow, just wow!

Kalimna

Thanks for the comments chaps

I had intended for the stripes to go right through the body, but couldnt come up with a structurally sound method as there would be a lot of end-grain to side-grain gluing. As it is, there's room for improvement as the routed 'channels' arent all the same depth, and i would use a glue other than Titebond to avoid creep next time.

The stripes are a little under 18mm deep by eye, and there are about 7 'layers'. The process was to run 2-3 channel at various angles and differing widths. Then thickness the strips to be inlaid with the drum sander abd glue in. Then take the body surface level again with drum sander and repeat. It's actually really tricky making something look random yet aestheticaly pleasing - well for me it is! Once happy with all the stripes, cut out the body shape and trim with router, cut all the pockets/holes and have at it with rasps and sandpaper till happy with contours.

And yes, I'm quite happy with the new bridge pocket - it's made me want to play it again

Cheers,
Adam

Any thoughts, then, for the next project???