Neck through Flying V style build - Finished

JGTay

I have been asked to make a Flying V style guitar, which incorporates a band logo. Started ordering parts a few days ago and the wood has arrived today.

It will be a Sapele neck through with body wings out of Ash and a Panga Panga fretboard.

Spent the day yesterday cleaning out the workshop ready for a mess to be made again...

JGTay

Full scale mock up out of cardboard... there will be bevelled edges and the points will not be so pointy

JGTay

Busy working everything out, done some cuts on the neck through and going to sink the bridge/back area. Waiting on the delivery of my shinto saw rasp and should hopefully be able to post some pics soon  

JGTay

First stages, marking out.

Fretboard marked ready for cutting the slots 

Neck also marked out, hard to see in the pics...

Headstock angle marked at 15 degrees

and then cut

Sunken area part way through chisel work

Hopefully the Shinto arrives tomorrow and I can get on with the next bits...

eSully

Following, looking forward to seeing how it progresses @JGTay ;

PeteC

Another great build to follow.   This looks like it will be very nice indeed 

JGTay

Thank you both. Progressing nicely, yesterdays and todays pics coming up...

JGTay

After cleaning up the cuts on the jointing area, got the headstock glued in place

Once it had dried, started marking out for the truss rod and scored it all the way round with a Stanley knife and then went over them with a chisel edge.

Then started chiselling out...

Nice clean cut

Tested in place

Sanded the top up to 320 grit and clean it up, then tested again

Checked the level from bridge to nut, bridge is slightly lower and will be spot on when on the posts

And final thing today was testing positions of the controls. Hardware will be chrome, but some items haven't arrived yet (control knobs yet to be decided on)

Andyjr1515

Lovely work

JGTay

Thanks @Andyjr1515, really pleased with how it is coming along. Just finished cutting the fret slots with a proper fret saw (the hacksaw method wasn't suitable on this build  ) 

PeteC

Very nice indeed - great use of the hand tools too.   Gonna be a good one....

JGTay

Today started with cutting the fret slots with my newly purchased fret saw... makes such a big difference using the correct tools for the job

Then in with the truss rod, knocked 2 pin nails in top and bottom and snipped the tops off.

Then lined up the fretboard on top of the nails and pressed down hard to make indentations of the postions

small drill bit used on the marks

And pressed down fully into position, flat all the way.

Put some masking tape over the top of the truss rod, cut close to the truss rod and then lightly sanded over the top of the tape with 800 grit to make sure of no edges

on with the glue, spread thinly with a piece of card and fretboard clamped in place.

masterdikafri

Some nice and really meticulous work going on. Looking forward to the update on this.

JGTay

First use of a power tool on this project today, the jigsaw came out to do the initial trim down of the neck.

Jigsaw away again, out with the files to take it a bit closer to the lines and levelled off

Then onto the back with a rasp to do some shaping

needs a lot more yet, but was still waiting on the Shinto...

Which finally arrived tonight should be quicker on the shaping tomorrow.

JGTay

Yesterday and today progress...

Finally got to use a Shinto shaping of the neck definitely speeded up

Most of the way there, but wanted to get the fretboard radius completed before the final levelling of the neck

Rough shape of the headstock drawn in, not the final shape yet, just a cutting reference and the correct position for the machine heads

Test fit to make sure everything is okay

Then it was onto the fretboard markers. Made up a test piece out of one of the fretboard offcuts with some options.

Marked and drilled the positions, but the 21st fret drill drifted and had to be filled, only problem doing it freehand, a drill press would be handy for this Will redo the 21st fret one in the morning before the next steps.

Also made a start on shaping the volute, but no pics yet as it was getting late.

TJT1979

Thanks for the pics. Looking good!

JGTay

Some updates from the past couple of days. 

Fretboard markers in place

10" fretboard Radius complete, up to 5000 grit. would like to try micro mesh as I have seen results from others and it seems to make a big difference... 

Neck pickup cavity was next on the list, out with the chisels

Tried with the pickup and needed a bit more depth

Finally there, needs a bit of clean up.

Enough room for adjustment. May go slightly deeper, but that can wait for tonight

JGTay

Started the day with the bridge pickup cavity.

Marked around with a Stanley knife and then out with the chisels again

Slowly getting there...

And done.

Tested clearance with the pickups in

And with the spare pickup rings, still waiting on the silver ones.

10mm holes done for wiring access

Next up was the shaping of the headstock and some more work on the volute, almost there but getting late and needed to down tools for the day.

Testing with the machine heads

Pleased with how it is coming along, should be able to finish the neck profile tomorrow and then get onto the wings. 

JGTay

Got on with the neck profile today.

Approx. 20mm at the first fret and 22mm at the 12th fret, really need to get hold of a vernier caliper...

Also finished shaping the volute.

Hopefully can get the frets in tomorrow and then on with the wings

Andyjr1515

That's a significant amount of progress!  Excellent

PeteC

lovely grain popping on that neck and headstock - is that just with a wipe down of spirits ?