Firechick build #2 DONE

MattNovak

Because a chick is a small bird......... God, I need a holiday.

My bandmate was impressed with my last 9/10ths NRFB, so I am building one for him. He's asked for something wiith a telecaster / ric vibe, and I have a few ideas. 

The biggest change from the first build is scale length and neck / body join position. We've gone for 25'' PRS scale, with 24 frets. The neck will join the body around the 20th, rather than the 18th on my original - this will move the bridge forward a bit, and hopefully make the overall design hang together better.

In order to bring the Ric influence in (apart from the 24 fret neck), I currently plan to bind the back edge of the body and do a large roundover on the top, ala one of these:



Not much going on with it at the moment, picture-wise - but I have joined a two piece mahogany body, thicknesses and radius'd a walnut board and cut a rough cherry neck blank. Going through my phone, all I can find is this which shows a few bits and pieces related to this build and others:

MattNovak

The shape also lends itself well to a Bigsby, and with the neck and bridge moved forward will fit in nicely:

TTony

Like your workbench.

We used to have something similar, but my wife insisted that it was a garden table!

MattNovak

any flat surface is my workbench at the moment!

I *may* have used a bandsaw in the kitchen once too. 

DrBob

Does the Bigsby mount work with a sloping surface ? 

PeteC

MattNovak said:

any flat surface is my workbench at the moment!

I *may* have used a bandsaw in the kitchen once too. 

I've seen that photo on one of your posts -   you did well to get away with that ! 

Very interesting configuration and the neck sounds good - PRS 25" scale and 24 frets.  Keen to see the layout of the fretboard/body join.  

MattNovak

DrBob said:

Does the Bigsby mount work with a sloping surface ? 

PeteC said:

MattNovak said:

any flat surface is my workbench at the moment!

I *may* have used a bandsaw in the kitchen once too. 

I've seen that photo on one of your posts -   you did well to get away with that ! 

Very interesting configuration and the neck sounds good - PRS 25" scale and 24 frets.  Keen to see the layout of the fretboard/body join.  

@DrBob, thats a good point - the body is rough cut at this point, I had planned to use a collar on the upper screw, or maybe an small angled wooden shim between the trem and body. 

@PeteC, it took a lot of hoovering before the missus got home from work! I’d planned to use the LP junior DC Style neck join, but we’ll see. I have an idea about making this a semi and routing the chambers into the back of the guitar, along with the neck pocket. Will need to sharpen my pencil and have a think first!

guitargeek62

MattNovak said:

@DrBob, thats a good point - the body is rough cut at this point, I had planned to use a collar on the upper screw, or maybe an small angled wooden shim between the trem and body. 

Wouldn’t it be better to cut the body to allow for the bigsby mount? You could easily leave a small shelf/lip there for it, no?

MattNovak

guitargeek62 said:

MattNovak said:

@DrBob, thats a good point - the body is rough cut at this point, I had planned to use a collar on the upper screw, or maybe an small angled wooden shim between the trem and body. 

Wouldn’t it be better to cut the body to allow for the bigsby mount? You could easily leave a small shelf/lip there for it, no?

I could.. or straighten up the curve on the back of the body slightly. Worth pointing out that the bridge in the picture above isn't in the final position, it'll sit much closer. I reckon a c. 3mm metal collar on the upper screw might work best.

DrBob

MattNovak said:

guitargeek62 said:

MattNovak said:

@DrBob, thats a good point - the body is rough cut at this point, I had planned to use a collar on the upper screw, or maybe an small angled wooden shim between the trem and body. 

Wouldn’t it be better to cut the body to allow for the bigsby mount? You could easily leave a small shelf/lip there for it, no?

I could.. or straighten up the curve on the back of the body slightly. Worth pointing out that the bridge in the picture above isn't in the final position, it'll sit much closer. I reckon a c. 3mm metal collar on the upper screw might work best.

Don’t change the shape it’s a thing of beauty !

MattNovak

Body mostly done, and large roundover applied. I went deeper with the pickup route; you'll notice its for a left hand bridge - I had one, so I thought why not? Just for a visual twist.



Its jointed slightly off centre - I had to, to get the shape on. It doesn't metter though, as its having a one piece 'back cap' (is that the right term?) with the binding on the bottom edge only, as per the Ric above. 

I think I'm going to attempt a dog hair finish on this, so I've shot a coat of black. Tomorrow I'll try some thinned white grain filler and give it a sand back to see how it looks.

MattNovak

Its funny how a thin coat of paint shows up all the routing imperfections! I've just spent an hour or so going round the edge to remove the flat spots. Once I've got back to bare wood (ie see no paint on the edge) I'll give it another pass with the roundover bit to neaten it up. Then sand and paint (again). It'll be worth it though.

You can see some of the flat spots in lower part of this pic:

MattNovak

Nothing massively interesting to share on this build despite doing a few hours in the sun yesterday. Control cavity routed, more sanding etc. I did put a dab of oil on the walnut board to see how it looks though:

MattNovak

Quick update, I went for a standard headstock on this, rather than my usual reverse. Just because. Pretty happy I can make necks to my specs consistently and fairly quickly now. Here it is alongside the neck for the Zemaitis thing:

 
I'd been thinking about neck joins, not sure what its called but I decided to cut a narrower tenon underneath the fretboard with a reciprocating route for the mortice. As this build has a tele bridge there's no neck angle needed, so the neck can sit flat on the body. Here's the template which shows what I'm on about:

 
I did a test run and it worked, so I went for it:

 
And the matching route in the body:



Everything fits well enough, so I'm happy with that. I need to dress back the treble shoulder and taper the fingerboard but whilst there's been a few moments which needed some thought it's not a disaster! 

PeteC

looking good Matt - like the neck tenon !
What pick up are you going to use - A single coil or stacked humbucker ? 

DrBob

Looks killer, I’d almost, almost be tempted to leave the finish like that as well 

MattNovak

Thanks chaps - @PeteC, in a moment of madness I ordered a custom wind from the Ukraine, one of these: https://bbguitarlab.com/product/evil-kiss-telecaster-bridge-pickup10k-a5/ Will review when / if it gets here!

@DrBob, I know what you mean - I think its my dodgy eyesight as I tend to notice most bits that need attention once the body has a thin coat of paint on... which means re-doing some bits, but hey-ho. Undecided whether to go with the dog hair finish or plain black for the final finish. 

Once I sort the neck join out, I need to add the back 'plate' (I was tempted to chamber the body in places, I still might) and route for bottom edge binding. 

Just to say, I'm often hesitant about posting pics here, as everyone elses builds look much neater than mine during the process itself!

 

shaunyshaun1234

MattNovak said:

Lacquer it and call it finished!! That looks absolutely gorgeous like that! Im a bit weird

Roland

MattNovak said:

Just to say, I'm often hesitant about posting pics here, as everyone elses builds look much neater than mine during the process itself!

They say that an experienced woodworker is one who knows how to recover from his mistakes.

MattNovak

Roland said:

MattNovak said:

Just to say, I'm often hesitant about posting pics here, as everyone elses builds look much neater than mine during the process itself!

They say that an experienced woodworker is one who knows how to recover from his mistakes.

A lot of these things I'm doing for the first time, and without an overall plan to follow. So, recoveries aplenty!

I did, however, make a wooden box at school when I was 15.

MattNovak

I did some light chambering and added the back plate:



Needs to be trimmed to size and the binding channel cuts; I also cut the control cover - I think I have done a neat enough job to use the removed section as a matching backplate, which I always think is a nice touch.

Note to self: using a large forstner bit to chamber mahogany with a cheapo cordless drill is quite the task. My kingdom for a drill press.