Another headless guitar build

WezV

I do like this idea for electrics.  I tried adding a radius to the faces on a body last year which worked well, it would combine nicely with something like this

Linda Manzer has been making wedge shaped acoustics since the mid 80's.  No reason a similar idea won't benefit an electric

Roland

Another damp day. Wedge shape cut in five minutes. Straight forward to do, but I wasn’t going to risk my fingers last night after a glass or two of wine. I’ll keep the off-cut as a caul for levelling the body when drilling holes for the bridge screws and pickup bolts.

Next step is to mark out the body for chamfers. I use electrical tape to get smooth curves.

Fender use a machine for cutting the forearm chamfer. I use a wood rasp. The rasp is probably quicker than setting up a machine tool, and certainly safer. Before starting to remove wood I cut a couple of “chicken lines” to mark the depth of the chamfer. These stop me chickening out before I’ve cut deep enough.

Andyjr1515

Coming along nicely

Roland

A bit more progress, carving the belly chamfer with a curved wood rasp. This always feels a bit violent on what will become a musical instrument, but it gets the job done. 

I sanded the two chamfers smooth with a random orbital sander. Unfortunately this removed more of the softer wood, and less of the winter growth along the grain lines, leaving a ridge and furrow finish. So out with the cabinet scraper. Now that’s a tool which feels much more organic to use. 

Next, a bit more sanding using my improvised bobbin sander. It’s not too hard on the drill quill as long as I don’t use any pressure. The dust extraction is better than on any other sander I’ve used.

 

Roland

I’m in a quandary about the next step. Do I glue on the veneer before routing for the binding, and risk marking the veneer with the router, which is what happened last time. However it was a dark walnut veneer, and not very visible. Or do I route the binding channel now, and risk damaging the edge of the channel when I trim the veneer to size. There’s a third option, veneer, apply a couple of coats of finish the protect the veneer from the router, and sand back after binding.

Opinions?

SteveF

Can you just mask the veneer with some
low tack tape when you do the routing? 

Roland

Good idea Steve.

Roland

Body veneered. I’m glad I remembered to have the grain going in the same direction on both halves. The veneer surface is quite rough, and needs a little sanding. Before going any further I’m going to veneer some scrap wood, and test some different finishes to see how they handle the blue dye and the grain.

SteveF

Gorgeous colour - what dye have you used? 

Roland

@SteveF ;The veneer came like that. It was an impulse buy at the Newark woodworking show. I saw it and immediately thought guitar. I’ve seen similar coloured veneers for sale online, but the depth of colour and the pattern don’t come across on screen.

A lot of the light and shade in the picture comes from the uneven surface. I’m concerned that this might disappear as it’s sanded and finished. The raised line along the middle has gone as the moisture from the glue evaporated, so it’s not going to need much sanding. I’m wondering about leaving the surface un-sanded, and building up a clear finish with acrylic varnish or CA glue. That’s why I want to do some test finishes.

Roland

Results of the finishing trial are in. I glued a strip of veneer to plywood, sanded from 120 to 240 grit, and applied some finishes. Here they are compared with the unfinished veneer:

I’ll leave them to harden for a few days before doing a dent and scratch test.

SteveF

I think I like the slightly lighter one in the middle as the figure seems to pop more 

paulnb57

SteveF said:

I think I like the slightly lighter one in the middle as the figure seems to pop more 

Me too

Roland

I’ve gone with the acrylic. So far I’m eight coats in. Each coat takes two hours to dry. The veneer wasn’t sanded perfectly flat before I started because I didn’t want to make it too thin. Instead I’m using the acrylic as grain filler, and sanding back occasionally. I’m not totally happy with it, because the colour is lighter than the picture makes it look.

The neck is glued up with a blue line between Sycamore and Holly, and roughly trimmed. Next step is to route the sides of the Holly to match the Sycamore. Then I can cut the fret slots.

Roland

Neck carving day. Before I made my first neck I thought I’d hate this process. With a jig for the fretboard radius, and the right tools for the shaping the back of the neck, it’s quite enjoyable. This year’s new toy, acquired at the Guitar Show, is a Japanese file, which speeds up the process. The fretboard radius is 12”, and the the profile is a flat D. I’m currently debating lowering the shoulders to make it more of a C. As Scarlet O’Hara said “I’ll think about that tomorrow. In the mean time here’s the first mock up.

Both ends of the neck need trimming. I was going to use white binding on the body, but everything else will be black. What do we think?

drofluf

Looks great love the top.

SteveF

That top looks great.  I think the white binding will work well. 

Roland

It’s a blue guitar, and I thought that blue side dots would look nice. Good luck finding any suitable plastic ones. Instead I made a range of sizes using Fimo, and settled on 4mm. Large dots are easier to see.

The blue is brighter than the body, but goes well against the veneer line. A matched colour would appear too dark against the neck.

Roland

I decided to bind in black. White outlines the body nicely, but looks out of place with black hardware. In retrospect I could have used black side dots on the neck, but blue is more fun.

 

The acrylic finish has protected the veneer from marks when routing the binding channel. I wish I’d put a coat on the back and sides to prevent CA glue from seeping into the wood. 

My next decision is where to position the knobs and switch.

BigMonka

That's looking fantastic with the binding. How hard is it to get it to follow the contours as well as the outline - that's a bit of a 3D twisting compound angle arrangement going on!