Build Log - Two Sevens (Completed)

Hi All,

If you don't mind I will be posting up the build log for two seven string guitars I am just starting to build.

#1
Fijian Mahogany body with Tasmanian Myrtle Burl top
Mahogany/Wenge/Mahogany/Wenge/Mahogany five piece neck
Cocobolo fret board
Dual humbuckers
Oil finish

#2
Fijian Mahogany body with Flame Maple top
Mahogany three piece neck
Ebony fret board
Dual humbuckers
Gloss finish

I picked out a nice piece of Mahogany for these builds. The board had a few knots to avoid but it rang like a bell when tapped so it will sound excellent.



This is the funky way I needed to cut out the body pieces to maximise the board.



I also made a rough start on the templates. They have the same basic body style but the left one has been modified to make it a little bit more unique.



I made quite a mess getting the bodies to the correct thickness. #1 will have 32mm of Mahogany and a 6mm cap to make a lightweight instrument. #2 will be the standard for my seven strings, 37mm Mahogany with a 6mm cap.



Next I used the best tool (jointing plane) to join the body halves.



So satisfying to use.



And all glued up.

 

Awesome! I'm really looking forward to another one of your excellent build logs stewey!

 

Thanks mate, here's to hoping everything goes smoothly.

 

Yep following this thanks for the thread.

 

Love your work Stewey, subscribed for more amazing guitars

 

Always look forward to your builds Stewey.

Can you please post pics of your entire workshop? I'd love to see the whole setup you have and what you use. I can see a drill press in the background.

 

Thanks guys.

Felt a bit crook yesterday and this morning but I did manage to get a bit done this afternoon.

First step was to join the tops.
Here is the burl top straight out of the wrapping.



Here is the fit after using the jointing plane to remove the bow along the edges to be joined. Still a bit rough at this stage.



Now we can fine tune the edge for a perfect fit. Here I have set up my sanding stick (a squared off hunk of pine with 60 grit sandpaper stuck to it) with a nice flat piece of MDF to run the top along.



First we mark the edge with jumbo pavement chalk, I loved that stuff as a kid . This is so we can see what we are taking off.



Then we just sand away until the chalk is gone. I sand the other piece of the top while it is face down, as opposed to the first piece which was face up, so that any little angle I may have between the sanding stick and MDF is reversed and any errors will cancel each other out.



Nice. The top is still a little wavy but we will fix that soon.



And here is the Maple top.



And jointed via the same method.



Now to glue the pieces together. We need a large flat board and some cooking paper to stop the top from glueing itself to the large flat board.



I lay a thin piece of timber down the centre of the board and sit the two pieces with the edges to be joined resting on this piece of timber so you are forming a mini pyramid.



Now I put some decent nails down each side of the boards.



Apply a nice amount of glue to each end. I always use Tightbond Original glue, it is the best and easiest I have found.



Lay both pieces back down and slide out the thin piece of timber. The two halves should fold down and meet in the centre, they will push against each other due to the nails holding the edges in place.



And then to keep it flat I clamp a big piece of timber over the whole lot, making sure to put another piece of cooking paper in between.



And here is the Maple top done in the same way.



Hi Blackstar, since you asked nicely here is my little shop.



And looking back from the other side.



It's not very much and could be laid out a lot better but I make do.

 

Nice. It's better than my setup, which consists of outside with a makeshift table and small B&D workmate!

 

Lurvit.

Whats/whos that guitarhanging up in the background there in the second last shot?

 

That's a seven string I have been working on for a little while now. It is going to have far too many electronics.

 

A little bit more progress this weekend, I was working on gluing the tops on.

First up I trimmed the boards to a more manageable size.



Once I removed the excess glue along the joins I lined up the centres of both pieces and held them in place with a couple of nails. Then I drilled through both pieces for screws which will be used to clamp the centre of the bodies together.



Then I applied a liberal amount of glue and quite a few clamps.



I will repeat this glue up for the myrtle body tomorrow as I want to give this body at least 24 hours to dry and I don't have enough clamps to do them both at once.

 

Thats an interesting figure on the maple top. Planning any sort of stain for it?

 

Yes it is a pretty nice piece of Maple. The plan is for a very bright, tasteful purple.

 

So the work Christmas party made it difficult for much progress this weekend.

Here are the bodies out of the clamps. You can sort of see where I have drawn the shape of the body on the tops.



And then bandsawn very close to the line. This makes the next step of routing the bodies to the template much easier.

 

Lookin' good

 

Thank you sir.

I have been making a little bit of progress here and there over the last week.

The templates were screwed to the bodies and here they are routed to shape.



The myrtle top guitar is getting a cocobolo fret board. These are what I have available at the moment, all resawn from a board I got a while ago. I have sanded and wet the left hand one to show what they look like finished.



I have also been working on the neck blanks. They are both mahogany with one getting wenge stringers and the other black maple pinstripes. I will get them glued up after Christmas I think, it's best not to do these things with a stomach that is too full.

 

Keeping on with neck progress today.

Gluing the necks up isn't too hard. Here are the mahogany and black maple strips for one of the necks.



Now this might be getting into the tone voodoo area but I like to use this method for gluing up necks. The theory is that the string vibrations run through the timber via the grain lines. Now I am positioning the grain under the treble side so that the vibrations run down and out of the neck. The grain under the bass side is more flat sawn which should hold the bass frequencies a bit longer. This will give a sweeter sound.





And all glued up. The aluminium plates stop all the pieces from sliding every where.



24 hours later the neck blanks come out of the clamps.



And they are cleaned up and taken to the correct thickness. I thickness the fret boards at the same time.



You can just see here where I have marked out the side profile of the neck.



Close up of the headstock marking. I use 13 degrees of angle.



Next step is to mark out for the truss rods. First I lay the rod on the side profile to see where the adjustment nut will end up, I don't want it poking through the truss rod cover.



And then draw the channel out on the face of the neck for routing.



I use the confirmed square side of the blank with this router attachment to get a straight rout.



Neck one channel done. I like to leave the area under the nut with a bit of timber because I believe the nut should have maximum contact with the neck.



And the same with neck two.



Next step was to square the ends of the channels with a chisel.



And open up the area at the nut a little to accept the adjustment nut.



Once that was done it was time to cut the headstock angle on the bandsaw.



And then roughly cleaned up the faces on the belt sander.



Next I use this long drill bit which is just bigger than the adjustment nut to link the two channels under the nut area.



And there we have an installed truss rod.

 

I'm enjoying your work Stewey, you're a skilled craftperson.

 

Yep, this is blowing my mind. Great work.

 

Thank you, hopefully there will be some more progress tomorrow. I like this time off work business.