Saturday, April 21, 2007

Dummy body

I have my plywood cut out in my body designs profile. I'll be using a router to duplicate my template for the profile, and hopefully that will nicely refined, and won't need a lot of sanding to smooth out the edges.

Since my bodies will be a layered design, I am routing out two separate pieces of plywood, spray painting them, then gluing them together. The back will be black, and the top will probably be white. This way i can better imagine the contrast of different wood species. You'll get the idea when I have it done.

This dummy body will have all routes, and contours done to it. I want to make sure everything is how I envision it. I will put in pots and knobs, mount the bridge, even strap buttons so i can hang it on my shoulder. This way, if something doesn't seem right, i can change it before good wood is ever cut.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Tele neck is done, and other updates

So my telecaster neck is done. It took about a week to build up the proper coats of modified oil finish, but it was worth it. It feels like silk in your hand. Might I say, this is probably the fasters telecaster on the planet. Anyway, those of you who read this that I know in person, this guitar is ready to loan out. I want input on how the neck feels. Real critisism. Tell me what you like, what you dislike. It's very important that you're honest, because it factors into how i will be making other guitars in the future.

Secondly, I went to Menard's and bought some plywood this weekend. I will be making a dummy body of my original guitar design. I want to see it in 3-D. I will carve it out completely, and even to the control pocet routes. I will also be asking guitarist friends for input on this. When you cut a peice of wood, or grind it into dust, you can't go back. So I want feedback before it's too late. I know that I stare at guitars all day, and notice some much more than other guitar players. But sometimes i think I get a little too clinical, and need an outside opinion on things.

Pictured below; me crowning the frets on my tele neck, my finished tele all together, and the plywood I bought this weekend.










Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Last update prior to fret-dressing and final set up

I've been layering on the coats of modified tung oil to my neck. It builds differently than I expected. I am posting a few pictures of my progress. One is of my truss rod access. I put the nut at the heel, like traditional Telecaster necks. The other two are of the fingerboard area around the nut. If you remember from previous posts, I used a fingerboard i salvaged from another, half built neck. This previous neck had a different designsn, but measured out to the same scale length. So i grafted on an extension to the fingerboard, and routed for a Fender style nut. In one picture you can see a slight line where the two different pieces of fingerboard join. At the moment, with the oil finish one, this line is nearly invisible.