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Looking to build my first guitar from scratch


Dub-T-123

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thanks for the link, cool.

with respect to what i'm building is it's started with cigar box guitars (CBGs). 

I currently build fretless CBGs, but wanted to try doing a fretboard (3 string slide guitar is the bomb!).  The scale lengths on the few I have are all over the place, mostly based on the size of the wood I had, so need to cut the fretboard myself.  I've stalled at getting the supplies (fret saw, radius block, files etc... ) to do the fretboard just because of other projects / priorities.

While I had that going on, I also started on a tele body (out of an old pine cutting board. -  Not intending to keep this one, just see if I can do it and go through the process, make the first time mistakes without being bummed...).  For the fretboard - I was thinking pre cut pre radiused was the way to go to speed this process up, but when I remembered the reason I was here (to make fretboards for my CBGs) I think I'll go forward with that.  This was awhile ago, your threads got me wanting to get going again, heading to wood crafters this afternoon to see if i can get a fret saw.  For the record, i believe tele's are long scale, but I've grown fond of my short scale guitars, so......

 

Edited by uncle fester
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This thing is more guitar-like than ever. Neck shaping is done and I’m super super happy with how that turned out. I did my best to copy the neck on my R9 and I think I did a pretty nice job. It feels fantastic. The heel and headstock transitions came out nice. Neck joint is nice and tight with no gaps. Neck set angle is good

 

I did pretty much all of the sanding today while the body and neck were separate, then glued on the neck. Now I just need to cut the end of the neck flush to the top of the body, do my final little bit of sanding, drill for the tailpiece and tuners, and then I’m going to start finishing next Saturday. 
 

I think the grain is really going to pop with the analine cherry red finish I’m doing. If all goes to hell I’ll paint it black but I’m gonna do my best to make the cherry look like it does on my R9. The grain looks really nice in person and it’s just begging for a contrasting pore filler. We’re looking really good so far! 
 

rJGOdOT.jpg

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Looking nice! 

What you say is the sofa is messed up because your wife is away, What I hear is you're in the dog house for spending more time with your guitar project than your wife, and the sofa is messed up because that was your bed last night.  That's alright though, it's like camping.

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  • 2 weeks later...

here’s the guitar after applying a red pore filler that I concocted with stuff from LMII.com

 

I got their analine red powdered dye and mixed it with lacquer thinner into a paste like consistency. Then I mixed with (water based) natural colored pore filler and adjusted the viscosity with warm water. I added more dye until I got the color red that I wanted. 
 

The pore filler was then applied against the grain with a cheap brush, the excess scraped away with a plastic card, and wiped against the grain with a rag. You really have to work fast to coat a whole surface evenly, scrape and wipe it while it’s wet enough, and stay in control of the inevitable runoff spilling down the sides. With that said it was hard work but forgiving as far as finishes go

 

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pvPZbHY.jpg

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The lighting, bad photography, and lack of a clear coat don’t do the color much justice in those pics. It will look like the left side of this sample (except perfectly sanded and buffed and whatnot). I had to spray some lacquer on the samples to check that the color looks right with the clear coat

 

1JCh1i9.jpg

 

and here is the nitro lacquer I got which is really nice 

HUI8CZ4.jpg

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Protect yourself from that stuff man.. Its horrible chemical nastiness....

I did it once with just a tshirt on (fully masked properly and stuff) and at the end of the day I had one of the worst headaches of my life...  Must sink in to the skin....

I just dont use it any more.. I think oil is much better for many reasons.

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4 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Thanks Rabs! Yeah all precautions are always taken, my main annoyance with the lacquer will be the fact that I’m spraying in winter. No biggie though it’s all gonna come out nicely 

One of the reasons I love oil.. You can do it indoors at room temp...  From what I know of nitro it not only has to be like between 15-25 degrees C but also not too moist..  Its a right pain (especially in this country). Of course thats just the ideal stated conditions.

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Aside from the temp constraints (which are very rarely a problem here in SoCal) I find nitro to be a really easy finish. Honestly if you have a decent place to spray it is faster than oil because you don’t have to flatten between coats and it flashes off quickly. 
 

Each finish type has its merits really. I’m choosing nitro for the final result that I want and not because of the process itself.  For me spraying nitro on the thing is gonna be easier than folding a blanket 😃

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You've got some good woodworking skills I'll say that - the guit is look killer!  Excited to see what it looks like when done. 

With respect to nitro...  for this build (because it is so sweet) i'd go with what I know, but I believe that stuff is horrible for the environment so might look for other ways to finish it in the future.  I'd like to see what a coat of tung oil could do.  Regardless - it's looking like a keeper!

How thick is the body?

Edited by uncle fester
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Thanks guys! I’m getting excited for the first strum. It looks like this Saturday will be about 75° at the warmest so that will be good for spraying. I doubt I’ll get all the spraying done this Saturday but I’ll have plenty of time to work on the Tele project between coats.

 

The body is about 1 11/16” thick

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13 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Thanks guys! I’m getting excited for the first strum. It looks like this Saturday will be about 75° at the warmest so that will be good for spraying. I doubt I’ll get all the spraying done this Saturday but I’ll have plenty of time to work on the Tele project between coats.

 

The body is about 1 11/16” thick

For your first guitar, It's looking amazing Dub.  One would think, you have been building guitars for years. 

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Here are a couple pics from today’s work. Don’t judge too harshly yet, everything will be good when I’m done. My pics in the shop lighting kinda suck as usual but the finish is going according to plan in person.

 

I also made a one piece pine Tele body today but forgot to take a pic. I think I’m gonna do that in black with binding 
 

RwOfG95.jpg
ht5pw16.jpg

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