surfpup Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 A good day's work. And I can really see how missing, skipping, or screwing up a step would be something I would most likely do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 A good day's work. And I can really see how missing, skipping, or screwing up a step would be something I would most likely do! Yeah it was ok. Well good in the way im moving forward... But I would like to have got more done, just had a few other things I had to do today.. And yes totally.. you have to concentrate on everything.. like I was saying above I was concentrating so much on the control cavity I forgot to think about the position of the input jack.. I also have to marry that up with the position of the knobs on the front and make sure they are in a good reachable position and not awkward... But its the same with any learning really.. Next time I will do it quicker and maybe find better designs etc.. Its all good though.. (but I am just as keen as you guys to finish one and plug it in ;) soon my friends :)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Next time I will do it quicker and maybe find better designs etc.. I think the design you have going now is killer. I would have been tempted to do something easier like a big Bo Diddly rectangle first.... Actually you should do one of those anyway. It would look killer in oil finished or french polished mahogany! And if you wanna try a Moderne shape sometime I could be a customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 I think the design you have going now is killer. I would have been tempted to do something easier like a big Bo Diddly rectangle first.... Actually you should do one of those anyway. It would look killer in oil finished or french polished mahogany! And if you wanna try a Moderne shape sometime I could be a customer. Cheers man... and yes im happy with the body shape too, but when I said redesign above I was just talking about the cavity hole for the controls :) Ive kind of based the current design off a standard LP type shape as I have two covers for that size and its roughly the control layout im looking for.. But maybe the best thing to do will be to forget that and design my own shape... As for a Moderne shape.. hmm maybe .. Lets get this one finished first ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Ohh by the way.... you know that LP body I ordered the other day.. well one thing I forgot to mention is that its chambered.. Ive been told its like a Thinline with a 4.5" block in the middle and hollowed out on the top and bottom... So my idea at the moment (in the spirit of doing my own thing :)) is to do a LP with sound holes... Something like this or even better :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinner 13 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Ohh by the way.... you know that LP body I ordered the other day.. well one thing I forgot to mention is that its chambered.. Ive been told its like a Thinline with a 4.5" block in the middle and hollowed out on the top and bottom... So my idea at the moment (in the spirit of doing my own thing :)) is to do a LP with sound holes... Something like this or even better :) Dude you're INSANE.... But I like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Dude you're INSANE.... But I like it. Thank you :D (who wants to be "normal" anyway ;)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Hello all and welcome back.. Today both good and bad things happened (not too bad though).. I started by carrying on where I left off with the control cavity and that went pretty good... Firstly I was being silly yesterday trying to use a standard LP cover... It was obviously the wrong shape.. So I took my DC Special along and as you can see it has the layout I want (yes this guitar was re-wired, but not by me.. it works well so I don't mess with it) And straight away I knew this was what I was looking for So I go about making a template for my router After a bit of fine tuning of the template I stick it on the body and go for it :) Once you get deep enough you can remove the template You can see here I use a template router bit which has a washer on top of the blade that is the exact size of the blade and this stops you cutting outside of what ever is on top (if you see what I mean).. like so And just what you want really.. the input jack hole is coming through (I will probably just open that hole totally). So now I have to make a lip for the control cover.. so another template is needed :) more below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 So I get pretty close routing the hole out.. but this has to be spot on so its filing time :) And its in.. sweet So then I stick it on the body and use it to route a 2mm lip all the way around And heres the result.. id call it 99%.. I say that because the right corner here wasn't quite the right shape.. so I just needed to get a file in there and clean it up a bit.. Now the reason for this (I think) and for the rough burn marks the router has made is because I think my bit may be worn.. But no worries I can clean all that up And its in.. and flat :D Even more below.. this time the not quite so good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 So after all that success (I should have stopped there :unsure: ).. I decided to try the tailpiece and bridge drilling... OHhh Ohh... So I measure and check and check again because as I have said, theres no room for error with this... and im sure I have it.. So I make my marks so I know exactly where to go (or so I thought :)) Set up my pro depth guide ;) And I didn't even take a picture of the non fitting tailpiece.. (it was out by like 1mm Arrgggg).... So I have some dowels I made for that LP Junior project where I had to fill the wraparound bridge and install a TOM... So I bash it in Make up some filler/glue with mahogany sawdust and glue (the best filler to get the right colour) And glued and filled... It looks a bit messy now but you wont see it at all by the time im finished... Sooooo... both success and failure today but at least it was an easy enough fix... So tomorrow I will finish the tailstop and bridge and then its the pickup routing and we are almost done :) More tomorrow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan H Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Liking the progress. Can't wait to see it done. Also, 30 pages! Now that's a build thread. -Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I've just caught up with the last couple of pages. Great Progress Rabs! And I'm so glad you took time overnight to evaluate the control positioning. When I saw the first chalk drawing (post # 575?) I don't know why but my first instinct was 'That's not going to work'.... Great thread. It's like you're now on the penulitmate lap of the Olympic 10,000m and no-one can be sure exactly how it's going to be like at the finishing-line! Looking forward to the next batch. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosemarie Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas! This is so exciting! [woot] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Now we're ROCKING!!!!! \:D/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 I've just caught up with the last couple of pages. Great Progress Rabs! And I'm so glad you took time overnight to evaluate the control positioning. When I saw the first chalk drawing (post # 575?) I don't know why but my first instinct was 'That's not going to work'.... Great thread. It's like you're now on the penulitmate lap of the Olympic 10,000m and no-one can be sure exactly how it's going to be like at the finishing-line! Looking forward to the next batch. P. Thank you one and all for your comments :D Its making me nervous though as im at that stage again Lol, not that I will let that stop me in any way shape for form.. We are real close now.. I still think I will be done by this weekend.. At least with the build, as for wiring it all together, that may take me another session. And yes Pippy... Im glad I waited for the controls too.. its what I nearly always do when im not sure... go home and think on it. Todays update will follow soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Hello again and welcome... Not finished yet :P... its so close though. Its kinda nerve racking as I still have a couple of big cutting jobs so I wont relax on this until they are done.. but more on that later... So today I sanded down that hole I filled And re-drilled the second hole.. and got it spot on this time (im not sure exactly why it didn't work last time? oh well) And then the bridge.. What I did this time, just to be sure was to drill one side and then put it on position and made sure the second hole was in the right place.. Which it was exactly :D And done.... wooo hooo :) So I check the string height once more now the bridge is in... and I couldn't be happier with that.. It means I got the body angle just right (lol, somehow :)) Also as a sort of weird bonus the hole I made for one of the bridge posts just cut into the control cavity and thus saving me the bother of drilling for the earth wire :D I also made a second headstock template, this time a bit bigger (just as a side thing to do) So here I just lay the pickups on and mark out where im going to put them on the body. The reason I haven't tried routing for them yet is because I did order s couple of templates (with that LP body) which should arrive tomorrow More below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 This is the job that scares me slightly... I need to drill a hole all the way from the input jack hole to the neck pickup... The only bit I have for this is 16mm which is a good size for the wiring BUT the body is only about 28mm thick or so, so it leaves me with VERY little room for error.. In theory if I do it straight theres nothing to worry about BUT I haven't done this before so I think a couple of tests are in order first :) Ohh... also I have these couple of extra bits for this build However I don't think the toggle switch will quite fit in that cavity so I do have an L shaped one, but its chrome so I want to see if maybe I can get a black finished one to match the rest of the hardware So before I drill for the pot holes I decide to try it out first and see if I can get a good layout.. Now you may find this interesting.. but see the bumps on the inside of the cavity.. they are there for the screw holes (as you need a bit of extra wood for those.. and when I placed mine on my template, three were in almost the same position as my Gibson DC and one was not.. at the time I did it I hadn't taken into account why there were in the position they are to the full extent. I found that whne I looked at the best position for the pots without the bump in the way, it was perfect.. but with the bump I have it makes it out of line.. Lol (so there is a reason for almost every aspect of a way a guitar is designed, even the small bumps in the control cavity).. So what I may have to do if I cant find a good position in the way I have it is cut that bump out and glue another one in, in the right position.. We will see. But this is why im still learning, about all these small things that you don't really think much about.. So that's all for today.. more tomorrow when I hope to have the pickup holes cut (if the templates arrive)... Once that's done, the pots and toggle holes drilled and the wiring channel is drilled we are pretty much there Then comes the sanding :) More soon and as always thanks for watching and all the comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Bloody hell, I don't know how but I missed the last 2 pages of updates. Real progress Rabs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Bloody hell, I don't know how but I missed the last 2 pages of updates. Real progress Rabs... Cheers man :) Its been a journey that's for sure.. I think im almost there.. Once ive done all this on 3,4,5 guitars I will be able to do all this much quicker.. And as you probably saw I still have two more neckthroughs waiting in line.. I reckon by the time ive done all that I will have my processes down 100% (hopefully)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Bloody hell, I don't know how but I missed the last 2 pages of updates. Real progress Rabs... Me neither. But that's cool. It makes it seem like it happens real fast... like time lapse. Great couple days worth of work. Rabs. The routing job on the back was particularly stellar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Me neither. But that's cool. It makes it seem like it happens real fast... like time lapse. Great couple days worth of work. Rabs. The routing job on the back was particularly stellar. Thanks man :) And yes its getting close now which is both exciting and slightly nerve racking I will keep going though until you guys see me play one of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quapman Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 But my new idea is making guitars out of random objects that would otherwise be thrown away... At first I was going to use an old side table I had, but then my parents told me they have some old doors that they want to get rid of.. So I thought ha, ok.. I will get at that this week. Then I when ive done this one (assuming I get anywhere :)) theres four doors they have ... I have no idea if I have the skills to do this.. But im a fast learner and theres lots of info on the net to help me. So I reckon I will do ok (and you never know till you try :)).. Will probably just buy a neck, pups and stuff cos the idea of trying to do that myself seems a bit much right now. Will report back when or if I actually get somewhere :) And look at you now. Very impressive Rabs. That is one fine lookin door you have there. Awesome job dude. Very impressed. Very impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 And look at you now. Very impressive Rabs. That is one fine lookin door you have there. Awesome job dude. Very impressed. Very impressed. Thank you, thank you, thank you :D These neckthroughs are made from mahogany that I got at a car boot sale, apparently they were part of a window sill you can even see the sealant putty stuff left over :) So still repurposed wood... However I do still have a body and neck made from a door and a load more door wood ready to be made into bodies :) So a door guitar will still happen at some point :) And no update today folks.. My back I a bit screwed from working on a 3ft bench.. I went to the workshop but just could not concentrate today.. So.. tomorrow :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surreal For Real Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Rabs, What if you guitars are so good that they eventually put Gibson out of business? Wouldn't you feel bad, as you began this project on their site? I think the folks at Gibson better shut down your thread!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I'm getting excited now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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