Learning how to build an electric guitar

[glatt]

Oh, and now I am getting Stew Mac ads in my social media feeds. I must have followed a link in this thread, or looked something up that you referenced.

[lumberjim]

Doh! Sorry, but Dan Erlewine is the man. He's stew mac's guru. He has all the cool tools. I was close to ordering a pin reamer for the next job, but it was $164 for a hand tool that I'd use once per guitar. I used a step bit in my countersink driver and a rat tail file that I already had instead. Good boy, Jim.
Here's why :



The tuner pegs are slightly tapered. The top facing part of the shaft is 3/8"


But they widen to 25/64" at the bottom.



My step bits have a 3/8



But then go 13/32 then 7/16 or 14/32.... 25/64 is 12.5/32nds. So I needed to go about half way there with the former. I didn't do any math to figure that out, I just reamed the first hole a bit, tried the tuner, repeat until it sank to the right depth.




Then I made the pencil mark on the bit and brought the rest slowly down.

And cleaned up the edge with this file.

[lumberjim]

The tuner with no reaming of the hole :



After :



Once the holes (and I only did the first and last hole at first) were opened up enough to seat the tuners, I can see that my first peg is too short.



Which means the head stock is too thick up there. It's 0.6025" there and 0.5905" at the end. I'll need to sand that to 0.500 I guess. But I had what I needed to do the job I was trying to do.

What I'm doing is lining up the location of the bridge.

I attached the first and sixth peg to the head



Made sure to align the hole in the peg perpendicularly to the neck





And got out this spool of conductive thread I had from when I was making my gloves touch screen capable...



Only because it was the only thread I could find that was thick and strong enough to do what I wanted it to do. Some guys will use guitar strings for this next part.

[lumberjim]

I suppose you could use a straight edge and math, but it seemed to me that this way is easier and more accurate. Back up. First I want to show Bruce my nut:


You can see that it is pre grooved.


So that gives me the lateral location of the strings as they enter the fret board. I'll file into them to set the height of each string when I get into set up at the end of this.

But for now, I need it mounted where it will be sitting when it's done.

Here's its home :



The nut is radiused to 10". My board is 12". So I'll compensate with a very expensive nut slotting file later.


I started getting all clever and trying to put pieces of wood up the edges and clamping it from the side to make sure it was flush on both sides and didn't move around.... You can see the clamp on the desk... But then I realized... Just use tape, dip shit.



Now the bridge :




The two u shaped parts at the top edge are where the bridge will pivot against the posts. The location of those posts is crucial. Vital even.

The bridge has holes through it where the strings go around to the back of the guitar.


They come up over the saddles.


The saddles are the grey metal blocks that have that slot and the 2 adjustment screws {one in each half. ) There are 6. One for each string

[lumberjim]

I ran the thread through the 6th peg and locked it down with the locking mechanism. That's a post inside the peg that's tightened with the big flat wheel at the bottom of the tuning machine.



There is a post inside the tuner post that rises when you tighten the nurled wheel, which pins the string going through it against the inside top of the post. That keeps them from slipping and losing tune.

So anyway.... Through the 6th peg, into the 6th hole in the bridge, under and back out the first hole and up to the first peg.



Now I've simulated where the strings will be. I can line it up laterally by eye, compensating for the thicker bottom (closer to the top as you hold the guitar) strings.




I want the strings running as parallel as possible and centered. The dark line running up the guitar is center as it happens. That's from gluing 2 pieces for the body, and being careful to center every thing I do to the top and the neck.


Not just eyeball here, I checked to confirm



The 12th fret is the middle of the string length, so if my distance from center line is the same there and at the first fret and the 22nd, it's straight.

And it is straight. If my neck pocket wasn't square, or if my neck wasn't attached properly, I'd have work to do fixing that. But I was extra careful, so this worked out well.



Now, I mark the hole location by tracing the bridge and finding the center of the post.

The posts are 2 1/4" apart at center

I stopped there because it was getting late and I wanted time for things I forgot to bubble up to the surface of my brain.

[lumberjim]

Which of course I had done. I never checked the length when I had it together. It's probably right.... I haven't changed anything since I corrected that 25.5" issue I had, but I want to check it again before drilling. And I want to make a jig that I can set on top and make 100% sure my bit can't walk when I start the holes.

I'd like that to be adjustable, so I can use it for future guitars, so I've got my subconscious working on that while I review this.

But here's the best thing! It made its first sound!

Oscar Meyer has a way with B O L O G N A.

[lumberjim]

Now it's out to the garage and set up the planer and the jointer to work on the flamed Maple board for the new neck. Weeee!

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by glatt

Oh, and now I am getting Stew Mac ads in my social media feeds. I must have followed a link in this thread, or looked something up that you referenced.

You'll never walk alone...



Thanks, Jim.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

But here's the best thing! It made its first sound!

Congratulations, it's a guitar!

Have ya given any thought to what you're gonna call it?

Lucille? What about serial number? LJ001, JH001?

[lumberjim]

Thought about serial numbers... Hadn't thought of naming it....

The Lumbercaster?

Hmmmmm

[lumberjim]

The length is fine

The orange dot is just about where the string will come off the saddle


So, pretty close. The saddle will adjust forward enough to make it just right.

I made the jig, but just a one off, as my subconscious hasn't gotten back to me yet.

Take the distance...
And then

This is that Aztek material I used for the router sled.

Here's another of those stick on LED lights.

I love them

One on each side of the drill press.
I need to see

[lumberjim]

Missed the mark on the first attempt. Looked good while I was drilling it, but when I double checked it, it was off a Lil bit.


Second try got it.


I clamped the jig to the body and said fuck it.

I lie. I didn't do that at all. I checked depth.



Managed to fuck that up though, so I might as well have said fuck it. We'll get to that in a bit. The holes actually came out perfect with regards to placement. They were a bit skinny, though. I had the idea that I should drill an 11/16 hole, as the 3/8" collar could be pounded home snugly.


In reality, when I saw that in person, I chickened out. Afraid I'd split the wood. So I decided to go a 16th wider.
I used the step bit by hand like the tuner pegs to get that started, but then I had to switch to a real 3/8" bit to get to the bottom. That's where I had a little faux pas. The bit grabbed and shot through the bottom on the lower hole.



Don't know that that will matter in the end. The hole will be full of pivot post and brass collar.

They went in easily enough.



I hammered through a piece of scrap from the neck.

[lumberjim]

So I can lay the bridge in, and install the claw.


The Claw!

Mark the holes


Then use a really long bit when I drill them to minimize the angle.

The Claw hooks to the tremolo with springs. The strings will provide counter force to make the back of the trem 'float'.



I could string this and play it right now. I just need to glue the nut down.

Brb

[lumberjim]

I glued the nut down.

And put the tuners on.

But I didn't string it. I'm gonna wait.

I had to file the face of the head stock down some to make that 6th post sit right, and will most likely need to go back and flatten out the entire headstock with the sander.

I can't really do anything else until I paint it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Launch Pad #1.