DIY Guitar Messing About (6 Viewers)

[magicbastarder]

this is what i went with; and it didn't work. the holes i drilled based on registering them this way ended up a good millimeter on the wrong side, so pulled the neck away from the body instead of tight to it. got around it by drilling the holes in the body to a larger diameter (they'd been drilled to 4mm on the supplied body, i drilled mine out to 6mm in the end) as the screws were grabbing too much in the body and not enough in the neck. maybe the screws were grabbing in the oak much more than they were in the softer supplied body,



i also got the router out and stepped in the cavity at the back, and then hand shaped a piece of the same wood used for the front of the body to fit. planing a piece of wood from 21mm down to 5mm was fun.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

this is what i went with; and it didn't work. the holes i drilled based on registering them this way ended up a good millimeter on the wrong side, so pulled the neck away from the body instead of tight to it. got around it by drilling the holes in the body to a larger diameter (they'd been drilled to 4mm on the supplied body, i drilled mine out to 6mm in the end) as the screws were grabbing too much in the body and not enough in the neck. maybe the screws were grabbing in the oak much more than they were in the softer supplied body,

View attachment 16656

i also got the router out and stepped in the cavity at the back, and then hand shaped a piece of the same wood used for the front of the body to fit. planing a piece of wood from 21mm down to 5mm was fun.

View attachment 16657

Nice result on the cavity cover - I’ve some 3mm mahogany I could have given you to save you some trouble..

I think watching you approach this (notwithstanding your greater woodworking skill and experience) has made me finally realise a router would be a good investment… (which has been often said to me on this thread)

As for the neck - good advice posted to late perhaps.. in previous page..

 

[magicbastarder]

Oh, this would have been an utter nightmare without a router. Even just flattening the wood when I needed to hog off more than mm or two, using the router sled.

You can borrow mine if you wish?

 

[JohnnyRaz]

Oh, this would have been an utter nightmare without a router. Even just flattening the wood when I needed to hog off more than mm or two, using the router sled.

You can borrow mine if you wish?

I might be onto you in a few weeks!

 

[ann post]

I think watching you approach this (notwithstanding your greater woodworking skill and experience) has made me finally realise a router would be a good investment… (which has been often said to me on this thread)

Recommend. I use mine a few times a year, but its a very solid few times a year. Definitely get a hoover for dust extraction with it. That high RPM fine dust mostly likes to go everywhere.

Does anyone here have one of the smaller palm routers?

 

[magicbastarder]

yes, i can echo the the hoover recommendation; at one point, when i was routing inside the cavity, whatever way the router sucks air and blows it around, i was firehosed in the face with sawdust. i had a breathing mask on, but got sawdust in both eyes.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

Recommend. I use mine a few times a year, but its a very solid few times a year. Definitely get a hoover for dust extraction with it. That high RPM fine dust mostly likes to go everywhere.

Does anyone here have one of the smaller palm routers?

yeah - I have a circular handsaw that's firmly in the category of a tool thats used only for occasional jobs, but is absolutely indispensable for those particular applications

Good call on the hoover - The dust from the jigsaw is bad enough!

 

[magicbastarder]

Does anyone here have one of the smaller palm routers?

no - at times for the lighter jobs i think i could have used one. also, visibility was an issue for me on occasion (though since i built the workbench i've intended to, and failed to, install a light to make visibility less of an issue); you want to be able to see what the router is doing, but the deeper you go the more the router body obscures what you're cutting.

 

[magicbastarder]

another tool which would have saved me probably an hour last night, but would get far too little use to justify, is a scroll saw. the piece of wood i shaped for the cover for the back was too small to jigsaw easily, so i cut it on my bandsaw; but the bandsaw blade is too wide to cut a tight radius and is not madly accurate so i cut it too large and rasped it to size.
i *think* a scrollsaw would have made that a lot easier? my father in law has one he's never used though. i must ask to have a go of it.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

another tool which would have saved me probably an hour last night, but would get far too little use to justify, is a scroll saw. the piece of wood i shaped for the cover for the back was too small to jigsaw easily, so i cut it on my bandsaw; but the bandsaw blade is too wide to cut a tight radius and is not madly accurate so i cut it too large and rasped it to size.
i *think* a scrollsaw would have made that a lot easier? my father in law has one he's never used though. i must ask to have a go of it.

a scrollsaw would be the ideal - but I've managed ok with a fine jig saw blade (the bosch version of these), with with workpiece clamped between two blocks of wood to create a channel to cut. Cumbersome, and stop start, but workable.

 

[ann post]

I semi decommissioned my workshop because i wasnt happy with my dust managment. Since then the workshop essentially moved to the boot of the car and its all fix/sand/paint/fix/sand/paint/ these days. Kinda been looking at building a tower of shelving and dust managment things for the 2.0 shop if I ever get back to the place, which is a storage clutter in its current form.
I have a scroll saw and around 5-6mm it isn't great altogether. I possibly use it 1-2 times a year and nearly always to make a jig for something else. When i had no money i only had a jigsaw for years so i can nearly perform open heart surgery with those.
I don't have a rasp but i'll put the orbital sander in a clamp and use it for shaping.
If you have a spare jigsaw you can make a wonderfully dangerous diy scroll saw.

 

[magicbastarder]

if you don't have a rasp, and do end up with a reason to buy one, get the japanese saw rasp. it can work fast, and it can work fine too.

 

[ann post]

I'm really only allowed to buy a new table saw this year, though i might ebay a rasp. Its mostly a year of cutting leftovers to 900mm by the looks of things -

Also storing a scrollsaw for the other 363 days is actually a pain in the hole.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

I'm really only allowed to buy a new table saw this year, though i might ebay a rasp. Its mostly a year of cutting leftovers to 900mm by the looks of things -

Also storing a scrollsaw for the other 363 days is actually a pain in the hole.

while I normally tend to the cheaper end of the market for things, the shinto rasp, while pricey, is without doubt value for money.

 

[magicbastarder]

FUUUUCK.
the screws for the pickups are so insanely cheap that three of them have snapped off inside the screw holes. and i drilled the holes a tiny bit larger than on the supplied body, so they should have been fine.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

FUUUUCK.
the screws for the pickups are so insanely cheap that three of them have snapped off inside the screw holes. and i drilled the holes a tiny bit larger than on the supplied body, so they should have been fine.

I always put a drop of oil on any mounting screws used with guitars.

Unsurprisingly - I probably have some you can use.

have you mounted the neck? I'd wait until strings are on to finalize placement of pickups

 

[magicbastarder]

no, i figured it'd be easy to manhandle the body and fit pickups, pots, etc., without the neck on.
hopefully - fingers crossed - the screws are so cheap and soft that i'll be able to drill them out.
i just tried test fitting one by hand, without the pickup, and it just bent and snapped on me.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

no, i figured it'd be easy to manhandle the body and fit pickups, pots, etc., without the neck on.
hopefully - fingers crossed - the screws are so cheap and soft that i'll be able to drill them out.
i just tried test fitting one by hand, without the pickup, and it just bent and snapped on me.

those 'wood screws' for pickups tend to be very lightweight. often can strip or score off the tracks on the screw head. hence the oil to lubricate!

I'm pretty sure I have a few in a box of bits. LMK

 

[ann post]

while I normally tend to the cheaper end of the market for things, the shinto rasp, while pricey, is without doubt value for money.

I'm seeing ones for 20 - 30 online, i'd consider that reasonable enough - am i looking at the right ones

 

[JohnnyRaz]

I'm seeing ones for 20 - 30 online, i'd consider that reasonable enough - am i looking at the right ones

yeah - thats the ballpark. Its expensive compared to a bog standard rasp I guess is what I meant, but not excessive in terms of tools more generally!