Shamelessly Copied from Andyjr - Semi Hollow Neck-Through

WezV

the maple should be enough, so i think you are into stabilizing the ebony and filling if needed

Andyjr1515

WezV said:

the maple should be enough, so i think you are into stabilizing the ebony and filling if needed

Yes - I agree with @WezV ;  

MARVlN

Thanks both! In terms of stabilising, is that a case of leaving in the same room with as similar a humidity and temperature as possible for a few weeks, before then tackling the crack? Or would you recommend using a stabilising compound?

WezV

i would glue/fill the crack as necessary, then give it a week or so in a stable environment before you glue that top to the wings 

MARVlN

Brilliant - will do. Thanks @WezV ;

MARVlN

Productive day today. Started off by gluing the aforementioned crack. The ebony is now drying and will be left for a week or two before doing anything else.

Next I had a go at creating the recess for the string clamps at the headstock. Quite pleased how it turned out given it was freehand (scored the outline with a knife, then went to town with chisels), and I'm inexperienced.

Needs a cleanup, and I've had to fill some tearout, but it's come out well. This recesses the locks enough that there's a break angle over the zero-fret. The clamps will act as the nut in this design. If that turns out not to work well, I've left enough room to extend the recess, move them back, then put a conventional nut in.

Next up, I decided to route the bridge/tremolo pocket. This is before I've glued the wings. Not really sure why, as that's what I've subsequently done, and the wings are now setting as they glue to the neck.

I suppose I'd realised, but since forgot, that the route for the trem block would effectively cut the neck-through in half. Stupidly, it still surprised me when I undid all the clamps.

I used StewMac's Floyd Rose templates, and, as always, managed to burn the top one up with the router whilst trying to get more depth. One day I'll not be a pillock. Still, that vindicated my choice to do this before gluing the ebony top on, so much less chance of ruining the expensive top wood. Also got scarily close to routing the spring pocket backwards, but realised when the text on the template was the wrong way round. Saved!

Having sanded the inner edge of the ebony top down, I now considered there was no point in keeping the wings off the body. Especially as I'd basically cut the neck in half. Therefore, it was time to glue.

Once that's set, I'll sort bracing, the electrics access panel, and finalise the shape of the neck-body join.

Siejen

I love these build logs. Thanks for sharing. Looks great! 

MARVlN

Thanks @Siejen!

Today's progress. Started off by reducing the height of the rear block as it'll be flush with the top. Used my router-levelling jig, made from an old router table insert plate, a couple of PSE timber lengths and two DIY CNC track/rails.

Works pretty well with the most insane router bit from Wealden:

Next up is routing the pickup-cavities. Like the tremolo router, I'm doing this deliberately before fitting the ebony top as any screw ups near the ends will be hidden.

This turned out to not quite be deep enough - miscalculated (forgot to include the depth of the template when measuring...). And corrected:

With hardware fitted. I've gone for a set of Alegree P90-style Strat-sized pickups. I've not owned a Strat since my first guitar, but I increasingly find I split my humbuckers much of the time. As I'm going for versatility, and also play some high-gain stuff, I went with what I'm hoping will be a pretty do-it-all setup. Mocked up (loosely - I've not drilled mounting holes for the pickups yet), with the silver pickup covers for a bit of sparkle. The trem fits well and seems to have the full range of movement. With it in place, it's now obvious I need a longer trem block, even after deepening the spring cavity route a bit. Got an official Floyd 42mm block on the way now. You can see why I've gone for the high centre-block, and why the area behind the bridge is ~5mm lower - to give the all-important finger access for the tuners.

I also sanded the headstock down after the tearout repairs. Came out pretty well!

And safely back upstairs, ebony tops loosely in place. Really looking and feeling quite like a guitar all of a sudden! It's lighter than I expected too, which is a good thing in my book - really don't like heavy guitars.

MARVlN

Another weekend passed and more (ever smaller) steps towards completion.

Kicking off with using some ebony offcuts to make a pair of scratchplates - this solves the question of how to soften the raised centre block. Not sure about the shape yet, whether to offset or keep them mirrored. These will be removeable and will serve as the pickup mounts too.

I then set about finally making the electric cavity cover. Andyjr used a steady hand and a 1mm router bit to cut the outline which had the pleasing effect of making the door and cavity in one go. I only have a big router, and no technique, so I decided to mimic this with a combination of a scapel and Stanley knife. Four hours later I finally hit upon the idea of adding chisels to the list, and had finally broken through within an hour. Not as good as Andy's effort (of course), but I'm pretty happy with it.

To form the rebate lip, I chose some leftover maple from the neck laminates. Roughly cut out before gluing as I figured it might not last long if I tried to get it down to size (having just ruined the cover for the tremolo in that way).

I also worked on the neck join. As I attacked it with a variety of rasps, files, carving chisels and sandpaper, I decided that I should have done this before gluing the wings on. Couldn't quite get exactly the design I was going for, but it's not bad and has added some useful comfort when going for the highest frets.

Gluing next! One side at a time (not enough clamps)

Progress by Sunday morning

Once the glue had set, I used my guided bobbin sander to remove the ebony overhangs to within ~1mm (the guide is slightly larger than the bobbin). This method clearly won't work near the neck join, so eventually I'll break out the files again and do it manually before scraping. Scraping is still fantastically satisfying, and revealed that the glue job is good - no unsightly gaps thankfully.

When I got bored doing that, I broke the router out again and attacked the pickup cavities. Not sure why I didn't wait until now to do them in one go, but hey-ho. Also worked on the tremolo cavity, which looks rather better than the less than perfect effort below the top. Obligatory template in-situ progress shot.

Finally, another mock-up, although incidentally I've now also shaped the end after much effort, but neglected to take a picture.

Trying to think of the neatest way of attaching the scratchplates. I could just use screws, but I'm not sure if there's a more elegant way.

paulnb57

MARVlN said:

Trying to think of the neatest way of attaching the scratchplates. I could just use screws, but I'm not sure if there's a more elegant way.

Magnets?
Double sided tape?

Looking superb!

JGTay

Coming along nicely. 

paulnb57 said:

MARVlN said:

Trying to think of the neatest way of attaching the scratchplates. I could just use screws, but I'm not sure if there's a more elegant way.

Magnets?
Double sided tape?

Looking superb!

Magnets are a very good option, would keep it looking neat. 

Andyjr1515

Lovely! 

I'm really liking this.

MARVlN

Thanks all.

I know magnets can be very strong, but my only concern is whether it's a good idea to attach the pickups to the scratchplates if they're then attached with magnets. Although I suppose I could just screw the pickups directly to the body rather than 'hanging', then the scratchplates will be purely decorative rather than structural. Didn't occur to me until I began typing this...

On a different note, I had to order a longer tremolo block than the short one provided. I assumed it'd be the same as a Floyd Rose. The new block arrived yesterday, and it quickly became apparent that it's not, the screw spacing and thread size is different. There's also not enough meat on the FR block to re-drill, so I had a look around for other alternatives. Eventually my head was threatening to explode, so I've just bought some brass that's nearly to size (just needs to be cut to length), which I'll drill and tap myself. What could go wrong?

Whilst fiddling with the trem block though, I also noticed something slightly concerning - I've pretty much sanded through the binding near the tail where I was shaping it at the weekend. I've ordered some more binding and I guess I'll need to recut the channel and try again. Just slightly concerned about the thickness of the walnut sides, although being so close to the centre block does make me slightly less nervous.

MARVlN

Another weekend gone, two steps forward, one step back on the build.

Started off by recutting the binding channel. I chose to not risk recutting all the way around, meeting on the lower bout instead.

When I removed the binding and scraped it back, it would become apparent I managed to not order the same binding. So I'll have fun removing that and trying again next week, now I have ordered the right stuff. Was so proud of the chamfered joins as well.

Next up, I broke out the magnets to work on the electronics cavity cover, and plan B for the tremolo cover. Made another silly mistake by gluing the magnets into the body before the cover. Not a mistake to repeat. The tremolo cover is a lovely piece of ziricote, as a nod to the fretboard.

The I decided that two mistakes in one day would do, and called it a day. On Saturday morning, I had a go, fresh faced and bushy tailed, at something I'd been putting off - shaping the upper horns. Went at it with my freeway saw, rasps, files and the trusty cabinet scrapers. In progress:

Left a little winglet of ebony at the neck join. One side done:

Next up was making the new trem block. Started with a to-thickness piece of brass. Cut to length, removed the bandsaw marks, drilled some holes and ended up with this. The standard aluminium block in the foreground. Bit weighty! It's about 250-300g at a guess. Might trim it, but I can do that later if I want to shave a bit of weight off the guitar.

With that done, I drilled and installed the trem claw. Bit of a pain, as the trem cavity is deeper than a Strat's would be. Drilled pilot holes with the closest hex-based drill bit I had, and broke out my mechanics tools for a wobble extension and UJ. Got it nice and straight, and gave me a good way of cutting the threads too.

I also shaped the scratchplates for the pickups, but seemed to forget to take any pictures. Magnet-time awaits though. Having learnt my lesson, I cracked out some thin tubing to act as a spacer for the magnets to sit on for gluing up.

Assembled with the trem springs for the first time. Only stabbed myself with a pick whilst getting the trem springs into place once, which I'm calling a success. Can also see the horns in their glory (with some setting ebony-dust filler for a little bit of tear-out).

Moment of truth time, stringing up. With the string locks acting as the nut, placement is vital, so I began to string-up in order to place the outermost strings:

Got the bridge height right - with the bridge adjusted as low as it goes, the string is laying atop the frets. I then promptly broke the head off one of the cheesium screws included with the string locks when installing the high-E, and decided to call it a day.

MARVlN

Incidentally, with the pickups, bridge (with new trem block) and all covers in place, it weighs just a smidge over 3.0kg, which is pretty damn good for a 335 style guitar I believe. About 1/3 of that is the ebony top and 1/3 the bridge and pickups (possibly a slight exaggeration, but it's not far off).

DartmoorHedgehog

Very nice

Andyjr1515

Coming along really well.  It's looking lovely and the fretboard is just the icing on the cake

By the way, I always glue the magnets into the body first...

Roland

... and then check that the lid magnets are the right way round before glueing the in.

MARVlN

Thanks all - it's getting there!

Andyjr1515 said:

Coming along really well.  It's looking lovely and the fretboard is just the icing on the cake

By the way, I always glue the magnets into the body first...

In which case, you're much better at getting the depth right, or use more suitable glue... I drilled the holes, placed tubing in to hold the magnets proud, then put the covers in place when I did the scratchplates, which I found worked very nicely. When I tried it the other way around I made a right mess of it, then kept getting the magnets fractions out on the cover and not fitting properly.

Andyjr1515

MARVlN said:

Thanks all - it's getting there!

Andyjr1515 said:

Coming along really well.  It's looking lovely and the fretboard is just the icing on the cake

By the way, I always glue the magnets into the body first...

In which case, you're much better at getting the depth right, or use more suitable glue... I drilled the holes, placed tubing in to hold the magnets proud, then put the covers in place when I did the scratchplates, which I found worked very nicely. When I tried it the other way around I made a right mess of it, then kept getting the magnets fractions out on the cover and not fitting properly.

I'll run through how I go about it if I get a moment tomorrow