PART ONE
Solid Body Electric Guitar

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Day 1 - Jan 2nd, 2003



After the plans were drawn full size, the first batch of materials ordered (fret wire, binding, pearl shell, etc), i started on the neck. In this picture, you can clearly see the pieces used to make the neck are perfectly quarter sawn. Quarter sawn is when the growth rings are perpendicular to the face. Flat sawn is when the growth rings are horizontal to the face. Quarter sawn is stronger, and more stable (less chance of warp).
 

I wanted to have a definate 'three piece look neck'. I was originally intending on using American Rock Maple for the centre piece, and i even purchased a nice piece for the job. The problem was, it was too nice. It featured a nice Birdseye figuring, and i will store this maple for another guitar. The black veneer is maple which has been boiled for a while in black dye.
 

The idea with a three piece neck, is that if the timbers try to warp or twist (they shouldnt, as the timber was dried correctly), then two of the three timbers will stop the other one moving. Cutting a single piece of timber in half lengthways, and gluing it back to itself is much stronger than a single piece of timber. The black veneer lines dont stand out too much in this photo, but they look very nice and stylish... well, i think so anyway! Why is it discoloured?? See below!


I was getting a little anxious to see what the grain would look like with some lacquer applied. So, once the clamps had been removed, i sanded the top surface and applied a coat of lacquer. The lacquered section is too the left.


Day 2 - Jan 6th, 2003


The neck was glued and clamped for 24 hours. I then took the neck blank to a friend who has the correct machinery (surface planner and thicknesser), to be machined. Once machined with a flat surface to the face, the headstock angle was cut (13deg), and i applied photocopies of the neck plan to the face and side.
 

Antoher photo of the neck blank with the plans applied. The trussrod channel was actually cut prior to the neck plans being glued on, but i didnt get a photo of that process. You can see the intricate inlay design on the neck plan. The "leaves" positioned at the normal fret marker locations will be two white 'Mother of Pearl' shell inlays, whilst each fret inbetween will feature one smaller "leaf" being cut from gold 'Mother of Pearl'. More photos on that process later.

Stage one of the neck shaping. You can see ive cut the bottom shape of the neck, leaving the top and side plans in tact. It is compulsary to cut the neck back first, otherwise you cut the side plans off. See below.


The neck sides have now been cut. As you can see, by cutting the sides off, it removes the plan. You can see the truss rod channel in this photo, where ive pulled back a little paper to show someone how it works.

A back view of the neck blank. Very rough square shape. The neck cannot be shaped any more until the fretboard inlay and binding are complete.


Rough cut of the headstock shape. This is looking from the side.

Another shot of the headstock shape. The raised "bump" will become a volute.


Originally, i was intending in inlaying the headstock "vine" into the headstock veneer piece, prioir to glueing it to the headstock. I intended on making a 3mm thick Mahogany piece, and laminating the veneer to that. It would be MUCH easier to do like this. I didnt have a piece wide enough, so this is a photo of two pieces being glued to suit.
 

After clamping and gluing, the headstock facing was removed, and planed to thickness.

This is the veneer which was supposed to be placed on the headstock. Ive managed to "squeeze" the headstock facing out of the figured Maple i purchased for the body top.


This is now the headstock facing. The guitar will look much better if the headstock and body are matching (although most manufacturers dont match them). Ive marked out the shape, but havent trimmed the maple to the correct thickness. The vine inlay will continue from the neck, onto the headstock.

Here is the maple, now resawn to a thinner piece. I made a jig to router the maple to the correct thickness. It is about 8mm thick in the photo, but it is now 4mm thick.


Day 3 - Jan 7th, 2003


Here i have shaped the back of the headstock and volute with a rasp and file. The headstock needs to be the correct thickness to suit the locking machine heads (tuners). No final neck shaping has been done yet.

Another shot of the headstock.

The front of the headstock is sanded to remove the photocopied plan, which is no longer required. Ive made templates for the body and headstock shape, and will use those again once the body and headstock have been all glued up with the maple tops. The outline ois only rough cut at this stage. If i was to trim and sand the headstock outline at this stage, it would almost definately be damaged during one of the following processed. Sanding is the final stage prior to lacquering.
 

Side shot of the headstock with maple facing. It is not glued on at this stage, only resting there for the photo.


Nice shot of the volute. The volute is designed to give the headstock a bit more strength at the nut. It does not impede on the playability of the guitar at all. Ive had a guitar headstock snap clean off when it was accidentally dropped. The volute should avoid this catastrophy if there is an unfortunately accident. Very very few manufacturers carve volutes, as it is simply too time consuming for a production guitar. There is still a lot of shaping to do around the volute.


You can clearly see the truss rod channel in this photo. The truss rod is designed to counteract any bending of the neck once the strings are installed and tuned. The trussrod is an adjustable component, made from two lengths of steel rod, a nut, and a brass anchoring block. Notice that the headstock facing wasnt been cut in this shot. It will be trimmed to size after the inlay is complete.
I also started making a jig to sand the curvature of the fretboard. It needs to be adjustable (for different sized fretboard/necks, radius of fretboard face, and the ability to cut conically). More on that later.


Day 4 - Jan 9th, 2003


The African Mahogany body blank. If you look closely, you can see ive traced the body shape onto this piece, ready to cut out.


This template is made from 18mm MDF customwood. Ive faced it with some paper so i can play around with different layouts for the knobs, sound chambers, etc. This template is used for marking out the body shape. Once the body has been cut out, this template is screwed to the body blank, and used as a router guide.


The body blank, cut and routered to shape. The grain lines will be covered when the maple top is glued on, but that will be a while away yet.


The back of the body. The rebate on the edges is the starting point for the carved back. I will be carving the back prior to gluing the maple front on, which is normally the incorrect way to do it, as it is harder to clamp the top on. Ive devised a way around this though. Very few (>1%) of guitars feature a carved back).


Another photo of the back. If you look really closely, you can just make out the pencil lines on the body which determine the carving finish points.


The figured maple top. It has been rough cut with the band saw, but i cannot glue this to the mahogany back until i have dont some more work on the body. This photo really does no justice to the amount of figure in this piece. I will attempt to get a better photo soon.

 

Next, Part 2 (Days 5, 6, 7 and 8)
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