Learning how to build an electric guitar

[lumberjim]

I meant to share this article about Pete:

http://www.njpen.com/loudo-musical-i...-collingswood/

[xoxoxoBruce]

So laudo becomes Loudo, damn whippersnappers got no respect for Latin.

Sounds to me like Brown has his head on straight, I hope he does well.
Thanks for that link, an interesting read.

[lumberjim]

He's a good dude, and smart. Reminds me of how Flint is. Maybe on the spectrum a bit, but not far. You just have to be smart yourself to keep up with the big steps his mind takes.

Especially if you do any pottery with him. We talked about playing chess and being steps ahead of your opponent. The analogy kept coming up with planning a guitar build. 'Think 3 steps ahead!' ~ I will once I know all the steps! ~

He might need some help with sales and marketing.

[Gravdigr]

I will once I know all the steps!

That.

[Flint]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

He's a good dude, and smart. Reminds me of how Flint is.

What? Somebody reads my posts? I thought you all had me on Ignore.

I wish I could finish big projects like Jim. I've done a few half-assed things recently like learning how to build/install car stereos, but generally I just don't have what it takes to make it to the "execution" phase.

To be honest, I wake up feeling like a lump of clay, and it takes a Ritalin and a Red Bull just to get me to work by 9:30-ish.

[lumberjim]

Set up to drill the tuner peg holes. I've been dreading this task for some reason. I guess because if I fuck this up, all that work....

Stay tuned to find out if I fucked it up!

The piece of wood under the head stock is to prevent tear out when the bit goes through. The piece on top is just to keep the clamp from denting it.



The holes are 7/8" apart on center. I guess this isn't really super crucial after all... What happens beyond the nut won't affect how it sounds. How it tunes and stays tuned, though, matter a bit.



I poked the crosshairs with the awl, drilled 1/4" in with a 1/8" bit to seat the brad of the Brad point bit.
I set my smallest engineers square on the wood next to the hole as a reference to keep the bit perpendicular.



Note to self: use a contrast colored wood as a back plate so you can tell when you're through the head stock.



I did have some tear out on the front, unfortunately.

[lumberjim]

You know how to fix that right?

Super glue and saw dust. It's the wrong color, but it is being painted.... Soon!... And there's a chrome ring that will cover most of it anyway.


Fine sanding the body...

I went around looking fur things like this in the body :



I went to the soldering Iron and wet cloth method of streaming out the dents. I haven't gotten my other knife yet and the iron stays hot better.

And then sanding. Lots of hand sanding. Really fun though. 100, 150, 320, and 400 grit.



When I felt like it was good to go, I attached the neck and took it to Amanda to look over.

[lumberjim]

She found a few spots that need attention, so I'll fix them and then sand with 1200 grit... I wet the wood to raise the grain after the first 400 pass. I'll probably do that again after the 1200, then do another 400 and 1200 to take off the fur.

Here's a close up of the heel joining the body



I went with the curved back plate so I could bevel the part where you grip the neck for higher notes.



My strat has a square edge there, so my hand comes up against that corner, making reaching the top frets difficult.

I like how the lines intersect

[xoxoxoBruce]

Wouldn't the hole spacing for the pegs govern the distance between the strings?

[BigV]

not really, the strings go from the tuning peg to a slot in the nut at the top of the neck. from there the strings go straight down the neck.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Nut? Gitouttahere.

[lumberjim]

Point being, the sound wave is created by the length of the string. The nut is the longest or lowest point the string ends. What goes on beyond it is purely esthetic.

[xoxoxoBruce]

What I'm seeing is the string coming off the peg into a slot in the top most fret, then down to the business end where the electronics are. Not seeing any nuts except my own.

[lumberjim]

I need to decide on a finish. Thinking about this acrylic lacquer



It's thick. This is one coat. You mix equal parts of acrylic resin and hardener, mix in a pigment, and pour it on. I have a bunch of mica pigment samples. This blue is groovy, and I have a good turquoise. Not sure if I'll be able to keep drips under control while it cures though.

The other options are spray paint with lacquer over it, or staining it and oiling it.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

What I'm seeing is the string coming off the peg into a slot in the top most fret, then down to the business end where the electronics are. Not seeing any nuts except my own.

The nut is the little bar the strings go over at the very end of the fret board. Mine isn't on yet.