Willy Wailer Guitars

Pay Attention to Warnings About Wood Dust

2011-08-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

Please Stand By!

While my respiratory system tries to get back on track.

Let’s Kick Back and Review

2011-08-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

Back 10 years ago I saw these very cool Surf Board Strats coming out of Fender’s Custom Shop. After much thought I decided that I could make a similar guitar and off we went on the Toad’s Wild Ride. Somewhere early on I chose to not use a Strat shaped body but use a Tele shape. That turned out fine but I really like the old Fender Jazzmaster-Jaguar shape that has recently experienced a new life.

These guitars introduced in the late 50’s touted a contoured "offset-waist" body that was designed for comfort while playing the guitar in a seated position. Of course, they then went on to be a premier ‘Surf guitar’ in bands that never sat down. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Jazzmaster).

My plan now is to use the inlay/insert techniques applied to Surfer Girl but on a guitar with the larger Jazzmaster shape. Again, we will be using the Inside Out approach beginning with a template for making the surf board insert.

Lot’s of work to do, so let’s start cutting out templates.

Life on Hold

2011-08-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Ever been put on hold by some outfit? Me neither but I have heard of it and we are going to put Surfer Girl on hold here. Why?? Because I want to start a second guitar body while I am on a roll. Back to that thought in a moment. First,, look how cool Surfer Girl has turned out.

Three layers of epoxy with these very super looking embedded decals. WOW, this thing will be quite a guitar when finished. And all that is needed is to rout out the neck pocket and a few pick up cavities, solder some electronics in, mount the bridge, sand seal the back side, lacquer the entire thing about ten times AND Bamm!

Ok, we have a ways to go but I want to make a second body now. And, I want to add some construction techniques that will allow me to make more bodies in a much easier and replicatable manner.

I know this seems a little vague right now but I will explain in the next post.

Cowabunga Dude

Inside Out vs. Outside In

2011-08-02T07:29:00.001-07:00

What has made this project so unique is the manner in which it has been designed and then constructed. As I have stated a few times throughout this blog, I have now made north of thirty guitars. And, each of them has been made by starting with an outside shape, whether the guitar was an acoustic guitar with its thin bent wood sides or solid body electrics. I always formed the outside shape first.

With the outside completed, all other construction was built of the shape and that shape’s unique quirks. Now, with this guitar, we reversed the process and the perspective. If you go back a few threads, you will see (or remember) that we started Surfer Girl with that template that was first used to shape the inlay-insert. From there we used this same template to carve the outside body shape. Ultimately, every detail on this guitar was engineered from that beginning template. Inside Out!!

I don’t think that I will ever make another solid body guitar any other way. (Of course, Spanish style acoustics must be made outside-in.)

Crawling Along

2011-08-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

Boy, this project is slow going with so many techniques that I have never dealt with; not sure anyone has. As you can see from the picture, all of the pieces have been glued in place and the outside body edge has been routed.

This first picture shows the inlay mounted to the body, the ‘gap’ and the outside body shape rout. You can also see how the extra material will be removed for the final shape.

A couple of ‘oh, that’s strange’ outcomes have developed. First, even though I tested and re-tested the combinations of router bushing and router bits to come up with the narrowest of gap, I ended up with a ¼ inch gap to fill vs. the expected 3/8 or less. Now the challenge is 'what material to use' to fill the gap and what color? After testing some TAP plastic stuff and some common epoxy, I choose clear epoxy with a white pigment added. Unfortunately, these plastics and epoxies shrink when they cure. So, I need to apply in small layers allowing the final layer to ‘stack’ and when cured I would simply sand it down to plane. It worked.

This last picture shows the completed body ready for the first step in finishing. (I will finish the top before I rout the neck pocket or the pick-up pockets.
Oh, and that second WHF outcome is a strange dark edge that came out within the white epoxy filler near the heal of the guitar. I have no idea as to what that is or what to do with it for remedy? Got put on my thinkin'cap. Like all Microsoft engineers know, we must turn ‘bugs’ into ‘features’.

Lovin The Body

2011-07-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures as I rout out the body cavity with three goals in mind: (1) have proper internal channels for wiring, (2) pockets for electronics such as pots and switch, (3) chambers that lighten the overall weight and enhance tone. All this, but I must keep in mind that the inlay insert needs to be heavily glued and the neck support must go to the heel of the guitar.

Initial rout and wood removal

And now further removal of wood to create the 'zones' discussed above.

And, we are ready to glue the inlay insert into place...and pray that we didn't forget something like the chord jack. Crap..nope, its there.

Oh, and I removed the wood around the outside body shape. Now we are getting that guitar out of the wood block that started this adventure. (BTW, there is always more wood chips, sawdust and wood hunks than guitar at the end.)

Now for Something Interesting

2011-07-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

Up until now, I have always finished my guitars in nitrocellulose lacquer, and lots of it; either tinted, colored or clear. (Always, clear final coats.) But, Surfer Girl is inspired by those terrific surfboards from the 60’s and they were always covered in fiberglass. Fiberglass.

Off to TAP Plastic I went in search of something that might work. And, they had a couple of materials. I choose a two part Casting Resin. My intention is to cover the inlay with plastic. But wait, it ain’t gonna’ be that simple my man. There is another challenge for us survivors this episode.

Here it is.

After the white resin fills the gap, I will then coat the entire guitar top with clear resin. What I don’t know is how the resin will interact with the final coats of lacquer that I need for the backside of the guitar, if not the entire guitar. I also need to know how this resin holds up to a router bit as the top needs pockets for pickups and we still need to cut the neck pocket. (We’ll talk about the challenge of this particular neck pocket as it will not be straight forward. Figures!)

Well Dr. Wizard, let’s head to the lab and do some testing. Wanna???

Wow Ha, What Just Happened

2011-07-16T17:11:00.001-07:00

Where Have You Been?

2011-07-14T16:44:00.001-07:00

It has been 10 days with nothing on the old blog to show for it. But, I have been very busy thinking, experimenting, rethinking, experimenting, thinking about the rethinking and deciding to have phenomena. The last one didn’t take that much thinking as it is my ongoing fight with sinus problems.

To recap, we performed all of the prior testing with great success but I still had voids in my vision of how each micro-step would go. For instance, “Where do I begin the first router cut to move around the template (Oh, the template is mounted to the body with very good two-sided tape, that I use a lot.) Someplace on the body I must insert the router bit, and that has to be perfect. Most of the time we begin a router cut off the piece moving onto the piece with the bit fully extended and ready to make the cut. But I can’t do that here.

Maybe a picture will help explain.

This router cut is the most critical of the project (Well same could be said for neck pocket down the road.) And, routers are notorious for ‘wandering’.

Well, fast forward and things are looking great. The top plate has the two critical cuts and I am ready to trim the outside shape and rout out the inlay cavity to 3/8 of an inch Then things get really interesting!!

Yes. Yes I can.

2011-07-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

Though a little hard to see in the photo below, my technique seems to have worked in this test. I have my insert/inlay and the pocket it sits in and now my shaped outside edge of the body (brown) All shapes are driven off the single template. The last test will be to figure out if the curves at the top of the body intersect with the neck pocket correctly.

I need to make sure that the convergence of curves look like the area circled below.

Goldilocks and the 5 Templates

2011-06-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Not too hard, not too soft, not too brittle, not to thick, not too thin....what in the hell is 'just right'?

As I thought, this project is all about ‘the template”. The entire guitar is based upon that interior surfboard insert inlay and that inlay must be exactly the shape of the template. That necessarily makes the template critical. The shape must be perfect with zero defects; every curve must be perfect. Making that template has been a complete bitch. I had a drawn shape using French Curves that is perfect but transferring that perfect shape into a perfect template has been.. Oh, yea, already said that. Here are the attempts.

Eventually, I found that cutting and shaping a 1/8 inch piece of acrylic plastic started a sustainable process where I then transferred that shape using a bearing router to a piece of hardboard. I think this ¼ inch hardboard will work great for the inside template.

Great!! Now what do I do? After all, I am making a guitar not cute guitar shaped templates!!!

Baby Steps

2011-06-24T16:25:00.001-07:00

Back to Surfer Girl. Oh, did I tell you? Her name is Surfer Girl.
As I have explained below, this is a very complex project that I am attempting that will keep you on the edge of your seat. For me, it is a lot of planning and testing the concepts shown in the next photo. (You will need to click on the photos to enlarge.).

So, let’s test out the concept on a test block of wood.

So far... not bad. A few wrinkles that I am glad happened on the test block. My biggest concern is the perfection in the edges on the template. It needs to be absolutely perfect with contours that have no flat spots. I don't think MDF is the best material for this template. But, I do not know what would be the best material. Maybe some sort of plastic. Tomorrow I'll talk to the folks at Tap Plastic to see what they can suggest.

Burt is Baked

2011-06-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Let’s check back one last time on Andrew’s Sherburt or Cherryburt, or now what I am calling simply Burt. Though it took a few hours we have a terrific Willy Wailer tele. I am sure that Andrew learned a lot about not only guitars but a lot about solving mechanical problems. And, of course, how to use 350 different tools to assemble a simple solid body guitar. Piece of Cake…except for the parts that don’t fit, electronics that were not wired correctly in the ‘kit’ and adapting non-kit parts to this particular body.

Still, we have a neck pickup that does not work, though it was tested fine initially. (Probably a ground problem) and some tweaks to the intonation and we're done.

Time to do some Rock & Roll!!

THINK

2011-06-21T07:18:00.001-07:00

Today began Surfer Girl’s construction. Yep, ‘Surfer Girl’ is the perfect name for this, my 31st guitar project. (Yes, I know. I have got to get rid of some guitars.)

The first step in this adventure is to get some wood for the body. I found some very pretty cherry up in the rafters of the shop. I used this wood for a coffee table and it turned out great.

The body needs to be a little over 1 ½ inches thick and the size of a...you guessed it, a tele. The cherry pieces are about seven inches wide, so I need to ‘book-match’ side by side, building both a top plate and a bottom plate. (BTW, this is not exactly book-matched; but close enough.)

This picture shows the basic theory behind gluing up the plates. The next step will be to glue the plates together for a complete body. BUT WAIT!!!!

Remember that old motto, ‘Cut once, measure twice’? Well, in luthier work, you also need to think three times, measure a few times and hope the hell you did that right before you approach the table saw or the glue clamps. Otherwise, you are making firewood.

In the case of Surfer Girl, we will need some open channels inside the body for wires. Here is how I think it will work. (We’ll know better when we go to install electronics some three months from now!!!) This guitar is different from most because we will not have a removable plastic pickguard on the top plate and I want to minimize the bottom plate access covers as they are ugly. To accomplish this, we must plan, plan and re-plan. Draw it out on paper…and THINK!!

Here is our routed bottom plate and the top plate ready for gluing. Once glued together, we should have a 'body block' ready for the next step. Which I need to THINK about. This is a very complex project.

Movin’ On Down the Road

2011-06-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

While Andrew’s tele is ‘curing’ before an appointment with Buffer Station Two and final assembly, there is this other project that has been on my mind for years now. My friend Marc and I attended a NAMM Show in 2003 and saw these terrific ‘Surf Guitars’ that had come out of Fender’s Custom Shop and Master Builder Dennis Galuszka. I think they were like $4000 and today they go for $10k or more.

And, now that I am more comfortable with shop injuries, I want to make one. Well, not exactly like that one but more in the Telecaster shape…like this.

(My right pointer is just getting some feeling back after a year. But, I digress.)

This is not going to be an easy project to say the least. Why? Because all of that different wood design on the surf guitar top is inlayed. Most impressively, those wood details are then laid into a routed cavity where the outside dark wood is actually the body. Maybe a picture can tell a thousand poorly written words.

Here is the basic concept of construction.

Let me tell you, the details of how this will get done will make a fascinating adventure. There are many unproven techniques here and plenty of room for failure. No, not that dreaded word.

NO FAILURE!!!

Sherburt- Nope, not a typo

2011-06-17T07:34:00.001-07:00

As I said somewhere, I think this is my 30th guitar project. This one is nephew Andrew’s. I had a bunch of parts lying around the shop and he chose the Tele stuff. Good choice. Sherburt is mainly a ‘kit’ from Saga that I purchased off eBay a couple of years ago. I really like the Saga kits and recommend for a simpler guitar project.

Even though this guitar is a ‘kit’ there are tough questions to be made and Andrew done good. The body will be orange and he chose a headstock shape.

For the body finish I love using ReRanch rattle can lacquers and I thought that layering Translucent Orange over Fiesta Red would be stunning. I tested on a piece of Foamcore and it looked terrific.

At this point everything is going much too easily, Right??? Right Kemo Sabe! Well here is where we depart from ‘too easily’. Many times I begin solid opaque body finishes with Bin Shellac based white primmer. So far so good. I then sprayed on maybe 10 coats of opaque Fiesta Red, which has a lot of orange in it. Again, piece of cake.

Now, the theory is that laying coats of Translucent Orange over the red will make the guitar even more orange just like the test patch. Wrong! The T-orange made the Fiesta Red even more red. Let me repeat that…even more red. I have no idea as to why this happened.

Now what? Well, first better tell Andrew his Orange Sherbet/burt ain’t orange. But, I have a plan to orange this baby up. I’ll tint the last few coats of clear high gloss lacquer with yellow. GENIUS! More friggin yellow over red makes orange. Kinda. Even that didn’t help much. Andrew has a very deep red guitar with a hint of orange in certain light conditions.

Very pretty but not what was ordered. Oh well, deal with it. Sherburt is more Cheriburt.

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

2011-06-01T15:22:00.001-07:00

Finally finished this iteration of ‘Repeat’ the wayward blue guitar. We’ll see how this new color holds up over time. Just to recap: old finish faded, refinish lacquer beaded all four attempts to solve, moved to an opaque blue with translucent blue over that plus high gloss clear. The adventure continues.

Bring on Sherburt.

Here We Go Again

2011-05-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

We will come back to a completed Repeat in a couple of weeks after the lacquer sets and I can buff a little on it.

But, this just in.....Nephew Andrew: “What kinda electric guitar should I buy Uncle Bill?” Me, “We don’t have no store bought gitters in this family lad.” Welcome to my 30th guitar project and Andrew’s first. We got to get from left to right without him shooting something.

BTW, all of my guitars are sitting around the homes of relatives and friends...or here at the Wailer Station. Oh, four were sold for charity.

Click on 'guitars made' to the right here to see most of them.

While You Were Away

2011-05-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

It has been ten days since I gave up on the translucent lacquer finish on this terrific strat body. I tried everything to ‘neutralize’ the contamination problem. Without knowing what caused the problem made ‘neutralizing’ more of a random event. I did apply paint stripper to the entire body to remove all old lacquer with an odd outcome. Yes, all of the old finish came off but after testing I found that the contamination problem was only with that raw wood that I had applied the two part bleach to. Conclusion Dr. Watson? The bleach is the culprit. Now what?

Welcome to the stage Ziinsser BIN Shellac Base Primer. This stuff is the greatest stain/contamination blocker around. Don’t expect to ever see your pretty figured wood again, but under opaque finishes it is wonderful. I recommend brush application from the can vs. the spray which is way too thin and runny. Either way, you will need to sand smooth before applying lacquer.

Back to repeat. I applied the white base to the entire body, sanded, applied, sanded, etc. until I had a smooth white body. I then covered the base with ReRanch’s Ocean Turquoise. This color in itself is gorgeous (See another blog thread) but I decided to then apply ReRanch’s Blue Translucent over the Turquoise which is over the shellac base.(That definitely will be on the quiz, overachievers.) What incredible depth with a metallic undercoat. I also blended black along some edges such as the inside of the ‘horns’. I finished the body with five coats of high gloss lacquer from Luthiers Mercantile International. WOW!!

So we have a gorgeous strat though not what exactly what I had imagined when we first began the project.

I’ll let the lacquer dry for a week or so and then hit the buffing wheel for a while. I have also refinished the Fender neck to give it that authentic Willy Wailer touch. Then all we need to do is wire’re up and play a bit. Should be good to go in two weeks.

Rinse and Repeat

2011-05-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

OK, I now have the perfect name for this iteration of the beautifully figured maple strat body. “Repeat” Because I have not solved the problem of the beaded lacquer. Not after four approaches to solving the ‘beading’ problem. Never have I, nor a couple of experts, seen anything like this.

Let’s ‘repeat’ here. This body was originally crafted some four years ago and has been finished and refinished with high quality blue solvent dye layered with many coats of high quality lacquer. And twice, over time, the blue faded to a ghoulish greenish indigo.

On this, my third major redo something has gone very wrong. I have narrowed it down to ‘contamination’ of some sort after sending a picture of the problem to Bill at ReRanch, the lacquer finish developer. The only possible cause that I can think of is the two part bleach that I used to whiten the guitar top though I have used this technique on other guitars with no problems.

Prior to this last attempt to solve the beading problem I not only sanded off all of the prior finish but wiped the surface with mineral spirits and lacquer solvent in hope of ‘neutralizing’ suspected ‘contamination. That did not solve my problem completely. It’s better but not completely solved.

See those light spots? Those are areas where the lacquer moves away from and it seems like the dye goes with it as this is simply clear lacquer over the dyed raw wood. It doesn’t bubble up or anything, it just does not cover those small spots rendering the finish worthless. To make matters even more weird, this beading does not show up when the dye alone was applied.

I have not a clue as to what I can do to remedy the problem so... Fuck It.

I am now in my fifth attempt at getting a finish on this stupid thing that I can live with so I am going opaque; covering up the pretty maple. Might as well be friggin plywood.

Coo Coo's Nest

2011-05-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

When we last checked in on Willy, we saw a badly beaded lacquer application and he had made the decision to sand off the new finish and start over. Nice. That task has been completed. Now what?

The traditional sign of insanity is to do something over and over, expecting different outcomes. That is not insanity, that is called making guitars. In an attempt to 'peel back the onion' and change something prior to applying the apparently temperamental transparent blue lacquer I decided to seal the re-dyed raw wood with shellac. Maybe I have a chemical reaction problem of some sort and I have read that this is a common step for some luthiers. I have used this technique on past guitars, though I can't remember why.

Sand, re-dye, seal with shellac, let dry for a day….spray on transparent blue lacquer AND, drum roll please.

Shit! Making guitars is truly maddening.

As long as I am into clichés, I’ll now add, “The third time is a charm”. (Hopefully) Guess I had better go down to OSH and buy lots of sandpaper.

Never a Dull Moment

2011-05-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Seems like every guitar project has some unexplainable twist (usually not good) and certainly this refinish job on the figured maple Strat body has fulfilled that promise. I have no idea as to why this first couple of transparent blue lacquer coats have beaded up like this. And, it has never happened before.

Let’s backtrack a little here. The first step in refinishing the faded finish on the body was to sand off the old blue. Though sanding is a real pain and boring as hell, I would rather remove finish with sand paper than use paint removal chemicals. After all, this is a guitar not a garage sale plant shelf.

After sanding off the original lacquer, I decided to use two-part bleach to remove the natural brown tint in the raw maple. I left the bleached body to completely dry over a couple of days and then applied the new blue dye.

Let’s talk about the dye. It is a powder dye from ReRanch Guitars designed for mixing with alcohol. I have used similar dyes on all of my guitars, though not this brand. I also mix a tiny bit of acetone with the dye to better dissolve the powder.

The dye liquid is then wiped and rubbed into the bleached raw wood to produce an incredible blue base. At this point I sprayed on my first coat of ReRanch Transparent Blue NC Lacquer. Basically, nothing about this process is different from most guitar finishes that I have applied.

Nothing different except the outcome and now I have another of those ‘Houston, we have a problem’ moments.

So, where do we go from here? Clearly I can’t continue applying lacquer as something is making it bead up. It must be a chemical reaction between the dyed raw maple and the transparent blue lacquer, both from ReRanch.

Unfortunately, I have no choice but to sand off this new finish and start over.

Router and Routing in an Analog World

2011-05-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

There are few tools in the ‘ole tool box’ that have taken more time and caused me more failures than the router. Running at an earsplitting 20,000 RPM, these things can shred a guitar body (and your finger!) in a Malcolm Gladwell Blink. Though you might be able to carve your name on a tree using your router freehand, making guitars will require templates, guides and/or router table.

Surprisingly, much of a guitar body (both solid and acoustic) can be crafted with a router whether it be channels for bindings, neck pockets or pickup pockets. In years past I made templates out of fiberboard or plastic. Templates are time consuming to produce but are around for the next project. You can also buy templates from Stew Mac.

However, I have come upon a new technique that has proven quick, easy and precise for areas where you have relatively flat planes of wood such as guitar tops. The key is the use of high-quality double-sided tape and strips of ‘guide’ wood.

As you can see in the photo every pickup pocket is basically a rectangle with rounded corners. The round corners are the result of running the router bit template guide around the wood frame that you just made. If you use a ½ inch bit you will get a ½ radius at the corners of the rectangle. Guess what you will get if you use a ¼ bit? Very good. This merit badge might be easier than you thought.

Here is a quick step by step for routing a humbucker pickup pocket.

1. Choose the pickup location on the guitar body. (Never considered that did ya’?)

2. Cut and tape the strips of wood to fashion a frame the size of the pickup. Remember to make the frame slightly larger than the desired pickup cavity to allow for the router bit template guide thickness. Say 1/32 of an inch or so.

3. Drill a hole or series of holes in the guitar body inside the wood frame so you can lower the router and bit into the cavity. Make this hole plenty big as you DO NOT want the bit to catch any wood when you first turn on the router. It is very hard to hold a router steady if it catches anything before reaching top speed. (This is when you can really get hurt as well.)

4. Now work the router bit and guide around the area inside the temporary wood frame to produce the pickup cavity. (Note: You probably need to create this cavity in two or more passes with the router bit at ever increasing depths. I know, this is a real pain but oh well, get over it.)

5. Check your edges and make sure the pickup fits inside the pocket. If you are a little tight, simply move the appropriate frame side out slightly and rinse and repeat above. If the cavity is too large, throw away the body you spent 20 hours making in the green recycle bin. Bet you won't make cavities too big again, will you? Me neither!

It is best to practice this technique on scrap wood or your buddy’s PRS. Nothing says ‘friendship’ like installing two more humbuckers in Scottie’s $3,000 ‘ten top’.

Back in the Saddle

2011-04-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it is time to fire up the old blog again as warmer weather takes hold and I have two projects to tackle. I want to refinish one of my first projects, a custom Strat body with a Made in America Fender Strat neck. A very unique Strat given that I do not have the typical plastic pickguard top. I have routed out the figured maple and set the pickups into the face from the backside. That was not easy to do.

So why am I redoing a ‘perfectly good guitar’ (John Hiatt great lyric)? Well, that is a great question. First, the beautiful deep blue finish has faded to this odd greenish color…twice. Yep, I have refinished this body before with the same eventual result. Being slightly brighter than my cat, Critter, I have decided to ‘do something different’ and expect a different outcome. Goal One: A more lasting blue finish using a different technique. (And NO, I don’t know why this fading problem has happened to this guitar and not others???)

The second change I want to make is the pickups. After years of playing single coil Strats, PRS humbuckers and lately Seymour Duncan, Pearly Gates on my spalted maple Tele, I have decided that I am a Humbuckin’ Wailer. Goal Two: Replace the bridge single coil pickup with a SD humbucker. Might be hard to do.

Let’s get started.

Worth a 1000 words or less

2010-07-25T13:41:00.001-07:00

[THIS PROJECT WAS CANCELLED BUT STILL GREAT READING...maybe someday I'll take it up again?]

Here are a couple of graphics to better explain the post below..I hope. Or, you are thoroughly confused and have given up on gitter makin’.

Here is some work on the archtop that shows removing wood between holes.

Let's Go!!

2010-07-25T09:35:00.001-07:00

Got a little camping out of the way so let’s start this puppy. The general approach to this guitar is to carve the top and bottom out of some figured maple that has been in the shop for some time. The technique for this process will be just like that used for the archtop somewhere in this blog.

First step is to prepare wood for book matching using the table saw and a jointer planer. I have decided to make the top from two pieces and the back using three. Why three? Same reason everyone uses three. I didn’t have enough large pieces wood for another two piece. Here is our top, bottom and a general idea as to how this guitar will be constructed.

The basic technique for forming the carved top is to have a plan and cut down to the plan. My plan comes from Benedetto’s terrific video and book on making archtop. I have shrunk his 16 inch plan down to 15 inches, my widest dimension at the lower bout.

The plan looks very much like a topographical map where each ring will be a different height on the guitar top (or bottom). The trick is to drill very precise holes all around the map that correspond to the desired depth. We will then remove the remaining wood around the holes. Hopefully, this helps.

Urgent Update

2010-07-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

This guitar project has been put on hold for camping and fishing.

Now for Something Completely New

2010-07-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Back at the end of 2009, I wanted to make a semi-hollow guitar in somewhat the tradition of Gibson or Gretsch gear but with my own Willy Wailer twist. I am going to build the new guitar to the shape I came up with for Sweet Sixteen, a prototype Spanish style guitar. The idea is to use the forms and jigs for that shape, which is actually a reduction of the 16 inch Archtop that I made a couple of years ago. I also want to use a bolt-on neck such as a Strat Rosewood. Kind of like this guitar.

Fortunately, I have a good head start as I have an set extra of bent sides already formed from a couple of years ago. So, we have sides and form-frame ready to go.
Next step is to figure out the exact contour of the top plate. To do this, I am going to reduce the ‘contour map’ used on the 16 inch archtop down to 15 inches, which will be the distance from side to side in the lower bout. The challenge is that traditional archtop have a very different bridge layout and they do not have pickups mounted on top.

Here is a picture of Archie and a picture of a Gretsch semi-hollow. See the difference in the shape right in the middle? Archie has a dome where the Gretsch is actually flat from the neck pocket past the bridge. Plus you can see the very different bridge configuration.

I will need to modify this top plate contour.

First step is to go down to Kinko’s and have someone make a ‘contour map’ that is 15 inches across not the original 16 inches used on Archie.

And, here is a ‘contour map’ for an archtop.

Guitars Made Update

2010-06-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

Realized that I haven't placed pictures of recent projects on this site. Click 'Guitars Made' if you want to check it out. Click Here

And this from Dr. Wizzard

2010-06-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I posted here but actually much has happened around the Ye Ole Shoppe. Rose is all but finished needing just some 320 grit love and a few coats of whale blubber. Naw, we’re going to use some nice poly coat forsaking whale blubber forever.

I did get some strings installed and the guitar sounds great. Can’t wait for the year or so go by while the real guitar magic happens. Not sure why it takes a year for acoustic guitars to mellow out but it certainly does. Maybe it has to do with the wood fibers tightening up after being molested or the glue aging or angel dust collecting in music spots. Not sure about the last one, but I am sure about the need to age a new acoustic before all the strings sound like a synchronized chord instead of disparate rings.

While we are waiting for Brad to sand his baby, I decide to have a go at placing a Fishman acoustic pickup in the bridge of my favorite guitar mule, Old Bark. The idea for this came after seeing Pete Townsend play at Super Bowl and wondering what that third knob was on his Strat. Come to find out, it is a volume knob on a piezo pickup that allows him to feed acoustic sound into one amp and traditional Strat sound into another simultaneously. I tried the piezo concept and it was not good; way too much feedback and extraneous noise. But installing a Fishman was appealing.

Here is how I did it.

And it does work. I run the Fishman Passive Under Saddle pickup into a Fishman Pro EQ Preamp and mixer and then into my PA system. The electric magnetic Vintage Vibe pickup then feeds my Mesa Boogie. All in all, a very cool sound that gives an edge to the classic unplugged sound.

Ain't Over 'til Its Over

2010-06-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Not that there is a whole lot that we can do now to correct geometry flaws but one more check with tape and thread will at least make sleep a little better as we get ready to string this baby up. Again, the critical angles that make the difference between firewood and guitars are these.

A couple of days ago I ran right into such a problem when I decided to make this guitar neck a little more narrow than the specification used by LMI in cutting the neck blank. In yet again another 'final' check, I realized that the bridge that LMI provided was going to be slightly too wide. At that point I decided to make my own bridge. Given the beauty of the rosewood fret board, I searched and found a similar shade for the new bridge. I like it better that the pre-carved bridge.

What is left to do? Let’s see here…
1. Drill tuner holes.
2. Craft the nut with proper string spread.
3. Glue the bridge onto the body and drill the string peg holes.
4. Level frets and finish the edges.
5. The magic moment of string up and hearing how this puppy sounds.
6. Take off the strings and do a little sanding and applying finish.
7. Sometime here we need a logo placed on the headstock.

My guess is that we will have a playable guitar this weekend. Whoopee!!!

Less to Fret About

2010-05-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

One of the most boring, long and unfortunately critical luthier tasks is installing frets. I have installed frets on maybe five guitar necks with varying degrees of perfection. This time I have found the perfect method for me. Here is how I do it.

First, what about tools? I use a small belt sander to sand the ends of the frets flat. I the use a fret tang cutting tool from Stew Mac. I install the frets into slots on the fret board using an arbor press that I customized for this use. (You can buy them at Stew Mac as well.) In the past I have used the traditional hammer technique for installing frets and it really produces mixed results and for me that sucks.

Once installed, I then use a couple of fret files to curve the fret edges and make them flush with the fret board sides. Later in the final set up, I will use a few more tools to make sure each fret is in line with each other and that no strings ‘rattle’ when depressed. We’ll get to that in a couple of days.

Here is a picture of various fretting tools and our almost finished guitar in the background having just had the neck glued into place.

And yes, unlike many luthiers, I install most of the frets before I glue the fret board to the neck.

Thinkin’ Next Project As This One Winds Down

2010-05-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

Great weekend of installing bindings, shaping the headstock and a little rough sanding. We are very close to a real guitar with just fret installation and gluing neck onto the body. After that, it is lots of little things like installing the bridge, installing the tuners, shape the nut and get some damn strings on this puppy and hear what I believe is a terrific sounding gitter.

Getting there

2010-05-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

This graphic shows the various parts of a neck assembly. (Click on it to enlarge.)

So, where are we on this build and what remains to be done. As I have said, building a guitar is basically two projects that are married pretty close to the end of the build. First was the body, with sides, back plate, sound board and all of the braces and little pieces of wood that connect sides and tops. The last task for completing the body is to rout channels for binding and then gluing the binding in place. We’ll get to that later.
Let’s move on to completing the neck.

The neck itself came to us from LMI pre-carved, however it still needs a fret board with frets installed. Also, the neck comes without the headstock shaped or capped with a pretty piece of wood. Once we have the heel of the neck shaped to fit perfectly with the body, we can turn our attention to the fret board. Our fret board came pre-radiused and with fret slots cut. However, this fret board was not cut to fit the pre-carved neck. Guitar necks are smaller at the nut than at the sound hole. Getting this angled cut is tricky and I use a table saw and a 36 inch belt sander to make the match.

We still have some work to do here, so quit typing and start building!!

Pickle Tops

2010-05-15T07:21:00.001-07:00

Just got back from a cruise along Alaska’s lower coast and one of our stops was Sitka. That should sound familiar to you acoustic players as your sound board top is most likely Sitka Spruce. I spoke with a local who has hunted for luthier grade spruce in the past but has given up for some reason. (Lack of attention span would be my guess as normal conversation was somewhat challenging.) Anyway, he said that the best wood comes from scavenged logs along the shores of neighboring islands. These logs have ‘pickled’ out in the ocean after falling off ships or broken rafts. Here is a picture of one of those shore lines and a picture of some cut spruce lying along a trail. Luthier grade spruce wants to have very dense rings as well as that pretty bear claw pattern. Brad’s guitar will have one of the prettiest tops that I have ever seen.

Time to get back to building this guitar! We’ll make some nice progress this weekend with fretting and shaping the headstock.

Lots of Necking

2010-04-29T12:05:00.001-07:00

It has delayed progress on the current guitar by four days and has taken a good ten hours to redesign a critical neck alignment jig. This problem has turned up in each of my prior acoustic guitar projects and I had to solve it for good.

The new neck tenon jig has better adjustment capabilities and better support for the router plate. As I outlined in the prior post, this neck placement is basically the same issues of flight where the most critical angles are pitch and yaw.

The new jig should solve this very tough luthier task forever. Yea Me!!

I Hate This Part

2010-04-23T07:06:00.001-07:00

Now comes some of the toughest adjustments when building a guitar. We have built a very nice clear ringing body and we have a pre-shaped neck from LMI. Theory is we should be able to fit the neck into the newly routed body slot and BAM, magic. Not so fast Hogwarts, there is a problem and there always is a problem.

One of the expectations of guitar player is that the guitar is playable, thus the designation ‘guitar player’. One of the expectations of a guitar admirer is that it is admirable. Unfortunately Brad, like so many picky people, is expecting both a playable and beautiful, if not durable dreadnought. I hate that part.

Let’s take a look at the playability thing. First, the neck must be set at a perfect right angle to the body centerline. The strings should run across the sound hole symmetrically aligned. At first pass, Rose’s neck was off about ¼ inch when I placed a string down the centerline of the neck extending to the back of the guitar. Now what? Start filing dude.

OK, the neck now is perfectly aligned 90 degrees the guitar body but what about pretending that we have a fret board and strings on the neck. Where would the strings end up coming across the bridge. Damn, the angle of this neck as sent from LMI is too steep and the guitar would be unplayable. A picture is worth all those word here.

Now what? I’ll tackle the solution another day but that neck angle in the top picture must be fixed and the neck must fit flush against the body. Lots of moving parts in this challenge. And, that's why I get paid the big you know what's.

10, 9, 8....

2010-04-21T11:46:00.001-07:00

This must be how the folks at NASA feel like as they button up a space shuttle and send it on its way. ‘Hope everything is in that puppy, cause we’re good to go”. Launch.

Half Way Home

2010-04-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

To finish up the sound board we need to take some of the mass off those braces and make them look pretty in process. Never know when some frustrated dentist will pull out a mirror and light to check that inside cavity work.

Besides ‘pretty’ we want to keep tapping the top plate and see if we can get it to ring and sustain as we scallop the bracing.

Final tasks are to glue in the rosewood bridge plate which accepts the string balls eventually and drill a hole and groove access to the neck truss rod.

This all looks pretty good and we are ready for final glue up of the body after a light coat of lacquer on the underside. Oh yea, and how about a couple of signatures and a date on that back side?

Let's have a signature party.

Much Progress

2010-04-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

Big weekend for Brad and his Rose. Just before I tested the effectiveness of Kaiser’s Minor Injury Clinic, we were about to add bracing to the top sound board and then work our way towards gluing the back to the sides. First things first. We cut and glued braces to the sound board using the goo box just like we did for the back plate but with more bracing pieces. The sound board takes the bulk of string tension.

Prior to gluing the back plate onto the sides we need to scallop the braces and I like to shape and sand them as well. After all, much of this back will be visible through the sound hole. We scallop the ends down so they can fit into notches cut in the sides allowing for a flush fit.

Apply some glue and place in the goo box using a fiberboard ‘ring’ to keep sticks from scaring the wood when pressure is applied.

And here is the finished job.

What’s next? We still have quite a few tasks to do to the body before we can turn our attention to the second major build activity, the neck.

While We Are Waiting for Synapse to Happen

2010-04-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

So, I guess it is time to come clean on one thing. Be friggin careful with power tools, because if you think waiting for glue to dry or paint, it ain’t nothing compared to healing tissue and reconnecting nerves. OK, enough said.

I have a couple of projects that are in progress. One is Brad's cool Dreadnought, but of course that’s not MY guitar. The other has been this travel guitar that I bought for an upcoming trip. It arrived a couple of weeks ago, just about the time I decided to mutilate my finger. Though gingerly, I did play it and it was OK. Hated the built-in bridge pick up that was suppose to make it ‘acoustic’ but made it more ‘scratching on a chalkboardish’. And I hated that wire loop that substituted for a lower bout.

Frankenstein Time. Made a wood piece to replace the wire thingie. Now it feels just like a strat. Asked my friend Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars to make a custom ‘thinline P-90’. Net-net: this thing rocks!!

That’s the good news. Bad news? Replacing strings is absolutely insane. I have restrung maybe 60,000 guitars and nothing is this hard. Upside-down, backwards, opposite wind, opposite positioned friggin NIGHMARE. If you buy a Travel Guitar, get a lifetime factory restringing contract.

Anyway, here it is…Traveler

That Was Weird

2010-04-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

Slight break in the action while my right index finger gets right with the world after a tangle with the band saw. All I can say is, ’be careful with that shit kids.’

Anyway, I had a pretty productive day cutting bracing and getting the key brace ready for Brad’s skill at radiusing. Here is the key ’X’ brace where the only tricky part is carving out an ‘overpass’ so the two braces can provide maximum support. This brace will also be part of the ‘system’ that spreads string vibrations throughout the top sound board. Eventually we will place a triangle piece of wood down in that lower part of the ‘X’ that will serve as the anchor for the strings going through the bridge placed right above.

Trust me, it works.

Almost Easter and We Are Still Playing with Eggs

2010-03-31T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today we finished the back plate by cutting out some wood bracing, shaping them with a curved radius side and gluing those four radiused braces onto the back plate. Piece of cake, right?

Remember that egg lecture a couple of posts ago? Well, ‘it’s’s’s’ back’k’k’k’. And the back plate needs to have a slight egg shaped curve to it for the strength needed to withhold the string tension. The task is simple, the approach is simple, the technology is ancient from the orient.

We use a Go Box, a clever device for applying incredible pressure to pieces of wood that are being glued to uneven surfaces. Otherwise we would use a standard clamp. Here is a diagram of what we want to do and a couple of pictures of what we did.

How About a Little Wedgie?

2010-03-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

One of the little tricks of the Luthier Trade is fixing things that go wrong in such a manner that the fix looks good. In fact, sometimes the mistake becomes a feature. Yea, kind of like Microsoft. When we joined the two side pieces into the mold and then cut the ends to fit, there is always a chance if not always a problem. The side pieces simply do not line up perfectly. The result is one ugly joint, usually off center to boot.

The fix? Cut a wedge shape cavity out of the heel of the guitar and place a new wood wedge piece into that slot. Again a couple of pictures are much easier to figure out what the prior paragraph said.

There you have it. Oh, how do you make the wedge cavity and the wedge insert? Magic, pure magic. (See that little saw in the upper picture? That's a hint.)

All that is left to do is bring the wedge insert down to the same thickness as the adjoining sides and we will use a scraper to do that just before we turn our attention to the back plate and it’s bracing.

Fascinating, isn't it??

A Rose by Any Other Name

2010-03-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

‘What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;’

Obviously, old Billy Shakespeare never had to spend two hours radiusing his new gitter but Brad did. And, our little project has found its roots in a lost family name; ROSE. I love it when the new guitar gets a formal name for the birth certificate.

Let’s talk about ‘radiusing’. This is a laborious process of shaping both the sides to accept pre-bent tops and bottoms. Both the top plate (sound board) and the bottom plate will have a slight bend to them and the sides need to have been shaped to accept these pieces.

So, why a radius? Because if a chicken egg was shaped like a box, we would not have chickens today or any bird for that matter. All box shaped eggs would have been crushed and that is not a happy ending for guitars.

Ah, but a picture is worth 50 words.

Ready for Radiusing

2010-03-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

BTW, sorry for stating that the prior steps were straight forward leaving readers with the impression it was easy. It is actually a bitch to get those sides cut correctly and the pre-routed neck block glued perfectly in place. Wood with glue on it wants to move anyplace except where you want it placed and thus the 35 clamps for two stupid pieces of wood.

In The Beginning

2010-03-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

For acoustic guitars the build starts with bent sides and a ‘form’ to hold the sides in place for a variety of tasks. Fortunately, I have made the exact form for Cherry and can reuse. Since we are using a completely ‘serviced’ kit from LMII, our sides have been preformed and sanded to thickness. If we were building this guitar from scratch, we would have used either a warm pipe or a more sophisticated ‘side bender’ which utilizes a silicon heating pad and plywood form. (One of my prior builds in this blog shows such a bender.)

The first step is to cut both ends of each side to fit snuggly into the form before the next step where we will install both the heel block and the neck block. Fitting and gluing in both these blocks of wood is straight forward. The only crafting will be ‘radiusing’ the side of each block that fits against the curved sides. In our kit, the neck block has already been routed to accept the neck when we get to that point down the road aways. Had our neck block not been pre-routed, we would rout that neck channel at a later time.

Oh yea, there are never enough clamps…never!

Change of Pace

2010-03-14T07:46:00.001-07:00

It has been almost two years since I have made an acoustic guitar, though I have made three acoustics, albeit three very different guitars. Brad’s dreadnought (we need a name pretty soon) is pretty much a repeat of my first acoustic project, Cherry.

Acoustic is a completely different mindset with completely different challenges. Time readjust the old bean here. Maybe even play a few songs using Cherry today when my jam friends come over. A little Skynyrd unplugged.

Brad and I selected all of the components from an incredible list of choices at LMII’s site and the parts are in.

Looks pretty simple, ah? Many of the parts are premade and pre-sanded to thickness. Get a bottle of Tight Bond and we’re done. Stand by, it gets much more interesting with tools and jigs such as go-box, side forms, spanners, radius dishes, one million cloth pins, fret press, etc. But I am getting in front of the headlights here.

Where's that 'How To Build A Dreadnoght DVD'? Time for a little review.

Moving Right Along

2010-03-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Campbell’s is finished and not only did the tomato red layered lacquer turn out terrific, my two new electronic modifications for strats is equally terrific.

What about those mods: First, I have wired the bridge pickup into the lower tone control resulting in a much more usable bridge pickup. Second, I have added a treble bleed ‘circuit’ on the volume pot. Why? Electric guitars have a tendency to lose treble frequencies when the volume is turned down. Adding this capacitor and resistor solves that problem. For Campbell’s, I also added on-off switches to both mods.

Here is Campbell’s and here is a wiring schematic.

NEXT UP; BRAD’S DREADNOGHT. CAN’T WAIT.

Ripe Tomato

2010-03-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

Here is what I was after. Formula: 4 or 5 coats of coral, 2 coats of vinyl sealer, 8 coats of transparent scarlet and highlights of darkened scarlet. Sanding between most coats. Need a few more coats of clear lacquer and we’re done. Most time consuming?? Cleaning the gun between each coat. I use about a gallon of lacquer thinner per guitar.

Getting there

2010-03-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a pretty true picture of how two coats of my concocted scarlet red transparent lacquer is covering the coral base. One great characteristic of lacquer is that it does not really layer like other finishes. Each coat slightly blends in with the prior. That is great (no witness lines) unless you want to have a distinctive base separate from the finishing layers. On this project, I sprayed ‘vinyl sealer’ over the coral. I think that technique has worked.

BTW, I use only finishing products from LMII. All of my lacquer work is nitrocellulose as I have not been able to master the water based finishes

Campbell’s Tomato Soup

2010-02-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw the Fender’s 50 Year Anniversary concert on TV. Fender had given many of the guest artists these great looking tomato red Stratocasters. I want to make one and I will start with a China built $120 Sega strat kit from an eBay vendor.

This kit comes with everything needed to build a strat including strings and even an amp chord. I only want the unfinished body and neck. I will install Pete Biltoft’s terrific Vintage Vibe single coil pickups and use the very best pots and electronics. The cheap tuners will be replaced by premium silver. And finally, the white pickguard will be replaced by either tortoise shell or maybe a custom plaid of some sort.

Seems very straight forward except there is no available tomato red lacquer, so I will need to create my own ‘soup’ which I think is Fender’s Hot Rod Red (color code 15). I mixed a few different formulas with marginal success and as a result of those tests I decided to use a layering technique that starts with a base coral color. I’ll layer up bright transparent scarlet until that tomato comes through.

We’ll see how this goes. Very exciting!

That’s Not My Guitar, Dude

2010-02-28T09:38:00.000-08:00

My beloved "Cherry' similar to my next project.

I have completed more than twenty guitar builds ranging from modifying existing guitars to building a hand carved archtop guitar from wood found at the local mill.

The next project is somewhat different from all of the rest because I am making an acoustic guitar for a friend to his specifications. My first ‘commissioned guitar’. We will thoroughly document this build from conception to playing a few riffs. We will even embed a little video.

So, let’s get started with conception. Good thing that I have practiced so much in the past for this part. Conception for a new guitar starts with think about wood. If conception starts early, you might call it Morning Wood. Along with thinking ‘wood’ comes visualizing the size of the guitar and shape. For guitars, size matters as well.

For Brad’s guitar we have chosen environmentally certified side and back wood and we decided to make a classic dreadnought similar to CF Martin’s ‘D’ Series. I made my own D-28 a couple of years ago and I love it. Now that concludes the major strokes of conception and we need to hone down a few of the short strokes.

Brad and I agreed that acoustic guitars should have only parts made from wood, so we will install wood bindings and a wood bridge replacing the common practice of using plastic and metal. The only metal will be the tuners.

Another basic build decision was to use only parts from Luthiers Mercantile International (LMII.com). LMII provides luthiers with a ‘kit wizard’ which steps builders through the process of choosing all of the many parts needed to make a guitar. Additionally, we will be using parts that are partially finished such as a pre-carved neck, side wood that is already bent and a soundboard that has the rosette installed. These ‘serviced’ parts really speed the build process along. There are over thirty parts in a standard Spanish style guitar. Quite a few that you never see watching Clapton run down an ‘unplugged’ set.

Moving Right Along

2010-02-28T07:32:00.000-08:00

Well, February is about to end, Tie-Dye has left the Willy Wailer Stables for greener pastures and it is time to get ready for Spring 2010. Got to get the shop cleaned up and clear up a couple of loose ends on projects in the pipeline. [BTW, Tie-Dye got a position in a real working band. Go get'em Tie.]

Getting caught up:

• First, a local non prof has asked me to donate a guitar for their upcoming fundraising auction. I reluctantly donated the ’57 Hot Rod. We’ll see how much that beauty will fetch.

• Second, I need to replace Hot Rod as I really want a second Strat. Here comes ‘Campbell’, a unique tomato red 3 single coil strat. More on this project as it proceeds.

• Third, I have made three new luthier tools: (1) a modified arbor press for installing new frets instead of using a hammer.(2) a vice for holding guitar necks more securely than my old cork saddle. (3) and, a stand for holding guitars during the painting stage vs. just hanging them.

That gets us to the fourth bit of news; I have my first commissioned guitar. I have been asked to make a guitar for a friend who is just getting into the exciting world of ‘ALL THINGS GITTERS’. It is going to be an acoustic guitar in the tradition of CF Martin’s dreadnought series. This is a classic ‘D’ much like my beloved ‘Cherry’ D-28.

We will document this project like it was the first space shuttle, or better yet, your first born. After all, it kind of is just that and hopefully this guitar will bring a little ‘joy to the world’. [Better have it done before then!!]

Here are pictures of my three new shop tools.

Re-freting Necks (Techies Stuff)

2010-02-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

For me, few luthier jobs are more difficult and boring than installing new frets. Though I have only done this a couple of times, the results have not been great with uneven fret height, less than perfect side fit and a lot of file work to get things smooth. My reference source is StewMac’s terrific ‘Fret Work’ book. Their approach is not working for me and I have some ideas for improvement.

My biggest problem is not getting the new frets installed correctly and using a hammer for installation is the number one contributor to the shortfall. Hammering wire into neck is a fundamentally bad idea. The remedy is using an arbor press and compressing the fret wire into the clean fingerboard slot. I bought a press for $50 at Harbor Freight and we’ll see how that goes.

The second big challenge is cutting the fret wire using ‘nippers’ as the cut is badly misshaped from the crushing action of the tool. Also, my ref book wants to install an oversized piece of wire and then use a file to shape and conform each fret end after installing in the fingerboard. That is hard to do and very time consuming with inconsistent results for me. My answer; cut and shape the fret exactly for the slot position prior to installation using an inexpensive upright crafts sander.

The final major problem for me is smooth fingerboard edges primarily due to the ‘tang’ part of the fret wire. Yes, you can use a file and clean this up but you are filing right on top of the fingerboard wood. Again, that is not easy nor a great idea. The solution; cut a ‘tang slot’ on each fret end leaving only the ‘crown’ to be shaped and polished. Note: this is exactly how frets are prepared for necks with binding.

Net-net; My new approach uses a few more tools ($$) but seems to be a more precise method of re-fretting and hopefully results in fret work like the pros at Fender consistently produce.

Tie-Dye

2010-02-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Occasionally I am asked to donate a guitar for local fundraising events. “Sure. I can part with one more guitar”. Maybe. So, I started going through some standard bolt-on parts in the shop and found this deep blue American Made early 90’s Fender Stratocaster body. I decided that I would remove the blue lacquer and refinish.

The first shocker was that the original finish was not nitrocellulose lacquer. It was epoxy and damn near impossible to remove even with the best of epoxy remover. And then shocker #2; as I sprayed remover, waited, scraped, sprayed, waited, scraped,the clear top coat came up and eventually the blue. And then a layer of silver, and a layer of aqua. Then another layer of silver and the red which was on top of yet another layer of silver primer.

What in the hell is this? I have no idea why all the layers as epoxy is very dense and not translucent so doesn’t bleed through. The guitar certainly didn’t need this thick coating.

The end result was a ‘go with the flow’ grunged up American relic. I installed the original Willy Wailer neck, an antiqued pickguard, some old knobs and three Abigail Ybarra, Fender Custom Shop late 60’s pickups. ‘What a strange long trip it has been’.

Plays great and kind of cool,ah? Not sure what to do with this junkyard dog.

Now, I still need a guitar for the fundraiser. Back to the shop.

Princess of Barkness

2010-02-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

So, here is the current incarnation of Princess Bark (and my buddy, Critter the Tabby). The P-90 has been replaced by a terrific Pete Biltoft Vibetron Humbucking pickup. A first for me, I have installed a switch to ‘split’ the twin coils into one if desired. I also added a removable black panel to cover the unused area of the ‘vault’.

The final mod came out of nowhere when I sensed that replacing the harsh metal bridge with a custom wood and bone bridge would really bring more of the infused richness found in acoustic guitars. It did just that. Really enhanced the unique sound this guitar produces. Very bluesy, yet spunky as hell.

This project will never be done as I have still kept the original design goals of reconfiguration flexibility and ease. After all, I have this 3x6 inch hole in the top for anything I conjure up.

What’s next? I am going to replace the standard frets with Stewart McDonald’s Wide/Pyramid fretwire. Also, thinking about installing a removable speaker cone that might simulate those resonator sounds. Could modify my Danelectro Hodad mini amp to fit in the vault. Maybe build a three single coil mod that could change Bark into a Strat in a matter of minutes. Got any cool ideas?

Got to love this

2010-02-06T08:49:00.001-08:00

Check out the piece on Basket Weaving 101 on the Ramblin Willy link above.

Magical Mystery Ride

2010-02-05T07:13:00.001-08:00

In luthier parlance, a mule is this guitar thing that can be beat, reconfigured; an experiments platform to you rocket scientist. ‘Bark’ began with that in mind. But something happened along the way to the ball. Well, not exactly on the way to the ball, actually in the dressing room before the carriage ride.

Looking at the picture in the prior post, you can see that Bark is only a neck mounted to a sculpted body. At this point I had to make choices like “How would I accommodate experimenting with pickups without taking off strings?” Decision number one; route out a ‘vault’ from the neck to the yet to be chosen bridge. Once this was done other choices fell into line. I routed for and installed volume and tone pots and a Gibson style bridge. Cable jack was some extra Tele part. This all happened very quickly and BAM I had a working guitar after stringing up.

Now comes the ‘on the way to the ball’ thing. I started playing the mule and it magically changed into a Princess. It sounded terrific and played smooth. Now I had an essential dilemma to confront. Was Bark truly a ‘mule’ or do I start treating her like the Princess she was under the disfigured spalted maple and hodgepodge of cast off parts?

The Green Machine

2010-02-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

Back about a year ago I looked at some spalted maple lumber in my shop that was just left over junk. A big piece of great wood but with some exposed bark and a big open knot. But it was a big piece and I thought about a ‘green guitar’. Escape from the landfill. A guitar that plays well but is somewhat the ‘ugly duckling’. Thus began the creation of ‘Bark’.

The deliverance that the next guitar will be ugly makes for some interesting ‘freedom of thought’. Can’t really screw up the appearance; it is suppose to be ugly. ‘Go for it, dude!’

What could I do with a guitar that doubles for a kayak paddle in times of need and my favorite ax? First, I would make it so I could change pickups easily without removing strings or changing electronics. Hell, why not change pickup position by simply sliding the pickup back and forth? That is exactly what I did.

Bark is the perfect ‘camping guitar’, the perfect ‘mule’ and as it turns out, the perfect storm.

Introducing ‘BARK’…but there is more. Much more in this yet again adventure in luthierism.

China Connection

2009-12-13T16:12:00.001-08:00

Well, number nineteen is finished; the ‘hot-rodded’ off-shore strat. Here is what I did.

• Bought a made in China three color sunburst strat for $99
• Bought tortoise shell pick guard $50
• Bought Fender ’57 Strat reissue pickups $120
• Upgraded the internal electronics and tuners $30

I then refinished the headstock and applied my Willy Wailer logo.

Worth it? Yea, it is. For $300 and maybe 5 hours of work, I have my own very nice version of Fender’s classic three pickup rig.

Looking into 2010

2009-12-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

I am looking forward to building a semi hollow body using the shape I came up with for Sweet Sixteen my latest Spanish style guitar. The concept is to use the forms and jigs for that shape, which is actually a reduction of the 16 inch Archtop. I also want to use a bolt-on neck such as a Strat Rosewood.

Hopefully, the guitar will turn out somewhat like a red version of this.

Ah, but that project must wait as I have another project the fell into my lap last week. I was in a great little guitar store in San Luis Obispo and they had Fender Strat knock-offs from China for $99. They are very nice guitars with really crappy pick-ups. No problem, I bought a new tortoise shell pick guard and Fender '57 reissue pick-ups. With very little effort, I should have a 'hot rodded' screamin’ 57 reissue Strat.

I’ll get 'before & after' pictures posted with some costs in case you get inspired.

2009-11-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well, the project that seemed so straight forward at the onset was anything but. BUT, it’s done. Terrific Tele twang and a finish that meets my original vision.

So, what went wrong? First the rough ash body that I bought off eBay was really dicked up. The neck pocket did not line up with the bridge through-the-body string holes, the slot for the volume/tone pots was off and the whole on the body edge for the cable jack was also the wrong size. What a jerk.

However it was not just the ‘body jerk’ who screwed up, the $110 Schaller gold adjustable roller bridge had three adjustment screws cross threaded. And one of the string retainers for the neck was missing one of the rollers.

I read the other day that learning to make guitars is a ‘process of trial and error’. That’s not completely true. It is a process of overcoming the inevitable error.

Here is my pearled white undercoat transparent blonde lacquer finish. The pickups are from Pete Biltotf at Vintage Vibe Guitars. I use only Pete’s pickups these days.

The name? Snowstorm.

On 'Parts Hold' AGAIN!!!

2009-11-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

What a complete waste of time as I ‘order a new bridge, wait, check fit; REPEAT’. I am trying my fifth bridge now as finding the right shape, color and configuration to cover the errant holes the vendor drilled in the body and make a functional but still attractive guitar is really proving to be a challenge.

And, ‘NO’, the vendor never returned my email where I explained the various basics on guitar making that he clearly has never learned.

Pick a bridge any bridge!

Hopefully today, the ‘magic piece’ will arrive.

MacGyver Time Again

2009-10-30T08:21:00.001-07:00

As I have said many times, building guitars is not for the faint of heart or those without a little MacGyver in them. Seems like something always goes wrong and many times after hours upon hours of work.

And so it is with '18'. The body that I bought from a vendor with 100% perfect rating is misconfigured. The pocket for the neck does not align the neck so the strings meet the bridge. As you can see in the picture the bass side string runs off the neck at the heel. One solution is to rerout the pocket for the bridge pickup but that will not work as the old pocket would then be too big and a hole would show on the bass side of the bridge assembly.

So, what now? Besides the harsh email to the supplier where I questioned is lineage, parental genetics and made a now regretful comment about his mother. The only solution is to use a different bridge, one more like a traditional hard tail Strat. Also, I will need to figure someway to move the bridge pickup (which will now be naked in the hole.) more towards the treble side of the body as it does not line up with the revised string orientation any longer.

What a completely needless amount of work and compromise because some moron sold a defective piece and I simply trusted that the geometry was correct given the many comments in the feedback section. Oh well, time to move on and we still need a name for 18.

It Is Never Too Late to Slowdown

2009-10-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well, this little quickie has come to a crawl. The reality of my ‘experiment’ with some different paint combinations and fillers did not match my vision for the finish. It looked kinda like that ugly ‘pickled oak’ furniture from years ago. So, I sanded much off and bought two lacquer finishes from ReRanch online; transparent white and Fender blonde. I used some of the white as a base coat over the sanded original finish, applied blonde in various thicknesses and began the process of building up the clear.

Lacquer has a property that is both terrific and challenging. And that is, each coat slightly melts into the prior coat. That is terrific if you are layering clear over clear. But, challenging if you hoping to leave the base as is and apply clear without melting into the base. Maybe there is a sealer out there that I don’t know about. I’ll check with ReRanch folks

Anyway, the guitar finish is coming along fine now and exceeding my original vision. Though pictures don’t do the finish justice, here is a glimpse of the what the completed guitar will look like.

The Big Wait

2009-10-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Sanding, finishing, sanding, finishing, waiting for more paint to arrive, sanding, re-sanding, waiting....

The Quick White Bunny

2009-10-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am always amazed at how much quicker these solid body projects go as compared to the acoustic guitars. Particularly when the neck and body are premade. Back to the project. I am pretty happy so far with the unique way in which I am finishing this guitar. It is almost one of those ‘relic’ finishes as I apply coats of white pearl acrylic, sand it down to almost bare wood and repeat. Here you can start to get a feel for how this guitar will come together from this shot. Not sure if I will keep quite so much wood showing. The plan is to complete the acrylic under coat and then apply layers of lacquer. At that time I will tone down the silver white with a little yellow and amber tint bringing out that antiqued look.

Long Time No Blog

2009-10-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

My eighteenth guitar project and none more exciting than this; inspired by The Reverend Billy F’s Bolin Tele.

Where do we start? I have a Fender licensed all maple tele neck (though not reversed like Billy’s) and I bought a solid ash tele body from Barry Johnson in North Carolina. Found his offerings on eBay. The body came pretty rough but a beautiful piece of wood. The bridge pick-up is a custom from Pete Biltoft now living in Oregon. I have used many of Pete’s pick-ups over the years and I love them.

Unlike Billy F’s grunged up model, I wanted to keep the look and feel of his guitar but make mine a little classier. I like the semi-opaque look of BFG’s tele and I like the lack of traditional pick guard including the route out for the missing neck pick-up. I have decided to finish the guitar with a pearl white body but sanded very thin on the top, much like Billy’s. To ensure that my baby is a little classier, I am installing only gold plated hardware. Get the image? Keep working on it, you’ll get it.

Let’s go build this puppy. First step is to find some way to fill in the deep grain grooves that come with ash, which is much like oak that was very popular a few years ago. I found a white acrylic filler paste at Woodcraft and applied a few coats in between a lot of sanding. I also have found that applying thin coats of thick, sticky liquids works best with an old business card or the side of thin sliced wood working like a spatula.

At this stage, the body kind of looks like those women in the comedy sketches with the creams all over their face. Well, try sanding it off sweetheart.

Number 18 (We'll find a cool name later.)

Yellowstoner is complete

2009-08-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, after a couple of weeks of spraying on lacquer, waiting, sanding, repeat, I have a finished guitar. It looks great. My guitar playing friends love it. The guys down at the music store love it. I hate it.

Don’t get me wrong, the guitar looks better than any guitar I have made to date. Sounds uniquely part Telecastor part Les Paul. No, not Les Paul, more Gibson semi hollow body-ish.

Great look, great sound, what’s not to like? The neck. For me it is like playing a telephone pole. Big fat and round. For the Gibson fans its fine and for us Fender fans…not so good.

So, what do you do with a guitar that you don’t like? Of course you sell it. Or, even better you sell it and give the proceeds to a charity. And, that’s exactly what I am going to do. Put it up for silent auction at the music store and all proceeds will go to the school district.

We’ll see how this goes. Now, what’s next.

Refinishing guitar number 5 as the original blue dye has really faded and no one can explain why. Folks on the luthier’s forum claim that blue is problematic. I have an idea.

What's the wait, Dude.

2009-07-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we are still waiting. Since the last blog entry I have sold a Cobra, bought a MX5, fly fished the Madison river in Montana, camped all over the place between Yellowstone and home but sadly did little on this guitar or any others in the current collection.

Waiting for the Paint to Dry

2009-07-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

Lacquer finishes take time as coat after coat is applied, sanded, applied, sanded; you get the point. I have now applied at least ten coats of lacquer and a few coats of aerosol sealer from Behlen and available at woodworking stores. The tented lacquer is McFadden’s nitrocellulose spray lacquer from LMII suppliers in Windsor, CA.

These pictures give a pretty good comparison from the intense yellow undercoated body and the nearly finished more subtle golden color. The mahogany back and neck have also had the same finish treatment and it looks terrific.

Glamor Shot

2009-06-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

While I sand and spray, sand and spray on this current project, I thought that I would put up a final picture of Sweet Sixteen with pick guard and …yep, you guessed it, a Fishman Rare Earth Hummbucker pickup sitting right at the top of the sound hole.

Got to have a pickup Dude! How are you going to keep up with the band, Sounded great yesterday with my jammin’ friends.

Mello That Yellow, Dude!

2009-06-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Came home from a Planning Commission meeting last night and the little woman (BTW, she loves that term. Feel free to use it any time you are with her, just let me know when you are going to do that.) ...and she says, “That color really sucks! But, hey just ‘cause I hate it doesn’t mean that some drugged out rock guy wouldn’t want it. Limited market, so I will tone it down a bit.

Actually, I was going to tone it down as this intense yellow is really the base undercoat that will underpin a nice honey amber overcoat. Too bad that won’t work with lacquer as the great thing about lacquer and not other finishes is that the next coat of lacquer slightly dissolves into the prior coat. Why is this good? No witness lines when sanding through coats. What is the drawback? The coats have a tendency to combine any color change in each coat. We’ll see what happens.

That’s not what I wanted to showcase today. Today, we just shaped the headstock and you missed it. I’ll recap. Like anything in woodworking, there are many ways to accomplish the intended task. We are going to shape the headstock by using a router, though we could have used a band saw, a coping saw or a pocket knife for that Appalachian look.

Steps for routing headstock:

1. Pick out a shape that is appealing and draw it on a piece of paper ten or so times until it looks attractive, symmetrical and hopefully the tuning pegs will install so you can actually put strings on the guitar. Don’t laugh, it’s really not that funny. Trust me.

2. Take the perfectly drawn paper template and transfer it to a scrap of wood about 3/8” thick. Now cut the wood and sand it so you have a form that a router can follow. I’ll show you how that works in a bit. (Bad choice of words there.)

3. Now we have this perfect wood template and we have this oversized headstock on the neck, right? Next trick is to mount the wood template on the headstock blank. Without further details it has to be screwed onto the back of the headstock because this thing needs to be reversed and you’ll have to place the holding screws in the exact location for the future tuner holes. Good luck pal.

4. Place that pilot bushing trim router bit (get the word thingie now?) in the table router, raise the bit to the correct height and hope like hell that the router doesn’t tear your $150 premade neck into cute little fire starters. Again, not funny and it takes two weeks for replacement necks to arrive.

These two pictures show the headstock with the wood template installed and the router bit off to the side. The final picture shows a perfectly shaped, sanded and prepped headstock ready for the paint shop. Is there a paint shop?

Good job!!

Caltrans

2009-06-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

This next project should be short on drama but certainly not short on impact. This will be one impactful ax, baby!!

As I said previously, I bought a premade body and neck from a guy down at the guitar store, who bought it from a guy who stole out of a ’85 Mustang in front of Hooters. I guess the hooters won out and nobody paid any attention to the incredible satisfaction one gets from creating that canvas in wood. Hooters is hooters but I got good deal.

This is not my first ‘kit guitar’ from Warmoth as I made a beautiful blue, highly figured maple bass guitar for a friend from Warmoth as well. (Go check out their site if you’re getting all fired up over this guitar stuff or just type in ‘hooters’ in Google for the other experience.)

The body came with heavy quilted maple top and mahogany back. The neck is all mahogany with a rosewood fret board, white dots and standard fret wire installed. As you can see, the body is semi-hollow with two ‘f’ holes. It is also routed for hummbucker pickups. (We are not going to put hummbuckers in this guitar as I have way too many hummbucker gitters laying around here.

Here is a fun contest. Guess how many guitars I have either in the music room or stored in the garage. Hint: you can use your toes.

The first decision was ‘what color’? I wanted something different that made a statement. As you can see, I over achieved on that deal. Also, I glued quilted maple veneer onto the head stock. Not being satisfied with the yellow dye on plain wood, I decided to bleach the wood with a special two part product I have had laying around the shop since the blue bass.

Anything but Mello Yellow. This puppy is going for a Federal Grant. “In case of a national disaster we will all form around that bright yellow glow in Dublin.”

What’s in a Name Anyway?

2009-06-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Random picture of our cat for no reason at all. Critter, his name is critter.

Now that we know Sweet 16 is a tremendous success given the endless gushing testimonies from famous players such as Eric and Carlos*, we need to map out a future for, well future Sweet 16’s and that starts with choosing a name. Just like when Exxon started, they looked around and came up with ‘Exxon’ and said what a perfect name for a worldwide company ‘providing energy that helps underpin growing economies and improve living standards around the world’. Damn, ‘Exxon” is taken but there must be another great name out there like Sassgut or Ankfark. Those seem just as good as Exxon, right?

*(Thanks guys for the interview in Guitar Player magazine.) Here is the link if you missed the article http://players.hat.ca.12m.33. (The site might be busy right now.)

Like the names given out in a family with 16 kids, my guitars have been named after just about everything from the wood, such as Cherry, to industry convention such as Archie (archtop), to color schemes such as Booger Greenie. (Just kidding!) And, then there is Sweet 16, my sixteenth built guitar, but I can’t keep naming the future 16’s a different number each time. Let’s go get the Guerrilla Guitar Marketer’s Handbook most commonly called Guitar Names for Dummies.

There, on page 56, ‘Strong guitar naming conventions should summarize the strengths of the manufacturer while also denoting the type and design attributes that appeal to buyers and make these same potential customers violently wretch and puke when looking at any competing companies products’. Note to self; send Booger Green paint to Fender.

I guess it comes down to design attributes plus the great personality of the builder. So, how about this, ‘Willy’s 15 Inch Woody’? Better than Exxon! OK, so neither Fifteen Inch Woody nor Exxon will quite work but I like the ‘15’ part because it refers to this model’s unique and appealing size.

I can tell that this is going to take some time, some research and focus groups. That’s what I need, focus groups. Clarity through feeding a bunch of strangers. Screw the focus group, take a walk and think it through.

Bingo! My wife and I nailed this one. Willy’s Big 15 Incher doesn’t work but Wailer 15 does. Great brand recognition, somewhat describes the model and has familiarity for many who know boats-Boston Whaler 15. And, there’s more Einstein, the convention has flexibility for future model modifications such as a larger lower bout (15 ½ inch or 16 inch) and adding an electric model with pickups. Here is how this works Bucko, and here is a road map for the future of this guitar model:

• Future Sweet 16’s are now the Wailer 150.
• Guitars with larger lower bouts become Wailer 155 and 160
• An archtop version would be the Wailer 160AT
• And, the next guitar out of old Geppetto’s workshop will be the Wailer 150e.

Let’s talk about the upcoming Wailer 150e. She will be the same shape as all Wailers including fifteen inch lower bout like Sweet 16 (see how confusing that is?). And this is where similarities end as the Wailer 150e will have a modified carved top, a through-the-body neck (maybe), two hummbucker pickups and will have 2 inch sides though the craved top will add ½ inch to the total body thickness. It will be hollow but will not have an active acoustic top. In effect, the Wailer 150e will be a semi-hollow body much like the Gibson ES series.

More about the future Wailer 150e later but it is on to my next luthier project, a non-Wailer semi-hollow body made from some parts a friend bought from Warmoth, a custom guitar parts manufacture. This guitar will be like none you have ever seen, no matter how many issues of Guitar Player magazine you have read over the year.

Give yourself 3 upper division credits for getting through this literary masterpiece.

Wow

2009-06-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

A few temporary peices like the white bridge pegs but it didn't explode and initial plucking sounds pretty good. We'll let it settle a bit this afternoon and take it around the block a few times later.

Thinking Back

2009-06-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the paint-to-dry (OK lacquer) is a good time to reflect on the terrific trip we just took. Got that image in your mind? Good, enjoy! Now let’s dig into what went wrong and how to avoid the problem on the next guitar. This post just might get the ‘Watching Paint Dry Award’ for you non-builder types.

Let’s start out with the basic shape and design of the guitar as this is a prototype for hopefully many future little ‘16’s’, though the body is only 15 inches. (I have always over estimated the length of things.) Without hearing the finished guitar it is hard to give final thumbs up but I like the esthetics of the new shape with its large proportioned upper bout.

The other unique aspect of this guitar design is the classic tuners which sit in the slotted peg head. Again, these are not installed yet and we have no strings on the guitar, so jury is out on functionality but I do like the classic-look neck matched with the smaller body.

Isn’t this fun? Now to the stuff that almost sank the boat starting with the warped side pieces. Yep, warped like a bent-wood chair. Someway, I need to secure the drying sides to the body form and keep the sides secure throughout the body build process. I have seen some great ideas for internal clamps and that is a ‘must do’ prior to the next build. The body form worked great.

I cut a sound hole in the top which is about four inches in diameter which looks a little oversized to me. We’ll see how it affects the sound but I will most likely make the future sound holes 3.5 inches given the small body.

The walnut and B-W stripped binding looks terrific and the process of pre-bending in the side bender worked great. Definitely a repeat though I need to find a better way to hold the body while I rout the binding slot. Saw a very well thought out method online the other day and I’ll try to duplicate.

A final thought about the body is that I really need to cut the mortise slot so the neck fits with the fret board on top and not on the bottom. It is a simple mistake that anyone can make if they are dyslectic, retarded and building the guitar drunk looking in a mirror. Unfortunately, I can’t use any of those excuses. Pay attention Bill!!

Now to the neck. I like the neck’s multi-piece construction and its shape. I was not crazy about routing the truss rod slot all the way through the neck making nearly cutting it in half. Simple solution- don’t cut the slot so deep Homer.

Net-net- I need a few more ‘jigs’ (that is not a misspelling of ‘jugs’) to hold partially constructed pieces aiding in the ‘glue-up’ process. As long as I decide to make more than just one prototype, building these extra jigs is easy enough and worth the time investment.

Is this a finally design on which to base many more Willy Wailers Sixteen’s (see Note below)? We’ll have to wait until I install frets and level fret board, install the tuners, shape and slot the nut, shape the bridge saddle and drill the tapered holes for string pegs to fit into the bridge. Oh yea, I need to buff out the lacquer finish as well.

Estimated time to completion? Today is Monday. So, let’s shoot for a Friday play date. Go Bill. Run Bill, Run.

Note: Probably need to rethink this naming convention this completely convoluted naming thing. Look for clairvoyance in the next post.

Where’s Waldo?

2009-06-14T07:55:00.001-07:00

Ever wonder what old Geppetto’s workshop looks like-where Hobbits go to have fun. Well, here it is and you thought just making guitars seemed hard. Imagine trying to make one in the midst of all this crap. “No honey , I can’t throw anything out. I use it all. Ok, that little piece of wood over in the corner can go out. But, just that.’

Even grandson Jon has second thoughts about going into this cave.

The people at OSH love me. They give me 10% off just because it seems morally right. Home Depot takes me to lunch just to try and get my business.

Almost Across the Finished-line

2009-06-13T16:01:00.001-07:00

Thanks for being patient as you tried to figure what that other picture was in the prior post
.
But, here are two pictures worth waiting for.

The sides, back and neck are dyed and lacquered, the fret dots are installed and the bridge has been glued in place, though not in that order. Tomorrow I will lightly sand and apply more clear lacquer. This time the top will be sprayed as well.

I did a little 'tone tapping' and I think this guitar, with its smaller body and hardwood sides, will sound great but much higher pitched than the D-28. Not sure how that translates into string sound. Can’t wait to find out.

Getting Out of the Sand Trap

2009-06-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Sanding, sanding, scraping, sanding, eyeballing, sanding...repeat.
This is a most gratifying and tedious segment of guitar building.

Here is a picture to hold you over until I get to the lacquer stage.

Betcha don't know what this is or, should I ask, why is it here?

Nirvana without Cobain part

2009-06-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well- if there isn’t a little guitar staring us right in the eye. Yep, you are right, there isn’t much more to do with this baby. Glue the bridge onto the body, shape the rear of the neck, and install frets and sand, sand, sand and a little more sanding. Then we’ll get out the old spray gun and have at it.

What color do we want and where? We’ll have to see as we go there.

I wonder what it will sound like. Will it collapse into a splintered mess when I string it up? Never had one do that before but this project has had its host of surprises and that certainly would be a spectacular surprise!

Where’s that sand paper?

Time Heals All Wounds- and serves as a platform for future wounds

2009-06-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

As I said, Sweet 16 is a guitar and nothing can stop it now. Ok, here are a couple of things. I started to plane the neck blank and completely sheared off the bottom of the groove for the truss rod as I routed it too deep for a really good reason that escapes me at the moment. Basically, the neck was (note the past tense. Recovery dudes!) cut in two right down the middle but not all the way to either ends. No problem, make a quarter inch piece that fits perfectly into the missing grove and call it a feature. Fender probably wishes they had thought of that. (note the word perfectly as that is most likely an impossible goal.)

OK, we have a recovered neck but we still need to cut the slots in the peg head for the tuners which are those funky little classic types. They are so cute. Can’t wait to cut the slots and see how they look. Cutting the slots was a piece of cake and a slice of heaven, scoop of whatever and a royal pain in the ass. As you might have figured out, this is not exactly a ‘how-to blog’ because I leave out stuff; actually a lot of stuff.

Here is the summary of how I made the tuner slots in the peg head for the adorably cute classic tuners. I started by drilling four perfectly sized holes. Then I used a table router to cutout the wood between the perfectly drilled holes. Following that great idea, I used a hand file to fix the problems caused by the table router which then prompted the use of a round dowel with sandpaper wrapped around it. Then came the unorthodox use of a tapper reamer to remedy a host of problems all of this crap caused. And, finally I took out a shotgun and blasted my foot off expecting that pain to be far less than making these stupid slots.

However, what a beautiful outcome with perfect little slots almost symmetrically placed on a nearly perfect peg head, almost in line with the rest of the neck; perfect-ish.

I have noticed that when things don’t go well, use a baby shot or maybe a cute kitty. Critter, our cat, thinks guitars are a stupid way to scare away critters. (I know, English is very confusing for cats.)

Let’s go glue the neck onto the body and then glue the fret board onto the neck blank and the body. You did remember the part about three basic types of necks, right.

Survivor

2009-06-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

The morning's trauma has now passed like getting through a bout with food poisoning- remembering back to that last trip to Cabo or the fun following my first barn dance with hard apple cider. It was that kind of morning and that feeling of relief when it was over.

I’m back! And this picture is the result of the passing of the storm as S16 enters the final trimester. Regardless of what happens, Sweet 16 will be a guitar with all of its fingers and toes. My fingers are still at risk however. Got to watch those power tools!

The neck has been rough cut and the headstock is also in basic shape. In the second picture you can see that we still have a rough cut neck blank that needs a lot of shaping. We are really making progress as we also have a tapered fret board.

Come on people. On your feet, for Christ's sake. OK, that's a little much. Kind of like that Lennon thing where he said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Huge mistake. So, on your feet for John's sake or Peter's and for sure, Willy's.

When Humor Evades

2009-06-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

Ever get to a point when it just isn’t funny anymore? Me neither. However, I came real close about an hour and a half ago as just about everything started to go wrong. And, ‘wrong’ is not the word that you want to dominate 'Neck Fit & Attachment Day,.

I don’t even know where to begin here. Let’s start with ‘how the neck will attach to the guitar?’ There are a few ways that I know. Specifically there is the way I started to fabricated this neck and then there is the way I settled upon. That, my good friends, is called ‘recovery’. For you aviators out there ‘kick hard rudder and point down’ and if you have enough altitude you’ll get out of your spin. I had enough altitude but I hit pretty hard.

Net-net: This guitar neck will be attached using a mortise and tenon join and I will use two barrel nuts that allow the neck to be bolted onto the body. I will also glue the neck as well.

Let me explain this picture because it showcases the pivotal moment in the prenatal development of Sweet 16. It also shows one huge mistake. Do you see it? How did that happen? How could a Master Luthier building his sixteenth guitar do something like that? What? See that mortise cut that runs completely through the guitar from top to bottom? No, that is not the standard for guitar excellence, that’s friggin stupid. It happened because I routed out the initial mortise cut on the bottom side not the top. Small mistake, like going to Las Vegas when you were suppose to go to Seattle. Whooppss!

My only choice was to flip the body over and rout a mortise completely through body. I’ll deal with the huge whole later. I actually have a cool idea. Sort of that ‘bug becomes feature thing’ that Microsoft is so good at.

Anyway, after three hours of work and an incredible ‘one-on-one’ with me, we have a neck that fits perfectly. “Onward Lewis”, said Clark. “Let’s go starve to death on the other side.”

See the ‘truss rod’ running down the centerline of the neck blank? You know that did not happen by accident!

Nevertheless, it is on the CORRECT SIDE, Moron.

Optional, for over achievers ONLY..All About Necking

2009-06-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

Making a guitar is really two major projects, the body and the neck. And, they are not joined until quite late in the build.

As you can imagine, there are a million different nuances in luthier style and approaches to making a guitar neck. However after stripping away the million cute ideas and goo-gaas, there is only one thing a neck really needs; comfort. Yep, just like this big old fat recliner that I am sitting in writing this mind numbing dissertation. Technically, the neck is the ‘interface’ between the player’s brain and the sound and as such it needs to transmit that brainwave perfectly into the sound which most likely comes from the guitar body. But, you already knew that and where already on paragraph 3, section 1A.vii.

The guitar neck is hard to make, Dah!! It has a few basic parts and a few basic requirements and as, stated above, about a million variations in style and appeal. Basic parts include the wood blank, the fret board and the headstock where the tuning keys are located.

Some necks are altogether separate components that screw onto a solid body electric guitar. Some are almost separate components that glue onto a body, such as the archtop guitar. Some solid body electrics have a neck that runs completely through the guitar body and integrated as one piece such as Gibson’s Les Paul or Paul Reed Smith’s gear. And some necks have the base neck wood glued onto the body and then the fret board is glued onto both the neck base and the body, which is the case with Sweet 16. Sweet 16 is my slightly varied interpretation of a standard Spanish type flattop which is designed for either steel strings or nylon (gut). (Here’s a good question; “If you have abs of steel, do you have steel guts?” And if so, is there a market for such hybrid? This might be a great new business after a few details are worked out.)

Now let’s look at Sweet 16’s neck. No, I mean really look at the neck including those cute little dots on the side. No, not the tats of Iron Maiden meets Godzilla like that chick on American Idol, the other dots.

Wouldn’t a picture or two make this a lot more interesting? Just pull this section out the next time you run out of sheep.

Not you Uncle Festus!! Want to have some random fun" (No, this isn't a David Carradine joke). Type 'Uncle Festus" into Google. Really, go do it!!

The Truth About Neck-ked

2009-06-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

Where are we on this build? Ah, making the neck. That rough neck pictured here began as three pieces of highly figured maple glued together with thin strips of contrasting walnut separating the maple. (Clever, uh?) The flat, top surface and the angled head area were shaped using a bench-top belt sander though it is a lot easier to use a planer joiner. A fact that I forgot until just now. Obviously, we have a long ways to go on this sweetheart but this isn’t my first time.

It is my second time. I am sure you are asking how I could be building my sixteenth guitar and I have only had the pleasures of making a neck from scratch once before? (ref: Crawford Texas vs. Willy Wailer) The short version is that I bought premade necks. There I said it, I cheated. Actually, I kinda cheated and kinda didn’t. Depending upon the type of guitar being made, you can either buy a premade neck that screws to the body such as a Fender Strat (understandably called bolt-on’s) or you can buy a precut but not completed neck assembly from folks at LMII in Healdsburg.

In fact, a number of outfits sell complete guitar ‘kits’ where you simply glue and lightly fabricate you own personal firewood. Don’t kid yourself about these ‘kits’ as you will quickly lose your Apprentice Luthier rating as fate stencils a big fat red “D” on your forehead. The “D” stands for “dummy” which is Latin for “Lassius apparentis dumbis asis woodious”. (St. Gibson translation.)

BTW, that black piece of wood next to the rough neck blank is a purchased fret board made to my spec by LMII. It is not worth making fret boards for me.

Pieces of Eight or 10??

2009-06-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

The final piece of binding arrived and it is time to explain a little about installing binding. There are two types of binding that I use, plastic and wood. The binding on Sweet 16 is a combination of both wood and plastic. So, I guess I actually use three types of binding not including the fiber binding which I guess is a fourth. As I found out, wood is a problem because it breaks or should I say ‘it broke’. After some experimentation (thus the need for ordering more wood binding) I found that I could soak the binding strips in water for 13.67 minutes and place it in the same heat press that I used for the sides. Here is a picture of a bent binding strip ready to be installed. And yes, the strip in the picture is upside down as the white plastic part sits in the groove with the walnut wood outlining the body.

Now what? The binding strip is bent but how do we installed it? Simple, with glue. That’s the simple part, the more complex part is ‘how’. Again simple, with masking tape. Lots of masking tape and a technique only known to those within the Card Carrying Luthier Master Craftsmen Guild. It’s kinda like that Da Vinci code thingie but without the nuclear explosion stuff. And yes, I would have to if I told you.

Ah hell, here it goes. Put glue into the groove; get some masking tape, and put it all over the place. Don’t forget to make sure the binding strip is snug into every part of the groove and, oh yea, get some packing tape to use in the really tight turns. Almost forgot; trim the ends so they perfectly line up with the other strips, there are four strips in all not counting the fifth one, unless you use binding on the neck which takes us to seven unless we use binding on the headstock which adds another 8 to 10 pieces forcing us back to ordering more binding. Bet you were wondering how I was going to tie in that Jack Sparrow connection,uh?

In this picture you can see the beginning of ‘taping the crap out of the body’ procedure. If done properly, you will have 678 little strips of blue (not that cheap white stuff) construction grade masking tape covering the body edge. And when the tape is removed, you should have no gaps, even itty bitty ones, between binding and body.

OK, to fill the itty bitties, use a little plastic wood. We’ll deal with it when we apply finish sometime later this month or early 2020, whenever we complete the neck. Ah man, now comes the tough part. Most guitars have a neck and fret board and there are none lying around the shop.

On to Necking!! Whooppeeee

My Skynyrd’s Been Trimmed and Kerfed, Dude

2009-05-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

After taking the body out of the form, its time to trim both the top and bottom pieces using a flush trim bit on my table router. Done! Next comes routing the channel in both the top and bottom edges for binding to be glued. The binding serves a couple of purposes. First, it looks great. But maybe more importantly, the binding seals the edge grain and ties the top and bottom pieces to the sides via the kerfed lining strips. What, I didn’t tell you about kerfed ling strips?

What was I thinking?

Well let’s back up a minute. Prior to gluing the top and bottom onto the sides, we needed to glue kerfed lining strips all around the edges of the sides that would make contact with the top and bottom pieces. See those triangle thingies running all around the side edges. 'Kerfing' and don't forget it as you might see it on the quiz. Here is a picture of the linings in place. Of course, once the linings are in place it is back to the radius dishes to properly dress the edges to be glued. This is a repeat of that incredibly boring rotating the sides in the radius dishes for maybe three Led Zeppelin songs or one Lynyrd Skynyrd played three times.

Finally, our body is flush trimmed, binding routed, kerf lined and fully Skynyrd. Those full-body massages ain’t got nothing on Sweet 16.

Back to the Go-Bar Box

2009-05-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Here the bottom has been glued to the sides that are still in the form and pressure is applied by the wood stays in the go-bar box. There are other ways to glue tops and bottoms to the sides. One, is to apply thirty-five thousand little clampy things made from rubber and threaded stock. Another is to place the whole thing in a in a vacuum bag and suck every bit of atmosphere out of the bag. I suggest using a vacuum pump.

The problem with these other techniques is that the top (or bottom) must already be trrimmed to fit closely with the sides. I would much rather make the top/bottoms oversized, glue them using the go-bar box and then come back and trim to exact fit using a trim flush router bit. This oversized approach also provides some fudge factor when aligning the exact centers of the top and bottoms to the center lines of the sides. Nothing looks more unprofessional than a beautiful inlay running down on the bottom peice that does not meet with the centerline at the heel. I know, I have a couple of guitars that are not exactly perfect. So, I just keep my hand over the guitar end when I show it to people.

A natural question would be, “Hey Bill, ever have one of those wood stays break while you have your face three inches from them when bending them into position?” Yea, I have and I have no idea why the subsequent chain of events didn’t put one of the shards either through the guitar or me.

Wedgies

2009-05-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

So, where are we and where do we need to go with this puppy? We have the sides, top and bottom ready. The next step is to glue the top to the sides and then glue the bottom to the sides and we will have completed the guitar body. We will then move onto the next major component, the neck.

One aside, I like to insert a triangular contrasting piece of wood at the heel end of the body. And, as you can see, it looks terrific and serves a valuable function. By placing this wedge into the ”v” shaped cutout at the heel, we have eliminated the daunting task of making a perfect joint between the two sides where they connect at the heel. The triangle shape of the insert also reduces the problem of imprecise joints as I simply press the triangle down into the ‘v’ notch and the joints snug up very well. Pretty tricky, uh? Go check out the guitars in the shop and see the many ways luthiers tackle this heel joint problem. You’ll really impress the sale dude-ette as well. “Are you buying anything?” “Nope, just checking heel joints, thanks.” I have actually done this and it is not a buying sign.

Here is the heel with the contrasting dark wood ‘wedgie’.

Working on the Body Thing

2009-05-19T16:02:00.001-07:00

While you were processing the incredible new information on radiusing and go-box deck technology, I made the top. I radiused all of the top braces just like the bottom braces except the top is much more complex. I also cut the round sound hole using a Dremel tool and a nifty routing tool from Stewart MacDonald. (Got to love those tool shots.)

Here are both completed top and bottom. Next step? Another picture is worth a bunch of MS Words. So we will just have to wait for Ansel Adams to come over here.

Go-Bar, Go

2009-05-09T11:51:00.001-07:00

Here is a go-bar deck with the radius dish on the bottom, the guitar back on top of the dish and the radiused back braces being pressed into the guitar back as formed by the radius dish. Make sense? OK, how about going the other way. The flat sticks of wood are bent between the top and bottom of the go-bar deck. This pressure forces the back braces down. Since the back is lying in the radius dish, the back piece and the glued braces are forced to the shape of the dish. Remember the egg thing from a prior post?

When the glue dries, this back piece will have a radius and we have built a stronger back without adding sound deadening thickness to the back piece. We will work on the top next and there will be some new challenges with this critical soundboard.

Thank God, finally some pictures

2009-05-09T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the guitar back cut slightly oversized with the location of the back braces penciled in. Yep, that’s the infamous radius dish under the back piece. And yet again, we are not done with these radius dished yet. (Right, there are actually two of them with different radius for the top vs. the bottom. Complicates matters a bit but don't worry as you are not building this thing, I am.)

Also pictured is the radiused body sitting in the form that keeps things lined up as we go through the gluing up stages. Notice the heel block and the neck block inside the body.

Let’s go glue up the back using the radiused braces, the radius dish and yet to be introduced tool called the ‘go-bar deck’. Try that out the next time you are looking for attention. “Hey, do you want to know what a go-bar deck is?”

The Radius Thing

2009-05-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

Achieving this radius thing is quite interesting and combines a tool of sorts with technique. The process starts with a radius dish about 30 inches in diameter that has been scooped out in such a manner that the radius is about 30 feet. Sandpaper is glued inside the radius and the body, sans top and back is rotated back and forth until both the top and the bottom of the sides conform to the radius dish. Probably the most boring drawn out process there is in making an acoustic guitar.

How about another diagram above just to belabor the point given how belaboring the process.

With just a little imagination on your part you can see how the stylized guitar in the diagram from th elast post could be shaped using the radius dish in the diagram here. And with no imagination on your part you can imagine how much time it takes to sand down those side to the required shape.

However we are not done with the radius dish quite yet as we need both the top and back pieces to be bowed as well. We do this by radiusing the braces that are to be glued onto both the top and back pieces. I know this is getting a little much to read at one sitting.

How about some more pictures as I will not include my new DVD, ‘How to Bore the Crap Out of People’.

Not so Fast Resonator Guy

2009-05-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

After a week of trying to figure out how to make a resonator guitar, I have given up. Yes, me giving up. It doesn’t happen often but resonators guitars are not worth the time and money to construct. I realized that even if I did figure out the complicated configuration of metal parts, neck angles and such I would be out about $500 bucks. I can buy a Paul Beard kit for $450. That is the way to go if you want to build such guitar. Enough resonations, let’s get on with the new and improved S16.

We’re back to making a Spanish type guitar using my unique shape and hopefully uniquely superb sound.

I am using the same sides, back and top as intended for the resonator guitar. So, the project is not derailed by much.

First things first. Cut out the basic shape of the top and back leaving about 3/8 of an inch overlap on the outside edge. Now that the pieces are cut, it’s time to glue the sides together at the neck joint and the heel joint. This is done with a neck block and cleverly enough a heel block. The final prep for the sides is to ‘radius’ them. What’s that? Even though a Spanish guitar looks to be flat on the top and back (thus called a ‘flattop guitar by some) they are actually slightly round. Kind of that egg thing.

Remember back in grammar school when the science teacher said that you could place an egg between both hands with the ends of the egg in each palm and you could not crush the egg? OK, most people could not crush the egg but you had egg all over yourself and the kitchen floor. Anyway, an egg has tremendous strength end to end because of the bowed sides. We shape the top and back of an acoustical guitar for the same reason. Without the slight bow (radius) the guitar would implode over time from the tension of the strings.

But, just radiusing the top and back pieces alone will not resolve all of the strengthening requirements. We have to radius the sides as well. That means that the ends of the guitar will be slightly narrower than the middle of the sides. Just like looking at an egg but not nearly as exaggerated.

The diagram above should explain what the last two paragraphs failed to do. ‘Use your words Bill.’

Milestone 1

2009-04-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the most beautiful sights for luthiers. Unbroken bent side pieces sitting in the frame ready for major body building work.

Next comes neck and heel blocks, some side bracing and kerfing. A little quality time on the radius bowls to acheive that egg shape for strength and then we'll glue up tops and bottom. It's seems so simple doesn't it?

As I previousily discussed S16 is going to be a resonator guitar in the image of the old Nationals or the more modern Paul Beard Guitars. One huge difference is that S16 will have a cutout on the treble side just like Archie has. Sibling rivalry has already begun.

Hold On Now

2009-04-10T07:06:00.001-07:00

In the midst of making my signature, yet unmade S16, something magical happened. OK, not exactly magical, but certainly the unexpected happened. That ‘predictably unexpected thing’. In the course of cutting a bunch of terrific birds-eye maple side pieces, I also made some practice pieces from Home Depot common kiln-dried maple. When testing the new side bender I ended up with two perfect common maple sides. NOW WHAT? I can't throw away two perfect guitar sides. It's not like 'catch and release' fishing, right?

I have decided to take a little detour from the original vision for S16 and make it a resonator guitar. What is a resonator guitar?

Why would anyone want to make such an ugly piece of hubcap? Because, just like Archie, this guitar will have a very different sound. And, as Keith Richards says, ‘Every guitar has a song in it’. Let’s spend a few minutes on why a resonator guitar, in all of its ugliness, is worth building.

Amplifying Sound 101.

I am not an expert on this subject but most likely readers here are not either so I’ll give a quick overview of gitter sounds. Somewhere back in the blog on Archie I stated that there were three basic types of guitars; electric solid bodies, archtops and Spanish flat tops. There are also variations on these basic types and the resonator is such a mutation. Take a perfectly good Spanish flat top and cut a 10 inch hole in the middle of the top. Nicely done! Now place a 10” ‘ring’ inside the hole, place an aluminum cone in the ring and have the strings run over the cone touching it in the center. Looks like a speaker doesn’t it? Bingo, the resonator guitar that works much like a banjo.

Pluck the string and the vibration is transmitted through the bridge and amplified by the cone just like the speaker in your computer. Yea, the thing that you have your hands on right now. Not that, the other thing with the keyboard.

Let's Get Going Here

2009-04-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

So, here is my idea of a side bending machine. And, it works. First attempt and I have both sides done without cracks or swearing.

The 'machine' is a wood form where a high temperature heating blanket (orange) runs along the top where wet side wood is placed. There are little 'vises' at the two points where the sides need sharper bends.

Slowly tightening down on those large screws makes a nice bend that did not break.

In the second picture you can see the treble side drying in my new dry rack.

Now let’s get back to making guitars.

Now What?

2009-03-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yep, yet again I had a side-piece split out while trying to hot iron bend. I have no idea why this is happening except that I have to try something different.

That’s problem number two however. Problem number uno is that I have no extra side-pieces that match the cedar back plate. I have two alternatives two really only one direction. Make new side-pieces from some maple in the shop and keep the cedar back or make new side-pieces and a new back from the maple. Not sure what I will do.

The second problem is to find another approach or technique for bending sides. My current method is the old Luthier tradition of soaking the side-pieces in water and then very slowly bend them over a very hot pipe. A different approach is to make a form where I will place a silicon heating blanket operating at about 300 degrees and place the side-pieces on top of the blanket and slowly force down a form down making a press. I have a template for such a tool and I think that is the only permanent solution. Blankets cost about $150 but I cannot keep breaking side-pieces if I am going to continue making acoustic guitars.

Not sure when I can make this bending machine tool as I am out most of this week. Looks like next week. Pretty disappointing.