Drilling The Wiring Channels

I've completed drilling the holes for the wiring channels and the input jack. At this point of the build process I'd have to say that the guitar for my part, is completed. The drilling of the wiring channels is fairly straight forward but caution must be taken or you will have a guitar with drilled holes where you do not want them.

First hole I drilled was for the grounding wire that sits beneath the bridge. Don't think you are not going to ground the guitar and get away with it and you will know it's not grounded by the hum the guitar generates. Touch the bridge the hum goes away, that is because it is now grounded. For the ground wire, you can use the type of wiring used in jewelry making and I mention this because it is readily available at any craft store such as Jo Anne's or Michael's. My wife makes jewelry that's how I know this.

Here's a picture of the first hole drilled. Note that I used the hole pre-drilled by Carvin.

I don't like drilling larger then necessary holes for anything and guitar wiring is no exception. Some people recommend a 1/2 drill bit to that I say, I don't think so! I widen the hole enough to allow more then enough room for the grounding wire. Note that I went into the pickup cavity and not the control cavity. That is just my preference and it is just one less drill hole I have to worry about screwing up.

In the next picture I drill the wiring hole from the bridge pickup or rear pickup cavity into the control cavity. Take you time and line it up correctly. Place your free hand inside the control cavity and use that as your imaginary guideline. The second image is the placement of the wiring hole inside the control cavity.

For the front pickup or neck cavity I use a 24 inch 1/4 inch drill bit that allows me to get the right angle. Do not allow the drill bit to turn resting on the the fret board! Use a thin piece of plastic to allow the drill bit to rest upon. Here's the trick I use to line up the path. Using a pencil, I mark the direction I want the bit to travel and using this mark I align the bit. Stepping to the side and again using my hand as a point of reference inside the control cavity I mark the placement for the drill bit inside the pickup cavity.

The last hole to drill is the input jack. For this I have built a cradle using plywood and 1 inch dowels. the guitar has the front horn placed beneath the from dowel and the back of the guitar

rest on the two dowels in the rear.

For the placement of the jack input, I measure across the width of the guitar and place a pencil mark to indicate where the center is. Using a small drill bit, I drill a pilot hole for the next larger bit and so on. Not knowing if the buyers preference is a jack plate (7/8) or a self mounting input jack, I leave it a size that can be enlarged without to much difficulty. Note that the guitar's backside is flush against the one inside of the box. This is to ensure that the guitar is straight up and down when drilling. To drill out the hole larger, lay the guitar on its side and using a hand drill and a larger bit, drill away.

This concludes this project. Nothing to do but package it up and ship it out. Next project....not sure yet but Australia has from very nice wood that I am considering.

Routing Out the Pickup Cavities

Just finished routing out the pickup cavities for the 12 string project. It went very well and I very pleased with the end result. Allow me to elaborate on how I got the results I wanted.

First, setup my drill press with a router bit with a 1/4 inch cutting face. I then setup my pickup template for the neck pickup cavity. See picture for more detail.

With the router bit positioned in the middle of the template, and just about to touch the wood, I turn on the drill press and lower the drill about 1/8 or half of the cutting face. Note that the bit has a roller bearing located at the top. The bearing rides the inside of the template. Since the template is not thick enough for the bearing to hit the inside wall, I stack another template on top of it. I take any number of passes inside the template until the bearing begins to ride the wall of the cavity itself. I remove the templates and continue routing out the cavity 1/8 of an inch at a time until I have cut enough for the pickup bezel ring to lie flat with the top of he pickups flush with the ring.

Notice that I have routed out extra depth on the ends for the height adjustment screw on the pickups. This routing is to accommodate dual coil humbucker pickups. For this demonstration. I am using a set of Carvin M22 SD's.

The second pickup is positioned 1.75 inches from the inside of the first bezel to the inside of the second pickup bezel.

Carvin places a drilled hole to indicate the center of the neck and where the saddles of the bridge should align for intonation. If you measure the distance from the center of the 12 fret to the center of the drill hole, you should come up with exactly the same distance from the center of the nut to the center of the 12 fret. I don't trust anyone to do this math for me so I always check it and check it again for accuracy.

After I've lined up the template for the second pickup cavity, I like to put the bridge in place to check for clearance and placement. The pickup template is secured to the body using double stick tape. Be sure the template will not shift and do not push against it with the router bit. Let the bit do the work. If the drill press vibrates to much or begins to stall, back of the height and cut less wood. Let the bit do the work and do not get in a hurry.

If all goes well, you should have a guitar with the pickup cavities routed out and ready for drilling. Here is how the guitar looks with black Carvin M22 SD, and again with a set of Lace pickups with gold bezel rings. Next up is the last phase for me, which is drilling the passages for the wiring and the

input jack.

Rough Finishing the Guitar

It is now Oct the 10th and I have removed the guitar from the gluing rack and done some rough finishing of the guitar. Using a palm sander with 120 grit I worked on getting the seams and the contours to butt up as close as I can before the final finish. Once I have the high parts almost where I want them, I switch to a 220 grit and then to a 320 grit but that I do by hand. Just before the finish is applied I would plane the wood with a micro scraper and polish with #0000 steel wool. After that I would use a very fine jeweler's rouge and a buffing wheel to get the figure to pop. The 220 grit is where I'll stop but if I were to apply any finish, it would be about 10 coats of Tung Oil with a light buffing between each coat using #0000 steel wool. Buff just enough to take down any high spots or bubbles. Tung Oil applied in the manner gives the wood a deep luster and is easy to repair.

Figured wood is normally not finished with sand paper due to the fact the wood lacks consistancy and goes in and out depending on the figuring and that is why a micro planer is used. Since hard rock maple is so solid, you can actually buff it using a 10 or 12 in buffing wheel and be amazed at the luster it brings out in the wood. Using a lint free rag or cheese cloth, pour a small amount of tung oil on the rag and wipe in the direction of the wood grain. Use very thin coats and allow to dry over night before buffing and appling the next coat. I use Tung Oil on the neck and the head stock as well but not on the fret board. You can wipe mineral oil on the fret board to keep it happy.

The guitar looks great and I am liking the layout. I should begin routing out the pickup cavities and be able to complete the drilling early next week. Stay tuned.

More pictures:

Gluing it all together Phase II

It is Wednesday October the 7th and I have just the bodies to the neck. Here is how I did it. First get a couple of damp rags and have them ready. Take one of the damp rags and gently wipe the bodies clean of any dust or other material. Take the same rag and wipe down your work area. Give your work area plenty of free space. Have your clamps at the ready. Lay out the guitar sides along with the neck. You want the bodies flush with the top of the guitar so position the bodies with the neck upside down as see in this picture.

Remove the neck and take the Tightbond glue or what ever wood glue you use and spread onto the edges of the neck that will have the bodies attached. Spread it thick and use your fingers to spread it thickly over the entire area. Do this on both sides of the neck.

Place the neck back between the two body parts and bring the sided in contact with the glue. Slightly move each body half back and forth along the sides of the neck. In the above image I'm using glue press in the shape of the guitar that is being built. Note the neck is laying flat on the table with the fret board end butted up against the edge of the table. It is paramount the the top of the guitar bodies be flush as possible with the top of the neck when you are done.

You should have at least three clamps but four would be preferred. I had my wife hold the neck in place while I ensured that the butt and the top of the gguitar lined up as close I could get them. Use a rubber mallet to tap the guitar bodies into the right placement but hurry, you do not have a lot of time before the glue begins to set.

Next continue on with the tightening of the clamps. Again use your rubber mallet if the parts should shift. Keep tightenting until the clamps are all set and the glue is oozing out of the top the back, the front, and the bottom. check for gaps. Add glue to the gaps using your finger and keep tightening the clamps. Take your one good rag and remove the excess glue. Wipe it all away.

Check the clamp placement, move and relocate as necessary. Keep wiping and moving clamps until you have the best possible glue job your can. This is a one time deal so make it count.

For the next few hours I'll be going back and forth checking on the drying process ensuring that all is as I left it. This is turning out to be one my the best guitar builds I have done so far and once I get through the routing, I'll be home free.

Here is my end result for phase II:



The next phase is sanding the body and routing out the pickup cavities. Be back soon!

New 12 String Solid Body Guitar Build

I recently sold a very nice two piece guitar body on Ebay and the buyer asked if I could glue the wings to a neck and route out the pickup cavities. The buyer purchased a very nice 12 string through the body neck from Carvin and it did arrive this week while I was away working in Kansas. I do like Carvin necks and I've never really had any issues with them in the past. Carvin use to leave a lot more wood on the lower portion especially on the sides and the lower portion was much thicker. Still a great neck.

As you can see in the photo, there is nothing that can be planed or joined on the sides of the neck any longer and there is not a lot that can be removed from the bottom.

To see how they build these necks check out this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA6IukKYymI

I got the body out from safe keeping and I thought it would be nice to show how I add the wings to the neck and prep the project. I like doing things in stages and this would be getting the getting the neck ready stage. Though the neck comes 85% finished there is a lot of work that has to be done to the neck before any gluing can begin. First I start by removing any excess wood from the neck. Carving leaves an extended heal that needs to be cut back two where the wings line up on the neck. The faint red circle is the part that must be trimmed downed

To remove the excess, I begin by lining up the wings with the neck upside down or the frets on the bottom. I extend the neck out so that the back or the end of the neck butts up to the edge of the work bench allowing the neck to lie flat.

I then place the bottom wing along side its corresponding edge and stop the front edge of the lower wing at the third to the last fret of the neck.

I do the same with the top part of the body stopping the front part of the wood at the forth to the last fret. Ensuring that the bodies are in the right place I draw a pencil line the length of the bodies on the wood that protrudes above the bodies. The bottom of the neck needs to be planed down to that line.

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The next step is to mark the area of the heel that need to be brought down to match the contouring of the horns of the two body sections. Using a pencil, I mark off the area for removal and being by using a hand drill to round off the marked section. Next I break out the chisels and carefully begin to remove as much of the wood as I can.

When I first began building guitar bodies, I used chisels to do the majority of the rough work so I'm comfortable using them but they may not be for everyone. The first rule of using a chisel is ensuring they are sharp and can hold an edge. Keep the flat side of the chisel up so that you do not dig down into the wood.

I take of about 1/2 to 3/4 of the excess wood with a chisel and then use a palm sander with 220 grit to remove and shape the remainder. Be sure to stop and recheck your placement with the two body parts. Once the wood is gone it is not coming back so take your time.

I'll keep working the wood down until I get the look and the contour as close as I can minus the final finish. This part is important as I need to leave some wood for the final sanding of the entire body. After I get to having just the finish phase left, I move on to removing the excess length. Again take your time. Measure twice, cut once.

This next part is very important because I'm getting very close to the next stage which is gluing it all together. You do not want to 'fix' the alignment once the guitar comes together so layout the guitar on a flat surface and check and recheck your alignment of the pieces, how the contours come together and if it needs 'fixing' this is time to do it. Do not think your going 'fix it' once it comes together. I'll take the guitar in and out of the gluing rack until I'm satisfied with how it comes together. I want the joints tight and as seamless as possible. Check and check it again!

Here is the guitar getting ready for the next phase which is gluing it together.

I like to let the guitar stew for day or two before I go on to the next phase.

I'll walk in and out of the shop taking it a part and putting it back together, doing some minor sanding or micro planing with a scraper. This first phase took close to 4.5 hours to complete.

Onto the next phase: Gluing.

Adding the Neck to the Body Parts

In this part of the build process, I lay out the two parts of the guitar body and the neck and get ready to clue them together. Prior to this, I have used a joiner to give me straight edges on the two body parts and the sides of the neck that will be joined. I plane the body section of the neck to the thickness of the two body parts. I get this as close as I can to reduce the amount of sanding that has to be done once the guitar comes together. This step cannot be overstated. The fit of all the parts must extremely tight, otherwise you will have gaps that need filler and it will never look as it should. I mark the butt end of the neck where it needs to be cut and use a miter to remove the the excess.

The lower portion of the guitar body, aligns at the 22nd fret and the top portion aligns at the 19th fret. Opinions may vary. Do your research, examine other guitars and get it right the first time.

Note: The drilled hole in lower portion of the neck body is for positioning of the bridge. The distance from the 12 fret to this hole is exactly (or should be) the same distance as the nut to the 12th fret. The closer you get this, the better your intonation will be. To ensure accuracy, I measure the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge saddles. This is a Carvin neck and if you use a Carvin bridge, the middle screw hole of the bridge when aligned with this hole, will center the bridge but be sure to check for accuracy. Run a string from the center of the nut, down the length of the neck and center the other end of the string over the center of the bridge. Trust but verify.

Note that in the next image I use a frame from a cut out body to give me straight edges to clamp with. This frame was cut from a guitar that I built back in '93 using a CNC router and is very clean.

The glue is Tightbond and it does a great job. The wet spots on the wood show where the excess clue was wiped off. Take your time when cluing the edges together to ensure you have a tight seal all the way around.

I let the guitar setup overnight and after removing the clamps, I get to work routing out the cavities for the pickups and the wiring.

New wood and tools in the shop!

Just got in this nice piece of curly maple. Trying to figure out the best way to cut it in half.

In the backgroung is a new piece of curly redwood. The redwood still needs to dry for some time before I can cut it. More wood on the way!

Another new addition is a 14" bandsaw and no, the adjustment on the blade guide will not go up high enough for me to cut the maple. Should have bought a 16".

The Router and Drill Press Setup

I'm back with some pics to help explain my router and drill press setup. First, when your dealing with a very hard figured wood such as hard rock maple, you need to back off and take it slow when cutting out the guitar body. I buy expensive Whiteside router bits they last about two guitars...maybe.

Here's the info on the bit I use: Whiteside Part #3000
Carbide-tipped, 2 flute; top Ball Bearing; flush trim bit; 1/2" diam.; 1/4" shank; 1/4" cut length. Lists for about $18.00.

I look on Ebay and if I can't find them there, then I'll use Woodworker'Supply. http://woodworker.com/



Here's picture of the router with the bit in place:
I have found this setup to be as safe and easy a method for routing out a guitar body as any I've used in the past. Just remember to take it slow and easy.



I use my drill press for a variety of task to include routing. In this picture the drill press is setup to do some heavy duty sanding. Each path of the router leaves its mark and then have to sanded down. I put the drill press on high and let it do it do the work.

A lot of the work on the shaping of the body is just that..work! I use a variety of tools and methods and I'm always trying to come up with new techniques and ways to save time and labor. Working with hard rock maple or any hard wood is time consuming and you need the patience of Job to ensure you don't screw it up. Again, take it slow and easy.

In my next posting I'll share some of my shaping methods that I have used to shape guitar bodies.



Here's parting shot of some of the guitar bodies floating around in my shop. There's cherry, mahogany, pine and of course my favorite, figured hard rock maple. Mmmm.....hard rock maple!

The Introduction....

I'm cliff and I like to build guitars. (and the support group says, "Hi Cliff!)

I built my first solid body electric guitar back in 1994 and I've been hooked since.I started building guitars because I couldn't find one or buy one that was built to my standards. I never liked Fenders and figured out early on that Gibson's were way overrated.I told myself that I could build a solid body electric guitar as good as anything available on the market and that's how it all begun. I haven't built a lot guitars since '94 but I've built enough.
Every guitar is a learning process and thank god for the Internet because that is where I go to learn.

Recently I built another guitar. This one was make of Mahogany with a Carvin thru the body neck made of the same wood. All the parts were Carvin except the tuners which were Spezels. all the hardware is gold plated. Turned out great but it's not quite what I want so I'm off to build another and hopefully better guitar.

I've been hording a piece of tiger striped hard rock maple that my father-in-law gave me years ago and I finally figured out how to cut out the body using a plunge router. The wood is almost perfect but it does have some bark in it but I think it gives the wood a little character.

Here's a shot of the wood:
Note that the top half is still rough from being cut out with the plunge router. A little trick that I learned the hard way when cutting out hard rock maple. Take it slow and easy. Take off about a 1/8 to 1/4 in at a time and make multiple passes. I use a 1 HP Craftsman router with a template bit that has 1/4 cutting depth with the ball bearing at the top of the cutting surface. I let the bearing just ride on the edge of the body template and take it around real slow. I keep lowering the bit a little at time until the router has maxed out its depth. What remains is about as thick as veneer and that I cut out with an electric jig saw using a fine tooth blade. I then smooth out the edges using my drill press and a 2" sanding drum. Later on I'll explain how I route out the cavities using my drill press as a router.
My camera needs to recharge so I'll post pictures of the router and the bit along with the process of using the drill press as a sander tomorrow. Later.