| I
started by making full size template for the major components. The
plans included an additional sheet for this very purpose. I glued
them to 12m MDF with white glue. Once dry I roughed them out on the
bandsaw and carefully sanded them back to the lines with my disc and
bobbin sanders. |
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| Here's the template for the
body - it has all the important points ready to transfer to the real
thing. |
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| I was hoping to make the body
from one piece - the plank I had was just about wide enough. But on
close examination there was a crack running up the board so I ripped
it into two and re-arranged the pieces to avoid a wormhole. |
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| After edge jointing the pieces
with a plane I glued them back together with PU glue. |
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| After a little cleanup and
planing to final thickness I marked out the outline of the body from
the template. |
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| The excess is removed on the
band saw. (I've made relief cuts as I'm using a wide blade and was
too lazy to put a thin one on!) |
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| I then attached the body
template with a couple of screws. The screws were positioned in
places that will be removed later on. |
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| Over at the router table I am
using a half inch straight cutter with a top bearing riding on the
template to trim the body to final shape. |
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| With careful use (and a little
back feeding) I'm left with a perfect outline. You want to remove a
tiny amount of material at a time to get a clean, tear-out free cut.
Be careful the router doesn't grab on "up-hill" sections - make sure
your hands are safely away from the action and use a start pin to
give you two points of contact when machining. |
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| I laminated three pieces of
mahogany to make the nect blank. Again, PU glue was used - I love
this glue for its fast setting time and invisible glue-lines. Its is
also creep-free, something that PVA certainly is not! |
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| I transferred the control
positions to the top on the body and then drilled them through the
body on the drill press. |
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| At the rear I marked out the
control cavity and removed the majority of the waste with a forstner
bit on the drill press. |
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| With the neck blank cured I
plane the top surface flat and then squared the blank up in the
thicknesser. The neck profile was drawn on and the next job is to
rout the truss rod channel while the blank is square. I'm using a
dual action truss rod - there are a few advantages to this, the main
being I only need to make flat recess for it. Traditional truss rods
need a curved recess - this will save me more time. |
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