| Time to rout the rebate for the body binding. I used a router with a smaller bearing to make the cut. |
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| The the plastic binding is glued into the rebate with thin super glue - a quick and easy way to do this. The whole task took less than ten minutes, and the binding was easily bent to follow the bodies curves. |
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| The excess binding is scraped level with a cabinet scraper. Watch the edge of the binding - after scraping it is very sharp! I softened it with 240 grit sandpaper to save getting blood on the maple top ;) |
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| The guitar was given a thorough sanding from 80 grit through to 320. |
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| The the top was stained with a yellow alcohol based stain. |
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| The whole guitar was given a coat of cellulose sanding sealer to
keep dirt out of the pores and seal the stain into the top.
Looking very good! |
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| Next task is to fit the inlays and fret markers. I used a router with a 3mm straight cutter to remove most of the waste by eye. |
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| Then using chisels and gouges I chopped back to the lines. |
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| Superglue was used to fix the inlays in place, with a little clamping pressure to hold it until it cured. |
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| The excess inlay was removed with a file then sanded flush. Any gaps were filled with superglue and sanded flush again. |
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| The "frets" were marked out earlier using a knife. I now deepened these with a saw. A block to act as a saw guide makes life simple. |
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| The "frets" are strips of maple veneer. I cut them out from an off-cut of veneer and made sure the grain was parallel with the edge - any run-out would make it liable to split out. |
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| Once again superglue was used to bond them in place - it wicked into the gap and fixed them securely. |
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| With all the frets installed and then sanded flush it was time to glue the fingerboard into place. I sanded off the sealer under where the fingerboard would go to ensure good glue adhesion. |
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| Then clamps and a caul to hold it in place while the PVA sets. |
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| With the fingerboard in place and sanded flush with the neck it truly looks like a guitar! |
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| I marked out the location of the tuners and drilled them out -
1/4 inch for the shafts, 9mm for the bushes on the upper face.
Next the bridge..... |
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| I designed the bridge in Sketchup and printed out a full size plan - I stuck a copy of this to the wooden blank and used it as a guide to drill the holes, rout the groove and shape the wings. |
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| Careful measurement is needed to position the bridge in the perfect spot. When happy I drilled through two of the holes and left the drill bits in place as guides. |
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| Then I removed the finish from beneath the bridge (so the glue will stick!) and glued it in position with PVA and a few clamps. |
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| Bingo! Now its time to mask off the fingerboard and bridge and do some final sanding. |
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| As it was a pleasant day I spayed the guitar outside of the workshop. Two good coats of sealer, sanded back when dry, and eight thin coats of lacquer were applied. |
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| And when it was dry I brought it into the workshop with a very
big grin on my face! I left it a few hours to cure before flatting down the lacquer with 1000 grit wet and dry paper. I'll give it a couple of days before buffing the finish out with compound. |
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| Meanwhile I want to think about where the controls are going to go. I also need to skim down the pick-up surrounds - they are designed for an arch-top guitar so they don't sit flat on my guitar. |
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| With the finish cured and polished out with t-cut I installed the tuners. Make sure you pre-drill for the screws or there will be tears! |
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| There are separate bushes to press in from the front - they look very smart. |
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| Next up I made a brass saddle for the bridge - this one has the slots rough cut so I can get the guitar up and running. I'll replace this with a fine-tuned version when I'm happy with it. |
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| Same with the nut, made from 3mm thick brass. Brass is easy to work with a hacksaw, files and sandpaper. A spot of superglue holds it in place. |
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| I made up six bushed to take the ball end of the strings on my metal lathe. These were turned from 8mm brass. |
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| Withe the holes from the bridge brought through the body to the rear, I enlarged them to 8mm and fitted the bushes. |
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| Next I reamed out the holes for the controls. |
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| With the volume, tone and pick-up selector switch fin place I fitted the gold coloured knobs to complete the top. |
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| I drilled a 6mm hole for the output jack and reamed it out to 20mm. The reamer doesn't tear the fibres, so makes for a stress-free job. |
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| A little work with the soldering iron... |
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| And she's ready for a test play!! I'm very pleased with the way it sounds - now to make a cover for the control cavity and make some final tweaks to the nut and bridge. |
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