Post
by AWSchmit » Mon Apr 18, 2016 7:36 am
I'm so bad at updating project threads... In this day and age when I have the ability to add pictures and text while working on my guitar I have no excuse... I will try to get in an update tonight or tomorrow that includes pics, but for now, some text to read (and then be mad that there are no pics)
I'm starting off with an 8 piece (yes 8 peice) pine body that i made out of boredom late last year. Basically I had no easy/cheap access to your typical woods so I just took a bunch of old 2x6 scraps that were destined for the fire place and upcycled them. I cut them down the middle on the table saw and planed all sides. After that I turned them up on their edge and glued them together making two half a body blanks. I did this because this width will fit in my planer. After planeing each half a glued them up being careful to align them the best I could. I got close but as most you who've ever made a multipiece blank will know, perfect if had to find when clamping wood together. So there is still some sanding to do to get everything flush. But me being impatient I skipped finishing the sanding for now and went right to the cutting. I did a rough cut of the outside perimeter and then laid out my routes with templates and a pencil. After that I took a forstner bit and hogged away some of the route area to get rid of some excess material before routing. About the 8piece pine body, I figure the uglier the body wood the moore I won;t mind painting it a solid color. This has always been my motto, however in the past this has applied more to 3-piece poplar bodies than many-piece pines one. But anything that eliminates waste, fills my time, and costs my no money, is great.
After that I was pretty much at a standstill so I took to rummaging through my parts to see if I had an old top loading tele bridge I could cut down at which time I found an old Toronado bridge plate that I forgot I had. As you may know that bridge is designed in the style of the Musicmaster 2's and Duo Sonic 2's bridge from the mid-sixties. Since I wanted to go top loading this was perfect. It already had holes for the strings (these hole are meant for strat style saddles) so I put the bridge in my vice and layed out where I was going to drill new holes for a few tele style saddles. I was going to drill them but I couldn't find my new dill bit index I got for Christmas and my wife didn't know where they ended up either and with out a suitable size bit just kicking around I called it a night.
When I find my drill bits I'll finish up the bridge and show you that, and when I get a spare 2 or 3 hours I'm allowed to kill on non-house and non-baby stuff I will route the body.
I finally finish building a guitar, go to play it, and then remember, "oh yeah, that's right. I suck at playing... Why did I build another guitar again?"
