Chestnut electric guitar, first build! (need help ._.)

[Art Davila]

If you need to buy the template router bits here are a bunch on Amazon's web site.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_0?r ... 2941120011

I know your from Chile, so, if it is not easy to get locally,
buy it from out side the country and get it shipped.
I have bought stuff from Germany, England, and China with no regrets.
I am sure, the shipping cost will be higher but some times you just gotta bite the bullet.

[Art Davila]

to be honest, the original plan was to do the pickup cavities as well as the neck pocket with the BLANK, but I miss the correct router bit to do so :/, I don't have that bit for templates, and so far I can't seem to find it on here, I will keep searching for it, until then I can't even work on some parts >_<, was to continue or just leave the project stagnant..

When I did my first guitar body I did the neck pocket with a forsner bit set to remove most of the pocket, (leaving the pocket a 16th or an 1/8th small) and then used flat files to get the pocket to final fit.
it is hard work, but as it is slow work, it is safer to go slow and fit the pocket to the neck.

After this I invested in a smaller router (my 3.5 hp router seem to be to big for the job at least to me)
I don't get Zen from hard work.
I am way too Lazy for hand tools.

[Leonardo Silva]

UPDATE!

my build is going sloooooow, main reason i didn't post updates because I used my dad cellphone to take pictures and well, He was gone for January and half february.

so, I'm alive, taking in account the LOOOONG time the shipment takes for the parts I need to complete the project (Ebay, Chinese stores, etc), so in early April my build will be complete, for now I'm starting the neck and finished the body already.

a jig for the outline of the electronic cavity cover, it's not the prettiest one but it work so I ain't complaining


I visited like 8 different places to get someone who can cut my wood so I can make the 5 piece lamination for my project, in the end I had to visit another city(twice), found a wood barrack quite hidden.


you WOULDN'T believe how strong those Cumaru stringers are, I got an extra piece of that wood cut so i can test on it, work in it and damn it's resistant, I clamped it and tried to break it, with my hand, hitting it with a block of pine, even a hammer, but nothing, and I was surprised it's only 7mm thick, this neck will be rock solid, those 2 stringers might be enough to hold up the entire guitar!, all the pieces are quartersawn or the closest possible to it, the Cumaru has a bit of a deep solid dark sound, the Walnut(Nogal) have a more sweet with higher harmonics on a tap tone test.

I'm currently still working on the joints, planning and sanding to get the closer to perfection my patience is capable of, I hate doing joints for some reason, the Nogal is quite easy to work with any tool, but the Cumaru can't take any edged blade, it tends to chip a bit or it just doesn't cut, using rasps is a good alternative, maybe other hard woods have similar properties.



Cumaru fretboard, it's still a bit raw and trying to get the saw marks off is hard, I'm pretty sure I'm able to get it to perfection and with the radius and extra trimming will be ok I guess.

Now I'm testing on how to make my fretboard look prettier, an option is to tint it with a water based Walnut stain, it's like dark chocolate, here are the tests.



need opinion on this one, if I sink the fretboard on a solution of the tint for a whole day I might be able to get it even darker color.

I was thinking, shape the fretboard to its final dimensiones, stain it, glue it in and use my fretsaw; without stain I would glue it up first and then do the rest of the process.

Pictures of the final body shape (I know I should have made first the neck and then the body, but with the tools I had, I had to make it this way) it's currently on 320 grit sandpaper, I will go to 400 after I do the pickups cavities and all the holes.



(pretty carving for just gouges and sandpaper I guess)


The back recess is a bit extreme, next time it won't be that deep, but hey, it's incredible comfortable, I might use this kind of recess on most of my guitars.


I had problems with the end-grain on this part, but meh, I'll leave it like this, next time it will be perfect.




this are the 3 imperfections, I guess I will try to sand them off, but I pray with the sealing and the finish they won't look, any advices on how to fix those? I never had a good answer with the glue+wood powder technique, only works on really dark wood, on lighter woods like this one it looks like an ugly dark spot.






that's it!, I will keep posting progress as I can, thanks for anyone reading, so far I need the opinion with the fretboard, I should just buy a piece of rosewood instead?

[Barry Daniels]

Those defects look like dents. They should steam out fairly easy. Lay a damp rag over the spot and touch it with the tip of a hot iron. Works magic.

[Leonardo Silva]

whoa, I mean, whoa, hours of trying to sand off those things and 5 minutes with a damp rag and a clothes iron did a wonderful job, thanks a lot for the tip!

the second imperfection kinda still there, but is far less noticeable than before, I will have to start sanding once again (I kinda went overboard with the steam and tried to steam everything), but hey, it's better than having those nasty dents.

[David King]

Leonardo,

I'm really impressed with the carving and shaping you've done so far. You really have a vision and and no fear in chasing after it. I find that inspiring.

And yes cumaru is tough stuff, I have used it for upright bass fingerboards and they will be around for centuries after the rest of the instrument has decayed and blown away I'm afraid.

[Alexander Higgins]

Leonardo,
Technical skill can be acquired over time, but artistry is innate, and you obviously have the eye of an artist and sculptor. I'm a beginner instrument builder in awe of your carving skills. Can't wait to see how it comes out!

[Leonardo Silva]

long time no see, lot of progress, couldn't post much because my internet was terrible (and still is).

First of, I got my organic pickups Redemption X2, passive and very high quality, they are made here in Chile, you can check their page in herehttps://www.facebook.com/OrganicPickups, the youtube account also has some very good videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSwe1n ... DeVVhxEaqA, they guy speaks English and ship internationally, you can check them, they are quite good for the price.


Pickup cavities, it needs a bit of refinement on the edges and the neck cavity is a bit twisted, that happens to me because I carved before doing the pickup routes, still, can be fixed


8° degree angle, after a bit I changed for a bigger saw


In the end wasn't near close to perfect, lost a lot of wood


Trying to fix the joint by hand, in the end was worthless, I lost again even more wood, changed the angle and wasn't even close to ok, decided to change my tactics


Decided to make a scarf joint angle jig, was amazing how good I got it, almost perfect, the scarf joint in the end ain't the best, but it works so I'm happy



this is a technique I got from a video, clamp the neck piece and then position and clamp the headstock piece, after that clamp scrap wood to the end of the headstock piece so you won't have any slip while gluing, work like a charm, still I need better clamps to get a good grip on all of this.


something really important, my neck blank was 1 1/2'' thick and was concerned with total lenght of the blank being too short, so what I did was to "slip" neck a bit, to get a longer blank, reduced thickness, had to reshape the blank surface that has contact with the fingerboard, but still, a great way to fix it, if any noob is reading this, make your blanks extra large in every directino to avoid f* ups like this.

10'' fingerboard radius with 25'' scale, stewart-MacDonald fret position chart (used nut to fret and confirmation with fret to fret)



6mm abalone dots position



gluing ears for headstock, realized later should had done that after the truss rod channel.


decided to take a piece of this rather pretty spalted/flamed chestnut to make a headstock layer, with better machinery I would had made a thinner piece.



headstock jig!

gluing it in, I realized is very important to hold on those little tiny sides with some sort of clamp, otherwise that part get lifted and would had a really ugly glue line. (the black with orange tips)


staining the fretboard! (and making a huge mess because the stain leaked this plastic structure, leave it overnight)


the overnight water based stain penetrated a lot and raised the pores quite a bit, after that sanded down to 400 grit and was hell ugly, just the most inner pores got stain, after that I applied a really quick stain with my finger and just got awesome, without this I probably wouldn't get such a good result.

also, routing the nut thing, this layout is pretty weird, specially since the fretboard is really thick, so the truss rod is a bit deeper, along with the thick headstock chestnut layer, still, it works so I ain't complaining, just the construction is harder.


(just look how cute that fretboard looks)

I just love this Cumaru stained fretboard, I will use it quite a lot.

putting on the truss rod, I got a double action low profile truss rod from England, a store on ebay called Black Dog, look quite good, can't complain, DING THE TRUSS ROD CHANNEL BY HAND BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE THE CORRECT BIT, IT'S A PAIN IN THE ASS, god I was tired on the end, a 1/4'' bit will be a priority after this






later on I will search for the videos used on the jig and the scarf joint gluing technique, a lot of thanks to anyone reading through all of this!

[Chris Richards]

I have to say that this is an excellent standard of work for a first guitar, outstanding and well done! I do like a lot of the techniques you use when you haven't got access to the most suitable tools to do a particular job, although this may be frustrating at the time I think that it teaches you more about woodworking and makes you more resourceful, I'm sure that in later builds this will help you a lot when you have more unusual jobs to do...

Looking at the body close up photographs, the wood has a very open grain, a bit like swamp ash, it will save you a lot of time (and lacquer) if you use a grain filler before applying any finish..

Anyhow well done..

[Leonardo Silva]

I'm planning on using sanding sealer to level up the pores, after that nitro lacquer, I don't quite have "grain filler", and it looks like they don't sell much that kinda thing over here (except the capital of course).

so far, I've read a bit and sealers are just more sanding-friendly and build up faster compared to the lacquer in itself, this sealer is based on nitrocelulose resin, with pyroxyline solvent/thinner, so I guess it will work just as fine.

[James Tonguet]

very nice work , attention to detail .. should be killer !

[Leonardo Silva]

wow, long time I don't post anything xd, srry, I did a small topic about how I screwed the neck joint

---> http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3066

so let's start!, I have some minor problems but for now the build is going smoothly, I have some really tricky stuff to do like the side dots that I'll explain later, but here we go.

I decided to clamp and nail down the headstock template, I used the place where the tuner hole would be, so I'll have a very good guide for use when I have to drill it later


Very fixed


Flush routed, I can't believe how useful is doing this xd, saved me a lot of time and with really good results (safety first, you can see my mask and protective glasses)


after this I realized I should mask the template border so I won't wear down the MDF, next time for sure.



template retired, Chestnut layer look pretty and with the perfect holes to drill afterward


drilling tuner holes, it was really tricky to drill them all because of the volute behind this and small surface area to clamp.


--------here are the same pics of the f* up neck joint-------



(that's the f* up)

shim of chestnut, kinda good I guess.

---------------------------------

ORMSBY TEST!!!!




I knew about the Ormsby test in one of this forum, I think it was the telecaster one, after that I knew about Ormsby guitars and their amazing skills and was eager to know if i could pass the Ormsby test, the Ormsby test consist in some procedures to test the quality of your build, this one is related to the neck joint, put the neck without glue or screws and try to pick up the guitar from the neck without the body falling, in this case it worked , is not as perfect and need to be very careful to pass the Ormsby test but it's a better construction than a lot of big brand instruments (I guess)

look at that volute :3, I love it, maybe it's a bit too big, going to see how it goes in the end.



for now I don't have any more pics, but I'm struggling in getting side dots on this, I tried a little metal bar but my dremel with those disc for cutting iron kinda didn't work on the test scrap so for now I'm a bit stuck on that part, the bridge height is 15mm without frets, so It will be kinda 16.2 with frets, the recommended is 17mm for a tune-o-matic I guess.


I also have the truss cover done (is matching with the fingerboard) and the fret slots done too, as well as the 6mm abalone inlays (I owe you guys a good picture of those, they are beautiful), I hope this project will be done in 2 weeks more, very little work left overall :p

[Perry Underwood]

I really like the body design. Great work!

[Barry Daniels]

Why did you drill out the truss rod slot like that when you have a router?

[Leonardo Silva]

^because I don't have a bit for that, the only ones I have that can get close to doing that leave a square bottom, and I need a rounded one.

as you saw, I had to do the truss rod manual because I don't even have a 1/4'' plain router bit, I have some of those bits for routing and shaping edges, but the new 1/2'' is the only one I use mostly xd, I really need to get a router bit set.

[Leonardo Silva]

^aah sorry, I thought you mean the truss rod entrance, but yes, for the truss rod channel I need a 1/4 and I only have 1/2'' bit, no 1/4'' bit in sight so far :/

[Leonardo Silva]

lot of progress!, I just have a feeeew problems left to solve :S

I hammered in a brass bar, masked (useful) and sawed it off, was with superglue, they also call it CA glue over here I think, we call it "gotita" (in english is like "dropy" but anyway), and then filed down flush with the fretboard, the brass/bronze is quite soft so with normal sanding paper I got a really good result, it just look lovely with the dark neck and gold like side dots & frets (frets still not hammered in)




this part is a bit wonky as I don't have an spade bit good enough to have a clean look, I had to reshape with some chisels, IT WORKS, so I ain't complaining that much (I've used that phrase in this build way too much)


the holes got slightly to the bass side, meh


start shaping the neck!


the brass/bronze dots xd, the seller even told me why I wanted those dots for, I think he was surprised as no one buy of those xd.


this is the first volute shaping, is a bit, weird, in the end is getting better and quite unique

I realized the volute actually goes "the other way", not sure how to explain it, just compare it with another normal volute, so now see the drawing over the volute now, understand?, ok, no need to, you can see further progress on how it looks afterwards xd.



(ninja dog )

looking great!,

hammering the frets in, just used a little standard hammer, I think it said 5oz (whatever an ounce us, I don't care if its written right, stupid american measurements xd), I knew I could hammer frets perfectly without the need of a super diamond encrusted stew-mac hammer limited edition, but hey, a fret look weird on there, can you see it?


(btw, I glued the frets in with the same CA glue, just in case the fret saw didn't do it's job correctly, anyway, I had to scrap all the glue that was left, but still, the frets are rock solid now)

EXACTLY, THEY SOLD ME EXACTLY 1.20meters of jumbo fretwire and the thing is not enough for 24 frets!!!, I was so pissed of!, the seller just backed up saying it was my responsability to tell him I needed for a 24 frets instrument so he would give me some extra (look at the extra frets over the fretboard, is almost NOTHING) AAAAAAAAAGH


anyway, it got fixed by asking the local luthier for an extra piece of fret, it was just the one I needed and from the same seller, really happy I got this lucky to solve a problem.

the current problem is that my press drill is not big enough to drill holes in the body, is for drilling small pieces of wood, so it just doesn't reach the place for the bridge :/, I will try to find someone with a press drill bigger as I really don't want to hand drill the bridge posts (tune-o-matic).

SO, that's it!, until I fix this other problem, I will have to go and start on my next project as I need not to waste time, thanks for anyone reading my laarge and unnecessary explanations xd.

[Leonardo Silva]

stupid me xd, I forgot to put some pics.

this is how the volute looked in the end,need some fine sanding but the shape is mostly done, I actually like it a lot this way, its like, I don't know, like a little S shaped, never seen an instrument with that kinda volute



chestnut cavity cover, it still need a bit more of sanding to be flush with the body (not perfect)


AND THIS is the picture I owed you guys, look at that beautifull abalone, brozne dots and dark neck :3, I just love it!




it still need some fine tuning btw, but onward to ending this project once and for all!

[Leonardo Silva]

missed me?

If someone remembers me, I used to post a lot but decided to move on to posting on facebook more than here, posting my work on there win me a lot of clients but I must confess I missed you guys :c, now I decided to get back to share progress, I forgot how helpful was this forum for all of us.

OK, status update, this proyect has been terminated (terminated like I killed it and won't see the light), ok, it's sad actually, let me make a resume on why it has been terminated.

1.- bad hardware holes:
I was so stressed than ended hammering the hardware in, which was a really stupid desicion, now I can't get out one of the tune-o-matic posts (Gotoh) I will need to but an extra pair of posts in order for make for it ^^u (used a technique that put an screw on the hole and later on screw the post, killed the post as it was SO thight)

2.- BAD neck angle:
yup, I used to make measurements way "too perfect" (related to first problem) I measured the "lowest" action point to fret high, so in a way, I had the less angle "possible", I just realized you can rise the brige all you want, but you can't screw it down lower, so string height was way off too high.

3.- Neck pocket too thin:
ok, chestnut is strong, but after screwing on, screw heads were umconfortable over the heel and the neck just didn't hold well (it had movement) and neck pocket looked even thinner when I applied the neck angle to the pocket, the everything wasn't strong enough.

4.-REALLY bad fretting:
I decided to glue the fret in, a long time after this when the project was scrapped, I decided to learn how to rectify the frets (you know, make them flat) and I realized how screwed this fretboard was, from now on I hammer them without glue and after it I glue the sides (Idea from Carvin factory)

5.- bad truss rod channel:
I did it by hand with chisel and a drill, some drill holes passed over to the other side because of bad work and...

6.- Fretboard too fat:
and neck was too thin for that matter, so the truss rod was deeper and wel, the past mistake was more noticeable.

7.- a little fret was misplaced:
maybe this one didn't matter THAT much, but it still bothered me:

8.- BAD LACQUERING:
holy hell, the sealant (that's how called, right?) sucked, it was new but cheap and brown in color my uncle today told me that probably because it had too much heat and was stored for years in bad condition, I also got eager to finish it (with all the stress of past mistakes) and just did a bad laquer job, I also used a too thick mix of solvent/laquer and was hard to spray, today, I noticed the finish is quite hard, it just needed more time to cure.

9.- NOT TESTING BEFORE LAQUERING:
been eager kill proyects, I just went blind thinking to myself it will work, I laquered and then putted strings, with a recent proyect it helped a lot putting strings before the finish.

10.- BAD TUNER PLACEMENT:
it looked great, but with the tuners put it was really ugly X_x, so yeah.
11.- Chipped laquer
remember I said I didn't tested the hardware before laquering, YEAH, I CHIPPED THE LAQUER when putting the tuners and stuff, more pain for all of it, also chipped the fretboard laquer (pictures)

SO, this guitars was going to be sold for like 600$, so yeah right xd, fat chance, and didn't wanted to ruin my name with that on the market, so yeah, learned a LOT but my perfectionist side made me trash it (6 months of work?).

anyway I have the body that's still useful, I might do a deep set-in/through 7 string or something, but for now I'm moving over other projects in order to get some money X_x


here they are extra photos, they are beautful but the instrument didn't worked as I intended, I will remake this guitar, I'll promise it.




one bridge post was misplaced, I used a wrong bit and, well, I was stupid, tried to fix it


Instead I decided to use this little thing right here


now I use this kinda method for almost every hole, never again.


now there is NO way it can't fit properly.


see how misplaced it was, that's a lot actually...


it was going to be pretty, sad stuff :/


another stuff I was going to laquer the fretboard as it had an stained one, it wouldn't last as long with the soft laquer (also, there was no need to mask the tuner holes xd, now I know)


first hands of sealant



chestnut is lovely, get some if you can, not the wormy american pls





(even with the sealant, I still had pores, I guess I need a pore filler in order to make it a flat surface)


masked the frets, bad idea, I guess it was better if I just laquered the frets and then removed the laquer, when retiring the masking tape, some laquered chiped of from the fretboard, a horror...



This was the last photo I took :/, after that I sprayed laquer but didn't changed much in its appearance.


that's it I guess, sorry for not posting much, i got a bit of depression after getting this result xd, but I promise I won't surrender, my next guitar is almost done and you MUST see it!, it's looking amazing, check it in here, I will be posting progress of it.

http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3142

[James Tonguet]

Good work , and many lessons learned . Each instrument will teach you more about the craft , keep it up you have beautiful artistry