The first by Jason Rodgers

[Jason Rodgers]

There have been a lot of first builds revealed here on the MIMF, but mine may be the longest in coming. I've been on this forum since July of 2000, and through two shops (three, if you count the failed attempt on the back porch of an apartment) and seven started projects, I present to you my first guitar. It's difficult to name all of the folks who have given me help, advice, and inspiration over the past 14 years, but I'll try (in no particular order): Deb Suran, Mark Swanson, Chuck Tweedy, Randy Roberts, David King, Clay Schaeffer, Bob Gramann, Mario Proulx, Greg Robinson, Douglas Ingram, Stephen Faulk, Jim McConkey, Charlie Schultz, Al Dodson, Markku Nyytaja, Larry Davis, Loren Schulte, Chris Paulick, David Schwab, Alain Bieber, Mark Wybierala, and so many more. I literally check this site two to three times a day, every day. I owe so much to you all!

The body shape was drawn in the spring of 2002, intended as a Charlie Hunter-esque 8-string multiscale. This instrument began this past March 2014, and is a standard-tuned 7-string.

You've seen a number of jigs and tools built along the way, and even watched me build a pickup winder and wind two humbuckers. The only components I didn't build are the tuners, frets, truss rod, saddles, and controls (pots and switches). All of the other nuts and bolts and bits were purchased at my local Ace Hardware.

Specs:
Body- Some sort of "white mahogany" that I bought as a big plank for $5 at an estate sale.
Neck- Home Depot 1x2 maple.
Fretboard, headstock overlay, bridge base, and control cover plate- Osage, some given to me by our own Steve Senseney, and some other pieces from a friend-of-a-friend from Kentucky. Jumbo frets from Stew-Mac. Hot Rod truss. 25.5" to 27" multiscale fretboard.
Pickups- my own. Neck wound to 9.6k, bridge 13.6k.
Controls- 500k audio Bourns for volume and tone, .022uF cap, 3-way toggle switch, 2 mini on/on coil tap switches. Coil taps select neck north coil and bridge south coil.

And now, maaaaaany, many pictures...

[John Sonksen]

Congratulations Jason, it's such a good feeling to get it all strung up and play it for the first time! I'm dying to hear the pickups too!

[Jason Rodgers]

In the spirit of my tendency to start things, and then let them languish, this project actually started as a different guitar. But, I got this far, and was a little nervous about tearing into the quilted maple drop top and red alder body that I actually paid good money for from Gilmer Hardwoods way back in 2002.

So, I took out this big chunk of mystery wood and decided to practice on it, instead. This thing was quite the plank: 45" long, 9-1/2" wide, and 2-1/8" thick. It has these weird pockets - some sort of tubule things that run radially in the wood - that I had to strategically cut around. I missed all but two. One is just beside the neck pickup route (that I hoped to encompass) and the other is through the control cavity (only visible from the back).

[Jason Rodgers]

As soon as I started hogging away material, I loved the look and texture of the chip-carving. It became a feature.

My initial plan was to create a juxtaposition between the rough-hewn, organic lump of the body wood, and cold, shiny metal hardware. I won't lie that Rick Toone's work was in the back of my mind as I worked. I cut an aluminum control plate out of some 1/4" plate a friend gave me years ago. I planned to use this as the bridge base and somewhere on the headstock, as well.

[Jason Rodgers]

[While I'm trying to put this all in an order that makes sense, it didn't actually all go down so coherently!]

The maple for the neck blank was glued up pretty much as it came off the racks at Home Depot. I cut a 13 degree scarf and added "ears" for extra width (can't find those pictures, but you know how it goes). I knew from the get-go that I wanted to use Osage for the fingerboard, as it's the hardest stuff I have, and Alan Carruth (crap, I forgot to thank Alan in my opening message!... thanks, man!) is always saying that it tracks pretty well with BRW for density and such. This is some of the stuff Steve gave me.

I went back and forth on a headstock profile, as it's such an important feature, and being a 7-string, I wanted it to have a 4x3 tuner arrangement and straight-string-pull. One day, I went out in the shop, grabbed the French curves, and busted out this shape in a few minutes. It probably looks exactly like somebody else's headstock and I'll be hearing from the lawyers any minute.

By this time, I had decided against all the aluminum, so I bookmatched some more Osage for the headstock overlay, and put some maple veneer on the back. After tapering the neck on the table saw, the fretboard was double-stick-taped to the neck for exact profile, and the headstock template was stuck on and routed, as well.

[Jason Rodgers]

Fretfind2D was used to print a template for the frets. My god, that thing is awesome! I temporarily glued one printout to the fretboard and cut the slots with a Japanese saw. The saw had a piece of plexi CA-ed to one side as a depth stop. A block of wood with neodymium magnets was used as a magnetic "miter guide": just clamp it on the next line and saw till the depth stop hits. Worked pretty well.

You may have seen my radius sanding block here (and it's warping problems- fixed). It worked well, and I put a 16" radius on the fretboard.

I read in an American Lutherie long ago about someone who did a fretboard finish with CA. Radius it, splash it with thin CA, sand back to wood, and then put your usual oil or finish on. That's what I did here. Ugh, that much CA is nasty.

Fretting was done by pressing frets in, clamping with a caul (not shown), and wicking CA in the sides. This worked very well: the guitar is strung up now and playable, with a few buzzes here and there, but NO fretwork otherwise.

I used a big mill file to ease the fret ends, and then glued it on the neck shaft. Have I mentioned my glue of choice? Everything (except where CA is noted) has been glued with FISH GLUE! BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!

[Jason Rodgers]

Good grief, I forgot to list John Sonksen, my local guitar bro, in my first message! Ack, I'm crumbling under the pressure already!

[Jason Rodgers]

Back to the body. By the way, John Sonksen is responsible for tipping me off on the technique I used on the body: a Japanese technique known as shou-sugi-ban, which is a charring method traditionally used on cedar. So, I busted out the torch!

Then, you brush back some of the char to reveal the cool contrast between early- and late-wood. Of course, this wood doesn't really have grain lines, so I brushed and then sanded back.

On the flat surfaces, I sanded back quite a ways, mainly because there were some pencil marks on the top that just wouldn't go away! It still looks pretty cool under shellac.

[John Sonksen]

Good grief, I forgot to list John Sonksen, my local guitar bro, in my first message! Ack, I'm crumbling under the pressure already!

Don't sweat it Jason, I can tell you're really excited to have one finished finally. Keep the pics coming!

[Jason Rodgers]

One of my big hesitations with the original guitar body was attempting the neck and pickup routes without any templates. This is something I've learned about my work: bust it out until I come upon a step or process that needs a new tool, build new tool, proceed. So, among all this other stuff, I build a Myka Neck Jig. It has two adjustable rails over an adjustable table (adjustable for neck angle). You position your final-tapered neck over the body, pinch it in place with the rails and lock them down, the go at it with the router. I used a cheap laser-line tool to set it up.

And later, I used the jig again to route the pickup pockets.

[Jason Rodgers]

I missed a step in the picture progression: before gluing on the fretboard, I got the neck inserts and bolts installed. These are "knock down" flat head bolts.

Along the way, I purchased my tuners. These are HipShot Griplocks, locking tuners. This set is a standard 3x3, with an extra left-side tuner thrown in with a drilled-out string post to fit big-guage strings on baritones and low-tuned guitars. I like.

One of the biggest hang-ups I have had about completing an instrument is carving the neck. I chose a pretty easy profile, with a totally flat back and flat-ish V-shaped sides, for my first carve. The Saf-T-Planer was used to get the depth taper of about 1/8" from nut to body. Then, I used a 1/2" chisel for the throat, mostly a spoke shave and file for the rough work, and 150 grit on a sanding block for the finesse. I can't believe how clean and straight it came out.

[Jason Rodgers]

Again, a little out of sequence... I notice when looking at the neck bolts photo in the previous post that I didn't describe my "neck reinforcement." I didn't have any CF bars, and I didn't feel like buying any, so I ripped some 3/16" wide by 3/8" tall Osage strips. Don't know if they're really doing much, but I can tell you that this neck is strung up and hasn't moved.

So, by this time in the process, I've long given up the idea of anything aluminum on this guitar. Instead, I decided to cover it with the golden yellow of more and more Osage for the control cover and bridge base.

Now, things are really coming together. When it comes to multiscale guitars, one of the main solutions you need to have ready is the bridge. I've seen several people on the interwebs using Wilkinson-style saddles, the type that anchor off of a screw (not the intonation screw through the back 'L' portion of a bridge like on Fenders), as this solution. Again, I used a FretFind2D template to locate the bridge and saddles.

Those anchoring screws needed something to hold them that wasn't wood, so I cut down some T-nuts and set them into the bottom of the bridge plate.

Then, it was about time to do some finishing. The body has 5 coats of Formby's Tung Oil over shellac, and the neck has 3 coats straight (a quick wipe over the fretboard).

[Jason Rodgers]

In my "Experimental rail pickup" thread, you might have seen the trouble I had with one of the pickups. It needed a coil rewound, but then everything was smooth sailing. I used a Carvin wiring diagram: I had a DC-127 back in the day and really liked the control selection. Again, it's 500k audio pots on volume and tone, .022uF cap, 3-way toggle switch, and two mini switches for coil tap.

Shielding is your basic hardware store foil duct tape. It needs to have an edge folded over to make contact with overlaying pieces, as the adhesive is not conductive, but it worked well. I used a multimeter along the way to make sure everything was connected.

I hate soldering a little less now. David King has a great soldering info/tute on his website that was very helpful.

As it is part of the grounding, here are the string "ferules" on the back. These are actually aluminum "cable stays" that I found in the little drawers at Ace.

[Jason Rodgers]

Coming in around the home stretch...

A string guide (behind the 0-fret) made of a Corian sample block.

The truss rod cover, in Osage. I don't have an attachment method for it, yet. My magnet plan didn't work, so I'll probably pick up some small black screws, like are found everywhere else.

Stringing up... It was difficult to find a set that I liked. There aren't many choices out there for 7-string sets. I like heavier strings, usually 11s and 12s, but all I could find from D'Addario and Ernie Ball were 9s and 10s. So I went a different route: this is a D'Addario 8-string 9s set, and I tossed the highest string and it's now an .011" through .065" set! Boo-ya! They feel great!

Rock on roll!

[Jason Rodgers]

So, it's strung up (this afternoon!), it plays surprisingly well (especially since I haven't done any fret work), and the pickups don't suck!

There are some things that need a bit of work, though. I strung it up because I want to take it to Tacoma (to show y'all that I'm not totally lame), and I wanted to see what the neck was going to do. Right now, it's looking really good. Little things: I still have to get the string guide notched and installed (you can play without it), and get that truss cover installed. Bigger things: the action is pretty good right off the bat... with the saddles on the floor. I need to take the bridge off and sand it down (from beneath) a tiny bit to get some more adjustability in the saddles. Also, the closed-cell foam I put under the pickups for height adjustment needs to be thicker to raise them up a bit higher. Those things can wait until after the convention.

In terms of playability, they say you don't notice the multiscale fretboard after a few minutes. I didn't notice it at all... mostly because I was a little distracted by the neck profile. Hey Sonksen, what did I say about this neck? Yep, I'm not sure I like it! It's ok, because there's plenty of material left in that square-ish shape to round it off a bit, and it might take some weight off that end, too. Otherwise, the body shape just melts into your body. There are cross-sections that are a full 2" thick, but the deep carves really make it feel thinner and closer to you.

So, what do I do after I finish my first? What, haven't you been paying attention?! I have 6 more unfinished projects to complete! Plus, a friend says he wants me to build him one now...

[Steve Senseney]

Nice work!

Lots of interesting and new ideas!

[Greg Robinson]

Great work Jason! Congratulations on finishing your first.

[Mark Wybierala]

A very awesome journey sir and a respectable result at the end. Welcome to my world. Its clear that you already had advanced craftsman skills at he beginning. Often, I do this sort of Mr Spock raised eyebrow when someone comes into the shop and says that they want to build a guitar. They sometime don't have a clue and I can tell that they're gonna throw some parts in a box, maybe make a little sawdust, and then toss an abomination out with the trash a few weeks later. The most impressive thing about your guitar is the way that you kept at it and pulled these inovative ideas out of the air (or somewhere else) with success. Your first guitar is a much larger and impressive result than mine was. I'm far too distractable. Your guitar is awesome but even more impressive is your perserverance and vision.

[Jason Rodgers]

Thanks, guys! It's been fun, and fun playing it, too!

Gosh, Mark, I've never considered what I do to be "advanced craftsman skills." Having finally finished something after so long, and having an end-point of sorts from which to reflect, I guess I have developed a few chops. But that's not through any formal training or "on the job" practice. My dad is sort of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to woodworking and automechanics, and I watched and helped him a lot as a kid (building a rabbit hutch, finishing out a basement, working on the '66 Chevy pickup, etc.). That first attempt at an instrument, on the back porch of an apartment, didn't go very far because I didn't have the skills, and ended in disappointment and frustration. I suppose a lot of my tool and woodworking know-how came through buying our first house and doing a lot of home-improvement projects (thanks to Norm Abram and "This Old House"!), and now our second house and doing more. But throughout those 14-15 years of guitar building as a hobby, I've probably only had an active shop for 4-5 years. The rest of that time was spent reading, sketching, studying, learning. That's why this place has been so influential in my journey. While this first guitar was built with no "plans," it's very non-traditional, and a lot of the decisions were made on the fly (pulled out of of "somewhere else"), all of you folks have taught me that you're only limited by your imagination.

[Randy Roberts]

Jason,
Sorry to be so late in commenting, I don't usually check in on the electric stuff.

That is really a knock out guitar!
To have done so many cool things from scratch, and to have built a lot of the tools in the process, and to have everything come together so well is really impressive.
You've really done yourself proud, and I'd guess it made this year's GAL feel a little different.
I'm really, really impressed. (and I've left so much un-said <g>)