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Post by lefranglais on Apr 22, 2021 21:08:18 GMT
On to the fingerboard. The first thing to do was to chamfer the edges of the fret slots using a triangular section needle file. It helps the frets go in and there’s less chance of chip-out if they ever have to be taken out.
If I’d decided to make a neck in the first place, I wouldn’t have routed the neck pocket in the body until I’d made the neck. As it is, I’m going to have to make the neck fit the pocket, which is a lot more tricky, especially as I want to bind the fingerboard. The neck pocket has a ¼” radius in the corners and I don’t want a ¼” radius on the bound FB. So the FB will have 22 frets instead of the usual 21and will overhang the end of the neck, which I’ll endeavour to make fit the pocket as best I can.
So I made up some binding strips from rosewood and sycamore veneer to finish at 3 mm thick and after some careful measuring cut the FB to its finished width minus 6 mm. Here I am gluing the binding to the FB.
Once the FB was bound I sanded the width a little, until it measured exactly the same as the pocket in the body. So now I nailed the FB to the neck. Well, not really. They are 1.5 mm panel pins used to locate the FB in holes drilled through the fret slots. The frets will hide the holes.
Now I can blend the end of the FB into the headstock on the spindle sander.
And it came out like this. I had to take the truss rod cover out to do this, so I filled it with a piece of balsa wood to stop the hole getting full of sanding dust. I fill as many of the holes as possible before pore filling and varnishing as it makes the job much easier. I use balsa as it crushes easily and can be a bit oversize and be forced into the hole to make a perfect fit. It’s also easily sanded flush with the surface and easy to dig out after finishing.
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Post by lefranglais on Apr 28, 2021 12:58:04 GMT
I trimmed most of the surplus off the neck on the band saw and routed it flush with the FB.
The FB isn’t glued on yet, as there are one or two things still to do which are much easier without it. The first is to sand a radius on the end of the neck to fit the pocket. It’s not quite as good a fit as the ready made neck was (it slides in easier) but I think it will do. It will be mostly hidden by the fingerboard overhang anyway.
I’ve never liked the idea of using woodscrews to attach a neck to a solid body. I’ve always used threaded inserts and machine screws on basses and I’ll do the same here. So this is the second thing that’s easier without the fingerboard. With the neck in place I mark the position of the holes. |
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Post by lefranglais on Apr 28, 2021 13:11:50 GMT
I thought it might be of interest to show how I fit threaded inserts using a pedestal drill. 1. The first and most important thing is to do a trial run with an off-cut OF THE SAME SORT OF WOOD as the neck. 2. Measure the root diameter of the outside thread and choose a drill of a slightly larger diameter. 3. Drill a hole a bit deeper than the depth of the insert and countersink it slightly larger than the outside diameter.
You may be able to see that the insert nearest the camera is slightly different to the others. Here’s a close-up. I’ve filed two grooves in it to make it into a make-shift tap.
I now put a piece of threaded rod in the chuck and tighten it. Thread two ordinary nuts onto the rod, followed by the insert/tap with the slot upwards. Tighten the nuts against each other to block them.
Bring the chuck down to press the insert firmly against the wood and turn the chuck by hand to screw the insert in to the required depth.
Now unblock the nuts by holding the chuck and turning the upper nut towards the chuck.
Then release the chuck and raise it.
The threaded rod can now be easily unscrewed, leaving the insert/tap in the wood.
Now the insert/tap can be taken out . . . (That’s why the slot had to be uppermost.)
. . . and replaced by one of the others.
The last thing to do is to wick two or three drops of thin CA around the insert. That’s if you’re sure you’ll never want to get them out again! 
If you’re putting the inserts into a harder wood (like maple) you may have to do some trials with slightly larger drills.
You may also have to try, once the insert/tap is engaged and it becomes difficult to turn, to back off a bit, turn a bit more, back off again, turn a bit more, etc. This is the approved method when tapping threaded holes in metal. All this is obviously why it’s important to do a trial run on scrap before starting on the neck.
Is anyone still awake?
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Post by earthbalm on Apr 28, 2021 17:07:00 GMT
Fastenating. Thanks for the detailed account and pictures.
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Post by lefranglais on May 24, 2021 13:15:48 GMT
I like that! |
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Post by lefranglais on May 24, 2021 14:16:03 GMT
Bit of a hiatus there. So, to continue: Here’s what the neck looks like now. The thing behind it is a support used for working on it and also used as a clamping caul when gluing the fingerboard on.
Started by sanding a radius where the neck meets the headstock. I also sanded a smaller one where the neck meets the body and then took off the surplus from the back of the neck on the bandsaw, but I forgot to take photos.
I draw up the cross section of the neck at first fret and body junction to enable me to cut a series of facets which will be rounded off to produce the finished neck profile.
Lines for the first two facets are drawn onto the neck and ‘notches’ cut at each end.
The ‘notches’ are joined up.
I cut 4 more facets in the same way and then round them over using sanding boards rather than rasps or files. I finish using cloth backed abrasive in the ‘shoeshine’ method. I didn’t take any photos of all that either, but this is the shoeshine method being used on another instrument.
Which gets it to this point.
The neck is blended into the heel and headstock using rasps, files and sanding boards. To get a nice transition from neck to body, I do it with the neck installed.
The figure in the headstock veneer makes it look as though there’s a ‘volute’ in this photo, but the back of the headstock is flat.
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Post by lefranglais on Aug 13, 2021 15:13:48 GMT
As I said earlier (much earlier), the only thing that seems to make a guitar a ‘Telecaster’ is the shape of the body. Apart from that, as far as I can see, anything goes. As I’d decided to use this amazing maple top, I wanted to cover as little of it up as possible, so no pick guard, no control plate and if possible, no metal parts showing on the front, not even screws. Leo designed the original Teles with a bridge cover, usually called the ‘ashtray’ as that’s what it often ended up being used for. I don’t think mine will be used for that, although it will be removable. I first made a piece of EIR with a 2mm x 2mm rebate, cut it into sections and mitred the ends.
Glued the frame together with CA. If the mitred faces are flat and smooth it makes quite a strong joint. The piece of pine is clamped down so it can’t move and it’s also holding down a piece of backing paper from double sided adhesive tape. I apply a drop of CA to one of the pieces of EIR, push the sharp end of both against the pine, and bring them together. In a few seconds they are glued.
With the frame glued up (I forgot to take a photo) I thinned an off-cut from the top to a little over 2mm and cut a piece slightly larger than the aperture in the frame.
I carefully sanded the edges on a sanding beam (This is half of a builder’s straight edge (square aluminium tube about 1 metre long) with 80 grit abrasive stuck to it. I find I use it for all sorts of things) ...
... until it just fit into the rebate. I then ran some thin CA round the inside to glue it in place.
Made a cut-out in the front for the strings...
... and another for the bridge plate, as the front of the bridge will be flush with the cover.
The cover will be held in place by small neodymium magnets. The six in a row hold onto the intonation screw heads and the other two onto the two front bridge fixing screws.
Corners rounded and finish applied.
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Post by ocarolan on Aug 13, 2021 16:43:11 GMT
 So elegant! Keith
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Post by earthbalm on Aug 13, 2021 18:40:45 GMT
Yes, very classy. Nice work.
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Post by lefranglais on Aug 15, 2021 7:59:20 GMT
Thanks chaps. I also made some matching pickup rings from EIR. As I wanted to avoid metal hardware on the front, I first made a template to use mainly for drilling small holes for magnets in the rings and matching holes in the body, also for magnets.
As I’d made the template I used it to trim the outside shape of the surrounds.
And then drilled blind holes for the magnets.
Which got them to this stage.
I cut the apertures the old-fashioned way. Drill 4 holes and join them up with a piercing saw.
Finished the apertures with a sanding stick. I find I have much more control over sanding sticks than files or rasps and I can make them whatever length and width (and grit) suits the job.
I asked the chap at EMG if it would be OK to use magnets to hold the PU surrounds and he wasn’t keen. He thought they might be too close to the PU magnets. So the blind holes got turned into countersunk holes.
So there goes my idea of not having any screws showing on the front. Oh well ...
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colins
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Post by colins on Aug 15, 2021 10:10:12 GMT
Amazing workmanship.
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Post by Craig on Aug 16, 2021 20:31:35 GMT
I'm with colins, amazing work.
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Post by lefranglais on Aug 17, 2021 16:03:56 GMT
Thanks Colin & Craig. Made some matching knobs too. Started by cutting out circles on the band saw.
And sanding them as near round as possible.
I have a small model making lathe and milling machine. The lathe was a retirement present from work colleagues and the mill a retirement present to myself. They are both very useful for this sort of thing.
Sanding an even dome on a knob isn’t easy. I don’t know whether I thought this up myself or dredged up a subconscious memory. Anyway, if you stick cloth backed abrasive onto the inside of a piece of PVC pipe, you can use it to sand a (nearly) perfect dome.
I don’t have any sophisticated accessories for the machines, so I made this little gizmo to cut grooves in the outside of the knobs. Cut groove. Loosen screw. Turn one division. Tighten screw. Etc., etc.
Finished knobs.
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Post by earthbalm on Aug 17, 2021 18:10:41 GMT
Your problem solving is impressive.
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Post by lefranglais on Aug 18, 2021 12:59:52 GMT
As usual I had a few finishing problems, which I won’t bore you with, but I finally got all the bits screwed together and this is what it looks like. There’s some colour variation in the photos. They were taken in indirect daylight and the sun kept going in and out, which didn’t help and this maple seems to change colour depending on the angle from which you look at it. Without the bridge cover
With the cover, which got modified to make it less bulky. It clicks on and pulls off easily and doesn't touch the front so it won't mark it
That's it! Olivier came to visit a few days ago and we gave it to him. He was gobsmacked (he didn't know I was making it). He's promised to make a video of him playing it, so I'll try to post it if and when it appears.
If you have been, thanks for watching.
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Jo whoever he is.
