The solution that worked for me was to rout a cavity the shape of the pickup part, then undercut the front of the cavity to accomodate the protruding part of the baseplate. Hereās some pictures:
To get the undercut as deep as possible, I let the shaft of the router bit ride along the top edge of the cavity.
Also, I made my own template for routing the main cavity for the pickup.
Itās just another one of those problem solving side journeys.
I use 1/4ā hardboard (aka Masonite). Hereās a few more pics of making the template.
I had considered doing it that way but wasnāt convinced I could make a good template of my own.
The big sheet of different pickup shapes that I bought does have one that will just fit the bobbin of my pickups so I was going to use that for the inner hole of the trim ring.
Got the pickup cavities routed.
So I tried your method. I couldnāt find any 1/4" hardboard that wasnāt in 4āx8ā sheets so I used scrap bits of 3/4" MDF I have used for various other things (some successfully, some not). Was going well enough but the bearing on my router bit must be on the outs because I kept got some little divots in the template. I was able to fix it (by using the big sheet-o-pickup-templates I bought) but after a couple passes with the router, THAT template developed a divot. It was small and I was able to sand it out. The best bit I had to undercut the cavity was a cone-shaped bit. It worked well enough, but the shaft burned a couple divots in the maple.
I was able to sand out the worst parts, but Iām pretty sure once I put the pickups in those cavities, that the imperfections will stand out. So I think Iām still going to need to make some trim with the walnut.
And I need to get some spare bearings I guess.
So now I have the uke and the guitar caught up with each other. Finished the carves on the uke today.
I made the carve on the underside a bit less aggressive owing to the fact that my wife holds her uke kinda high and doesnāt really need much of a carve there for comfort.
Now itās time to tweak the control layouts and get the control cavities done. And after thatā¦sanding. Lots of sanding.
What a cool idea for a thread. Fun to read along
Very cool the way the figuring from the wood wraps around all the body curves.
Progress has been somewhat slow lately.
I have the control cavities routed, but Iām not satisfied with how the covers and cover recesses have been going.
I just havenāt been precise enough with my templates so they match up EXACTLY. so Iām redoing the templates for the covers and cover recesses and trying to be absolutely perfect with them. Thatās proving to be painstaking and difficult.
Hereās how my first round went, with the uke being the better of the two. The guitar recess was pretty rough. The shape is a little more complex and itās just hard to sand it out just so to be perfect. Itās easier to sand the cover templates.
For the guitar cover, this time Iām just tracing the cover of my LP. Itās bigger than I need, but itāll do the job. Iām also making use of CA glue to reinforce the MDF so it doesnāt deform with the router, and Iām also using sawdust/wood glue to fill (and sand back) if I make a mistake and take off too much material.
Alright, so my last post had the first control cavity cover I made for the uke and that was the better one. The guitar one was bad enough that I didnāt even take a picture of it. Hereās where Iām at right now. Iām MUCH happier here. First one is the uke.
Hereās the guitar. The guitar was bad enough that I changed the shape of it. Took the cavity cover off of my Les Paul and traced it. Even though the cavity underneath isnāt even close to the same layout. I just needed a cover shape (any shape) that I could trace for straight lines and smooth curves.
I think if I do this next time Iām just going to buy cavity templates from some vendor because this is tedious and frustrating to get right.
I was going to use magnets to hold the covers on (because magnets are cool). But the more I think about it, and the more I just want to get the covers done with, the more I just want to run the risk of screwing that up and needing to start over and buy more walnut. I have enough off-cut bits of suitable sizes to make a matching truss rod cover, but thatās about it.
Now itās time to sand. LOTS of sanding. And also time to do more work on the knobs. Need to settle on a knob height to decide how much Iām going to cut off of the rod (and therefore how thick to make the resin/turquoise tops). I think I know how Iām going to do the resin pours for those. Iām just going to wrap all the knobs in wide painterās tape to get a space where I can fill. And I can mark lines on how much I want to fill them. Iāll finish sanding them down and polishing the resin tops by turning them in the drill. Iāve seen watched some videos and read some guides about how to do that so I think I have a handle on what to do.
So I got the covers where Iām happy with them. Now I sand. Started working on a padded mat so I donāt scratch up the surfaces Iāve just sanded when I flip them over.
Yesterday I got down to 320 grit sandpaper. I have to say, I like the pads with sandpaper on one side. They get around curves a lot better. Unfortunately, the woodworking shop only had those down to 320 and Iām sanding these instruments down to 1500.
Some sutble quilting on the guitar. Maybe only just starting to come out enough for photos to pick up.
The quilting on the guitar is a little more apparent on the back around the upper waist.
Iām going to shift over to working on the knobs today. I need to get them to the same point as the instrument bodies so I can do all the subsequent steps in parallel.
Oof. I should have waited to have my dad turn the walnut blanks for the knobs. Or not had him do it at all.
So I had him turn the walnut down to a cylinder about 3/4" in diameter, intending that Iād cut off the individual pieces for each knob and do the resin/turquoise caps for them and all that. I didnāt realize at the time how difficult it would be to handle putting the holes for the pot shafts into them. straight and centered.
Iām kinda following the concepts behind these two articles:
This guy used a lathe
Wooden Control Knob Tutorial | TalkBass.com
This guy didnāt have a lathe and was able to do it with a drill
Wooden Guitar Knobs With a Drill : 7 Steps - Instructables
I should have AT MINIMUM had my father drill a pilot hole through the cylinder to make sure I could align any later holes correctly. I managed to get ONE knob mostly correct, but getting the hole for the pot shaft straight is hard. I havenāt drilled it out fully so I can still correct itā¦but my hopes are not high with the tools I have.
I ordered another batch of walnut turning blanks (I let my dad keep the rest from the box, as they didnāt have figuring quite as nice - I hope the new box has some nice figuring like the piece I tried using) and I will wind up using the drill method from the second article. Starting with the āroughā pieces I can do my drilling first with a whole lot less care for being precise with my drilling and turn the walnut around whatever hole I end up drilling.
That āwoodā be cool.
Kinda on pause for the moment. My last day at work is the 31st (my āseasonā for my seasonal job that was supposed to end in the beginning of November is finally ending) so I decided to wait until after that to head over to the woodshop to work on the knobs.
In the meantime, I got an idea about how to do the headstocks. I live in a city with a TON of artists. Why not commission an artist to do some pyrography? Itās a very nature-y region so I had no trouble finding pyrographers with a nature/wildlife focus. The trouble I had was finding one who was taking commissions. The first one I liked is moving to Minnesota and wonāt be taking on any projects until April after she moves. I really donāt want to ship stuff out, so that artist kinda got moved to ābackup planā. Another one I found is booked up through summer and is not accepting new commissions. Guess thatās a good problem for her to have. She referred me to a couple other artists. One didnāt have many examples online for me to look at so maybe she would be good for my project, but Iād probably have to find her gallery and visit in person. The other referral she gave me looks like the winner. Sheās very interested in my project and my thoughts for it, so now weāre in the back-and-forth phase. I sent pictures of the headstocks so she knows the size/shape of the space she has to work with.
Glad I had the necks shipped unfinished because that makes this an option to decorate them.
Sounds fascinating. Iāll be looking forward to seeing the results.
John, just stumbled on your post as I am about to take the plunge and build my own guitar. I was going to paint mine but after seeing what youāve done and how beautiful the raw wood looks Iām having second thoughts.
Iām going to buy a kit from Solo Guitars, itās a Canadian company and they have good reviews. Their website is very comprehensive and they have a good reputation for customer support.
Thanks for sharing!
Not all woods really pop out. I specifically searched for wood that would because I wanted to feature that wood. I got an amazing deal on the slab I wound up with. I was lucky.
Some woods have a very consistent grain without a lot of contrast in that grain and will be less interesting as a feature wood. Something like that is a great candidate for paint or for use as a back with a feature wood glued on for the top. Looks like Solo Guitars has some nice feature wood tops if thatās the direction you want to go.
For me, the assembly part isnāt really the reason I decided to build a guitar, though. I wanted to actually create something. While I bought the necks from other vendors, I really did enjoy working with the instrument bodies from a raw slab. I thought about a kit - there are a bunch of kits that are cheap enough - but that wasnāt going to give me the creative outlet I wanted.
Glad to helpā¦have fun and take it slow. I just finished a StewMac Acoustic Triple 000 kit. That was my āWinterā project, so it took some time. And it was much different that my other electric builds in that I was trying to follow their instructions, not having done and acoustic before. I make a few changes to it and made a few mistakes, but it turned out fine and actually sounds greatā¦still learning to play though. Picture attached
Another beaut! I know your guitars are all natural, but I have a question. Looking at some other blogs from the solo site with people that have painted their Guitars. Nobody seems to talk about laying down a primer. Donāt people use primers when they paint Guitars or they just go directly to the paint?
My guess it that those who paint the guitar probably start with a grain filler. If you are painting you want the surface to be nice and grain free so its a smooth surface. Since I like my work to be natural, I donāt fill the grain. But as a woodworker (furniture), I would sand down to about 280 grit, then apply a grain filler, then clean and paint. If I were painting a piece, i would do a primer to raise the grain, sand and then paint. Plusā¦if you are gonna paint it, youāll need several coats.
My acoustic got sanded to 180grit, then I applied 2 coats of OSMO Poly-x hard wax/oil. Buff itā¦and done. No need to worry about paint sags and drips and orange peel
Makes sense! I used to do a lot of woodworking, but I havenāt done so in quite some time. Looking forward to getting back into it. Thanks for sharing.
