Today began with cutting out the rough shape of the mould to hold the bent sides in place.
Loads of different options are available for making the form for your guitar. Woods, plastics, metals... pretty much anything can be used to get the shape of the body and hold it.
I went with MDF, I used the same template that I used in previous posts for cutting the top and back, and traced it out onto to sheets of MDF:
I used the band saw and cut out the rough shape, but keeping 1-2mm inside the line the first time around. A second run through the band saw and a trim of the outer edges had it looking like this:
I made two sets as you can see in the picture there. Now at this stage you can have made another two, or you can use splints all the way around, I went for the latter option. That'll be on another day!
I then began work on the neck.
I started by cutting three blocks off the Mahogany heel blank. If I remember correctly it was a 4, 3.5 and 2.5 inch cut respectively. I glued them together and stuck them in a vice. I didn't glue them perfectly at the sides, and you don't need them to be perfect, you'll be trimming off loads on the side so that's OK. Of course the more accurate you are the better! Have a look:
- I put a good bit of glue on, probably too much, but a quick wipe of a cloth and it's all good. :)
- another 24hour dry please.
The last step I did today was create the angle for the headstock and put it on.
This step is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to get right.
The angle I went for was 15degrees. This is the standard angle, but guitars can vary from 12degrees, up to 17degrees - stay steady and true around the middle so!
You need to make sure your markings for the length of your fret board are correct at this point. Allow 1.25inches for the joint at the heel of the neck. Then measure the length of your frets (12 in this guitars case are on the neck. Usually it's 14, but this is a parlour design. By 'on the neck' I mean the frets that don't sit above the body i.e. free of the guitars soundboard) And last step is give room for the nut at the end of the fretboard measurement. Remember the nut sits flat so add that extra 4-5mm, or whatever the with of your nut will be, to the end of the surface and then you've found where to cut the angle for the headstock. Here's a load of pics and tips:
- the nut I'm using is 5mm, there's your 5mm.
- I also marked the centre, it's always a good idea to mark the centre of it as well. Also, I should point out that the neck is stuck firmly into a vice, on its side, for the work we're about to do. You can see the area left at the end behind the line, where the joint will sit into the guitar body.
- ladies and gentlemen... a Tenon Saw! Wahoo! This has a fine tooth and a weight along the top there. The weight is designed to do the work, as you're not supposed to lean your weight on it when you're cutting.
- the 15degree angle is marked onto front, back and sides of the wood to make sure you can see you're going right(or wrong!) from all angles. I used an old school protractor to measure the angle. Here you can clearly see the angle heads off at 15degrees after the nut.
- the first cut! Tony was a lifesaver here again:
- with both of us making sure the saw stayed perpendicular to the ground, we slowly made our way down through the neck...
- done at last! I took off most of that top part above the line with a band saw - a crude cut it was but it got rid of a lot of the work that I had to do after with the hand planer.
- here I'm sanding down where it will join the neck.
- you can see that crude cut there from the band saw, but when I go to plane it soon, I'll be glad of it!
- a bit of glue. Good ol' Titebond (sigh...)
- clamping. Make sure all your lines and angles are right. When you apply pressure with the clamps, she's going to squeeze all over the place and slide off a bit too, a second pair of hands is a great help here.
- all angles and clamps are perfect. I can let out my breath I've been hold for an hour...
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