Semi-Scratch Built Long Baritone

Hey all,

It's been a while since I've built anything, but the hunger has returned. What started out as a plan to build a classic Tele quickly spiralled out of control when I discovered the baritone necks on the Pit Bull store. I love the look and sound of Lzzy Hale's pewter Les Paul Studio Baritone, which has a 28" scale length, and on suspicion that a 27" will be not baritone enough, I started researching and designing around a 30" scale length. I've reassured myself that I can string it and tune it from B1 or A1 rather than the E1 of a Bass VI by watching some youtube clips of people who have done so with the Squier Bass VI reissues from a few years back, and plotted in detail how it's all going to fit together.

So having done all that, I pulled the trigger last week, and yesterday this beauty arrived in the mail:

Attachment 29094

Looks good on inspection. There's a bit of tear-out around the drill holes for the tuners, but nothing that will be visible in the end product. I'll be using this method (link) to route the neck pocket - but before I do that, I need a body blank to build on. At risk of causing some consternation:

Attachment 29093

I've gone with the tone-iest tonewood I could find. Then I chopped it up, roughed up the flat bits and glued it together to make it even tone-ier. At last count, I spotted 25 tonewoods, each more vibrant than the last. And of course, we've had nothing but stormy weather since the glue went on, so I'm going to have to let it cure for a long time.

Next up, routing templates!

:D I lost it at "each more vibrant than the last"
soo good.

If there's that much vibrating goodness this thing may not require an amp at all!

So much tone. You'll have to get a special extra high quality pot for your tone knob to keep that beast under control.

Here's a close up. Very keen to see what kind of tones I get out of that yellow stripe. Hopefully it's more "Mean Mr Mustard" than "Big Yellow Taxi". I've planed the edges and squared it off, but I'm going to let it sit for a bit longer before I get into routing a neck pocket.

Attachment 29129

But anyway, the more exciting stuff - I hit up the kids at the big blue shed to print off some A2 CAD drawings, which took a couple of attempts because I didn't allow for the margins on my first go, and everything was out by about 2.5%. Then it took a decent chunk of time to very carefully cut out my shapes with the good scissors and get them laid out on some MDF:

Attachment 29130

If anything, doing the rough cuts on my (newish) bandsaw was a bit quicker. Or that might just be that apparently cutting shapes on a bandsaw is an absolute joy, so the time flew by. Something about that skinny little blade slicing through wood like butter is weirdly satisfying.

So here are the template pieces arranged together somewhat like an actual guitar. Albeit a monstrous chimeric blend of a few different designs. It's got a few more pieces than your average. In short, it will have a plywood core, and anodised aluminium wings with more plywood sandwiched in between them.

Ergonomically speaking, the Andreas Shark is the biggest influence, though I won't have quite as much contouring, or the super slick aluminium fretboard. Then there's the Iceman horn, and a similar top horn that I'm hoping will prevent neck dive, given the lighy body/long neck. The rest is "Rick-Toone-on-a-budget". If this works out, I might make a future variant with a standard neck, carbon fibre sheets and some nice Queensland Maple I have sitting around.


Attachment 29132

This is gunna be wild!

Woah. "What started out as a classic tele" seems to have taken a few wild turns. That's going to be a gnarly baritone.

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I think you might be turning into Prince...

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

I think you might be turning into Prince...

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Attachment 29441

Smells like... progress.

It's been hard to find time in around a couple of other projects and the silly season in general, but here's the highlight reel of the last few weeks.

So my easy task was to clean up the edges of my templates with the homebuilt drum sander I put together for my first build. No pics, because it's really not that exciting - but they should make for some nice smooth routs when I get to that point.

The more crucial part is the neck pocket. I measured the centre line of my body and neck, aligned the two and clamped hard. Then using a random scrap of plywood (from a washing machine box, go figure) I cut two pieces that I then clamped to the side of the neck, and also the body. Lastly, I cut a bit of mdf for the base of the neck pocket (and a shim to pack it out really tightly) and clamped the. The result being:

Attachment 29443

I kept everything super-snug - the neck is unsupported but fits tightly enough to keep itself in place.

Attachment 29442

And then it sat like that because I couldn't find a top-bearing flush trim bit at the green shed and had to order one (along with a few other toys) from Carbatec. My five-year-old also decided that the bandsaw is the greatest thing ever and hijacked it (and my extreme supervision) to make Christmas presents for the family.

I did managed to cut out a serviceable humbucker template, using this as inspiration (link). It's cut a couple of slightly wavy edges to even out, but should do the job:

Attachment 29445
Attachment 29446

The little insert will let me rout the deeper leg pockets.

[continued]

Eventually I found the time to dust off the router and fire it up. Here's the nice clean 15mm* deep pocket, after a bit of chisel work to tidy up the floor:
Attachment 29447

There's a tiny bit of tear out, that will hopefully go unnoticed in the final product, otherwise I'm very happy. Most importantly, it fits the heel like a glove. I can gently persuade the heel in with a clamp and it holds firm without being impossible to remove again.
Attachment 29448

So next step is to rout for pickups and shape the body blank - and hope Santa brings some nice hardware!

* Intentionally a bit shallower than standard for reasons that will become clear later.

And as luck would have it, even more progress today. With the glue set on my humbucker template, I measured and drew centre lines and went crazy with double sided tape.

Attachment 29462

Feeling buoyed by the success of my neck pocket, I wasted no time in attacking the humbucker routs, firstly with a Forstner bit on the drill press, and then with my template bit.

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The neck pocket turned out great... until a momentary lapse in concentration saw me chew out a chunk from the side of the neck pickup hole while lifting the router, and apparently waving it in all directions. Sucks, but it won't be visible, and won't cause any structural issues. And I've learned a valuable Christmas lesson.

I took the bridge pickup with a bit more care, and it turned out much better. Nice clean lines, no tear-out, just a few overhanging fibres from the top ply layer that will clean up with some sanding. Anyhow, satisfied that my top routs are complete, I figured I'd shape the body with some rough cuts on the bandsaw, and I was eager to try out a new toy:

Attachment 29459

But as it turns out, it's not the right tool for this job. All it wants to do is dig it's teeth in and try to pull my plywood monstrosity out of my hands. So I may need to rethink how I shape the arm rest, as I'd planned to use this little beast, but it seems like it might be better suited to thinner stock or softer timber. Or parmesan. We'll see. On the plus side, my 80 grit homebrew sanding drum made short work of it, and I now have a guitar body that just needs some routing for controls. And a whole lot of sanding.

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Ah me, routers. Such fun! Your cheese grater thingy might be okay on normal Timber but ply, with its cross grain construction might be a bit much fo it perhaps?

Yhep. I've done that in a neck pocket before as well!! Ahhh the lessons

And more progress. I've shaped the headstock, and I'm pretty happy with the result. I wanted more aggressive lines than your typical 6 inline, but nothing quite as pointy as a Jackson, and somehow landed at "baby shark". Or "Flying V with a bite taken out of it"

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I'm also very excited that my aluminium sheeting arrived today, meaning I'll be able to really get stuck in over the Christmas break. My aim is to get everything cut, routed, filled, sanded, stained and oiled over the next month while I save up for some schmick German hardware.

Oh a lost it at baby shark.

Well that holiday break seemed to go by incredibly fast. I managed to get some good progress in, though possibly not quite as much as I'd hoped.

The first job I did was to try out my slot cutter router bit. Each of the aluminium wings will slide into a couple of slots in the central ply body, so I've got a 3.2mm slotting bit that can cut a 12.7mm deep slot. It was actually really nice to work with, if a little intimidating given that it's basically a tiny little circular saw on a stick. It makes me want to cut some grooves.

But the main event is getting stuck into my aluminium sheet. I've never worked with metal before, and don't really have the tools for it - which is obviously why I decided to make it an integral part of this build. I've learned so much.

The plan was to rough out the shapes in my 3mm aluminium with a saw, and then template rout. My first instinct was to have a go at cutting sheet on the bandsaw. But then I second guessed myself, and figured I'd go out and get a fine toothed carbide jigsaw blade instead since precision was not key at this point. Here's the back of my aluminium sheet (the front has a protective film) and my "scratchproofed" jigsaw.

Attachment 29593

Turns out, that was a mongrel of a way to work with it. Aluminium filings immediately bounced in and under the gaffer tape, and cutting was somehow more difficult than it would have been with a hacksaw. But it did get the job done.

My first "wing" was a proof of concept, so as soon as it was rough cut, I stuck one of my MDF templates onto it and very carefully routed around the edges. This was probably the most stressful part of my build thus far, and a clear indicator I need to invest in a router table so I don't have to try and keep a router level on a skinny, flexible bit of MDF. The edges are still a bit rough, but nothing that a bit of sanding won't fix. You'll have to forgive the smudges and double-sided tape residue, but it gives an indication of what the matt black finish will look like:

Attachment 29594

Feeling like there might be an easier way, I took one of my offcuts over to the bandsaw. Lo and behold, it cuts like butter. It's going to signifcantly shorten the life of my band (and probably the whole unit, given the metal filings) but what the hell? I managed to knock out my next three wings much more quickly - the bandsaw gives me a much finer and more controlled cut, with less excess to rout, and within the space of a morning, I've got this:

Attachment 29595

And a big heap of aluminium shavings to clean up. While I'm making an ungodly mess, I cut my "body veneers" and rout pickup holes in one of them:

Attachment 29596

I'm feeling like my next build should be a bit more eco-friendly, or maybe I just fork out for laser cutting.

My last act as a man of leisure is to laminate some more super ply and cut out my "sandwich fillings" that will sit between the wings.

Attachment 29597

For now, just roughed out on the bandsaw, which thankfully still cuts, and awaiting some fine shaping on a sanding drum. The plan is to get the wing sandwiches assembled and sand them as a whole, so everything is completely flush. Speaking of flush, I also need to make a return trip to the green shed to pick up a bottom bearing flush trim bit so I can rout the aluminium top plate to be perfectly flush with the neck pocket.

I'm pretty happy to have gotten most of the tricky stuff out of the way (control cavity and arm rest are still pending) and over the next few weeks I'll start playing around with some wood fill and stains while I wait for my fancy furniture bolts to arrive from China.

The last little while has been all about experimentation. My first experiment was to get some Feast Watson Mahogany Prooftint. My first instinct was Jarrah, but after look at colour swatches online and in the green shed, Mahogany seemed closer to my vision. What could go wrong? It's not like it would weirdly turn purple, right?

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So that was weird. Really not sure what's gone awry with this, but I'm reminded of my school days, when someone thought planting a mulberry tree at a school where the kids all wear white shirts was a good idea. Doubly disappointing, the 4x7mm ply blocks I created don't have much of a stripe to them.

But not to worry, I still have a bit of my original centre block left, just enough to recut my odd shapes - but with a bit of extra work to get them from 48mm down to 28mm using my poor man's thicknesser - a bandsaw. I'm pretty happy with the results, but didn't have my phone around to capture it.

Anyway, after another trip to the green shed, I've grabbed a tin of Jarrah stain, and a little bottle of black. I'm very keen to highlight the striping in the ply, and I feel like getting some black into the end grain, sanding back a bit and then staining in jarrah will give me what I want:

Attachment 29623

I'm much happier with the colours (black + jarrah top, just jarrah sides) and I'm really happy with how the black is accentuating not only the end grains but also the other grains, pores, scratches, etc. It's going to be really interesting to see how it looks on a curve, with the direction of the end grain changing.

But back to waiting on my furniture screws. I feel like maybe I should give that deck an oil too.

More progress. I'm expecting to go through a lot of sandpaper during this bit, so here's my "hot swap" sanding drum:

Before:
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After:
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Over the course of the night, I went through two of them, but I now have the bottom wing all shaped. I'll hit the wooden bits with a few finer grits and then it's ready for a stain.

Also, all of my Chinese furniture bolts have arrived, so I can get it bolted on to the body core. Exciting times ahead!



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The lower wing is now bolted on. It will come off again for finishing, but pretty happy with how it all hangs together. I've also laminated some more ply for the arm rest, and flush trimmed the aluminium face and back.

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I've also ordered the rest of the hardware from Banzai in Germany. And of course a bunch of neck oiling.

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I know it looks nothing like it, but each time I see this I think of the old Guild Bladerunner....
https://www.guitar-list.com/sites/de...?itok=fLC8BUKB

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

I know it looks nothing like it, but each time I see this I think of the old Guild Bladerunner....
https://www.guitar-list.com/sites/de...?itok=fLC8BUKB

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That's the second most '80s guitar ever, a hair behind this classic:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f5fc21da35.jpg

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Some more (slow) progress. The arm rest is assembled, pending a whole bunch of shaping, and I'm starting to sand the upper wings. Best of all, I'm at a point where I can throw it all together and get a feel for it.

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The low frets are pretty accessible (but very wide) because I've set the bridge a long way back in the design, but the strum is slightly awkward for the same reason. My natural arm position would have me strumming over the neck pickup and I have to consciously push it back toward the bridge. But we'll get the arm rest shaped and see how it feels.

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Lots more progress. With the bones of it assembled, I've been able to get a sense of the ergonomics. Because of the long neck, I've found that it's most comfortable in a pseudo classical pose (ie neck pointing up at 45 degrees rather than parallel to the floor), so the tail got reshaped:

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Now it sits comfortably, like Reed Rothchild's Flying V:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2a0d3919fe.jpg

I've also given it a belly cut of sorts by contouring the rear top wing, and shaped the ply that makes up the arm contour.

So now I've got all the wing parts shaped, so I've stained the wooden bits and starred oiling them. Contrary to my previous plan, I've sanded back the black stain altogether and I'm just going with the FW Jarrah, neat.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4060e47705.jpg

The blotchy sides won't be visible under the wings, so it's all about the striping in the end grain.

I've also started on the control cavity, but the router bit I bought for the neck pocket isn't quite long enough.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...25b1533c50.jpg

Looks like another Carbatec order will be needed. I'm still waiting on my back-ordered bridge, so no rush.

I have to say that I'm loving the stain and tru-oil approach to finishing. It's a lot more forgiving than rattlecans for one, but it's also quite tactile rubbing the oil in by hand. I've even got a pretty solid clean up routine going:

- Rinse hands with turps
- Wash with mechanics' soap
- Wash with regular hand wash
- Wash with wife's fancy hand wash
- Moisturise with matching fancy hand balm

My to-do list is getting ever shorter, and even better, my list of things to buy is down to a small handful of items. I'm really looking forward to getting the bridge and putting it on so I can reveal the anodized matt black under the protective film on the aluminium.

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Ooh seeek not carbatech, that way lies expenditure! I do love that place though. The Auburn store has all sorts of odds and ends bits of exotic wood that can be turned to luthiery.
Just need to make sure I stay away from the machinery section.....

this build is nucking futs, I love it!

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Originally Posted by Dedman

this build is nucking futs, I love it!

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I concur, this is a great one.

Still haven't made it to the green shed to get that longer flush trim bit, but I did call in to Jaycar and grab a locking jack socket and test fit it into a bit of scrap:

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I've also got confirmation that my back-ordered bridge has finally shipped from Germany, so I'll be able to finish off the body core soonish and start oiling it.

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Wiring plan!

Attachment 30147

Very simple for this one. Single volume, single tone - both push-push toggles, when pushed in, the corresponding pickup is in the mix. When pushed out, that pickup is excluded. A three-way switch would be simpler and more effective, but this keeps the controls super minimal. I also have some scope in future to add a three-way switch and rewire these as coil splitters - particularly if I'm not happy with the long baritone scale and want to convert it to a bass VI.

For 6 weeks I've been asking myself:

Ah, excuse me
Oh, will ya excuse me
I'm just trying to find the bridge
Has anybody seen the bridge?
Please
Have you seen the bridge?
I ain't seen the bridge!
Where's that confounded bridge?

Today it finally arrived!

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And it appears to mean business. Through body mounting screws with their own bushings and a 6 way ferrule thing that I'll need to ground because the saddles themselves are plastic.

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Plus, I did this stuff last weekend before everything went downhill in a hurry:

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Getting very close to a point where I can do a test build which is very exciting.

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I’ve used this Hannes 6 on my TLA, it’s a reall nice bridge

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

I’ve used this Hannes 6 on my TLA, it’s a reall nice bridge

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Did you ever get that one fully finished? The build diary ends with a high nut and saddles. Looks very cool though, love the hidden mounting screws for the pickups.

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I have been playing it as is to see how everything settles. TBH I don’t notice the action as it was intended to be a slide monster anyhow. It has a different sort of tone, I quite like it. At some point I need to do sound demos for some of these things.
I will get around to sorting the action eventually, there are just a few completions in the queue ahead of it!

Wiring is done and tested. Hoping that tomorrow I can test fit it all and make some noise.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...11284337fa.jpg

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Didn't quite get to the point of plugging it in today, but I've fitted the pickup rings, the jack socket and best of all, the neck. I've measured the scale length and located the bridge.

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Hoping to get the bridge fitted later this week.

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So this happened.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...dffd9ba6a0.jpg

Makes me feel
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...05834d22d9.jpg

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what do you think of the Hannes bridge?

This is nuts. Great work.

Insane work!!! Can't wait to see it finished


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Thanks guys.

The Hannes is great. Height adjustment is a bit painful, and I'm a bit miffed that my through body string holes are a bit wobbly (not that you can see when it's all together!) - but it's super unobtrusive to play on and looks amazing.

So I've got 13-62's on at the moment, and they're waaaaay too heavy for the scale length. I'm going to get some 10-46's instead which should be pretty ideal for A/B standard-ish tuning.

I'm really lamenting my lapse in safety on my other project - I'm quite limited in what I can play, but the upside is that it will be easier to persuade myself to break it all down and focus on the finish.

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