TD's Acoustic (FH-5V)

[Trevor Davies]

After the success of my resonator build, I have decided to have a go at another acoustic. The PitBull Guitars site has some FH-5V kits which do not have (due to a factory mistake) a neck or pup route and also no drilled pot/jack holes. It is an archtop and does have f-holes with binding.

I thought I could make something to resemble an "old school folk guitar" with no electronics.

I have also collected a few different resources - Grover (98 series) openback tuners, tail piece and wooden bridge (but I may not use them).

Routing the neck pocket will be the first (and biggest) challenge!

[Trevor Davies]

neck work:
Today I have:
Removed a few dents in the neck using the damp cloth and soldering iron trick.
Glued a chip on the fretboard using CA glue.
Tweaked/Improved the headstock pattern.
Sanded the neck to 240 g.
Added my serial number.
Levelled, crowned and polished the frets.
Filed the fret ends.

[Trevor Davies]

I have also checked the fit of the Grover 98 tuners, which have a push-in bushing rather than a washer and nut. I found that the bushings are too small a diameter for the tuner holes!

I could dowel and redrill the holes, or wrap and glue newspaper around the holes! I will think about this a while.

[FaustoB]

Looks great.
how's the neck going to be attached to the body? there's no neck pocket, is it just glued in place?

[Trevor Davies]

Looks great.
how's the neck going to be attached to the body? there's no neck pocket, is it just glued in place?

I will have to route my own neck pocket. I have routed them for a number of scratch builds. However, the depth of the route for this one worries me a bit! And getting the neck angle right! But, I have a plan!

[vh2580]

Trevor, keen to see how your plan goes. Would be freaking me out if it was mine. Hard to tell on the photo is it fairly flat at the neck or got a lot of curve?

[WeirdBits]

Trev, do you have access to a FO style inspection camera? It would be informative if you/we could get a look inside at the neck block and to make sure the bridge support is positioned correctly (assuming they still use a bridge support).

[fender3x]

I have also checked the fit of the Grover 98 tuners, which have a push-in bushing rather than a washer and nut. I found that the bushings are too small a diameter for the tuner holes!

I could dowel and redrill the holes, or wrap and glue newspaper around the holes! I will think about this a while.

I may need to do this with the push in bushings for some Gotoh tuners on a bass. I have found it hard to find dowels that fit...never thought of the newspaper trick, but it's definitely something to consider!

Trev, do you have access to a FO style inspection camera? It would be informative if you/we could get a look inside at the neck block and to make sure the bridge support is positioned correctly (assuming they still use a bridge support).

1+ I don't know that it's fiber optic, but I have found cheap endoscopes on Amazon. Not the clearest images in the world but well worth the <$20 I spent on it.

[Trevor Davies]

Trevor, keen to see how your plan goes. Would be freaking me out if it was mine. Hard to tell on the photo is it fairly flat at the neck or got a lot of curve?

Thanks Tony. The "freaking me out" is part of the fun! The top around the neck is flat.

[Trevor Davies]

Trev, do you have access to a FO style inspection camera? It would be informative if you/we could get a look inside at the neck block and to make sure the bridge support is positioned correctly (assuming they still use a bridge support).

No FO camera, but looking through the f holes: I can see the bridge support and that is positioned correctly. Can also see the neck block and that looks good. The kerfing around the side also looks good.

Not great pictures!