The Deluxester Prototype - Sonic's foray into repeatable scratch builds

[Simon Barden]

Yep used the tape and superglue trick a few times now

And are still stuck to the workbench. Still, you got it moved inside the house so it's not all bad.

[Sonic Mountain]

Awesome work, Sonic. I've got two questions.

**My Replies

1 - You're talking double sided tape to hold stuff down. Have you considered the marking tape - super glue - marking tape method used by Ben at Crimson Guitars? Can't help but think it'd be cheaper (double sided tape is dear) and more stable (double sided tape is often thicker than normal tape). He does it in almost every video he makes. Here's his primary explanation clip for it.

**Hmm interesting. I'm actually in a fortunate position as I can get d/sided tape for cost through work. We use a very thin 3M variant we call 'Cyclone' tape for certain signage. It's not like the normal stuff with the foam layer. I actually think cleaning the residue off will be the bigger challenge, but I'll bear this in mind as an option. All the templates are also setup so that I could screw them down and the resultant holes are covered by the pickgaurd or otherwise hidden in assembly. It's one of those things I've thought a lot about and have a few options to try once I get rolling in the real world.

2 - The fret saw. That concept looks great, but I can't help but think there's scope for error for the Italian guy, given he's still relying on lining up pencil marks. I've got a mate in town who built his own guitar from scratch, and his major regret was that he got two fret slots ever so slightly off. He's a perfectionist, his father-in-law builds violins, so it's only noticeable when intonating, but of course he knows it's there...
I'm wondering if it'd be worth putting something like your notched fret straight edge on the back of the template, and then have guide pin on the side of the sliding bed, to locate it? Wouldn't take much, but you'd have ever more confidence that you're perfectly aligned with the fret saw. And I note you've already got holes in that notched straight edge. Perhaps you're already planning just that, using the pins on the neck and fingerboard bed..?

**Yeah that is exactly my method. I have a notched plate that is attached to the fret board. That notch engages with a tang on the 'slider'. So it's pretty much fool proof. The centre of the tang gets aligned with the blade and away you go. I'll pop a video up once I'm up to test stage.



An issue I'm having at the moment is keeping the slider perfectly perpendicular- it's pretty good, but as you have noted accuracy is very important. I'm planning a slight redesign and having a new slider piece and secondary brace laser cut to get around that. I'm also thinking of doing those parts again in acrylic. The higher temp to cut the steel makes it a little less accurate in fine details. I have double checked the notches and they are bang on according to my measurements, but this is certainly an area I'm a bit paranoid about. Hopefully I'll have the fretting machine sorted by the end of next month.

Love the idea of reclaimed wood, and steel templates. Both make so much sense to me.
Will be watching with much interest.

***Cheers, I am exercising extreme patience at the moment. I can't wait to get stuck in, but cash flow relies on my freelance work a lot of which is generated by Sydney and Melbourne real estate markets.. so a bit in the doldrums at the moment and saving is taking some time.

All good though. I keep reminding myself that I have put aside an entire year to arrive at a finished prototype. Plus its time that lets me think and problem solve.

[Tadhg]

So that's all even better! Great to have the option of the 'cyclone' tape, I guess it'll just be down to cost and residue. But nice to have real options. I can't imagine using the foam stuff!

And even better with the locking system for the frets. Is there a way to maintain some pressure on the sliders? I'm guessing your drawer runners should be held fairly square by the width of the bed you'll screw down onto it. But if you could put a moderate pressure at 90º to the direction of the slide..? Maybe have something like a couple of sliding door runners floating on a runner with springs against another support taken from the bed frame pushing against one end, if that makes any sense?

A couple of years, Adam might be buying necks from you!

[Sonic Mountain]

Hah, not sure how cost effective that would be . My main issue at the moment is that I didn’t think about mounting the slider enough and just figured I’d be able to wing it. It’s turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated to fix it square and securely to the slides. Drilling accurate holes in 4mm steel without a press is a bugger.

I’ve done a new version where the mounting holes are matched to the drawer slides exactly with more than two securing points to keep it rigid. The slides themselves are great, very tight tolerance ball bearings, it’s my rushing to cut the templates before I bought the slides that’s put the kybosh on this version.

[emuflats]

Wow - a magnificent design! For a first time novice builder & such as me, this is truly inspiring Sonic.

[Sonic Mountain]

Cheers Emu. I promise you its very much a learning experience for me.

So I had another decent lurch forward today in finding a timber supplier. This guys only does sustainabley sourced aussie timbers in his boutique saw mill. Unfortunately it was absolutely pissing down when I went around so didn't get to have a really good look through.

He also tends to focus on wood that has borer damage and weird knots and stuff as he does that resin filling thing making coffee tables etc. He assures me he has a bunch of really clean grained hard wood that should be perfect for guitars (and a little cheaper).

The other really good bit of news is that he is happy to do a run of 1/4 sawn straight grained timber to make me up some neck blanks and also can thickness down to around 4mm - so fingerboards are really doable as well.

Due to the weather I just grabbed a chunk to have a play with, but I'll go back with a better idea of what I'm after, and knowing what he has or can arrange for me. So very happy overall, he's got a good selection of white mahogany, spotted gum, redwood, camphour laurel and a few others I can't remember.

This is a chunk of white mahogany and a sample bit of spotted gum for fret board fiddling. The fret board piece is probably just a little bit thin, but he's happy to do whatever I want in the future. His saw mill is out of town a bit, so I only got to see a very small selection of what is available. This was $50

Does anyone know if camphor laurel is any good? He said it was technically a hard wood, quite easy to shape and very regular and stable, so it seems like it might be worth trying at some point. The bits he had there looked really nice. Its dirt cheap here too as there are so many of the things around.

Anyway, this will keep me busy for a while! Its a bigger chunk than it looked in the pile so I have my work cut out for me

[Woltz]

Does anyone know if camphor laurel is any good? He said it was technically a hard wood, quite easy to shape and very regular and stable, so it seems like it might be worth trying at some point. The bits he had there looked really nice. Its dirt cheap here too as there are so many of the things around.

I've seen Camphor mentioned a few times.

Here is a strat with Camphor body - http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?t=7924

Seems to be usable. I believe it's classified as a weed so you should be able to continue getting it relatively cheaply. And apparently it smells nice when you are working with it.

[Sonic Mountain]

Well it smells nice if you like the smell of camphor

Toowoomba City Council actually has an exemption for letting them grow as they are part of the 'cultural heritage' of the city. But they are quite often cut down for road works etc and there is a lot of the wood floating around from what I can tell.

Just had a bit of a go at thicknessing the slab with the router, but it's not really working out. I've cut it down to a 450 block, I'll need to take it some where and get it thinned down to a more practical thickness. Will make sure I get something closer to 40mm next time, this slab is 60 and its a lot of material to remove.

[vh2580]

Camphor is good to work with. Little heavy but really nice and the bonus is your guitar will never have silverfish

[Sonic Mountain]

So here's what I did to try and thin it down.

I found it was really hard to see where I was going, so I just added some 'sight' holes either side and its a lot better. I think I'm just being impatient and if I slow down and do shallower passes it should work. Going to stop now and revisit when I'm fresh and thinking clearly.

I think there is probably a better bit to use as well... rushing really gets you nowhere









Still plenty of wood to play with so hopefully this will still work. I really like the grain pattern, I think it should stain up and look great.