Scratch build 335 in a garden shed

[Ricky]

Well, today I decided to take the clamps off and see if the glue joints held.
They did!
Used my trimmer for the first time. A great tool - should have bought one years ago. So much easier than a full size router.

I then spend a couple of hours sanding but not too much. I still have to trim and fit the binding and I am sure to get more glue where I don't want it.
If I sand too much now and then sand again later I am bound to go through the veneer.

So, all good today.
Clean the workshop tomorrow and watch the Grand Prix.
Happy days!

[JimC]

Congratulations. I had grave doubts whether you'd be able to get that much 3D bend into the ply, especially with the veneer added when flat, but obviously I was wrong. I'll keep it in mind for projects of my own.

[JohnH]

Great work!

[FrankenWashie]

Top job mate!

[Ricky]

Thanks Guys!

Jim, I had the same worries. Just on the dry fit it took a lot of pressure to close the gap by hand. I spent a fair amount of time ensuring that the top and bottom fit to the kerfing was good. It needs to be angled but at different rates around the perimeter.
It did not spring loose overnight either so I am happy.

I have started cutting the laminations for the neck this morning but I am taking a couple of hours off the watch the Grand Prix.

Cheers
Ricky

[Ricky]

Yesterday i laminated the neck parts up and clamped them overnight.

Today I spent some time planing and spokeshaving the neck. It is only the first day but the results are looking promising.
The laminations are mahogany, maple veneer, walnut, maple, walnut, maple veneer, mahogany. The joint lines look good with no glue visible between laminations.

The white wood in the photos is the fretboard (when it is prepared!).

I have started shaping the neck. I know a lot of people on here use a rasp but I prefer to take it slow with the spokeshave so I spent a fair amount of time today sharpening the blades for all my hand tools.

The plan was to put a burr walnut veneer on the headstock but now I am not so sure.
What do you guys think?

Cheers
Ricky

[Ricky]

I have been working on the neck and fretboard for the last 2 days.

Made myself a notched fretboard level from an aluminium rule and marked it for exact Gibson 24 3/4" scale length.
Marked the fretboard and then cut the slots.
I do not have a pull saw and none of my local suppliers had one in stock.
With that in mind I cobbled a 'dado saw' by using 2 circular saw blades for my Minicraft drill (like a dremel). Exactly the right width! Used a jig to run the saw against.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the result. I tested it with an offcut of fret wire and maple and it worked well.
Sanding the 10 inch radius curve is hard work - sanding with the grain on hard maple!

Binding is attached with 'No Nonsense Mitre Adhesive' from Screwfix - Much cheaper than buying cyano and activator elsewhere.

Heel and tongue still needs work.
The neck fits the body but it is still sitting too high at the moment. This is intentional as it is easier and better to take wood off rather than try to add some back in!
Lots of sanding and finishing to do to the neck.

I will leave the neck for now though and concentrate on the binding for the body. As you can see from one of the photos, I have started routing for the bottom binding.

Cheers
Ricky

[JimC]

Good stuff.

In your place think I'd hold off on the headstock veneer for a while until you are ready to do a trial assembly. Not sure how it would work with the maple body. Also the stripes are cool too.

I had a nasty surprise with my lockdown mandolin when I splashed some white spirit on the instrument and discovered that my neck wood and body wood were going to look bloody awful together unless I dyed one or t'other. So my feeling now is I should delay cosmetic decisions until I can see as much as possible of the whole thing together. But so much depends on what your plans are for finishing the rest of the instrument.

[Ricky]

Thanks Jim. Sage advice indeed!
I will do exactly as you suggest. There is no hurry on this build and I want it to be the best it can be.
Your mandolin turned out beautifully.

I have a similar decision to yours regarding the sides, back and front of mine. The front will be stained emerald green. The back is mahogany but will also have some airbrush artwork on it. That leaves the sides which are maple. 3 different colours to a body is probably a bit much. So I will leave that decision for later .... unless you have a suggestion??

Cheers
Ricky

[Ricky]

I have been busy for the last 2 weeks or so in the shed!

I finished the neck.
It took a LOT of careful chisel work, very slowly lowering the fit and trying to watch a hundred different angles at the same time.
End result was a neck that fitted snugly with just a tiny piece of veneer added to one end of the tongue.
Next was cutting the fretboard for the letters.
It was my wife that suggested I try to build the guitar so I thought it fitting that her name should be on it.
The fact that her name contains just the right number of letters as the required inlays was just a happy accident!

The letters were first drawn with pencil then cut carefully with a sharp scalpel 'lightly'.
Repeated cut strokes to increase the depth and then back-cut to open the trough.
Once cleaned out they were painted with aluminium airbrush paint. This seals the wood and prevents any bleed of the stain later.
Next, paint in the green mix of Stunning Stains green and AutoAir Candy Emerald.
Next day I filled the trough with Ripmax SP coating epoxy.
Cut back and now ready for polishing.

Now glued in and clamps off after 48 hours.

Binding was finished on the body. Not easy as the body has an arch which varies around the circumference so the trimmer tries to cut inwards at an angle.
"F" holes cut and routing for PU's done.
Bridge post inserts drilled and trial fitted.
Trapeze trial fitted so that I could check the required neck angle. All done now and bridge posts sit with about 3/16ths of thread showing. Reasonable???
Bone nut fitted with double sided tape for now and still a bit high.
Frets leveled and half polished. A little bit of fine tuning still needed.

Body stained with a mixture of Stunning Stains green and AutoAir Emerald candy.
Back has been Rustins grain filled.

I still have to do some fine chisel work at the join of the body to neck.

Also, as you can see in the photos, I have built the wiring harness for both this guitar and my other one, the ES-1GT.
Both have coil splitting series/parallel switches.
I trial fitted them through the F holes and they do fit - albeit awkwardly!

Tomorrow, I will be applying the first coats of clear. Scary!!!

Photos split across 2 posts due to limit.

Cheers
Ricky