Greg's #4 - Scratch SG

[Simon Barden]

That’s a lot better than I thought.

There’s nothing to stop you reshaping the neck to make it curved all the way down to the heel join. It would be no different to a glued-in neck for strength.

[GregLane]

Yes! I'll wait and see how ugly it looks. Matching the black gloss would be problem. Maybe I could make the neck more of a matt finish which is supposed to be faster.. I wouldn't even notice that.

[GregLane]

Step 6 - Cut the Cavities


Decided to do the electrics cavity first

I went to the forum to find out whether leaving 5-6mm on the guitar top was enough
Link to discussion : https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...eferrerid=4588

I first drilled the holes for the components from top down then checked that the plan cavity was OK. I think the design had planned to use mini pots although it didn’t say. I had to expand the cavity a little to fit the full-sized pots included in the AllParts SG electrics kit I had purchased

[GregLane]

...cont from last post ...

I cut down about halfway with forstner bits and then crept down 3 mm at time with the router.
I got to 7.4 mm then decided to try the components to work out the depth of the final cut. I was able to fit them all.
Very happy to have 7.4 mm of wood on the top.




This is where I’m up to. We’re live from here.
Next step is the neck cavity
Should be finished by Xmas. hihi

[Simon Barden]

Very tidy work.

What type of cover are you fitting over the cavity? Recessed or surface mounting? The toggle switch looks to be close to the surface, so if you then add a 3mm rebate for a cover, just wondering
if they might clash.

Also, whilst you'll easily fit small ceramic disk capacitors in that space, chunky orange drops could be harder to fit in. The higher voltage rating the capacitor is, the bigger the cap body is. Any capacitor voltage rating is fine for guitar use, so if you have a choice, select he smallest voltage rating you can.

And have you given thought to where the pickup lead hole will go to avoid hitting a pot or switch? The lead on 4-wire pickups is relatively thick and you need to get two of them into the cavity. Even braided single-wire leads are quite thick. The minimal cut-out approach looks nice, but you need to account for where everything goes, and I fear you may have overlooked the location of these leads.

[Simon Barden]

Also, have you considered how you'll drill the cable channel? The thin body gives less scope for drilling at an angle from the bridge pickup rout before you come out the other side, and the minimalist control cavity doesn't allow you to get a shallow angle on a long drill bit for drilling from the cavity to the bridge pickup location. A batwing pickguard would allow you to rout a surface channel to very close to the selector switch location, and drilling through from there would be a lot easier. But you may have planned to not have a guard at all.

[robin]

Awesome looking build Greg, very impressive.

rob

[GregLane]

Hi Simon
Thanks for keeping an eye on my build. I have enough trouble re-planning and re-measuring each step many times at the expense of thinking too far ahead. Amateur ignorance is bliss until it's too late. hihi.
You are right. I had not considered the measurements for the electric cover other than planning to use a piece of light African mahogany similar to my LP and had assumed is would be recessed 3mm. Well luckily there is 4.8 mm clearance to 1.8 to spare. Whew!

I had not though much about drilling the access channel for the pickups other than buying a 300x6mm bit. I had also planned not to have a pickguard so I am not keen to route the cap. I like wood not plastic as you know.

I did some measurements today and decided I need a longer drill bit so have ordered a 450x6mm one to reach from the neck cutout to the cavity. The electric drill chuck was going to make me lift to too steep an angle as it would be over the neck cutout.

I any member reading this have any hints on cutting the tunnel I would appreciate them.

I have taken the photo to show my approximate target area. I think I have enough room to find an opening.
The problem is to link the two pups and the bridge earth. I will have to work it out after I cut the neck and pickup cavities.

If the worst comes to the worst, I will have to use the pickguard as you suggested.
I can also expand the electrics cavity with the mighty little Makita if necessary.

I see you have purchased the Makita too. I was most impressed with way mine cut the electrics cavity. You can see from the photo above that I made a bigger base plate (YouTube plan - lots there) so that I will not tip it into the wider cavities. The dust cover is brilliant. Hardly any wood chips escaped. Looking forward to seeing how you use yours.

Regards
Greg

[Simon Barden]

Good to know you've got enough height in the control cavity. It did just look that bit close in the photo.

I've yet to make a flat plate for the Makita alone. I have got the plunge router base for it, which is wide enough to bridge most gaps on the guitar body, but visibility is much reduced, so you're reliant on the follower bit doing its thing. Had I had just the palm router with a small baseplate so I could see the bit, I wouldn't have done so much damage to the pickup rout floor on the GST-1.

Though I've never drilled such a long channel, I'd suggest trying to make a wedge to rest the bit on to keep it at the correct angle so it comes out at the right place. Maybe even use a bit of 6mm I/D metal pipe to use as the guide, with a couple of wooden blocks to support it and give the angle. Those long bits are pretty flexible, so some support for the bit will help to keep it pointing in the right direction.

I'd definitely pull the pickup leads through into the cavity before fitting the switch in its hole. If necessary, you may have to undercut the side in that area (if you want to keep the cavity shape at the top intact). You don't really want the pickup leads forcing the toggle switch block to move down to get past, and getting the wrong angle on the switch movement. Don't forget you've also got a full-sized pot that is partially blocking the cable exit route, as well as all the wires soldered and heat-shrinked (so quite stiff) to the end of the toggle switch. I'd drill the channel and then have a dry run with the cables before making a cover for the
Cavity and routing a rebate for it, in case you do have to make the cavity a bit larger in that area.

On my Pit Bull SG, I had to cut away some wood in the bridge pickup rout where the channel ran to the control cavity. The hole was 2/3 up the side of the rout, so that the pickup leads prevented the pickup from fitting in the rout. I lowered the bottom of the hole to about 1/3 from the bottom with a mixture of a round file and a Dremel.

[GregLane]

Simon
On the PitBull SG was is the access tunnel drilled from the neck cavity?
Or is it drilled to each pickup cavity separately.
Errrr! Maybe what I’m asking is how is a PitBull drilled or routed to run the wires.

I originally thought that my plan showed where to drill the tunnels. Now I’m thinking that the track on the sheet are channels. No instruction so I need to do a bit more research.

Yes I agree that some sort of guide will be required for such a long drill. Good advice about getting the wiring sorted before the cover fitted.

I did have difficulty seeing where I was routing with the Makita. Especially with the dust collector on. In the end I shone a couple of lights into the cavity from low down. Then had to get my eyes down to the bench level and look into the back or under it. It was very forgiving even I slightly misqueued and made it work a bit harder. I guess only taking 3mm at a time made the work light for it.