Second build from scratch

[Manisk]

I made a guitar out of a big slab of oak a year ago and it was a fun project, so thought id try to have another go at it
I was mostly okay with how it turned out but there are some things i really would have done differently

Link to previous build - https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ad.php?t=11025

Ive played it for a while now and i think the neck shape is far too flat, the lower 'hook' interferes with hand movement sometimes, the "stealth" knobs are a problem as someone pointed out in my first thread
i feel like the distance from the bridge to the tailpiece is too great and causes unwanted harmonics sometimes(?)

So i want to try to make another guitar but improve the quality of the work and document the process here

Bought some ash, mahogany and walnut


I cut the ash to get a similar pattern to a les paul burst, i also drew some rough outlines of the desired style, also les paul inspired


The mahogany and ash will make a 65mm thick slab that i will reduce to 50mm~ along the edges and 60mm in the center
I havent chosen material for the neck yet, perhaps maple should be suitable

[robin]

Interesting project. Eager to see how this turns out. Good luck with the build.

rob

[Manisk]

Testing some oil to see how the grain is going to pop, what kind of treatment do you guys suggest for the ash? im looking for something similar to a les paul sunburst


And remembering how much of a hassle the frets gave me last time i made a jig with a friends mini-mill with X&Y table along with a digital readout, it came out spot on the desired measurements for a 22 fret 628mm scale lenght




What kind of distance from the bridge to the first pickup do you recommend? (using emg zack wylde active pickups, by the way can i phase invert them just like red special is? as i will install a switch for the battery terminal i might aswell add some more options
Also what is a good distance between pickups? 628mm scale
I am contemplating making a F hole in the upper part of the body, partly for looks and weight reduce but i'd really like some kind of aucustic properties, what kind of pros and cons might i end up with in that case?

[Manisk]

Gluing the slabs






Roughly finished and tested the grain with some light oil

[Manisk]

Attempting a scarf joint for the headstock using epoxy resin as glue


Joint looks sharp


Giving the fretboard a 305mm radius (12 inch)

The jig made my life so much easier (628mm scale lenght 22 frets and i intend to install a zero-fret




The main pieces, i increased the cavity size to fit a battery since i only own a pair of active pickups



All the parts together

[Manisk]

So i have a couple of questions - since im going for a zero fret design do i have to install the zero fret on a slightly higher level?
Also im thinking of moving the vertical support of the strings away from the zero fret to give a bit of an illusion that the strings arent supported side to side

I intend to glue everything using epoxy resin instead of wood glue, i hope to get a stiffer neck and a very solid bond between the body and neck, perhaps to win some bluesy sustain characteristics?

The body is made of ash and mahogany, is it benificial to seal the long grains of the ash by massaging in some epoxy?
Im looking to have a sunburst-ish finish with a darker area around the edge, how do i approach this?

The neck is of maple and not very strong grain, i was thinking about coating the maple with epoxy and wetsand it to get a real smooth surface

What glue is appropriate to use on the frets as i want something that gets hard but obviously not as permanent as epoxy

Any other pointers about my project? ill take all the information i can get

[JohnH]

I'm afraid I can't help with any of your questions, but it's looking great!

[dozymuppet]

Yep, same. I'm applauding over here. The carved top and that scarf joint are looking so so good.

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[Simon Barden]

Zero frets are just the same as any other fret. It's the neck curvature and bridge height that gives the string its clearance over the first fret. However they do get a lot of wear as they always have string pressure on them, even when fretting other strings. So you might want to think about using a stainless steel fret for the zero fret. Stainless steel frets are a real pain to work on because they are so hard, so they aren't something luthiers like installing. But a stainless zero fret makes sense to me.

But zero frets still need a good string break angle over them, and the string needs to go from the fret to the tuners without touching the end of the fretboard or the bottom of the nut slots. At the moment, your fretboard looks far too long. Think about the amount of fretboard that's on the headstock end of a Fender neck past the nut, and that's the most you can have in order to get string clearance, especially with that headstock break angle.

You don't want the zero fret to be too far from the nut. The further away from the nut, the more the strings will move sideways when you bend strings and the quicker you'll wear pits in the zero fret. Remember that the zero fret always has string contact, so evert time you play a string, it will get a small amount of wear. On the other frets, you are spreading this wear out, so they last a lot longer.

You'll need nut files to cut the nut, as the slots will need to be deeper than normal as you don't want the strings touching the bottom of the nut. You'll want the slots to be the same width as, or just slightly wider than the strings. As deeper slots make the two end 'teeth' of the nut more vulnerable to breaking off if caught (they have the thinnest width so are the weakest, as well as being most exposed to being accidentally caught), you could consider a metal nut, maybe brass, just for strength. Otherwise. make sure that the top of the nut is filed down so that the top of the nut is at most the same height as the top of the strings.

The thought of replacing a zero fret puts me off owning a guitar with one. It's very easy to replace a nut!

As any wood glue used on a well-mated joint is stronger than the wood around it, there really is no need to use epoxy for the neck joint as it wont confer any extra strength, it will just make it impossible to remove the neck in future if necessary. At most, I'd use hide glue rather than Titebond, (as Gibson used to do) as it's suppose to be a harder glue than Titebond or PVA. A lump of hide glue on its own will form a hard lump, whilst a lump of Titebond will still be quite soft when dry. But with a very thin layer of Titebond sandwiched between two bits of wood, the glue bonds with the cellulose in the wood and a thin layer becomes very hard. Some people think that hide glue does transmit a bit more vibration than Titebond, but if it is, it will be minimal. A smear of glue, be it Titebond, PVA or epoxy, in the neck pocket, certainly won't transform the character of the guitar. Regular Titebond and hide glue can be loosened by heat and/or moisture. You can't loosen epoxy.

So if you do use epoxy, you'll need to be 100% sure that you've got the neck angle right for the bridge you are using and that there are no issues with the neck such as the truss rod not working correctly, that mean you need to remove the neck to work on it.

There are plenty of build diaries on this site detailing various finishes, including sunbursts which can be wiped (hard to get a good transition) or sprayed) I'd personally steer away from epoxy myself just because its too close to a couple of polyester-finished guitars I had where the thickness and hardness of the finish just killed any body resonance and the guitars felt lifeless. With the deep grain in ash, filling that with epoxy and using it on top as the finish as well will give a very thick coating which I don't think will do the guitar any favours.

A well seated fret shouldn't need any glue to keep it in place. At most you'd smear some PVA or Titebond along the length of the tang before inserting it, or else put a drop of CA on the exposed end of the tangs after fitting.

I do hope that the saw you used is a proper fretting saw that is sized for the fretwire you are using? Otherwise you really need to throw that fretboard away and make another one using the right saw. You can then use the old fretboard to make more slots in and practice your fretting. Frets should be held in place by the barbs on the tangs, not glue. And if the slots are too wide, then you lose the precision needed for good intonation.

I don't think there will be issues as you've also got the mahogany and it's a thick body, but with the grain of the ash running across the body, then it's far weaker against the shear forces put on it by string tension. It might look prettier this way around, but there is a reason that the body grain normally runs in the same direction as the neck on guitar bodies. It might look like the grain runs from top to bottom on a flame-maple topped guitar, but the flame pattern runs across the grain, and the real grain runs in the same direction as the neck.

[Rabbit]

Regular Titebond and hide glue can be loosened by heat and/or moisture. You can't loosen epoxy.

A lot depends on the epoxy. A number of epoxy adhesives loosen with heat. I made the mistake once of using an epoxy glue to make a soldering iron stand. As the iron heated up, the transferred heat went to the stand, the epoxy liquefied and it fell apart. I've also used high temp epoxies for heat sinks. Where expxies seem to shine over normal wood glues is oily timber species.or gluing end grain to end grain. Great for ship building but not realy worth the handling issues compared to good old Titebond.