Parallel Projects page 3.

December 18 2005.

The main reason I'm posting my progress is that I'm a rank beginner and there must be lots of others who, as I  was, are very reluctant to back themselves in making a guitar.

I hope I can show them that it can be done.

There are other reasons..eg writing this up forces me to think and plan.

This week I have been measuring,measuring, thinking, thinking, and doing some router practice.

The photos are not very exciting but this is all part of things.

Photo 1. Outline of body and Chambers.

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The outline of the guitar and the chambers & centre block have been drawn on the body blank using the template I made previously. I over designed the rims and the centre block a bit The rim is 1/2" on the bass side and 3/4" on  the treble side to give me a bit of 'fat' for the control panel cover. Also that's the thickness on Gibson Blueshawks. The centre block is 4 3/4" as opposed to 4 1/4" ands I have added an extra rib in the widest part of the lower bout compared to the Samick Royale - the construction method I'm copying. The centre block extends from rim to rim as opposed to the Gibson plans where it ends an inch or so from the bottom end. I have made all the chambers different sizes & shapes since there are (unconfirmed) reports that same sized chambers can result in resonances with unpredictable effects...well unpredictable is the name of this game.  LOL

I am cutting the chambers right out (not routing to a given depth) and gluing on both top and back.

There are a number of horizontal lines drawn right across the blank and over the edges. These are datum lines that will allow me to place the glued on back accurately putting the control panel in the right place.

I need to rout the channels for the wiring before the glue up. I may do the earth wire tunnel to the control cavity to the tail piece studs after glue up since I have not finally 'placed' the tail piece & bridge. I think that will be done after the neck is accurately fitted and final measurements can be made from it. I'll have to do it through the control cavity.

I have put the pickup cavity outlines on t he blank but they are of no consequence. I was just measuring,measuring to make sure everything was basically OK.

Router Practice.

Jimi Hendrix obviously was good with a router....he said "..it's just the ..ah..ever falling dust that makes it so hard for me to see.." LOL. While I was waiting for ball bearings & flush cut bits to arrive from StewMacs I tried freehand routing...my advice is...don't bother. Still it was all practice. My cheapo router has a template following attachment but it's offset not flush cutting  that is the cut will take place at some distance from the template edge depending on the size of the router bit used. More practice!!

Well the StewMac stuff arrived & I was pissed off with their templates for the pickup cavites & neck pockets. They're made from perspex and nowhere near thick enough for immediate use. Advice is given that you might have to use shims, but the templates ate nor large enough to allow clamping & router use. At least they're cheap..about $5.00US. My advice..make your own templates from ply to a generous and suitable size allowing for clamping & router use. I wouldn't recommend MDF because of the sawdust issue and I believe the dust is hazardous. So I had a think and disigned an ultra simple jig to hold the perspex template and allow space for the router. It took me three attempts top produce a good acceptable result. This is where you can avoid my mistakes.

Rig up some sort of dust extraction. The fitting that came with my router didn't plug into our home system and so it was very time consuming & frustrating clearing the sawdust after each cut. My first attempt was going really well until I was overconfident & took a 'double depth' cut to finish. I must not have had the bit as tight as it should have been since it bit into the wood on one side and came right out of the tool. You can see this in the picture following. I had used StewMac double sided sticky tape on ny little jig and it worked well. My second attempt bit the dust no pun intended because I was not thorough enough in checking the condition of the double sided tape and twoards the end of the second try the jig moved. Steeerike TWO!!. (Is that how you say it...we play cricket over here..)So I changed the tape & try three came up with the goods...no double sized cuts..just a bit more thoroughness & patience. But not perfect. I tought I'd clean up the edges with a smaller bit and somehow..I don't know..I nicked the template. As I said earlier you should make your own and this is what I will do. The good resukt is the ones with holes drilled in the corners. I had read somewhere to do this but is not necessary. The holes do nothing as the router followed the template quite well ..and taht was the big router bit. Since I will drill out most of the wood with a Forstner bit I will probably just use the 1/4" bit to clean up the cavities. Not only is the cavity clean & neat the pickup mounting rings fit well.

Photo 2. Router Practice.

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Photo 3. Control cavity cover template & template holding jig.

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Now for a whinge. Warmoth have held my order up for weeks past the due date. They have no right side Schaller tuners and the due date has been deferred twice. They basically told me to buy them elsewhere. After SytewMacs service & risk reversal policies I was a bit off pissed. I suggested that Warmoth should source them in the US pdq & ship my order please. No dice. So I have had to cancel ALL  the tuners since no other sites sell anything but complete sets. I have ordered them from StewMacs but still have lots of bits in the Warmoth order I would like including Melvin Hiscock's book. It would be dumb to order a book on guitar building...build the axe & the read the book...LOL

I can put the outline of the SG on it's blank & band saw it since there is no inner construction to design..just a control cavity to be routed later. So it's that task & the wiring channels & glue up on the CS336 to follow next.I doubt if much will be done for a week or two since I run a service business in a tourist destination and it's now peak holiday season and I'll be working everyday...to all you folks in Montana..I can't resist reminding you that's it's summer here!! 80 deg F daily with north easterly sea breezes in the afternoon. If I'm feeling particularly nasty I'll post an off topic picture of the view from my house. Country living has an up side.

I wish the Season's Greetings Peace and Goodwill to all.

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