-= Building a Guitar from Scratch with Absolutely No Woodworking Experience "

[Rodman]

transferring the shape of the pocket

yay

cut that

not bad

 a lil sanding

all is good

repeat

yes

take a deep breath and go

very straight forward, that could have gone worse.

[Rodman]

Now to the part i like most

Body shaping

out into the garden, mask on, and go!

i always start with the backside ... good to see how the wood reacts befor attacking the front

first set of batteries - a success

a lil planning on the front

on we go

absolutely!

so happy

[Rodman]

 

weight of the body?

that´s gonna be not a heavy guitar

sanding and detailing

so sharp

a lil more carving

scraping

and work on the horns - always hard to find the perfect shape there cause you got a million options

 

[Rodman]

 

very precide measuring of the bridgeline, that´s a +- 1mm

point of no return (start drilling inverse!!!)

all is good

need a hole to ground the bridge

 

[Rodman]

 

Back to sanding

and last carvings

that´s already the shape i was hoping for

details

details

details

details

details

and details

sanding up to 320 or 400 (i personally like to go up to 600 and then go back to 320 - it yields the most unscratched surface and still leaves enough grain to hold the stain or oil or nitro)

that details always take much more time than the carving of the body

but for my eyes - it pays - you will never get such on production guitars

 

happy

[Rodman]

Ok - headstock is up for finalisation, lots to do

let´s go for a deluxe version of the logos - carve em

 

sharp blade, piece by piece, don´t blink

dremel like tool for routing with a mini bit

phhh, that´s delicate

yay

addressing the back

just a short test

some sanding

and measuring

we want a volute!

chiseling

that´s going the right direction

a little slimmer is better

like that, yes

 

 

[Rodman]

Creating the right break angle - we want the top of the fret - line to end at about 15mm at the bridgeline - so the strings are gonna end at 17-18mm which will perfectly allow to set the bridge higher and lower if needed

a lot of sanding by hand to create the perfect angle, always with measurement

so so so...

are the holes drilled between the pickup cavities? check

are the sidedots in place? check

are the horns in final shape and sanded, is all carving on the body done? check

.... then let´s go

glue

clamp

 

let that sit for a few days!

[Rodman]

so - theoretically most of the dusty work is done.

Time to clean up

...

and have a look...

Yay - that´s a guitar!

creating a spot where you can push to raise the cover

 

that does work well - so much for no dust no more

 

[Rodman]

April has come, 3 Months of building done.

Lovely weather - back to the garden

Let´s care for the guitars most ignored spot by most companies...

The transition from neck to body is a spot that can be done very cool looking and well designed to reach the upper frets. Mostly its just ugly.

just starting to carve and see where it takes me

ok ... that will do for first  session

Manually evening the joint

That´s ok, but i absoultely don´t like it

we need more asymmetry here

that line is good

going in the right direction

meanwhile thinking of colors and testing some stains on a piece of teh bodywood

let those dry

a few more hours on that spot there

way better, maybe done?

dried - a look in the artificial lights

and outside - lot´s of options... of course that´s gonna be @ kayteck s choice

no. not done.

to be continued

[Rodman]

There are times you wake up thinking - it´s active pickups man, they are active! ... and you grab a coffee and go down to your tools...

 

and you make it look as if that had been planned from the beginning, pfffff.

 

[Rodman]

 

magnet

copying the location

2 magnets, fitting and glued in

and sanded

 

and the same with a lot more of those

[Rodman]

no - the dust is not gone

finetuning to get the electrics in place

and the switches

that must be leveled nicely with the surface

thats a yes

all shall be smooth before

shielding paint

also here of course

 

[Rodman]

So... time to take a moment.
All the woodwork is done (yes, i finished that neck-body transition nicely didn´t have my phone)

All the holes are drilled and set for the hardware to be applied

Electronics cavity is shielded and ready

Time to apply finish...

 

...

 

Kay luckywise had very specific ideas how the guitar should look like

red and black ... the black in no way glossy, but matt. The red vibrant, or rather very vibrant....

My personal experience is staining. I was ready and also already about to go for nitro here for the first time, but the common decision was to go for staining....

 

 

 

[Rodman]

 

Final sanding to 320gr

also on a testpiece

 

some steel to work out the grain

4 different reds

 

There is already one clear winner within the reds...

a lil sanding back

and filling the gaps with black...

leads to a unusable result.

 

[Rodman]

 

i shall note that until the staining i didn´t have to watch any yt or read anything for that build.

By the time of the next picture it was over 15 hours of coloring technique videos
 

 

So... what my experiments and knowledge had shown clearly so far - the only way is brigt over the black, and i was also experimenting with coats on the black to protect the black layer and make it easier to wipe the extend red from the surface, keeping it to dry in the valleys

so different reds on black ground, wiped and let to dry

leads to

at least one very promising result

done that on a whole area

looks ok...

until you look at it in the sunlight and see there is a portion of pink in it

 

....

[Rodman]

Reinforcements incoming every day

That´s the selecion of vibrant reds that could be it

let us see on the black

Yeah - that one next to the one that has not been sanded back looks good... let´s try it

 

[Rodman]

final sanding

 

tipp: use some spray-water for the final for it will bring up the grain

work on the grain

hail mary

stains are so cool

oh my god - i personally would have my finish, and that is only after one layer
 

 

[Rodman]

 

2nd layer

Let´s try that winning red (oil-based)

that´s a (or 2) clear yes(s)

final test!

you know what - forget it, i´m bored from testing, let´s put that away...

... and just go real

that´s one layer, no extra finishcoats

2nd layer there

black is black (very good) the red... i dunno, it´s only one layer, let´s oil it up to see how it would look final...

optimum possible - i will not touch the back and the back of the neck - so much is for sure, and i will be a lil bad-boyie here - buffing the back not keeping that matt, it´s just too beautiful.

 

 

 

one layer of red, oiled once.

In no way i will deliver that.

 

[Rodman]

More videos and books and reinforcements

very very promising testing

and application on the real thing

that´s about it!!!!!

a second layer

final finish - oil about 4 layers and then renaissance wax - the good thing you can buff it to a shiny gloss, if you don´t you get matt. And it´s there to protect the finish for many years.

a small spot repair cause i managed do scrach the back on my many hours of coloring.

perfect again

 

done.

I showed the guitar to my kids one after the other, and both said: "Ooh - that´s cool looking!"

I knew what to do.

 

[Rodman]

i went back and opened another color

did some testing

applied a coat

that didn´t meet my qualityexpectation

and applying another one i suddenly exactly knew what to really do...

 

That´s some vibrant reds i am talking about

[Rodman]

While sanding down the stain manually there - i realised what i had to do. And i knew @ kayteck would like it. Because in this whole build none of us really had a choice though the choices were all ours i went to my computer, downloaded a bunch of Matrix fonts and started designing.

Yap.

Only one shot. Never did any carvings on the front of a guitar.

Detailing

Let´s pray the masking tape is well placed

A few layers of that red and finishing it with penetrating and after that high build finishing oil.

cleaning up before, in fact just delaying the game...

terrified to see the result

I seldomly feel victory.

detailing in detail

 

happy.

[Rodman]

Finish line in sight!?

Oil, a few layers

And wax a few layers

Those Gotohs are so cool

That build took the whole package (100 pairs) and i use to work without

Jack and electronics

String ferrules

very tidy

Humbuckers and switches - a good fit i think

 

[Rodman]

The Nut is the Last Thing That You Do!

bone

incredibly expensive tools - nut slotting files

oiling up the fretboard, setup testplay

 

[Rodman]

Fretboard oiled up with like 8 layers

that font is acrylic based - so protective finish with acrylic gel

believe it or not - testplaying i had the impression there might be some minimal rocking on the 17th fret of the B string....

so strings off, neck straight as hell

measureing and sanding away that potential mini rocks

polishing, and setup

- tuning

- intonation (adjusting the saddles)

- action (bridge and nut)

 

 

 

 

 

 

a lil graphite makes the strings slide easy.

[Rodman]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

now the kids really liked it, too

 

 

 

Thx for watching.