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

[Rodman]

makedamnsure it´s straight

cut the fretboard

tell everyone that...

you don´t want noise from the rod pushing against the fretboard... so... bits of masking tape

and some might but i don´t want the trussrod to get covered by glue - so masking tape

cut nicely

i think the carbonfibre wouldn´t need that, but hey..

point of no return - make sure the trussrod is there!!!!

clamp a lot

 

[Rodman]

 

straightening and smoothing

from all sides

that´s a yes

scrapers - tools from the gods

before the scary part begins....

 

[Rodman]

 

most important part in building a guitar - the fretboard radius

i will definitely wanna go for a compund radius with about 20 - very flat for that solo singlenoteruns there at the end...

ending at about a 10 at the nut-end for making that open chords easier

now... doing that on the bandsander is so scary, nerve-wrecking

that´s already not bad at all

oh yeah!

very important

that´s a process of many many hours, but it´s fun

i want perfect - so after the initial sanding its hand-work. handplanes are awesome!

so are scrapers

in the end i managed to get a perfect 7.25 to 20

...

very happy

 

[Rodman]

 

oiling it up quickly for a first protective layer

don´t make no mistakes at fret positions

i check that a lot of times with a lot of methods

doing the first cut with a blade takes a lot of time.... but it will keep the saw from leaving the line

the first cut is the deepest

like that

phhh... done:

 

 

[Rodman]

 

and something completely different...

deciding on the right positions...

and execution

i am using my son´s wood pieces to create temporary custom routing templates using superglue and masking tape

first holes are drilled - then ...

... routing which is scary, cause you don´t see where you are working

nice and clean

always measure!

going for a P90 there, custom template

the only one i have is for humbuckers - that is used there

mo matter how deep i go... somehow in the end it will always be not deep enough!?

you end up with so many fun tools in luthierism

very important: do that drilling down there from the front - to the backside!!!!

that looks like an instrument a tiny bit

 

[Rodman]

 

time to make her beautiful

oh... summer has come (started in january)

carving with a flapdisc

that is going the right direction

on to scraping

thinking about that horns - always a challenge

that´s still too long

hard work

coming together

way way better

 

[Rodman]

 

time for those side-dots

 

 

[Rodman]

My son starting to create the fretboard inlay design

me getting ready to create a perfect neck...
first straightening and bringing to the right depth with a japanese saw-rasp

centerline!!!!

a very precise way is to divide the neck by guidelines

and when one small section is taken away - half the result and rasp that away (oh what a bad explanation!)

after a few hours....

quickly some finesanding

oh boy... that´s some great wood

feels even better than it looks

 

[Rodman]

 

Getting some wood for later

with scary methods....

my son drawing the final fretboard design

"finnish bus stop"

and testing some epoxy

on to scary scary stuff

better make sure that IS the 12th fret

i love that

now a lot of detailing of course

 

 

[Rodman]

meanwhile in headstock-town

 

 

 

 

[Rodman]

 

go go gadgeto Epoxy

and headstock again

 

[Rodman]

 

more sanding

some more needed!

ouch - done a lil too much there, there is a lil valley ...

fixing that!

uh oh...

... i see people fainting

aaaaaaaaahhhhhh

oh boy (aka shit)

.... what happens when you loose everything....

 

... how is that gonna continue????

[Rodman]

obviously i had to turn to something different...

who you gonna call? Batman!

everything that can be done instantly has not to be done later on

a good drillbit and starting the drilling reverse direction helps avoiding tear out

a lil filing

 

[Rodman]

ok... inhale, and go for the fix!

Spent a few hours perfecting the radius and straightness again, asked my son to draw new inlays - and he did so great, even made me praise my dumb failure from before.

 

call me an hopeless optimist - but the upside of doing things twice is you are so much more experienced the 2nd time...

here is after the dremelcarve

sharp blade for finetunung

epoxy (watch that carves - i did way deeper and more precise that time)

so happy ..... right there i decided that for this guitar - i already had in mind it was not gonna be finished shiny and golden, rather copper, a bit dark - the background of the fretboard would be much too bright ... and the waiting situation at the finnish bus stop surely deserves a bit bad weather.... so i went into research for some grainy staining.

[Rodman]

carving to the final shape

 

 

I am always flashed what carving and sharp lines can do to a guitarbody.. oh boy i wanna keep that guitar

[Rodman]

2nd coat of epoxy to fill any potential defects..

sanding....

and detailing

and some final woodwork on the headstock (sanding)

that´s the right depth

the jointsection coming up nicely

 

 

[Rodman]

i had a great idea that had to be brought to life instantly

coffinshapes are beatiful

that will surely need a very custom routing template

stable is better

 

i can already see the final thing in mind

[Rodman]

ok... fretboard is nicely cleaned ... onto darkening

well... i have that gold stain - that might do quite well!?

letting that dry and hope the grain will have taken a lot

on to sanding

mhm..... fretboard is even cleaner - and shinier than before

 

thats a no

[Rodman]

so i ordered some gray woodstain

 

way too dark

on to some light sanding

oh boy - that looks promising.... just a little bit more!

wow - perfect! looks like a foggy day... funny how the grain has taken up the gray stain while it has ignored the gold earlier (happy about that)

clearing the slots

 

insane fretboard - now i gotta match the rest

[Rodman]

if you don´t know what´s a volute - here it comes (2nd most beautiful, but ignored spots of a guitar)

a lot of hard work there

after an hour

getting there

yes - you can go without, but why would you!

 

a clear yes

[Rodman]

 

break angle.... after a lot of eyeballing meaning measure, measure, measure...

hell yeah - it´s a guitar!

 

[Rodman]

the last man guards the 24th fret - cutting the board to binal lenght

perfect

a bit sanding, like always always

oiling it up for the first time

no comment... except .. that satining pure gold (or grey)

final preparation of the slots

very very very important step: triangular file - if you don´t do that you have bad bad tear-out when you try to replace the frets in some years!!!

isn´t a fretting hammer a nice tool

there are multiple philosophies..... but for me a good fret is superglued....
3 reasons:
- it fills any gap under the fret and will not only theoretically but in reality vastly make the neck stronger
- a moving fret makes a guitar unplayable and is not an easy fix - that is absolutely avoided here
- filling the gap under the fret will aid to the tone by improving the sustain capacity of the neck

that is a great and cheap way to place mini amounts of superglue exactly where needed

always support the neck where you hammer!!!!!!!

cutting the ends and filing them down (sound changes when you reach the wood)

fretends.... such importance there regarding playability.
That can only be done manually propperly - so you also have to do that on your brand new bought guitar!!!! (at least sanding or fret rubbers)

sanding starting at 120

 

 

[Rodman]

ye olde horn business...

....

...

..

.

well those horns are so essential for the final look of the body.
For me it´s always such a risky thing to shape those... though the final results till now make me superhappy, before doing carving or cutting i can absolutely not imagine how it will look like - so it´s always kruuna vai klaava...

 

I really like the avenger shape, though it lacks a little finesse. From beginning i was thinking how to bring it up one level ... first the 3d carving to slim border already did some good, and i had planned to build an isthmus from the flat middlepart (where the hardware sits) to the upper horn with again - a flat surface.... let´s see

that went in the right direction

optimal

and a bit on the lower one

luckywise i have that carved chissel to define the edge

 

bringing the back cover to the right depth

plus.... i hate screwheads on the back cover... and despite all the extra work and problems that come with that i really like to use magnets, but i also like to be able to open the cover

so i invented that for my guitars

 

 

[Rodman]

carving the back (you don´t get that on bought guitars)

on to scraping indoors

and lot´s of work on the horns

 

[Rodman]

time to make sure you wear a mask... hours of sanding

 

oscillating spindle sander (though that one i am not sure if it´s oscillating or just rotating)

... sanding is good to finish at 240-300gr, any higher will prevent the wood from soaking up enough oil, or stain.... to get a supersmooth surface i go up to 600 and then finalsand with 300 or 400 again.

a good day