Building 'Woody' AKA El Mano # 1

[2WheelsOfBlues]

Looks very nice.

I cant wait for the result and the sound.

Oh there is coming very nice wheater to us, is that meaning you will be less working on woody?

Theye say arond 27 degrees by Wednesday......


i hope not

[ElMano]

A lot sweat, water, and dust later the maple top starts look like a top, and the headstock is shaped, Tomorrow i saw the cavity's for the Pup's in the top and put the parts together. While i am wait till the parts are drying, gonna make a start whit the fretboard. I will made a fret press the way QXL had for the drillpress
I will do a couple of experiments with saws fore the fret slots.I will let you know what works for me .

Some pics

[2WheelsOfBlues]

nice

looking goooood

[vancouverois]

It looks good
How did you carve the maple top?
I saw on some guitar building forums that you can use a router to take away some wood.
Then they use a small plane to get the wood to shape and they finish with sanding paper.

[ElMano]

I have seen that to. But unfortunately i am not patient enough to fix all that templates. I will if i start an next project. I first want to know if i am able to build a guitar with my own specs. There are a lot of things in Woody that i can not found in 1other guitar but that i like in the guitars i have on my collection.
I shape the top by glue two layers of maple together, (the top smaller than the under layer) If i do it again i should saw the top layer more like in your picture in stead of let it like a stroke But a lot of dust later and a couple of sanding disks on a rubber disc mounted in a drill it starts look like i wanted. If i had saw the layers more in shape of the guitar model it has been better ( less work) So i learn a lot of the building wile doing it

[ElMano]

Hi all followers of my building adventures.
I learn from QXL on his Les Paul project that the drill press is an excellent way to do the fretjob. Because i will use it more than once i made myself an fretpress.
I had an handdrill tool that made you able to use the electric handdrill as drill press. I don't use it anymore So i decide to use it for a permanent press.
O block wood a 70mm strip steel a little thinking and a sharp eye and a stable hand with the 90o grinder

I guess the pictures tell the story better than i could do Any questions?

[elborgo]

Wow! Looks great

Can't wait to see the finished product

Are you able to make the neck "Clapton-style", as in the V-shape? I've only tried that on the signature strat.. felt quite nice. If I ever made a strat I think I would try out the V-shape

[ElMano]

Thanks for your nice comment!

The shape of the neck is more ore less a V shape! I love the support of the neck wood at the palm of my hand. Because of the skunkstripe witch is Wenge (very hard) wood the shaping aloud you to leave more material in the middle. The 2 reason for that is that i hope the sustain and tone will be better this way.

Yesterday when i build the fret press i start with an other epiriment. A combination of a maple fretboard for the tone and a 2,5 mm hard maple top for the color and the looks. ( I hate the scares that you get after a while on the maple boards) I will use a white maple binding at the sides of the fretboard.

I have put the bridge on the top and tested whit a rope and i see that the neck and body allow me to get the strings very close over the body and the neck.
The calculation of the neck angle is almost perfect as far as a can see now
I have to make a couple of decisions for the color, the kind of oil, or paint , two tone burst and so on.

I hope some of you out there give me there opinion.

[ElMano]

Today and the day's before it was hot in the shack. Lucky me was getting the service of my sweet wife who bring me bottles of cooled ice tea. I hav done a lot of jobs on the guitar you never gonna see witch could be frustrating if i didn't enjoyed the building so much. I had shape a fretboard out of an piece of hard maple
that piece is so beauty full that i dint think it will show the truth on a picture.

I have done an experiment, Normal you shape the fretboard radius, saw in the fretslots, then saw the board as a trapezium to fit the neck Press or hammer in the frets . At last as the fret board is placed on the neck you start working on the frets to get it perfect flat.

I did it an other way and i hope it will work out. Because the hard maple is so awesome hard i was afraid that it could be breaking when i press in the frets. I glued a 3.5 mm strip of white maple under it. ( dont do it at home kids haha) It should by better if i had use two layers. Always use on even figures is you like it to stay straight Any way i sand whit the band sander carefully off material so log as needed Place the board on the neck and keep sanding till the lineal touch all the frets from top till body and over the radius. I hope that i didn't have to loss a lot of the fret heights. We shall see

In the meanwhile i saw a binding of white maple, and place that beside of the fretboard I will cut the binding but let it at the frets the same height ( it is as on my Epiphone Genisis) and play so comfortable whit out any edge. It will look a bit like the board is scalloped.

I made my self a puller to get out the studs out of the donor body. It works perfect no scratch And it will protect the stud by hammering in Woody
The trussrod is covered on top toe protect the board against to much pressure, The strip is jammed in without glue. and i fix a saw for the slots of two strokes aluminum



Look at the pictures so far

[ElMano]

Update for those who follow the building process.
The fretboard is glued, and i gonna start to calculate the place of the bridge. And i have to calculate the hight of the bridge. The top is more or less in shape but it has to get a bit thinner to get the bridge some lower. The frets are all most the same hight and don't need to much work as far as i can see now. The press works perfect and they slip in like in butter with out any scratch! When the top is sanded down i start assembling the parts together. I am thinking of made the Pup rings of wood to an put them into the maple top like an inlay and cover the pups with the same wood. I have started to saw the W of Woody as mark on the headstock from a piece of Stainless steel even as the trussrod cover. To morrow i gonna drill the machine heads The jack input is drilled to. Still have to make the dessication if i gonna use oil ore Nitro cellulose paint.

[2WheelsOfBlues]

mooi hoor

beautiful peace of work

[tytlblues]

Definitely have some fine craftsman skills, beautiful!

[vancouverois]

Very nice El Mano, it really looks good!
About the finish and when you see the wood grain I would rather say go for a natural, I mean a see through, nitro finish.
Do you really want to use nitro by the way?
It's quite obsolete and vapors are harmful for the lungs. You have better clears nowadays and some are water based
like the highly regarded KTM9.


The process:
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luthier ... inish.html

The guide written by the same luthier:
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luthier ... guide.html

[2WheelsOfBlues]

Thats beautiful man

What a transformation whoaauw

[roswellj]

Thats looking awesome man. I wish I had the skill or the patience to attempt a project that big. Hats off to you got getting out there and doing it.

[ElMano]

Update: after a whole lot of small jobs that you didn't see to much i have put in the studs for the bridge and Tailpiece. Almost finis the maple top an glue it on fixing the holes for the pots and toggle switch. drilled the holes in the headstock. Just to see if it looks right i made a scratch plate. hummm i don't know maybe First i want sand the whole thing a bit more. Than i start with the pickup rings i think I love the small kind of work and the inlay jobs . Can't wait hahaha I think of connecting the pups and pots like on this schedule

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wi ... h_2v_2t_3w

[HalfBlindLefty]

Oh, this is going to be good.... and I live close enough...

[ElMano]

This week i have contact with HBL because he offer me his huge knowledge of the electronic part and i am great full for that because i don't know enough of it to make some special gadgets i want like a trebble bleed out of fase etc. So before i put the back on Woody i pull in a 8 wire cable in to it, now it is still possible.

But i love to hear your opinion about a couple of things.

Yes or No wooden pickup rings I have vintage white ones, The same at the back Wood ore the White COVERPLATES (plastic)
Yes ore No Scratch plate
I will a bit of color on the top a kind of yellow vintage look. ( A kind of color the LP of Peter Green/Gary Moore have and fade it a bit to the middle)
The whole guitar. Neck & Body Danish oil
The side dots become of RVS 3mm 0 wire
The dots on the fingerboard black Wenge
The name Woody in RVS on the headstock and a RVS trussrod cover.

I want to made the knobs for the volume and tone made of wood, even as the toggle knob.

This week i mounted the machine heads and put some strings on ( ) and see what the fret height will do. I am very curious to hear the on amped sound of this guitar so far.
Some pictures of course. From the back side and with the hardware lay on it.

I love to hear your Comment so far

[12bar]

Gibson needs a new chairman - how about ElMano?

[ElMano]

I had to make a proper top nut, but i could not wait any longer. After placing the machine heads I put some old used strings on the body an use an leftover top nut out of the box of junk that i have. I tuned the strings an Ohh wonder needs no leveling on the frets . Turn op the truss rod two twist Just put some tensioning under the fingerboard. The nut is a bit to high and to wide. But i play on it acoustic the sound is marvelous. The tones are bright and the sustain is on amped to hear for about 20 seconds on the open E.
I now start to finish the looks. The dots of stainless steel and the truss rod cover The side dots, pickup rings, And the color.