Brians Guitar

from Conception to Birth

or How to Build a Guitar in 62 Easy Steps!
Vince Gelezunas
Brians Guitar
from Conception to Birth

or How to Build a Guitar

in 62 Easy Steps!

Vince Gelezunas
Copyright 2008
Brians Guitar from Conception to Birth or How to Build a Guitar in 62 Easy Steps!

Some Background on Me Finishing

46 Make Finish Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Preparation 47 Sand, Sand, Sand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
48 The Color Coat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Body 49 The Oil Coat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
50 The Seal Coats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
1 Rough-out the Body Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
51 Sand Some More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2 Glue-up the Body Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
52 The Shiny Coats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3 Install Alignment Dowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
53 Rub Out the Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4 Make Up the Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
54 Wax On, Whack Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5 Rout the Back Body Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
55 Tung the Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
6 Rout the Front Body Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7 Cut Out the Body Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
8 Make the Control Cavity Cover . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Electronics & Hardware
56 Shield the Cavity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Neck 57 Solder Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
58 Install the Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
9 Cut the Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
59 Dress the Frets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
10 Rout for the Truss Rod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
60 Setup the Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
11 Cut the Headstock Angle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
61 Troubleshoot the Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
12 Taper the Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
62 The Finishing Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
13 Rough Cut the Necks Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
14 Add the Headstock Ears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
15 Apply the Headstock Veneer . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Final Words
16 Cut Out the Headstock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
17 Clean Up the Truss Rod Access Cavity . . . . 20 Appendix A - Specifications
18 Rough-Cut the Fretboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
19 Cut the Fret Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Appendix B - Design Considerations
20 Taper the Fretboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
21 Add Some Inlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Appendix C - Design Diagrams
22 Glue the Fretboard onto the Neck . . . . . . . . 24
23 Rough-Sand the Fretboard Radius . . . . . . . . 25
24 Fine Tune the Fret Slot Depth . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Appendix D - Time Sheet
25 Add the Neck Edge Banding . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
26 Fill Any Gaps Around the Inlays . . . . . . . . . . 27 Appendix E - The Portfolio
27 Finish-Sand the Fretboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
28 Set the Frets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
29 Carve the Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
30 Add the Heel Veneer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
31 Add the Side Dots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
32 Drill for the Tuners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Hardware and Assembly

33 Drill for the Body Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
34 Oops! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
35 Carve the Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
36 Deepen the Control Cavity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
37 Scoop Out for the Knobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
38 Preinstall the Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
39 Carve the Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
40 Glue in the Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
41 Glue on the Top Body Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
42 Clean Up and Fill Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
43 Preinstall the Strap Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
44 Recess the Output Jack Plate . . . . . . . . . . . 44
45 Make the Truss Rod Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Some Background on Me
Hi, Im Vince and I met Brian when we recruited him to join our band,
Idiosyncrasy. The band was a lot of fun and we played a lot of shows, but
as with everything in life: all good things must come to an end. Though the
band stopped playing, Brian and I (and our wives) still hung out together.

I had milked every last drop out of the band experience I could, and I guess
I got out of it what I wanted from playing in bands for about fourteen years.
I was also getting old and basically outgrowing our target demographic.
What young crowd wants to go and see old people on stage? Someone
please tell Mick Jagger that. So I sold off all my band equipment and
bought woodworking equipment. We had recently built a house and were
looking to do a few upgrades ourselves so it made sense. I always had an
interest in woodworking and I took it to the next level by enrolling in classes
at a local vocational school, Ranken Technical College. After a year of
school and a bunch of small projects, I finally got up the courage to attempt one of the most demanding projects
requiring rigid precision, tight joinery, and a combination of just about every woodworking skill imaginable: building
an electric guitar from scratch.

Since I wasnt playing much guitar anymore, I needed someone to make it for. Brian had asked me a couple of
times to go for it, so I eventually called his bluff and accepted his challenge. The deal was that he would buy the
materials and I would donate my time and cover the cost of any tools needed. Game on!

The following text will probably sound like an instruction manual. While researching this project, I found others
stories of their build experiences invaluable. It is my intention to post my experience on the internet as well so
someone else can muster the courage to build their own guitar and avoid as many mistakes as possible along the
way. Ill cover all of the steps I used in making Brians guitar, some of the thoughts and considerations involved,
and some things to watch out for. You can bounce back and forth between some of these steps, but there are
times when you will need one thing done before moving on to the next.

Please be advised that I am not a professional luthier. I have some experience in woodworking, but this is my first
guitar project. I may advise something at which a seasoned guitar maker might scoff. But hey, it worked for me.
Use this as only one resource from which to gather information. There are many web sites showing different
techniques and processes. Stewart MacDonald (www.StewMac.com) has many articles of enlightenment as well
as all the specialized tools youll need. You Tube (www.YouTube.com) has many videos stepping you through
various tasks. Project Guitar (www.ProjectGuitar.com) has a host of information from tutorials to design ideas and
links to various boutique component suppliers.

There are many steps which lie ahead of you. Dont try to finish the whole guitar off in one night. Take your time
and think things through before you commit to something. And above all, have fun.

1
Preparation
You wont want to attempt to do your own build unless you have some knowledge of how to use woodworking
tools. This project will require a high level of skill, patience, and experience in woodworking. If youre missing any
of those traits, your build will probably not come out as professional looking as you might expect. I dont want to
discourage anyone, but this will cost a good sum of money and a large investment of time. If this is your first guitar
build, you obviously wont know what youre doing. This dialogue will recount my experience on this particular
guitar. Your experience may vary and difficult situations might arise so you will have to fall back on your
woodworking experience to fill in the gaps. I cant teach you woodworking here or show you how to use every tool,
but I can outline the steps in making a guitar and throw in a few tips here and there.

If youre planning on building a guitar to save some money, youd be in it for the wrong reason. The tab for this
build was over $1,000 in materials alone (see the Specifications listing in Appendix A). This does not count the
cost of the tools used. Building your own guitar is a mark of pride in your craftsmanship and a sense of
accomplishment. You can create your own designs and include the components and details you want. You dont
have to settle for whats hanging up in the store.

Before you start whacking away at a pile of wood, youll want to get yourself a little prepared and build up a some
confidence. I started off by reading books and scouring the internet to gain as much background knowledge as
I could. Through that research, I developed a checklist of everything Brian would have to consider when writing
the specs for his new instrument, and I put him to work (see the Design Considerations checklist in Appendix B).
While Brian was busy researching and buying parts for his dream machine, I got to work on sorting out the details
of the design. You need to make ALL of your choices up front (notice the bold and all caps). You have to be
VERY thoroughly prepared because once you start cutting and gluing up wood, theres no going back. It is also
imperative that you purchase everything before you start. You need to have all the parts in your hand so you can
measure all the components and prepare an accurate design based on precise and actual dimensions. Little
things like the height of your bridge or the width of your nut will dramatically effect the way the guitar is put
together. Avoid the temptation to just start cutting wood until youve developed a full scale drawing of the guitar.

Brian loves the Paul Reed Smith body style, so we went to Guitar Center
and traced one. Please ask permission first and dont use indelible ink
which might end up on the guitar or youll end up buying that guitar instead
of making one. I took the tracing to the drawing board, laid out a centerline,
and plotted all the points around the body. Fortunately I have AutoCAD at
work so I could transfer everything into the computer and work with more
precision than doing everything with a pencil and a ruler. I input the
dimensions into the computer and refined things up a bit. Though complete
plagiarization is alright here, you should tweak some of the details to make
the design your own (otherwise just buy the PRS). I tweaked the
proportions a little and played around with the headstock design and inlay
patterns. Brian wanted to personalize the electronics package.

While I was busy on the design and layout, Brian was buying stuff like a kid
in a candy store. There are a few local sources for things, but the internet
proved to be the best resource for opening up the most options for all the
products. As Brian received the goods he passed them along to me. I in
turn got out my (metric) ruler and digital calipers to document all the
components and draw them up on the computer. The details of the design
will start to come together as you let the individual components steer you.

To lay out the neck, you need the nut width on one end and the bridge width
on the other. You need to know your scale length and fret spacing (there
are plenty of charts for this on the internet). The bridge height will dictate
how much your neck tilts back from the body. The dimensions of the tuning machines will place some restrictions
on how you lay them out on the headstock. The depth of your electronics will let you know how thick to make the
body and how large the control cavity has to be. You definitely dont want to find out that you dont have enough

2
room inside after youve got the guitar completely finished. You get the drift. You want to avoid being surprised
after mis-cutting that $100 piece of quilted maple. The photo shows a full scale drawing of Brains guitar and a
section through it. Both are critical to have worked out before you start (see the Design Diagrams in Appendix C).

We got excited to jump into things so we satisfied that urge by buying some wood (December 14, 2007). I took
a few rough dimensions off my old guitar so I was sure we would get enough. Wood choice is mostly dictated by
personal preference, but there is one major rule to follow: select hard woods which resist warping. Brian decided
on the following (from top to bottom in the photo):

! Headstock Veneer: Lacewood. While in the wood store, Brian

just thought this looked cool so we found a use for it. Its only
about 3mm thick and it will simply be used to dress up the
headstock and a few other areas. Oh, get used to the
millimeter thing. It is far easier to work in metric for this precise
work than in imperial units. Where do you mark 1.693"? Or
what is half of 3 19/64"? If you always use millimeters, you will
always know where to mark 43mm or what half of 84mm is.
Dont worry, youll get used to it and appreciate it after a while.
But most importantly, you will make less measuring and
calculating errors.
! Body Back: Mahogany. A stable and lighter wood that cuts
like butter.
! Neck: Hard Maple. Look for straight grain which is less likely to warp.
! Fretboard: Macassar Ebony. This is a very hard wood which is also very dark so you wont see your finger
grunge as much. This comes in jet black, but we selected a piece with some attractive grain pattern in it
for a little visual interest.
! Body Front: Quilted maple. This is where Brian splurged, but this is also the part everyone sees first. We
got a piece thick enough where we could cut it in half and bookmatch the leaves. This piece was
purchased on Ebay while all the other wood was purchased at The Wood & Shop, a local wood supply
store.

We had to buy a little more wood than we actually would use since the wood stores usually wont slice things down
for you. Use the leftover pieces to practice cutting or finishing on or save them for your next guitar!

A note on safety. Youll see that all of the photos of me operating a table saw show that Ive removed the blade
guard and splitter. Some folks will tell you its for clarity of the photograph. I wont tell you that; I never use them
since they get in the way more often than not. But I am also fully aware that my finger might get in the way, too.
I wont preach to you on your own safety; thats your own responsibility. One simple rule in woodworking is that
if you dont feel comfortable doing it, dont do it. But you might not be experienced enough (or smart enough) to
know when something is unsafe. If thats the case, again, dont do it. Find someone who can help you through
the tough bits. It would really kind of suck to build this great guitar and not have any fingers left to play it.

Even though this will be a one-off guitar, making some jigs and templates will greatly increase the accuracy of your
build, and you will be able to use some of them on your future builds if you aim on doing another. A template is
always better and safer to use than free-hand routing. A router bit spins at over 20,000 rpms. If it grabs the wood
unexpectedly, it will take you for a ride in the best case; it will easily take a finger off in the worst case. With a table
saw you might have something to sew back on. Planting a router into your hand is akin to sticking your digits in
a blender. Templates will help you keep control of the tool and are essential for making precise, straight, and
repeatable cuts.

You will notice that I made many jigs and templates to help me with this build. You can make them as basic or
as complete and full-featured as you see fit. Make them as you need them and design a few of your own. I dont
include a lot of dimensions here as many of them will be tailored to this particular build. Use the concepts and
make the designs your own with available materials. The goal for any jig and template is precision, repeatability,
and safety.

3
The Body
Once you feel youve prepared enough, its time to dive in. Here is where some of the real man tools come in
handy. As I mentioned, I took woodworking classes at a technical college. One of the benefits of being an alumni
is that I can go back and use their big and expensive tools. So I just planned and prepared a few trips to take care
of the things I couldnt accomplish at home.

1
Rough-out the Body Panels
The guitars body design has a pretty
front face of quilted maple on top of
the less expensive mahogany
(although thats not that cheap
either). I used the jointer to clean up
and flatten one edge of the maple. A
few light passes through the machine
is all youll need. Then take the
board over to the table saw and cut
just a little off the opposite edge.
This will make both edges perfectly
parallel. Keep the board oversized at this point. Remember, you can always trim a little more off, but you cant
add more back on (just make a sign of that statement and tape it to your forehead). Take the board back to the
jointer for a single, light pass on this freshly cut edge to clean up any saw marks and get it glass smooth.

Since the top will be a book-matched

set (kind of like a mirror image), you
have to cut the board and open it up
like a book. This is accomplished on
the bandsaw. Mark your board on
the edge before cutting so you can
match the pieces up again later in
sequence. Set the fence up to cut
the board a little thicker than you
need. Run both sides of both leaves
through the drum sander to clean off
the saw marks. The jointer is a little too aggressive for this type of wood and it will chip out on you. Get them to
the same thickness, but at least 4mm over your final thickness. Youll plane them down to final thickness after
theyre glued up. Set the front panels aside for now and get the back panels going.

The back side of the body for this

guitar is mahogany, but the board we
found was not quite wide enough to
book-match. Its on the back of the
guitar so it really wasnt that critical to
us. Mahogany doesnt have that
distinctive of a grain pattern so it will
not be that noticeable anyway. Just
like the front panels, run one edge
through the jointer and then trim the
opposite edge parallel on the table
saw. Make one more light pass back through the jointer on the freshly cut edge. Since Im not book-matching this
board, I can skip the bandsaw. Instead, use the miter saw to chop two panels about 50mm over the final length.
Run them through the drum sander to remove any imperfections and to insure consistent depth keeping them at
least 4mm over the final thickness.

4
2
Glue-up the Body Panels
Now its time to glue up the halves. The front of the guitar is book-matched so youll want to choose which book-
match looks the best; it can go either of two ways. Use the edge marks you made earlier to put the boards back
into the original alignment. Imagine that the binding of this book can be hinged on the top or the bottom. Open
them up each way and pick the side you like best. Once youve selected your best face, place a mark across the
faces at the abutment of the two boards so they can easily be aligned when gluing.

Once you spread the glue you only

have a few minutes to work. So
prepare the clamps and do a dry run
to make sure everything is set up
right. I cover the tops of the clamps
and my workbench with wax paper to
keep the glue from sticking where it
shouldnt. Once youre ready, smear
a little wood glue on one edge of one
board. Just like picking your nose or
checking your prostate, nothing
works better than your finger. I also put a very small amount of glue on the opposite edge just enough to saturate
the grain. If you get too much glue in there youll have a big slippery, sliding mess (which might be good for sex,
but not for this glue-up). Place the boards in your clamps and apply slight side pressure keeping your book-
matched halves in alignment. Add a clamp on each end of the joint to keep the two surfaces flush with each other.
Use a clamping block with wax paper wrapped around the edges of the boards. Tighten all the clamps a little at
a time working your way around. Moderate pressure is all thats needed. Youll get some glue squeeze out, but
thats a good thing; it shows that youve used enough glue. Avoid the temptation to wipe up the glue ooze. All
youll do is force glue into the grain of the wood and stain will not be able to penetrate those areas (meaning that
would be ugly). Repeat the glue up procedure for the back panels of the guitar, and let everything dry over night.

The next day, take off all of the clamps. Use a scraper to remove the (now dry) glue ooze. As you probably
noticed, when you glue something up, it tends to want to slide all over the place. My boards traveled some over
the length and they crept out of flush a tad. Thats why you always leave everything bigger until the last possible
moment. I trimmed a fraction off each end to square things up. Then I ripped some off of each side of the panel
to get it a little closer to actual size. This will help in making it easier to handle on some of the upcoming steps
(as well as getting it to fit through my planer). Remember to keep the centerline of your glued-up panels in the
center; trim a little off of both sides.

5
Clean up both sides of the panel on
the planer with light passes until you
reach final thickness checking after
each pass with a caliper. If your
planer isnt wide enough to handle
the panel or you simply dont own a
power planer, try kicking it old school
with a trusty No. 5 bench plane and a
straightedge (notice that pile of
shavings). Its not quite as fast, but
youd be surprised at how well the
old tools work.

Now repeat all those steps with the top panel: square up the ends, rip to
width, plane to exact thickness. Remember to keep the centerline of your
glued-up panels in the center; trim a little off of both sides. Always take your
time and triple-check all of your measurements. You dont want to make a
wrong cut on expensive wood and have to start all over again. Your
patience will reward you. Lets take some time now for a preview and to get
excited about the build. Notice the mirror effect the book-matching gives
you. The wood in this photo was wetted down with mineral spirits so you
can see what the grain will look like after finishing. This effect will be even
more spectacular once the color and top coats go on and its rubbed out.

3
Install Alignment Dowels
The first thing most people want to do is get directly into cutting out the shape of the guitar. Resist that urge.
Keeping your work surface square will allow you to transfer measurements from one side of a panel to the other,
it will allow you to use edge routing guides, and it will provide a broader surface to support your router. Save the
body magic for later.

There are many cavities inside an electric guitar. They all have different depths and some of them overlap. I
thought there should be an easy way to organize the various routing setups and precisely control the placement
of all the cuts. I came up with a system which uses dowels to which you can accurately register a multitude of
templates. It allows easy placement of your templates repeatedly in exactly the same position. Youll never have
an alignment problem nor a faulty measurement issue when you start carving up your expensive wood.

6
First, print up a few copies of your
guitar body complete with all of your
cavity layouts. Tape it to the body
back panel and carefully line up your
center lines. Using an awl, mark the
locations of the alignment dowels. I
used four dowels. Remove your
pattern and drill holes to match your
dowel diameter. Drill into the body
about 12mm. Be careful not to drill
all the way through or youll mess up
the back of your guitar.

The best way to avoid drilling too

deep is to set your depth stop on
your drill press. If you dont own a
drill press, you can use masking tape
to mark your drill bit. Just be very
careful as masking tape is not the
sturdiest thing and it wont stop you if
you get heavy-handed. They also
make stop collars which attach
directly to drill bits. These will be
more forgiving if you push too hard,
but they, too, can still slip. Be very conscious if youre hand drilling to keep your drill perfectly level and plumb so
you drill straight down. If you angle your drill, it may make for some alignment problems later on down the line.

Now youll need to transfer your dowel locations to the top panel and some 1/4" thick MDF for some template
blanks. Dowel centers are commonly available and do the trick well. Insert the dowel center into the holes you
just drilled, place your body top panel over them keeping your center lines aligned (keep your show-side out),
then gently push down or rap the top with your fist to leave a slight indentation. Drill the backside of your top panel
about 8mm deep. Repeat the procedure for the template blanks and transfer your center lines to these blanks.
Now all of these panels can be repeatedly installed and removed in exactly the same position every time without
measuring, marking, or taping down.

7
4
Make Up the Templates
Now that you have some template blanks, you can start to organize your plan of attack. Each cavity will have its
own router setup. This will include bit diameter, bushing outside diameter, bearing guided bits, depth of cut, which
router bits you actually have available, etc. In some cases, you will make a template to make a template. I wont
get into the entire puzzle, but I will show you a few examples.

The first example is for some simple wiring channels. Since my guitar will have a pretty top panel over a
mahogany back panel, I can easily rout a channel for the wires rather than trying to drill a carefully placed and
angled hole between the pickups and the control cavity. My ultimate goal is to rout the channel with a 1/2"
diameter router bit with a 3/4" OD (outside diameter) guide bushing. The guide bushing will allow you to align the
router first before plunging it into the surface of the wood. The template blank (with the dowel alignment holes)
needs to have a 3/4" wide groove in it.

To make this groove, first tape a copy of your guitar body pattern onto one of the templates. I cut half of each
dowel hole out of the pattern and used the center lines to carefully place the pattern. Draw some offsets onto your
pattern 1/8" of an inch outside each of the limits of your final routed channel. Remember, using this bit/ bushing
setup will leave a 1/8" offset from your guide to your router bit. Since well essentially be making a template to
make our template, you will have two 1/8" offsets; a 1/4" (metric is so much easier, but I dont have metric router
bits). Place some scrap 1/4" thick MDF at these offset lines using double-sided (carpet) tape. Since you will be
routing all the way through, place your work over some scrap plywood. Set your plunge depth to just go through
the MDF template blank. Place your router bushing inside your limits, flip it on, plunge it in, and rout away. I like
to make two light passes blowing the dust out frequently to leave a crisp line. Remove your temporary scrap
guides. Repeat the procedure for the channels.

Other cavities will have different setups. For instance, the pickup cavities
on my guitar will completely pierce the top panel, but will not have to go into
the back panel. Again, I will make a template to make a template. This way
I can use the pickup template on the next guitar whose configuration might
vary. This template scheme will work out differently. My pickup template
will have only a 1/16" offset (1/2" bit with a 5/8" bushing). I will use this
template to transfer the pattern to the large template blank leaving a pattern
exactly the same size as that which will be used on the guitar. Then I will
use a 1/2" bearing guided bit to clean up the edges. After you see some of
this in action, youll start to be able to understand how each cavity setup will
vary and how to plan your methodology. For the pickup cavity template, cut
up thin strips of 1/4" thick MDF to the appropriate widths and glue them all up securing them with masking tape
to hold them while they dry.

8
Label your templates with your setup
notes so youll remember each bit
and bushing arrangement. This
template locates the two
humbuckers, the control cavity, and
the center points for the bridge
mounting location and string ferrules.
It took a few nights of (unrewarding)
template construction, but this effort
is time well spent. If you screw up a
template, youre only out a couple
dollars. Pretty guitar wood can be quite expensive. Remember that old ounce of prevention proverb.

5
Rout the Back Body Panel
Now that youre thoroughly prepared with your templates, its time to start on the
real thing. The neck on our design is sandwiched in between the top and
bottom body panels. So we have to make some room for it by routing out a
cavity in the back body panel. Index the template onto the dowels for perfect
alignment, set up the router (in this case I used a 1/2" bit with a 5/8" bushing),
and let the chips fly. Remember to set your final depth carefully on your router
so you dont cut too deep. In the photo youll notice another small scrap of MDF
in the control cavity space on the template. Thats just to give the router base
some support so it doesnt tilt when riding over the thin strip between the
template openings.

Next up is the wire channels. Using the

same router setup (only adjusting the
final depth), cut the wire channels. The
control cavity is cut all the way through
the back body panel. Its easiest to hog
out the majority of the material by
drilling through with a large forstner bit.
To avoid blowing out and splintering
the bottom, place masking tape at that
area and drill onto a solid surface like a
scrap piece of plywood. Now index the
control cavity template onto the dowels
and clean up the edges.

Flip the back body panel over so you can cut a recess for the control cavity
cover plate. Visually align the template over your cavity. Check yourself with
a ruler to make sure youre aligned properly (sorry, no dowels on the back).
Using double-sided tape, adhere the template to the wood and rout to the
required depth. For this setup I used a very short hinge-mortising bit (1/2"
bearing guided) and my template was made to the exact final size.

The battery compartment was next. I transferred the center lines of the body to
the back and took my measurements from the side of the block of wood. Setup
the router and go. You should be starting to see that with the right preparation,
this portion of the process goes quickly. The flange of the battery compartment
will be recessed, but I had to use a different method than that used for the
control cavity cover. The corners of the battery compartment have a tight, 1/8" radius. So I used a 1/4" diameter bit with
a 3/8" OD bushing. As I mentioned, you have to put some forethought into each of these router setups so you can create
your templates accurately. You should also take into consideration the tools you have. Youll notice that my control
cavity has tighter radii on the corners. I do not own a large forstner bit nor a spindle sander. I made due with the 3/4"
router bit I did own. Its alright to plan in some of these efficiencies.

9
6
Rout the Front Body Panel
Now that youve gained some confidence, its time to start whittling away on
the show side. First off, the pickup cavities. My design allowed me to only
have to rout cavities in the top body panel; the pickups wont go deep
enough to intersect the back body panel. Be aware that you are working on
the backside of the top half. Make sure to flip your template upside down
as well. I definitely suggest placing masking tape on the front of the body
panel and backing it up with scrap plywood to avoid any splintering when
your tools break through. Hog the meat of the holes out with a forstner bit.
Follow up by cleaning the edges up to your template with a 1/2" bearing
guided bit.

I love reading the books on making guitars where the author always gets it
right the first time and the guitar comes out beautifully. As careful as youll
be, you will likely take out a chunk of wood somewhere you shouldnt have
(like I did). The best thing to do is to retrieve the actual chunk and glue it
back in. If you cant find the chunk, tape off the surrounding area and patch
with stainable wood filler. Dont skip the taping off step since stainable
wood filler will take stain, but it may not take it the way you wish. Even a
little smudge outside the area will clog the wood pores and affect the way
the stain penetrates leaving a nice thumb print in the middle of your quilted
maple top. Immediately remove the tape, but let the patch dry overnight.
Then sand the area flush. A third option is to use the opportunity to create
a special inlay over the damaged area: creative camouflage. Youll see an example of this technique later on.

Remove the template, and with the top body panel still upside down, layout the hole locations for your knobs and
switches. Remember to flip your paper pattern over and carefully align it. I cut half the dowel holes out of the
pattern and used those and the center lines to position the paper pattern accurately. Mark the hole locations with
an awl and hammer. Drill through with a 1/16" drill bit making an effort to stay straight up and down. Use a drill
press if you own one. Now flip the body panel over and drill your holes to size from the front using brad point bits.
Do not use regular twist drill bits that you buy at Home Depot. These will shred the wood. Brad point bits have
a center brad and two sharp tines which score the wood first before drilling it out. For fine woodworking (like a
guitar) theyre worth the investment. Check the diameter of each of the knob/ switch posts and select a drill bit
about 1/64" larger. Dont worry if the switch posts dont go all the way through the top panel. This guitar will have
a carved top and it hasnt been carved yet. Later well hollow out the back of the top body panel at the control
cavity to thin it out some after the carving has been done.

10
The last item of business is to rout out the area where the neck intersects
the top body panel. Again, this is easily accomplished by using the
alignment dowels. Index the top body panel onto the back body panel.
Using a 1/2" bottom bearing bit, you can simply transfer the exact shape cut
earlier in the bottom panel onto the top body panel. If youre scratching your
head looking at the picture, keep in mind that the body shape has not been
cut out yet. When cutting out the body shape later on, it will open up the
area where the neck will lock in. Also note in the photo where the wire
channels can be seen in the bottoms of the pickup cavities. Careful
planning has its rewards.

7
Cut Out the Body Shape
This is the point youve been waiting
for. You will finally see what the final
product will look like. Cut out your
paper pattern about 12mm outside
the final shape. Use spray adhesive
to mount this to some 1/4" thick MDF.
Drill your dowel locations through the
template. On the bandsaw, cut about
2mm outside your pattern line.

Now sand right up to your line with

an oscillating spindle sander. You
can also you a sanding drum
mounted in your drill press. Or you
can use some good old-fashioned
elbow grease and a sanding block.
Sand just enough to remove your
line. The curves should feel smooth
to the touch. This will be your final
template for the body, so take some
time to get it just right.

Place the template onto the back

body panel using the locating dowels.
Trace around the template. On the
band saw, cut about 2mm outside
your line.

11
Repeat the procedure for the top
body panel. Remember your dowels
are on the inside face so flip your
template upside-down and trace.
Again, use the band saw and cut
about 2mm outside your line.

Place your template onto the back body panel using the locating dowels. Place the panel template-side-down on
an elevated, padded piece of plywood and clamp it to your workbench. Use a long flush cut router bit with a
bearing on the bottom which will follow your template. Cut halfway around, turn the piece and re-clamp so you
can finish the full perimeter. Now un-clamp, flip the unit over, and remove the template. Place the front body
panel over the back body panel onto the locating dowels and re-clamp. Our body design has the neck penetrating
into the body cavity. So I had to set the bearing-guided bit low enough to ride the body shape without slipping into
the cavity. Rout all the way around just like the last time. Now you will have two perfectly mated panels at their
final shape.

8
Make the Control Cavity Cover
The easiest way to do this is to use the same template you used to cut the control cavity cover ledge earlier on
the back of the guitar. The template was made to the exact size and shape of the final product. So using a little
math (remember that class) you can come up with a way to use guide bushings to repeat the exact shape. Our
cover will be made from mahogany to match the body panel, but this process will work with whatever material you
choose; the concept is the same.

Plane the wood down to just barely over the exact thickness your ledge is on the body. This will leave a little to
sand off flush later. Youll be making a template using your original control cavity cover template. Secure a piece
of 1/4" MDF onto a scrap sheet of plywood with double-sided tape as you will be cutting all the way through.
Remember to stick a piece of tape directly under your cutout so it doesnt catch the bit and go flying when it is
released. Mount your original template over the MDF with double-sided tape. Setup your router with an 1/8" bit

12
with a 3/8" OD bushing. This will cut the same shape, but it will be 1/4" smaller all the way. Now rout around the
perimeter being careful not stray inside fouling the template youre making. Make a couple of light passes to
release the new template. Mount this new template onto your final material using double-stick tape. Remember
to stick a piece of tape directly under your cutout so it doesnt catch the bit and go flying when it is released. Install
a 5/8" OD guide bushing in the router, This will produce a 1/4" offset, which happens to be exactly the size your
template was cut shy in the previous step resulting in an exact replica of the original shape.

You will need to sand a hair off the

edges to fine tune the fit. It shouldnt
be so tight you cant get it out. Sand
and test the fit repeatedly so you
sneak up on a fit which allows you to
remove the cover plate easily. With
a little patience you will get it perfect.
You cant even see a seam in the
photo.

Cut the cavity cover from your paper pattern and position it onto the actual cover to transfer the mounting screw
locations with an awl. Use a 1/16" drill bit to make pilot holes all the way through the cover. Now place your cover
onto the guitar. Use these holes to locate and drill the holes into the guitar body. Only drill a very shallow hole
into the body (about 1/16" deep). Were just locating the holes at this point.

Remove the cover plate and you will see exactly where to drill deeper and wider for the mounting screw pilot holes.
Im using threaded inserts which will never strip out, but the process is the same if youll be screwing yours directly
into the body. Gauge the depth of the threaded inserts and add 1mm to the depth so you dont bottom out the
inserts. Mark your drill bit with masking tape and drill as straight in as you can. A drill press would make this
easier. Brass inserts are very soft, so thread them into the holes very carefully with a hand screwdriver. Drill the
holes in your cover plate slightly larger than the screws shank and countersink for the screw heads. This is easy
if you have a drill/ countersink bit. Mount your cover plate and lightly tighten the screws. Notice I said, lightly.
You dont need to torque these screws down. Sand the cover plate perfectly flush to the body.

13
The Neck

9
Cut the Neck
You really need to have accurate and precise drawings made for your neck. I had the luxury of computer software
to help, but you can still accomplish this accuracy with a T-square and a pencil. Making the neck wrong will render
your guitar unplayable. Since the neck on our guitar actually penetrates into the body, it will have a few more cuts
and angles to worry about.

Joint, plane, and saw your rough neck stock to the exact width and height. Theres no room for cutting wide this
time, you have to hit it right the first time. However, I do like to make the first cut about 1mm wider than I need.
Then I readjust the saw to the exact dimension and swipe off that last millimeter. Since theres less resistance
on the saw blade, you can get through the hard wood more quickly and take off any burn marks made on the first
pass. My drawings accounted for cutting a little extra length for the neck. But with the neck taper cuts coming up,
I still have to hit the width dimensions exactly to my layout drawings.

Transfer the important layout lines to the top face of the neck. Locate the
headstock bend line, the nut, the truss rod extent, and the end of the
fretboard. Dont worry about the sides of the neck now since the sides (and
any layout lines drawn there) will be cut off when tapering the neck later on.
Locate your lines very carefully and double-check your layout. Please take
heed when I say carefully. You dont want to invest a dozen or so hours
working on the neck to find out its 10mm too short. Theres just no fixing
some mistakes without going all the way back to the start.

14
10
Rout for the Truss Rod
Its easiest to rout for the truss rod
before tapering the neck while you
still have an edge parallel to your
center line on which your router
fence may ride. Measure your truss
rods thickness and height and setup
your router with an edge guide to
those dimensions. Plan on making
two light passes for the cleanest cut.
Square off the end with a sharp
chisel.

Clean up the groove with a few

swipes of 150 grit sandpaper. Test fit
the truss rod and do a little more
chiseling and sanding where needed
for a snug fit which is flush with the
top face of the neck. You might
notice that the truss rod does not
extend all the way to the end of the
neck in the photo on the right. We
will cut the tilt-back on the headstock
in the next step which will expose the
end of the truss rod. But you should still rout your groove all the way off the headstock end of the neck blank.

11
Cut the Headstock Angle
No one said that your jigs had to be pretty. To cut the headstock angle, I
just needed something to hold the chunk of wood at a thirteen degree angle.
So I took a piece of particle board and screwed a scrap wood stop to it and
I was in business. I made the first cut wide then slowly made light passes
until the edge of the cut just met the line for the backside of the nut as that
is where my headstock starts to tilt back. Honestly, I made about a dozen
passes. You dont want to take too much off or its back to the start.
Remember, you can always trim a little more off, but you cant add more
back on.

15
12
Taper the Neck

To taper the neck, you first need to make a sled which will hold the neck firmly at an angle. A simple jig with a few
hold-downs is all you need. Using the jig is easy. First make sure your neck is cut exactly to the length your layout
dictates. The neck on my guitar runs continuous from the headstock all the way into the body and almost out the
other end of the body. Yours may be different, but this concept will still apply. From your drawings, note the width
of the neck at the end of the headstock and the width at the body end. Divide the difference by two, which
indicates the amount to taper off each side. Rip a small piece of wood to that exact dimension and cut two short
pieces about 5mm longer than the height of your neck block. These will act as spacers. Place one of these
spacers on the headstock end of the neck between the neck and the sleds side rail (see the middle photo above).
Clamp the neck block down. Now set your table saw fence to the exact dimension of the thickest end of the neck
making sure to add the width of the sleds side which will be riding against the fence. Crank up your saw blade
as high as it will go and make the cut. It will be slow with some burning; just take your time and use a steady pace
which wont bogging down your saw.

Now roll the neck over 180 degrees like a log. Add in the second spacer so BOTH are in position and clamp it
down (see the left photo above). Run it through the table saw again without adjusting your fence. Clean off some
of the blade and burn marks with an orbital sander loaded up with some 60 grit. Dont go crazy sanding right now
since youll be cutting a lot of wood off of the block yet. Just clean it up so you have a nice flat surface on which
to draw your layout lines.

16
13
Rough Cut the Necks Shape

All of your layout lines should still be on the top of the neck. Some of those can be transferred to the side of the
neck. A few other dimensions youll have to carefully mark (theres that word again). The neck on our guitar
actually penetrates about a foot into the body. This takes a little more layout and a few more cuts. After double-
checking your marks, cut out the shape on the bandsaw about 2mm outside your lines. I gave about a 5mm
margin where the end of our fretboard jogs to penetrate the body. I want to double (and triple) check that the end
of the fretboard will be exactly where I want it. I wont cut this until after the neck is dry-fit to the body.

Now you just have a lot of clean up to

do to get your cuts to be precisely up
to your layout lines. The first photo to
the right shows a horizontal/ vertical
edge sander. This is a great tool if
you have access to one. This will
take care of leveling most of your
straight edges. Just slowly work up
to your layout lines with light
pressure. For tighter areas and
curves, use an oscillating drum
sander (second photo). You can also use this on straight edges you couldnt reach with the previous sander. Just
pay more attention to creeping up on your layout in a straight line avoiding any scalloping by pressing too hard
in one spot. If you dont have access to these tools, youre shit out of luck. It will take a lot longer using hand
planes, belt sanders, and orbital sanders.

Now its time for a test fit. Dont worry, no matter what youve done or how careful you measured, it will not fit right
the first time. If your neck is a little wide, use a sanding block on the sides of the cavity to creep up to a snug, but
not too tight a fit. Dont sand the edges of the neck as it will screw up your fretboard width or make for some other
weird transition. Remember to take a little off of each side to keep the neck centered. If you need a hammer to
set the neck, its still too tight (and youll likely wedge both halves of the back body panel apart). If your fit is a little
loose, some strategically placed shims glued into place will take up the slack (and no one will know). If youre off
by more than 2mm, you messed up somewhere. That large a gap (yeah, even 2mm) is telling you that something

17
wasnt laid out correctly (its really telling you that youre a hack and shouldnt be building a guitar in the first
place!). Go back and check all of your measurements. You might have to go back to the start if you screwed up
too badly. Once your neck slides smoothly into position with only minor friction, sand the portion where the neck
penetrates the back body panel perfectly flush.

Now its time to cut the end of the

fretboard to its exact position.
Check your distance from nut to
bridge. Hopefully youll be right on or
very close. The end of our fretboard
abuts the neck pickups cover plate.
I marked the exact location on the
neck and made the cut with my trusty
Japanese pull-saw. I cleaned up the
corner with chisels and sandpaper.
Be sure to spend plenty of time
getting the neck accurate and true. This is the most important part of the instrument and will directly affect the
playability and intonation of the guitar.

14
Add the Headstock Ears
Due to the manner which the neck
was cut and tapered, I will now add
on a couple of ears to give me some
meat from which to cut the final
headstocks shape. Plane your ears
to exact thickness (err on being a
hair thicker). Layout where your ears
need to start near the nut and cut the
ears to length. Give yourself about a
25mm margin around the extent of
the headstock so it wont matter if
youre a bit long.

Spread a light layer of glue on one

surface and position the ears exactly
to your layout line near the nut. I
use Titebond II glue for almost all my
glue ups. Use plenty of clamps
remembering to clamp the seams to
keep things from slipping out of
plane. I also recommend wax paper
between the wood and your clamps
to eliminate the chance that your
clamps will become a permanent part
of the guitar. Wait at least an hour before removing the clamps, preferably two. Sand the front and back seams
perfectly flush with some 60 grit.

18
15
Apply the Headstock Veneer
Our guitar will have some fancy wood
veneer on the front of the headstock.
Plane the wood to thickness and cut
it plenty oversize. Since this will abut
the back of the nut, the veneer
should be angled to account for the
thirteen degree tilt of the headstock.
You dont want an unsightly gap
here. Spread a thin layer of glue on
the veneer and carefully position the
veneer right up to the nut layout line.
Use a clamping block to spread out the pressure on the thin veneer and use plenty of clamps. Wait at least an
hour before removing the clamps, preferably two.

16
Cut Out the Headstock
Carefully position your headstock
template and double-check that it is
perfectly aligned with the neck and
that the nut layout line is in the right
spot. I secured the template to the
headstock with a couple of small,
recessed screws located where the
tuners will be drilled through later.
Load up the router with an 1/8" high,
bearing guided bit. Make a shallow,
1/8" deep pass, lower the bit, then
make another pass. Repeat this about a dozen times until youre almost through. Cut through the thin piece of
wood left with a utility knife. Dont make the final pass with the router as the bit could catch the falling scrap and
throw it somewhere (its just about crotch high here). Before you remove the headstock template, drill small,
shallow pilot holes at all the tuner locations. Youll use these later, but you might as well establish the locations
while the template is secured. Clean up the edges of the headstock with some 60 grit sand paper.

Youre probably thinking that this would go a lot quicker if you roughed out
the shape on the band saw then cleaned it all up with one pass using a
1" long bearing guided bit. You might get lucky, or your bit might catch the
grain in the wrong direction and tear your headstock in two; lesson learned.
If you recall, that was the concept used on the body panels and it worked
just fine. But the mahogany used on the back panel is a softer wood with
a less prominent grain structure. The quilted maple used on the front body
panel has such screwed up grain that it just didnt matter. However, the
maple used on the neck is very hard and has a strong, linear grain pattern.
You can see in the photo that the router cut the first stretch at the bottom
just fine. The bits rotation was combing the grain as it went. But as I
turned the corner, the rotation of the bit was peeling back the grain. It quickly found a weak spot and grabbed it.
Then it was back to the start (with a lot of cursing along the way). When in doubt, be patient. A dozen shallow
passes takes a while, but nowhere near the time it takes to start over again.

19
17
Clean Up the Truss Rod Access Cavity
The pretty veneer I put on the
headstock covered up the access to
the truss rod. If youre veneer is very
thin (less than 1mm), you can
probably cut it out with a utility knife.
The veneer I used was 2mm thick
and I had to use my Japanese pull-
saw to cut through. I then cleaned it
up and made it pretty with some
small chisels and 60 grit sandpaper.
To get into the tight spots, I used
some self-adhesive sandpaper mounted to a thin scrap of aluminum.

18
Rough-Cut the Fretboard

As with a lot of things in woodworking, always cut it a little big to start with. Remember, you can always trim a little
more off, but you cant add more back on. Crosscut about 5mm off the end of the board to square it up and to get
rid of the wax they put on there to keep the moisture out. Then crosscut the fretboard about 20mm over length.
Rip it to about 5mm over width. Rip some off of each side to make sure the final piece has perfectly parallel sides.
Check your ends for square and shave off a bit more if needed. Do not taper the fretboard yet. You want to keep
both sides parallel so you can more easily cut your fret slots perpendicular. Now use the planer and take light
passes off each face until you hit your exact final thickness at the top of the crown (err on being a hair thicker).
Line it up with your nut to make sure its where you want it. A digital caliper makes gauging things easy and
accurate. A little sanding on both sides with some 100 grit will get rid of any planer snipe.

20
19
Cut the Fret Slots

Before you start sawing away on the fret slots, you want to be damn sure the saw is going to stay perfectly straight
and perpendicular to the fretboard and that it wont wander and cut where you dont want it to cut. Youre going
to be cutting many fret slots and you dont want to get halfway through and screw one up. I built a jig to hold the
fretboard solid and to enable me to saw perpendicularly without the saw wandering off. Now lay out your fret
positions. You can easily find a fret distance chart on the internet for your chosen scale length. All of the charts
will give you the location of each fret from the nut (not the distance between the frets). This is so that you dont
compound an error all the way down the fretboard. It also allows you to clamp a ruler next to your fretboard
without having to move it. Now you just need to make some marks using a combination square and a knife which
will give you a very thin, crisp, and precise line. Fill in the lines with chalk so you can see them better.

Once all the frets are marked, dont

just start hacking away until youve
run a few trial cuts. If you havent
done this before, youll want to get a
feel for the technique before you start
messing up the real thing. I also
made an ingenious template to
gauge the depth of my cuts: a piece
of cardstock with a line drawn on it
(wow, high tech!). You can also
simply draw the line on the side of
your saw. I used my Japanese pull-saw which has the appropriate kerf width for the frets Ill be using. Make a
cut, check the depth, and tweak the cut until its the right depth.

Once youve built up a little confidence, you can start making some cuts on the real fretboard. Carefully line up
your marks centering them on the saw kerf in your miter box. I also used a small block to fill the gap between my
fretboard and my miter box so the fretboard is supported at both edges to avoid blowing out the side of the board
with the saw. Saw with a smooth and steady rhythm. Dont try to rush things as you dont want to foul the board
and have to start all over. Check your depth frequently. Repeat the procedure for all of your frets. Once youve
made it through all the frets, clean the chalk off the board with some mineral spirits.

21
20
Taper the Fretboard
The process of tapering the fretboard
is exactly like that used when
tapering the neck. Now that your
neck is rough cut, you will be able to
determine exactly how long your
fretboard has to be. Set the
fretboard on the neck, mark the
location, then make the cut. To do
the tapering, youll need another jig
to hold things steady at an angle. I
reused the hold-down clamps from
the neck tapering jig (theyre about $12 each!).

Just like before, determine how much

you need to taper off of each side
and make a couple of spacer blocks
to that width. Set your table saw
fence to the exact width of the
fretboard at its thickest (plus the
width of your jigs fence). Clamp
your fretboard in with one spacer
block making double-sure youre
tapering the correct (nut) end. Make
the cut. Roll the fretboard over 180
degrees like a log, add the second spacer, clamp it down, and make the second cut. Its a perfect cut every time.

21
Add Some Inlays
Inlays on a guitar add that little extra
touch letting everyone know that you
know what youre doing. But Ive
never done an inlay before in my life,
so I really dont know what Im doing.
We picked out a simple and sleek
design (plagiarized from a McNaught
Guitar) that let us add some inlay, but
wasnt some crazy tree of life
complexity that had a thousand
intertwining pieces. Transfer the
design to the fretboard and score the edges. Typically you would cut the pieces first and score around your
pieces. Since everything in our pattern is square with straight lines, I scored first and fit the pieces to it later.

22
If you cant see your scored lines very well, you can fill them in with some chalk. I picked up the nifty Dremel router
base from StewMac along with a few very small router bits which helped out tremendously. Set the depth on your
router to leave the inlay exactly flush with the surface. Plunge your router into the field by wiggling it slightly as
you penetrate the wood. Take small passes until youre very close to your scored lines. Since my lines were
straight, I registered a chisel into the score and lightly tapped the last bit out. If youre design has flowing lines,
youll have to complete the cavity with your router or some very small chisels. Clean up the bottom and corners
of the cavity with a small chisel. Repeat the process until your whole neck is completed.

Mark dimensions onto your inlay

material, in our case it was Abalam
(an abalone-laminate product). I
made up a cutting jig which fully
supported the inlay material. It even
had a small fish tank pump and hose
to gently blow the dust away as I cut.
Make your cuts very close to the line,
but still with a little room to clean up
the edges. I used a jewelers saw
with a #2 blade in it.

You can grind up to your line more

aggressively with a Dremel tool
equipped with an abrasive disk
clamped to your workbench. For fine
tuning, clamp a sanding block into
your vise with some 150 grit. Sand a
little then test your fit. You want the
piece to just squeeze into the hole. If
a piece doesnt fit right, cut another
one; it doesnt take that long.

Cut and fit all of your pieces first,

then glue them in. Cyanoacrylate
glue (also called CA glue or super
glue) works great. But, dude, fork
up the $5 for the debonder while
youre at the store looking at it. Your
hands will be close to the work, and
you dont want to stick you fingers
together on a Saturday night and
have to wait until Monday to get back
to the store. Put a drop or two of
glue into the bottom of the cavity and spread it around with a toothpick. Dont use too much glue; a thin layer will
do. You dont want the glue oozing out all over the place. Press the piece into the cavity. If you cut your pieces
right, the side tension will hold the piece in place until the glue dries. If you have a loose piece or two, use some
spring clamps to hold them down. Let the glue dry for at least an hour, preferably two.

23
22
Glue the Fretboard onto the Neck
I pondered the order of the next few steps for some time until I decided what would be the best route for our guitar.
This order posed a few difficulties for our build, but I weighed them against the other difficulties Id have doing them
in a different order. Any way you decide to go, make sure youre prepared and you do it carefully since any major
mistake will require you to go back to the start.

Its easier to glue and clamp things

while they are still flat. So I did this
before adding the radius to the
fretboard and before carving the back
of the neck. The fretboard will be
receiving edge banding, so it was
necessary to pencil in the edge of the
fretboard on the neck so that the glue
could be spread only where it was
needed. Youll also want to be
prepared and do a dry run of the glue
up to make sure you have all the clamps at the ready and clamping blocks cut to size. This dry run is a good idea
because once you spread the glue, you only have a given amount of time to perform the assembly. If you wait
too long, things wont stick well or you wont be able to reposition if necessary.

Do not forget to install the truss rod; you wont be able to slide it in later. Do not brush glue onto the truss rod and
try not to get glue onto the area where the neck banding will go later. Spread a thin layer of wood glue onto the
neck with a brush staying about 2mm away from your truss rod and your banding line you drew earlier. Place your
nut on the end to act as a spacer, but do not glue it in yet. You can also see in the first photo above that I used
side blocks with thin spacers the width of my edge banding to perfectly center the fretboard on the neck. I used
a clamping block on top of the fretboard to evenly spread out the pressure. Initially apply slight pressure to all the
clamps which will still allow you to reposition if necessary; make sure youre tight to the nut and centered. Then
slowly work your way through all the clamps increasing the pressure in several passes. Since the edge banding
area will not be receiving a finish (it will be receiving the banding), wait about fifteen minutes for the glue to get
tacky, then clean up the edge banding area; I used a old small screwdriver to get into the corner. This is a critical
glue-up, so let this dry overnight. The next day, remove the clamps and clean up any remaining glue ooze with
a chisel.

24
23
Rough-Sand the Fretboard Radius
You need to get the radius onto the top of the fretboard before the fret slots
can be fine tuned to their final depth, and you cant cut the fret slot with edge
banding in the way. So now is the time to sand away. You could make a
sanding block with the crowns radius, but that would take some time. For
$15 I bought one from StewMac. Clamp and support the neck. Start
sanding with 60 grit to establish the crown, then follow that up with 100 grit
to smooth things out a bit. You dont need to go crazy sanding now since
you will be sanding the edge banding after its been fitted. You just need to
establish the final radius so the fret slots can be accurately cut.

24
Fine Tune the Fret Slot Depth

Trace the radius from the sanding block onto some card stock and cut to the line with an exacto blade. Draw a
second line above that radius to signify the thickness of the frets tang youll be using. Now you have a simple,
but effective, tool to gauge your cuts. Place your saw in the original kerf and slowly refine the cut. Check your
progress frequently against your gauge. Work through all of the fret slots.

25
25
Add the Neck Edge Banding
We had some quilted maple leftover
from the front body panel. Its an
attractive hard wood so it seemed
appropriate to use that for the
banding. Plane and rip a small piece
of wood to about 1mm over width
and height. These are thin strips
(ours were only about 3mm wide), so
be careful when making the cuts.
Cut a couple of extras so you can
pick the best ones to use.

Plane and sand the sticks to clean off

any saw marks. Cut the sticks to
length with a fine-tooth blade and a
miter box. Dont try this on the big
chop saw; it will shred the edge.

Tape off the fretboard to avoid any

glue squeezing out where you dont
want it to. Tape off just the top,
obviously, since you will be applying
glue to the sides of the fretboard.
Apply a thin layer of glue to the sides
of the banding and set them. Use a
about a thousand clamps and
clamping blocks to apply even
pressure. Let this dry for at least an
hour, preferably two. Remove the
clamps and clean up any glue ooze.

Using the contoured sanding block

again loaded up with some 60 grit,
sand the top of the banding down to
the level of the fretboard. Sand both
sides and the end of the neck with a
flat sanding block with 60 grit.

26
26
Fill Any Gaps Around the Inlays
If you performed all of your inlay
work perfectly and everything fits
completely airtight, you can skip to
the next step. But my guess is that
you will have a few indiscretions to
deal with, especially if this was your
first inlay job. Dont attempt to do
this before the rough sanding since
the sanding might uncover some
other indiscretions. Just wait until
now and deal with them all at the
same time.

You just sanded the crap out of the

fretboard, so collect a few pinches of
sawdust and mix it with a drop of CA
glue to make a thick paste. Force
some of this paste into any gaps
around your inlays. Immediately
wipe any excess off with a paper
towel in a diagonal motion forcing
more of the paste into the gap
without pulling any paste out. Dont worry if you cant get all the glue up since were not done sanding yet.

27
Finish-Sand the Fretboard
You need to sand the fretboard before the frets go in; they would obviously be in the way. Proper sanding requires
a lot of forearm stamina. This is what all those years of vigorous masturbation have prepared you for. You will
not be applying any stain or lacquer to the fretboard; the strings would scrape it all off. Youll need to get that
smooth, sleak shine without it. The idea of sanding is to make scratches in the wood, move to a little smaller sand,
then scratch out those scratches progressively working toward the smallest possible scratch. Skipping a grit will
not completely remove the previous scratches, so dont be tempted; theres no easy way out here. If you want
a great looking guitar, you need to apply some elbow grease.

Use your radiused sanding block and work through these grits of sandpaper: 60, 100, 150, 220, 320, 400, and 600.
Dont skimp on the sanding or you will not achieve the fine finish youre after. With each grit, apply about 25 heavy
strokes to your wood and about 25 more strokes with a lighter touch (still working that masturbation analogy).
After each grit, blow off the sanding dust, massage your arm a little, then grab the next smaller grit.

27
Once through the sandpaper, switch to the Micro-Mesh abrasives. Theyre not cheap at about $20 for 9 sheets
of paper, but the payoff is worth the expense. Use the included foam backing block and work through the whole
Micro-Mesh series: 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12000. The Micro-Mesh series does
not correspond to sanding grits, but I guess the 12000 series correlates to about 2000 grit. As before: 25 heavy
and 25 light. Blow off the sanding dust between grits like before, but this time wipe off the top with mineral spirits.
Start sanding again before the mineral spirits dries out; the spirits will provide a little lubrication. After about 30
minutes of sanding, you will get immediate gratification. The right photo above shows the fretboard after sanding.
The fretboard is dry with no finish and you can clearly see the fluorescent lights above.

28
Set the Frets
If you havent hammered in frets
before, I would strongly recommend a
few practice runs on some scrap wood
to get the feel for it. Just make sure
you leave yourself enough fret wire to
complete the job. Our fret wire came
coiled in the box. Dont try to straighten
it; the coil will work to your benefit later
on. Youll need a good set of nippers
to get through it. Hold the wire on top
of the fretboard and rough cut it so that
about 2mm overhangs each side. Since our fretboard has banding on it, we need to cut the frets tang off leaving the
top crown intact. StewMac sells a special tang cutter tool that does this which was worth the investment. It cut cleanly
and precisely. Without it, you would have to attempt it with a dyke (the plier type, not the bull variety), and file everything
smooth. That can be very time consuming considering that theres 44 fret ends to de-tang.

Take the tang off one side of the fret,

line it up on top of the fretboard, then
mark the amount to remove off the
other side of the fret. After a while, you
wont have to mark it since you will be
able to judge the amount to remove by
looking at the barbs on the side of the
tang. I used some needlenose pliers
and put a very slight downward angle
on the ends of the frets. You do not
want these sticking up in the air when
you hammer them in which would be very difficult to correct. Its easier to hammer down the hump youll create than
it is the end of the fret.

Support the neck directly below the fret

slot youll be filling with a wood block.
The back of the necks not carved yet
so you dont have to worry about
marring it. Tap in each end of the fret
leaving the middle bowed up slightly.
Thats the advantage of leaving it coiled
as mentioned above. Again, it much
easier to flatten the hump in the middle.
Now tap your way across the fret taking
care to strike the fret and not your
pretty fretboard. After a few frets youll learn how much force to apply. Check that the fret is fully seated by trying to jamb
your fingernail under the fret. If you can, hammer some more. Dont whack on the fret ends too hard because theres
no tang there and you can smash the fret or your edge banding.

28
Hammer all the frets in then go back
and trim off all of the ends flush to
the side of the fretboard. Your
nippers should be ground flush on
the end so that your cut is right up
against the neck (I bought these
cheap $5 nippers and took an angle
grinder to them). If theres a bevel on
the tip of the nippers, it will leave
more to file off and it will want to pull
on the fret when youre cutting it.
Sand the ends of the frets flush with the side of the neck; a sharpening stone works great for this. You can work
on many frets at a time and you can feel when you get down to the wood. The side of the neck is not carved yet
so you dont have to worry too much about marring it. Turn the stone at about a 45 degree angle and bevel the
edges of the frets down to the fretboard. Dont try to level the tops of the frets yet. Leave the final fret dressing
until after the neck is carved, mounted in the guitar, and strung up. That will give you a much better reference of
where youll need to level and how much.

29
Carve the Neck
Dont worry, carving the neck isnt as
bad as you might think. If you
havent done it before, do a trial run
on some scrap to get the feel for the
tools. Start by drawing a line down
the center of the neck. Your neck
should already be at its exact
thickness at each end. Just
remember not to carve off this line so
you dont expose the truss rod. Mark
out your heel and headstock
transitions. Lightly tap a chisel over your heel line to establish the edge.

Continue using your chisels to rough

out the heel transition. Dont use
your hammer here. Your chisels
should be sharp enough to pare
away tiny amounts of wood in a
controlled manner. Then use a
round Microplane (the cheese grater
type of surform) to remove more of
the waste. Just zen out for a while
removing a small amount of wood at
a time. Visualize what it should look
like (have another guitar handy if you didnt inherit the visualization gene) and slowly work your way towards it.
Dont try to get the heel perfectly finished out at this point. Get it roughed out, work on carving the neck for a while,
then come back to the heel to smooth out the transition.

29
Once you get the heel roughed out,
use a flat Microplane to work your
way towards the headstock. Use
long strokes (I prefer to set up the
Microplane to cut on the pull stroke)
and move the Microplane at an angle
to your work. Dont file straight up
and down in one spot or youll gouge
it. Work on each side starting at the
corner where youll be removing the
most waste. Notice in the far right
photo that the centerline remains untouched. You can also gauge your progress by the smooth areas where no
wood has been removed. Try to keep these lines straight down the neck so your profile remains consistent. Also,
notice the flowing line up to the heel. Thats the concept: smooth, long, and flowing. Concentrate on creating
many long and straight facets down the length of the neck, which youll take care of with sandpaper later. Dont
try to finish the whole neck now. Get the shape roughed in then get the headstock transition defined. There will
be a lot of back and forth between the neck, heel, and headstock transitions. Work back and forth to get smooth
transitions.

The process of making the headstock

transition is similar to that at the heel.
We wanted a little extra beef under
the area where the truss rod exits,
and we wanted something unique as
well. Draw your layout onto the
guitar and define the area to carve
with gentle taps of the hammer on
the chisel. Then start paring away
the waste. Always try to keep the
lines flowing from the neck to the
transition. As long as your design is reasonable, it will start telling you where it wants to go; just follow your heart.

Next youll want to refine all these

rough cuts. Use a spoke shave to
start smoothing out those facets.
Work the tool evenly across the
whole neck radius so you dont get
lopsided. Also, pick the neck up and
test the feel of it. Shave away some
more, and proceed slowly.
Remember, you can always trim a
little more off, but you cant add more
back on. Dont forget that theres a
truss rod in there either. Once you get it close to where you want it, switch to some 60 grit sandpaper and
continue smoothing. Use long, smooth strokes with both hands. Further refine the transitions. Follow this with
100 and 150 grits. You can hold off on the higher grits of sandpaper until later.

30
30
Add the Heel Veneer

This is a fancy finishing touch thats totally optional. After looking at the heel, we thought it needed some more
love. We added some veneer to match that which we used on the headstock. Dry fit the neck into the back body
panel. Using your paper pattern, trace the outline of the heel onto the veneer wood. Sand to about 1mm of your
line. At the abutment to the body panel, carefully hand sand the edge to your line frequently checking for an
airtight fit. Apply a thin layer of glue and clamp the veneer in place. Use a clamping block on the heel and a folded
rag to soften the pressure on your beautiful fretboard. Light pressure is all thats needed; dont torque the clamps
down as hard as you can. Make sure the glued piece does not slip away from the body panel. Let it dry for at
least an hour, preferably two.

Use a sanding block with 60 grit to

flush out the veneer piece to the
heel. And like before, sand the area
smooth with 100 and 150 grits.

31
31
Add the Side Dots
We bought pre-manufactured acrylic
dots, but you could certainly make
your own and in any variety of
shapes. Take very careful
measurements between the insides
of the frets and mark the halfway
point. Any errant measurement will
be immediately noticed due to the
tight scale and proximity to the top of
the fretboard. Take your time.
Transfer the mark down the desired
distance with a combination square. Make all your marks up the whole neck before moving on.

Using an awl, indent your mark so

that your drill will register exactly
where you want it. I preferred to use
the old school, hand-powered drill for
this task since you can feel the
progress and judge the depth better.
Drill slowly and with light pressure to
avoid tear out. Do not drill too deep
or youll have to fill the bottom of the
hole before installing the dots. You
want to drill so that the dot, once
installed, protrudes only about 1/2mm above the surface of the wood. Drill a little then check frequently by dry
fitting a dot. Drill all your holes all the way up the neck before moving on.

Splash a glob of glue on a piece of scrap wood and use a toothpick to transfer a small drop into the hole. Grab
a dot with a needle-nose pliers and insert the dot into the hole. Use the side of the pliers to push on and seat the
dot all the way in. Let it dry for at least an hour, preferably two. Sand the dots flush with a block equipped with
some 60 grit. Infill any tear out with some appropriately colored wood filler. Sand some more with 100 and
150 grits without the block. You can hold off on the higher grits of sandpaper until later.

32
32
Drill for the Tuners
Earlier you drilled some small, shallow pilot holes to establish the tuner
locations. If you didnt do it then, overlay your headstock template and do
it now. Chuck up your drill press with a bit sized for the turners. I prefer the
cleaner cut of a forstner bit. Test the setup on some scrap first to make sure
everything will fit correctly. Tape off the back of the headstock and clamp
it down over a piece of scrap to avoid tear out when the big bit breaks
through the back. Tuners which are out of line are very noticeable, so take
your time to line up the locations dead on.

Our tuners had little alignment pegs

you had to drill for as well. These
keep the tuner housing from spinning
around when you install the tuners.
Make some layout lines through the
centers of the holes you just made.
Carefully measure the distance from
the edge of the hole (not the center)
to the center of the peg. Carefully (I
used that word again) transfer your
measurements to the back of the
headstock and indent the location with an awl. Chuck up the drill press with a bit sized for the alignment pegs.
Set your depth stop for the appropriate depth. Test the setup on some scrap first to make sure your
measurements and layout were precise. Drill for the alignment pegs.

Now install all of the tuners. If the hole is a little snug, ream it out a little with a round file. Tighten them by hand;
its not necessary to torque them down too hard. On a tight headstock like ours, careful preparation and design
work ensured that the tuners wouldnt interfere with each other. Now stand back and admire your work, then take
all the tuners back out. You need to install and check all of the hardware before you apply your finish since it
would be impossible to tweak something successfully afterwards.

Store the tuners back in their original packaging (or in small plastic
containers, or in baby food jars, or in whatever) to protect them and to keep
all the nuts and washers together in one spot while not mixing them in with
all the other hardware. If you think youll get confused you can also add
some labels in the containers to identify what screws go to what.

33
Hardware and Assembly

33
Drill for the Body Hardware
It is very important to double-check all of your hardware hole spacings on your body template. There is no way
to neatly fix a misplaced hole. I noticed that my bridge hole spacing was a few millimeters off, enough so that it
would not fit. It is easy to make any adjustments before you start drilling.

Carefully mark the centers of the

bridge posts and string ferrules on
the body template. Drill small pilot
holes through the template making
sure you hit the centers dead on.
Brad point bits are ideal for hitting the
marks since they have a brad on the
point. Tape the template to the front
body panel and transfer the marks
with an awl and a gentle tap with a
hammer.

Verify the hole size for the bridge

posts. Drill a test hole in a piece of
scrap of the same wood as the top.
You want a tight fit without having to
force the posts in with a hammer.
They should slide in with finger
pressure. Set the depth on a drill
press for a hole about 2mm deeper
than what the posts measure. This
will make sure you dont bottom out.
Carefully line up the drill bit to the
mark and drill the hole.

Verify the hole sizes for the front and back string ferrule hardware. Theres two drill bits shown for the back
hardware. We chose to take it one step further and recess the outer flange so that the back was completely
smooth and flush. You know those things are sharp and you could lacerate your pecker if youre not careful. Put
a piece of masking tape on the back to control any blowout. Since our neck penetrates the guitar past the point
where the strings will go through the body, we made sure to dry fit the neck in place while drilling these holes.
Well probably get a little glue ooze inside the holes when we get to the assembly stage, but that will be easy to
clean up. We plan on carving and contouring the top of the guitar later on, so it will be easier to drill on the back
of the guitar while the front is still flat. Carefully line up the drill bit to the mark and drill the hole all the way through.

34
Drill for the flange recess first. Dont
simply line up the center of the drill
bit with the hole you just drilled. The
thinner drill bit used previously may
have deflected slightly when you
drilled. Check the hole locations and
make any necessary adjustments to
the centering. Set the depth stop on
the drill press to be a little less than
what the flange is and drill for the
recess. Check the depth by flipping
the string ferrule hardware upside down and test fitting it. Adjust the depth stop and redrill until the flange is
recessed just below the surface. Now that the depth is set, continue drilling the other five recesses remembering
to make adjustments to the hole centers. Chuck up the bit for the body of the back string ferrule hardware and
repeat the steps to seat them properly.

For the pickup bezel mounting screws, find the right size drill bit by drilling in some scrap of the same wood as the
top and test it. The screws should go in easily by hand and not pull out. Carefully locate the pickup bezels over
their respective cavities. Our bezels were angled and had different thicknesses so we made sure to get them
oriented properly. Mark the hole centers with an awl. Check the depth of the mounting screws and set the drill
press stop about 2mm deeper than the worst case hole. In our case it was the thinnest bezel. Line up your bit
and drill all the holes.

Even though our pickups would fit nicely into the routed area of the carved top, we still needed to add a little depth
for the adjustment screws on each side of the pickup so everything would fit. A 5/8" diameter recess would work
for our pickups. When the pickup assembly is dropped in, see how much sticks out above the top. This will tell
you how deep to make the recesses, so set the depth stop on the drill press about 2mm deeper to make sure you
dont bottom out. Due to our neck design, the guitar had to be dry fit with the neck and rear body panels in place.
Line up and drill the holes. We cleaned up the edges of the new holes with a chisel and some 60 grit sandpaper
to ease any sharp edges; wires will be going through a couple of these holes. Now test fit all the hardware
including feeding the wiring into the control cavity. Dont skip this step as it is much easier to make any
adjustments to things now rather than waiting until the finish is on.

35
While the bezels are mounted, lightly pencil in the outside edges so you will have a reference of the locations when
carving the top. You dont want to contour the area where the bezels are resting so that they will sit flush without
any gaps (unless the bezels you bought are designed with a contour to them). Also, double-check your neck and
string clearances. Again, it is much easier to make any adjustments to things now rather than waiting until the
finish is on. We discovered that the neck pickup bezel sat a little high. Our drawings located the bezel slightly
below the fretboard at its thickest part, but we forgot to take into consideration that the fingerboard had a crown
making the corners lower than the center. We could either sand down the back of the bezel a millimeter or two,
or we could sand the top of the guitar down at this location to make the accommodation. As you can see in the
right photo above (taken after the top was carved), we chose the latter option. A belt sander is an aggressive tool;
take it slow and easy and check your progress often.

34
Oops!
Shit happens! With woodworking, as with playing in a band, its not how bad you fuck up, but how well you cover
up your mistake. The idea is to take your mistake and use the opportunity to make something from it. Most guitar
instruction books show you that everything works great the first time, but that is rarely the case. So here is how
I dealt with one of my unfortunate moments.

When drilling a couple of the holes for the through-body string ferrules, the thin bit deflected and did not come out
on the backside of the guitar exactly where it should have. The holes werent lined up and it looked bad enough
where I wasnt happy with my work. So you sometimes have to say, Gee, that would be a nice spot for an inlay.

First, plug the hole. We chose to cut out the entire area of the string ferrules on the back body panel. Use double-
sided tape to secure a couple of stop blocks at the limit you want to cut out. Drill a larger pilot hole in the middle
of the area which will allow your bearing guided router bit to get through. Flip the body panel over and rout out
the offending area. Using the same species of wood, cut a patch and fit it into the hole you just routed. Take your
time with some 60 grit sandpaper to achieve a tight fit. Glue the patch in place and sand both sides flush with the
adjacent surfaces. You could stop here, but the patch is still noticeable and not what someone would expect from
a custom made guitar. An inlay will hide the seam with some complementary colored wood (or you could use
pearl).

36
Make a template for your inlay. Well use the same concept as when we made the control cavity cover. Well
make one template which is a 1/4" wider all the way around which can be used to cut both the cavity and the inlay.
To cut the cavity, secure your template to the back of the body panel with double-sided tape. Double-check your
measurements so you dont fuck up the fuck up youre trying to fix. Chuck up an 1/8" diameter router bit with a
5/8" OD guide bushing and set the plunge depth. Clean out the whole cavity. To make the inlay, secure the same
template to your inlay material with double-sided tape. Secure the inlay material with the template to a piece of
scrap would with double-sided tape. Make sure you get a piece of tape directly under the piece youll be cutting
out so it doesnt go flying across the room when its set free. Using the same 1/8" diameter router bit, install a
3/8" OD guide bushing. Set the plunge depth to just below the thickness of the inlay material. Position the guide
bushing against the side of your template, plunge through the material, and rout your way around the perimeter.
Test fit the piece into the cavity, but dont push your test fit too hard or you wont be able to pull it back out again
to glue it. You will have to do some fine tuning with some 60 grit sandpaper to get a tight fit. Since my inlay is
symmetrical, the blue tape shown on top of the inlay (right photo above) reminds me which side is up.

Now glue it up and make it pretty.

Apply a thin layer of glue to your inlay
and press it into place. Use a clamp
with clamping block to evenly
distribute the pressure. Let it dry for
at least an hour, preferably two.
Clean up any glue squeeze out with
a small chisel or screwdriver. the
inlay may not fit perfectly, so tape off
the seam and apply some
appropriately colored wood filler with
a small screwdriver. Wood filler does exactly what its name describes, fills wood. Though the manufacturer will
tell you the filler is stainable, it will not take stain the same as the surrounding wood. The tape protects the
surrounding wood from getting clogged with stray filler. It might not be obvious now, but it will be when you stain
your guitar. Then its too late to fix it. Take the time to tape things off.

Lastly, fix the original mistake. Make

a template of your string hole pattern
from some 1/4" MDF. Mark and drill
the holes in the template using a drill
press. Carefully locate and secure
the template on the back body panel.
Now take your back body panel to
the drill press, set the depth if you
need to (our holes were drilled all the
way through the back body panel),
align the drill bit with your template,
and drill the holes. The template helps keep the drill bit from deflecting. In hindsight, we probably should have
used this approach the first time through. Double-check that the holes are continuous through the guitar and clean
up any transitions between the new holes and the old holes with a file. The result should be perfection, and your
client will get a nicely coordinated bonus inlay. Your mistake might be in a different area, but the concept will
probably be the same: find a way to make something special from your mistake.

37
35
Carve the Top
Flat-fronted guitars are absolutely acceptable (ask any Stratocaster player). But carved tops are much more
visually exciting (ask any Les Paul player). Honestly, would you rather play with an A-cup or a Double-D? There
are various methods in achieving the final product, and after some internet research, we chose to use the angle
grinder technique. Its pretty aggressive, but if you have a steady hand and an eye for visualizing things, you
should fare well. If youre not that confident, you can use a violin makers finger-plane. Its much slower going,
but it will lend more control.

If you havent done this before, like

me, practice first. Our quilted maple
top cost about $100 for the one piece
of wood. This (less than beautiful)
practice mock-up was made from a
$6 piece of poplar. Get familiar with
the technique before you go
butchering up the real thing. Since
we still had all of our templates, it
only took a couple of hours to put
together the inexpensive replica.
Install a 40 grit flap sanding disk into an angle grinder. The idea is to use steady pressure and long flowing
strokes. In the second photo above, you can see the somewhat uniform paths the grinder takes. This is the
steady hand and visualization part. An angle grinder spins at about 10,000 rpms; there will be sawdust flying
everywhere. Protective eyewear is a must and a dust mask is highly recommended. The grinder takes off a lot
of material quickly, so concentrate on your work, take frequent breaks, and dont sneeze while grinding. Complete
the entire mock-up so you get a feel for the differing angles of the guitar front and how to hold and move the tool.

Once you think youre ready for the real deal, lay out the limits of your carving using a pencil and a ruler. This is
not an exact science, a rough sketch is all you need to keep you on track. Our guitar has placement dowels
located in the underside of the top. If yours has the same, be mindful you dont carve that area exposing the
dowels. During our trial run, we found that it was difficult to keep the side edge a consistent height. To address
that issue, we rabbeted the edge with a 1/2" diameter bit with a 3/8" diameter bearing. This gave us a 1/16" ledge
of a consistent height around the guitar. While grinding, you just have to concentrate on coming right up to and
just short of that ridge, and then stop. Our trial run also told us not to wrap the rabbet around the horns of the
guitar. It is very difficult to grind inside the horn. The sanding disk is almost perpendicular to the wood so you
cant mind the ledge very well. We drew the offset on the horn in pencil and will tidy it up later by hand.

38
Firmly clamp the top body panel to your workbench. I found a scrap of 1x material underneath would keep me
from grinding my workbench accidentally. The edges of the guitar are somewhat concave. Start on the edge with
your long, flowing strokes. Dont work too much in one area; reposition your work frequently to slowly creep up
on the overall final shape. Remember to stop just short of your routed ridge. The center of the guitar is convex.
Use a random orbit sander load up with some 60 grit to make that transition. Dont carve the center area where
your pickup bezels were drawn on; that area should remain flat. Take off the last little bit of wood around the edge
by hand with 60 grit sandpaper. Finish things up by going over the whole top with the orbital sander and some
60 grit to remove any burn marks, then with some 100 grit to smooth things out. Well save the final sanding for
later. Be patient and you will be rewarded with a curvaceous top that will send your flat-chested girlfriend home
weeping with jealousy.

36
Deepen the Control Cavity
Now that the top body panel has been contoured, you have to
accommodate the myriad of knobs and switches you plan on stuffing into
the control cavity. You might be tempted to scoop out the knob areas on the
face of the guitar first, but thats not wise. It is more important that the
controls have enough depth to fit inside the cavity. Then you can worry
about the fancies in the next step. Our worst case (tallest) control was the
circuit board for the piezo bridge pickup, which was physically attached to
the pot. The control cavity had to be at least as deep as this control. Keep
in mind that the top is carved; there is less room to remove material near the
edges. Use double-stick tape to temporarily place some carefully cut stop-
blocks. You need to keep the extra depth at the edges so you wont route
through the front and you will only increase the depth in the middle of the cavity. Chuck up a bearing guided bit
and use the sides of the back body panel and your stop-blocks as your guides. Remove material from the back
face of the front body panel in small (3mm or so) increments and recheck the fit of your controls. Be aware of what
you are doing and dont route through the face of the guitar!

39
37
Scoop Out for the Knobs
Once you are confident that all of your knobs will fit, you need to scoop out
the areas at the knobs on the face of the guitar. This does two things. First,
the face of the guitar at the knobs needs to be flat so that the knobs will
install and seat properly. And second, it looks pretty damn cool. Chuck up
a 1/2" cove bit (with the bearing removed) in your drill press. Bring the non-
spinning bit down to the face of the guitar so that the nipple on the end
(where the bearing was removed) is just at the face. Fine tune and center
the nipple in the middle of the hole. Look at it from several angles to make
sure youre dead center. Since the areas youll be scooping out are on the
side slope, it is imperative that you clamp the body panel down tightly so it
doesnt shift when you start cutting. Set the depth stop on the drill press to
remove about 2mm. Fire up the drill press and slowly plunge in. After making the cut, dont unclamp yet. Check
to see how much meat you still have at the hole. Some controls only have about 3mm of threads on the post;
some have more. You want your scoops to generate some visual impact, but you dont want the knobs sitting too
low either. Its a little bit of a balancing act, but we fine tuned our depth stop so that we were left with about a 1"
wide scoop at each knob.

Using some 60 grit sandpaper, gently

shape and rollover the edge of each
dish so they blend and flow with the
face of the guitar. Follow that up with
some 100 grit to smooth things out.
Then place the guitar in some low-
angled, grazing light and fondle
yourself.

38
Preinstall the Controls
You will still have to fine tune the
control cavity depth at some of your
knobs. You can route down a little
more at the entire area, or you can
countersink a single hole with a
forstner bit. Fit and install all of the
controls so that you know they will all
fit. Then take them all back out store
them in a place where they wont get
dusty.

40
39
Carve the Back
Start off by easing the sharp edge
around the back of the body panel
with an 1/8" radius, bearing guided,
round-over bit. You dont have to
carve out the boob pocket on the
back, but it does make the guitar a
little more comfortable to play while
sitting down, and it doesnt take that
long. Carving the back is much like
carving the top, theres just less
carving to do. Freehand sketch the
limits of your carving on the back and side of the body panel. Use an angle grinder with a 40 grit flap sanding disk
installed. The mahogany back is a much softer wood than the maple front, so take smooth, gentle, and flowing
passes with the grinder. Make sure everything blends together nicely.

Further smooth and round things out

with your orbital sander loaded with
some 60 grit. Then fine tune the
blending by hand and remove any
router marks around the edges with
some 60 grit. Follow that up with
some 100 grit by hand to smooth it all
out.

40
Glue in the Neck
Keeping all the pieces separated up to this point has proven to be a very good approach. It allowed tool access
to certain areas which couldnt have been reached otherwise. It protected the neck and the expensive top while
other aggressive maneuvers were being carried out. It allowed replacement of a single piece if someone (me)
broke something (the neck).

Tape off the area around the neck cavity. This will make clean up much easier. I know this is the middle of the
sandwich which no one will see anyway, but I have OCD and everything has to be kept neat and clean. Use a
finger to spread around the glue and a brush to get into the tight spots. A thin layer of glue is all you need. Dont
go overboard or youll have a ton of squeeze out to deal with. Experience will let you know how much glue is
good. Use your deep throated clamps and clamping blocks on top and bottom to evenly disperse the pressure.
You could probably remove the clamps after an hour or so, but this is a very important connection. Just let it sit
overnight. The next day, remove the clamps and if needed, sand the joint perfectly flush.

41
41
Glue on the Top Body Panel
Dry fit the top and trace around the
pickup cavities and anywhere else
you dont want glue to be. It is also a
good precaution to tape off the neck
to make glue ooze clean up easier.

Dribble in some glue into the dowel

holes and push in the dowels.
Drizzle on some glue over the whole
face of the panel and use a finger to
spread out an even layer (we used
Titebond II glue for just about
everything). Dont put glue in the
pickup cavity locations you penciled
in earlier. Make sure you go right up
to the edges of the guitar. Get into
any narrow spots with a brush. You
need to work quickly. Theres a lot of area to cover and you dont want the glue to start drying out before the top
goes on. Again, only experience will tell you how much glue to use. Obviously you want enough to stick it, but
not too much where youre left with a sticky mess. Compare the photo above (the one where Im brushing) with
the amount of ooze in the final clamp up shown below.

Locate the top body panel over the

dowels and push it into its final
resting place. Then screw on every
clamp you own (literally). Use
clamping blocks down the middle
(top and bottom) with deep throated
clamps to apply strong pressure over
the neck. Use light duty clamps (with
pads, no blocks) about every 2"
around the entire perimeter. Do not
clamp over the control cavity since
there is nothing there to back it up and you dont want to crack the wood. Carefully inspect that there are no gaps
around the edge where the front and back body panels join. If you see a gap, add another clamp. Dont try to
clean up any glue ooze, just let it dry where it oozed (see previous ooze discussion). Leave everything sit
overnight to insure that the glue is totally cured.

42
42
Clean Up and Fill Up
Take off all the clamps. The edges
may not be perfectly aligned, so hit
the abutment with some 60 grit
sandpaper to flush things up. Follow
that up with some 100 grit to smooth
things out. You can sand with or
without a sanding block depending
on the situation. Sanding without the
block gives you a little more feel and
access to the tough curves. Use the
block on broader areas which makes
it easier on the hands. I prefer a foam block which conforms around the curves.

You want your dream machine to be

perfect, so inspect the entire glue up
for any small gaps. If you find any,
tape off the area, select some
appropriately colored wood filler, and
fill the voids. Remove the tape
immediately and just let the filler sit
until its completely dry, about an
hour. Dont go fussing with it until its
dry; youll just mess it up. Once its
dry, hit it with some 100 grit
sandpaper to take down the high spots.

Some glue may have oozed into some of your pre-drilled holes. Inspect
your string holes and the pickup bezel holes and gently re-drill them where
needed to open them back up again. Check for any ooze into the control
cavity and clean that up with a chisel.

43
43
Preinstall the Strap Locks
Its a personal pet peeve, but I think
it just looks bad to screw a flat thing
to a round thing. Im talking about a
strap lock on the horn of a guitar. It
only takes a few extra minutes to
recess the mounting area to create a
nice flat on flat connection. Mark the
center of the horn. Measure the
diameter of the base of the strap lock
and select an appropriately sized
forstner bit. Drill the horn so that you
create a flat spot. Dont drill too deep or you wont be able to slide on your strap.

Now predrill for the mounting screw.

Mark the desired depth on your drill
bit with some tape. Try to drill so that
youre perpendicular and straight in.
Test fit the strap lock.

The other strap lock sits flat on the

butt end of the guitar, so you wont
have to recess the mounting area
there, but still predrill for the screw
and test fit it. With both strap locks
installed, try the guitar on for the first time. After you air-guitar for a while, remove the hardware and store it in a
safe place.

44
Recess the Output Jack Plate
Another nice (optional) finishing touch is to recess the output jack plate. Hey, its a custom guitar; why not? The
routing method which we used to make the guitar created a jack slot which was just a little too deep. I suppose
we could have drilled a hole to avoid this patch, but we would have needed to drill a 1" diameter hole accurately
into the end of the guitar, which would not have been that easy either.

Test fit the output jack and size a small patch of the same species and grain direction as the back body panel.
Take your time to get a tight fit. Leave the exposed end a little proud of the surface, then you can sand it perfectly
flush later. Glue and clamp it up. Leave it to set up for an hour, preferably two. Then remove the clamp and sand
it flush.

44
The next step is just like inlaying the
fretboard; were just inlaying a plate
instead. I bought the neat Dremel
routing base, I might as well get
some mileage out of it. Mount the
jack plate to the jack and test fit the
assembly. Center it up and scribe
around the plate with a sharp Exacto
knife. Chuck up a 1/16" diameter
router bit in your Dremel and set the
depth to match that of the jack plate.
Carefully rout out the area being mindful to keep the base as flat as you can on the curved surface.

I like to get very close to the scribed

line with the router, then I can finish it
off with a small chisel which I can
register into that scribed line. Clean
up the bottom of the recess perfectly
flat with your chisel. Test fit the plate
periodically to make sure you have a
nice, tight fit. Once youre satisfied,
predrill for the mounting screws and
fit the assembly. Then remove the
hardware and store it in a safe place.

45
Make the Truss Rod Cover
As long as were going crazy with recessing all of the hardware, why stop now; my time is cheap? For a clean
look, were going to make our truss rod cover out of the same material as the headstock, well inlay it flush, and
well even hide the mounting screw for an almost invisible installation.

Trace the outline of the cover plate onto some scrap wood of the same species as the headstock. Try to select
a piece with similar color and grain pattern. Using a sanding disk in the table saw (my newest favorite tool), sand
the piece right up to your line. Finish the sanding by hand with some 100 grit in a sanding block.

45
Dry fit the nut, locate your truss rod cover, and scribe around it with a sharp Exacto knife. Just like inlaying the
jack plate, use a Dremel tool in a router base to remove material. Set the depth to just less than the depth of the
cover and work very close to your scribed line. Then finish it off with a small chisel registering it into your scribed
line. Clean up the bottom and sides with a chisel. Get into the tight corners with some sandpaper stuck to a stick.
Since well be screwing our cover on from the back of the neck, well need to add some meat in which to seat the
screw. Make a small wedge from some scrap maple. Take your time to get a tight fit. Place the wedge into the
slot, add a couple drops of super glue, and press the cover plate into place. Dont go overboard on the glue or
your cover will be permanently stuck in place. Clamp it up for an hour, preferably two. Then remove your cover
plate with wedge affixed to the back of it.

Choose a drill bit which will allow a small, #2 screw to slide through without the threads catching. Put some
masking tape on the back of the neck to avoid any blowout. Drill through the bottom of the truss rod channel and
out the back of the neck paying attention to keep the drill perpendicular and straight. Fit the cover into place.
Chuck up a drill bit sized to catch the threads of the screw. From the back of the guitar, predrill through your hole
and into the back of the wedge for the mounting screw being careful not to drill through the front of the cover plate.
Gently drive in the mounting screw; dont over-tighten it. Flip the guitar over and sand the cover plate perfectly
flush with some 60 grit, then hit it with some 100 grit to smooth things out. With the busy pattern of our lacewood
headstock, the cover blends in and is almost completely invisible.

46
Finishing

46
Make Finish Samples
You dont have to wait until the guitar is done before you start testing your finish. This can run concurrently with
many of the previous steps. It only takes a minute to wipe on some stain. Plus it gets you a little excited while
youre performing some of the more mundane tasks.

No matter what recipe you use for you color and clear coats, take the time
to test your finish on some scraps from the actual guitar. Dont stop your
testing with just your color coat, carry it through to about three coats of your
clear finish. Each coat will slightly alter the color and bring a different sheen
to the finish. You definitely do not want any surprises at this point. Our first
sample (on top) was too light on the left and too red on the right. Our
second sample (on the bottom) was a shade darker, but still not where we
wanted it. Our third sample (in the middle) was right on with our color coat,
but when we continued through our subsequent coats, the appearance
darkened up quite up bit more than we expected. Our fourth sample (not
shown; its on the back of the bottom sample) came out just right. Keep
track of your recipes so you can duplicate them on the actual guitar. It might be hard to see in the photo, but you
can make out some scribbles on the edges of the boards noting the color and number of coats used.

From the work on our finish test pieces, here is the big picture on where were going. Ill break down the
discussion on each step as its covered.
! Finish sand
! 1 coat of Golden Brown Dye
! 1 coat of Boiled Linseed Oil
! 4 coats of Orange Shellac
! 30 coats of High Gloss Lacquer
! Rub out with Micro-Mesh abrasives

47
Sand, Sand, Sand
After months of watching from the
sidelines, Brian finally got sent into
the game. He found something with
which he was comfortable doing, and
I was all too happy to let him take
over. Now repeat this to yourself
over and over again: Do not skimp
on the sanding. Some scratches are
not evident until you smear on the
stain. Then the stain concentrates a
bunch of color into that scratch and
makes it stand out proudly. At that point, its impossible to spot sand and re-stain. Its too late to do anything
about it except to start sanding the whole guitar all over again back down to bare wood.

Now for a few comments on sanding technique:

! The idea of sanding is to make scratches in the wood, move to a little smaller sand, then scratch out those
scratches progressively working toward the smallest possible scratch. Skipping a grit will not completely
remove the previous scratch, so dont be tempted; theres no easy way out here.

47
 ! Work on a padded surface so you dont create more scratches.
! Use a brand new piece of sandpaper for each grit. Now is not the time to try to save forty cents on paper.
If theres no sand on the paper, it wont do what its supposed to do.
! Use a foam, cork, or felt sanding block where possible. This will alleviate a lot of hand fatigue and help
keep things level. Use your fingers to work on the tight spots.
! Cross-grain sanding is very noticeable, so sand with the grain or at no more than about a 30 degree angle
to the grain. Your final pass with each grit should run with the grain.
! Sand enough to make sure you remove all the scratches from the previous grit. Then sand with that grit
a little more just to be sure. Take your time and work through each grit slowly and methodically. Achieve
that disembodied level of Zen or sand in time to some music, whatever works for you. This will take about
20 minutes per grit (about 2 1/2 hours total). Split it up over a couple-three days if you want.
! Start with 60 grit and concentrate on leveling out any deep scratches
that may have come up during the build. These first grits are the
most important as they take out the largest scratches. Some
scratches may not be immediately evident. Wiping on some naptha
or mineral spirits will darken the wood a little without raising the grain
like water will. I like to use naptha as it evaporates more quickly
than mineral spirits, but either will work. Put on a bright light and get
close to the surface to investigate where more sanding is needed.
! Work through all these grits: 60, 100, 150, 220, 320, 400, and 600.
Spend extra care on the first couple of grits as those will level out the
big scratches. You cant do any serious leveling with the higher
grits.
! When changing grits, blow off the surface of the guitar and wipe off any residual dust. If you move up to
220 grit while 150 grit sand is still on the surface, youll do nothing but continue pushing that 150 grit sand
around.
! This takes some time, but be very picky and dont get lazy as this will directly effect the final appearance
of your guitar. People will not see the hundred-plus hours of your wonderful woodworking skills through
a fucked up paint job.

48
The Color Coat

Its a good idea to do your finishing in a separate room from your woodworking and all the associated sawdust.
If you dont have a spare space, dont apply finish on the same day youre cutting wood. You also need to make
something to hold your guitar off the table so youre not laying it down on the newly applied finish. This doesnt
have to be anything exotic. We used two screws driven through a piece of scrap wood. The screws are spaced
so that the points support the inside ledge of the battery compartment where they wont gouge or scratch the finish.
Now tape off everything you dont want colored. Our neck will remain natural, so we taped it off. You also want
to tape off the insides of the pickups cavities (the bottoms and sides) and all the other penetrations and holes.
Tape off the control cavity and the battery compartment if you have one. You will not want a build up of finish
getting into all those nooks or your knobs and other hardware may not fit right later.

48
down with naptha or mineral spirits
on a clean rag and follow that up with
a vacuum to suck out the remaining
dust. Avoid blowing out the dust as
that will just kick the dust up into the
air where it may decide to fall back
down onto your newly applied (and
sticky) finish. Follow that up with a
thorough rub down with a tack cloth
to remove any remaining dust.

Now that youre ready, its time to throw on some color. I believe dyes are
a better finish over stains. Dyes have smaller color particles which can
better get into tighter grains like maple resulting in a more even coat. They
are available in a whole rainbow or colors (including reds, blues, greens,
etc.). They offer better control over concentrations and dilutions since you
mix it yourself. We used TransTint dye in Golden Brown mixed with
denatured alcohol as the solvent (Bekhol is the brand name). From our test
pieces we chose to use a very diluted blend to achieve a very light brown
overall tone. Sorry, we did not keep the exact dye to solvent ratio as we got
there through a some trial and error. We would not be able to duplicate it
exactly, but we made sure we had enough to color the whole guitar. About
4 ounces of the mixture would be enough, but make a little more just in case.

Get a smooth, clean rag and fold it

over a few times to give the dye
something to soak in to. Turn the
guitar face down to work on the back
first. Load up the rag and coat the
surface. Since the alcohol dries fairly
quickly, youll want to work fast. Try
not to leave any puddles which will
soak in at a different rate. Use a
small brush to get into the tight areas
and follow up that up with wiping
those areas with a rag.

Flip the guitar over without touching

the new finish and rest the guitar on
your screw jacks with the neck
supported by a block of wood. Coat
the sides first, then move to the front
surface the same way. As long you
work quickly, the dye is a little
forgiving since you can wipe over an
area several times without puddling
and getting dark spots. Double-
check everything so that you wipe up
any runs. Dont forget to color your headstock, control cavity cover, and truss rod cover (if you made any of those
from wood like we did). One coat is all it takes. Let it dry overnight. When you first apply the dye, the guitar will
look spectacular, but it will dry down to a more muted tone. It would be nice to keep that spectacular wet look
you see in the first photo above. Thats what the following coat will get you; the oil coat.

49
49
The Oil Coat
To keep that awesome wet look,
apply some boiled linseed oil. Its a
little old-school, but sometimes its
best to stick with the tried and true.
Its foolproof to use and will pop the
grain out tremendously. It will also
bring a bit of an amber tone to the
party, but if you made your test
pieces, there wont be any surprises.

The technique of application is to

generously coat the surface (go ahead a puddle this one on), let it sit for about 5 minutes to soak in, then wipe off
the excess. Its impossible to over-apply; the grain will only soak up what it can. The oil will penetrate the grain
and make our quilted maple three dimensional.

Let the guitar sit for about 20

minutes, then come back and wipe
down the whole guitar again with a
new, clean rag. This will remove any
oil which may have leached out of
the pores. Check it again after
another hour and give it another
wipe. The result in the rightmost
photo is spectacular. Believe it or
not, the finish here is fully dried; the
visual texture is impressive. One
coat is all it takes. Let it dry for two nights.

50
The Seal Coats
The purposes of applying sealing coats are twofold. First, you want to fill in any
open pours in the grain so that the lacquer which well be applying next will lay
down perfect and smooth. Second, lacquer thinner is more or less toxic and it
will eat through just about anything, except shellac. The shellac will seal our
previous work and protect it from any funky chemical reactions we might get
from applying the lacquer directly over the dye and oil.

You can buy premixed shellac, but I prefer to make my own by dissolving shellac
flakes in denatured alcohol. This way I can control the color and concentration.
Shellac flakes come in several colors: blonde, orange, and garnet. Blonde is
very pale and garnet is pretty dark. We chose the middle tone, orange, to layer
on more of the amber tones. The layering of colors will reflect light differently emphasizing the three dimensional figure
of the wood. The surface of the guitar will appear to move as you walk past, kind of like a hologram.

I will make what is called a two pound cut mixture which is basically just an average concentration of flakes to solvent.
When its applied, the solvent will evaporate off leaving the little dissolved shellac bits behind. The directions on the can
of shellac flakes said for a two pound cut, mix 2 ounces of flakes with 8 ounces of denatured alcohol. Dump them both
into an old jar (in our case, a Frontera Chipotle Salsa vessel, excellent flavor) and shake them up. Let it sit overnight and
shake it some more. It should completely dissolve in about 24 hours. This should make enough shellac for the four
coats well be applying.

50
Prepare the surface of the wood by throughly wiping it with a tack cloth to remove any dust. Make sure all of your
little holes and penetrations are filled so theyre not clogged by the following coats which will be built up. For holes
too small for wadded up tape, try some small screws. To get an even coat, you will have to spray-apply everything
from here on out. There is no way you can brush or wipe it on and have it look good. To remove any undissolved
shellac flakes, strain your mixture through a disposable paper filter-funnel or an old T-shirt into your spray guns
reservoir.

Now for a few comments on spraying technique:

! Please spray in a well ventilated area, your garage, or outside in the shade somewhere. I wrapped a
corner of the basement off with plastic sheeting. If possible, spray in an area other than your woodworking
shop to cut down on any stray dust getting on your finish.
! Please wear a good respirator; a cloth dust mask will not do. Just think about it, shellac and lacquer are
specifically designed to stick to anything and dry hard. That includes your nose, throat, and lungs. The
first time a sprayed something, I did not use a respirator. The next day I was sick and blowing chunks of
stain filled mucus out my nose. Dont learn the hard way.
! The solvents used (alcohol and lacquer thinner) are not only flammable, but in a sprayed state, they are
combustible and explosive. Dont spray near an open flame (like a cigarette or a pilot light).
! Test your setup on a piece of scrap wood. Make any adjustments to your gun before you start messing
up your guitar. Get a feel for the amount of spray and the speed you will need to be moving.
! Be patient! Runs, drips, and sags are bad. If you make any, you will have to completely sand them out
and start over. Dont try to rush things or all of your hard woodwork will look like crap.
! Start the gun moving before you pull the trigger. Start spraying
outside your piece and continue past your piece before releasing the
trigger. This constitutes one spray stroke.
! I prefer to hold the guitar while spraying. This lets me keep the gun
relatively level the whole time so that my finish doesnt leak or drip
on the surface. Do whatever works best for you.
! Try to keep the spray perpendicular to the piece and the same
distance from your piece throughout your spray. This will provide an
even distribution of material. Move quickly to avoid throwing too
much finish in one spot.
! Each stroke should overlap the previous one going back and forth.
It should take about five strokes to cover one face of the guitar.
These five or so strokes constitutes one pass.
! On the same side of the guitar, make another pass at 90 degrees
to the first. Ill call these two passes one coat. The surface
should just be wet and thoroughly covered. Any more would start to
drip, run, and sag, which would be bad.
! Repeat the procedure on the other side of the guitar. Dont forget
the sides of the guitar, the headstock, the control cavity cover, and
the truss rod cover.
! Hang the guitar to dry. Nothing fancy here; I used a wire coat
hanger hooked through a tuning peg hole secured to a floor joist
above with an eye-hook.
! Clean your gun at the end of each days spraying.

51
Schedule for applying the shellac coats:
! Spray on one coat and let the guitar dry for at least one hour.
! Spray on a second coat and let it dry overnight.
! Repeat the process the next day for two more coats (making a total of four coats).
! Depending on your personal schedule, you can always wait longer. Just dont spray any sooner or the
previous coat may not be fully cured.
! The next day, lightly sand the surface as explained in the next step.

51
Sand Some More
Now that youve got a solid blanket of
shellac, and it looks all pretty and
shiny, its time to scuff it all up. Using
a brand new piece of 320 grit
sandpaper, lightly sand all of the
surfaces. I said, lightly. You do not
want to sand all the way through your
shellac and color coat back down to
bare wood. The idea is to simply
knock down any little nubs that are
sticking up and to give the following
coats some tooth to grab on to. Youre looking for a fine coat of dust to appear on the surface of the guitar as in
the photos. Flick off any build up on the sandpaper frequently.

When youve finished sanding, vacuum off the dust, wipe the entire guitar down with naptha or mineral spirits on
a clean rag, then follow that up with a thorough wiping with a tack cloth. The surface will appear dull; thats alright,
you just scratched it all up. Well be adding on the shiny stuff next.

52
The Shiny Coats
The purposes of applying these shiny top coats are twofold. First, they will
protect the guitar from the day to day abuse you will unto it render. Second,
it will give you a thick, built-up surface which you can rub out to that kick-ass
glossy shine.

Buy the high gloss spray lacquer, not the brushing lacquer as we will
obviously be spraying and not brushing. I mixed up small batches as I
needed them. You can always make more quickly since there is no wait
time to dissolve like there was with the shellac. Following the directions on
the can of spray lacquer, I mixed 200ml of spray lacquer (about 7 ounces)
with 200ml of the spray lacquer thinner (about 7 ounces) with 5% lacquer
retarder (10ml or about 3/8 of an ounce). This should make enough for about 6 coats on the guitar. A quart each
of lacquer and thinner should be enough to coat the guitar with all the coats youll desire. Refer back to the
discussion on spraying techniques as theyre the same for lacquer as it was for shellac.

52
Schedule for applying the lacquer coats:
! As mentioned earlier, lacquer thinner is toxic and explosive. Please take the necessary precautions.
! Spray on one coat and let the guitar dry for at least one hour.
! Spray on a second coat and let it dry for at least one hour.
! Spray on a third coat and let it dry for two days.
! Very lightly sand with 400 grit, vacuum the surface, and wipe it with a tack cloth.
! Repeat the process for a total of 10, 2-day processes (making a total of 30 coats). Youll start to see the
build up and leveling of the finish after about 9 coats. Any open grain in porous wood (like mahogany) will
start to plane out.
! After your last coat, let the lacquer cure for at least one week. Thats right, one full week. The lacquer has
to have time to fully cure or you will not be able to rub it out to that glossy finish.

Depending on your personal schedule, you can always wait longer between coats. Just dont spray or sand any
sooner or the previous coat may not be fully dry. If your sanding does not produce dust, stop immediately and let
it sit another day. Lacquer is unique in that it works by melting into or reactivating the previous coat. If you
become impatient on coat number 11 and you lay on one extra thick coat, it will take considerably longer to dry.
The longer it stays wet, the longer it continues to reactivate the 10 previously applied coats. If youre not careful
youll end up with one thick coat of jelly drooping, sagging, and running off your guitar. Then its back to stripping
the whole thing and starting over again. The risk is too great. Be patient!

53
Rub Out the Finish
Remember to wait a week after spraying the last coat before you touch the guitar. If you did all of your
preparation, sanding, and spraying carefully, you should see a pretty smooth surface. But its not smooth enough!
As they stay in all of the books Ive read (and its clever enough to repeat here), its time to finish the finish.

From now on, always rest your guitar on a clean, soft towel when working on it so it doesnt get scratched. Start
off by removing the screws protecting the mounting holes and take all of the tape off the guitar. The lacquer will
have built up over the top of the tape and you want to be sure the sanding youll be doing will ease the edges of
the lacquer to bare wood abutments. Also, even though you used the easy-release painters tape, after being on
for about a month, it will have begun to stick and leave some residual goo behind. Use an Exacto blade, but do
NOT cut with it which might gouge the wood. Instead, scrape backwards with the blade at the corners of the
cavities. This will shave the edge of the lacquer off so when you peel off the tape, you dont peel the lacquer off
with it. Use the point of the knife or a dental pick to thoroughly clean off all of the tape which might be hiding in
the corners. Inspect for any sticky glue stuff remaining on the bare wood and clean it off with some mineral spirits.

They call it rubbing even though it is actually sanding. The high grit sandpapers dont produce much visible dust,
so I guess they thought rubbing was a better term. When rubbing out the finish with these fine grit sandpapers,
you need some kind of lubricant. It makes the rubbing a bit easier, it extends the life of your sand papers, and it
helps carry off the fine dust. In an old spray bottle, mix up one part mineral spirits with one part paraffin oil (about
8 ounces of each should be enough for the whole job).

53
Use a foam or felt sanding block as much as possible and for all grits which
helps keep the surface level and eases hand fatigue. I like to start with
600 grit wet/dry sandpaper before moving into the MicroMesh abrasives.
Now dont go hosing down the piece with the lubricant; youll end up with oil
all over the place. Just spray once in the middle of the guitar and a little
here and there, or when rubbing a smaller area or and edge, spray a small
amount directly on the paper. Sand with firm pressure. Start by rubbing the
whole surface in small circles, then rub 45 degrees to the grain direction,
then rub with the grain direction. Now repeat this to yourself over and over
again: Do not skimp on the sanding. If you get lazy on only one grit, it
wont become evident until you get to the last grit and its not as glossy as
it should be. This is why I recommend rubbing in three different fashions, so youre sure to rub everything
thoroughly. With these finer grits, its impossible to sand too much. Dont worry, there is no danger of sanding
through 30 coats of lacquer.

The 600 grit is the most important since this will perform the leveling; you will not be able to level the surface with
the MicroMesh abrasives. Start with the back of the guitar, spray on some lubricant, and rub thoroughly as noted
above. When youre done with the back, wipe it down with mineral spirits to remove any dust. Now inspect the
surface very carefully in a low-angle, grazing light. Youll first notice that your beautiful shiny guitar is suddenly
dull. Everythings alright, thats whats supposed to happen. Youll get it brilliant looking again after working
through all of the grits. What youre looking for are any shiny spots or any unevenness in the surface. The shiny
spots will show the low areas which did not get sanded with the block. If the surface is not dead flat, sand more
with the 600 grit until it is. If the surface is really off, you may have to take a step back to 400 grit for a more
aggressive attack, then back up to 600 grit again to start smoothing. Take extra time on the first grit until the
surface is perfectly level with no dimples. Only then can you continue to the finer MicroMesh abrasives.

There are 9 grits of MicroMesh abrasives, and at about 20 minutes per grit, this will take you a while. Find your
rhythm and rub all surfaces in the same order so you dont forget an area. I did the body back first, then the
headstock, cavity cover, truss rod cover, body front, then finally the body sides. Add a spritz of lubricant as
needed. When you finish an area, wipe it off with mineral spirits and inspect. When you finish a grit, take a short
break, then repeat the procedure with the next grit. You can split the rub out over a couple-three days so you dont
get too tired or bored with it.

54
Wax On, Whack Off
I like to give my glossy wood projects
a double-hit of wax. The first coat I
like to apply is automotive scratch
and swirl remover. This is a fluid
product which helps fill in any small
scratches which made it through the
rubout. Follow the directions on the
bottle. Generally, you rub a coating
onto the surface (one area at a time

54
and in small, overlapping circles), you wait a couple of minutes for it to haze, then you rub that off with a clean,
soft rag. After that, I like to go one more step with a finishing paste wax. This provides a thicker protective barrier
and will really bring out the shine. The directions for the paste wax are similar to the swirl remover. However, the
can says to leave the wax on for 15 minutes before rubbing it off. I would caution you about leaving the wax on
that long. The wax dries fairly hard and you will have a lot of trouble rubbing it back off. What I found works best
is to wipe it on (one area at a time and in small, overlapping circles), then immediately start buffing it back off at
the point where I started. Even this will require some elbow grease.

Keep buffing the entire area

frequently refolding the rag to expose
a fresh surface. You will be
rewarded with that high gloss
reflectivity youre after and everyone
will envy. Wow, its starting to look
like a real guitar!

55
Tung the Neck
Since Brian prefers the natural feel of
a wood neck, he obviously doesnt
know the first thing about playing a
guitar! But if thats what the man
wants, thats what he gets. We
already sanded the back of the neck
to 150 grit when we made it, just
check it carefully to see if any new
scratches appeared which would
need to be worked out. Continue
sanding with 220, 320, and 400 grits.
Be as thorough as you can since you will feel every bump as your playing.

We chose to use a tung oil finish on

the neck which lends a very light,
almost colorless finish, but offers
some protection. Its easy and
foolproof to apply. Dont worry about
taping anything off, the lacquer will
repel any over-wipe. Pour a little in a
cup, wet a soft, clean rag, and smear
it on. Go over the entire back of the
neck two or three times quickly.
Then use a dry rag to wipe off any
excess. Flip the guitar over and do the same to the front. Use your dry rag and wipe up any oil that might have
strayed onto other surfaces. Let the oil dry overnight.

55
Electronics & Hardware

56
Shield the Cavity
Guitar electronics are very sensitive.
Think about it, that vibrating guitar
string is all thats powering your
sound. To keep out any unwanted
noise or radio signals from getting
into the mix, you must shield the
control cavity. You can do this with a
special type of paint or with copper
foil. Either method works; we chose
the foil.

Lay the guitar face down on a soft, clean towel. Pick out any glue ooze from the inside of the cavity so you have
nice clean corners. The copper foil has an adhesive back which makes things a little easier. Start with the bottom
of the cavity. Cut off a small strip a little over the size you need. You want the foil to fold up the sides a little. This
will provide a continuous, connected barrier. Peel off the backing and stick it in. To make sure the foil is fully
seated and well stuck, burnish it by rubbing it with a small piece of wood or MDF getting into all the tight areas.
Cut out the next strip and overlap the first by a few millimeters. Once the bottom is done, start on the sides. Make
sure you foil over the top lip where your cavity cover will nest. If there are any areas where the adhesive doesnt
take, help it out with a drop of CA glue. This is a tedious job for big fingers in a small space; just take your time.
When youre done, cut out your knob and switch holes and your cavity cover mounting holes with an Exacto knife.

The cavity cover is much easier. Cut a piece of foil a little oversize, burnish it on, flip the cover over, and trim off
the excess. The edges of the cover will rest on the foiled lip providing a continuous, connected barrier.

56
57
Solder Away
Im not going to try to explain all of the basics of guitar electronics here. If youve never wired up a guitar before,
read up on it first. There are plenty of resources on the web that will get you going. Youll also want to draw up
your schematics first so that you know what gets soldered where. The schematic does not show the exact layout
of all the knobs and switches; it more shows the flow of sound in the order the signal travels. There will be many
wires crammed into the small cavity, and correcting a mistake might mean unsoldering several other connections
to get to the problem spot. Youll definitely want to try to get it right the first time.

As you can see, our piezo acoustic bridge added a lot of extra wires, a couple of circuit boards, an extra switch,
a 9 volt battery, and a proprietary output jack. However, a lot of the components came pre-wired which made it
a little easier, and the additional tone options were worth the extra effort.

57
Plug in your soldering irons. I used a 30 watt unit for most of the work, but the 100 watt flame thrower came in
handy when grounding to the backs of the potentiometers (pots) which require more heat. Install as many pots
and switches as you can, and do not overtighten any screws or nuts. Keeping in mind that you will need to get
a hot soldering iron to the connection points, orient the pots so that the connection points face a convenient
direction. We were able to install everything except the volume pot since ours had a double-pole, double-throw
(DPDT), push-pull switch on it with many wires to attach to it. It will be easier to solder the wires to that one before
it is installed. If you have a battery associated with your scheme, install the housing and route the wires for that
now.

Flip the guitar over and install your pickups. Our guitar had a piezo pickup in the bridge whose wiring had to be
routed through the bridge pickup cavity, so it had to go in first. When installing your pickups, loop the wire around
in the bottom of the cavity before setting the pickup (as in the center photo above). This will leave you a little
safety slack if you cut too much off the other end. Screw down the bezels without over tightening.

Notice the soft towels above and below our work area. Dont risk a scratch at this point. Our output jack already
had wire leaders soldered to it. If yours does not, solder some on now since it will not be easy getting to those
points once it is installed. Mount the jack to the cover plate and screw it in. Again, do not overtighten anything;
snug is enough; strip it out and your screwed. The middle photo above shows our piezo circuit board wired up
which will be installed with double-stick tape to the sidewall of the cavity. It also shows me tinning the wires before
they are soldered to the pots and switches. Twist your wires together first, then apply a small amount of solder
to glue the wires together (this is called tinning). Insert the wire into the tabs hole, apply your heat, and it will
pull some of that solder onto the tab and make a good connection. Test all of your connections by giving them
a light tug. Our volume/push-pull switch can be seen in the right photo above. A vise-grip helps hold it in place;
these things do get hot. We made all the connections first, then installed the switch.

58
Now that youve got all of your hot
wires soldered up, its time to make
sure everything is grounded properly.
The three-way pickup selector switch
will have a grounding lug on it;
connect it to the back of one of the
pots. Your pickups will have one or
two ground wires which should be
twisted together and soldered to the
back of a pot. Be very careful as to
how you route your wires. If a bare
ground touches a hot wire, your signal will take the path of least resistance and go to ground. That will result in
a weak sound or no sound at all. The center photo above shows our neat and organized wiring job. Our piezo
pickup added some components and complexity to the schematic, but their literature was easy to follow and we
were able to integrate it into our system successfully. We cant do too much troubleshooting now without strings,
but you can plug in the guitar and tap on the pickups with a screwdriver. You can check for a signal, test your
pickup selector switch, and test your coil-splitter switch if you have one. Youll give your electronics a full test drive
later.

58
Install the Hardware
Theres only a few more things to
take care of before stringing her up.
Install the tuners; again, dont go
torqueing things down. Then install
the strap locks with a felt washer.
Please spend the extra two dollars
on strap locks. Its not worth
dropping your guitar that youve
spent so much time on.

If you have string ferrules, put them

in next. Start with the back ones. If
your fit is a little loose, just add a
drop of CA glue. Please, do not put
the glue on the ferrule and slide it or
it will all rub off on the edge of the
hole and mess up your finish.
Instead, place a drop or two of glue
directly on the side of the hole, then
push in the ferrule. When in doubt,
tape it off. The same applies to the
front ferrules. If you have any other hardware, put it on now.

59
59
Dress the Frets

Weve already worked on the neck, but we never really finished leveling out the frets. You cant really do much
until this point since it isnt until now that you can string it up. Place a straight edge on top of the neck down the
center of the fretboard. Adjust the truss rod so that it is as level as you can get it. Using a fat, black, permanent
marker, draw a line on top of each fret being carefully not to mark on the wood. Grab your radiused sanding block
you used to crown your neck, put on a fresh piece of 400 grit sandpaper, and lightly sand the frets in long, smooth
strokes until you just sand off the marker lines. Dont concentrate sanding in one spot; work the whole fretboard
evenly. This will level the frets so theyre all in the same plane.

Once level, its time to re-crown the tops of the frets. Wipe off the sanding dust from the neck and tape off the
wood leaving only the frets exposed. Understand that this will only provide a minor degree of protection; you will
still need to be careful. Darken the frets with the permanent marker again. A fret crowning file specifically
designed for this task makes the work quick and is only a small investment. File perfectly in line with the frets; I
use my left finger to keep things on track. Work in long, smooth strokes and let the file do the work. Dont go
crazy filing on one fret or you will make that one lower than the rest; not good. File just until the marker line
disappears. A few passes on each side with the file tilted at about a 45 degree angle will help make a smooth
radius on top.

60
Once all the frets are crowned, its time to make them pretty with a few finishing touches. With a small piece of
600 grit sandpaper, remove any remaining file marks and finish rounding off the tops. This will provide a beautiful
satin sheen to the frets. Using a flat needle file, remove any portion of the fret which hangs off the edge which
might cause you to sever a finger. I used a thin piece of metal (cut from a soda can) to protect the side of the
fretboard in case I filed too much. Switch to a fret dressing file which only has burrs on the sides and none on the
bottom which could mar the wood. Gently file away any remaining sharp edges. We beveled the fret ends earlier,
but recheck them to see if they need any additional touch up using a sanding block loaded up with 600 grit
sandpaper.

If your frets are happy with a satin

sheen, stop here. But if you like the
shiny gloss, install a buffing wheel on
your Dremel tool and give it some
polish. Just a few strokes will give
you an amazing shine. Remove the
tape and clean the fretboard with
mineral spirits. Dont worry, it wont
eat through the tung oil you put on
earlier.

61
60
Setup the Neck

String the bitch up already! Set your nut in place, but do NOT glue it in yet. Install the strings, but leave a lot of
slack to wind around the tuners so you can easily loosen and move the strings out of the way, which you will be
doing frequently. Adjust the truss rod to lift the headstock up slightly, which will help prevent buzzing. Now give
it a test drive with some Skynyrd. Dont be disappointed; it will certainly have bad action at this point. Thats what
youll fix next.

With the strings tuned up, check for a 0.76mm (or 0.03") clearance between the top of the first fret and the bottom
of the string. You can buy some fancy feeler gauges, but a credit card happens to be the precise dimension.
Youll likely be a little high, so move the strings out of the way and remove the nut. Load a sanding block with
60 grit sandpaper and secure it in your vise. Sand off the bottom of the nut evenly. Use some 150 grit to clean
it up. Reinstall the nut back onto the neck. and tighten up the strings again. Remove only a little at a time and
check the clearance at the first and sixth strings to make sure youre not sanding too much off one side.
Remember, you can always remove a little more material, but you cant add any back on.

When you start to get close, adjust

the bridge height down a little at a
time. The object is to get the lowest
action possible without getting buzz
or without choking the note when you
bend the strings. You will have to
loosen the strings a lot and make
frequent adjustments, just be patient.
The last thing to do is to check the
intonation (the string length from nut
to bridge). Hopefully, your careful
layout and woodworking skills will not require a lot of adjustments here. Hook up an accurate, electronic tuner.
Tune the string to the proper pitch using the tuner, then play a 12th fret harmonic. The needle should split the
uprights on both notes. If they dont, adjust the individual bridge saddles until the two notes match.

62
61
Troubleshoot the Electronics
Tune up all the strings and adjust the height of the pickups to be close, but
not too close. The magnets can pull on the strings and effect the tone and
sustain. Pickup height also affects signal output. Adjust the neck and
bridge pickup heights so that they have close to the same volumes.

Now run through all of your knobs and switches to make sure everything
works as intended. Fortunately, we only had one switch wired up
backwards, so it wasnt too difficult to remedy. Make any repairs and test
drive it some more until all the bugs are worked out.

62
The Finishing Touches
When youre satisfied that your
electronics are in order, screw the
cavity cover in place without
overtightening the screws. Flip the
guitar over and push on the knobs.

Loosen the strings and install the

truss rod cover. With just a small
drop of wood glue on each side of
the truss rod, install the nut. Wind
the strings back up, but only just tight
enough to hold the nut in place.
Check for accurate side to side
placement of your nut. Let the glue
dry for an hour, preferably two,
before tuning up the strings to pitch
and playing.

63
Final Words
After doing a lot of research on guitar
construction, I discovered that there
are a lot of different means to get to
the end. I tried to take the best
segments of each approach and
meld them together into one with
which I felt confident and which
worked for me. I never claimed to be
a seasoned guitar maker; this was
my first build. I made some mistakes
along the way, but I tried to explain
Vince, amateur luthier Brian, amateur shredder
how to avoid them and how to fix
them if they occur.

It took 164 hours over 268 calendar days to get there (see the Time Sheet
in Appendix D). Granted, it was a leisurely pace, but this was supposed to
be fun, not work, and I had a lot to learn along the way. Most importantly,
it was quality time spent with a good friend. Honestly, when I started this
project, I didnt think it would come out as well as it did (see The Portfolio in
Appendix E). It pushed my woodworking skills to the limit and opened up
my eyes to many new techniques I hadnt tried before. If you have a well
developed background working with tools (and a friend to fund the
experiment), this project could be within your grasp, too. And if you happen
to have a wife who might not be too keen on your expenditure of time and
money, be sure to make her a jewelry box from the guitars scraps to ease
Tasha, professional jewelry collector
any tensions.

64
Appendix A - Specifications
Item Type / Make / Model Detail / Finish Cost

General
Dimensions Overall length 38 1/2" [978mm]
Width 13" [330mm]
Body thickness 1 3/4" [45mm]
Weight 7 lbs 13 oz [3.5kg]
Wood Body front panel Quilted maple 90.00
Body back panel Mahogany 64.80
Neck Maple 82.36
Fretboard Macassar Ebony 37.95
Headstock and other trim veneer Lacewood 19.80
Body style Solid body with carved top

Neck
Neck style Set-in
Tilt-back angle 3
Dimensions Scale length, compensated 25" [635mm]
Width at nut 1 11/16" [43mm]
Width at body 2 1/4" [57mm]
Truss rod Double-acting 18" [457.2mm] 24.35
Fretboard radius 12" [304.8mm]
Frets 22 total
CH=1.17mm; CW=2.49mm; TW=.58mm 12% nickel/ silver 5.35
Fretboard banding Quilted maple
Nut Graphite, 6-string, pre-manufactured 1 11/16" [43mm] 3.99
Fretboard inlay Abalam, green 54.85
Side dots Black acrylic 3/32" [2.5mm] 2.35

Headstock
Headstock style Tilted back 13
Tuners Sperzel locking tuners, 3+3 Satin chrome 59.99
Truss rod cover Lacewood with hidden attachment
Headstock inlay None

Finish
Color coat TransTint Golden Brown dye in denatured alcohol 1 coat 24.78
Oil coat Boiled linseed oil 1 coat 12.99
Seal coat Orange shellac in denatured alcohol 4 coats 18.99
Clear coat High gloss nitrocellulose lacquer/ thinner/ retarder 30 coats 40.97

Hardware
Output jack LR Baggs Ctrl-X, stereo
Output jack cover Oval, recessed mounting Chrome 3.99
Bridge LR Baggs T-Bridge, fixed, piezo Chrome 84.55
String ferrules Front and back ferrules Chrome 9.46
Strap locks Schaller Security Lock Nickel 14.98
Strap lock washers Felt Black 3.20

65
Item Type / Make / Model Detail / Finish Cost

Electronics
Neck pickup DiMarzio PAF Pro #DP151FCR Cream 75.00
Bridge pickup DiMarzio D Sonic #DP207FSP Cream 75.00
Pickup bezels Height tapered for tilt-back neck Cream 4.98
Bezel mounting screws Zinc 4.00
Pickup height adjustment screws/ springs Zinc 4.00
Cavity style Controls through the back
Wood cover with threaded inserts 3.09
Copper foil shielding 13.75
Battery compartment Battery required for LR Baggs electronics Black 10.95
Schematics Volume pot, push-pull for coil-splitter 500k 13.95
Tone pot 500k 7.95
Capacitor for tone .022mfd 1.25
LR Baggs Ctrl-X piezo fade pot 132.05
LR Baggs Ctrl-X 3-way selector, elec./ piezo
3-way pickup selector Cream 13.95
Knobs Dome type with knurled sides, press fit Satin chrome 11.96

Total Cost of Materials (Cost of tools not included) 1,031.58

66
Appendix B - Design Considerations
Choices Discussion Purchase

Body
One piece or Pretty or exotic wood costs a mint. Thats why you wont see the Body wood
faced with whole body made of flamed maple; you just waste too much pretty Front panel
veneer on the backside of the guitar which no one sees. If you prefer the Back panel
simple grain patterns of mahogany, (plain) maple, or ash you can go Side panels
with a single chunk of wood from which to carve your body. If you
go with a neck-through design, some like to see the neck on the face
of the guitar where it can be embellished with multiple bands of
different colored woods.
Solid body, ! Solid bodies are typical for modern electric guitars. Its basically
semi-hollow, or one chunk of wood with space for your electronics scooped out.
hollow ! Semi-hollow bodies add resonance chambers which involve more
routing. This adds a different character to the tone. You will
often see a penetration on the face of the guitar like an F hole.
! Hollow bodies are akin to acoustic guitars and involve a whole
different method of construction. The inside of the guitar is one
big resonance chamber and is made from thin pieces of wood
bent around to form the shape instead of starting with a single
mass of wood and carving out the profiles.
Edge-banded or This is personal preference. Edge-banding the body of the guitar Edge-banding
not frames the top. For this look, it simply adds another step to the material
process. You often see banding made up from several thin layers
of plastic, wood, or shell material (mother of pearl or abalone).
Body style: Sculpted or carved tops look great, but this will add another whole
sculpted or flat technique you will need to master. Flat tops can sometimes be
embellished with a routed edge or an arm rest relief to give it some
flair if you want to keep it simple.
Cavity cover: You dont have to buy the expensive plastics sold in the guitar Plastic or wood
plastic or wood catalogs, you can just cut up a cheap plastic trash can! Or you can
make one from some scrap wood.
Cavity cover: Threaded inserts will never strip out. Its probably worth the extra Screws, inserts
wood screws or 3 dollars to go with the inserts.
threaded inserts
Cavity, copper You need to control any outside electrical interference from getting Foil or paint
foil shield or to your electronics. You can purchase adhesive-backed copper Wire insulation
paint shielding or use a special impregnated paint. Insulating all your wire
runs should help as well.

67
Choices Discussion Purchase

Neck
Bolt-on, glue-in, Most of this is personal preference. A bolt-on neck is easier to Neck wood
neck-through, or replace, but how many necks do you break. I find that the other Neck plate (if
set-in three glue-in neck options look better and offer better sustain. bolt-on)
! You know what a bolt-on neck is. That was what your first guitar
had. I find them very cheap looking.
! A glue-in is like a bolt-on with a neck tenon glued into a mortise
on the body instead of bolted on. This option will allow you to
gracefully shape the neck to body transition.
! Neck-through is where the neck continues through the body all
the way to the end of the guitar. You can see the neck wood
intersecting the body on the back and sometimes on the front of
the guitar.
! A set-in neck is kind of like a neck sandwich where the body has
a top and bottom panel with the neck nested in between. The
neck stops short of the end of the guitar and is not visible on the
back of the body.
Tilt-back neck or This will somewhat depend on the bridge you buy. If the bridge
flat sticks up pretty high off the body, keeping the neck parallel with the
body will result in an awkward looking arrangement. Tilting the
entire neck back will make neck construction a little more involved,
but will give you a cleaner appearance. Drawing a section of your
guitar with your actual components will start to reveal what will look
best. You will usually see the neck tilted back from the body from 2
to 4 degrees.
Scale length Scale length is the distance from the nut to the bridge. For a
standard guitar, this is usually between 24" and 25 1/2". Ive heard
of players who use dropped tunings opt for up to 27" scales to keep
a reasonable tension on the strings when they loosen them up.

You will also want to employ a compensated scale length. This will
compensate for the amount the strings are stretched when you press
them to the fretboard changing the pitch slightly. Also, your saddles
will be staggered to compensate for wound versus unwound strings.
I found that your scale length plus 2mm from the inside edge of the
nut to the center of the frontmost saddle works.
Truss rod Including a truss rod will give you an adjustment option if the neck Truss rod
starts to do things. It also helps keep the neck from twisting. There
are several types available from a traditional threaded rod with a nut
to double-acting units.
Integral fretboard Fenders have a one piece neck with the frets laid directly onto the Fingerboard
or applied wood with the truss rod cut into the back of the neck. Other guitars wood
have a separate fretboard applied onto the neck covering the truss
rod cavity.
Radius on Try to stick with something standard. Most electric guitars have a
fretboard 12" or 14" radius to crown the top of the fretboard. If you go with
something different youll have difficulty matching up a pre-made nut
or bridge.

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Choices Discussion Purchase
Radius on back How chunky do you like it? Some prefer a very slender feel while
of neck others like to hold a log (probably a masculinity compensation). The
thicker the neck, the more stable it will be, but dont try to make it too
thin or you might weaken it. Remember, routing a channel for the
truss rod removes a lot of structural wood.
Frets There are a few sizes out there. I found one with a tang which Fret material
matched up with a saw I already had. Width and height of the crown
are personal preference.
Edge banded Edge-banding the fretboard covers the sides of the saw kerfs of the Edge banding
fretboard or not frets. Its a little more professional to cover these up and will help Wood or plastic
keep moisture from intruding there, but it is another step to add to
your production schedule. Lapping the frets over the banding is also
another issue to consider.
Neck width at How far apart do you like your strings? We found a nut with a similar Nut or nut
nut dimension to a guitar which felt right and bought it. This is critical to material
know when designing your neck. Even a couple of millimeters can
throw things off. You can also buy blank nut material to make your
own custom spacing.
Passive nut or A locking nut helps keep your guitar in tune better. It basically String clamp
locking clamps the strings directly behind the nut. You see these on guitars
with tremolos. If youre getting locking tuners, you dont need a
locking nut.
Fingerboard Dots are easier to put in, but inlays look cooler and let you Inlay material
inlays or dots personalize things a bit. It depends on what youre up to. You can
also purchase pre-manufactured shapes, but they still have to be
routed and inlayed. You only need a drill bit to add dots.
Neck side dots Reference dots are the norm on the side of the neck. Inlay material

69
Choices Discussion Purchase

Headstock
Flat headstock Fenders have flat headstocks which are parallel with the fretboard. Face veneer
or tilted back They usually need those ugly string trees to hold the strings down on wood
the nut. Youll use a little less wood, but I think the flat headstock
style just looks bad. Tilting the headstock back (usually 10 to 15
degrees) will pull the strings over the nut and help with sustain.
Another option is to add a veneer of pretty wood over the headstock,
usually something to match the body of the guitar.
6, 7, or 8 string Stick with the standard 6 or go for the exotic. When you make it
yourself, you can do as you choose. But straying from the standard
6 will reduce your options on tuners, nuts, and bridges.
Tuners: 3+3 or 6 in a row are the combinations in which youll find tuners Tuners (left/right)
3 a side packaged. Going to a 2+4 or a 1+5 will require you to buy two sets
2+4 of tuners and have leftovers (presumably for the next guitar). 3+3
1+5 sets have larger blades and the straight 6 tuners are smaller so they
6 in a row fit.
Locking tuners I prefer locking tuners since you do not have to wind the string
or non-locking around the post numerous times. You just pull the string though
tight and clamp it. Locking tuners also hold your tuning better.
Youll narrow your options some with the locking tuners, so just
browse the catalogs and see what you like.
Truss rod A very minute choice to make, but it will still require you to buy Plastic or wood
adjustment something so Ill list it. You can find many pre-made covers, but for
cover a one-off guitar, you might as well just make one from some scrap
wood.
Headstock inlay A great spot for some personalization. You can also print out your Inlay material
logo on clear film and lacquer it into place.

Finish
Stained or Your choice; the possibilities are endless. Stain your wood or paint Stain, paint,
natural it. Add glossy top coats or keep it a natural satin finish. Some prefer lacquer
the natural feel of a neck thats only been oiled.

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Choices Discussion Purchase

Hardware
Single or You can go crazy with electronics. It is possible to have six outputs Output jack(s)
electric/ acoustic to control each string individually. You can also find guitars with Output jack
output jack computer circuit boards and MIDI outputs. I like to keep the guitar cover plate
simple and use pedal effects to embellish my tone. Or you can go
the BC Rich route with 48 or so on-board switches. I own a Carvin
with separate electric/ acoustic outputs which does come in handy
for separately amping them. Pick something that you think you are
capable of tackling. You will have to read schematics and do some
soldering.
Fixed or tremolo Fixed bridges are easier since tremolos require more routing. But go Bridge
bridge with whatever you like on your dream guitar.
String ferrules or Some bridges hold the string balls; some require a separate String ferrules or
tailpiece tailpiece. You can also run the strings all the way through the body tailpiece
which will require something to trim out the holes on the front and
back of the body (string ferrules).
Strap locks Theres no choice here; buy them. You wont want to be dropping Pair strap locks
your beautiful new guitar.

Electronics
Controls through Fenders have the wiring from the front; Gibsons from the back. Pick guard
the front or from Either route is viable; however, when going through the front, you
back will need a large pick guard to cover up your wiring channels.
Active or passive Active electronics offer a few more tone choices and a little extra Battery
electronics punch to the volume. Active electronics require room for a 9 volt compartment
battery.
Potentiometers Volumes and tone use the same kind of potentiometer. You will also Volume pot(s)
need some capacitors for the tone pot(s). Tone pot(s)
Capacitors
Knobs Pick what you like or make your own out of wood. Knobs
Switches Pick what you like. The only thing to consider here is not to pick a Switches
bulky switch that wont fit in your control cavity. Whenever they offer
a lower profile model, buy that one.
Single-coil This is the age-old debate thats been going on since electric guitars Neck pickup
pickups or first came out. Fenders use single-coil pickups and lend a thinner, Bridge pickup
humbuckers twangier tone. Youll find humbuckers on Gibsons which give a
fuller tone and less noise. Humbuckers can be wired with a coil-
splitter option which will emulate a Fender sound. Again, this is
personal preferences.
Acoustic pickup There are some nice peizo pickups out that give great acoustic tone Acoustic pickup
from tiny pickups mounted in the bridge saddles. Youll have to do and associated
more wiring, but it might be something youd be interested in. switches and
knobs

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Appendix C - Design Diagrams
You simply cant go out, buy some wood, and start glueing it all together. You have to have a detailed plan. This
includes accurate drawings of the front of the guitar as well as a section through the center of it. I enjoy doodling
my ideas on scraps of paper as thoughts come to me. As I refine those ideas, Ill input them into my AutoCAD
program to work out the details and exact measurements. Its a good exercise in using both halves of your brain;
sketch and refine.

On the following pages are numerous design exercises which I went through on this build. Many times I went
through many versions of a particular component only to come back to my first idea. Thats ok; it just reaffirmed
my initial choice and let me know that Ive explored all of my options.

These diagrams have been reduced in size to fit in this book. Also, AutoCAD does not talk to my word processor
very well. Thus, some diagrams will be a little difficult to read. This is mostly to show you that you need to do a
lot of sketching and ciphering to get your design to work. Theres a lot that goes on behind the scenes which no
one will ever really see. All of your drawings should be done in minute detail and to full scale.

Even though we traced a Paul Reed Smith body, we still needed to plot out the points so it could be input into
AutoCAD accurately (sketch 1 above). After connecting all the dots (sketch 2), I found that the pen I traced the
guitar with probably wandered around a bit. I refined the layout by breaking down the design into its individual
arcs and lines (sketch 3). I then polished up the geometry, got the body perfectly symmetrical, and tweaked a few
arcs (sketch 4). Ultimately, this led to the ultimate body shape which we could work with (sketch 5).

72
You need to have all of your hardware in hand before
you can complete your design. Obviously, you want to
make sure everything will fit. After receiving the
hardware, I got out my calipers and transfered all of the
dimensions into AutoCAD. With all of these individual
parts in the computer, I began to arrange them on the
guitar body I drew up previously. Preparation and
accuracy are paramount when dealing with the fine level
of detail involved in guitar building. Take your time and
get it right the first time. Fixing a screw up later on down
the line is at best difficult, and it can be impossible.
These sketches depict both top and side views of many
of the pieces of hardware.

You might think that the knobs and switches are trivial,
that is until they wont fit into your control cavity. This
exercise informed me that the 3-way switch was too tall
and would end up poking Brian in the pecker while he
was playing. That may have lent some added inspiration
to Brians improvisations; however, it wouldnt have
looked very good. I also had a large battery
compartment which needed to be accommodated within
the body of the guitar. These diagrams helped layout
the routing templates used to cut the cavity and wiring
channels. Its important to document and verify
everything before you start cutting any wood.

The dimensions of the nut and bridge are required to properly layout the neck. They define the width at each end
of the scale. The desired scale length defines the distance between the nut and the bridge. Combining all of this
data will dictate the taper of the fretboard. Use a fret spacing chart (which can be found on the internet) to help
layout your fret locations.

73
The headstock is the signature area on many guitars.
You can tell whether a guitar is a Stratocaster or a Les
Paul simply by looking at the headstock. It also lends a
convenient spot to sign your own artistry via an inlay.
We went through many different design schemes on the
headstock and ended up with one of a very simple
design.

Once you have all the bits a pieces documented and input into the computer, I started laying out everything on
the guitar and putting the big picture together. A plan and section of the guitar was drawn accurately to scale.
These drawings were printed out and directly used to make all of the templates. Wiring channels were layed out
making sure they didnt interfere with the bridge mounting posts or dowel locations. Knobs and switches were
located and the control cavity was designed to accommodate them while avoiding cutting into the neck pocket.

The height of the bridge will define the amount the neck will tilt back from the body of the guitar. This is evident
in the section through the guitar. Make as many notes to yourself on these drawings as needed; these are your
blueprints and patterns. This is the time you really get your guitar figured out in minute detail. Dont leave
anything left to figure out later as by then it might be too late.

74
The single most important layout youll need to devise is for the neck. If you get the neck wrong, it might render
your new guitar useless. Since our neck was set into the body, we had a few more angles and cuts to make. The
top sketch is a top view of the neck. The bottom two sketches are sections of the same neck, but showing how
it could be cut from the block of wood in two different fashions. I chose to go with the bottommost layout since I
could keep the fretboard surface (the most critical surface) untouched and dead flat. This layout is fully
dimensioned since I would not be using a template to cut out the neck. I had to transfer all of the dimensions to
the block of wood with a pencil, ruler, and square. This opens up an area for inaccuracies or transcribing errors,
so double-check everything ... and then check it again.

75
Appendix D - Time Sheet

Jigs / Templates
Prep. & Design

Electronics
Hardware
Finish
Body

Neck
Date Activity
Before There was a lot of research into design, construction,
Starting inlaying techniques, available hardware, electronics
12-14-07 Selected and bought wood, traced guitar 1.5
12-27-07 Measured machine heads, strap lock, pickups, neck 1.5
12-31-07 Drew machine heads, strap lock, pickups, neck 1.5
1-1-08 Measured the traced guitar body 1.0
1-3-08 Drew the guitar body 1.0
1-14-08 Refined the guitar body 1.5
1-15-08 Explored alternate body designs, sketched headstocks 1.3
1-17-08 Headstock sketches 0.5
1-18-08 Headstock sketches 0.5
1-30-08 Measured and drew bridge, nut, ferrules, neck 1.2
2-3-08 Practiced some fret board cuts and fret installations 0.7
2-4-08 Measured and drew truss rod, knobs, bezels 1.0
2-5-08 Alternate body design, head stock sketches 0.8
2-7-08 Headstock sketches, inlay design 0.7
2-8-08 Headstock sketches, inlay design 0.7
2-11-08 Headstock sketches, knob layout, fret cutting miter box 0.8 2.2
2-12-08 Cavity and wire channel layout 0.7
2-13-08 Neck, fret, bridge, nut analysis 1.0
2-14-08 Drew section through guitar, determined neck angle, 1.3 1.3 0.7
made fretboard taper jig, cut fretboard to size
2-15-08 Laid out fret locations, cut frets 2.2
2-22-08 Worked on section through guitar 0.7
2-25-08 Measured and drew battery compartment, rough cut 0.6 2.7
quilted maple and mahogany for body, glued up maple
and mahogany for front and back panels
2-26-08 Cleaned up fronts and backs of body panels 0.6
2-27-08 Measured and drew toggle switch, tweaked the cavity 0.4
3-1-08 Cut body panels to width, planed to thickness 0.8
3-4-08 Refined control cavity, wire routing, neck angle, inlays 3.5
3-6-08 Started body cavity templates, drilled dowels on body 0.4 0.4
3-8-08 Started templates for wire routing, pickups, battery 2.7
3-9-08 Continued work on templates 2.5
3-12-08 Reworked body cavity templates 0.6 1.5
3-13-08 Templates, templates, templates 0.7
3-15-08 Routed body panels, cavity, neck, wire channels 2.2
3-16-08 Routed body panels, battery, pickups, control holes 3.5
3-17-08 Drew neck section 0.8
3-18-08 Control cavity cover 1.0
3-19-08 Body template, rough cut body shape, rough cut neck 0.7 0.7 0.7
3-22-08 Finish cut body shape, cavity cover threaded inserts 0.8 0.8
3-24-08 Made neck tapering jig 0.7
3-25-08 Truss rod channel, tapered neck 0.9
3-26-08 Laid out neck shape on neck block 0.7
3-28-08 Rough cut neck, sanded neck surfaces flat 2.0

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 Jigs / Templates
Prep. & Design

Electronics
Hardware
Finish
Body

Neck
Date Activity
3-29-08 Shimmed neck to body, added headstock ears, 2.5
practiced neck carving
3-30-08 Carved neck, added headstock and neck heel veneers, 0.7 3.3
made inlay cutting jig
4-1-08 Headstock template, broke neck! 1.5
4-12-08 Rough cut second neck, truss rod channel, headstock 0.6 2.0
4-15-08 Tweaked neck taper jig, tapered neck 0.3 0.3
4-16-08 Laid out neck shape on neck block 0.6
4-17-08 Rough cut neck, sanded neck surfaces flat 2.0
4-19-08 Headstock ears and veneer, made fretboard banding 2.2
4-21-08 Practiced some inlaying 2.0
4-22-08 Cut out headstock shape 1.2
4-23-08 Cleaned up truss rod access cavity, practiced inlaying 0.5 1.5
4-24-08 Routed inlay cavities 1.5
4-26-08 Cut and set inlays, glued fretboard to neck 3.2
4-27-08 Sanded fretboard, re-sawed fretslots, neck banding 2.4
4-28-08 Sanded neck banding, polished fretboard 1.6
4-29-08 Installed frets 1.0
4-30-08 Installed frets, filed fret ends, carved neck heel 3.0
5-2-08 Carved neck 0.5
5-3-08 Carved neck headstock 0.8
5-5-08 Carved neck, added heal veneer 1.8
5-7-08 Sanded neck, installed side dots 1.6
5-14-08 Drilled for tuners 1.2
5-15-08 Installed tuners 0.7
5-22-08 Glued up wood for carving practice 0.7
5-25-08 Cut out shape for carving practice 1.2
5-26-08 Practiced carving the top 2.4
5-28-08 Verified dimensions of bezels, bridge, string ferrules 0.7
5-30-08 Drilled for bezels and bridge 1.0
6-1-08 Drilled for pickups and (fucked up) string ferrule holes 2.5
6-4-08 Patched back at string ferrules 1.2
6-5-08 Routed back for string ferrules 1.2
6-6-08 Cut and fit veneer for string ferrule recess 2.0
6-8-08 Drilled for string ferrules 1.2
6-9-08 Carved top body panel 2.0
6-12-08 Practiced recessing knobs in top body panel 0.8
6-15-08 Increased depth of control cavity 1.7
6-16-08 Recessed areas at knobs 1.0
6-17-08 Recessed areas at knobs, preinstalled electronics 0.9 0.6
6-19-08 Sanded top body panel at neck pickup 0.7
6-21-08 Sanded top body panel at neck pickup 1.0
6-22-08 Carved back body panel, glued neck, finish test pieces 0.5 1.8
6-24-08 Glued on top body panel, finish test pieces 0.2 0.7
6-25-08 Patched gaps, started finish sanded, finish test pieces 0.2 0.3 0.5
6-28-08 Preinstalled strap locks, finish sanded 2.0 0.3
6-29-08 Preinstalled jack plate 1.2
7-2-08 Truss rod cover plate 1.5
7-3-08 Truss rod cover plate 0.7
7-4-08 Truss rod cover plate 0.7

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 Jigs / Templates
Prep. & Design

Electronics
Hardware
Finish
Body

Neck
Date Activity
7-7-08 Finish sanded, taped off, dye coat 2.0
7-8-08 Linseed oil coat 0.6
7-14-08 Additional taping off 0.6
7-17-08 Two shellac coats 0.8
7-18-08 Two shellac coats 0.8
7-19-08 Sanded 0.4
7-20-08 Three lacquer coats (1-3) 0.6
7-23-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (4-6) 1.0
7-27-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (7-9) 1.0
7-29-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (10-12) 1.0
7-31-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (13-15) 1.0
8-4-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (16-18) 1.0
8-6-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (19-21) 1.0
8-8-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (22-24) 1.0
8-10-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (25-27) 1.0
8-14-08 Sanded, three lacquer coats (28-30) 1.0
8-23-08 Removed tape, rubbed out finish 2.3
8-24-08 Rubbed out finish, swirl remover, paste wax 2.3
8-27-08 Foiled control cavity 2.3
8-29-08 Installed pickups, switches, wiring 2.0
9-1-08 Wiring 1.5
9-3-08 Sanded neck and tung oiled it, installed hardware 0.8 0.6
9-4-08 Installed tuners, leveled and crowned frets 2.0 0.3
9-7-08 Adjusted truss rod, set nut, adjusted bridge and 0.9 0.4 0.7
saddles, set pickup height, troubleshot electronics,
installed truss rod cover, cavity cover, and knob caps.
Plugged it in and turned it up!

268 Days elapsed start to finish Subtotals 35.0 14.3 22.8 49.4 22.7 12.7 7.1
Percentage of Total Time 21 9 14 30 14 8 4

Total Hours 164.0

78
Appendix E - The Portfolio
On the next few pages are the pretty photographs of
Brians guitar with a few brief descriptions hitting the
highlights. You dont need anything too fancy to get
some good photos of your guitar. All of these photos
were taken with an old-school 35mm film camera and
they were developed straight to a CD in digital format.
They were taken without a flash (avoiding unpredictable
hot spots), with a high F-stop (for a greater field of
focus), and at slow shutter speeds (requiring a tripod).
My makeshift spray booth doubled as the photo studio
since it already had four 300 watt light fixtures which I
amended with two more 500 watt shop lights. Needless
to say it was a bit warm in there. The backdrop was a
piece of 6'x12' black felt stapled to a wood 1x2 for
support.

The shot to the right is the standard catalog shot:

straight on. It reveals our blatant plagiarism of the Paul
Reed Smith body style and McNaught neck inlays. I find
the angled, perspective shots below a bit more dynamic.
You can see a little detail of the carved top, but it shows
up a little better in some of the photos coming up later.

79
The detailed shots above show the cool scooped out areas at the knobs. They really look nicely nestled in there.
The carved top is a bit more evident here. The right photo above starts to show how the neck is tilted back from
the face of the body, which can be noticed by the different pickup bezel heights.

A couple of custom touches can be found in the details. The jack plate is recessed into the side of the guitar, and
the strap lock is seated on a flattened area or the horn.

Rolling the guitar over, youll find the luxurious, silky mahogany. The control cavity cover plate is almost seamless
since it was made from matching wood. The neck heal is adorned with lacewood which matches the headstock
veneer.

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The rear string ferrules are recessed in a bed of lacewood. And perhaps being overly anal, I recessed the cover
plate for the battery compartment. The abalam neck inlays are simple, but lend a contemporary flair. They really
pop out on the ebony fretboard. The fretboard is bound with quilted maple and the neck is finished with tung oil.

Of note on the lacewood-veneered headstock is the lack of truss rod cover mounting screws providing an almost
invisible installation. On the rear is the unique carved transition from the neck to the headstock. Brian sees it as
a birds eyes and beak. You can see the truss rod cover mounting screw on top of this area. Everything is topped
off with locking tuners in a satin chrome finish.

81