And It has begun!
This is roughly where I want to go with this. It does need to be an exact replica, but I really want to catch that vibe.
Light Samba wood for the body and sipo neck blank. I also ordered an African rosewood fretboard, but it just doesnt look right for this build. I will put that away in my stash and use another , darker fretboard blank.
I ordered a 50mm neck blank and I originally thought of making a 10º angled headstock.
Later I decided to actually make a scarfjoint with a 12º angle.
Today, I had the opportunity to visit a guitar building friend. He recently acquired a jointer/planer and I had some wood that needed to be cut, planed and prepared for glueing.
He also has a bandsaw and since I never actually had the opportunity to work with one, this was a perfect moment to gain some experience with that as well.
After cutting the neck blank, we planed both pieces flat, and brought the headstock part to thickness.
I will cut a 12º angle in both blanks with my mitersaw for the scarf joint.
Last week , I also made a 12º angle headstock sanding jig for this.
We also planed some roughly cut fretboard blanks and now I have to decide which one to use for this build.
Not sure yet which one to use. The left one has a beautiful grain structure, the right one is a lot darker and I am not sure which one I prefer. Contrast or grain figure. I am leaning more towards the darker fretboard at this moment.
Most hardware has been ordered from www.crazyparts.de.
My hope is that the weight of better quality hardware will compensate the light samba wood, in order to avoid potential neck dive.
Not sure if I am throwing away money or if it is a wise decision.
The only thing I haven't ordered yet, is a headstock veneer ( not sure if I want one ), pickups, pots and knobs.
Pickups will be Iron Gear Blues Engines.
Nice @koendb! I’m a huge fan of the V and will be making some soon (hopefully!) I also really like dark fretboards so that would be my choice.
crazyparts.de is a cool store, they are the right place for all that period correct vintage stuff and they definitely have all the parts for a ‘58 V.
I much prefer the body of the ‘58 more than what’s come after and back in Febuary I had some custom templates done up. Mine is basically the ‘58 shape with a couple small tweaks to make it more my own...
Practice on scrap...
Today, I had the opportunity to visit a guitar building friend. He recently acquired a jointer/planer and I had some wood that needed to be cut, planed and prepared for glueing.
Very handy having friends like that! Hope he doesn't live too far away as I can see there being many similar visits in future ...
Pickups will be Iron Gear Blues Engines.
Excellent choice. Those are great pickups. Not just great "for the money".
Online guitar making courses – guitarmaking.co.uk
Today I glued the body blanks. It is not 100% straight unfortunately, there is a slight level difference from back to front, but only about 0.5 mm or so. Oh well a little bit more sanding work later on.
I also did cut the scarf joint with my miter saw. My first cuts where not very straight, especially in the thinner headstock part.
It took a few attempts before I realized I needed to check if the blank was indeed 90º angled against the base plate of the miter saw. My jig is not accurate enough. Oh well I'll build a better one when I have the time.
I managed to get a rather clean cut except for the last few centimeters. I used a hand saw to cut off the remainder.
Of course I forgot to take pictures on the sanding of the scarf joint in my newly made jig., But I managed to straighten the cut lines and surface with quite a bit of sanding.
Attaching the scarf joint , I found, was the hardest part , I really struggled keeping everything in place while drilling the holes for the temporary screws.
After a dry run, the headstock is glued on.
In the meanwhile I also made a headstock template from the master template, Just need to do the trussrod hole, cut straight at the nut and drill the tuner holes, but for that , I am going to wait until I received the tuners.
Over and out for this week I think.
Looking good @koendb! How did you keep the cauls from slipping around on the body while gluing up?
I forgot to include a photo of my headstock templates. I also had a Hamer style control cavity done. I had a designer work up the files and the templates were produced by @darrenking.
Practice on scrap...
I should also point out that Darren had to clean the files up as they were, err a bit fooked! Plus he produced that third headstock template as well as the idea for it came after the files were done. Any guesses as to what it’s for?
Practice on scrap...
How did you keep the cauls from slipping around on the body while gluing up?
@mattbeels I put some double sided tape , which prevented the cauls from slipping, they still slip a bit, but only until they firmly grip. Just tightening the clamps little by little and reseat the body blanks if needed, after a few twists, nothing moves anymore.
Hey all,
Question: I realize that the bridge I ordered ( an old style ABR Gibson bridge), comes with directly mountable posts.
This is of course time correct. However , in combination with the soft samba wood, I wonder if this is a good combination.
Is it better to use more modern post studs in which you screw the posts in this case? or should I be alright with the directly mounted posts?
Any guesses as to what it’s for?
@mattbeels, oh come on man! don't keep us in suspense like that! what is it for? (different nut widths? )
I’m not familiar with samba wood, have you checked it’s hardness with other woods used for guitar bodies? Gibson used the ABR 1 on the original V which is Limba, the Les Paul which has the maple cap (no problem there) and I’m pretty sure in the SG which would be mahogany.
Since you won’t have a carved top like a LP your bridge shouldn’t be too high off of the body so it probably won’t lean forward much, but using a Nashville bridge would be a safe bet.
I’d check the wood hardness to get an idea and then go from there. If you go with the ABR 1 and it causes problems over time you could always replace it with a Nashville.
Practice on scrap...
Yesterday, I put my fret slot cutting jig on a piece of mdf and added 2 clamps to hold the fretslot template and fretboard firmly in position.
Up for the first test: Flying V fretboard
With my previous build I ended up with all my frets being at a slight angle, despite using templates and jig (One of the reasons I wanted to add clamps). Luckily I was able to correct that situation then.
But this time I made sure my cuts where straight by regularly checking. This is waaay better now.
How do you like the products from TLC?
The stuff In that last picture was all from crazyparts, since they are more specialized in this kind of stuff , but TLC in holland is a real good supplier as well. It is my goto shop. Quality wise, it is up there with all other luthier suppliers, although they dont do much with regards to tonewood, but tools, materials & supplies are good quality. They also provide custom services for decals, neckplates, etc.. Very friendly and helpful all the time.
If I don't find it there, I ll go to G&W in Portugal as a second option
Usually I shop a bit around, but I end up almost 80% of the time with either these two companies.