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Kalimar's First Guitar Build from Scratch

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Kalimar
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Going to just start a thread here to post pictures and comments around my first build. Here we go!

PXL 20230525 032523740

 

Listen to our podcast
https://www.grade43.com
and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Kalimar
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Getting started on the neck. Our maker space has lovely tools and they make wood dimensioning a joy.

I'm using some quartersawn sapele, and a couple of passes on the jointer and planer make it feel almost like it's been sanded. These are "before and after" shots.

Cheers

 

PXL 20230613 004307717.PORTRAIT
PXL 20230613 004301392.PORTRAIT

Listen to our podcast
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and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Kalimar
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I'm going to try and use a couple of pieces from this scrap for my neck angle jig. 🤠 

PXL 20230613 184456351

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NSJ
 NSJ
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I often stick scraps together to make bigger pieces for cavity covers and headstock plates like this one.

 

20230519 010153

   
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Kalimar
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This is our design, within the overarching plan of Mark's course

Design guitar V2 6

Listen to our podcast
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and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Kalimar
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@nsj does that go over the headstock as a laminate or is the actual headstock? did you make a scarf joint for it?

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NSJ
 NSJ
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@kalimar Over as laminate, it's about 1.5mm thick or so but I like to match the face of the headstock to the body wood.


   
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Kalimar
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@nsj Very cool - and a great way to use all of your wood. I'm hoping to start finding old free tables to upcycle into guitars after I get a little more experience under my belt.

Listen to our podcast
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NSJ
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@kalimar old maple and mahogany floor boards make nice necks, just trim off the nail holes. For the body any hardwood will do really, just need to be mindful of the weight, Some woods are really heavy.


   
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Kalimar
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Used a taper jig with the tablesaw for the first time. I think the headstock angle jig came out pretty good but we'll see when we actually use it

IMG 20230615 WA0010
IMG 20230615 WA0012
PXL 20230616 015412886
PXL 20230616 015415797

Listen to our podcast
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and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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swepri
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@kalimar That taper jig looked more complicated than the whole guitar build. 😀

Good tools does half the job, as we say in Sweden.

 


   
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Kalimar
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I agree! Fortunately someone else at the space, more competent than myself, made that jig. Made my life easy. The digital angle ruler really helped too! 

Listen to our podcast
https://www.grade43.com
and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Kalimar
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Made some patterns on the laser cutter. I'm using fairly thin MDF hardboard, My plan is to use the router table rather than handheld so I believe the thin template shouldn't pose a problem. I'm not showing all here but my current strategy is to use 3 templates:

body + pickups + cover plate and control alignment

body + neck pocket + controls cavity

headstock

We'll see how that works out 🙂

PXL 20230618 190822365

Listen to our podcast
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and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Kalimar
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Ran into my first mishap. After a test run on the router table with some pine, my truss rod cavity got poked full of holes by a slippery router bit. turns out sapele is really really hard, and our colletes might need replacing! bugger! But it's all part of the process right? I'm going to try some wood putty, and see where we land after the neck is ready. May need some more work but then again, since it's my first guitar, some of these mistakes just add character

?

 

Listen to our podcast
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and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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swepri
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@kalimar Bummer! If the shank on the router bit is dirty or scratched it can work itself loose. Sometimes you can hear it happen and manage to stop in time.


   
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NSJ
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@kalimar I like routing the trussrod channel while the blank is still squared, I use a fence on my router to follow the edge of the blank.

 

Then for the actual neck I make the fretboard and once it's glued on I leave it flat and run the bearing of the cutter along it to tidy the neck shape. Works a treat.

 

Sapele isn't as hard as maple or that, I liked using it. Heavier than brazillian mahogany in a body though.

 

Sounds like maybe the cutter you used was either blunt or just not up to the job.

 

But hey ho, it's all part of the learning experience


   
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Kalimar
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Turns out our shop had some faulty colletes! I'm pretty sure these gouges will expose themselves so I'm going to try a little resin and make it a feature! More to come 

Listen to our podcast
https://www.grade43.com
and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Kalimar
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My attempt at fixing the gouges left by the cranky router

Listen to our podcast
https://www.grade43.com
and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Kalimar
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not sure why the audio came out so slow! Weird

Listen to our podcast
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and my instagram https://www.instagram.com/_kali_guitar_


   
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Clinton
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Are the gouges deep? Be mindful that when you carve the neck that it does not poke through. You pretty much have 1/8-3/16 of an inch thickness left after installing the truss rod. Might be best just to start over rather than having a neck and truss rod installed and a fretboard already glued on. Think about it.


   
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