Hey @robin. When you did your practice build, can I ask how you got your body and neck blacks to the right size to work on?
Hi @russ, depends what size you're referring to. The neck was a planed plank that I cut lengthwise in 50mm strips, ,rotated the parts 90 degrees and glued together to get the grain right, then planed and sanded. It wasn't wide enough for the headstock so I glued ears onto it.
The pine part of the body was fairly simple, it started as 35mm thick varnished planks. Once they were glued together into a blank, they were fairly flat so just needed sanding.
To make the 35mm up to guitar thickness, I had to add a cap, that was the difficult bit. The piece of mahogany I had was warped and twisted. Once I had steamed and clamped that to get in reasonably flat, it took some hard work to plane, scrape and sand it flat and about 12mm thick.
That turned into a long winded answer.
That turned into a long winded answer.
Well explained @robin. Thank you. I thought I'd better try my limited skills on a cheaper alternative before carving up some proper tonewood.
Cheers again.
Russ
🙂🎸🎶🙏
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
Build #002 had been going so well until I did a trial fit of the tuners yesterday. I've drilled all 6 holes consistently off square and the tuners won't sit flat. I couldn't use my bench drill, it's on my bench at my caravan, three hours drive away and off limits until our current lock down ends. I thought I'd been so careful with my hand drill but obviously not. I don't want to just open out the holes, so I'll plug them and try to make a drilling jig.
In the photo at the top I noticed that you have a router. Router bits usually have a 6mm shank, so you could put a 6mm drill in the collet and use it to drill vertical holes once you have plugged them. Just need to secure the neck and stop it moving.
Some people call me a tool, others are less complimentary. Tools being useful things.
In the photo at the top I noticed that you have a router.
Or if a drill bit is too long you could use a small diameter router bit.
That's the way I'm thinking. I've also got a plunge base for my dremel, that would be more manageable. If can get a straight hole at 6mm or even 8mm, then I've got a stepped drill that I can go in with from both sides up to the 10mm dia that I need. The step drill has a hex shank, so won't fit in the router. I'm spending some time putting shelves under my bench to get rid of some clutter before I do anything else.
I always drill undersized holes where possible and finish with a taper reamer.
It can allow you to correct minor errors like yours
I like that idea. Hopefully I'll be reunited with my bench drill before I need to do my next one.
but you might consider removing a little wood with a file or reamer to get them in there, it shouldn’t take too much?!?
I did consider that, but don't want to have loose sloppy fit. I'd rather fill it and try again.
Simple temporary jig but effective.
It will wear out eventually. Just simply make another. Just make sure scraps are square to start.
Hi @Clinton, that is actually the method that I used. I'm obviously not very good at, I really should have practiced first.
Yeah, you suck @robin 😂😝jk...
I guess you don’t know anyone with a drill press? Maybe someone here could whiz up a drill guide out of scrap wood and send it to you? Something like this:
That should get you through until you have access to your drill press again?
Or maybe you could order one?
Just a thought...
Practice on scrap...
Hi @matt
I guess you don’t know anyone with a drill press? Maybe someone here could whiz up a drill guide out of scrap wood and send it to you? Something like this:
There's a couple of local workplaces that would let me use there facilities if we weren't in lockdown. But if we weren't in lockdown, I'd have my bench drill. I'm sure I'll manage with what I've got, I'll find a way.
