Color the Body

In order to better match the finish on the top, as well as add color to the pale mahogany body, I decided to color the mahogany with a dye stain. Using Transtint Liquid Dyes with water, I mixed 1 part Red Mahogany and 1 part Red with 16 parts water. I applied the dye to the mahogany with a cotton cloth. Once I acheived an even coat, I let it dry for several hours. Unfortunatly, the dye would not absorb into the wood in the area near the horn where the binding was repaired. I went back and sanded and scraped the area more carefully to ensure that I removed all of the binding repair glue from the wood. I double checked the area by wiping it with mineral spirits and checking for variations in the surface.

After I was satisfied with the rework, I mixed another batch of dye and attempted to re-color the repaired area. The area now accepted the dye, but it was necessary to go over the entire body again because the new batch of dye was slightly different in color. As you can see in the picture, the dye does not color the pores of the wood. Generally, these can be colored with a pore filler, or an oil stain.

Guitar with Mahogany Dyed

Body with Mahogany Dyed

After letting the dye dry for a few more hours, I applied the grain filler. For the grain filler, I went with a mixture of boiled linseed oil and 4F pumice. To start, I coat the mahogany with oil and sprinkle pumice on one section at a time. After adding a little more oil, I worked the pumice/oil mixture into the pores with a cotton cloth. Once the pores are filled, I use a clean cloth to wipe away the excess mixture. The mixture of pumice and oil, as well as some sawdust that is generated by the pumice, will take about 72 hours to cure in the pores and will appear translucent when finished. This method gives a very natural looking filled finish.

Due the sides changing from end grain to long grain and back to end grain, the mahogany came out with a dark color variations. These could have been evened out had a I spent a lot more time sanding the sides. However, I decided that the variations give the mahogany an aged look, so I'm going to accept it as my design intent (I made the rules, so I can break them too).



Coloring the Top

The maple on the top does not require grain filling due to the maple being a closed pore wood. In order to enhance the grain of the figured maple, I began the coloring process using 1 part black dye to 6 parts water. Since dye absorbs into end grain deeper than the face grain, I can sand back the black dye and it will only remain in the figure of the maple (which happens to be end grain).

Top Dyed Black

I used 150 grit paper on my random orbit sander to remove most of the dye. Once the majority of the dye was removed, I switched to 220 grit paper and finished sanding. For the top color, I used the same colors and ratio as I did on the mahogany. My original intent was to finish the guitar without coloring it, but after seeing an example of a red dyed figured top, I couldn't resist.

Top Dyed Red

Next up, the burst and top coats...

Fret Shaping

With the neck glued in place, I can finish the work on the frets. To begin, I placed a notched wooden straight edge on the fretboard and adjusted the truss rod until the neck was flat. The notches were cut in the straight edge so each notch would straddle a fret. Once the neck was flat, I applyed masking tape to wood between each fret and marked the top of each fret with a black marker.

After applying a small amount of honing oil to a medium grit oilstone, I moved the oilstone up and down the fretboard while moving in a figure-8 or circular motion. The key was to allow the stone to follow the radius of the fret while moving the length of the fretboard. I continued this process until the black marker was removed from the length of each fret. Overall, this process was fairly simple. I did have 1 low fret end that required extra leveling of all the frets. This low fret end was most likely caused by me over-hammering it into place to ensure the end did not stick up. If, or more likely, when I build another guitar, the fretting process should go much smoother since I now have some experience.

Now that the frets are level I remarked the tops of each fret witha black marker and began to recrown each fret. With the crowning file, the edges of each fret are filed back to a curved profile, being careful not to file the top of the fret, which would require me to reflatten all of the frets. The crowning is complete when there is a thin line of black marker left on each fret.

Crowning the Frets

To finish the fret shaping, I used the crowning file to knock down the sharp edges left by beveling the fret ends. There are special files available for this job, but so far, I am happy with the way the fret ends came out using the crowning file. If I experience any issues down the road, I can always reshape the ends.

Fret Ends Shaped

Fitting the Nut

The final step before stringing the guitar for the first time is to shape the nut and cut slots for the strings. I'm using a Tusq nut (synthetic material that simulates bone) that has been roughly shaped for a Gibson fretboard. The thickness and top profile is already shaped, so I marked the necessary width and filed the nut down until it was close. I remounted the nut and blended it to match the width and profile of the neck.

Next, I removed the nut and measured the final width. To calculate string spacing, I entered the string guages, nut width, and spacing from the ends into a spreadsheet that I created. The spreadsheet gives the location of each string based on a even spacing between strings, as opposed to an even spacing between centerlines of strings.

Using a set of calipers, I marked each string location with a marking knife and proceeded to saw a shallow slot at each mark. To saw the slot, I used homemade nut saws. The saws were made by cutting notches on the edge of a set of feeler gauges. This allowed me to cut the slot to the exact size of the string. To finish the slot, I used a set of welding tip cleaners to put a rounded profile at the bottom of the slot.

Nut "Saws" and "Files"

I was pleasantly surprised with how well this worked. This saved quite a bit of money considering nut files are about $16 per file (need 6 total). I had a set of feeler gauges, and the welding tip cleaners were about $3 for the set. I'm sure if harder materials are used for the nut, these tools may not be sufficient, but for now, they worked perfectly.

I also began to lower the height of the nut using 150 grit sandpaper. I will do the final height adjustment during the setup when the finishing is complete.

Nut Completed

String It Up

With the nut shaped and the frets leveled and crowned, I re-installed the bridge, tailpiece, tuners, and nut, and began stringing the guitar for the first time. I'm confident in my workmanship, but I was still a little nervous bringing the strings to tension. Once brought to tension, I noticed quite a bit of string buzz, so I began to perform a rough setup. Once I adjusted the truss rod so the neck would have a bit of relief, the buzz disappeared. I also lowered the nut a little more and adjusted the bridge height, just to see how things looked.

Guitar Strung Up

During the process, I had to re-tune several times due to the adjustments I was making, as well as the neck and strings settling in. Once the tuning was somewhat stable, I headed inside to play it "acoustically" for awhile, as the electronics won't be installed until after the finishing is complete.

Even though I wasn't plugged in, I was amazed at how well the guitar felt and sounded. For an electric, the acoustic sound and volume was incredible. It was so loud that my wife wanted me to quit playing it because she was afraid it would wake up the kids, although a quick listen from their rooms verified that it wasn't that loud. Overall, it was definitely louder than my other electrics (obviously nowhere near my acoustic though).

The guitar played so well, that I contemplated leaving it be, on the threat of srewing it up. But alas, I decided to carry-on and remove the strings and hardware.


Pick-Up Rings, Pickgaurd, and Strap Buttons

Before the final sanding and finishing, I shaped and mounted the pick-up rings. Since the pick-up plane has a slight curve, the rings need to be shaped to fit the curve. The rings are flexible enough to follow the curve, but flexing them left some areas with a gap between the ring and the body. To match the curve, I taped a piece of sandpaper over the mounting location and sanded the pick-up ring to match the curve. They didn't come out exact, but the flexibility of the rings took care of any discrepancy. Once shaped, I marked the screw locations, drilled pilot holes, and mounted the pick-ups.

Shaping the pick-up ring

After the pick-ups were mounted, I installed the pickguard. This was pretty straightfoward. I loosely installed the bracket to the guard and put the guard into position on the body. The pickguard fit snugly between the pick-up rings and pretty much fell into place. I mark and drilled pilot holes, and installed the screws.

Pickguard Attached

Last, but not least, I installed the strap buttons. Instead of traditional strap buttons, I went with Dunlop Straplocks. I've had these installed on my Strat for a number of years, and have been happy with them.


Sanding

To prepare for the finish, I used a random orbit sander to progress from 100 to 150 to 220 grit on the flat areas of the guitar. For the maple top, I stopped at 150 grit since the top will be resanded during the dye application. Next, I proceeded to hand sand the curved areas with 150 anf 220 grit paper backed with duct tape. I also hand sanded the flat areas with 220 to eliminate any sanding marks. I also went over the headstock inlays with both a grey and white scotchbrite pad to eliminate sanding scratches and bring up the shine.

Once complete, I removed the excess sanding dust and masked the top, headstock, and the fretboard, leaving only the mahogany exposed for the first step in finishing.

Finishing is next...

Body and Neck Become One

After the frets were in place and the ends were trimmed, I used a fret-end file to bring the fret ends flush to the binding. Once flush, I used the angled side of the fret-end file to put a 20 degree bevel on the fret ends. The bevel on the ends of the frets allows the fretting hand to glide smoothly along the length of the neck. A 20 degree angle is fairly steep, but I was concerned that a greater angle would reduce the playing surface of the fret too much. It is easier to increase the bevel angle if needed, rather than replace the frets if the angle turns out to be to much.

Before gluing the neck to the body, I fitted the tuners and drilled holes for the mounting screws. I also installed the truss rod cover. On a hunch, I ordered an extra truss-rod cover screw, and it turns out that I needed it. Even after drilling a pilot hole in the ebony headstock veneer, it was very difficult to cut threads for screw. By the time I was done with both holes, the head of the screw was mangled. Luckily, it held together for both, so I can use the 2 remaining screws for the cover.

It's a good woodworking practice to dry clamp a joint prior to applying glue. This allows you to work out any clamping or fit issues before its too late. Once completed, I disassembled the joint, applied glue to the mortise and tenon, and then assembled and clamped the joint. Generally, a good fitting joint can be difficult to assemble after applying glue. This is due to the water-based glue causing the wood to swell slightly. In this case though, the swelling was minimal and the glue acted as a lubricant to allow the joint to slide togther easily.

I removed the clamps after letting the glue cure overnight.

Neck Glued to Body

Binding Repair Revisited

Now that the neck is glued in place, I could go back and trim the body binding flush to the neck. Since there was quite a bit of binding to remove, I masked the the neck binding until I was ready for the final blending. The excess binding was removed with a half-round file and a scraper. The scraper removes the binding very quickly and smoothly, but it was difficult to use near the ends and in the tighter portion of the curve. As I got close to the fretboard, I removed the masking tape and did the final blending. Aside from a little dicoloration, the repair came out very well and nearly seamless. I may use a heat gun to remove the discoloration, but I'm nervous about ruining something else in the process, so we'll see.

Binding Repair Complete

Grounding the Bridge

Prior to installing the bushings for the bridge and tailpiece, a ground wire should be run from the tailpiece bushing hole to the control cavity, where it will be soldered to the back of a control pot. This will ground the tailpiece, and subsequently the strings, to prevent hum when playing through an amp. To drill the hole for the wire, I used a 1/8" drill bit that was 12" long.

Hole for the Bridge Ground

The proper way to connect the wire to the tailpiece bushing is to strip the isulation from the end, run the wire, and then install the bushing so it pinches the wire against the wood as it is being installed. This sounds like a good plan, but in practice it didn't work out well for me. I knew in advance that this probably wouldn't work out, so I did some research and discovered the ball point pen trick.

The trick is to solder the spring of a ball point pen onto the tailpiece end of the ground wire. The wire is then run so the spring stands vertically in the bushing. When the screw for the tailpiece in run down, it compresses against the spring and grounds the tailpiece.

After running the wire and inserting the tailpiece screw, I verified that there was continuity between the wire in the control cavity and tailpiece screw. You can just see the top spring in the lower right bushing.

Bridge Bushings Installed

That's all for now...

Drilling for Control Shafts and Bridge Bushings

While the neck is still free from the body, the holes for the bridge and control pots are drilled. To begin, I drilled a 3/32" hole through the center locations on the body and control plate template. I temporarily attached the templates to the body and used a 3/32" bit and a light tap of a hammer to mark the locations of the control pot shafts and the pickup selector switch.

Marking the Control Pot Shaft Locations

After removing the template, I used a 3/8" bit in the drill press to drill the holes for the control pot shafts. Since the body is curved at these locations, it was necessary to shim the body on the drill press table in order to drill the hole square to the surface. Due to the ever changing contour, it is not possible to square in all directions, so the key was to get it as close as possible.

Since the control cavity has a flat base, it was necessary to relieve the underside of the holes at an angle, so the control pot sits against a flat surface. This step is done with a forstner bit, but finding the correct angle is difficult. In order to cut the relief properly, I inserted the shaft of a 3/4" forstner bit trough the hole with the cutting portion of the bit in the control cavity. Next, I chucked the bit into a drill and used the top side of the forstner bit to cut the relief. The cut went fairly slow, since the bit is not designed to cut backwards.

I repeated this drilling procedure for the pickup selector switch. The switch required a 1/2" mounting hole. This allowed me to use a larger forstner bit to relieve the underside. Since the switch is not height adjustable, the relief was cut deeper. After defining the angle with the top of the bit, I flipped the body over and drilled the rest of the relief with the bottom of the forstner bit.

Once the control shaft holes were complete, I refitted the neck and measured for the bridge location. In theory, the 12th fret should be exactly halfway between the nut and the bridge. However, due to the bending of the strings when being fretted, and the difference in string thicknesses, the bridge must be set back in order to acheive the correct intonation. After measuring and adding compensation, I discovered that I could use the bridge location specified on the plan. This isn't surprising, but with the different Gibson scale lengths that are all considered 24.75", I didn't want to blindly follow the plans.

Body Holes Drilled

Fretting

The next step on the neck is to install the frets. The fretwire I purchased came in straight pieces, so it was necessary to pre-bend the frets. To ensure a good fit, the frets were pre-bent to a tighter radius than the fretboard. I found that this was easier to do before cutting the frets to length. Once cut to an over-size length, I trimmed the tang of the fret so the fret would overhang the binding.

Fret Ready to Be Installed

Before installing the frets, I cleaned any excess glue that was left in the fret slots during the binding process. I also added a slight bevel to the fret slots to ensure the frets would seat tightly against the fretboard.

I added a little glue to the fret slot and used a hammer with a hard plastic head to seat the ends of the frets. Once the ends were seated, I seated the rest of the fret with a clamp and radiused caul. When all of the frets were installed, I discovered that some of the frets were not seated as well as the others. I was able to reseat some of these, but 3 or 4 of them need to be replaced.

Frets Installed

This was my first time doing this, so I learned quite a bit. The biggest lesson learned was to have better neck support during the hammering or pressing process. The support I used had a narrow surface area, which caused the back of the neck to dent. Luckily, I was able to repair them by steaming them out.


More next time...