New guitar update, Neck build up

I think more work goes into the neck than any other aspect of the guitar. Especially on an electric.

For truss rod installation I can but follow the manufacturer's instructions. I use the Allied Luthier's Supply, stainless steel, two way adjustable, low torque rod. It is roughed up with a file.The neck is dadoed for a very snug fit. And a hardwood spline is fitted over the top.

The filler strip is epoxied in place with light pressure. The strip sinks in more at the center as the rod is compressed against the adjusting screw. During clamping I check the action of the nut to get it tight, but still free.

Once the epoxy has cured the strip is pared and scraped flush. Note the walnut plug that fills the end of the dado at the body end and acts as a stop for the truss rod end.
The fingerboard marquetry is fully cured prior to laminating the boards. The three layers of veneer are pinned to mdf cauls and clamped up. The laminations are left under pressure for about 2 days. It is very important to keep the boards flat until they are fully cured.

This process produces a very flat and stiff finger board. The edges are cleaned up on the edge sander and the nut end is checked for square.

Fret positions are then marked off on the board. This clamping arrangement of the scale allows for hands free marking. I made my fret slotting saw from an old back saw. By carefully filing and sanding the blade along just the bottom 1/2" I achieved a very stiff blade with the perfect sized kerf. I filed a dozuki style tooth and it cuts on the pull stroke. Even so, it requires great care and concentration as no mistakes can be made. Note the pine strips that act as a depth stop. When the blade just scores these carefully thicknessed strips the slot is the correct depth. The actual kerf stops just past halfway through the middle layer of veneer. This leaves a lamination below the kerfs, running the full length of the board.
Once the boards are slotted, they are tapered on the edge sander to their final dimensions. Both the finger board and the neck are left long at the body end to accommodate veneer pins. These are just #19 1/2" brads with the heads snipped off. Note the stack of three finger boards in the back. Nice and flat, no?
A carefully shaped Ash caul is used to laminate the fingerboard to the neck. Precision is of the utmost importance. The center is checked and rechecked, then checked again. But the pins prevent most movement and lots of glue can be used. Once the board is fully cured it is cut through at the 22nd fret. The waste is carefully pared away, and the pins removed.
This gives me a first hand look at the laminate bond of the fingerboard. My process results in one of great strength, I think.In the rebate that is formed by the fingerboard the neck bindings are laminated with the use of a tapered and waxed spline.The ends are mitered and the mitered end cap is glued in place with this little set up. Nice, no? The maple binding is very springy and there is clamping pressure to spare. When the glue is cured the bindings are rasped flush with the board.Headstock veneers are precut for the truss rod nut and carefully scraped smooth on the back.
The headstock wood and veneer are oversized to allow the placement of more veneer pins. A temporary waxed wood nut is used for alignment. The nut end of the veneer is also pre shaped to the correct angle. This is done by hand on the edge sander. It is offered up to the wooden nut for a perfect fit.

To make laminating the headstock easier the caul is glued together and faced with wax paper to be applied as a single unit. Using 4 veneer pins ensures a precise placement.
Binding the headstock is a bit more tricky. Once the headstock is sanded to shape, a purfling cutter is used to score for the rebate.


Great care is taken to ensure that no tearout occurs at the corners.
The waste is then chiseled out. Very carefully, as no mistakes can be made.

The rebate is made perfectly square and smooth with a paring stroke. Headstock veneers such as this cherry burl, would be shattered by a router. Note the cross grain at the corner. I think maybe this is only possible by hand.


Bindings for the headstock have to be bent. I use this little set up. The pipe has an old chore boy stuffed in the end for a difuser.


It works well though, and it dosn't take long to shape the bindings.

The bindings are glued on in stages. I use a soft nylon cordage, wrapped tight for excellent clamping pressure.
Having lived on a sailboat, I know not to ever cut a line in two. But with this clamping set up the extra length can be put to use on the end bindings.
The successive stages are trimmed back with the dozuki saw.
Then the ends are pared back and filed flush in preparation for the next set.

The side bindings go on last.
Note the awesome squeezeout. This binding is on for good. The precision is such that there will be no need for even the tiniest amount of filler.
Glue won't stick to the nylon cordage either, just unwrap it and there it is.Once things are cleaned up with the rasp and riffler, things are starting to look very good, I think. Note how I leave the neck square for most of it's length. This makes clamping in the vice for bindings very easy.
That's all for now. Next time we should see some carved necks and maybe something that even resembles a guitar.

IW

New guitar update, Body Construction

The new guitars are moving right along. I'll bring you up to date.


The top layer of each core is screwed in place and the body is rough cut to shape on the bandsaw. I use a 1/4" blade to cut right to the line. Screws are 3/4" and positioned at the neck mortise and bridge pickup locations, where the holes will later be routed away. Note that the cutaway is left uncut at this time.The bodies are then separated and the lower two thirds routed for the cavities and wiring. On the first two guitars I installed the shielding through the control cavity after glue up and it was tedious. This time I put it in first. I laminate it with contact adhesive, and "iron" it into place with a soft wood caul.Then the top layer is laminated in place. Precision line up is greatly facilitated by the two positioning screws. By leaving the cutaway filled in, pressure is evenly distributed in this area for a superb lamination.

Routing the maple bodies results in the removal of approximately 1 1/2 lbs from the core (from 8lbs to 6 1/2lbs). The reduction in weight is only partly responsible for the routing of the cavities. I also think it sounds really cool to say my guitars are "semi-hollow body." Ha!Meanwhile the backs of the finish veneer panels are carefully scraped smooth. The steel punch is used to hone the scraper.Then it is back in the press, with everthing carefully lined up. Note that the cutaway has been cut away (he he) prior to laminating. After the glue has cured the panel is trimmed back with the fret saw.In order to reduce the chance of tearout the veneer is brought flush with the rasp before proceeding. A router or laminate trimmer here, with all the grain changes, would be too risky.My first electrics were shaped by hand. Since I built them one at a time it was no big deal. This time around I have a new toy for the drill press. I'll admit it, there is no way I can beat the prescision of this tool. Not if I was there all day with the rasp. So I cheat a little on the handwork.

And it is very precise indeed. The bodies are shown here ready for binding. I make sure the edge is perfect prior to cutting the binding rebate, and take it to 400 grit. Note that the back veneer panel is not yet in place. This allows me to not worry about scratching the back as I work the bindings, etc. The back veneer will go on at the last possible moment.

The WCS Stash Box, All you ever need to know!

"Isaac's beautiful marquetry makes WCS stash boxes the best deal on etsy." -Lynette N., Etsy Shopper
The West Corinth Studio Stash Box, is one of my favorite things to build. I've made perhaps a hundred or more now and no two are alike. Even so, they are all the same size and shape. The reason for their individuality is expressed in the quote above from one of our clients.

But there is a lot more to this little box than meets the eye. Each one is hand crafted with great precision and care. The flexibility to customize the piece with marquetry can, however result in a truely unique gift. In fact, that is how I started making these in the first place.

Heidi came to me one day a few years ago wanting a little box to put some catnip in. She had a very special client who had been quite generous over the years, and Heidi wanted to send her some of Charlie's Blend for her critters. The WCS stash box was born.`

Most of you know that I am in the middle of a batch of electric guitars. Circumstances dictated that I put them aside for the moment as I found myself in need of some gifts. You know what they say, "the best gifts are those you make yourself." I, being loathe to part with any cash, wholeheartedly agree. In any case, there is a bit of a story to tell.

Heidi and I live way out. There aren't many people out here, and everybody knows everybody else. Now, we like to think that in an emergency, Heidi and I would be the first to offer help. More often than not, however, we're on the receiving end of the aid. Over the last few months, with my oldest son's broken leg and most recently with some car trouble, I've racked up a bit of debt to some very kind folks in our town. Rides to and from school and jump starts add up after awhile, and I decided to make some stash boxes for three of the people who have repeatedly come to my aid. Sort of catch up a bit, if you know what I mean.

It just so happens that they are all three women, and with Valentine's Day around the corner I thought I'd put my little "curly hearts" motif around their names on the lids; Bonnie, Erica and Michelle. I don't really know either of the three that well, other than to thank them for bailing me out on occasion, but designing the indiviual boxes gave me pause to think about what I did know.

Erica is petite and bubbly, so I chose birds eye maple for her's.

I think of Michelle as contemporary and refined, so I thought AAA flame maple would be a good match. I also put her name is cursive, just to show how sophisticated I am, no doubt.

Bonnie, the wife of a dairy farmer and mother of seven is always being pulled in five directions so naturally, for her stash box I used cherry burl. See why I love this stuff? What fun!

Since I build the stash boxes in batches of five, I went ahead and did a couple for the Etsy store as well, with my "tumbling guitars" motif.

I figured this would also be a good opportunity to document the process so, what follows is probably way too much information about the WCS Stash Box.

Every box consists of two parts, an inner softwood core with a floating hardwood bottom and a structural veneer shell. The cores are made in batches of about 40 boxes, with interchangeable sides, backs and bottoms. To date, every stash box bottom has been of salvaged wood. At that size, the supply is virtually endless.

Prior to assembling the core, the hardwood bottom is waxed along it's edges to prevent binding in it's groove during glue up. The base is shaped so as to just slightly raise the finished box.
The parts are carefully machined and fit perfectly. Salvaged Baltic birch board (5 ply) is used for the core of the top, which becomes the lid. Sides are of softwood, cedar most often, pine and fir occasionally.Once a trial assembly is complete the core is glued up, clamped and checked for square. The hardwood base is not glued into it's groove to allow for seasonal movement.

The outer shell of the stash box is made of hand sawn 3/32" hardwood veneer. Templates for the sides and top greatly simplify layout.

Throughout the process of marquetry, the waste often produces a stencil. I save these to use again and again. Sometimes I create new motifs with the repeated patterns. Just that happened with the "tumbling guitars" design.The back surface of each panel is carefully scraped smooth after marquetry is completed. The back edge of the band saw blade is my high tech scraper. I challenge you to find a better tool for the job. I do all of the marquetry first. This gives the panels a chance to cure prior to lamination.Cold press lamination with plenty of waterproof glue ensures a powerful bond. By carefully overlapping each corner the outer shell provides incredible strength and stiffness without much additional weight. The backs go on first.The panel is allowed to "swim" in the glue and clamping pressure is applied slowly while maintaining alignment with the registration marks. Good squeeze out is the result. Note the softening on the table. This is a fiberboard sheathing that is used primarily for walls and ceilings. I salvaged a couple of 4x8 sheets at one point and save it exclusively for this purpose. It is ideal.After each pressing the veneer is trimmed back with the Ryoba saw. Note the clamped stop on the bench with a sacrificial underlay; this is a bench hook for the pull stroke of the saw. The Ryoba is also a flush cut saw which is ideal for this purpose.The stiff back of the Dozuki saw is preferred for cutting the veneer prior to laminating. In case you are wondering, I grew up on a little island called Okinawa, in Japan. Sometimes people tell me they see an eastern influence in my work. I definitely see one in my choice of tools, no? But, seriously, these two saws will outperform any of their western equivalents. The shell's sides most often go on second, with the front panels being veneered last. This produces the finest front edge, with the end grain of the back edges completely covered. Sometimes, I will do the sides last with a contrasting wood, for a different effect. Or if I screw up and accidentally laminate the front first. Not supposed to admit that kind of stuff, though, no?Once the tops are laminated, the boxes are cleaned up on the sander. Then the binding rebate is cut on the table saw. I make the rebate in two passes for a perfectly square seat.The bindings are cut from strips of the same structural veneer as the shell. I use a Freud thin kerf 7 1/4" blade in a zero clearance insert. Prior to each cut, the veneer is trued on either the jointer or the edge sander, depending on the species. The trued edge will seat in the rebate.Bindings are carefully marked and mitered on the trimmer.Using plenty of glue and specially shaped cauls, the bindings go on two at a time in opposing pairs. The cauls are heavily waxed to prevent sticking. The opposite pairs of bindings are glued in place once the first set has dried and fully cured.The binding and rebate are sized so that the offered up binding is just proud of the box's edges. This allows positive contact from the caul to the binding, from both the top and side, for a perfectly tight glue joint with no seam. Once the binding is fully cured it is brought down flush with the rasp. This process also allows me to create a very thin binding on the finished box by under sizing the rebate and rasping away the extra binding material. The most refined line is always the objective, but one must be careful to leave enough for final finishing. Re-cutting the binding is real "cussin' and throwin' stuff" kind of work.At this point the stash box is pre-sanded to 150 grit on my jazzy homemade downdraft table. See the grooves in the plywood bench top? That's recycled exterior sheathing. (Picture me just shaking my head.)The top is then sawn free. I use the same thin kerf blade on the table saw and it is raised so as not to cut all the way through the box. This keeps the lid from flopping around for the final cut. A sharp knife finishes the job.

Any good veneer job is always stabilized from underneath. This prevents warping due to uneven seasonal movement.

The inside of the lid, thus receives a cedar lining. I make this the same thickness as the hardwood veneer, 3/32", and it effectively stabilizes the lid as a counter veneer. I cut it so that the grain direction matches that of the exterior finish veneer. It is pressed in place with a carefully sized caul and just enough glue. Note the large cover of sheathing for softening on my press. Lack of uprights in the press design allow great flexibility in the use of the press surface. (disclaimer: I designed and built the press)The bottom of the stash box receives a cedar lining, also. Mitered at the corners, it protrudes to trap the lid in place. Once cut to fit it is glued in place.

After the boxes have been carefully sanded to 600 grit, the outsides are given a thorough rubbing down with my blended oil. This oil is equal parts linseed oil, turpentine and fast drying polyurethane. The interior is left bare wood and is thus a suitable surface for edible herbs, etc.The oil is rubbed out with a rag several times over two days, then the box is waxed on the outside and around the lid. The second coat of wax is burnished with a hard wax pad to give a soft sheen. Then the box is buffed out with a soft cloth, and it is ready to sell or give away! The hardwood base, combined with the very lightweight softwood/veneer construction of the top, effectively weights the stash box.

The cedar lining is fitted to allow for seasonal wood movement without sacrificing a tight fit. The great strength derived from the laminate construction makes for a very sturdy little box.I hope the ladies will like their gifts, because it probably won't be the last time I'll need them to come bail me out.

IW