I've been lurking here for a number of years and am going to attempt to build my first amp (a dumble clone of some kind) this year so it seemed like a good idea to offer something to the forum before I start asking a bunch of dumb questions this summer.
This past November, I got the idea to make my wife a uke for Christmas, only I have very limited experience working with wood. I've never made any kind of instrument before. I have a dozen years of working with titanium in that I make custom titanium bikes for a living but I needed a way to cover the fact that I was going to generate a lot of wood shavings and dust. My shop is in our garage, and rather than spend the time cleaning up before my wife gets home every day, building a guitar for myself seemed like the best possible way to hide the uke project in plain sight.
The first thing I did was to scrap the idea to build a uke by Christmas. It was November and my wife is a teacher so she was going to have three weeks off, which meant three weeks of her being home. There was no way I was going to get uke work done while she was hanging around the house. I did manage to join tops and backs before the winter break.
There's a great local place that has a little room for instrument wood, so I browsed for a while and came home with enough wood to make four ukes. I figure that two of them will definitely be completed and of those two, one has the chance of meeting my expectations.
I thought this combination of yellow cedar and cocobolo looked rather nice.
I couldn't help but get this figured mahogany
I build a shooting board and started jointing the plates. This is a freebie mahogany board. I'm trying everything on the freebie set first so I can learn what not to do when attempting a process on any of the nice wood.
shooting the cocobolo
This is half of a nice set of roasted ash that will become telecasterish.
Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal
Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
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Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
There's so much information available on how to do just about anything. While I can objectively say that I'm a decent welder and know my way around machine tools, I don't have much in the way of clamps. Rather than build a specific joining jig for these plates, I found a recommendation to use a specific medium tack 3M tape that's just a little stretchy but would keep enough clamp pressure on the plates while the adhesive dries.
The idea is that you "tent" the set, apply the tape to the inside of the V and then flatten them out. I put 5 pieces to start, tacked them about 1.5" from the joint and flattened them out, quickly burnishing the tape through the centerline. Then flipped it, applied ten pre cut pieces, flipped again and filled the gaps with five more strips and let it sit. The is the yellow cedar which was my first experience with hide glue.
The stack of plates curing. This mahogany is going to look amazing.
This is the red cedar top, joined with hot hide glue, before scraping.
figured mahogany, after scraping. I took a lot of care to ensure a gap free joint and I think it paid off. The mahogany and cedar plates were joined using hot hide glue. For the cocobolo and amazon rosewood, I used West Systems epoxy. My understanding is that those woods are too oily for PVA or hide glue to be used effectively.
I used PVA to join the ash and I'm planing it flat here (I went on a woodwoorking tool purchasing spree) . Shooting the ash was more difficult for several reasons, the thickness of it being the biggest. In the process of getting to know my planes, I've found the sharpening process to be almost therapeutic and take great joy in getting the blade sharp enough to easily push through paper...arm hair...tomato skin. If I do a lot more of this, I'll add a couple of destaco clamps to the shooting board. attempting to hold the board in place while doing a 1.75" cut was more difficult that it needs to be. I was making a convex cut and there was about a 3-5 thou gap at the ends. Ultimately, I got it close with the plane and then slapped a sheet of Stik-it paper on the sole and went to town. After a minute or two, I had two perfectly jointed plates.
The idea is that you "tent" the set, apply the tape to the inside of the V and then flatten them out. I put 5 pieces to start, tacked them about 1.5" from the joint and flattened them out, quickly burnishing the tape through the centerline. Then flipped it, applied ten pre cut pieces, flipped again and filled the gaps with five more strips and let it sit. The is the yellow cedar which was my first experience with hide glue.
The stack of plates curing. This mahogany is going to look amazing.
This is the red cedar top, joined with hot hide glue, before scraping.
figured mahogany, after scraping. I took a lot of care to ensure a gap free joint and I think it paid off. The mahogany and cedar plates were joined using hot hide glue. For the cocobolo and amazon rosewood, I used West Systems epoxy. My understanding is that those woods are too oily for PVA or hide glue to be used effectively.
I used PVA to join the ash and I'm planing it flat here (I went on a woodwoorking tool purchasing spree) . Shooting the ash was more difficult for several reasons, the thickness of it being the biggest. In the process of getting to know my planes, I've found the sharpening process to be almost therapeutic and take great joy in getting the blade sharp enough to easily push through paper...arm hair...tomato skin. If I do a lot more of this, I'll add a couple of destaco clamps to the shooting board. attempting to hold the board in place while doing a 1.75" cut was more difficult that it needs to be. I was making a convex cut and there was about a 3-5 thou gap at the ends. Ultimately, I got it close with the plane and then slapped a sheet of Stik-it paper on the sole and went to town. After a minute or two, I had two perfectly jointed plates.
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Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Welcome to the board, and, WOW!
I build and repair tube amps. http://amps.monkeymatic.com
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
With the plates joined and while waiting for a few days to cure, I thought I'd get to work on the sides. I've read that most people use a drum sander, but unfortunately, I don't have access to one so I set out to do as much of it as possible by hand.
Those two photos are pretty self-explanitory, only I was concerned that I wasn't doing a great job at keeping it uniformly flat. With a target of about 0.085" to start, I got it to within about 10 thou and devised a system to make it more uniform with a sanding block.
The topmost of the two photos is how many thou over each section is...off the plane. the bottom photo is after sanding.
I came to the realization that this was going to be beyond time consuming with the tops/backs and reached out to some friends for help. A friend of a friend is an amateur builder and offered to have me over one weekend day for a drum sander session. But then...
Those two photos are pretty self-explanitory, only I was concerned that I wasn't doing a great job at keeping it uniformly flat. With a target of about 0.085" to start, I got it to within about 10 thou and devised a system to make it more uniform with a sanding block.
The topmost of the two photos is how many thou over each section is...off the plane. the bottom photo is after sanding.
I came to the realization that this was going to be beyond time consuming with the tops/backs and reached out to some friends for help. A friend of a friend is an amateur builder and offered to have me over one weekend day for a drum sander session. But then...
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Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
...the day before I was to go over I heard from my friend that his buddy cut off the tips of two of his fingers. I can't imagine what that's like and judged that it would be best to offer my sympathy and leave him be. If he wants to reach out sometime in the future, I'll gladly accept but I'm surely not going to bother him with my trivial work.
This happened around the beginning of winter break and since my wife and kids were going to be around every day, it seemed like a great time to start work on the guitar in earnest.
Being that the telecaster is probably one of the easiest entry points to guitar building, I don't own a tele and it would be nice to have one, I thought it was a great place to start.
I downloaded some plans, had them printed in full scale and promptly made my first mistake. I glued it on to 1/2 mdf with yellow glue. The print expanded by about 10% and I didn't notice it until a few days after I used a buddy's bandsaw to cut out the template. Luckily, I realized it BEFORE taking the time to sand the template down to the line to make my master template. Deciding that it wouldn't be a huge loss to just order a damn template set rather than make them, that's exactly what I did. It's probably the best $50 I've spent in the past five years.
Routed, rounded and an arm bevel filed in.
belly cut in place.
I've never had a soft spot for tele's really and to be honest, I'm a bit softer than I should be. With that in mind, the rear perimeter was rounded over with a 1/2" bit and I put in generous contours to make it more comfortable.
This happened around the beginning of winter break and since my wife and kids were going to be around every day, it seemed like a great time to start work on the guitar in earnest.
Being that the telecaster is probably one of the easiest entry points to guitar building, I don't own a tele and it would be nice to have one, I thought it was a great place to start.
I downloaded some plans, had them printed in full scale and promptly made my first mistake. I glued it on to 1/2 mdf with yellow glue. The print expanded by about 10% and I didn't notice it until a few days after I used a buddy's bandsaw to cut out the template. Luckily, I realized it BEFORE taking the time to sand the template down to the line to make my master template. Deciding that it wouldn't be a huge loss to just order a damn template set rather than make them, that's exactly what I did. It's probably the best $50 I've spent in the past five years.
Routed, rounded and an arm bevel filed in.
belly cut in place.
I've never had a soft spot for tele's really and to be honest, I'm a bit softer than I should be. With that in mind, the rear perimeter was rounded over with a 1/2" bit and I put in generous contours to make it more comfortable.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
With the body mostly looking like a tele, it was time to get to processing the neck.
I put a bit of tape on the part of the neck template that interacts with the pocket in the body. With the type of work that I do, I typically hold machining tolerances between 0.0005" and 0.001" and I'm not quite so naive to think that wood is going to respond the same way. The tape was my attempt to make a slightly large interference with the possibility of sanding it down a touch to fit the pocket later on.
I'm skipping a head a bit here because the photos are a bit boring. After a pass with my router and a template bit, I wasn't feeling confident that I could get the neck done cleanly. I called my buddy who has a router table and set a time to get it done at his house and am glad for it.
Incidentally, for your bike nerds out there, that iron surface plate it's sitting on is part of a huge alignment table that I use to proof my bike frames. I got it from a guy who works at Specialized who got it from Joe Murray. This used to be the production alignment plate at Voodoo bicycles.
A couple of strips of sticky backed paper (Mirka brand here - don't buy Mirka paper. get the 3M stuff...it doesn't clog nearly as often) on my granite surface plate and I'm trying to get the top and back as flat as possible. The table is flat to half a thou from a point to any other point on the table, so it should be a sufficient sanding block as long as I don't put too much pressure on any one spot of the neck.
heaving the neck back and forth was a bit too much for my shoulder* so I machined a scrap piece of aluminum plate to use with the stickit paper for flattening purposes.
Many more omitted photos...I was going to make a fixture and router sled so I could rout the truss rod and stiffener slots. I even milled a new router base that I thought would make the process quick and easy. The base was square with the through hole 0.400" off center from one mid-line. That way I could set the neck in the fixture on center, rout the truss rod slot, turn the router 90° to rout one stiffener slot (0.400" to the right) and then 180° to route the left slot. Then someone asked why I didn't just do it on the milling machine. I have a Deckel from 1964 and the spindle will only go to 1600rpm which I thought was too low. Long story short...it's not.
It's rare that I get to just eyeball any milling operation. They're all usually highly planned out with careful attention paid to the DRO. It's nice to just set up some lines and go for it.
It's worked out pretty OK.
* A little back story. I'm a middle aged dad who used to race mountain bikes and do trials competitions for the decade of my 20's. I lived on the east coast then where the trails are rocky, steep and technical and I never learned to ride a bike downhill fast. I've been on the west coast for about 15 years now and a few years ago I decided that it was time to get proper fast on a mountain bike so I signed up for some super-d events. For those who don't know, a super-d is a mostly downhill race. While there is generally some climbing, which is often crucial to the overall time, it's typically 80% DH oriented. After a decent season last year where I got a top ten finish, I was feeling pretty good. Then in August, I bobbled when a rock broke loose from the ground while I was using it to change direction and I came off at around 20mph and stopped dead when I hit a boulder the size of an oven. My shoulder took most of the impact and I broke my left shoulder blade, separated my shoulder, broke my left humerus, got a mild concussion and two bulging discs in my back. At this point my shoulder is back to about 75% function but my back is still f'd. A lot of time is spent trying to find ways to work and move things around that used to not cause problems.
I put a bit of tape on the part of the neck template that interacts with the pocket in the body. With the type of work that I do, I typically hold machining tolerances between 0.0005" and 0.001" and I'm not quite so naive to think that wood is going to respond the same way. The tape was my attempt to make a slightly large interference with the possibility of sanding it down a touch to fit the pocket later on.
I'm skipping a head a bit here because the photos are a bit boring. After a pass with my router and a template bit, I wasn't feeling confident that I could get the neck done cleanly. I called my buddy who has a router table and set a time to get it done at his house and am glad for it.
Incidentally, for your bike nerds out there, that iron surface plate it's sitting on is part of a huge alignment table that I use to proof my bike frames. I got it from a guy who works at Specialized who got it from Joe Murray. This used to be the production alignment plate at Voodoo bicycles.
A couple of strips of sticky backed paper (Mirka brand here - don't buy Mirka paper. get the 3M stuff...it doesn't clog nearly as often) on my granite surface plate and I'm trying to get the top and back as flat as possible. The table is flat to half a thou from a point to any other point on the table, so it should be a sufficient sanding block as long as I don't put too much pressure on any one spot of the neck.
heaving the neck back and forth was a bit too much for my shoulder* so I machined a scrap piece of aluminum plate to use with the stickit paper for flattening purposes.
Many more omitted photos...I was going to make a fixture and router sled so I could rout the truss rod and stiffener slots. I even milled a new router base that I thought would make the process quick and easy. The base was square with the through hole 0.400" off center from one mid-line. That way I could set the neck in the fixture on center, rout the truss rod slot, turn the router 90° to rout one stiffener slot (0.400" to the right) and then 180° to route the left slot. Then someone asked why I didn't just do it on the milling machine. I have a Deckel from 1964 and the spindle will only go to 1600rpm which I thought was too low. Long story short...it's not.
It's rare that I get to just eyeball any milling operation. They're all usually highly planned out with careful attention paid to the DRO. It's nice to just set up some lines and go for it.
It's worked out pretty OK.
* A little back story. I'm a middle aged dad who used to race mountain bikes and do trials competitions for the decade of my 20's. I lived on the east coast then where the trails are rocky, steep and technical and I never learned to ride a bike downhill fast. I've been on the west coast for about 15 years now and a few years ago I decided that it was time to get proper fast on a mountain bike so I signed up for some super-d events. For those who don't know, a super-d is a mostly downhill race. While there is generally some climbing, which is often crucial to the overall time, it's typically 80% DH oriented. After a decent season last year where I got a top ten finish, I was feeling pretty good. Then in August, I bobbled when a rock broke loose from the ground while I was using it to change direction and I came off at around 20mph and stopped dead when I hit a boulder the size of an oven. My shoulder took most of the impact and I broke my left shoulder blade, separated my shoulder, broke my left humerus, got a mild concussion and two bulging discs in my back. At this point my shoulder is back to about 75% function but my back is still f'd. A lot of time is spent trying to find ways to work and move things around that used to not cause problems.
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Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Here's the other end of the neck. The double acting rod and spoke wheel style was chosen purely for ease of installation and just in case I ended up with some back bow (boy am I glad I did this) . I flirted with the idea of making a titanium truss rod, which wouldn't have been hard at all, but then I would have had to make a jig to route a concave slot in the neck, a jig to drill a hole in the headstock and a way to make a filler strip for the back of the neck. As this is supposed to just be a smokescreen, that seemed like way too much time to invest. After all, I'm getting no enjoyment from this whatsoever 
I bought a few amazon rosewood fingerboard blanks and this one seemed nice, so I set about to flattening it, at first thinking that with some aggressive paper, I could get it to the proper thickness.
I saved a lot of the dust. I like the look of bound fingerboards, but didn't want to take the time this time. Saving the dust will let me fix problems in the future AND I can put a dab of CA glue on the ends of the fret slots to hide them.
I bought a few amazon rosewood fingerboard blanks and this one seemed nice, so I set about to flattening it, at first thinking that with some aggressive paper, I could get it to the proper thickness.
I saved a lot of the dust. I like the look of bound fingerboards, but didn't want to take the time this time. Saving the dust will let me fix problems in the future AND I can put a dab of CA glue on the ends of the fret slots to hide them.
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Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
I don't have a great explanation of why I chose to use inserts rather than just to thread the neck directly. This was a learning experience in itself.
The first thing I learned was not to blindly trust that a tool will do the job it was designed to do. You can see how buggered the top left corner of the neck is. I didn't catch that the installation tool was wider than the slot in the top of the inserts. Even after chunks of the neck were sitting on the table, I had to scratch my head for a minute.
Once I realized the cause of the problem, I chucked it up in the lathe and turned down the OD to be a few thou smaller than the OD of the insert.
Looking pretty good now. The next three went in nicely.
Remember when I wrote that I thought I could just sand the fingerboard blank to thickness? That was a stupid idea.
I clamped it to the mill bed and got it close and THEN sanded it down.
The first thing I learned was not to blindly trust that a tool will do the job it was designed to do. You can see how buggered the top left corner of the neck is. I didn't catch that the installation tool was wider than the slot in the top of the inserts. Even after chunks of the neck were sitting on the table, I had to scratch my head for a minute.
Once I realized the cause of the problem, I chucked it up in the lathe and turned down the OD to be a few thou smaller than the OD of the insert.
Looking pretty good now. The next three went in nicely.
Remember when I wrote that I thought I could just sand the fingerboard blank to thickness? That was a stupid idea.
I clamped it to the mill bed and got it close and THEN sanded it down.
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Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Man, when it comes time to make an amp chassis, you've got a nice metals shop!
I build and repair tube amps. http://amps.monkeymatic.com
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Now that I had a flat fingerboard, I thought I should test an idea I had for markers. I couldn't decide if I wanted MOP or abalone so why not try to use both? I'll tell you why not, because it's brittle and even the brad point bit wants to wander just a little and isn't guaranteed to stay on center. Not only that, the shells I have don't contract nearly enough to make so interesting as to be worth the trouble.
I caved and bought the StewMac slotting tool. Once the slots were cut, I spent a bit of time with my digital calipers marking centerlines between the fret slots down the centerline of the board and then pricked the layout points with the tip of an awl. Since my vision isn't great, flooding the area with my little flashlight while trying to center the drill on my layout points helped considerably.
I also caved and bought the radius block as it was on sale and I don't have a way to make one very easily. Radiusing the board before glue up. I sanded enough to leave about 1/4" of unsanded surface down the center to be finished after glue up.
skipped the glue up photos. I pushed a couple of nails into the neck, one at each end, and clipped off all but a pointy nub. Then I lined up the centerlines of the neck and fret board and presed them together to give myself a reference point. I used epoxy again to join the two and used every clamp I had with the neck laying on my surface plate and the radius block on top of the fret board. I can honestly say that this was the most stressful part of the build to this point as I was worried that I would miss something and would be left with a hideous glue line. It was unfounded as it came out about as nice as was possible. I milled down the bulk of the top of the headstock, radiused the transition and stuck it to the mill table with double sided tape with some steel I use for tooling as guides for the radius block. The radius was finished up to 600g paper.
I caved and bought the StewMac slotting tool. Once the slots were cut, I spent a bit of time with my digital calipers marking centerlines between the fret slots down the centerline of the board and then pricked the layout points with the tip of an awl. Since my vision isn't great, flooding the area with my little flashlight while trying to center the drill on my layout points helped considerably.
I also caved and bought the radius block as it was on sale and I don't have a way to make one very easily. Radiusing the board before glue up. I sanded enough to leave about 1/4" of unsanded surface down the center to be finished after glue up.
skipped the glue up photos. I pushed a couple of nails into the neck, one at each end, and clipped off all but a pointy nub. Then I lined up the centerlines of the neck and fret board and presed them together to give myself a reference point. I used epoxy again to join the two and used every clamp I had with the neck laying on my surface plate and the radius block on top of the fret board. I can honestly say that this was the most stressful part of the build to this point as I was worried that I would miss something and would be left with a hideous glue line. It was unfounded as it came out about as nice as was possible. I milled down the bulk of the top of the headstock, radiused the transition and stuck it to the mill table with double sided tape with some steel I use for tooling as guides for the radius block. The radius was finished up to 600g paper.
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Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Once more, the calipers were out and centerlines marked for the side dots. I did my best to get the punches right on the glue line and used CA glue to stick them in place.
Started roughing out the neck shape with my block plane.
The neck was still its full 1" thickness at this point
I went round and round about what to do for the nut slot. I admit that my default is to make a fixture for it. When I'm making bikes, if I come across a problem, it's typically one that I'll see again so it makes sense to take the time to make a fixture to hold something to be welded, or to hold a tube so I can cut it without problems. I don't know how many guitars I'll build, so I've spent more time than I probably should thinking of how to do something "my" way only to slap myself and just get it done with what's on hand. Anyhow, I borrowed my wife's reader glasses and grabbed an 1/8" chisel and got to work. The 1/8" chisel I have is actually 0.140" . If you're a type A perfectionist like I am, then you're probably also thinking "WTF!? 1/8" is 0.125!" and if you want to cut an 1/8" nut slot, a chisel that measures 0.140" isn't quite what I wanted, but I made it work with only a little tear out.
Started roughing out the neck shape with my block plane.
The neck was still its full 1" thickness at this point
I went round and round about what to do for the nut slot. I admit that my default is to make a fixture for it. When I'm making bikes, if I come across a problem, it's typically one that I'll see again so it makes sense to take the time to make a fixture to hold something to be welded, or to hold a tube so I can cut it without problems. I don't know how many guitars I'll build, so I've spent more time than I probably should thinking of how to do something "my" way only to slap myself and just get it done with what's on hand. Anyhow, I borrowed my wife's reader glasses and grabbed an 1/8" chisel and got to work. The 1/8" chisel I have is actually 0.140" . If you're a type A perfectionist like I am, then you're probably also thinking "WTF!? 1/8" is 0.125!" and if you want to cut an 1/8" nut slot, a chisel that measures 0.140" isn't quite what I wanted, but I made it work with only a little tear out.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
What to do about frets? I have a 20y/o Taylor, a 25 y/o PRS and a newish Suhr. The Suhr has stainless frets and they're soooo smooth. It by far has the best fretwork of the three and even though it's not necessarily the result of stainless frets, it was enough to convince me to try it even though other builders tried to convince me otherwise.
I should also mention, because I believe this was the key to my relative success, that my neck was flat to 0.001" before I glued on the fretboard. The fret board was flat to the same tolerance and they both had a 0.001 hump in the middle. Predictably, this led to a 0.002" hump in the final assembly once it was glued up and even after radiusing, it remained. I was told several times, "don't bother", "it's wood", "it'll be different in a few hours so don't sweat the precision" "you can make up the difference when you level the frets"
I used my good Knipex end nips which I ground to flush cut specifically for this job and I wish I hadn't. They're supposedly 64HRC but were no match for the stainless wire.
So a radiused a scrap of walnut and cut a slot in it to hold the frets while I could file back just a little bit of the tang.
It took eight strokes. After that, the file would screech across the flat underside of the fret.
I should also say that I got really lucky. The wire I bought was shipped in a 4' coil which just happened to be slightly less than the 10" radius of my fret board. I was going to make a radius tool but didn't have to... this time.
I should also mention, because I believe this was the key to my relative success, that my neck was flat to 0.001" before I glued on the fretboard. The fret board was flat to the same tolerance and they both had a 0.001 hump in the middle. Predictably, this led to a 0.002" hump in the final assembly once it was glued up and even after radiusing, it remained. I was told several times, "don't bother", "it's wood", "it'll be different in a few hours so don't sweat the precision" "you can make up the difference when you level the frets"
I used my good Knipex end nips which I ground to flush cut specifically for this job and I wish I hadn't. They're supposedly 64HRC but were no match for the stainless wire.
So a radiused a scrap of walnut and cut a slot in it to hold the frets while I could file back just a little bit of the tang.
It took eight strokes. After that, the file would screech across the flat underside of the fret.
I should also say that I got really lucky. The wire I bought was shipped in a 4' coil which just happened to be slightly less than the 10" radius of my fret board. I was going to make a radius tool but didn't have to... this time.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
I wish I could make a chassis. I'd need a brake and shear first. Plus the time to understand how bending the sheet would displace the holes. I'm willing to do a lot of work to make something, but that's a bridge too far for me. I just pre-ordered a chassis from Amplified Nation.
Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Once again faced with the prospect of making or buying a tool, I remembered that I have an old edge sharpener in my snowboard tool kit. It trimmed the ends flush with the fretboard without too much hassle.
This was the ONLY high fret of the 22. I used the 4 sided tool, checked sections of 3 at a time by trying to rock the tool in five places across the sets of three and this one, was the only one. Once I filed it down, I check it all again and then again with a straightedge. Totally flat.
I did not hammer them in. I used a caul with my milling machine spindle as a press. A line of CA glue in the slot, follow by a quick and firm press and then a shot of accelerant while it was being held in place is how I set every fret.
I hadn't yet decided how to bevel them but I did start going through the grits.
This was the ONLY high fret of the 22. I used the 4 sided tool, checked sections of 3 at a time by trying to rock the tool in five places across the sets of three and this one, was the only one. Once I filed it down, I check it all again and then again with a straightedge. Totally flat.
I did not hammer them in. I used a caul with my milling machine spindle as a press. A line of CA glue in the slot, follow by a quick and firm press and then a shot of accelerant while it was being held in place is how I set every fret.
I hadn't yet decided how to bevel them but I did start going through the grits.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Sean Chaney
Re: Tele style and (eventually) tenor ukulele scratch builds
Once the frets were on, I strung up the guitar to see how I liked the fat neck. I didn't at all, so I broke it back down and took measurements of my Suhr to try to replicate the shape
Using a rasp, I roughed it in and then roughed it in some more with a borrowed spoke shave (one of the most fun tools I've used)
I follow Tom Sands on instagram and I saw that he uses this method of chalking the neck and using a rather large board with 60g paper glued on to keep the lines straight. It works amazingly well.
I couldn't resist noodling around a bit more.
Using a rasp, I roughed it in and then roughed it in some more with a borrowed spoke shave (one of the most fun tools I've used)
I follow Tom Sands on instagram and I saw that he uses this method of chalking the neck and using a rather large board with 60g paper glued on to keep the lines straight. It works amazingly well.
I couldn't resist noodling around a bit more.
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Sean Chaney