Dolando Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Hello all, Long time BassChatter, first time GuitarChatter. I am currently in the process of a proof of concept guitar…an electric resonator. Here’s the initial design and parts and woods I’m going to be using; Specs will be; 1 piece walnut body Roasted Maple neck hipshot tuners biscuit bridge Monty’s Firebird neck pickup Cream double binding I hope some of you will be interested in seeing this come together. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 (edited) A build thread? Count me in. Oh yeah…. Edited October 9, 2022 by ezbass 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 4, 2022 Author Share Posted October 4, 2022 15 minutes ago, ezbass said: A build thread? Count me in. Of yeah…. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 4, 2022 Author Share Posted October 4, 2022 I have managed to make a start on the neck. I plan on another project after this, and I have a jig I used to route these perfectly central, so I did the truss rod routes on both of them. You can also see the fingerboards I plan to use on both. I also marked out the headstock and tuner holes. These were transferred from my master template so I can get them correct every time. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankAtari Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 OMG did you dismantle your washing machine for this project?! Good luck, judging from the silhouette it looks pretty cool to me. But still I don't get how it will work... will you wash your socks in your guitar or your machine will spin in Eminor? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 4, 2022 Author Share Posted October 4, 2022 2 hours ago, FrankAtari said: OMG did you dismantle your washing machine for this project?! Good luck, judging from the silhouette it looks pretty cool to me. But still I don't get how it will work... will you wash your socks in your guitar or your machine will spin in Eminor? The washing machine is still intact. Thank you, it will come together in due course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusoe Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Looks interesting. Can't wait to see the developments 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 5, 2022 Author Share Posted October 5, 2022 (edited) Made some progress on the roasted neck. Glued on the fingerboard and trimmed the neck. I also trimmed the headstock thickness and routed in the curve behind the nut with a large over bit and a little jig. The good thing about roasted necks they are mega dry and stable. This also means they are really brittle and tricky to route and get tear out. IMG_9122.MOV Love this bit of ebony. Edited October 5, 2022 by Dolando 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankAtari Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 I'm amazed by your skills, you're going the full monty... usually people buy the neck and build the rest. How can you get the right distance between the frets (as shown in the pics above)? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 6, 2022 Author Share Posted October 6, 2022 (edited) 51 minutes ago, FrankAtari said: I'm amazed by your skills, you're going the full monty... usually people buy the neck and build the rest. How can you get the right distance between the frets (as shown in the pics above)? Thank you. This is my 10th build. I’ve certainly made plenty of mistakes along the way. I have a fret slotting jig, takes some time but means they are done right. This is from another fingerboard but it has a template and a notch that it follows so they are sawn correctly spaced. Edited October 6, 2022 by Dolando 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 Fret spacing can be established quite easily, using a well-known formula (scale length divided by 17.817...); it's the same formula for basses, guitars, mandolins etc. Here's an easy-to-read page explaining in more detail. It's fastidious (the jig makes it easier, of course...), but it's not complicated to calculate. Cutting accurately is another subject, though..! Calculating fret distances... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 6, 2022 Author Share Posted October 6, 2022 7 minutes ago, Dad3353 said: Fret spacing can be established quite easily, using a well-known formula (scale length divided by 17.817...); it's the same formula for basses, guitars, mandolins etc. Here's an easy-to-read page explaining in more detail. It's fastidious (the jig makes it easier, of course...), but it's not complicated to calculate. Cutting accurately is another subject, though..! Calculating fret distances... Yea it’s not tricky but like you say cutting it accurately again and again is different thing. Ideally you would also need to have long callipers to measure each slot from the nut but you still might not get them all right. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankAtari Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 4 hours ago, Dad3353 said: Fret spacing can be established quite easily, using a well-known formula (scale length divided by 17.817...); it's the same formula for basses, guitars, mandolins etc. Here's an easy-to-read page explaining in more detail. It's fastidious (the jig makes it easier, of course...), but it's not complicated to calculate. Cutting accurately is another subject, though..! Calculating fret distances... I'd rather go for the jig, why should anyone get involved with maths? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 2 hours ago, FrankAtari said: I'd rather go for the jig, why should anyone get involved with maths? If there's only one scale length, that's fine, but one needs a template for each scale length. For someone producing, that's worthwhile, but for a solo bloke making different 'one-offs', the maths help. There's a need for maths elsewhere, too, in working with wood, generally. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 6, 2022 Author Share Posted October 6, 2022 2 hours ago, Dad3353 said: If there's only one scale length, that's fine, but one needs a template for each scale length. For someone producing, that's worthwhile, but for a solo bloke making different 'one-offs', the maths help. There's a need for maths elsewhere, too, in working with wood, generally. True, I have templates to do pretty much any scale I’d need. 34/35” 25/25.5” and 24.750/24.625. So I’m set, and now thins is my 10th build ive certainly got my moneys worth from it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 6, 2022 Author Share Posted October 6, 2022 Body shaping time…I ended up tweaking the shape and going for full on reso shape. Cut from bandsaw; IMG_9125.MOV Routing; FullSizeRender.MOV Final shape. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted October 6, 2022 Share Posted October 6, 2022 That reveal was very cool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 7, 2022 Author Share Posted October 7, 2022 Can never resist a mock up… Then I made lots and lots and lots of dust routing the first part out of the centre for the cone. Basically it full depth but have a plan to get the most volume, and also the making it as bowl like as possible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankAtari Posted October 8, 2022 Share Posted October 8, 2022 I love it when a plan comes together ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 15, 2022 Author Share Posted October 15, 2022 Binding time…I’ve never done binding so thought I’d bite the bullet and give it a go on this one…. Slowly bending the binding. This was a big learning curve. There is a fine line between heating it enough it bends and burning it! I had to order another length as i burnt it on the last bend! First side all done….need to wait for the new binding to arrive. Still couldn’t resist a mock up. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 16, 2022 Author Share Posted October 16, 2022 Binding is glued and trimmed flush. Really happy with how this has come out for my first go at binding. Will certainly be doing it again. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted October 16, 2022 Share Posted October 16, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankAtari Posted October 17, 2022 Share Posted October 17, 2022 The binding is superb. Well done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 19, 2022 Author Share Posted October 19, 2022 Cone height routed in, which is essentially decided the height of the bridge to be fine tuned with the roasted maple saddle. Here’s the final shape of the route. Tried to make it as bowl like as possible… 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolando Posted October 22, 2022 Author Share Posted October 22, 2022 Not made loads of progress as waiting on some bits to bolt the neck to the body. But here is where the pickup and controls will be going. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
