In the next few days, (Oct 6, 2014 at the latest) the DIY Guitar Therapy blog is moving.
I'm starting a full website and Facebook page to better get the word out on how I'll be using the guitars I build to support various family support charities. My guitar building blog will live on as part of the website.
The new website address is OneByOneGuitars.com
The new Facebook page for the charity guitar giveaway is https://www.facebook.com/onebyone.charityguitargiveaway
See you there!
Monday, September 29, 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
P90 Singlecut & Doulas Fir Tele
My latest two builds couldn't be more different. The first is a Tele style, bolt neck and the second is a Singlecut style setneck. Here are a few pictures and a bit of description.
This Tele style bolt on neck has a 24.562" scale Port Orford cedar neck with a Machiche fretboard. The Fret markers are maple. The body is old growth Douglas Fir with a Port Orford cedar drop top with white binding. The hardware, including the fretwire is gold. The pickups are Dimarzio Cruisers. Burst finish with shellac French polish top coats.
This singlecut, set neck guitar is modeled more on a PRS than a Les Paul. It has a 24.562" scale neck made up of mahogany, maple and walnut laminations. Very stable. The body is one piece mahogany, with a Big Leaf Maple drop top. The wraparound bridge is a Gotoh 510-- great bridge. Vintage Gotoh tuners. The pickups are amazing: Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90. Clear Shellac finish.
This Tele style bolt on neck has a 24.562" scale Port Orford cedar neck with a Machiche fretboard. The Fret markers are maple. The body is old growth Douglas Fir with a Port Orford cedar drop top with white binding. The hardware, including the fretwire is gold. The pickups are Dimarzio Cruisers. Burst finish with shellac French polish top coats.
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| Douglas Fir/Port Orford cedar Tele style guitar (front) |
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| Douglas Fir/Port Orford cedar Tele style guitar(back) |
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| Old growth Douglas fir guitar body blank |
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| Port Orford cedar guitar drop top layout |
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| Port Orford cedar guitar neck, Machiche fretboard |
This singlecut, set neck guitar is modeled more on a PRS than a Les Paul. It has a 24.562" scale neck made up of mahogany, maple and walnut laminations. Very stable. The body is one piece mahogany, with a Big Leaf Maple drop top. The wraparound bridge is a Gotoh 510-- great bridge. Vintage Gotoh tuners. The pickups are amazing: Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90. Clear Shellac finish.
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| Big Leaf Maple guitar drop top panels |
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| One piece mahogany guitar body blank |
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| Mahogany, maple and walnut laminate guitar neck |
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| maple & mahogany singlecut setneck. Shellac finish |
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| Gotoh 510 wraparound bridge and Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90 pickups |
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| Maple drop top over mahogany guitar body: no binding |
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| P90 single cut guitar, front |
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| P90 single cut guitar,back |
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| P90 single cut guitar,back |
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| P90 single cut guitar,laminated neck, headstock |
Friday, June 27, 2014
Milling Mahogany
I know, I know: I should have videotaped this! I found a slab of mahogany 12 feet long by 18 inches wide by 2+ inches thick at St Charles Hardwood in Fenton, MO. What a monster! They cut it into two 6 foot sections so I could load it into my trusty Volvo wagon, and with some careful planning, I was able to get 7 one piece body blanks, 3 necks, several strips for use in laminated neck construction, thin stock for pickup mounting rings, truss rod covers and control cavity covers.
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| These babies were heavy! It took some creativity & planning to get them cut & planed to size |
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| Ripped down to just fit in the planer. VERY shallow passes, or the planer tried to walk up the board! |
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| Laying out the body & neck blanks |
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| 7 one piece body blanks |
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| Mahogany/Maple/Walnut laminated neck. The center walnut is 2 pieces, book matched. Great tap tone. |
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| 7 piece mahogany/maple/walnut laminated neck. I'm thinking I'll mate it to a Pau Ferro fret board. |
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| First peek at a single cut I'm starting. The neck is book matched mahogany from the same slab the body came from, with a maple center stripe. Two P90s and a wraparound bridge are in this build's future. |
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| Next two builds: Douglas fir short scale Tele with Port Orford cedar neck and drop top, and a machiche fretboard. On the right is the mahogany single cut showing the maple cap I'll use with it. |
"It's Not Easy Being Green"
While Kermit wasn't singing about guitar building, the lyric still applies. The reality of building guitars today, especially in a large production setting, is that it can be a toxic, very non-environmentally friendly process. Big manufacturers have come under fire for depleting forests in search of tonewood and exotic veneer. Some finishes they use contain highly toxic compounds. The 21st century, mechanized manufacture of guitars relies heavily on CNC routing which turns most of the lumber into waste wood.
The DIY guitar builder can actually be worse than the big manufacturers. Youtube videos of amateur builders time and again show unsafe and potentially hazardous handling of materials. No eye, ear, or respiratory protection gear in sight! Joe Luthier trying to spray a 'burst on a'59 Les Paul copy in his garage is likely spewing all sorts of volatile organic compounds into the air. (and his lungs!) Wood dust, nickel in hardware/frets, solvents and finishes all create their own potential problems.
I believe there is a solution, and abiding by a few key principles will go a long way toward creating guitars that are beautiful, sound great, but won't make the builder or player sick. I'm my own "canary in the coal mine:" My neurological issues (hemiplegic migraines & Parkinsonism) let me know right away if I'm handling something problematic, or in an unsafe manner. That said, here are a few key principles that govern how I build guitars:
1. Use only wood that is reclaimed, FSC certified, or "farmed." (A big shout out to Oregon Wild Wood. They provide "Cerificates of Source" for their tonewoods. Luthiers Mercantile also indicated when its fretboards & necks are FSC certified.) Also, use everything! I'll be posting how I milled several bodies, necks, pickup rings, truss rod covers, and other odds & ends from the huge slab of mahogany I purchased from St Charles Hardwood.
2. Use no finishes and solvents that are high VOC content. No nitrocellulose for me! I use a modified French polish finish that uses alcohol as the solvent (only danger is getting tipsy!), and shellac as the finish. Shellac is what the food industry often uses to coat things like candies.
3. Use appropriate dust control measures whenever milling lumber, and avoid those wood species known to cause the worst health issues. I use a mask, but a honkin' dust collection system with HEPA filtration is for my family & neighbors too. ALL wood species can potentially cause irritation, but the really exotic ones I just won't use.
4. Limit potential problems caused by nickel & lead that may be in the hardware, frets, and electronic components. I'm more at the mercy of the manufacturer here, as I don't do my own metal millwork. I do use steel, brass or aluminum when possible when choosing components. I'm also trying EVO non-nickel fretwire on my next build as well.
Finally, I believe a great guitar is created like a work of art, not manufactured like a toaster oven. The finished instrument should be something that invites you to pick it up and play it, and reward and inspires the player.
The DIY guitar builder can actually be worse than the big manufacturers. Youtube videos of amateur builders time and again show unsafe and potentially hazardous handling of materials. No eye, ear, or respiratory protection gear in sight! Joe Luthier trying to spray a 'burst on a'59 Les Paul copy in his garage is likely spewing all sorts of volatile organic compounds into the air. (and his lungs!) Wood dust, nickel in hardware/frets, solvents and finishes all create their own potential problems.
I believe there is a solution, and abiding by a few key principles will go a long way toward creating guitars that are beautiful, sound great, but won't make the builder or player sick. I'm my own "canary in the coal mine:" My neurological issues (hemiplegic migraines & Parkinsonism) let me know right away if I'm handling something problematic, or in an unsafe manner. That said, here are a few key principles that govern how I build guitars:
1. Use only wood that is reclaimed, FSC certified, or "farmed." (A big shout out to Oregon Wild Wood. They provide "Cerificates of Source" for their tonewoods. Luthiers Mercantile also indicated when its fretboards & necks are FSC certified.) Also, use everything! I'll be posting how I milled several bodies, necks, pickup rings, truss rod covers, and other odds & ends from the huge slab of mahogany I purchased from St Charles Hardwood.
2. Use no finishes and solvents that are high VOC content. No nitrocellulose for me! I use a modified French polish finish that uses alcohol as the solvent (only danger is getting tipsy!), and shellac as the finish. Shellac is what the food industry often uses to coat things like candies.
3. Use appropriate dust control measures whenever milling lumber, and avoid those wood species known to cause the worst health issues. I use a mask, but a honkin' dust collection system with HEPA filtration is for my family & neighbors too. ALL wood species can potentially cause irritation, but the really exotic ones I just won't use.
4. Limit potential problems caused by nickel & lead that may be in the hardware, frets, and electronic components. I'm more at the mercy of the manufacturer here, as I don't do my own metal millwork. I do use steel, brass or aluminum when possible when choosing components. I'm also trying EVO non-nickel fretwire on my next build as well.
Finally, I believe a great guitar is created like a work of art, not manufactured like a toaster oven. The finished instrument should be something that invites you to pick it up and play it, and reward and inspires the player.
New Blogs, New Builds & Videos
It's been a few months since I've done any guitar builds, or done any posts. The lack of blog posts has mostly been due to technical issues. The lack of new builds has been more of a philosophical issue. But, it's time to get cranking once again!
Regarding my blog: I'm working on the best way to use video to document my guitar builds, as video is now the go to medium for most people. I'll save my diatribe on this for another day. (Hey, I can't help it, I'm a former literature & writing teacher!) David Fletcher in Australia is a real inspiration in this regard. He has a tremendous set of videos on Youtube that clearly detail his building process. Great stuff, check it out here.
While each of my guitars is a unique build, there are some underlying principles and processes that I follow. I believe there's a value in passing on some of my hard-won knowledge about guitars and woodworking to others. It's also fun to see some hunks of wood, wire and metal transformed into a finished guitar!
I've been milling raw lumber into body blanks & necks over the past few weeks, and as I start the individual building of each guitar I'll look for opportunities to add video. Stay tuned!
Regarding my blog: I'm working on the best way to use video to document my guitar builds, as video is now the go to medium for most people. I'll save my diatribe on this for another day. (Hey, I can't help it, I'm a former literature & writing teacher!) David Fletcher in Australia is a real inspiration in this regard. He has a tremendous set of videos on Youtube that clearly detail his building process. Great stuff, check it out here.
While each of my guitars is a unique build, there are some underlying principles and processes that I follow. I believe there's a value in passing on some of my hard-won knowledge about guitars and woodworking to others. It's also fun to see some hunks of wood, wire and metal transformed into a finished guitar!
I've been milling raw lumber into body blanks & necks over the past few weeks, and as I start the individual building of each guitar I'll look for opportunities to add video. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Scratch Guitar Build: "Walnut II"
Finally finished my "Walnut II" scratch build that I started back in September. It has been one of those projects where nothing seems to go easily, but in the end I'm happy with the results. Here are a few pix of the process and finished guitar:
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| Original mockup. Loosely based on a PRS SE I own. |
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| Maple & Walnut laminated neck in glue-up. |
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| Neck blank glued up and planed flat & square. The extra length on the walnut strips meant no snipe when using the power planer. |
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| My jig for cutting the headstock angle on the table saw. |
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| Maple & Walnut body blank. The last of the walnut harvested from my own trees. |
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| Rough cut body shape, fresh from the bandsaw. |
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| Neck tenon extends through pickup rout. Astute observers will recognize that the neck pictured is not the maple/walnut neck pictured elsewhere. At one point I thought of using a maple only neck. |
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| Finally completed! Dimarzio 36th anniversary PAFs, Gotoh hardware, V/T/T. |
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| String through design. The bridge sits in a routed channel, though there is a small 2 degree neck angle. |
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| Decided to keep it clean: no fret markers on the FB face- just side dot markers, and a simple French polish shellac finish, with just a touch of dye to help the maple grain pop. |
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| Nice figure in the maple. One of my favorite touches is the truss rod cover milled from a scrap of the laminated neck. |
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| Walnut veneer on the back. Just because. |
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| Almost looks like through neck construction, but it's not. The control cavity cover is milled from the same walnut the body was cut from. |
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| Hand carved the belly contour, but didn't bother with a forearm contour. The body is thin like an SG, and has fully rounded edges, so quite light and comfortable. |
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| Another shot of the finished back. |
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| Closeup of the finished maple-walnut neck. |
"DIY Guitar Therapy:" What To Do With The Guitars I Build?
I've really struggled this fall and winter with my hemiplegic migraines and other neurological issues, so while my "in shop" hours have been curtailed, I've had lots of time to think and plan. Having something to think about besides the pain and immobility is a blessing, as is being able to lose myself in the work on those days I'm able to actively work in the shop.
I hope to continue building & playing guitars for as long as I can physically. Adaptation and evolution have to be part of the process: sometimes just sitting with a guitar has to be enough. I'm really grateful that I have this outlet for my hands, mind and heart.
Given my physical limitations, my production output will never get out of single digits in a year, but even at that rate, guitars will soon start to pile up: even more than my Gear Acquisition Syndrome requires! So what to do? I have no desire to sell guitars as a business. Mt thought at the moment is to donate them to charities. Either to auction off at their fund raising events, or possibly for actual use in programs like "Six String Heroes," that provide guitars and lessons to veterans. I like the thought of passing along the therapeutic value I've enjoyed.
I hope to continue building & playing guitars for as long as I can physically. Adaptation and evolution have to be part of the process: sometimes just sitting with a guitar has to be enough. I'm really grateful that I have this outlet for my hands, mind and heart.
Given my physical limitations, my production output will never get out of single digits in a year, but even at that rate, guitars will soon start to pile up: even more than my Gear Acquisition Syndrome requires! So what to do? I have no desire to sell guitars as a business. Mt thought at the moment is to donate them to charities. Either to auction off at their fund raising events, or possibly for actual use in programs like "Six String Heroes," that provide guitars and lessons to veterans. I like the thought of passing along the therapeutic value I've enjoyed.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Scratch Build: Pine Top Tele
While I didn't detail the build as I thought I would, here are a couple of pix of the finished guitar:
The body is a sandwich of spalted pine, a red oak center, and a poplar back. The finish is alcohol dye and shellac. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. 24.562" scale, Dimarzio 36th anniversary PAF pickups, volume-tone-tone pots with a push-push tone control to switch between parallel and series wiring on the neck pickup. Gotoh tuners, TusqXL nut and a Mighty Mite bridge.
I shaped the neck by hand with rasps, files, card scrapers and sandpaper. I have to say it plays like buttah! Why? Because I could shape exactly as I wanted to fit my hand and playing style. Not something you can get with an off the shelf neck. Amazingly, given the body construction, it sustains for days.
The body is a sandwich of spalted pine, a red oak center, and a poplar back. The finish is alcohol dye and shellac. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. 24.562" scale, Dimarzio 36th anniversary PAF pickups, volume-tone-tone pots with a push-push tone control to switch between parallel and series wiring on the neck pickup. Gotoh tuners, TusqXL nut and a Mighty Mite bridge.
I shaped the neck by hand with rasps, files, card scrapers and sandpaper. I have to say it plays like buttah! Why? Because I could shape exactly as I wanted to fit my hand and playing style. Not something you can get with an off the shelf neck. Amazingly, given the body construction, it sustains for days.
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