Guitar build diary - part III
- Rob Parry
- Jun 14, 2016
- 2 min read
Time to hollow out the body and get the top glued on.
This is the main chamber where the sound hole sits, there will be two other ones but this is by far the largest. The bulk of the material is hogged away with a forstner drill, then cleaned up with the router. The back and side walls are 8mm thick.
The sound hole is routed by hand with a 6mm cutter, the image on the left is the result. The back side of the hole is chamfered to make the edges appear more delicate, then the top is glued on and left overnight.
The pickup and control cavities are routed, and the jack access drilled. The back side also has its edges rounded over on the router table at this point. The body is now ready for binding, neck pocket, and finishing. On to the neck.
The board is planed and then sanded to a 12" radius, the track either side is the same width as the block ensuring everything remains perfectly even. I then inlay the abalone side dots and 12th fret marker.
Jumbo (2.7mm) nickel silver frets, all 22 of them, cleaned, radiused and chopped to length. I'm a recent convert to the fret press (seen in the picture to the right), I used to hammer my frets in the old fashioned way, however I've since seen the light. The board is near perfectly flat and combined with the press being so consistent I barely need to level the frets at the end of the process, just a kiss across the tops with the file is all that is required.
All in and edges trimmed, ready for gluing to the body. We're getting close to having a guitar.