Scratch Pine Toronado: Ready for Routing

Well, I'm still waiting for my router bits and cavity templates to arrive (come on DHL!!). However, in the meantime I have finished sanding the body blank ready for routing. It's really smooth now and looking pretty damn awesome! It's about as perfect as I can get it without a thicknesser. Here's how it went..

Step 1: I started with 40 grit paper, sanding across the grain in an effort to flatten the individual pieces down to an equal height. The 40 grit paper took the wood down pretty quickly, but even still it took about 5 sheets per side to get it close to flat.

Step 2: I continued with 40 grit paper, but this time with the grain. The object here was to remove the machining marks from the previous step. After 2 sheets per side, I went on to 80 grit paper to remove the rest of the 40 grit machining marks. After 2 more sheets of 80 grit per side I was satisfied.

Step 3: Finally, I moved up to 180 grit paper, applying 2 sheets per side to get the blank really nice and smooth.

Pretty schmick huh? You'd agree if you could run your hand over it ;). The grain is looking pretty nice I think. Hopefully I can do it justice when I stain.  Anyway, It looks so good that I'm getting pretty nervous now that I'm gonna ruin all my good work with a runaway router. I guess I'll just have to wait and see I suppose!

The router is a pretty mean beastie by all accounts (I've never ever used one before), so let's hope I can bend it to my will. As soon as the router bits arrive I plan to do some test cuts on scrap before attempting the neck pocket. Stay tuned!

Scratch Pine Body: Fender Toronado!

Shopping for a decent body shape for this pine scratch build, I happened upon the Google docs Guitar Plans Collection. Here you'll find plans for every guitar body shape under the sun! Since the neck I am going to use is a cheap Chinese Telecaster neck, a Fender shape was always on the cards. Rather than make yet another Telecaster, however, I opted for a body with a similar size and neck pocket but with more of an alt shoe-gazer feel. Enter the Fender Toronado!

It's kinda Jazzmaster'ish, with its large top horn and small lower nub, and I really like that look. It's a shape that I personally associated with "Vintage" looking guitars, even though the Tele, amongst others, is a much older design. Anyway, the plans from Google docs include the body shape, pickguard and neck pocket so I should be able to use it for all my routing and cutting requirements.

After 24 hours, the clamps came off the body today and it was on to the 40 grit sandpaper to get the front and back of the body levelled up - basically what professional luthiers, or even sane individuals, might do with a thicknesser. I've got one of those fucking annoying orbital sanders with the little bar clamps either end. Do you think the paper would stay fixed in there for more than a minute at a time?? Nup!

Consequently it's taking an age to get the body blank level(ish) but, with dogged determination, I'm persevering. $400 for a cheap thicknesser? Believe me, it's looking cheaper by the minute ;) ! Despite my little whinge, the results are very promising! The blank is looking nice (and piney) and is just wide enough to accomodate the Tornado body shape.

I have printed out the plans (downloaded as pdf) and am in the process of sticking them to 12mm MDF so that I can cut out templates for routing. I'll let you know more about how that goes in the next installment. Stay tuned!

Scratch Pine Body: Making a Cheap Blank

With a few kits under my belt, I am really feeling the call of the scratch build. While making my own neck still seems like a very tall ask, shaping and routing a body from scratch isn't beyond the borders of possibility. How hard could it be? Well, I aim to find out!

Now tone wood is generally expensive, and a pre-made body bank can set you back anywhere from $100 and up. Even the local lumber yard wants nearly $100 for the timber required to create a really nice 3-piece blank in mahogany, ash or Tasmanian blackwood. While Maple was the cheapest I was quoted, coming in at around $60 for the equivalent of a body blank, thats still a lot of money to go throwing away on a failed attempt.

And so, enter the pine body - a cheap way to earn my luthier chops without breaking the bank. Bunnings stock a 1.2m length of finished pine 45mm x 90mm that's just perfect for making 4-piece 45mm deep bodies. Just two of these 1.2m lengths, at $9 a pop, is all you need for a standard body blank - that less than $20 people! Much more within my comfort zone for learning this black art.

And so off to Bunnings I tromped and got me some pine - enough for two bodies. In no time each piece was halved into 600mm lengths and ready to be glued together with Titebond - the king of wood glues.

I slathered each side of each piece with Titebond - enough to drown a rather large horse - and then got the pieces all clamped together with 46mm clamps.

After I was engulfed (yet not consumed!) by the ensuing wave of escaping Titebond, I did a little cleanup and now must wait a couple of days for the glue to dry. Unfortunately I only have 4 clamps, so the second body will have to wait.

Once the glue dries, the next step will be squaring off the ends with my new (el-cheapo) bandsaw, and flattening off the top and bottom with 40 then 80 grit sandpaper. I'm really excited to see how this turns out, although I'm well aware that this is the *easy* part of the process. after this I'm going to have to think seriously about where this thing is headed!

A big thanks to Warren Gaull from 4D Guitars for suggesting the pine scratchy to me. You've stared me on the long road to luthier awesomeness Wokka!