DC Special-ish build

[CraigB]

After a semitruckload of bolt-on builds, I decided it was time to try a set-neck. Always wanted a Jr. style guitar.  First order of bidness...got this hunk of mahogany



Sliced up some sapele for a 4-piece laminated neck blank & glued them all together



Routed the side profile and trued up with a plate of glass with 80-grit stuck to it.  No scarf joint at the headstock



Cut the body on the bandsaw to shape and routed



Only a small amount of burn going across the grain, easy to sand out later



Basic building blocks done

[CraigB]

Used the same glass plate to true the top and back.



Routed the channel for two-way truss rod.  Used a 3/16" corebox bit for the t-rod access hole



Headstock cut and shaped



Rough cut the rest on the bandsaw



Shaped on the router table



Tenon fits snug into the template, a good sign



Made a little jig for mitering binding at the end of fretboard.  Slip the piece to be cut between the clamping cauls with a small amount protruding out the end, tighten the bolts and run across pattern-routing bit and it makes a perfect 45 degree cut.  I tested the fit on this piece of leopard wood



I used granadillo for the fretboard, 24.75" scale with MOP dots



Used double-stick tape and indexing pins to hold the f-board in place on the neck and routed with binding channel bit



And radiused to 12"



And started gluing on the binding with super-thin CA glue

[CraigB]

This part was tedious and took awhile.  Had to remove the tangs at fret ends to sit flush atop the binding.  I don't have one of those fret tang nipper tools, so used the flush cutters and a small file



And test-fit each one



Pressed 'em in on the arbor press.  You can see how much back-bow I've got there.  I guess that's normal, but it made me a little nervous



Glued and clamped up for the night



Outta the clamps and tried the trussrod.  Surprising with all the back-bow on the fretboard it came out dead flat without any tension introduced with the t-rod



Mortise and binding channels routed.





Binding on



Leveled to the body surface





And a roundover on the back

[CraigB]

Put an access route in the ebony headplate



Cut it to rough shape on the bandsaw



Glued and clamped



Trimmed flush



Tuner hole drillin'





Nice tight nutslot



Hogged out control cavity with forstner bit and pattern routed



And then for the control cover.  I used long shaft pots like the type for an LP so I could keep the top thicker.  The switch route I freehanded, as you can see.



Made up a cover

[CraigB]

Always my favorite part, a little carving







And a whole lot of sanding and shaping with the cabinet scraper





Used a waterslide decal as a pattern on MOP blank and started cutting with jeweler's saw





Made it all the way around without breaking it



Pretty rough, but will clean up with some filing



Traced the outline on the headstock with a metallic silver paint pen



And routed with Dremel mini-router



Glued in and filled the gaps with black epoxy, then leveled

[Toxophilite]

A real build!! very cool!

[CraigB]

Practiced several times getting the neck pressed in, clamping caul in place and clamps on.  A third hand would be helpful for doing this.  Once the glue gets brushed on the mating surfaces, the clamp-up needs to happen fast



Managed to get it all together and clamped, and then hung around with it for about a half hour wiping up the excess glue that was weeping out with a damp cloth



Used a cheapo trapeze tailpiece and E strings to line up the bridge and mark for drilling the studs



Marked and drilled on the drillpress



Can't forget the ground wire 



Used this little makeshift sled on my palm router to flush the neck tenon to the top of the body

[CraigB]

Made up a pickup routing template.  I needed the front edge to clear the fretboard.



Had I thought it through, I could've just hollowed the end of the template to clear the f-board instead of splicing in a thinner piece.  That's what happens when I make things up as I go along





While I was at it, may as well make a pickguard template with the offcut from the other template.  I prefer the shape of the single pickup Jr. model to that of the dual pickup DC Special, but I needed to widen the original shape so it would surround the neck pickup.



Same as control cavity, removed the bulk of the material with a forstner for the pickup routes



Slapped on the template and routed pickup cavities



And then I scratched my head for about an hour trying to figure out how in the world I'd drill the wiring channel for the neck pickup.  Once again, had I thought this through better, I would've been able to drill from the neck pocket end before gluing in the neck.  That left me only one possibility



It's the longest bit I have, it just barely reached.  Had to open it up slightly with a forstner so I could feed the pickup wire through...not the prettiest solution, but it worked

[CraigB]

Before getting into the finishing phase, I decided to level the frets, crown and polish.  I brushed a few coats of dewaxed shellac on to protect the wood from the sweat of my hands



Cut some nut slots and string it up.  I opted to use a TonePros AVT II bridge as opposed to the old style wraparound so I could fine-tune the intonation of each string.





Wasted a couple sets of strings dialing in the intonation.  Once I got it where I wanted, I played it for a few weeks, pulled the strings, and started prepping for finish.  That grainfiller stuff stinks awful.  I thought I'd puke, but I managed to do a few rounds.  The last round I used dark brown dye



Then I rubbed it off, cleaned up with some light sanding



Then to make sure the grain was completely filled, I applied Z-Poxy and squeegeed flat with a used gift card.  It really made the wood glow

[CraigB]

Moving forward, I sprayed a few coats of sealer.  It's hard with a phone camera to capture the depth and beauty of this wood, but when you take it in the sun, it just lights up





Then I was on a spraying schedule for the next couple weeks.  I used a water-base product made by Crystalac called Bright-Tone Instrument Finish.  It's a high solids polyurethane.  Really easy to use, like nitro, but there's no nasty chemical stink and the spray gun cleans up with soap and water.  Here it is during assembly after about 7 coats, a month curing time and wet-sanding and polish





Gut shot





And a few beauty shots

[CraigB]

And a demo.  Please excuse the "loose" playing!

https://soundcloud.com/user743789963/jr-demo

Specs:
Top-bound Honduran mahogany 2-piece body
Bound 4-piece laminated sapele neck with granadillo fretboard
Medium fretwire, 24.75" scale length, 12" fretboard radius
Ebony headplate with mother of pearl inlay
Kluson tuners
Tusq nut
Custom-wound "G90" pickups (basically DeArmond goldfoils in P90 covers)
Emerson/CTS pots with tophat bell reflector knobs, 2 volume, 1 tone
Switchcraft 3-way toggle switch
Switchcraft output jack

[Tony Bones]

That looks absolutely amazing, Craig. You have good reason to be proud.

[jjasilli]

Fabulous guitar & presentation; thanks!

[Platefire]

I'm very impressed with your work and like the demo also. By the demo, sounds like you and the DC made good partners. What is your opinion of the finished results for you first fixed neck??? Platefire

[Ritchie200]

Wow! What a beautiful example of great craftsmanship! One of my all time fav guitars as well. Thank you for sharing!   Nice chops as well!


Jim

[OrganicEffects]

Stunning.

It's one thing to see someones finished guitar build and think it looks great, but when you see the beginning with four stacked pieces of wood and a slab, side by side with the finished product, it's nearly mind blowing.

[CraigB]

Thank you all for your kindness!

I'm very impressed with your work and like the demo also. By the demo, sounds like you and the DC made good partners. What is your opinion of the finished results for you first fixed neck??? Platefire

Must say, Plate, I learned more than a few really good lessons on this build.  Let us start with the highlight of flubs.  Neck angle.  Not quite steep enough.  Of course, this I discovered after the neck was already glued in when I was lining up the bridge to mark where to drill the holes for the bridge bushings  Turns out the bridge would need to nearly rest on the top of the body in order to get the string action low enough.  As a workaround, I drilled the bushing holes slightly deeper so that when they're pressed in, they are inset instead of flush with the top of the body.  Then I used a step-bit to open the tops of the holes slightly larger than the diameter of the part of the studs the bridge rests on.  The way the TonePros locking studs work to adjust string height, it comes with a little wrench that slips under the bridge to make the adjustment, as opposed to with a screwdriver from the top.  The screw tops merely hold the bridge in place so it doesn't fall off when you do string changes.  Since I have to lower the part the bridge sits on slightly inset into the body, the wrench does not fit underneath.  String height has to be adjusted with the locking stud screw-tops and the bridge off.  Kind of a hassle, but at least I was able to make it work in the end.

From a playing comfort standpoint, the only other thing that has taken a bit of getting used to is the front strap button location at the back of the neck heel.  I won't call it neck-dive, but it may balance better if I had installed it at the tip of the upper horn instead.

One successful design departure I made was the headstock and location of the tuning posts.  The string angle between the nut and tuning posts is less drastic than on a Gibson.  This guitar stays in tune very well.  So with those caveats, I cannot complain at all.  It plays and sounds great, it looks nice and it stays in tune 
 

[tubenit]

Beautifully done!  Remarkably well thought thru and a BIG thumbs up on your creativity with the jigs and such.  Outstanding job!  THANKS so much for sharing this!

With respect, Jeff  aka Tubenit

[zendragon63]

Mr. CraigB--you have the patience of Job and the creativity of Edison. That sir, is drop dead awesome. Well done--congratulations! Regards


dennis

[MakerDP]

Wow. Just wow.

Great job on that.