MIMF

I like it a lot! Good work.
How thick is the topplate?
Do you have some more work-in-progress-photo's?

Hans

Looking good!

I always like work in progress pictures.
Did you chamber the semi-hollow body or did you bend the sides?

Hans

I'm not an expert but as far as I know the denser wood for the neck is used to give the right strength to withhold the string tension. "Lighter" (= lower density) wood is used for a body to reduce the weight. But this should not be a revelation for the most of you... My first build was fro...

When looking back on the process I've have the following conclusions: - In general I'm satisfied with working with plywood: * The neck is holding up fine and the birch plywood is easy to work with and wood dye and oil are easily applied, so I will use this for a future build; * The pine is also easy...

I've finished the guitar!

I've applied an extra coat of danish oil on the body to get a more shiny result.

I will evaluate the process / materials in the next post.

Hans

I've also put 2 layers of oil on the neck and installed the tuners and the nut.

Hans

I've applied the wood dye and 2 layers of Danish Oil. I had some trouble getting the right colour. I wanted a brown / red colour but after drying it turned to pink (which didn't happen on the scrap piece I used). But after adding some more brown and black dye the problem was solved. Another thing is...

Made little progress, due to my work and family. I've put masking tape on the frets and started sanding the neck and body. I need some advice on that. I'm planning to use (wood dye and) danish oil as a finish and want to sand up to 800 grit. Is this all right? To much? To little? Is dry sanding ok o...

Nice work Markku, I love the body design and colour!

Hans

Ouch....
Sorry to hear about the accident...

Good luck with installing the electronics (and hopefully the dent will not return).

Hans

I've made the neckplate and coverplate out of a 4 mm aluminium plate.
I've drilled the holes for the jack input with a 20 mm forester drill. The plywood splintered a little bit, so I have to glue some pieces back in place.

Hans

David and Mark,
Thank you for your feedback!

RD, Your right they are the same. Someone told me once that the type you have are used for industrial "heavier" use, to hold thicker wire (maybe that's the reason it doesn't goes all the way down). As an alternative you can drill a hole in a big(ger) bolt (like a zither pin) and use that t...

RD, It is hard to make a knot in the string. What I do is making a loop of the string by putting the string through the "eye" of the ball end. Then I put the loop around the wingnut and fasten the string end with a "kroonsteen". I don't know the English word for it, but I've atta...

I've glued in the frets with epoxy and trimmed the frets. I've applied the epoxy in the slots with a toothpick, hammered in the frets and wiped the excess of glue with a cloth, finally I used a long piece of plywood and clamps to hold the frets in place while drying. A little while back I dyed a pie...

Barry and RD thank you for your feedback, Barry, I've checked it, and I think it will be (just) fine. Because of the fanned frets the position of the hand is different than with parallel frets, but it is on the "next build"-list. I'm a bit more worried about the nut because I have to "...

You can use a wingnut and a bolt.
I've used this method for a simple cigarboxguitar and it worked fine.
http://www.cyberferal.com/

You can also check http://windworld.com/, they sell medium size tuners in any quantity you want.

Made some more progress: I shaped the neck using rasps, files and a small nose plane (I've tried to use a spoke shave but this didn't work on the plywood because of the cross-grained layers) and sanded it up to 180 grit. The neck is about a inch thick (27 mm). After that I drilled the tuner holes an...

I've glued a fretboard on a neck using epoxy instead of woodglue, forgetting that epoxy also glues truss rods...

I've cut the fret slots using a small tenon saw. The layers of the plywood are a good guide for the depth. Although I've used this saw with another build with good result, this time the fret slots are a little bit to wide (the frets hold on the sides but pop up in the middle), so I'm afraid I have t...