Another headless guitar build

Roland · August 2023

richman6100 said: Love build threads

Reading @richman6100’s statement in @axisus’s build thread I realised that I like reading build threads too.

This guitar is another step in my journey towards ”the one”. I’ve spent the last couple of years experimenting with headless guitars, and in particular with headless tuners. The journey started with the truly appalling Overlord, and continued with the somewhat heavy J Custom, and the incredibly expensive Hipshot. This time I’m using the rather intricate Nova system. The project actually started last year, when I bought all the parts. It got delayed, and then stopped completely when I used the neck to replace the warped neck on my previous build. All that remained was a three piece Sycamore neck blank, and that’s my starting point

In the last couple of months I’ve cut three potential fretboard blanks from Sycamore, Holly, and Walnut. Currently I’m dithering over which to use. The Sycamore I’m confident is stable. I’ve used it before, and it produced a nice light coloured fretboard. Holly I like the idea of simply because I’ve never used it before. It’s the heaviest of the three, and the hardest. However my previous experience of Holly is that it isn’t particularly stable. Still, this piece has been seasoning for at least four years. Then there’s the Walnut. It comes from the tree of a friend who died earlier this year. This piece has been in my workshop for at least five years. However I made a neck blank from it last month, and I’m tempted to keep neck and fretboard together.

The body will be Cedar of Lebanon. Last time I used a Yew cap. This time I’m tempted to use a blue veneer which I picked up earlier this year at a wood working show, set off by white binding. The plank wasn’t quite wide enough, so I rough cut the blank, and glued the offcut from the upper waist on to the lower bout.

Every build has a slightly different body shape to accommodate the tuner bridge design. The Nova doesn’t have much room for manoeuvre, both longitudinally and in height. Hence I’ve been drawing directly on the wood.

axisus · August 2023

I also like build threads! and I like headless guitars! I built one a few years ago, but I am currently revamping it and improving the odd design flaw. It's on the backburner at the moment due to the excitement of my new project.

Looking forward to seeing this develop!

MARVlN · August 2023

Looking forward to this. Working on my own at the moment which I mean to share here when I can bring myself to write it up.

Did you go for the vibrato Nova, or the fixed bridge? I used the vibrato unit on my last guitar build and found it didn't correspond with any commonly available templates (i.e. it's different from a Floyd etc), so was a little more difficult to work with than I anticipated. Muddled through though, and it's very good in use - better than the ABM bridges, and smooth to tune with the thrust washers. Only slight issue can be the ball ends getting caught in the adjuster nuts, but they tend to only do so if they're threaded on with the 'less open' end outermost (seems almost tapered - apologies for the poor explanation).

What overall shape are you going for? (bridge-permitting)

Roland · August 2023

@marvin It’s a fixed bridge. The body shape will be similar to my previous guitar build, a headless Strat shape. The strap buttons and the bridge will be in the same positions as previously because that’s what I find most convenient to play. This might mean an adjustment to the back end of the body because the Nova tuners are shorter than the Hipshot.

I’m expecting some careful measurement when I install the bridge, during which I’ll move the controls slightly. There’s also a longer neck because the Hipshot headpiece screws longitudinally into the neck, and the Nova screws go front to back, and need more length and depth beyond the zero fret.

Roland · August 2023

Yesterday was machine tool day. I routed out the truss rod channel with an edge trimmer. Drilling a hole for the Allen key is a lot easier with a pillar drill:

and thicknessing the fret board contenders is a lot easier with a planer/thicknesser. The Walnut has a touch of spalting, and isn’t going to be as hard as I’d like. I still haven’t decided whether to use the Sycamore or the Holly. I’ll give it a week to see whether the Holly distorts after planing.

This guitar will have a narrower neck than its predecessor. My current guitar is 44mm at the nut. This one will be 42mm. So out came the band saw and the table saw to cut a new neck template. Happy tool day

MARVlN · August 2023

@Roland, when I wrote my comment yesterday, I swear the picture of the body with the outlines wasn't working - I'm not that dense (probably...)

Looks good and is a very practical shape

Roland · August 2023

imgur had a problem with the image. I re-loaded it.

Roland · August 2023

It’s been ten days since I last got into the workshop. Grandchildren have now gone, and the house is back in order. The Holly fingerboard blank hasn’t moved, but I’d like to give it a bit longer before committing.

So today I looked at the body. I expected to cut a new template because of the difference between Nova and Hipshot tuners. You know the process: copy the master template, then modify the copy. I quickly realised that the master doesn’t match the body of my current number one guitar. I confess it was a routing mistake, which @SteveF will recognise. I like the narrower body shape, so it’s going to be a new template based on the body.

SteveF · August 2023

Oh yes, I recognise that all right!

I'm going to have to remake my template copies when I want to make another one.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of this one. Exciting build.

Roland · August 2023

Currently contemplating whether to put a 0.5mm blue veneer between the neck and the fretboard.

SteveF · August 2023

It looks pretty cool. What colour will the finished guitar be?

Roland · August 2023

At the moment I’m thinking that the body will be the blue veneer over Cedar. (I’ve got a lot of Cedar of Lebanon. It’s light weight, but resonant). One of the reasons for choosing Holly over Sycamore for the fretboard is that it won’t go as yellow with age. To that end I’ve ordered some Hosco nickle silver fret wire, rather than the gold/bronze which goes well with the aged Sycamore.

SteveF · August 2023

That blue veneer is gorgeous

SteveF · August 2023

And if the body will be the blue veneer on top I think the stripe you suggested would look great.

Power_Freak · August 2023

Cool looking build - digging a "vintage" style steinberger GM vibe.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the nova, it has piqued my interest in the past

Roland · August 2023

Power_Freak said:

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the nova, it has piqued my interest in the past

That’s one of the reasons for this build, to see how it compares with the alternatives.

drofluf · August 2023

Roland said:

Yesterday was machine tool day. I routed out the truss rod channel with an edge trimmer.

I initially misread that has hedge trimmer so was quite surprised how well it came out!

But it's looking good.

Asking from an acoustic background and putting aesthetics aside what's the benefit of a headless guitar? Reduced headstock weight?

Not trying to be negative - think it looks great!

Roland · August 2023

drofluf said:

Asking from an acoustic background and putting aesthetics aside what's the benefit of a headless guitar? Reduced headstock weight?

When I started the journey away from the traditional Telecaster shape it was to reduce neck dive and overall weight. Headless tuning is more stable because there are no winds of string around the tuner posts to absorb string tension, and then slip when you’re playing. However bending is more difficult because there’s no lengths of string to participate in the string stretch. I’ve always used 10-52s on a 25.5” scale, but I’ve switched to lower tension strings.

The other factor was a change of singer. Pub “stages” are small. When I swung ‘round with a Telecaster I’d hit Craig on the shoulder. He’d give me a look, and that would be the end of it. When I hit Sylvia in the face for the second time I realised that the headstock had to go.

SteveF · August 2023

Not sure whether to lol or wis that one!

Roland · August 2023

This time of year is always busy in the garden. Today it rained, several times. Eventually I gave up and put my workshop overalls on. Normally I make the guitar neck first so that I can guarantee that the neck cavity fits. This time I want to veneer the body, and use off veneer cuts for neck detail, so the body goes first

Exhibits 1 and 2 are the new body template, and the body blank which I routed with it.

Eagle eyes might spot that the lower bout is shorter than the upper bout on the left hand side. With a strap and button fitted to the upper bout, and a right angled jack plug protruding from the lower, the guitar will stand upright, eliminating the need for a guitar stand at a gig.

Roland · August 2023

Now for the body taper, 45mm at the bottom, 20mm at the top. The first 75mm will be flat, allowing maximum depth for the superswitch in the control cavity. Then it will taper down. Angling the body reduces weight. It also means that when I’m playing the guitar face will be angled upwards by about 15 degrees, and I can see the fretboard without craning my neck.

One of the reasons I bought this bandsaw was its 13” cut depth. Ideal for slicing a 12.5” wide body. The table can be angled, enabling me to get a steady cut by holding the body against the fence while cutting.

It’s too late this evening to make such an important cut. That will have to wait until I can get out there again.

WezV · August 2023

I do like this idea for electrics. I tried adding a radius to the faces on a body last year which worked well, it would combine nicely with something like this

Linda Manzer has been making wedge shaped acoustics since the mid 80's. No reason a similar idea won't benefit an electric

Roland · August 2023

Another damp day. Wedge shape cut in five minutes. Straight forward to do, but I wasn’t going to risk my fingers last night after a glass or two of wine. I’ll keep the off-cut as a caul for levelling the body when drilling holes for the bridge screws and pickup bolts.

Next step is to mark out the body for chamfers. I use electrical tape to get smooth curves.

Fender use a machine for cutting the forearm chamfer. I use a wood rasp. The rasp is probably quicker than setting up a machine tool, and certainly safer. Before starting to remove wood I cut a couple of “chicken lines” to mark the depth of the chamfer. These stop me chickening out before I’ve cut deep enough.

Andyjr1515 · August 2023

Coming along nicely

Roland · September 2023

A bit more progress, carving the belly chamfer with a curved wood rasp. This always feels a bit violent on what will become a musical instrument, but it gets the job done.

I sanded the two chamfers smooth with a random orbital sander. Unfortunately this removed more of the softer wood, and less of the winter growth along the grain lines, leaving a ridge and furrow finish. So out with the cabinet scraper. Now that’s a tool which feels much more organic to use.

Next, a bit more sanding using my improvised bobbin sander. It’s not too hard on the drill quill as long as I don’t use any pressure. The dust extraction is better than on any other sander I’ve used.

Roland · September 2023

I’m in a quandary about the next step. Do I glue on the veneer before routing for the binding, and risk marking the veneer with the router, which is what happened last time. However it was a dark walnut veneer, and not very visible. Or do I route the binding channel now, and risk damaging the edge of the channel when I trim the veneer to size. There’s a third option, veneer, apply a couple of coats of finish the protect the veneer from the router, and sand back after binding.

Opinions?

SteveF · September 2023

Can you just mask the veneer with some
low tack tape when you do the routing?

Roland · September 2023

Good idea Steve.

Roland · September 2023

Body veneered. I’m glad I remembered to have the grain going in the same direction on both halves. The veneer surface is quite rough, and needs a little sanding. Before going any further I’m going to veneer some scrap wood, and test some different finishes to see how they handle the blue dye and the grain.

SteveF · September 2023

Gorgeous colour - what dye have you used?

Roland · September 2023

@SteveF ;The veneer came like that. It was an impulse buy at the Newark woodworking show. I saw it and immediately thought guitar. I’ve seen similar coloured veneers for sale online, but the depth of colour and the pattern don’t come across on screen.

A lot of the light and shade in the picture comes from the uneven surface. I’m concerned that this might disappear as it’s sanded and finished. The raised line along the middle has gone as the moisture from the glue evaporated, so it’s not going to need much sanding. I’m wondering about leaving the surface un-sanded, and building up a clear finish with acrylic varnish or CA glue. That’s why I want to do some test finishes.

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Another headless guitar build

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