Another headless guitar build

Roland · September 2023

Results of the finishing trial are in. I glued a strip of veneer to plywood, sanded from 120 to 240 grit, and applied some finishes. Here they are compared with the unfinished veneer:

I’ll leave them to harden for a few days before doing a dent and scratch test.

SteveF · September 2023

I think I like the slightly lighter one in the middle as the figure seems to pop more

paulnb57 · September 2023

SteveF said:

I think I like the slightly lighter one in the middle as the figure seems to pop more

Me too

Roland · September 2023

I’ve gone with the acrylic. So far I’m eight coats in. Each coat takes two hours to dry. The veneer wasn’t sanded perfectly flat before I started because I didn’t want to make it too thin. Instead I’m using the acrylic as grain filler, and sanding back occasionally. I’m not totally happy with it, because the colour is lighter than the picture makes it look.

The neck is glued up with a blue line between Sycamore and Holly, and roughly trimmed. Next step is to route the sides of the Holly to match the Sycamore. Then I can cut the fret slots.

Roland · September 2023

Neck carving day. Before I made my first neck I thought I’d hate this process. With a jig for the fretboard radius, and the right tools for the shaping the back of the neck, it’s quite enjoyable. This year’s new toy, acquired at the Guitar Show, is a Japanese file, which speeds up the process. The fretboard radius is 12”, and the the profile is a flat D. I’m currently debating lowering the shoulders to make it more of a C. As Scarlet O’Hara said “I’ll think about that tomorrow. In the mean time here’s the first mock up.

Both ends of the neck need trimming. I was going to use white binding on the body, but everything else will be black. What do we think?

drofluf · September 2023

Looks great love the top.

SteveF · September 2023

That top looks great. I think the white binding will work well.

Roland · September 2023

It’s a blue guitar, and I thought that blue side dots would look nice. Good luck finding any suitable plastic ones. Instead I made a range of sizes using Fimo, and settled on 4mm. Large dots are easier to see.

The blue is brighter than the body, but goes well against the veneer line. A matched colour would appear too dark against the neck.

Roland · September 2023

I decided to bind in black. White outlines the body nicely, but looks out of place with black hardware. In retrospect I could have used black side dots on the neck, but blue is more fun.

The acrylic finish has protected the veneer from marks when routing the binding channel. I wish I’d put a coat on the back and sides to prevent CA glue from seeping into the wood.

My next decision is where to position the knobs and switch.

BigMonka · September 2023

That's looking fantastic with the binding. How hard is it to get it to follow the contours as well as the outline - that's a bit of a 3D twisting compound angle arrangement going on!

TTony · September 2023

paulnb57 said:

SteveF said:

I think I like the slightly lighter one in the middle as the figure seems to pop more

Me too

Me three.

TTony · September 2023

Roland said:

Really like the look / combination of that.

Pretty sure I've never seen another one like it!

(Which is a good thing to my mind).

jasonbone75 · September 2023

I never knew I wanted a Holly fretboard. I do now!

Roland · September 2023

@BigMonka Previous builds have been difficult because the chamfer was curved, and rounded in three dimensions. This one is flat, with a six degree transition. I used an edge trimmer, and set its base at an angle for the chamfer. It needed a digital level to set it up accurately.

The transition was cleaned up with a sharp knife. The binding was softened with a heat gun. A hair dryer would work at a pinch, but doesn’t get as hot, and covers a wider area.

Roland · September 2023

jasonbone75 said:

I never knew I wanted a Holly fretboard. I do now!

Holly is difficult to find because it warps and cracks as it dries. We cut the tree down five years ago, and very little of it is suitable for guitar making. Originally the wood was creamy, and easy to work. Now that it has dried it’s surprisingly hard, almost brittle. I’m hoping that it will stay that slightly grey colour, and not yellow with age.

Roland · September 2023

What makes life interesting is that each guitar is different. String spacing for the Nova bridge and headpiece are closer than the Hipshot. I could have made the neck 2mm narrower. Saddle height is different too. To get a measure on the saddles, and on the bridge position, I’ve fitted the neck temporarily.

Drilling the screw holes through an angled body can be tricky. Having learned from previous builds I used the wedge shaped slice that I cut off earlier to support the body, and keep it level.

Threaded inserts make it easy to take the neck off and put it back on again. Fitting the inserts can be tricky, even if they are slotted for a screwdriver, which these aren’t. I use a threaded rod to keep the insert straight, rotating the pillar drill by hand to screw it in.

Once the insert is in place the spanner releases the two nuts, allowing me to unscrew the rod and leave the brass insert in position.

Roland · September 2023

I spent a day or so thinking about pickup cavity locations. There are pages on the internet discussing harmonic node positions. Of course, the calculations they show are only relevant for open strings. My rule has been to mount the neck pickup within 1/4” of the neck, and bridge pickup close to the bridge, but not too close. I read lots of ideas about how close is too close. Then got out the Telecaster template which I’ve used on the last couple of builds and routed the cavities.

Pleasingly the blue veneer cut cleanly, with no chipping or splintering. I don’t know how much of that is due to a sharp router bit, to the layers of acrylic lacquer, to the painters’ tape I masked it with, and it being glued down evenly.

Now I’m on to deciding where the knobs and lever switch should go for ease of use, and designing the cavity to take them. I’m currently leaning towards this:

Roland · October 2023

For almost a fortnight I’ve been agonising over positions of the controls. It’s been serious prevarication, during which I’ve made a transport box for our new band lights, and a sandpit for our grandson. Eventually I summoned up the courage to commit to a control layout, and made the templates. There’s also a wiring jig which allows me to solder up the components outside of the guitar, before dropping them into place.

One of the highlights of this build is that I’ve stopped using double sided tape. Instead I’m using decorator’s tape on both workpiece and template, stuck to each other with a smear of CA glue. It come apart more easily when finished with, and doesn’t leave a sticky residue.

The next job is to drill a wiring channel between cavities. After my previous experience of cheap drill bits bending and wandering I’ve ordered some long 6mm bits from Wealdon. Of course I couldn’t resist adding some smaller brad bits for general use to the order.

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Another headless guitar build

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