First Build: BYO LS Custom
Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 4:16 pm
Hi Guys - brand new to this sort of thing, and like all modern kids do when they have a crush, I picked this forum off an online search.
A little qualifier: I'm not a good player at all 'tho I've studied on & off during my career as a bar band harmonica player and yes I've heard all the jokes & made up a couple; also I'm son of a cabinet maker, was a boatbuilder in the '80s-'90s, and worked on Renaissance flutes, recorders &c. and clarinet components with a well-known craftsman. So I got a basic familiarity and some generic skills to bring to this task. At the same time, I've wanted to learn this craft since I was 15, when I stumbled into a luthier's in Berkeley (and was told "Build a guitar & then come back, kid" - I learned what that meant, later, but at the time it did me no good) - and the circumstances of this current project are kinda like Fate coming around for tentative chew at my ankle.
So: I was gifted this kit by a friend, who also supplied Will Kelly's how-to book, which looks like a shill for BYO products. Let's just say, the contents of the box are probably worth the ~$250 price tag, but if you accept that you gotta also accept that they don't match up to the text in the book. Something had to give, somewhere. I'll address specifics as I go along here, but I'm hoping to discuss my challenges and questions here and get some advice as I go.
Anyway, I'm going to build this from parts shipped, for now. Having looked around a very small amount online, I'm guessing that I can upgrade most any component as I get funds, am I right in this? - But I'll first see if I have a basic framework that's worth upgrading. That's my plan.
That said - I got the neck glued and clamped up yesterday. The much-touted "CNC fit" was about .020" sloppy. I had some mahogany veneer around here, so I shimmed the joint in two stages, first building up & planing off the slop to align and center the neck - the height was good - and then gluing the neck in. All gluing was with Gorilla aliphatic, and I have pretty good wood-to-wood contact in the joint.
First question, now (aside from all the advice I'm gonna take from that ton of arrogant stuff I've already typed out here): now that I've rendered the neck nonreturnable, what am I going to do with the tuner peg holes being drilled at least .015" oversize? They measure .411"-.427" in diameter, for a 10mm shaft. I have some .010" & .020" bass here that I can sleeve the holes with and rebore for a good fit; is there a better idea?
I figure anything I learn from this build will stand me well on the next ones. Hope I'm right. You tell me.
Michael
A little qualifier: I'm not a good player at all 'tho I've studied on & off during my career as a bar band harmonica player and yes I've heard all the jokes & made up a couple; also I'm son of a cabinet maker, was a boatbuilder in the '80s-'90s, and worked on Renaissance flutes, recorders &c. and clarinet components with a well-known craftsman. So I got a basic familiarity and some generic skills to bring to this task. At the same time, I've wanted to learn this craft since I was 15, when I stumbled into a luthier's in Berkeley (and was told "Build a guitar & then come back, kid" - I learned what that meant, later, but at the time it did me no good) - and the circumstances of this current project are kinda like Fate coming around for tentative chew at my ankle.
So: I was gifted this kit by a friend, who also supplied Will Kelly's how-to book, which looks like a shill for BYO products. Let's just say, the contents of the box are probably worth the ~$250 price tag, but if you accept that you gotta also accept that they don't match up to the text in the book. Something had to give, somewhere. I'll address specifics as I go along here, but I'm hoping to discuss my challenges and questions here and get some advice as I go.
Anyway, I'm going to build this from parts shipped, for now. Having looked around a very small amount online, I'm guessing that I can upgrade most any component as I get funds, am I right in this? - But I'll first see if I have a basic framework that's worth upgrading. That's my plan.
That said - I got the neck glued and clamped up yesterday. The much-touted "CNC fit" was about .020" sloppy. I had some mahogany veneer around here, so I shimmed the joint in two stages, first building up & planing off the slop to align and center the neck - the height was good - and then gluing the neck in. All gluing was with Gorilla aliphatic, and I have pretty good wood-to-wood contact in the joint.
First question, now (aside from all the advice I'm gonna take from that ton of arrogant stuff I've already typed out here): now that I've rendered the neck nonreturnable, what am I going to do with the tuner peg holes being drilled at least .015" oversize? They measure .411"-.427" in diameter, for a 10mm shaft. I have some .010" & .020" bass here that I can sleeve the holes with and rebore for a good fit; is there a better idea?
I figure anything I learn from this build will stand me well on the next ones. Hope I'm right. You tell me.
Michael