Body template was bought. I wanted to exactly replicate the shape of the original
A big pile of unfinished wood and templates. This is quite daunting
Raw wood blanks of Queensland Maple - to be planed and glued
Glued and clamped for 48 hours
Glueing the cap of Tasmanian blackwood
Body blank finished - now time to start cutting the outline of the body
Roughly cut to shape
Cutting to exact shape using template as a router guide. This is laborious - takes about 2 hours - but very satisfying to see the final shape
Routing the outline is finished. Next set of internal routs are pencilled on
First step in the "German" carve added all the way round the body.
Playing with the placement of the parts to make sure all the routs are going in the right places.
Nack and wiring cavities cut out
Using the planer to add curves for comfortable playing
Internal body routs all done. Wiring, neck pocket, bridge and neck pickups
Known as the "belly cut"
Preparing to cut out the neck from a laminate of Rock Maple
Router fail. Template was damaged meaning I had to make a new template
New neck template alongside newly cut plastic pickguard
Neck with routing for the headstock and body end
Truss rod fitted
Glueing down the fret board
Pearl dots are inlayed into the neck individually. Holes need to be drilled (one is off centre, proving the hand crafted nature of the product :)
Carving the back of the neck
Planning notes
