Luthiery FAQ

[LewsTherin]

Okay guys, so far this is only woods. I will try to add at least two (2) woods a day until the list is fairly complete.

I will also get to:

-Planning/designing an instrument
---Getting exactly what you want in an instrument
-Making the shift from small-scale paper plans to full-size plans
-Getting your design into/onto wood
---Preparing wood to be made into an instrument
---Tools

-Use of composites (maybe)
-Milling/manufacturing parts (some stuff)

I will most likely be leaving the electronics parts out, there are plenty of threads out there about this subject matter already.

Oh, and guys, mind not leaving posts? This will mos def be a multi-post thing from me. I will put an index in this first post as well.

Also note, I will be doing some construction this summer. I will have pictures for the tools, bass construction/design, composites, and parts manufacturing sections.

Index

[URL="http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12205311&postcount=5"]Composite Neck[/url]
[URL="http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12228913&postcount=7"]Composite Parts[/url]
[URL="http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12260519&postcount=10"]Designing an Instrument[/url]
[URL="http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12260806&postcount=11"]Making the Shift from Paper to Wood[/url]
[URL="http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12269427&postcount=14"]Woods[/url]
[URL="http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12306100&postcount=15"]The Workshop[/url]

[Left Shoe]

yamaha also uses alder ^

[Killer Fridge]

I would like to add ovangkol or wenge to the list as it is a common warwick wood for necks, however, i know sweet fa about them!

[Thonk]

Pretty nice so far.

Sticky?

[LewsTherin]

Composites

The materials used in this section will be carbon-fibre cloth and epoxy. I recommend West Systems epoxy. You can get it at your local marine supply shop, or at http://www.jamestowndistributors.com



Some things you should know before starting to work with these materials:

-They are expensive
-Its easy to screw up
-Woodworking is required
-Its time-consuming


Step 1, The Moulds

Working with composites/reinforced plastics (RP) requires moulds. The reason for this is that the reinforcing material (carbon fibre) starts out as a cloth (You could make T-shirts out of it) and that the plastic (epoxy) starts out as a liquid. Moulds allow/force your materials to stay the shape you want until the plastic hardens.

There are two types of moulds, male and female.

Male moulds are moulds which you drape your material over. Think of putting a cast on an arm, its sort of like that. These moulds are easier to make than female moulds, and easier to use.

Female moulds are moulds in which your materials are pressed against the insides. Imagine putting a towel in a basket to take food to a picnic in. These moulds, properly done, provide much better results, imo, but are hard to make and work with.

Another part of the female mould is the plug. In male moulds, gravity holds everything in shape. In female moulds, gravity could tear your project apart. The answer to this is the plug. The plug is inserted into the mould after the RP, to keep it pressed against the sides.

Since its easier, and more likely to be used, Ill go over male moulds. If anyone has questions about female/plug moulds, drop me a line.

Creating a male neck mould is actually quite a bit like making a neck. You need to take a wooden blank, and shape it. Note, however, that the mould should be SMALLER than you want the neck to be. Material will be added on top of the mould, meaning your final product is LARGER than the mould.

For the mould, I would suggest using pine or poplar (something cheap). It doesnt need to be structurally sound, it just needs to be the shape you want it to be. This means that a straight peice would be better, but with enough shaping, a curved peice of wood can give you a straight neck mould.

Once you have your mould completed, its time to make something. The basic steps for this are:

-Wrap the mould in plastic wrap, or wax it (this is so your stuff doesnt stick to the mould)
-Cut out peices of cloth for the neck. Especially going around curves, leaving extra is recommended, so you can tuck it underneath and keep the cloth curving properly.
-Dry fit everything. Make sure you have enough cloth prepared. 2-4 layers at a time is best.
-Mix up some resin, according to the directions. Once you do this, we'll have to move quickly. Resin only stays liquid for so long. Before doing this step, make sure you have an idea what youll be doing next.
-Now, you can do one of two things. You can lay the first layer down, then saturate it with resin, or you can saturate it first, then lay it down. I prefer the second method. It stays better.
-Repeat with following layers. Make sure you have no air bubbles between layers.


(to be continued)

[Led_Zeppelin678]

Ovangkol/Shedua's tone has strong lows, and bright high end.

[LewsTherin]

Manufacturing Parts Using Composites

Okay, now that we know how to do the easy stuff (necks, lol, and I KNOW ITS NOT FINISHED YET SO DEAL), we can get to the exciting stuff; making bridges, nuts, tailpeices, pickguards, cavity covers, knobs, etc.


Pickguards/Cavity Covers

These are the really easy ones. They're flat. They're not structurally important. And, you can do just about whatever you want with them.

For this section, materials we will need:

BASIC COMPOSITE STUFF
-Carbon fibre (you can also use fibreglass, or kevlar b/c they look different)
-Plastic (epoxy or polyester, whatever)
-Scissors (for cutting raw material)
-Disposable foam brushes
-Mixing cups and stirrers
-plastic squeegee
-plastic wrap
-Masking tape
-Rubber gloves (this stuff is sticky as all hell)
-Acetone (only thing that'll clean it up. Acetone stops the epoxy reaction in its tracks.)
-Rags (to use with acetone)
-Newspaper and cardboard (to create disposable work space. You DONT want to get plastic resin on your moms carpet)
-Some additives, maybe, if youre using epoxy. Hi-Density filler is a good one if you want to put a screw/other peice of metal in. Colloidal Silica is good for stopping runny epoxy. Aluminum powder is good for added UV protection. (UV is epoxy's archnemesis, btw).

OTHER STUFF
-Dremel
-Drill
-Sandpaper/steel wool
-GOOD respirator
-Eye protection

Okay, so heres the plan. First, you plan out what shape you need. Then, you cut out said shape once, twice, thrice? Its up to you. A single layer is a bit thin. Or, you can cut it out once, then use random little peices to create a funky design with the grain (carbon fibre has a sort of checker pattern to it. It also comes in twill). Whatever, its your pickguard.

Note, Id recommend cutting out a shape thats bigger than what you think you want, casting it in composite, then sanding/shaping it down. Its easier to take stuff off than to put it back on.

Next, lay down some plastic wrap, and tape it down (so it stays down). Mix up some resin. Take your first layer, wet it with resin, plop it down on the plastic wrap. Do the same with your next layer. Make sure they line up and whatnot. Smooth it out with the squeegee, make sure there are no air bubbles.

Like with the neck, you can do like 3 layers at a time. Depending on the hardener you use, epoxy takes either about 8 or about 24 hours to set (when with carbon fibre or whatever). It takes either about 15 or about 30 minutes to set in the pot. Work quickly.


Once the material has set, its now time for normal stuff. Don your respirator and eye protection, fire up the tools, and finalize the design, as well as putting in holes for pickups, screws, etc.


Tailpeices

Okay, so most basses dont have tailpeices. But, maybe youre building a custom bass, and want to use a tailpeice/bridge combo (think, upright/violin style). Now these ARE structural parts, so youll have to pay more attention to the grain on your reinforcing material. This is relatively advanced work.

We'll start with a flat, rectangular peice for our example.


These are the directions the grain should be in (Since its a weave, it actually goes in two sets of directions, front back left and right).

To make this peice, we will start with five (5) layers of cloth, 3 longer and 2 shorter. They will be stacked up L/S/L/S/L. The short peices should be about 1.5", the long ones about 2". The extra half inch on the long peices will be folded up to create the front of the tailpeice.

We will need a mould with a square corner. Two (2) peices of wood glued together will work fine. Now we will:

-Saturate the first layer, fold the last .5" over the corner of the mould
-2nd layer, no fold.
-3rd layer, fold
-etc, until the 5th layer.
-Let this set. Once it does, take it off the mould. You should have a rectangular base with a 90 corner going up (looks kinda like a standard fender bridge, backwards).
-Cut strips of cloth to go on the back of the folded up portion.
-Add these 3-4 at a time, until the folded portion is about 3/8" to 1/2" thick.
-Drill holes for strings and screws.


(UNDER CONSTRUCTION, BBL)

[NavyBass]

The reason that maple is the most widely used wood for a neck is because of it's consistency and strength. Throughout the length of the board, the grain, strength, and hardness is very consistent. It has very little grain runout throughout the board length.

The famous "dead spots" are not due to the maple itself. It is more due to the headstock design that fender used, but with a properly cut nut and proper down pressure of the strings over the nut, you can pretty much eliminate those dead spots.

I've owned quite a few Fender basses in my years of playing and have never had one that had dead spots.

[Peg Dizzler]

Maple is widely used in many instruments for a reason. It's strong, generally straight grained (unless it's curly maple or something), and has a solid, distinct tone. Whether you like that tone or not doesn't matter.

I'm not an expert on dead spots but I think I would blame them on poor neck joints, or even the headstock in general. I've heard alot of experienced luthiers say the headstock has detrimental effect on tone, in general. I forget the reason and all the logic behind it though.

[LewsTherin]

Designing an instrument

Designing an instrument is much like buying one. You have to consider the options you want, such as # of string, neck joint, woods, pickups, body shape, etc. You also have to consider, however, what youll be capable of constructing. Your first bass will NOT look like an Alembic or Conklin. Dont get too fancy the first time around. Also, you musnt forget that some things simply arent possible....despite the fact that you want it. There ARE structural limitations, even with electric instruments (which are still far more conducive to creative design than anything else).

Materials you will need/might want:
-plain paper (for doodling)
-Graph paper
-pencils/maybe a pen.
-ruler/straight edge

The first thing you should think about is the neck. Your neck design will affect the rest of your design. Here are some things to consider:

-What kind of neck joint do you want? Bolt-on, set, thru, or set-thru?
-Will you be buying or building a neck?
-How many strings?
-Scale length?
-Headstock design. Big headstocks = heavy. Too small a headstock = impossible to put tuners on. My cousin made a guitar with a really really small headstock, he had ALOT of trouble putting all the tuners on, and getting strings on it. Watch for that.

Once you have all this decided, you can start the rest. When designing an instrument, I usually draw the neck on the paper first, and design around it. One thing you can do, if you find yourself erasing body designs alot, is to draw the neck (first in pencil) in pen, and photocopy it, so you have plenty of paper with room to draw a body on, without a big mess of erased pencil.

Some things to remember when designing a body around a neck:

-Bolt-on necks need a solid base to be bolted on to. This can limit cutaway/horn designs.
-Set necks need a good amount of wood to be glued to. Same as above.


Some things to consider for body design:
-It should be comfortable
-Too small a body can lead to balance issues. An extended top horn always helps with balance, and a short top horn can lead to a neck-heavy bass (not good).
-Too big a body is, well, too big. Dont forget, you WILL be wearing this bass eventually.
-You need room for electronics and whatnot.
-Lower horn design can make or break a bass when it comes to sitting. Just look at Cort Curbow basses. They SUCK to sit with.
-Will you be able to make the body with the tools and experience you have? Im sure scrolls are nice, but dont plan for one if you cant do it.


Wood Choices.

Now, you have to decide what woods you want to use, if you havent already. (see the whole post about woods).
Some things to consider:

-Tone
-Weight
-Workability
-Feel
-Cost
-Looks (yes, it IS important)
-Durability
-Finishing characteristics

Sure, an all ebony bass would be nice, but itd weigh a million pounds, and youd have to take out a second mortgage out to pay for it.

[LewsTherin]

Making the shift from paper to wood.

So you have a sweet design on a peice of paper. So what? You have to get that design onto a peice of wood. The best way ive found yet for doing this (for any woodworking project) is to draw it to scale on a small peice of graph paper (ie, 1 box = inch^2), then buying big graph paper (where 1 box really does = inch^2) and translating it, box for box. Its quite easy, actually. Once you have it done roughly, you can clean up the corners and whatnot.

At this point, I usually like to make a mockup (this is a good idea if its the first time youre using a design. Putting a new design into wood and finding it sucks is a good waste of wood and time). For this, I use corrugated cardboard and an exacto knife. You can get a basic idea of how the design sits and feels.


At this point, if you like it (if not, back to the drawing board!), you can trace either the paper or cardboard cutout onto your body blank, and have at it.

[mike-o]

There's a typo in the description about maple necks, first sentence repeats itself and is confusing

[Peg Dizzler]

Yeah, I would agree with you on the designing section, LewsTherin. I think most first time builders should stick to a design tried-and-true; then if they still want to build after that, they can experiment with a design of their own, or something more wild.

I also highly encourage to consider how the guitar will balance, the shorter the top horn, the more neck heavy it will be. That's not good, lawl. Same with the bottom, will the guitar be playable in a sitting position? Those are some of main design questions, aside from neck pocket and bridge type stuff.

[LewsTherin]

NECK WOODS

Maple -- the standard neck wood. Almost every company uses maple in their necks, with a few exceptions. Maple is strong, and relatively easily workable. Maple must be finished. It is very succeptible to warping from moisture problems. Warmoth, for example, will not warrantee a maple neck unless it has been hard finished.

Despite this, a raw or oiled maple neck is (supposedly, I hate maple personally) very sexy feeling.

Sonic Qualities -- Maple is considered a bright wood. It is hard, and dense.

Looks -- This is where maple really shines. Maple comes in a variety of figures. Flame (also called Tiger, Fiddleback), Quilt and Spalt maple are common 'exotic' woods.

Fingerboard? Yes, maple is used in fingerboards as well. Must be finished in this application as well.


Mahogany -- A slightly less common neck wood for basses. Used mostly by Gibson, namely in the Thunderbird. Also used by Parker. Mahogany is less succeptible to warpage from the environment than maple, but a hard finish is still suggested, as it is easily dented.

There are two basic types of mahogany: African and South American. African Mahogany, much less expensive and more easily gotten than South American, is the heavy stuff that gives mahogany a bad name. SA mahogany is very, very light, and is/was actually used in competition-grade rowing shells, with mahogany boats weighing in lighter than many composite hulls.

Sonic Qualities -- Mahogany is known for its fat, warm sustain. Less bright than maple.

Looks -- its brown. Looks nice with a brown or red transparent stain/finish.

Fingerboard? No.



Wenge-- Seen in older Warwick basses (pre '98), Conklin Groove Tools basses, and Ibanez SR50* series basses. Typically used in laminates with Purpleheart, Bubinga, or other woods. Stable, waxy wood (requires no finish), with coarse grain. Very hard, and isnt very nice to cutting surfaces.

Sonic Qualities -- Brings a strong midrange and warm lows.

Looks -- Very dark brown/black with chocolate colored striping. Very visible grain.

Fingerboard? Used by Warwick for fretboards. Not usually used as a fretless fingerboard due to the coarse nature of the wood.


Ovangkol -- Warwick's new neck wood. Also known as "Shedua".

Sonic Qualities -- Brings strong low end with a bright high end.

Looks -- Range of colors, from reddish brown to yellow. Often has striping.

Fingerboard? Probably not.



Purpleheart -- Often used in neck laminations for increased strength, or as an accent pinstripe. Very hard, can be tough on cutting tools. Relatively inexpensive.

Sonic Qualities -- Bright high end, with strong fundamental sustain.

Looks -- Purple. Very sexy.

Fingerboard? Good choice. Its hardness means it will be durable, and will stand up to even roundwound strings, like Ebony.


Ebony -- Another wood used for reinforcement and accents. Very hard, and VERY expensive. Tough on cutting surfaces.

Sonic Qualities -- Similar to Purpleheart.

Looks -- Some ebony is jet black, some is brown with black stripes, some is black with brown stripes. Ironically enough, comes in white, too.

Fingerboard? Very good fingerboard wood, especially for fretless. Durable, can stand up to even stainless steel rounds.

Body Woods

Alder -- a favorite of many companies. Used extensively by Fender, among others, such as Yamaha. Inexpensive, easy to work with. A VERY GOOD WOOD for amateur luthiers. Produces a clear, warm tone with a strong fundamental. Looks good with burst finishes.

Mahogany -- a slightly less common body wood. Used by Ibanez in some basses, and by Gibson. Warm, fat tone, but potentially muddy. Relatively easy to work with. Looks good with a trans red/brown finish. A mahogany back with a maple top is a common combination (ie, Les Paul).

Ash -- Another favorite. There are two types of ash; hard ash and swamp ash. Hard ash (also used in baseball bats) brings long sustain and treble bite. Swamp ash is warmer, while retaining some brightness. Many companies (Conklin GT, Warwick, others probably) often combine a swamp ash back with a maple top.

(Will be back to work on this, just wanted to get it started)

[LewsTherin]

A Good Workshop

In this article, I'll go over what should be in a good workshop, and why. Maybe Ill even make the list alphabetical.


SAFETY!!!
SOME SAFETY RULES:
--ALWAYS wear safety glasses. Wood chips in the eye =/= good.
--When sanding, wear a properly rated respirator/mask.
--Make sure you have good ventilation and dust control.
--NEVER take your eyes off a tool which is running. This goes for saws, sanders, jointers, ANYTHING.
--Keep your fingers out of the way of saw blades. When using a tablesaw or a bandsaw, keep your thumbs tucked in.
--Make sure your work area is properly lit.
--Remember, you get cut less using sharp tools! Keep everything in prime condition. Sharp tools require less force to do the same work. Less force behind a tool means less chance of slippage. Less slippage = less ****-yourself-uppage.

Tools:

BANDSAW -- good for cutting curves (ie, bodies), or along angled straight lines that would be impracticle to do with a table saw, or other saw (ie, necks).

DRILL PRESS -- good all around tool. Can be used for drilling (good for string holes for string-thru, for neck-bolt holes, tuner holes, etc), for sanding (with a sanding drum), and even for polishing/buffing (with proper attachments).

COPING SAW -- small, flexible hand saw. Good for negotiating tight/tough curves.

JOINTER -- good for straightening out edges for gluing together of blanks, wings, laminations, etc.

PLANER/RASP -- used for shaving off wood. Good for carved tops, neck backs, etc. Also, very good in place of sandpaper on acoustic applications, because there is NO SAWDUST to clog up pores in wood.

DREMEL -- versatile tool. Not a standout in any one category, can get alot of things done decently. Works fine for light sanding and very light routing (ie, scalloping, scrolls)

ROUTER -- near must-have. Used for routing neck pockets, control cavities, pup cavities, etc.

SANDING STUFF -- from 80 to 400+ grit. Hand-sanding (ie, sanding blocks) and power-sanding (random orbital sanders are good). Also, if you're crazy enough, angle-grinders are fun too.

[b00mer]

Very good post mate, I'd love to start making my own guitars... some pictures would be killer though!

[ToG]

Just like to add to the wood section for body. Mahogany is prone to warping and ash has good elastic properties.
Elasticity is directly proportional to the resonance of the wood AND inversly proportional to the density, Its a bit complex but import enough. Sound travels faster along the grain rather than across it.

It's a bit sciencey and i didnt go into all the detail i could but i believe it's important enough.

Also i think a relative pricing system might be good.

[muthafunkabass]

Lews, I love you. Thank you so much!

[LewsTherin]

Originally Posted by b00mer

Very good post mate, I'd love to start making my own guitars... some pictures would be killer though!

dont worry, theyll be here soon enough! (unless, of course, a month or two from now is too late)