Newbies First Project

[wayja]

Hello Forum,

I thought I would send you a few pics of my first project cut on News Year Day 2010. It is my take on the Flying V out of African Mahogany. Rather than use a Floyd Rose, or angle the neck, I decided on recessing the Tune-O-Matic bridge to keep the action low and preserve as much wood as I could for tone. I still need to drill the holes for the ferrules for the string thru body. I am using a 80's vintage Harmony Flying V neck which fits perfectly. The neck pocket is actually tapered to fit the neck. A special thank you to CyborgCNC for making this experience possible. I am already working working a left handed carved top strat style guitar for a friend.

[wayja]

Sorry. The pics did not upload? I thought I did it right. I will try again.

Wayja

[wayja]

[slpd]

Originally Posted by wayja Attachment 96586 Attachment 96587 Attachment 96588 Attachment 96589

looks like your being productive, were there any problems you had??

[wayja]

The overall design and toolpath creation went pretty smoothly. I have been working on this project for a couple of months. The time consuming part was definitely setting up the CNC router. Not having any experience it took awhile to get Mach3 configured for my controllers and steppers. Dealing with backlash was also time consuming. I replaced the Y drive bushing with brass and that helped alot. The other challenges were indexing and clamping the wood so as not to interfere with the machine operation. Also, the wood I used was apparently not uniform in thickness. After the last contour path, there were areas that the end mill did not completely cut through the other side. Next time I will add .005 to .010 to the depth of the cut. Live and learn. My next learning experience will be finishing. I could not have done it without the talented individuals on this forum. If one did not have access to the internet, this project would have taken ten years!

Cheers to all,

Wayja

[slpd]

Looks like you've been busy, but what a reward to have a working router.

[J. Moran]

Looks very nice. I look forward to seeing future pictures of the project.

[wayja]

Hello Forum,

Well, my first project is finally complete. Without a doubt the longest portion of the build is applying the finish. I used nitrocellulose based products with three coats of color (Olympic White) and three coats of clear. I then hand sanded and buffed the final clear coat after curing. It sounds fantastic. Better than I imagined. It will sustain a note all day! I can't wait to get started on the next one. I am thinking a Super-Strat style with mahogany back and maple top or Alder or Swamp Ash body. Les Paul? Who knows? The sky is the limit! Thanks again for all the assistance from this forum.

Wayja

[cncnitro]

Awesome instrument dude!
Very impressive for a first project for a newbie.

[Kammo1]

Nice guitar bro and did you make the CNC router yourself ? well done.

[wayja]

Thanks for the compliments. I cannot take credit for the original build of my CNC router, although I have pretty much redesigned it and replaced most problem areas. I am in the process of extending the bed to accommodate set necks. It is not quite big enough. When I started this endeavor last year, I had no CNC experience whatsoever. I have learned a great deal from this forum. I probably could have bought a guitar for less than mine cost, but I have had more fun in the modeling, handpicking the wood and applying the finish I wanted. After all, it is a hobby!

Wayja