GooCart's 1 Build

[GooCart]

I got no pics right now but the inlays are ready now. They have a great vintage feeling but when I compare them with the '53 GT inlays they are a little bright but I can live with that.

They are cut after the Catto plan and to my surprise they are 100% identical to the GT. Dead on!! I didn't think that the inlay pattern would be the same '53-'59, nor that it would be as precise.

Now I'm waiting for the fretboard to be cut, it's going to be fun to install the inlays.

[landsharkey]

They are cut after the Catto plan and to my surprise they are 100% identical to the GT.

Can you measure the length of the body along the centerline for the Catto plan? Is it supposed to be 438 mm? Just wanted to confirm since scaling the PDF properly for printing can cause problems.

[GooCart]

I redraw the Catto outline with smoother, continuous curves and my centerline is 437.886 millimeters. I hope it help.

[landsharkey]

Thanks! I was just trying to confirm the scale of the Catto and measuring 438 +/- 1mm is alot easier than trying to use the 20mm reference (which you'd have to measure to ~0.05mm to get the same precision).

[GooCart]

I finally made some time to take some photos of the inlays and the logo. It was so fun installing them so i totally forgot he camera.

The inlays and the logo are laser cut out of my old celluloid sheet. My first idea was to laser cut the headstock veneer also but I decided to use the CNC for the inlay and headstock/logo cavities.

The precision is ridiculous, it was just no way that I could fail mounting these parts, it was easier then building in Lego. A couple of drops of crazy glue and push it for a couple off seconds.

I couldn't find any holly for the veneer, I tried all the wood suppliers but it couldn't be found here in Sweden. We went through the complete workshop, looking for a wood with tight grain and found a piece of wood that looked OK. Actually I don't know what it is...but it's tight. I run the headstock and the logo over with a 2000 paper and both the wood and the logo looks buffed.

Here's some photos.

The veneer and the logo. I scanned the '53 GT headstock in 1200 dpi and copied the logo.



The inlays. That's a braz board



Some double sided tape and you're ready to rock!!



Cosy next to her older sister.



So, next up is the frets
Nice and slow Magnus, nice and slow.....

[V!N]

Slow ? You're faster at building a guitar than Gibson is at replying e-mails !
The logo and inlays sure look tight, no filler is killer !

[Metamatic]

Absolutely marvelous Magnus! You are "working" faster than me, allthough I've spent 50-60 hours this week for my build and I've just fitted the neck in the body and working on the fretboard.

[GooCart]

Metamatic,

I'm basically just watching this thing grow up in front of my eyes. I don't think I've done any more "traditional" working then 4-5 hours total since this build started.
I did put a lot off hours in the 3d cad modeling and planing the build though, now I'm just having the time of my life.
About time breakdown, I think I've spent as many hours taking photos and posting here at MLP as I spent on work. Your comments is one of the most rewarding part of it all.

[Metamatic]

Originally Posted by GooCart

Metamatic,

I'm basically just watching this thing grow up in front of my eyes. I don't think I've done any more "traditional" working then 4-5 hours total since this build started.
I did put a lot off hours in the 3d cad modeling and planing the build though, now I'm just having the time of my life.
About time breakdown, I think I've spent as many hours taking photos and posting here at MLP as I spent on work. Your comments is one of the most rewarding part of it all.

Yes. Investigation and preparation as something that is forgotten. I can imagine how many hundreds of hours you've been sitting in front of the monitor just to get everything exact. I am a computer "nerd" myself

[rockappalla]

Well, I have no more words Magnus! that's crazy awesome!
Your ideas are taking shape!

[monsterwalley]

Originally Posted by rockappalla

Well, I have no more words Magnus! that's crazy awesome!
Your ideas are taking shape!

Yeah, I agree. That pretty much sums it up.

[mattsblues]

Looking amazing still. Makes me want to talk my friend with a CNC into building one with it

[buyusfear]

Is there any way we could perhaps acquire your CNC files?
I know nothing about cnc, but I sure would love to learn.

This build is looking amazing, thank you for posting the process! The pictures are superb, its awesome watching this thing come to life!

I have access to a cnc, and would love to be able to do this for myself in the future.

[mattsblues]

Originally Posted by buyusfear

Is there any way we could perhaps acquire your CNC files?
I know nothing about cnc, but I sure would love to learn.

This build is looking amazing, thank you for posting the process! The pictures are superb, its awesome watching this thing come to life!

I have access to a cnc, and would love to be able to do this for myself in the future.

I think a few pages back i the thread he posted that the files were not available regardless.

[buyusfear]

Originally Posted by mattsblues

I think a few pages back i the thread he posted that the files were not available regardless.

ahh yes, I see him mention not giving out the top carve file; which I completely understand. I was actually planning on buying their top blank and templates, to try a build myself, once my house is built next year.
My brother-in-law built a homemade 3 axis cnc, and I thought it would be cool to try and use even the body plans to see it work on something other than kitchen cabinets.

[GooCart]

Hi again.
So now I've fretted a board for the first time. i thought it was quite fun actually. Not that hard, but everything you never tried is kind of scary. After a couple of frets I felt familiar to the hammering. Finally I used a press and according to Leif it looks OK.

I've also worked with the neck binding, scraping half of it. It took a while, I think it's my longest real work session so far.

Here is the rough scraped side and the frets laying on top of the neck.



As the logo is made out of celluloid it cant be scraped so I had to try out my masking idea. I covered the logo with a vinyl stencil and sprayed some solid black nitro.
Here's how it looks, I think it came out pretty good.



Soon I can assemble this thing and get started with some serious sanding which I'm really looking forward to.

[Mr Bones]

Really really impressive!

[rockappalla]

Hey Magnus, can you explain better the vinyl stencil method for the logo? Thanks

[alk-3]

Looking sweet my friend!

[Shai`tan]

VERY Sweet!

[GooCart]

I'm making some progress here.
This morning I glued the fretboard to the neck and now I've done some initial sanding.
When we're dealing with such fine tolerances as on a CNC cut product you don't need so much sanding. I just went over the neck real quick and it feels great. Maybe a little fat, but I'll wait until I've glued the neck and stringed it until I change anything.

Here is the test assembled guitar.



A little closer, I think it's looking really good!!




Here you see the how the pieces fit, I'm sure it'll be even better when I press it.



Do you see the cut out just near the binding? Any proposal what to do with it? Never mind the wobbly back radius, it's on the to do list.

[Metamatic]

Incredible Magnus!

EDIT: Hmm.... what about the radius on the corner, espeically the back part. Is it like thaton the early models or are you going to sand it later?

Concerning the cut out. Take some mahogany dust and super glue to fill it with. It will be invisible when you stain the wood.

[GooCart]

I'm going over the back radius with a 4.7mm bearing bit real soon, I've run it over once but not all the way. I wanted some clearance if I'd make a ding.
Tomorrow I'll glue the neck/body. After that I think it's time to drill for the Tune-o-matic, the tail piece and the tuners.
I'll do the final sanding after I've test played the neck.

[Ole'Lefty]

Super glue made mastic won't take many stains-test on scrap-slow set CA can accept stains-a tiny dribble/ drop of color before it solidifies. The choice of when to fill will be determined by how you intend to carry your color to the wood.

Even better in some ways would be letting your grain filler take care of it and then after it is wiped and hardened, an awl with india ink to add grain dots/tiny lines.O'L

[Kølabrennern]

Have you thought about making more, in a few different varieties? I'd love to see one with a slow-growth Scandinavian mountain-spruce top and a "black" alder (klibbal?) body/neck. Those would be my choice woods if I was to build a Les Paul for myself!

[GooCart]

I kind of promised my two girls, 9 and 11, that I'll make two guitars based on their birth date. This one is for the older girl, born '08, and the next one will be for the younger, born '00. Her will be a three pickup custom. So this one is a '58 and the next one is a '60.
But after that maybe I'd try something completely different.

[The baron of norsworthy]

Any update on the cnc router speed and feed rate??

[GooCart]

Sorry, I totally forgot about it.
I'll try to remember to ask Leif tomorrow.

Here's another photo, just for the fun of it. I trimmed the headstock and gave the braz board some oil. Maybe a little early on the process but I couldn't help my self.

[ex-nihilo]

It looks fantastic Magnus!

[decoy205]

Wow it's really getting there man. Beautiful work!