GooCart's 1 Build

[GooCart]

Most of you know me from my old 3d carved top thread. It's been a long journey but now I finally have decided to give this guitar building thing a chance. I've never ever done anything like this before, I change strings and maybe a pickup, but that's about it, but after reading all these inspiring threads I just can't wait any longer.

For more than a year ago I modeled the first LP in 3d with the goal to CNC cut a complete guitar, I did a decent model and I contacted a local luthier who have done quite much CNC cutting. After a while I realized that my 3d model suck, I didn't want a modern style LP, I wanted the vintage top carve, and you all know how it ended up.
Anyway, I hadn't given up the idea to CNC cut a guitar so I contacted the luthier again and we talked it over and decided to give it a try.

OK, here it start. My good friend Tom Bartlett brought some really fine pieces off wood to Europe for a couple off weeks ago. Some beautiful Eastern maple, a quarter sawn neck blank and a braz board.



My luthier friend had some 30 years old honduras I could buy, on the photo you also see the maple ready for book matching.



The cutting start with the cable channel, I have no photo of that, then gluing the top, hide glue off course.



Now it's time to rough cut the body and drill two guide holes. They will be used for centering the body when it's turned around 180 deg.
The thin line is a guide so we know what we're doing.



Carve the back cavities, I modelled the electronic cavity bottom after the '53 GT, but adapted the angle after the '59.





Now the fun starts. It's time for top carving!!!
We turned the body around and lined it up with the guide holes and started up the CNC. Here we have some rough cutting going on.



Fine cutting the top.



Now it's time for the cavities and the binding channel.



Done!!! About 1.5 hours machine time total. The surface is flawless and absolutely gorgeous. It almost looks buffed and the sanding will be minimal. The dark spots in the cavities are just oil from the bit.





I'll take care of the bottom radius asap. I'll be using a 4.7mm bearing bit, It should have been 4.6-4.7 but big deal!!!



That's all for now. So far it's going just fine, nothing really bad has happened. I regret that I CNC cut the holes for the pots, I should just marked them, but other than that it was a success.

Tom are sending some binding so I'll have to wait for them before I can start to sand it. The next phase is the neck, it's going to be fun. I'll update as soon as I got something to show you.

[Jason]

Wow. That's the way to do it, man. One hell of a quick way to do a body! So cool, glad it worked out for you. Nice looking wood there too.

[alk-3]

Fantastic! I hope this guitar turns out really good. You deserve it after all the work you've done on the modeling end.

[DGNRepair]

I want a CNC machine!!!!

[monsterwalley]

Hey, not fair!!!!! Takes me a week to get that far

Excellent work, can't wait to follow this thread.

[ex-nihilo]

OH YEA!!!! This is GREAT MAGNUS. I am SO glad you are doing a build. And you are using all of the great skills you have mastered. That is going to be a FANTASTIC guitar!

Congratulations!!!!!

[MRJ5]

Freakin' show off!

Looking good! Put me in line with the envious.

[LG2]

Nice setup Mag!

[Texas07R8]

jaw dropping amazing! Man I knew when you finally cut loose on this CNC stuff you were gonna kick some ass.... nuff said.... you da man.

[alk-3]

Hey Magnus, how big of a sidestep are you using on that top? I've been doing a 30/1000" sidestep on our tops here in Canada, and they come out ready for a quick hand sanding then finishing. Yours looks even smoother.
We also do it all in one pass, we skip the rough out all together, but the machine we're using is super heavy duty. I dont know what machine you're using there, but it turned out really great!
I'll be sending out your binding first thing in the morning. I'll try to get it there as fast as possible so you dont get held up waiting for it

edit:
I just noticed you guys set up the machine to cut in straight lines across the top. I've been doing ours in a perimeter fashion starting from the center working out toward the edge. Do you think there is any advantage either way?

[Fletch]

Goo, that is awesome! I'm glad your finally building something of your own after helping so many others out.

Very kool.

fletch

[mattsblues]

Dang! Looks great!!!!

[pinefd]

Wow, that is so cool, Magnus! And I'll reiterate what's been said previously...after all you've done to help advance our knowledge of the LP top carve, it's great to see you finally using this for your own build. It must be so satisfying watching your "baby" be born right in front of your eyes, after all you've done on the conception end. And the other cool thing is the speed in which this guitar is being made. What normally takes most of us weeks, if not months to do, is being accomplished here in just hours (because of all the months of programming you did previously).

Lookin' forward to the next installment!


Frank

[GooCart]

Thanks for all the kind words.

Tom, the rough tool path is the perimeter way, starting from the outside, and the smoothing is in two directions starting along the surface and ending with across. There were some minimal cutouts when we cut along the surface but they disappeared after the last cut. It's overkill to run through all this passes but we really wanted to get the best possible result.
I must check the side step, I know I've seen it but I don't remember.

The pickup routings are routed with no angle, we could have done a 4,4° angled jig but I decided not to. Do you guys think that it will be a problem later on? I ask because I noticed on our test cuts that a modern pickup with cover won't fit in the original Catto plan, the corner radius is to big. I made the pickup cavities 2 mm longer on this one, but I didn't dare to make them any wider.

Anyway, this is so fun. I just couldn't stop looking at the machine when it worked. It's so cool watching such a simple thing as the back cavity carving, not to mention the top carving. It's hypnotic.

[V!N]

Hej Magnus,

Excellent trhead ! It's about time you got your hands dirty to make a guitar after all the digital work you have done. Do you have any videos of that machine at work on your guitar ?
I once saw a vid of an engine being made with a 5 axis machine and a huge block of aluminium, hypnotizing indeed !

Threads in this section just keep getting better and better, I can hardly wait for the update.

[The Thruth]

Looking good Magnus

[alk-3]

Originally Posted by GooCart

.
I noticed on our test cuts that a modern pickup with cover won't fit in the original Catto plan, the corner radius is to big. I made the pickup cavities 2 mm longer on this one, but I didn't dare to make them any wider.

This issue prompted this thread.

[billy]

wow, looks great so far.... can't wait to the the end result. and that top is killer!!

[GreaseBox]

Go Magnus Go!

[J-Man123]

Aww, dammit! I thought you were building a Go-Kart!



J-Man123

[Ole'Lefty]

Sometimes "Nice guys finish first." Thanks, Magnus, many thanks. Mike T.

[V!N]

Originally Posted by Ole'Lefty

"Nice guys finish burst."

[SG Lou]

AWESOME !

I wish i had access to a CNC

[MRJ]

Magnus you really know how to make somebody wish they had a cnc! That guitar is looking really great!

[tulsah]

Originally Posted by alk-3

Hey Magnus, how big of a sidestep are you using on that top? I've been doing a 30/1000" sidestep on our tops here in Canada, and they come out ready for a quick hand sanding then finishing. Yours looks even smoother.

For a given level of surface finish, the amount of stepover will vary with the size / diameter of tool being used. I typically use 1/2" and 3/4" ballnose mills for tops. Generally, the smaller the mill, the smaller the stepover. Smaller mills with larger stepovers result in increased ridge height and more sanding. It's basically a balance between machining time and hand finishing.

-tulsah

[rockappalla]

That's gonna turn out an outstanding guitar Magnus!
I wish I can get close to your results with my cheap homemade CNC

[GooCart]

Today I rounded the back edges, no problem so far.




Fire department.

[rockappalla]

.

[pinefd]

Originally Posted by GooCart

Today I rounded the back edges, no problem so far.




Fire department.

OK, I just realized what's going on here! These photos are just too perfect to be the real thing. Admit it, Magnus, this is a virtual build, isn't it? C'mon, fess up! (nice renderings, BTW!)


Frank

[GooCart]

You got me there Frank

I haven't raised a finger yet but this is how it looks after two days. Ridiculous.
It almost feels like a mockery towards all the real luthiers out here.

Anyway, here's another shot just because I can.