How about an SG build??

[ARandall]

Pete and Dan....timely stuff.

I'm in the middle of doing a p90 SG....neckthrough so it won't quite be a vintage correct one like Peter's. Don't want to hijack the vintage side too much, but the angles to get things working is certainly applicable.

 

[pshupe]

Thanks guys. For some reason I just saw this now. I managed to measure up a 65 SG yesterday and it is almost identical in body shape and size to the 61 model Magnus produced. I'm not sure what those other drawings referenced, possibly much more modern SGs with larger bodies. I have a base model that was created from the Magnus model. I basically filled in all the holes and am starting from that as shown on the first page. The nice thing about doing that is I can use that as the base for a JR, Standard, and Custom. So my first model will be a 65 Standard which will have two humbuckers and the heel lip, not sanded off. ;-) I'm just working on control cavity now after adding pups and neck route to my base model.

I really like the JR style neck joint on these and was quite happy to see that on the '65. My newer drawings show the typical LP style tenon, which I find a bit of a PITA. I should have some updates soon. Thanks again for all the input.

Cheers Peter.

Update - it looks like the model that Magnus created was from a '63 SG JR. I guess I should have just read the file name. LOL

 

[ejendres]

My brother inlaw owns a '62 LP Jr (the SG shaped one) and its such a badass guitar. He lent it to me for a while. I miss that thing.

 

[Airplane]

how thin is the slim bottom part of the body where the neck will be glued on/in?

 

[pshupe]

My brother inlaw owns a '62 LP Jr (the SG shaped one) and its such a badass guitar. He lent it to me for a while. I miss that thing.

They are definitely cool guitars. I'm going to make one out of black walnut with a bigsby and roller bridge and hopefully it won't neck dive too bad.

how thin is the slim bottom part of the body where the neck will be glued on/in?

It think the piece was about 3/8" before sanding out the carve on the back. It gets pretty thin and I have seen some that just gets sanded right into the neck and you can barely see it.

Cheers Peter.

 

[Airplane]

ok 3/8 is still a lot thicker than it looks in the graphic! i‘m working on my first build and don’t know how thick i should make this part (i‘m also doing a full width neck pocket).

 

[Airplane]

i guess you’re still getting enough „glue-surface“ and vibration transfer from the sides of the neck pocket?

 

[ARandall]

^ Yes, the sides are important. But those old SG's had the join redone later on due to breakage....so they are quite delicate

 

[RAG7890]

http://www.guitarhq.com/sgstd.html

 

[pshupe]

Thanks for the info. I just ordered a bunch of books from Amazon related to vintage guitars and a couple specifically for the SG.

Early Christmas present. Actually anniversary presents. Thanks to my wife for being so thoughtful. ;-) I've been commuting by train and plane a bit lately so this will be handy reading.

I updated the model with the control cavity and control hole location. I might have to go back and take some more measurements. Seems really close to the edge. I referenced the holes of the bridge studs, so I am pretty confident about the relative location.

I changed the wood colour on the model because the dark material did show the model very well. Maybe I'll cut a body out of maple. It looks pretty cool.

front - back -

Cheers Peter.

 

[pshupe]

I've created another Fusion Model based on the information I received from Dan at Mojoaxe. BTW check out his website for very cool vintage accessories. The 65 I measured had basically a swimming pool route for the control cavity. I'm going to try and keep as much wood as I can. I will probably be adding a bigsby to my build so that may also help with neck dive.
Updated images for the '63 model -

I've actually seen pics of control cavities with a few different configurations as well. So I guess these were up for interpretation by the builder back in the day as well. I've also worked out the math on the neck angle and it seems to be coming out at around 1.5 degrees, which seems shallower than some drawings but the neck seems to sit a bit higher in the pocket. Yet another whatever works detail. They must have shimmed them as well to make these work??

Cheers Peter.

 

[poro78]

When I build my SG(ish) abomination I spent a lot of time in the sister forum: http://www.everythingsg.com/

 

[pshupe]

When I build my SG(ish) abomination I spent a lot of time in the sister forum: http://www.everythingsg.com/

Yes - I have a build thread over there as well. ;-) It's a great forum as well.

Cheers Peter.

 

[pshupe]

So I've been pretty busy with work lately. When I travel I have access to my computer and Fusion 360 but not my workshop, so I make the best of it. I started modeling some parts for this and other models.

I have modeled up a Bigsby B5 -

It turned out pretty well. I even modeled the spring and can rotate the arm easily -

Then moved on to some humbucker pups with cream covers -

I found a Stop tail on GrabCAD, so I didn't have to model that one -

and an ABR - 1 bridge -

Threw it on my SG model and it's starting to look like a guitar -

I will be working on my shop this weekend, so should be able to cut a test body. It should be interesting. ;-)

Cheers Peter.

 

[pshupe]

back in the shop. I cut some templates out of mdf and also glued up a body blank test piece out of mdf as well. One thing good about the body being so thin is that I can glue up a couple of 3/4" pieces of mdf and cut a test body before I go to good wood.

mdf cut to width and glue applied -

screwed together and clamped -

I also made some 1/4" mdf templates. These are great for laying out a body in a blank to see where the best location may be.

I can use both positive and negative templates -

I cut down a neighbour's tree a couple of years ago. It was a norway maple that ended up being figured. Now there is a long story around having it kiln dried but the short version is the place I sent it to be kiln dried f'd it up. It sat outside for 8 months not stickered in the elements. I finally found out it was in the same spot I dropped it and drove up and picked it up. By that point it was warping and I had it kiln dried and it warped even more. The guy that dried it didn't even charge me for the maple as it was so warped. It was also much more spalted that when I cut it down. So I have been using it as test pieces or for small projects. I figured I'd use a piece for a somewhat test body and if everything is good I'll probably build a spalted figured maple SG.

Here's the piece I selected - just rough with the template on top -

cut to blank size -

and onto the jointer -

Doesn't look like much rough but...

and marked out the outline. I might have to re-think this layout as the splated area should probably not be at the neck join. I'll see if I can position it somewhere that makes more sense. I figure I will stabilize and fill any voids with epoxy once I get close to final thickness.

Cheers Peter.

 

[lowatter]

Definitely digging this thread and it's direction Peter.

 

[pshupe]

Thanks - lowatter

It has a couple directions on it's own. I'm actually making a couple of different SGs one will be based on a 1963 and the other based on a specific 1965 both are standards but I could easily do a JR as well. There is also an exercise in CAM as well. The carve is basically the same but I can switch out routing, standard vs JR, and even other differences with just a click of a button in the CAM software. I'm just about to cut these, so I should have some pics later today with the result. Hopefull the toolpaths work out. It's a little scary cutting for the first time because you find mistakes in the toolpaths very quickly when the bit plunges through the table! LOL

Cheers Peter.

 

[ejendres]

That’s a super rad body blank dude. I love it.

 

[fatdaddypreacher]

you and i are a lot alike. i hate to ditch a piece of wood. if i'm working on something and the fall off is big enough to make noise when it hits the floor, i feel compelled to keep it for something....though i never figure out what far. this will be unique. i like unique. carry on.

 

[pshupe]

Yeah - thanks guys. I know have a ton of small stuff just like that. I was going to make a dining room table out of it, which isn't going to happen now. Oh well some more guitar bodies it is.

Cheers Peter.