How many ways can you screw up an LP Junior build?

[cain61]

It's been awhile since I've been on here building anything. This ax started out as a non-reverse Firebird, a la Warren Haynes. For something different, I glued on a piece of curly maple to imply the neck-thru design of the Reverse Firebird. The pieces glued on each side are Bolivian Rosewood and the 1-inch back is three-piece figured Mahogany.

As it happened, it was way too heavy as non-reverse Firebird, so I cut it down to Jr. size, still with the raised middle and to be fitted with a humbucker size p-90 from BG pickups.

 

[cain61]

The neck on this is a maple/mahogany/maple laminate that a few of you may remember as a reject from an earlier build that will in fact be my next build. Also included is a rosewood board with figured maple binding. I made a slight error that I'll need help with.

 

[cain61]

I tried sanding down the maple binding with my Ridgid oscillating/belt sander and burned through a corner of the binding. How can I most safely (in regard to the fretboard) remove the binding and install another piece? I used Titebond original as the glue. Thanks, Cain.

 

[fatdaddypreacher]

this will be a great looking axe. body wood in particular has nice grain. as far as removing binding, i have removed fretboards glued down with titebond by putting a damp towel....not wet, mind you...and holding a clothes iron on it, moving slowly to evenly disperse the heat. i then use a sharpened cake knife to work under it. i think you could apply gently heat and use a thin putty knife to coax it off with little or no problem. you probably wouldn't even need a towel.

 

[cmjohnson]

He's right. Wet heat, but not TOO wet. Steam will do the work for you.

 

[LtDave32]

I tried sanding down the maple binding with my Ridgid oscillating/belt sander and burned through a corner of the binding. How can I most safely (in regard to the fretboard) remove the binding and install another piece? I used Titebond original as the glue. Thanks, Cain. View attachment 528351

Do you have a table saw?

If so , you will need three things to fix this the easiest and most accurate way.

Go harbor freight and get two toggle clamps.

And you'll need a 4 or 5 inch wide board, about 2 feet long. Plywood will do fine.

This is what you are going to make. It will take you 10-15 minutes to make it, and you will use it on every fret board from here on out. Every single fret board in my shop is cut on this very jig:

First, the board. Get it to 5 inches or so, move the fence in and run it down the table saw. You want this to be true:

When cutting your fret board, you want the fence moved up against the back side of this board, just so the board moves back and forth between the blade and the fence, with no pressure on the blade, but no play or slop either.

Next, install the toggle clamps, more towards the far side of the board as shown.

Now you take your fret board and line up the edge that you want cut off (in your case, where the maple meets the rosewood), right at the bitter edge of the board. Do both ends, and toggle them down. You'll need to adjust your toggle clamps to make it easy for the lever to lock when you pull it up. It's easy:

Then simply set the blade height to clear the fret board, turn the table saw on, and run that bad dad right down the saw:

Your fret board tapering problems are over.

Say you want to cut an exact size for a typical Gibson style board.

That's going to be 1 11/16" at the nut end, or 1.6875.

It's going to be 2 1/4" at the other end, or 2.250.



First you find the center line of your un-tapered board by taking a caliper measurement of the width and dividing it in half. Then from the outside of the board, set your caliper to that half measurement and mark it at the center of the board. That is your true center from that end. Do the same on the other end, measure and divide in half, set the caliper to that half number, measure on the board and make a mark. There's your center on the other end. Make a mark and draw a line right down the middle. Now you have a rectangle with a true center line established.






TIP: if you are working with dark rosewood or ebony, go to Wal Mart or some other store with fabric materials and get a silver quilter's pencil. It shows up great on dark woods.



Now, remember those measurements? 1.6875 divided in half is .844

2.250 divided in half is 1.125.

The nut end, go from your centerline to .844 out on the left, then the right. Mark those places.

On the big end, go from the center out on each side 1.125. Mark those too.

Draw a line on each side, right down those marks.

There's your fret board taper.

Take those marks and put them under that jig we just made. The marks must line up with the edge of the wood board.

Take care to double-check the clamping and ensure the marks are on the edge of the wood.

Run it down the saw.

Loosen the toggle clamps, turn the board around the other way. Do the same thing.

There's your board, tapered to perfection.

If you want binding, then after you find your center, subtract the thickness of the binding from the measurement.

Say it's .060 binding. Then: .844 - .060 =.784

Mark your small end outside lines at .784 from center on each side.

Big end with .060 binding: 1.125 - .060 = 1.065 Mark your board 1.065 from center out on each side.

Make your cuts.

Put the binding on, and it will be once again 1 11/16 at the nut end, and 2.250 at the fat end. -but now it's bound.


I leaned of this fret board jig from MLP member @SG Lou . I wish he was around more. Smart guy. Good man.

Please excuse the out of focus pics. In the morning, I'll re-do them. It's rather cold tonight, and I ran out to the shop an snapped those pics on my phone. brrr.. I was a bit shaky.

 

[fatdaddypreacher]

when building custom furniture, often we would need some veneer edge banding, but exotic species aren't readily available in preglued iron on rolls, so we would cut strips from veneer we had in stock, paint two coats of titebond on the strips and the piece to be banded, letting dry between applications. then we would tape them into position, spray a mist coat of water on it and iron it on with an iron, just like preglued banding. may not serve a purpose in guitar building, unless someone wants to veneer the edges of a guitar body or the like, but i hope this serves to show how easy it is to use tite bond. i find it works very similar to hide in the heat aspect, but doesn't set up as fast, so is a bit easier to use in that regard.

 

[cain61]

Do you have a table saw?

If so , you will need three things to fix this the easiest and most accurate way.

Go harbor freight and get two toggle clamps.

And you'll need a 4 or 5 inch wide board, about 2 feet long. Plywood will do fine.

This is what you are going to make. It will take you 10-15 minutes to make it, and you will use it on every fret board from here on out. Every single fret board in my shop is cut on this very jig:

View attachment 528555


First, the board. Get it to 5 inches or so, move the fence in and run it down the table saw. You want this to be true:

View attachment 528556

When cutting your fret board, you want the fence moved up against the back side of this board, just so the board moves back and forth between the blade and the fence, with no pressure on the blade, but no play or slop either.

Next, install the toggle clamps, more towards the far side of the board as shown.

Now you take your fret board and line up the edge that you want cut off (in your case, where the maple meets the rosewood), right at the bitter edge of the board. Do both ends, and toggle them down. You'll need to adjust your toggle clamps to make it easy for the lever to lock when you pull it up. It's easy:

View attachment 528557

Then simply set the blade height to clear the fret board, turn the table saw on, and run that bad dad right down the saw:

View attachment 528558

Your fret board tapering problems are over.

Say you want to cut an exact size for a typical Gibson style board.

That's going to be 1 11/16" at the nut end, or 1.6875.

It's going to be 2 1/4" at the other end, or 2.250.



First you find the center line of your un-tapered board by taking a caliper measurement of the width and dividing it in half. Then from the outside of the board, set your caliper to that half measurement and mark it at the center of the board. That is your true center from that end. Do the same on the other end, measure and divide in half, set the caliper to that half number, measure on the board and make a mark. There's your center on the other end. Make a mark and draw a line right down the middle. Now you have a rectangle with a true center line established.






TIP: if you are working with dark rosewood or ebony, go to Wal Mart or some other store with fabric materials and get a silver quilter's pencil. It shows up great on dark woods.



Now, remember those measurements? 1.6875 divided in half is .844

2.250 divided in half is 1.125.

The nut end, go from your centerline to .844 out on the left, then the right. Mark those places.

On the big end, go from the center out on each side 1.125. Mark those too.

Draw a line on each side, right down those marks.

There's your fret board taper.

Take those marks and put them under that jig we just made. The marks must line up with the edge of the wood board.

Take care to double-check the clamping and ensure the marks are on the edge of the wood.

Run it down the saw.

Loosen the toggle clamps, turn the board around the other way. Do the same thing.

There's your board, tapered to perfection.

If you want binding, then after you find your center, subtract the thickness of the binding from the measurement.

Say it's .060 binding. Then: .844 - .060 =.784

Mark your small end outside lines at .784 from center on each side.

Big end with .060 binding: 1.125 - .060 = 1.065 Mark your board 1.065 from center out on each side.

Make your cuts.

Put the binding on, and it will be once again 1 11/16 at the nut end, and 2.250 at the fat end. -but now it's bound.


I leaned of this fret board jig from MLP member @SG Lou . I wish he was around more. Smart guy. Good man.

Please excuse the out of focus pics. In the morning, I'll re-do them. It's rather cold tonight, and I ran out to the shop an snapped those pics on my phone. brrr.. I was a bit shaky.

Wow! Thanks for the tutorial. I'll definitely use that in the future. I live more than two hours from the nearest HF or anything like it. I'm going soon, though, and picking up some clamps. Pretty cold here as well. I feel for you.