Finished! Swiftbird? Fireswift? Supermaween Swiftfire?

[Andyjr1515]

You'll be pleased to hear that, with the latest forum update having finally satisfied Norton not to block the site for me on my system, that I've already started posting progress on this build on Guitarchat.  And, as it's a 6-string electric, do feel free to ignore it here - I will fully understand 

 

My building has slowed down quite a bit - partly the pesky arthritis in my hands and partly the usual life's distractions - but there are one or two projects that have been on my list for years that I simply have never had the time to get round to.  And this is one of them.

 

It is a variation on the theme of the iconic Gibson Firebird electric guitar.  'Essence of' is probably a closer description as it aims to tackle some of the compromises of the original and is being built for a specific player and the specific way he plays.  And that player is my son-in-law who plays the excellent Epiphone Firebird.

 

And can I make something better than an Epiphone Firebird?  Of course not...but I can make it different   

 

- lighter (maybe)

- easier to fret in the specific fretboard zones he plays

- better on the strap and over the knee

- less (hopefully no) neckdive

- less flat-bodied

 

It's also a chance to use this type of ebony again for those of you who saw the build thread a year or so back where I used it last:

 

 

So off we go!  

Edited June 29, 2023 by Andyjr1515

[Richard R]

Following!

[Andyjr1515]

I should say that this build is very specifically for Alex's (s-i-l) playing style - it wouldn't suit many players, and especially players who need decent access to the dusty end...because this one will have almost none

 

In order to get a better balancing guitar, I am bringing the whole scale rearward - quite a lot!  And, so that Alex can at least reach some of the upper frets, I'm also moving the lower horn back.  Yes - I know... that is one of the primary design features of the original...I told you it was only going to be 'essence of'!!!

 

Finally, it is going to have some curves - and a slab of the figured ebony on top.

 

This was an early sketch:

 

I've opted for Alder for the back and this is broadly how the two sections are planned to look.

 

 

 

As the saying goes, 'What could possibly go wrong?'

[BigRedX]

Brilliant!

 

We've missed your builds on here.

[Andyjr1515]

This is going to be a through-neck and so the first thing to do is, generally, to sort the neck.  'Sort' means choose the timbers, assemble the laminates, incorporate the neck angle into the blank, calculate the headstock angle, calculate the body depth and the neck depth...

 

...but you can't calculate the neck depth until you know exactly what the fretboard thickness is.  So, actually, that's where I started - by radiusing the ebony fretboard blank using the excellent G&W router jig:

 

 

Then fifteen minutes sanding with a sanding block removes the router marks:

 

So now I can do all the neck calcs and cut the maple/ebony/maple blank:

 

The neck angle is around 3 degrees, starting from where the top body 'horn' meets the neck, and I generally opt for a 10 degree headstock angle.

[JGTay]

Really good to see you building again and glad the arthritis is allowing it. 👍😁

 

I do love watching your build progress, but I do find myself questioning my own methods... I have been radiusing the fretboard on my build and it has taken the better part of a day by hand. 🤣

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

3 hours ago, JGTay said:

I have been radiusing the fretboard on my build and it has taken the better part of a day by hand.

I have found that radiusing an ebony fretboard by hand is a sure and certain journey towards insanity.  Why do think I've ended up as such a weird word-not-allowed-ker? 

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

With the neck blank done, I could start trial-fitting the wings and top.  I joined the book-matched ebony top and cut out the broad shape.  I also cut the alder back wings slightly oversize and a couple more strips of ebony between them and the neck and dry fitted them to make sure everything was going to end up in the right place:

 

The ebony will have a sheet of constructional maple veneer (1.5mm) as a demarcation:

 

All good so out came the sash-clamps:

 

The neck is the top face of the original billet and the length between the top wing front join to the tail is angled the 3 degrees to give me the required neck angle.

 

Double check that I've got it right before the next stage:

[Andyjr1515]

I want as much of the body weight to be towards the rear, but don't want it to be overall too heavy, so a couple of weight-relieving chambers in the front horns will be helpful.  I like any use of router to be fully captive, so use the same approach that I use for pickup chambers...

I start with a Forstner bit to hog out the bulk:

 

Then use chisels and carpenters mallet to accurately cut the outline to around 10 mm deep:

 

And then, and only then, use a top-bearing router bit to smooth the sides and cut to final depth:

 

And, as I have the router out, I cut the channel that will be between the two pickups and through to the controls chamber for the cable runs:

 

 

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

Before fitting the top, I have to cut the slot for the fretboard, and before I can do that I have to cut the taper, and before I can do that, I have to slot the fretboard as, in my jig, that is a LOT easier if you are starting with parallel sides.

 

So slotting the fretboard was next job.

 

I use another G&W tool - their fretting mitre jig:

 

In ebony, it is pretty hard work, but over the day all were done.  Then I could both taper the board and also add a couple of mother of pearl swifts at the 12th before I fret it.

 

I tapered the board and marked in pencil where I would eventually need to 'intercept' the ebony top.  The swifts are pencilled freehand onto the sliver of mother of pearl and cut out using a jewellers saw.  I then pencil round the inlays onto the ebony and carefully route out to the inlays depth using the precision base for my Dremel with a 1mm bit.

 

 

 

 

 

I double check that they fit and then I will fill the chambers with epoxy mixed with ebony sanding dust and firmly press the inlays in.

 

And finish with a final sand with the radius block

 

 

As always, thanks for looking! 

[rwillett]

>> Then use chisels and carpenters mallet to accurately cut the outline to around 10 mm deep:

 

Thats where I've been going wrong, I use the chisels and carpenters mallet to inaccurately cut out something thats fairly close to the outline and at variable depth between 5mm and 15mm. Basically the dog could have chewed the hole with more accuracy than me and hand tools...

 

In all seriousness I love watching craftsmen work and explaining how they do it. I will never approach this level of ability, so I can appreciate this all the more.

 

Following this thread with great interest.

Rob

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, rwillett said:

>> Then use chisels and carpenters mallet to accurately cut the outline to around 10 mm deep:

 

Thats where I've been going wrong, I use the chisels and carpenters mallet to inaccurately cut out something thats fairly close to the outline and at variable depth between 5mm and 15mm. Basically the dog could have chewed the hole with more accuracy than me and hand tools...

 

In all seriousness I love watching craftsmen work and explaining how they do it. I will never approach this level of ability, so I can appreciate this all the more.

 

Following this thread with great interest.

Rob

Thanks, Rob

I was in the same camp for a long time - and the things that transformed my life were:

- learning how to sharpen a chisel blade

- learning how to sharpen a plane blade

- finding a worksurface that wasn't going to move around (ie an alternative to a Black and Decker Workmate), especially when trying to cut timber with a hand plane.

 

It was like a whole new universe opening up in front of me 

[rwillett]

Andy,

 

I keep saying I will learn the skills necessary to handle sharp objects, but never get around to it. I do take your point about having a solid work surface and one day when I eventually clear out the garage of the assorted things in there that should be in the tip, I will build myself a decent workbeanch that is solid and safe to use.

 

In the meantime, I am more than happy to watch other people do these clever things. Now if you want the firmware of your local router rewritten or you happen to need a new compiler, reach out.... 😃

 

All the best and don't slow down for me

 

Rob

[Richard R]

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

 

 

 

One day I hope to own a bass with swifts on the fretboard.

[Andyjr1515]

I cut the top ebony around the pencilled line of the fretboard end which allowed me to lay the fretboard on the angled neck and position the top.  I drilled a couple of positioning holes in the middle of the pickup positions which, with the addition a couple of kebab sticks will stop the top from floating around as it's being clamped when the glue is applied:

 

That meant I could check that the neck angle is going to be correct for the height of a standard tune-o-matic roller bridge:

 

And so what about the end of the fretboard that is hanging in mid air?  Well, of course the offcut from the neck blank when I cut the neck angle in the first place is going to be the correct angle. So I will be able to cut a short ramp from this

 

I will also be adding a demarcation stripe of maple between the alder and ebony:

 

And so, with the kebab sticks positioning everything until the clamps were all on and then removed before the glue set, the clamps can now go on!  :

[Andyjr1515]

So why are the body wings so deep?

 

Well - because the body cross section is going to have some curves.  Mind you, that will mean a LOT of carving - and I will creep up on the final shape and let the guitar show where it wants to go...

 

Here comes in play one of my favourite hand-tools - the Veritas Pull-shave.  I think it's designed for scooping out wooden chair seats, but it's ideal for this kind of job:

 

But I also use the block plane, razor planes and cabinet scrapers.

 

Off and on over a few days, it's starting to take shape.  Carve here is probably 50% done for the body.  In between carving sessions, I also added frets to the (still unglued) fretboard:

 

[Waddo Soqable]

This is an absolute cracker.. I will go back to the beginning and check out the whole thing, top class work sir 👍

[benh]

Inspirational work, as always!

[Si600]

You're not making another attempt at The World's Thinnest Curved Guitar again are you?

[Muzz]

On 20/05/2023 at 15:36, Andyjr1515 said:

I should say that this build is very specifically for Alex's (s-i-l) playing style - it wouldn't suit many players, and especially players who need decent access to the dusty end...because this one will have almost none

 

Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that... 😐😁

[Andyjr1515]

6 hours ago, Si600 said:

You're not making another attempt at The World's Thinnest Curved Guitar again are you?

Yes to curved but no to thinnest.   

 

This one is going to be quite chunky and quite heavy.  I've got some more carving to do on the back trying to take a bit of weight out forward of the C of G but probably won't be able to lose 1/2lb that I would like to.

[Andyjr1515]

As mentioned above, it is because the whole scale has been moved back and inch or so that the upper frets are not reachable.  This is one of the advantages of it being a custom build for a particular player.  To get better access with the better balance could have been achieved by a deeper cutaway...but then the 'Essence of Firebird' starts evaporating rapidly - and Alex doesn't, and tells me he doesn't ever intend to, play up at the dusty end but, instead, prefers retaining a passing nod to the lower horn of his Epiphone.  Once I've finished the carve, my guess is that he will be able to do top string bends up to around 19th fret but no further.

 

And so a few jobs I can do in between continuing morphing towards the final shape.

 

One of those is the Humbucker pickup chambers.  As with the weight relief, chambers, I prefer to use a router only to deepen a chamber with a fully captive flush bearing bit.  So I start off drilling the corners using a drill 1mm dia larger than the radii of the pickup and leg corners:

 

Then I hog out with a forstner right to the very edge of the pencil marks:

 

Then I remove the forstner 'waves' with sharp chisel and mallet and get the finished dimension to around 10mm depth to act as a guide for the router bearing:

 

And then, and only then, I get the router out with fully captive top-bearing bit to clean up the sides and achieve full final depth:

 

To my admitted surprise, the rout slot I cut for the cables before adding the ebony top did line up in the right places.  Phew!

[Andyjr1515]

Cutting the pickup chambers meant that I could do a mockup to talk to Alex what his preference for the position of the controls is before I cut the control chamber:

 

And then the control chamber could be cut and the carve continued at the back - this time switching to the trusty gooseneck card scraper:

 

Next was fitting the trussrod, cap and gluing the fretboard after laminating it with a maple and a black veneer to give me a demarcation line:

 

 

 

Time to start the neck carve and then blend that in with the continuing body carve. 

[Daz39]

Cor you drink a lot of semi-skimmed. Mrs Andyjr1515 must keep you down there for ages!

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Daz39 said:

Cor you drink a lot of semi-skimmed. Mrs Andyjr1515 must keep you down there for ages!

Ah...milk stout!

 

I wish.  It's actually MrsAndyjr1515's ceramics glazes that she has the audacity to put onto her my shelves!