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Step 7Shapping the Body Blank:
Time for the fun and danger! Just keep the danger to a bare minimum, Just enough to spike the adrenaline from time to time.
1. When you design the pattern for the body first take into account where the neck will be bolted onto. This is important because the end of the fretboard should be at exactly 24 inches. You will need to take into consideration the remaining 10 inches to the Bridge that will complete the 34 inch scale. So basically the length of the body should have enough room to properly bolt on the neck while still leaving room (10 more inches) to extend down to the bridge. It will be up to you and your design on how much room you want to leave below where the bridge will be mounted. Also when creating the design make a decision on what types of pickups you will be using. The pickups will eventually be mounted within the 10 inches below the fretboard and under where the strings will be.
2. Draw out your design onto the body blank. I recommend using a pastel or a piece of charcoal to draw out the design. The design i drew out took into account possible errors i would make when cutting. So whatever design that you make draw it out a little larger so that you can give yourself a margin of error when cutting.
3. When the design is laid out you can begin cutting. For the cutting I used a bandsaw with a thicker wood cutting blade with larger teeth. The Red Maple I used is a relatively hard wood so the larger blade made for easier cutting. To reduce the strain on the blade when cutting I made cuts inward towards the body and did so along every side. This made it much easier to cut along curves and to be able to remove wood easier.
4. Some tips to remember when cutting and using a band saw:
*make sure that the bandsaw is in proper working order with all elements properly tightened and the blade secure.
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Now that you have your body cut out use the tools that you used to shape the neck to shape the body up to your design.
1. When you design the pattern for the body first take into account where the neck will be bolted onto. This is important because the end of the fretboard should be at exactly 24 inches. You will need to take into consideration the remaining 10 inches to the Bridge that will complete the 34 inch scale. So basically the length of the body should have enough room to properly bolt on the neck while still leaving room (10 more inches) to extend down to the bridge. It will be up to you and your design on how much room you want to leave below where the bridge will be mounted. Also when creating the design make a decision on what types of pickups you will be using. The pickups will eventually be mounted within the 10 inches below the fretboard and under where the strings will be.
2. Draw out your design onto the body blank. I recommend using a pastel or a piece of charcoal to draw out the design. The design i drew out took into account possible errors i would make when cutting. So whatever design that you make draw it out a little larger so that you can give yourself a margin of error when cutting.
3. When the design is laid out you can begin cutting. For the cutting I used a bandsaw with a thicker wood cutting blade with larger teeth. The Red Maple I used is a relatively hard wood so the larger blade made for easier cutting. To reduce the strain on the blade when cutting I made cuts inward towards the body and did so along every side. This made it much easier to cut along curves and to be able to remove wood easier.
4. Some tips to remember when cutting and using a band saw:
*make sure that the bandsaw is in proper working order with all elements properly tightened and the blade secure.
- Do not go too fast (This should be obvious)
- Remember to cut in a forward motion. It may feel like the blade is what is moving but the only thing moving should be the wood. Carefully control your cutting by moving the wood towards the blade. (Not doing so will ruin your blade!)
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Now that you have your body cut out use the tools that you used to shape the neck to shape the body up to your design.
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