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Time to jump into the challenge. I will be making a basic electric in the woodshoprocks.com style. Wood shop rocks is a middle school program where the students build basic electrics. Parts kits through Skips music in Sacramento are a deal for around $100 include everything but wood, fret wire and lacquer. Wood, maple and alder, the guitar will be similar to an Epi Les Paul special, flat top LP shape, 1 tone, 1 vol, 2 pups. Part of my challenge is to create the jigs and fixtures to safely make these guitars with my middle school students. A visit to Duane at woodshoprocks was a great start.

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Great idea. I can't wait to see how it all goes.


Darrin

We were able to get some work done today, headstocks cut and a fingerboard is slotted with a handsaw, my friend was asking how much the table saw blade costs when he was done, but enjoyed some old school hand sawing.

I got the contraption to be a pin router with a spring loaded retractable pin. Worked nicely but my old PC router has a touchy switch that does not work so well unless you hold it. The process however will pass the test of being safe for students.

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Darrin, since I think you are the closest OLFer to me, if you get up this way you can certainly see how it is all going. The Wayside has good food and I live next door.
Rob

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I made a template to drill and rout the back of the guitar. The tone control compartment is 3 layers, 1 drill press, and 2 for the over head router contraption. The pin height is lowered with a simple scrap to achieve a different height. The y shape pin template is for the bolt on neck. I got it all done but then did not actually do the routing, but everything is lining up. I had a fun day.

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Cool! Nice to see an electric in this Challenge! I won't feel so alone, assuming I can get going on mine.
Also great that you work with kids, teaching them to build. Kudos for that!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

No real work on the Challenge build, but all this stuff is one big project to me, so here is what I have been up to. Pictured is a simple sled for making the box joint cut on a router table (for the kalimbas). Big improvement over doing it on the table saw. The block closest to the cross cut sled is attached to it with a 1/4 inch spline to register the 2 blocks that hold the work. One is on a 1/4 inch riser so the work lines up when done. The counter sunk nut is for fine adjustment, just an oversize hole under there to give me about 1/4" of adjustment to fine tune. The problem I realized at the end was that the one that says 8" blank, should be 10" blank, already fixed. The blocks for the blanks are separate, the picture looks a bit misleading.
The young man in the picture has been a hard worker and is starting on a uke. Next to him are some kalimbas in process.

Otherwise there has been some work on the contraption and the actual guitar is waiting on parts, most of which are on there way.
Rob

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Here are some pictures of progress, just that my electric guitar for the challenge build turned out looking a lot like a tenor uke. Proves I have acoustic building in my blood. The Uke is doug fir top from a stair tread, 11.25" wide x 1" thick, so a 1 piece top. The rest is walnut left from my window picture frames. I am using the Hana Lima plans, but went with a bolt on neck.

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Some more pics, I thought I had some of the neck bolt, I used a barrel bolt from the top, no tennon. This has been a great time, ukes are great to practice processes and try out new jigs. I should be able to string it up this week. Can't wait to play it.

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I will call this done for now. I strung it last night, the strings are finally settling in. The sound is dry and punchy, not warm or shrill. Sounds great with a bit more attack then softer. I have no idea what to expect from breaking in or the sound of doug fir over a spruce or mahogany top. To me it sounds like a good chunka chunka strumer and could work in an group. Perhaps would have been better for a low g tuning. The point of this build in my world is to keep the students excited, and it has. I guess it is time to learn some more ukulele chords.

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The electric is done as well. These served their purpose of getting the students excited at school. The finish on this is comical, a set from Krylon called Mystique. Three cans, first is black, then a purple/gold sparkle, followed with a can of clear. It worked beyond expectation, but not something I would try on a serious build. The sound is great, again beyond expectation. The parts kit was $105, alder body$3/bf total $10, neck/fb maple also cheap.

I removed much of the earlier posts, as they were irrelevant. I have most of what was here on a new site I am working on www.kalimbakit.com.

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Both very nice builds . The electric looks quite good to me . If you keep the students intrest up maybe soon we will see post from some of them here with new builds !

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Thanks a bunch Wud, both did come out nicely within the parameters of my hack style. The students are very excited and are not losing interest, the bigger obstacle is just time, class is only 1 day a week, and school is almost out. At very least, if we do not finish a student instrument this year, I want it to look like an almost done instrument.
Rob

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I guess I can wrap this up with the sound clip. The uke was sold to the gentleman playing it in the video, he also did a brief clip of the electric fingerstyle guitar, and is performing on both this weekend for a couple thousand at a mall in LA. Our deal on the uke was that he paid me the cash I needed to finish up the electric fingerstyle, and the balance is due in sound clips and video of the instruments. I should get some live clips next week.

The uke is a doug fir stair tread for a top, plain walnut for rest, POC bracing on the top. Followed the Hana Lima plans except for the bolt on neck.
So for the wood, 30
tuners 40
frets and strings 15

I installed a Baggs 5-0 this week for the gig in LA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk95EWUkoZk&list=UUfzhG_8eoyTlh1S0CwfDwHg&index=2&feature=plcp
Thanks for looking

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Awesome! The Uke sounds great and both of them turned out really well.

Darrin

I like them both. But I particularly like the very fair curves and the "bull's eye" of the uke. Nicely done!
Patrick

Not a fair sound clip since it is going through the Baggs pickup, which cost almost as much as the challenge limit, but I'll share anyway, I'm a proud papa with 3 different instruments of mine played at this event. How many times does a musician thank the luthier at the start of a set, musician on a mission for commission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyhENRnA ... ure=relmfu
Unrelated to this thread, the fingerstyle electric, cool solos at 2:10 & 8:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiYuGPBcscQ

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Wow!
Nice stuff!
You don't mess around!

Here are some fair sound clips as they are not coming out the Baggs pickup. It has been a joy to work with Ryan Marchand with these instruments. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2N7zLKK ... ature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHfdatdA ... ure=relmfu

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