Adventures in guitar making

I'm a newb. Turned my CW on for the first time 2 months ago. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a rocky road, but things are coming together for me now.
One of the main reasons I wanted a CNC machine was for my hobby - building guitars. I purchased the CW because of the small foot-print it required, and the ability to do longer projects. I also do a lot of cabinet work and wanted to be able add decorative touches to it. I had pretty given up and resigned myself to thinking I bought the wrong machine for what I wanted. I've made a lot of progress since then, and I'm very happy with the CW now. Me & CW are going to be friends after all. Hope someone besides me finds this thread interesting, I plan to keep adding to it as I go.

Anyone with a template and a router can make a guitar body. As long as the top of that body is flat. If you want a profile, that's a problem. This style of guitar is called a "Les Paul" or LP for short and it features a carved top. Normally it is built in two pieces, then glued together. The base is a wood like mahogany, the carved top is often figured maple.
Here's my base carving. Note the cheater rails I attached to the side of the wood to make it longer and wider.
Attachment 88103
I didn't carve all the way through the 1-3/4" piece of material. I cut it out on the bandsaw and finished it with a router.
Attachment 88104
And then the carved top......the reason I'm here. This is the MDF version.
Attachment 88105
Success is a wonderful thing. :)

They look great and glad you two are getting along now. There are several people who do use the CarveWright to make guitars and violins. Have seen the one in the CarveWright adds/intro on their web site?

Super cool. Please keep adding to it. Looks really interesting and fun.

You are already miles ahead of me. I purchased the CW to make wooden gear clocks. So far I have made none. :(

I have made half a dozen different clocks, just no wooden gear clocks. lol

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Originally Posted by fwharris

They look great and glad you two are getting along now. There are several people who do use the CarveWright to make guitars and violins. Have seen the one in the CarveWright adds/intro on their web site?

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Yes, I saw that add. Probably one of the things that drew me in here.

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Originally Posted by oscarl48

Super cool. Please keep adding to it. Looks really interesting and fun.

You are already miles ahead of me. I purchased the CW to make wooden gear clocks. So far I have made none. :(

I have made half a dozen different clocks, just no wooden gear clocks. lol

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Thanks. I'm thinking there is a lot more to designing/building gear clocks than there is to building a guitar.

The finished carve for the real wood top. This wood is called "Black Limba".
Attachment 88106
Both the MDF and this blank were only 24" long for a 19" long project. For the first time ever, I told the machine NOT to stay under the rollers. but it worked out just fine.
Attachment 88108

Very nice, please keep us updated and I can't wait to see the finished project.

Congratulations, you are off to a great start!! Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Thanks guys :)

a couple more tops completed. The one on the right is walnut with two maple strips in it. More learning on this one. The CW is not like a template where you pick the center. It picks the center so you have be dead on.
Attachment 88109

The one on the left is curly maple on the outsides, with 2 strips of paduk and the center is wenge.
You can't really see the profile in this shot, but the CW does a wonderful job of carving these tops. So smooth....... :cool:

Very nice!

I had to put down masking tape for the board sensor on the maple/wenge body. When measuring the width of the board, the sensor would stop at the wenge every time and report that that the board was only 4.something inches wide. ;)
No, I don't want to scale a 14" project into 4". Thanks but no thanks.

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Originally Posted by Lincoln96

I had to put down masking tape for the board sensor on the maple/wenge body. When measuring the width of the board, the sensor would stop at the wenge every time and report that that the board was only 4.something inches wide. ;)
No, I don't want to scale a 14" project into 4". Thanks but no thanks.

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Great catch and only reinforces the need to watch and pay attention to what is happening during the start up routine.

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Originally Posted by fwharris

Great catch and only reinforces the need to watch and pay attention to what is happening during the start up routine.

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it was confusing at first. I had a pattern on the card at the time that was only 4" wide (neck) so that messed me up. I kept thinking, "why is it reading the wrong project?" After 3 or 4 re-tries, I realized the board sensor was stopping at the Wenge. It was so black, the sensor wasn't seeing it after the white of the maple.

The mix of woods took me along time to understand why things kept coming up wrong. I still have to stop and think when I haven't been doing mixed wood for a while. Glad you figured it out, can't wait to see a final product.
Rick H

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Originally Posted by Lincoln96

The CW is not like a template where you pick the center. It picks the center so you have be dead on.

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There is a Jog to Center option.

How wide are your guitar bodies?

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Originally Posted by DickB

There is a Jog to Center option.

How wide are your guitar bodies?

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I haven't played with jog yet, but I'll keep that in mind. I just made a mental note to be sure my pieces were all equal when doing up one of those multi-piece slabs.

The bodies are 13.195" wide, I'm cutting the slabs to about 14-3/8, just under the max. With the 'feather" it comes pretty close at the top edges of the widest parts, about 1/4 left. But CW hasn't complained about that at all. I'm always wondering what sound it makes when you hit the border sensor........I'll probably find out someday.

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Originally Posted by Lincoln96

it was confusing at first. I had a pattern on the card at the time that was only 4" wide (neck) so that messed me up. I kept thinking, "why is it reading the wrong project?" After 3 or 4 re-tries, I realized the board sensor was stopping at the Wenge. It was so black, the sensor wasn't seeing it after the white of the maple.

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The sensor saw light color then dark color and thinks it has crossed the board, giving a bad width measurement. The work around I use is masking tape in a T pattern placed where the sensor travels to fool the sensor to thing it is all light in color

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Originally Posted by Mugsowner

The sensor saw light color then dark color and thinks it has crossed the board, giving a bad width measurement. The work around I use is masking tape in a T pattern placed where the sensor travels to fool the sensor to thing it is all light in color

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I've added a roll of masking tape to my CarveWright "essential items". :cool:


I'll be gluing a few carved tops onto their bodies tomorrow. Wish I had one of those vacuum bag systems......that would be so nice.

I had a thought today (happens every so often). I should be able to put a 1-3/4 to 2" thick slab into the CW and using the same pattern as I've been using to make those tops, carve the top of the body to the contours. Making it one piece. I'll be testing that theory in the future.

Because you can never have too many clamps.........
Attachment 88139

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Originally Posted by Lincoln96

Because you can never have too many clamps.........
Attachment 88139

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No we can not! You missed a spot! ;)

My first two-sided carve worked out very well. By far my longest (time wise) carve too at a little over 9 hours. The wood is poplar.
Attachment 88198
It sanded out very nicely. I'm happy with it.

That is quite a design. I would say you are on your way to making something beautiful and unique. Can't wait to see the finished product.
Rick H

Very cool looking. Can't wait to see the finished project.

Great job, please keep us posted during finishing steps.

Awesome!!!

Good Looking, will look great when finished.

Attachment 88202
Here it is sanded. After sanding, I masked off the uncarved part of the body and sprayed the carved portion with 4 coats of gold.
Right now I've masked off the gold and I'm spraying the rest of the body in black. About 2 coats a day. When I'm happy with the base finish, I'll start spraying gloss clear.

Looking good!

Very cool.

That is going to be beautiful!!!!

Got all of us hooked and waiting, don't want to put any pressure on but: Nice to see what can be done by somebody with talent.
Rick H

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Originally Posted by want2b

Got all of us hooked and waiting, don't want to put any pressure on but: Nice to see what can be done by somebody with talent.
Rick H

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Talent? If you want to see talent, check out the golf cart thread by DickB :)

Here's how she sits right now. Spray, find the imperfections, sand, & spray again.......black is always a pain
Attachment 88211

Amazing how much time the finish can take. Took a sec to realize part of what I saw was obviously tape. Do you use enamel or lacquer?
You're right in that black does show everything.
Rick H

The finishing takes way longer than the making sawdust part of any build.
I use a water base lacquer, with dye added to make the colour. It's called Emtec 6000 I believe. It burns (melts) into the previous coat just like real lacquer. Polishes up real nice too.
I used a spray bomb for the gold.

I hung onto traditional lacquer for a long time, until one day I finally got the air/fuel mixture just right in the shop and watched a "woof" (flame front) travel from the furnace to where I had just finished spraying. That was it for me. And after experiencing hot water cleanup of my gun, there was no going back. No fumes, no 5 gal pail of "gun wash" sitting around, no nasty thinners.

Still using traditional, might have to look into that as I do worry about the flammability and hate the cleanup.
Thx, Rick H

https://www.targetcoatings.com/produ...ction-lacquer/

well, after repeated sprays & sandings, I finally got the black looking perfect. I peeled off the masking tape over the gold "gear" section........to find out the gold/black look absolutely horrible together. The gold has got to go. Has anybody seen my roll of masking tape? :rolleyes:

It's just like kids. Sometimes one just isn't as cute as rest. That's the one that you love more.

Ugly but lovable. lol