u/OMF1G

Next step in my first build (29" evertune, sorry gotta put this on every post for people that haven't seen..). Ignore tape residue, I didn't listen to people telling me to buy the good stuff and now I'm going to spend a long time sanding the glue out..

Got the evertune routing done using my own templates. I was lucky that a friend of a friend works at a company with a CNC, so all my own Fusion made guitar/evertune templates cost a ridiculous £50.

Got it as close to perfect as I can for my first attempt, this first build won't be having a backplate so I'm pretty happy it turned out relatively clean!

Another update on the 29" build..

Humbled by fretslots, getting these straight by hand without a jig is extremely difficult; my pencil lines were perfectly straight, my marking knife lines were straight but sawing them had 5 out of 24 slightly off.

Decided to fill/glue and about to resaw as a learning experience, probably wouldn't have mattered or been noticeable anyway but ah well. Rather that than get my frets in, it looks wonky, and then I have to pull them out (probably destroy the board, bog oak is brittle and has already been difficult to work with!)

Good fun though and I'm learning a ton!

As an update to my earlier update post on my first build, 29" baritone evertune..

First actual mistake! I modelled my build in Fusion, so the dimensions were perfected, however I transferred important dimensions to my phone's notes to work on downstairs in my workshop/outside.

I accidentally noted my fretboard length as including my nut, so the whole board was 6mm too long. I only noticed when I started marking my fretslots & the overhang after the last fret was massive!

Attached pics to show it easily resolved (junior hacksawed the nut dimension off the top of the fretboard & fine rasp/sanded it back flat). You can slightly see the top of my carbon rod routes now, but I don't think that'll be an issue as it's under the nut anyway. Panic over!

Hope this is useful for someone, always check your dimensions to your reference (and make sure if you copy them to notes, that you're using the right dimensions...)

Got the fretboard hand planed from 8mm to 5mm & added my 16" radius in. Ready for fret slots now!

Progress has been slow this week (rain) but I can do frets indoors at least.

Any pointers before I do the slots? I have a 0.5mm kerf fret saw, incra protractor, digital vernier caliper (not cheap ones) & a marking knife. Idea is to get a center line in with the protractor, caliper to mark spacing, marking knife & straight edge to score the slot in then cut.

Another update on the 29" baritone evertune build, got the neck profile rough carved & rough sanded in. Looking like an actual neck now!

Some finish sanding left then I'll move onto thicknessing/radiusing the board.

More update pics in comments :)

Managed to pickup a new ray5 mini 3.5w for only £50 (eBay, open box but new) that was mislabelled as the 2.5w.

Using it for DIY inlays for some guitars I'm building, and it's absolutely punching well above its price for the hard maple I'm using!

Any tips to make these even better? Currently I'm just using the laserburn software while I test it out & masking tape on the maple. Will then be filled with mica powder/superglue to finish.

Next step in my first ever build!

Started to facet the neck, only done 2 facets so far (out of approx 6) but dimensions are looking good. Still a lot of smoothing/flattening to go especially on the back of the headstock.

Hardest parts of learning woodworking so far: getting dimensions 100% accurate drawn onto wood & flattening/levelling things to even thickness (like the headstock).

Any tips on flattening better by hand would be amazing, tools I have are bandsaw, router, hand plane, belt/orbital/detail sanders & various rasps.

Cheers 🙏

On from my last post, got the truss rod & carbon rods in, ancient bog oak fretboard on & sanded flush. Managed to order an Evertune to the UK from Indonesia too (for significantly less than direct from the US).

If anyone has tips or an EU/UK contact to buy Evertunes I'm all ears! Going to be making at least 4 of these builds..

Having no woodworking experience prior to this has been a big mistake, it's massively enjoyable and I've missed out!