This was a fun build, using mostly local ethically harvested wood (maple & spruce). The bubinga was leftover from another project. Body shape is my original design.
Body: bookmatched maple top cap, spruce body wings. The bridge is a roller-style tunematic, and the pickup covers were hand-carved out of bubinga.
Electronics: Planet Tone P90 pickups, GFS behind-bridge pickup, 3 on/off pickup switches, 500k master wolume, 250k master tone, orange drop 0.023uf tone cap, (red) killswitch.
The Process:
Gluing the 2-piece bookmatched neck stock.
After it’s glued, the neck stock is planed so that the edges are flat, straight and all corners are 90 degrees.
Some naphtha reveals that this will be a visually, a fine neck.
Body top-cap is bookmatched and ready to go.
Headstock is routed to shape.
A little sneak preview of how the fingerboard and top cap will look with the neck stringer.
Trussrod slot is routed, and the StewMac Low-Profile Hotrod is inserted and checked to make sure the rod sits slightly below the surface.
The trussrod slot is to remain taped off while the glue is being spread onto the neck surface, as a precaution against glue squeezing out into the trussrod slot. The fingerboard is held in place with pins, hidden at either end of the board.
A piece of MDF is used to spread the pressure from the 20+ clamps evenly. (I’ve since stopped gluing fingerboards this way – instead opting for rubber bike tire tubes, and only a handful of clamps.)
The last thing to do before gluing the body wings, is carving the neck.
Carving the neck.
Neck is good. Inlays are next.
Decided to use bubinga as inlay material, as I had some leftover from the bass. The slots were routed out with a 1/2" router bit, then the inlays were cut to size and the ends rounded by hand, on a chunk of marble, covered with 120-grit sandpaper.
Inlays are glued in and leveled flush with the fingerboard – which still has yet to be radiused, after the body wings are glued.
Clamps are applied to glue the body wings to the neck stringer. The gobars and MDF are so the neck and body stay competely flat while under clamping pressure.
Prepping the top cap by filling the worm holes with black pore filler. This is a necessary step, so that the glue can’t seep into the worm holes while it’s being glued to the body.
The top cap is glued up, routed flush to the body, and the edges have been rounded over.
Back of the guitar body was rounded over, too.
Guitar is sanded out to 220 grit. P90 pickup holes are routed.
“Behind-the-Bridge” pickup is routed.
“Manitou” logo, stamped into bubinga, is inlaid into the headstock just below the surface, and filled over with CA glue.
Serial number stamped into the back, then filled with black pore filler.
With everything else done, it is now time for the finishing process to commence. This is after 2 coats of shellac.
Finish is complete.
Guitar is level-sanded and buffed.
Hardware is mounted and covers are made. Something looked like it was missing to me, so I decided to make some P90 pickup rings out of Bubinga.
Bubinga pickup rings and trussrod cover, being finished with a few coats of gunstock oil.
All set! Action is nice and low, and the Planet Tone P90’s sound incredible.
It fits great in the Gator case. With everything setup, it’s ready to be shipped halfway across the country.
