Dueling Korina Builds

To SG JOHN and other Axe slinger/craftsman we have here.

For the immediate scenario, I already have several species of wood in the rough such as Cherry, Walnut, Birch, and Poplar.
My trees I have laying in the queue are a huge Maple and some Locust. So, my thoughts are either to slab the Maple into 5/4 thick boards,
or thicker slabs to make guitar lots of bodies/maple caps from, and to try to dry and sell these off to recoup my equipment and labor costs.

Just FYI, the 2 huge tree trunks I have for this are at least 11 feet long and 24-30 inches in diameter. I plan to run my chainsaw mill through them pretty soon before the weather gets too hot. I sure can't wait to get the grains and visuals of the wood revealed as I make my initial flattening cuts.

I guess my reason for posting this is. If the wood is a good and stable and beautiful grain etc, should I go for it and try to earmark the slabs for Guitar blanks/ maple caps, or should I make them into generic boards to sell to woodworkers in order to maximize my profits? I can really see this yielding quite a good pile of wood output once I am finished.
 
SG John said:
These are a pair of other builds I started a few years ago, only to be interrupted by travel for work. I was hoping to finish the Thunderbird build before jumping on these again, but that build has proven to be an exercise in frustration over the years. Now, it's the pickguard and pickups that are getting crazy.

The first of the Kornia builds started when I had found a single slab of African Limba big enough to build an Explorer. As luck would have it, at the same time a couple of guys at MyLesPaul had access to a couple of '58 Explorers to blueprint. So, I'm working off of those prints and observations for this guitar.

Here is a couple of shots of the wood for the body.

View attachment 60190


View attachment 60191


I really like the chevron pattern to the grain. Originally, I was considering a Lyre tailpiece that I have for this. Or, a B-5 or small Gibson vibrola. Instead, I'll use a stop bar and ABR-1 bridge so I don't hide the grain.

For the neck, I had a nice piece that I could get two quarter sawn neck blanks out of. So, I decided that I would build another Flying V at the same time.

Here are the neck blanks.


View attachment 60194


Next, I set off to prep fingerboards. I decided I would use one of my Brazilian boards for the Explorer and a piece of Palisander (Madagascar Rosewood, which is very similar in tonal properties to Brazilian) for the Flying V. I sanded one side by hand and prepared them for a radius of 12". Then sanded the radius smooth.


View attachment 60197


View attachment 60198



Then, I cut out the Flying V wings, and glued them together.


View attachment 60199



The Flying V body is a bit further along, but I have no photos.

Today, I slotted both of the fingerboards, and prepared them for going on my friend's table saw tomorrow. Mine is out of commission for a bit.


View attachment 60201


View attachment 60202



I have on order from MojoAxe pickguards and a V tailpiece. They have parts that were drawn directly from '58 models. They'll be here in another week or so. In the meantime, it may be nice enough outside to get some work on the bodies done this week. I prefer using the belt sander outdoors due to the mess. I figured I should jump on these while they still have a Korina V at a local vintage shop for me to compare neck radii with. They made the offer, so it would be nice to take advantage of it.


View attachment 60204
Click to expand...


Big John, I posted a question in the message before this, but maybe you never saw that one, so I am posting again and will PM you.

My question is for help deciding how to make some wood decisions as I go to mill up some Maple I have, See post 23 and what say you?
 
Time for a necropost.

Although I have many things going on in my life right now, I did manage to get a little bit of work done on this project this morning. While waiting for my laundry to get done so I could shut down the furnace to remove and cap a steam pipe to the kitchen, I dragged my sander outside. Then I screwed the two main body templates together and belt sanded their final shape. I was thinking of taking the router table outside too, but it started raining. Probably won't get to either of these for another month, but it felt nice to get something done on them today.

030_Body Templates_resized.jpg



I think that I'll go with stop bar tailpiece. It would be a shame to hide the cool chevron pattern in the wood.


031_mockup_resized.jpg
 
SG John said:
These are a pair of other builds I started a few years ago, only to be interrupted by travel for work. I was hoping to finish the Thunderbird build before jumping on these again, but that build has proven to be an exercise in frustration over the years. Now, it's the pickguard and pickups that are getting crazy.

The first of the Kornia builds started when I had found a single slab of African Limba big enough to build an Explorer. As luck would have it, at the same time a couple of guys at MyLesPaul had access to a couple of '58 Explorers to blueprint. So, I'm working off of those prints and observations for this guitar.

Here is a couple of shots of the wood for the body.

View attachment 60190


View attachment 60191


I really like the chevron pattern to the grain. Originally, I was considering a Lyre tailpiece that I have for this. Or, a B-5 or small Gibson vibrola. Instead, I'll use a stop bar and ABR-1 bridge so I don't hide the grain.

For the neck, I had a nice piece that I could get two quarter sawn neck blanks out of. So, I decided that I would build another Flying V at the same time.

Here are the neck blanks.


View attachment 60194


Next, I set off to prep fingerboards. I decided I would use one of my Brazilian boards for the Explorer and a piece of Palisander (Madagascar Rosewood, which is very similar in tonal properties to Brazilian) for the Flying V. I sanded one side by hand and prepared them for a radius of 12". Then sanded the radius smooth.


View attachment 60197


View attachment 60198



Then, I cut out the Flying V wings, and glued them together.


View attachment 60199



The Flying V body is a bit further along, but I have no photos.

Today, I slotted both of the fingerboards, and prepared them for going on my friend's table saw tomorrow. Mine is out of commission for a bit.


View attachment 60201


View attachment 60202



I have on order from MojoAxe pickguards and a V tailpiece. They have parts that were drawn directly from '58 models. They'll be here in another week or so. In the meantime, it may be nice enough outside to get some work on the bodies done this week. I prefer using the belt sander outdoors due to the mess. I figured I should jump on these while they still have a Korina V at a local vintage shop for me to compare neck radii with. They made the offer, so it would be nice to take advantage of it.


View attachment 60204
Click to expand...

That's hard-core work, @SG John. I never attempted to layout and saw my own frets. That's amazing attention to detail.

On my custom builds, I had B.Hefner do the slotting for me. They were less than an hour from me. Sadly, they folded during the first lock down, so no more local resource.

Well, that probably keeps me from spending even more time and money on scratch builds.

Excellent craftsmanship, Man!!!!
 
Last edited:
SG John said:
Time for a necropost.

Although I have many things going on in my life right now, I did manage to get a little bit of work done on this project this morning. While waiting for my laundry to get done so I could shut down the furnace to remove and cap a steam pipe to the kitchen, I dragged my sander outside. Then I screwed the two main body templates together and belt sanded their final shape. I was thinking of taking the router table outside too, but it started raining. Probably won't get to either of these for another month, but it felt nice to get something done on them today.

View attachment 82728



I think that I'll go with stop bar tailpiece. It would be a shame to hide the cool chevron pattern in the wood.


View attachment 82729
Click to expand...
Nice hunk of wood! It is coming out great! So you made those templates?
 
I mill it at the angle I want. That way when it's firmly clamped to the body, it's supposed to be at the correct angle. I'll set it up with my Starrett protractor and 12" scale. There have been times I measured three times, and still cut it wrong. The T-Bird was supposed to be 1.5 degrees, but ended up being 4 degrees. Harrumph!

At home I do it with a cheap milling vise on my drill press and throw a 1/2" end mill in the chuck to clean it up. Rarely, do I get the luxury of using a Bridgeport to mill it.

135_Resize01.JPG
 
RVA said:
Nice hunk of wood! It is coming out great! So you made those templates?
Click to expand...
Thanks Ray. Yeah, I used the PDFs that a couple of guys at the mylespaul forum put together. They had access to a couple of real '58 Explorers, and the owners let them document everything for build plans. I helped out with some Flying V info I had, and they were very willing to share the finished PDFs. I had them printed at Kinko's on the big printer, and made sure the scale was correct. Have been making all the router templates from those plans. I'm hoping it comes out as an accurate copy.

It will still bear my name, of course.

359_Resize.JPG
 
SG John said:
I mill it at the angle I want. That way when it's firmly clamped to the body, it's supposed to be at the correct angle. I'll set it up with my Starrett protractor and 12" scale. There have been times I measured three times, and still cut it wrong. The T-Bird was supposed to be 1.5 degrees, but ended up being 4 degrees. Harrumph!

At home I do it with a cheap milling vise on my drill press and throw a 1/2" end mill in the chuck to clean it up. Rarely, do I get the luxury of using a Bridgeport to mill it.

View attachment 82771
Click to expand...
I cut my first angled neck pocket for the LP Jr DC. It took some effort, to say the least! I think I got fairly close.
 
RVA said:
I cut my first angled neck pocket for the LP Jr DC. It took some effort, to say the least! I think I got fairly close.
Click to expand...
That scares me. I'd rather angle the tenon, and leave the mortise parallel to the body. Maybe it's because the bodies cost more, and I'm afraid of messing them up. I've had this one piece of white Limba big enough for an Explorer almost ten years now. It was $270.00 back then. Hate to think what it would cost now to replace it.
 
Robert Herndon said:
That's hard-core work, @SG John. I never attempted to layout and saw my own frets. That's amazing attention to detail.

On my custom builds, I had B.Hefner do the slotting for me. They were less than an hour from me. Sadly, they folded during the first lock down, so no more local resource.

Well, that probably keeps me from spending even more time and money on scratch builds.

Excellent craftsmanship, Man!!!!
Click to expand...
I don't have that luxury around here. There is Tippin Guitars in Marblehead, but he builds acoustic guitars for people who think high end Martins are unsatisfactory in tone, feel, and playability. Don't want to know what he'd charge me to slot a fingerboard. And then a couple of builders in southern Vermont, and a long drive to get there. Besides, the whole DIY esthetic says I need to do this for myself, or I didn't do it by myself.

There are some exceptions of course. I don't have a sheet metal press, brake, or welder to make an amp chassis. That requires far more capital than a Japanese "Pull Saw" that is .022" wide and a jig.
 
SG John said:
That scares me. I'd rather angle the tenon, and leave the mortise parallel to the body. Maybe it's because the bodies cost more, and I'm afraid of messing them up. I've had this one piece of white Limba big enough for an Explorer almost ten years now. It was $270.00 back then. Hate to think what it would cost now to replace it.
Click to expand...
I figured that I can always shim it if need be. Also, my build is a bolt-on neck, and if I did the angle at the neck heel, the guitar would lose the benefit of an easy neck swap. I certainly see your point though!
 
SG John said:
I don't have that luxury around here. There is Tippin Guitars in Marblehead, but he builds acoustic guitars for people who think high end Martins are unsatisfactory in tone, feel, and playability. Don't want to know what he'd charge me to slot a fingerboard. And then a couple of builders in southern Vermont, and a long drive to get there. Besides, the whole DIY esthetic says I need to do this for myself, or I didn't do it by myself.

There are some exceptions of course. I don't have a sheet metal press, brake, or welder to make an amp chassis. That requires far more capital than a Japanese "Pull Saw" that is .022" wide and a jig.
Click to expand...
That serves as a reminder - I need to start making my own necks!
 
RVA said:
I figured that I can always shim it if need be. Also, my build is a bolt-on neck, and if I did the angle at the neck heel, the guitar would lose the benefit of an easy neck swap. I certainly see your point though!
Click to expand...
That makes perfect sense now. I forget that you're using premade necks.
 
SG John said:
I don't have that luxury around here. There is Tippin Guitars in Marblehead, but he builds acoustic guitars for people who think high end Martins are unsatisfactory in tone, feel, and playability. Don't want to know what he'd charge me to slot a fingerboard. And then a couple of builders in southern Vermont, and a long drive to get there. Besides, the whole DIY esthetic says I need to do this for myself, or I didn't do it by myself.

There are some exceptions of course. I don't have a sheet metal press, brake, or welder to make an amp chassis. That requires far more capital than a Japanese "Pull Saw" that is .022" wide and a jig.
Click to expand...

I'm considering...building a SG with the more robust neck joint. I have been in contact with Musiktraft about the project.

I looked through my stuff and discovered I have the following parts:

Grover Chrome Keystone Tuners

Gibson Green key Tuners

Aluminum Nashville Small Pin Roller Bridge and Posts/Inserts

Pair Gibson Wildwood PAF Decal'd Pickups with aged nickel covers (take outs from a 2014 Gibson Les Paul R8)

Aluminum Gibson Tailpiece

CTS Pro Pots

Cloth Wiring

Copper Shielding tape

Set of Black Gibson Top Hats New in Package

Set of Gibson Witch Hats (take offs from a 1974 les Paul Custom Re-Issue)

Musikraft has a mahogany, large cavity body and a bound, 22 fret neck with block inlay. I can buy the body already shaped and routed, the neck fretted and bound, ready to assemble. This is a very good thing for me, because I no longer have access to the woodworking equipment we had at our previous home.

Thoughts???
 
Robert Herndon said:
I'm considering...building a SG with the more robust neck joint. I have been in contact with Musiktraft about the project.

I looked through my stuff and discovered I have the following parts:

Grover Chrome Keystone Tuners

Gibson Green key Tuners

Aluminum Nashville Small Pin Roller Bridge and Posts/Inserts

Pair Gibson Wildwood PAF Decal'd Pickups with aged nickel covers (take outs from a 2014 Gibson Les Paul R8)

Aluminum Gibson Tailpiece

CTS Pro Pots

Cloth Wiring

Copper Shielding tape

Set of Black Gibson Top Hats New in Package

Set of Gibson Witch Hats (take offs from a 1974 les Paul Custom Re-Issue)

Musikraft has a mahogany, large cavity body and a bound, 22 fret neck with block inlay. I can buy the body already shaped and routed, the neck fretted and bound, ready to assemble. This is a very good thing for me, because I no longer have access to the woodworking equipment we had at our previous home.

Thoughts???
Click to expand...
Looked up Musikraft, and they only have replacement Fender necks on their website.

You certainly have enough parts on hand to upgrade any player model that crosses your path. You live in a high enough population density to grab something nice off of Craigslist. Honestly, my knowledge is limited to some old stuff I have. If they can give you something you may think will work, go for it.
 
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