Prairie Custom Guitars

Well I just realized it's going to be a bit tricky to bolt on a neck with no holes

Put the template back on and drilled the neck holes

Then it was time to do the ferrule holes

This part always spooks me.I never seem to get them perfect

Turned out pretty good

 Had a nice chat with "The Man" tonight

Barney and I had to make a few decisions on parts

Got it all figured I think.

Well it was back out to finish what I started tonight

The pickup cavities and the control cavity

One more step down

Now where is that binding

Well I'll be

Look what finally showed up

 
I guess tomorrow we will start on the binding routing

I have been puting off getting an actual binding bit for the router

I have been using aluminum tape to size the bearings to the correct size

with a regular rabbiting bit.Figured it was time and I don't want to

chance screwing up on this one

 I first took some of my scraps from the body and nailed them together

to give me some support on the outside of the router as I do the channel

Helps keep the channel square too

 I set up the router to do the channel for the back binding.I decided

to go with just a single 0.060 black binding on the back.I was going

to do the 3 layers on the back too but the neckplate will cover it up

and I don't think it will look clean. 

So we start on the back,making sure not to route into the grain 

 Success,no tearouts 

I then did the same channel in the top because that is the same binding I

am using on the outer edge.

Then I changed bearings and did the inside

route for the 0.040 black and 0.020 white

No tearouts again.It sure is nice to have the correct bit  

The routing is finished

Now it's time to glue on the binding 

Well I will just do a quick update tonight

For some reason our internet is painfully slow tonight

Well I managed to get the back binding on

I will let it sit over night and then pull the tape

Then it's time to tackle the 3 layer top binding 

 You can see in the picture it is not flush with the top of the guitar

I had to get 3/8 binding so it was wide enough to cover up the seam on

the top.I figured if there was to be binding on this it better cover the seam.It would look goofy having a cap seam,even though it is hard to see,just below the binding.

I really didn't want a full 3/8 binding but 1/4 was just a smidge to

narrow to cover the seam.I think 3/8 will be to wide so I will scrape it flush after.

Didn't have time for pictures doing the 3 layer binding

I forget what a pain it is doing a laminated binding in between jobs

Oh it is definitely worth it but it is still a pain in the a$$

Well got it finished and I will let it sit until this evening

 Well 9pm Sat night

Hope you are having a Corona for me Barney

 Well lets get the tape off and start cleaning this thing up

I think taking the tape off is the worst part of this

That CA glue is good stuff 

Put it on and scrape it off

 Like I said I don't want this the full 3/8" so there is a bit more

than usual to scrape off 

After a hour or so of scraping,the front and back are cleaning up nice

Think I will stop there tonight.Have to go hide Easter eggs and stuff

I will start on the sides tomorrow

Oh you want to see a picture,OK here you go Barney 

I haven't done anything with the sides yet but here are a couple pics

Still tape residue and glue to clean off

Hope you like it

Well now is the boring part

Scraping and sanding,and sanding,and sanding

Then some scraping

Then sanding,you set the picture

There is one spot on the binding that is bugging me

We will give it a shot of wonder juice and let it sit overnight

Give it a scrape tomorrow,should fix it right up

 Forgot to post that I ordered the neck on Wed

This combination is going to look so good

Before I ordered it I had a nice long chat with Jim at Musikraft

Here is what we decided on.This is a picture off their website but

he told me it will look this good or better

Premium Flame Maple with  Vintage Tint Gloss Nitro

 We also discussed what profile to have the neck made to

He told me that the Chunky C would be most like the necks

that Barney is use to so thats what I ordered 

OK,the relates are gone,kid is in bed,lets get some stuff done

The repair on the binding turned out pretty good.

After some scraping you wont be able to tell 

Well this page is getting pretty long

I think it's time for page 4

Page 4