# New project to start soon - 100+ year old wood



## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

I realize this won't necessarily be strictly a woodworking project, but I thought you might like to watch it anyway.

My younger son's teacher has a barn on her place that's been there over 100 years, and she's given me free reign to go and pick out any wood I'd like to build guitars. I've already done some preliminary scoping and found several pieces that will work.

I'll likely construct it by using the framing timbers as the body and then overlaying a top made from the outside clapboards, which have a great weathered red paint. They are pretty rough though, so it will be a challenge to mount hardware. 

Right now I'm thinking of black (or brass if I can find it cheap enough) hardware, and a neck pickup ring to avoid needing a pickguard. I've not quite decided on what wood for the neck yet. I've got some great mahogany and walnut for the fretboard to keep things dark. I also have a plain maple neck/fretboard done, and it might look decent with some ambering. Not sure yet. I'm always open to suggestions.

I plan to make 2 of these guitars - 1 for me







, and 1 to donate to my church for a raffle to raise money for missions trips. I should be going by the barn this saturday to harvest the wood, so I'll make sure and get pics of the barn and anything I bring back.


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## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

Sounds like a great project. I'd be a little concerned that you won't be able to finish the clapboard pieces well if you don't sand/strip them of the paint, but I'm sure you'll figure something out that satisfies you. Are you building the necks or buying them?


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Wow!!! Wish I had free reign of barn wood. 
Lucky.


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

I'm also wondering how you are going to keep the weathered clap board while making something that won't cause the owner to end up with a hand full of splinters... I'll be following this build.


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## HandToolGuy (Dec 10, 2011)

Sounds like a real challenge to me. Count me in to watch this build!


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

frankp said:


> Sounds like a great project. I'd be a little concerned that you won't be able to finish the clapboard pieces well if you don't sand/strip them of the paint, but I'm sure you'll figure something out that satisfies you. Are you building the necks or buying them?


I'll be doing some light sanding to take out the roughness and then spraying Deft satin lacquer over everything. I did this with another rustic build and it seemed to keep the color and character in tact while removing the hazards.

I will be building the necks.



Dominick said:


> Wow!!! Wish I had free reign of barn wood.
> Lucky.


What's really funny is that I've been eyeing this barn for several years now. As luck would have it, she's a teacher in our small town and my son is in her class this year. I was pretty quick to exploit that connection :laughing:



johnnie52 said:


> I'm also wondering how you are going to keep the weathered clap board while making something that won't cause the owner to end up with a hand full of splinters... I'll be following this build.


I'll try a couple of different techniques in scrap pieces first to see what maintains the character while giving me a useable top.



HandToolGuy said:


> Sounds like a real challenge to me. Count me in to watch this build!


Thanks. I should be harvesting Saturday :thumbsup:


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Ok, so here's the barn from which I'm harvesting the wood. It's been there since the early 1900s - when we were still known as Indian Territory.





































There was some newer wood in there as well, though I don't know how new. I found face boards pretty easily, but was having difficulty finding something for the bulk of the body. I wanted to find something that was already loose as opposed to pulling something off that was still attached. I ended up going to the loft and found a few pieces.

Here are the clapboards I brought back










And here's the rest. The 2 boards look quite a bit newer, but not "new", but the older header board is about 2 1/2" thick and is really old. Pretty sure it's original to the barn. 









Now I need to make sure and get all the nails pulled, get my body stock milled and ready to glue, and get my face boards milled as well. They'll need quite a bit of stabilization because they're so weathered. Once I get some nice edges jointed on them, I'll probably inject some glue into the major cracks and see if I can get them to close up any. Once they're glued onto the body, though, I think it will all be ok.


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Here's the body blank gluing up. Before gluing I took a wire brush and just cleaned everything up. My wife being a microbiologist was happy to see me wearing a dusk mask while doing so :lol:




























There are quite a few small nails that I can't get out in one of the boards, but I've managed to position them so that all but one will be cut out in the waste, and the one that remains will be safe in the lower horn where none of the tools will come into contact with it.


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## MapleMoose (Sep 25, 2012)

This wood's third life! Got to like that! Looking forward to the build.


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## MagGeorge (Jul 5, 2012)

Oh, such a historical site. Good thing, you took photos of it. 
Looking forward to your fascinating builds.


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## AirKingFS (Nov 6, 2012)

Great project! Hope it sounds as good as it's going to look!


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Looking cool. My wife's brother is a microbiologist to. He works with mice. Lol


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

MapleMoose said:


> This wood's third life! Got to like that! Looking forward to the build.


 Thanks, MM.



MagGeorge said:


> Oh, such a historical site. Good thing, you took photos of it.
> Looking forward to your fascinating builds.


Thanks. The folks that own this barn would love to restore it some day, but she said that, in the meantime, I can get what I need. It's in such bad repair at the moment, and she loves the idea of doing something so useful with the wood.



AirKingFS said:


> Great project! Hope it sounds as good as it's going to look!


Thanks. Me too :smile:



Dominick said:


> Looking cool. My wife's brother is a microbiologist to. He works with mice. Lol


My wife used to run a biohazard Level 3 lab at the local university. She hated being so isolated.


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

I finally got my planer, so I could make some progress on this build. I was so eager to get back to work that I failed to take many pics :laughing:

First thing was to trace my body shape on the blank and then saw right up to the line on the band saw. Since I didn't want to take a router to this one, I then used my spindle sander to finish it up. Here's what it looked like after that.









Then I ran it through my new $60 planer :devil: and got it to here


















I've got the top wood in the clamps right now and hope to have it glued to the body tomorrow.


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## mattk8715 (Jan 22, 2010)

Awesome build! Can't wait to watch this come to fruition! I have a 13 year old son and he started playing the stand up bass in 6th grade, he's pretty good now. One of my dreams is to help him build an electric bass guitar but I have no clue where to begin, watching your build will be a great learn for me! Every aspect of your build is fantastic! I love barn wood! Can't wait to show this to my son, hopefully he'll be into it as well :thumbsup:. Keep the pics of progress coming!

Will this be an acoustic guitar? We talked about building an acoustic bass, but a good friend of mine who's a bass player told me if we're going to do it, just build an electric bass.


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks, Matt. This will be a standard electric guitar. If you guys would like to build a bass, go here. It's the telecaster forum, and they are, IMHO, the best resource out there for amateur builders. Not only are they incredibly skilled, but also incredibly friendly. We have a build competition over there every year, and all the builds are documented in great detail, so you'll find anything you could possibly want to know.

I'm afraid this thread won't be a great resource since it won't be terribly detailed, but thanks for following along.


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

So here's tonight's progress...

Here's the top wood after glue-up









After rough cut on the band saw (It's not a lefty. This is the back of the front :wink. I kept wavering band and forth about the crack that you see there. At first I was going to glue and clamp, but decided I wanted to keep it. Not sure how it will look when all done, but we'll see.









Then to showcase my panoply of clamps. That's right I said "panoply" :blink::laughing:









I then went to a friend's house for dinner and got back home around 9:00. I figured that long in the clamps was good enough, so I de-clamped, went to the band saw, and finished on the spindle sander.









And I've decided to go with an all maple neck. I originally made this one for a different build, but decided to go a different route there, so this one's just been setting around. I think it goes great with this one. It's just plain with no flaming or anything, so it fits the aesthetic well.


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## bob sacamano (Jan 24, 2012)

what kind of wood are most barns built from ?


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

I believe it's usually pine. What I have here is all pine, I'm pretty sure.


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## J Thomas (Aug 14, 2012)

@bob.. Barns are usually made from whatever is local & cheap.
Here in Maine there's a lot of hemlock & tamarack used in barns.
BIG DAMNED SPLINTERS on dry hemlock.. how do I know this.....
..Jon..


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## mattk8715 (Jan 22, 2010)

bob sacamano said:


> what kind of wood are most barns built from ?





J Thomas said:


> @bob.. Barns are usually made from whatever is local & cheap.
> Here in Maine there's a lot of hemlock & tamarack used in barns.
> BIG DAMNED SPLINTERS on dry hemlock.. how do I know this.....
> ..Jon..


Bob is right. They generally built them out of whatever was cheap, or whatever they could clear on the property. That's why old barn wood is so neat, it's basically a treasure hunt for anyone that's into wood. You never know for sure what you'll find. A lot of oak, hickory, I've seen chestnut, maple, etc.

Generally speaking, as barn wood goes the siding is what it is; just beautiful, weathered wood. If you're looking to resaw, the beams are where it's at!


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Made a little more progress...

Last week I did some sanding on the top to smooth it out a little. Then I formed a roundover the old fashioned way.





































Next thing was to made a template for my neck pocket. I traced my neck onto a piece of mdf and cut it out with the bandsaw. I got as close to the line as I could, then finished it with files and sandpaper.



















Then I transferred my center lines to the template, matched them up with the center line of the body...










And went at with the router, which scared the bejeebus out of me :laughing:. With as fragile as the top wood is, I had nightmares of major tearout, but the template acted as a guard, and the neck pocket turned out just fine with no tearout at all.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Awesome. I'm enjoying watching this.


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks, Ray.

Had a great day today. My 8 year old had a basketball game (which we won because he's a beast :mrgreen, my 12 year old went to honor band auditions where he got 1st chair trombone, and my OSU Cowboys throttled Texas Tech. And on top of all that, I got a lot of hours in the shop.

Last night I went ahead and got my control cavity cut out. I didn't want to use the router, so I used my template and forstner bits to hog it out. Then I used files to smooth it all down.

Today I wanted to start by cutting out the bridge pickup cavity. Since my top is so uneven, I put down some masking tape so I could mark out where things should go.




















Success 










I also wanted to get the back roundover knocked out. The only roundover bit I had was the one I used for my friend's jazzmaster. Sure, why not?










I actually like the large roundover. I know I'm not going to win over any purists, but oh well :wink:

Then I painted some wood aging solution on the back and sides. It's made by dissolving bits of metal in vinegar. I used steel wool and have been letting it set for a few weeks now. When the back was wet, it looked fantastic, but as it dried it kind of muddied of the grain, so I just had to sand it back a little. It turned out great. Here's a shot of it while it was still wet.












Last thing for today was to get the neck carved. I started with my new draw knife, and LOVE it! I took another friend's advice and used it with the bevel side down. I had really good control. I did end up with one spot where it dug in, so I just filled with CA and maple dust. From there I used a lot of sandpaper and finally got it to where I liked it.





























Since I had it carved, I figured I'd go ahead and put some frets in.

Here's my fret wire bender









Fret wires cut and ready to go.



















Man, it's been a LOOOONG time since I was this productive in a day. It felt great, especially since my day job is sitting at a computer for 10 hours with a 1 hour commute both ways. It was a good day. 

Probably won't get anything done tomorrow because it's my 17th wedding anniversary :smile:


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## Wendel17 (Apr 20, 2009)

Amazing! Can't wait to see how it turns out. Great job!


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Sorry I've not kept up on this thread. I've made quite a bit of progress since the last post, so here you go...

First I had Little bit of frustration. I'd been fighting with the frets for 2 days, so I decided to just pull them all and start over . This was my 2nd worst fret job yet (second only to my very first attempt which included poorly cut and undersized slots).

I had some that had to be sanded down way too far, and a lot that had to have the ends glued and clamped. I ended up doing quite a bit of damage to my fretboard while trying to get it all squared away, so I just cut my losses and pulled the frets and resanded the board. The slots were slightly too wide after pulling everything, so I glued the frets in using medium viscosity CA. I put a bead in the slot and then used string to pull the fret ends down while clamping the middle. It looked like this.











they turned out much better the second time around, and after some filing and polishing, they turned out like this.











then because of the uneven top, I had to chisel out an area so the bridge would sit flush



















All of that happened last weekend. tonight I got a package in the mail with the rest of my hardware, so I was able to get some more done. Here are the tuners that I'll be using. I was worried about the buttons being too white, but seeing them in person, they are more ivory. I think they're going to look great.










Next job was to get all my hardware in the aging solution. I put it all in a plastic container and then put that in another plastic container that had an inch or so of muriatic acid in the bottom. I put the top on and let it sit.










From what I'd read, they said to leave it for about 20 minutes. But now after almost 2 hours, the parts still weren't aging terribly well. I buffed them with some 320 grit and put them back in.


Final operation for the body was to drill the jack hole. I rotated my drill press table to be parallel to my bit.










Then I clamped my body to the table and drilled in about 1/8" or so with a 1" bit, then drilled down a couple more inches with a 7/8" bit, then finished it off with a 5/8" bit. It turned out really nice.











Since I got all this done, I couldn't wait, so I started spraying a few coats of Deft satin lacquer. I like this finish with the rustic wood because it still leaves a natural look. It also dries VERY quickly and is easy to work with. Here's the body with about 3 coats.




















And here it is after about 6 coats.



















I'll probably do about 3 more and call it good. I had to stop for the night because it's getting too cold in the garage, and I'm getting some orange peel. I'll start by doing a light sand tomorrow before spraying any more. I'm also planning on drilling my tuner holes, thinning the headstock, and laying down the first coat or 2 of the Formby's tung oil finish.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Looking mighty fine!!


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## Wendel17 (Apr 20, 2009)

Very cool!


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

A guitar is an acoustical instrument. How does the use of just whatever wood you find in the barn fit in with the tonal qualities that are desired in a guitar?

George


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

rayking49 said:


> Looking mighty fine!!


Thanks, Ray



Danno said:


> Very cool!


Thanks, Danno 



GeorgeC said:


> A guitar is an acoustical instrument. How does the use of just whatever wood you find in the barn fit in with the tonal qualities that are desired in a guitar?
> 
> George


 Well, you're partially right. An electric guitar creates sound by use of a magnetic field created by the pickup. The strings create a disturbance in the force :shifty: which is carried by the cable to the guitar amp/speaker, which also may have different effects in the chain. What I'm saying is that the wood in an electric guitar isn't terribly crucial. I know, I know. [can of worms] But I've seen and even built too many examples that were made from mdf, concrete, cinder blocks, etc to think that the wood had any discernable effect on electric guitars.


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Here's tonight's progress report...

The body is completely finished with 9 coats of Deft satin




















And I went ahead and screen printed the logo on the headstock after last night's 2 coats of tung oil. I also applied 2 more coats tonight and hope to get at least 3 more on tomorrow. I'd like a minimum of 6 coats. Why 6? not sure, it's just a random number i picked :lol:











I was having problems with my hardware aging with the muriatic acid I had. I figured out that I'd purchased "safe" acid, which doesn't have the corrosive fumes that regular acid has. well, I needed the corrosive fumes so I bought the full-strength stuff and it worked great tonight.




















I've still got the control plate and knobs in the solution because they weren't aging quite as quickly. I hit the control plate with 320 again to get more to the raw metal. those pieces should be ready in a little while. Now it's just a waiting game to get my neck finished, then I get to wire it up. Dang, it's going to be really hard to let this one go.


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## Ted Tolstad (Feb 20, 2011)

I love this guitar. I can't wait to see the finished product....totally cool....


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks, Ted

Got the last coat of tung oil on the neck at about 7:30 this morning, then had to go to a couple of basketball games. Once I got back, it had been about 6 hours since I put the last coat on, but the label says to let it cure for 12 hours. I'm not nearly that patient, so I put the neck in the bathroom with the heater on and left it for about another hour. It wasn't tacky anymore, so I hit it up with some steel wool. this is definitely the nicest neck I've built so far. And since I had the neck and hardware done, I couldn't resist bolting it all together for some outside shots...














































I just need to wire it up, make the nut, and set it up.


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## lateralus819 (Jul 22, 2012)

first off im a guitar player myself and can appreciate something like this!

First off though i wasnt keen on the rough lumber like that for the body but man that is really friggin cool!! Great job, that neck looks fantastic!


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks. It looks even better in person


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## lateralus819 (Jul 22, 2012)

RogerC said:


> Thanks. It looks even better in person


You should post a video! :thumbsup:


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

I sure will when it's done.

Got the tuners aged tonight. They were a little too shiny, so I sanded the knobs then applied some stain. After that, I put them in the acid. It's subtle, but really sets the headstock off nicely.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

They look good Roger, everybody here keeps asking how it'll sound. I would love to hear myself.


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## RogerC (Oct 15, 2012)

Thanks, ray. I'll definitely be posting up a vid once it's all done. I still have a buzz in my electronics (as a result of my pi$$ poor soldering technique), so I'm going to get it re-wired this weekend, then I'll make the nut and get it set up. I should have a video up next week some time.


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