Brand new to forum, building solidbody guitars, need plane advice.

[Thomas Cherry]

I know this has been asked and answered, and I have done countless hours of homework via, books and the internet, but I need guidance. The more I study, the more I get confused. I'm building solidbody electric guitars. Up until this point I mostly used power tools but I'm really wanting to do it the right way so I need some hand tools, particularly a plane or two.

I need a plane for flattening the neck before the fingerboard goes on, so we're talking an area 2-3 inches wide and about 19 inches in length, made up of hardwood, mostly Maple and Purpleheart.

The guitar bodys are two piece, usually a 5/8 Maple top and an 1-1/8 Alder, or Ash back. I need a plane to smooth the surface of both before gluing, and a plane might also be needed to remove some thickness from the back section. The body dimensions are usually about 13 x 19

Usually my body wood, both top and back come in two 6-1/2 inches pieces that need to be joined, so I need a plane to prepare the edges.

I was all set to buy a LIE-NIELSEN Adjustable Mouth Block Plane and probably still will, but I've recently read a few aricles that say the "low cutting angle can cause tearout in figured hardwoods" so considering I'm primarily using hardwoods, now I'm a bit confused.

For a second plane, I'm wanting a low-angle jack or smooth plane, but I'm concerned about what size to buy. I want to buy one big enough to smooth out my edges for gluing and to smooth the neck surface, but considering we're on talking about 19 inches, I don't want to buy something that is too long for the job.

The Lie Nielsen is going to set me back a pretty penny so I really want to avoid spending huge $$$ on my 2nd plane if I can. I've of course looked at Ebay, but I can't tell a pre-war Stanley from all the others, (everyone seems to have a "vintage" plane for sale) and even if I could tell the difference, I'm having a hard enough time learning woodworking, I'd rather now have to learn how to refurbish a plane. I will someday but not right now.

HELP!!!

That's it, sorry my 1st post is such a long one I just wanted to be as specific as possible. I'll take any and all advice anyone is willing to throw my way.

Thanks,
Thomas Cherry

[tod evans]

welcome to smc thomas! the resident guitar builder i`m aware of is shiraz b. the president of grizzly tools maybe he`ll chime in with some advice? tod

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

I'm not a guitar maker, but -- I wouldn't go for a block plane first.

Unless you know you'll NEED a small plane, I'd probably go for a longer plane. Given that you're talking wanting to join surfaces 19" long, I'd go for a fore plane (which is 18" long) so that you can get a flat surface over nearly all the length.

Personally, I bought a #7 (22" long) before I bought a #6. My #7 is probably my third most used plane (#4 being the first).

[Doug Shepard]

First - Welcome to SMC.

My thoughts lean toward the LN Bevel-Up Jack plane so you can put blades with a steeper angle grind on it for the tearout-prone woods. But I think maybe you'd get better advice for your specific application if you asked the same question on one of the instrument builder forums. Have you tried checking
luthierforum.com, mimf.com, or ohers?

[Peter Mc Mahon]

Hi Thomas. I am thinking of making a guitar myself. I have several planes already but if I were starting over and wanted to build a guitar I would probably buy a LN #5 short enough to smooth and long enough to joint. I would buy a bevel down plane especially for a first plane. Much more forgiving in the sharpening department. Post some pics for us. Welcome aboard. Peter

[Jeff Horton]

I don't want to sound like I am knocking this forum because I am not. But one the best hand tool forums I have spent time at is Woodnet.

There are some very knowledgeable people there that can answer just about anything you throw at them. If you want to go with an old plane there are several dealers/hobbyists on there that are very reputable. I have dealt with several of them I have high regard for them and their input about hand tools.

If you want to save some money over an L&N these guys would be where I would go. L&N are great tools but you buy 3 or 4 old Stanley's or Miller Falls for the cost of one or theirs. And if properly tuned I dare say you wouldn't know the difference in them.

If you know or should I say when you know what you want Walt Q. is a dealer and very honest. He has sent me tool on what he calls "Old Tool Terms". Meaning he ships it and lets me try it. If I like it I pay him, if not I pay shipping back. Never been disappointed with anything he sent either!

AGAIN I want to stress I am not knocking anyone here on SMC!!

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

Buying from a reputable seller (preferably one who'll make sure the plane is tuned and sharpened first) would save $ and give one a vintage experience (and price) without the effort of having to learn to fettle. I've discovered I'm not one who likes fettling much.

I also have dealt with Walt Q. and been happy. There's other good dealers, like Patrick Leach of the Stanley Blood and Gore fame, who sell "user" planes.

Also, another option for new tools is to write Steve Knight of Knight Toolworks and ask what planes he's got available. He's just one guy, so he tends to make in small batches, so it can be a wait if he doesn't have one already made. But his wooden planes run about half the price of a new LN. His blades come pre-sharpened, so they're basically ready to use out of the box.

I'll warn you though, once you get one well-tuned plane, plane acquisition can be entirely too addicting! (I now have 28 with two on order)

[Roger Nixon]

A little more info, please. Are the tops flat (i.e. Telecaster) or sculpted (i.e. Les Paul)? If you are using 5/8" maple on top, I'm guessing you will be sculpting the body some. Will the finger boards be flat or radiused?
If you are getting satisfactory glue lines now, I would say stay with what you have. If you need more precision, I would say something along the lines of a #5 sized bevel down plane. It would be somewhat large for the necks but just right for edge jointing and flattening the body pieces. I love old tools but I think you are wise to postpone trying them for this application.
The LN 60 1/2 or 102 would be dandy for radiusing the fingerboards and champhering edges. A spokeshave would be very helpful for the curved portions and I'm sure you are using scrapers already.

[Don Naples]

Thomas: If you like the results you have, you may want to build more than one guitar so might want to consider a plane that will perform on other woods. Many guitars have highly figured wood such as those available from Luthiers Merchantile International. To plane highly figured hardwood, a higher pitch (York) is helpful, as is a tight throat, thick iron, and a heavy chip breaker which helps to reduce plane iron vibration. I have a video clip at http://www.woodartistry.com/Products-LapSharp200.htm
about the middle of the page showing planing figured maple from a luthier. With a sharp plane iron and a good plane, (the one shown is a Mathieson) it is easy to achieve fine shavings and not get tearout of the wood.

[Glen Gunderson]

It's always nice to have an excuse to buy new tools, but hand planes aren't really the ideal tools for most aspects of building an electric guitar (unless of course you don't have access to a jointer and planer). Given that it is a relatively recent invention, the solid body electric guitar was designed to be mass produced with power tools. There are few, if any, aspects of the appearance and playability of an electric guitar that can be improved through the use of handplanes and many that can be damaged by an inexperienced user.

There's still a great deal of handwork involved in building a guitar such as neck shaping, cutting fret slots, nut filing and shaping, etc., so you shouldn't feel as though you are cheating by using power tools, after all, electric guitars were designed around them (especially the router).

[Steven Wilson]

I'll second Glen. For laminating the body I would use a powered planer (and maybe a thickness sander) to prepare the surface and then use a router table and template for the basic shaping operations and for placing the pickup holes, control cavity, and neck pocket. The sculpting work is where I use hand planes (spoke shaves). For the neck a powered jointer or #7 jointer plane work well for getting the reference surface. When you have your neck referenced you can do further shaping with a shaper, router table, bandsaw and then get to work with the hand planes.

[Thomas Cherry]

Thank you so much for all the info. I have to apologize for not getting back sooner, literally 5 minutes after I joined this forum and posted my message, my home internet went down and hasn't worked since. I'm now having to use the local library, so I haven't had time to read everyone's posts.

I just wanted to quickly log on to say thanks. As soon as I can I'll read everything and I'm sure I have more questions and comments.

Thomas Cherry

[Harry Rosal]

I need a plane for flattening the neck before the fingerboard goes on, so we're talking an area 2-3 inches wide and about 19 inches in length, made up of hardwood, mostly Maple and Purpleheart.

Either a #4-smoother(9 inches long) or a #5-jack (14 inches long.) It's easier to ensure flatness with a longer plane so a jack plane would be ideal for fretboards, a #4 will suffice.
Too bad i don't have a jack, I build classicals and with the neck angle so crucial, and a #4 requiring skill and much attention, i use a long sanding block instead to remove the final <1mm. Try planing a long flat sanding block instead and use that for flattening, else a spirit level works equally well.

The guitar bodys are two piece, usually a 5/8 Maple top and an 1-1/8 Alder, or Ash back. I need a plane to smooth the surface of both before gluing, and a plane might also be needed to remove some thickness from the back section. The body dimensions are usually about 13 x 19

Usually my body wood, both top and back come in two 6-1/2 inches pieces that need to be joined, so I need a plane to prepare the edges.
Thanks,
Thomas Cherry

For joining, i really recommend using a
Shooting board
or using the level/sanding block again
Happy luthing!