My Journey into CNC guitar building: Part 1

[@twangthang]

A masterclass on patience and dedication.

[@MyLifEcademy-sr4hy]

Spending a decade and a little more in the machining world after my "war" I am looking forward to getting started in this same pursuit. Metal and wood may be two different worlds...but I will figure it out!

[@eddioritz2580]

Awesome channel, thank goodness I found your channel !!!!!

[@mikefarquhar5063]

Just whatever doc ordered! Been looking into cnc guitar building, researching machines and tools, programming, designing, I would love to see more from a CNC beginner standpoint I'd surely benefit and learn more efficiently, and that brings me to a big THANK YOU!! I very much appreciate your time and efforts to show us the way its done right. I believe there's a lot to benefit from using CNC for many applications, even just making guitar spare necks and bodies, templates for routing ti sell, so getting the right machine with allthe parts and motors etc from thd getgo its what im looking into right now and there are a few affordable ones that i thought were too small to do necks so i scratched that from the list until i saw you found a way to overcome that so i may stil be able to affird a smaller wirk are CNC wuth everything inclusive plus laser fir engraving design/logo etc, seeing is believing!

[@LegendLength]

awesome series thank you

[@SDEANO99]

I’m waiting on CNC Machine arriving and I’ve watched hundreds of videos, this is one of the best, your pace and delivery is first class and easy to listen to, I’ll not be making guitars but I do admire your work, good luck 😎

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thank you so much for your encouragement. Your going to love your cnc

[@BeardnScars]

What a sweet tactic to use two tool paths on the same piece of wood that you’re cutting, since the threshold of the CNC is shorter then your wood blank. The dowel holes, were they given to you by the illustrator, or how’d that pan out? Never seen your vids, don’t know you, but somehow am still proud of you for figuring this out. Hahahaha. 😅🎉

[@philiphurdwell3443]

Learning new skills is so rewarding, I think your passion and determination has got you round the steep side of the learning curve! Thanks for sharing

[@jungdo99]

Very enjoyable, informative and well spoken! You answered every question I had about CNC for newbies and you are a true craftsman which is evident by your shop and handling of your tools.

[@Jayde-guitar]

Absolutely amazing. As a machinist who has learned the methods of CNC I can tell you, you are a great teacher. I also had to stumble through the adobo illustrator program for one of my jobs. I can’t wait to see more of your videos on this subject as I am sure I will be going the same way soon. It just makes sense to me. Also I finally get to build a guitar. I had a guy contact me about building a jaguar bass. Of course I will have to learn the old school methods on this one as my tool list is limited,but I can’t wait to get started. You have been an inspiration! Thank you so much for all your help

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thanks brother. I really appreciate your encouragement! It’s guys like you that keep me going! Good luck on your build!!!!

[@rtroiani]

Great video. Thanks! I've been using my CNC for awhile and cut bodies a lot, but want to do a neck. I needed a refresher on the template with the pins for 2 sided carves!

[@rotorrabbitfpv]

Great video!

[@SweetTGuitars]

A set neck Tele! I like it. Learning so much from you Dave! Thank you. ✌️

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thanks Todd. Btw your giveaway guitar is looking great. I’m going to try that wax finish your using!

[@SweetTGuitars]

@@eworcustomguitars yeah Dave. I'm really happy with it. I found out about OSMO Poly-X when I was installing new beech counter tops in my house about 10 years ago. They're still in great shape. It's really great stuff. Peace my friend.

[@dougsquires9201]

Nice work

[@robertrose7645]

Very clever use of jigs and dowel pins. I don't interact with many videos and i watch a lot but definitely had to say good job.

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thanks Robert I really appreciate it!

[@btigenie]

Would you ever consider making the flat 2d pdf files available? I love that design! Awesome videos!

[@jankoel5766]

Great again Dave! I am amazed that you were making guitars for only five years. It felt like you were doing this for 20 years. Anyway, great to be a pupil again for a new adventure with CNC. You're a great teacher and I love to see your video's.

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thanks Jan I really appreciate it. This cnc machine is a lot of fun to work with! Thank you for watching

[@kennylongnose4001]

Great story mate! I enjoyed it... I also tried what you are doing, but CNC making a neck is not as easy as I thought! I thought the hardest part was drawing the 3D file of my custom neck - wrong, the rest of the process was also challenging for me and the CNC. Nice to see a succesfully story

[@jonahguitarguy]

Very cool David! I've been thinking about CNC for a very long time. Thanks for all the info.

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thanks Dane. That machine sat in the box for almost a year while I worked up the courage to use it. I think it will be great !

[@InvisibleKingStudio]

Ahhh man I love this! I've really just started building guitars a year ago using hand and power tools just to see if I like it. But now that I know I do I want to start using the a CNC. I'm so excited!! Great to see your progress....

[@eworcustomguitars]

I’m really loving the cnc machine. I’m just scratching the surface of what can be done with one

[@cmguitar50]

Nice!

[@lennyc624]

I'm sorta new to this as well. My cnc work space is 20 x 22. I do my necks on a 45 degree angle so I don't have to move my piece around.

[@eworcustomguitars]

Yes I really considered that but the 14 degree headstock is why I do it in the tiled tool path

[@Kyle7K]

This is great. Considered taking the dive into CNC several times but it can be a bit overwhelming. I think im going to grab a machine and just go for it, one step at a time. I have an original body design I need to sort out, that's the scary part for me. Your video definitely encouraged me to go for it.

[@eworcustomguitars]

I’m really glad your going to give it a try. It was overwhelming for me too. Remember test runs on MDF are your friend.

[@edwardsn3670]

This can be next step to fast copy The Bishop series 💯

[@glyphit]

Pretty cool! What make/model CNC machine is that? is it affordable? Scar-my-guitar has some good diy cnc machine videos for guitar making that are worth checking out.

[@eworcustomguitars]

I am using a Next Wave shark HD 510. I should have probably talked about that in the vid. 🤓

[@JZee49]

I’ve been watching a few of your videos and trying to get up enough nerve to start a build of my own. Any ideas on how to put a Navy anchor on one? I’m sure there will be many oh craps but that’s part of it. Love the head stock pattern.

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thanks John you can do it. Guitar building is great fun and it is all about overcoming mistakes and obstacles. I think An oversized anchor inlayed into the body would be cool.

[@JZee49]

@@eworcustomguitars Thank you for the vote of confidence it is much appreciated.

[@garyshainemusic]

About to start my journey of guitar building with this same exact machine! I’ll be coming back and analyzing a lot I’m sure. Have you figured out a good way to do any contours like the belly cutout or arm rest? Or are you just doing those by hand? Sorry if you’ve answered then in other videos… just going down the rabbit hole here. Thanks again for documenting this!

[@eworcustomguitars]

Yes you can do the contouring with vcarve. You have to run a molding tool path to accomplish this. I will be doing that on my current build in the next couple of weeks.

[@dasbo1fan]

Man I'm planning on getting a cnc machine for my guitar business. Do you have any videos or know any videos that can help me get started on setting up my machine once I have it? Like tips on how to set up your dowel trick to keep the board in place ? And also what size machine do you recommend to get for guitar building?

[@eworcustomguitars]

Hi Kirby. I have learned a lot about CNC work from the you tube Chanel Mark Lindsay CNC. He has a ton of videos that are for the beginner. I have a shark 510 hd. It is a great beginner machine but if I had the money I would have bought the 520 hd. It has a larger cutting area. The software that comes with the shark cnc machines is Vectric Vcarve. Great software and the one mark Lindsay teaches about. If you continue to watch my current videos the the ones coming up you will see more of how I use alignment pins etc for guitar building. Good luck with your new adventure!

[@thatdiyguyraymondmonk1225]

You could not cut it diagonally in one process?

[@dougking7331]

Hi David, great video series. My wife and i have been watching and enjoying your videos. You mention that you are using Vcarve for your CNC CAM . Are you using Vcarve Pro, and do you find it suitable for doing all of your guitar work. Or, are you using or thinking about going to Aspire? Thanks for your thoughts on this. And, thanks for the great videos!

[@eworcustomguitars]

Hi Doug. I am using desktop pro ( just learning ) I would like to get into the 3-D modeling software, I have a trial of Rhino 3-D but haven’t had much time to learn it yet. V carve is an awesome program but it doesn’t handle the carving type work.

[@jimmygreen50]

Great content and well done video series....thanks for making them. I have been madly googling guitar and project cnc builds and your videos have made me think this is my next progression. I am not sure if you have mentioned which cnc machine you own / use and if you recommend this one or others on the market you have any experience with or some recommendations... Cheers and thanks again for the videos.... Subscribed.

[@eworcustomguitars]

Thanks for subscribing jimmy! I have a shark HD 510 with the water cooled spindle. This is the only cnc machine I have ever used so I don’t have a comparison for you but this one seems to be very accurate and has done well with everything I have tried with it. It would have been nice to have the next size up (25x48”) model but this one works well.

[@darrendukes2708]

instead of tiling I lay my necks on at a 45. use pins to locat it as well.

[@eworcustomguitars]

I thought about that. I need to draw that out in vcarve to see how it works

[@darrendukes2708]

@@eworcustomguitars I have the same machine, I do use aspire now but started with VCarve. Cutting on the angle is really no different, saves the tiling.

[@Overit5000]

WHO DAT! New Orleans here!

[@eworcustomguitars]

New Orleans is awesome!!!

[@Overit5000]

@@eworcustomguitars maybe one day you can tour my shop! 💪🏻

[@rudymsmith]

is the MDF a practice material? I wonder - how does it feel to the creator and later the guitarist? I'm thinking do we miss the irreplaceable slips of the chisel? Do we miss the hand shaped imperfections that only a human creates? Just questions? Great Video from a guy who never stops learning - impressive!

[@eworcustomguitars]

Yes the mdf is for testing/ learning. I have wrestled with the thoughts of “is this guitar going to be hand made if I use a cnc machine?” And that is one question I hope to answer to myself during this build. As always Rudy thank you for watching and giving such thoughtful comments!

[@dasbo1fan]

What model and how much was your machine?

[@eworcustomguitars]

My machine is a shark 510-hd with the water cooled spindle. It is a great entry level machine. I can’t remember the exact price but I think they we’re running a great sale at the time.