I Built an EPOXY Kumiko GUITAR // Japanese-Inspired DIY Stratocaster

we got a big announcement we've kind of talked about already but it's official now today is the day now the next rockler challenge and this one's going to be called rockler hobby challenge build a woodworking project that ties into one of your hobbies other than woodworking we encourage you to also share a video on youtube though it's not a requirement as soon as i heard that the modern maker podcast was putting on another woodworking challenge i knew this would be the perfect opportunity for me to build my second guitar over the last few months i've been experimenting with kumiko which is a japanese form of joinery that creates different patterns using thin strips of wood ever since i built my japanese kumiko guitar amp i knew i needed to have a matching guitar so after doing some sketches of what i wanted it to look like i started work on making a guitar blank out of this massive chunk of hard maple [Music] now that i had the guitar blank glued up it was time to make a router template i thought the stratocaster body shape suited my design best so i bought a strat style router template off of ebay i wanted this guitar to have around a half inch border of maple around the edge to frame the kumiko which is going to be the centerpiece of this build to achieve this look i needed to create a router template that is a half inch smaller than the one i bought after tracing out the shape and drawing a line that was offset by half an inch i cut out the center using the jigsaw i then refined the shape and sanded up to my pencil lines using the spindle sander now that my new template was done it was time to make my first cuts on the blank itself i used blue tape and starbound ca glue to attach the template if you need to restock on some ca glue you can use the code make with miles for 15 off any starbond products there's a link in the description thanks starbond i use this template cutting router bit which has a bearing above the cutter for most of the routing on this project this is a fantastic router bit for guitar making so i've added a link in the description in case you want to pick one up for your projects [Music] after routing the inside perimeter of the pocket it was time to cut the outside profile of the guitar body i used the band saw to cut just outside the line that i traced so i could come back and refine the profile using the router [Music] now that i had the general shape of the guitar i attached the template and started routing [Music] after i'd maxed out the depth i could go with the pattern bit i switched over to a flush trim bit to complete the rest of the cut [Music] so [Music] now at this point i thought i was going to use my bigger router to hog out all the material to create the inner pocket but i quickly realized that it would be much faster just to use a 4 center bit on the drill press [Music] it was now time to work on the main feature of this build which is the kumiko grid work for the kumiko strips i started with some half inch maple and ripped it down to 8 inch strips i have an entire video that covers the process of making kumiko so if you want a more in-depth explanation there's a link in the description to create the initial grid work i needed to make two styles of strips using my kumiko table saw sled if you want to learn how to make this sled my friend johnny trambocus has a great video showing the process i've added a link below in case you want to go check it out the sled is set to a 60 degree angle from the blade and it essentially creates a half lap joint in which three directions of strips intersect after finishing with strip a i moved on to making strip b [Music] now that i had all my strips cut it was time to start assembling the grid work [Music] so [Music] the third direction of strips are always the trickiest to fit into place but with a little persuasion from my mallet and a block of wood everything worked out just fine now i was able to lay out the grid work on top of my guitar body and trace out the final size of the kumiko this step made me pretty nervous because i was really just eyeballing where i was going to need to cut now it was off to the bandsaw to cut it to size i made sure to cut outside the lines i drawn so that i could fine tune it later it was fitting snugly i glued it into the pocket of the guitar body [Music] the next step in the process was creating all the tiny kumiko infill pieces which will make up the japanese asanoha pattern [Music] [Applause] after using the table saw to cut hundreds of tiny pieces of the eighth inch strips i could start cutting the angles which will make all the pieces fit together nicely first i started by cutting one end of the piece using my 60 degree kumiko jig [Music] once i was done cutting all the 60 degree angles i moved over to my 30 degree jig to cut the other end of the pieces because i decided to use hard maple for the kumiko strips it is even more essential to have a sharp chisel and it makes the process go a lot easier and a little bit faster this process definitely took the longest out of any part of this build but i found it very meditative i was now able to start fitting the infill pieces and gluing them in i have to say this was probably one of my favorite parts of the build [Music] [Applause] [Music] i finally fitted the last infill piece and boy did that feel good [Music] next i sanded the surface level in preparation for the part of this build that i was most looking forward to the time had finally arrived to do the long-awaited epoxy pour this was actually my first time using epoxy so i was somewhat apprehensive going into this i want to give a massive thank you to totalboat for sending me this epoxy and making this project possible if you're ever in need of some epoxy for your own projects be sure to use the code make with miles for 10 off any total boat products i've added a link below thanks totoboat i decided to tint the epoxy using some black mica powder that totobo sent me i wanted this to match my guitar amp as closely as possible so i thought that the black background would be my best bet [Music] after filling all the kumiko with epoxy i made sure to pop any air bubbles using a heat gun and then i let it cure this epoxy pour ended up going very smoothly and the final result looked just like i was hoping for after the epoxy was fully cured i sanded the surface using my orbital sander starting at 80 grit and then going up to 220. the time had finally come to route out the cavities for the pickups as well as the neck pocket and bridge cavity i started by attaching my router template using some starbond ca glue and blue tape each cavity has to be a very specific depth so i drilled a starter hole with my drill press and checked its depth using calipers then i could easily route out the cavities to my desired depth [Music] after routing the hole in the bridge for the neck pocket i was able to fit in the neck and boy was that satisfying i then used a secondary template which i had created to route out the holes for the pickups next i flipped over the guitar body so i could route out the cavity for the tremolo springs which would attach to the bridge [Music] this next part of the process i had to kind of improvise from the start i had decided that i didn't want to have a massive pick guard on the front of the guitar like a traditional strat mainly because i didn't want to cover the kumiko pattern this did require me to make the electronics cavity on the back of the guitar instead of the front which meant i had to create my own custom router templates and decide the placement of the electronics i started off by using the smaller template to create the general shape of the pocket [Music] i then attached my secondary larger template which allowed me to create a lip around the edge that a wooden cover could sit on top of [Music] next up i started drilling holes for the volume and tone knobs and i used a rotary tool to create a slot for the five position tone switch using the cutoff disk on the dremel was pretty scary if i'm being honest it did work out and i ended up squaring off the ends of the slot with a jigsaw the final step before i could get to shaping the body was drilling a hole that connected the pickup cavities with this large drill bit this is the part of the guitar building process that is probably the most satisfying because you can really see the guitar blank taking shape after sanding the sides with a spindle sander i used a three quarter inch round over bit on the edges of the guitar next i thought i would carve out the body contour that is traditional to the classic stratocaster i marked out the general shape of the curve and used my abrasive carving disc on the angle grinder to start shaping the contour at the time this definitely felt a bit risky seeing as i put so many hours into the project up until this point and i didn't have much experience with power carving using the angle grinder but i knew what i wanted the guitar to look like so it was just a matter of getting there after doing a final sand through the grits i drilled out the hole for the audio jack socket i'm not going to be using the traditional stratocaster socket because the metal ferrule is just too large and i thought it disrupted the kumiko pattern i then used my long drill bit to drill some more connecting holes from the pickup cavity to the electronics cavity the next thing i had to do was create a maple cover for the electronics cavity i used my previous template to trace out the shape and cut just outside the lines on the band saw after fine tuning the fit with the belt sander i resawed it to the correct thickness on the band saw i was then able to easily pop it in and draw a small finger notch which i carved out with a gouge i'm once again going to be using magnets to attach the electronics cavity like i did in my last build first i glued the magnets to the body and once they were in place i used some blue paint to transfer their exact placement to the maple cover [Music] next i placed the other half of the magnets onto their counterparts and glued them to the cover [Music] now that i was done installing the magnets i needed to drill holes to attach the neck i used the chrome neck plate for alignment to trace out the hole placement [Music] the time had finally come to apply the finish to this guitar body i'm going to be using the same two part catalyzed spray finish which i used on my last guitar build i'm pretty sure this stuff is primarily used for automotive work but it's a great durable finish for guitars as well i've added a link below in case you want to check it out [Music] at this point i was getting super stoked about the guitar the next thing i had to do was install a neck this is pretty much just a stratocaster replacement neck which came looking pretty good straight out of the box i've added a link in the description to the exact one i used [Music] now that i had the neck installed i could really get a sense of how this guitar was turning out i can now move on to the final assembly i've created a parts list with links to everything i used down in the description so if you're curious about any of the parts that i'm installing you can go check them out yourself [Music] after tightening on the tuners i put in place the tremolo bridge as well as the pickups i'd loosely strung up both the outer e strings to make sure the bridge was aligned with the pickups before screwing it in [Music] after screwing in the pickups i installed the tremolo claw into the back cavity and hooked the three springs onto it from the tremolo block next it was time to shield the electronics cavity with copper tape once i'd completely covered the inside of the cavity i installed the three potentiometers and the five-way switch now i could get to soldering everything together [Music] this definitely looks complicated but if you just follow a wiring diagram and take it one wire at a time it isn't that bad the electronics were now finished so i could finally string up the guitar at this point i could have been done with the build but i really wanted to take it to that next level and what better way to do that than add some custom decals for the headstock i really wanted to stay true to the japanese theme which had inspired this design and i also wanted it to match my amp as closely as possible so i created one decal as the asanoha pattern and the other as the japanese word for stratocaster [Music] i applied the final water slide decal and with that this build was complete now before i show you the final shots i want to give a massive shout out to the guys over at the modern maker podcast as well as rockler for putting on this challenge also big thank you to total boat for making this project possible i really had a blast using the epoxy for the first time and finally i want to thank you guys for watching if you enjoyed this video i would really appreciate it if you hit the like button and if you want to see what i do in my next video make sure you're subscribed lastly i want to let you guys know that i created a merch shop so if you want to support what i do there's a link in the description you can get yourself a make with miles t-shirt once again thank you guys for watching now let's take a look at the final result [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Make With Miles

Views: 5,016

Keywords: guitar build, diy guitar, how to make a guitar, diy guitar build, diy electric guitar, diy electric guitar kit, making a guitar, electric guitar kit, making a custom guitar from scratch, burls art, colored pencil guitar, building a guitar, electric guitar build timelapse, electric guitar build epoxy, electric guitar build from scratch, great guitar build off, Epoxy guitar, Kumiko, Japanese guitar, stratocaster build, Diy stratocaster, Kumiko guitar build, make with miles

Id: U5r_PE2OznM

Length: 19min 42sec (1182 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 01 2021