Saguaro Custom Guitars

Tombstone SN004
Tombstone SN004 is going to have an ash body, color TBD. Below is a CAD drawing of a Sedona aluminum block. It has routes for the neck pocket, a center area for the body wood pickup routes, and the tremolo route.

The block is made from 3/4" 7075 aluminum plate. Here the plate is mounted to a jig on the CNC using the four 1/4" indexing pins.

Here is the block after the 0.093" pilot holes for the bridge mounting holes, string through holes and neck mounting holes. The two holes between the neck mounting holes will be threaded so the guitar body can be hung during painting.

The block is removed and the holes are drilled on a drill press.

Below is a CAD image of the neck pocket.

My CNC router will cut aluminum, but slowly. Using a 0.250" end mill, I can only mill at 30 inches per minute and a 0.03" cutting depth. It took over an hour to mill the neck pocket.

The 7075 aluminum plate is 0.750" thick. The finished aluminum block needs to be 0.600" thick. To thin the plate, a 0.150" "thin cut" is done. Below is the CAD image of the thin cut.

The thin cut is done with a 0.250" end mill, again 30 ipm with a 0.03" depth of cut. Here it is after the thin cut.

Below is a CAD image of the main cutout.

The main cutout is also done with the 0.250" end mill. It takes about an hour and a half to cut it out.

The body is built with a top and a bottom, the aluminum block will be sandwhiched between them. The body bottom is mounted topside up on the CNC. The first route is for the aluminum block. Here is the cad drawing of the block route.

The block route is cut with a 0.250" end mill.

Here is how the aluminum block fits in the route.

The neck route is then cut with a 0.250" end mill.

Here is the CAD image for the pickup routes.

The pickup routes are done with a 0.250" end mill.

The control route is done with a 0.500" end mill.

The Electrosocket route is done with a 0.500" ball mill.

The the wiring channels between the neck and bridge pickup routes and bridge pickup route and control route are cut with a 0.250" end mill.

Here is the completed topside of the body bottom.

The body bottom is flipped over on the CNC. A "wedge" route is done with a 0.750" end mill to create the thin neck pocket and wedge shaped body.

The string anchor plate route is then done with a 0.500" end mill.

The cover for the string anchor plate is recessed in the body. The anchor plate cover route is done with a 0.250" end mill.

The body needs a 1/8" roundover. The roundover bit is 0.350" deep so a precut is needed to make room for the roundover bit. The precut is done with a 0.500" end mill.

The 1/8" roundover is done with a roundover bit with the bearing removed. Here it is routing the roundover.

The main outline cut is done with a 0.500" end mill. Here is a CAD image of the main outline cut.

Here it is after the main outline cut.

The body top is mounted upside down on the CNC.

The block route is routed with a 0.250" end mill.

Here it is with the block mounted.

The wiring channels are routed with a 0.250" ball mill.

The electrosocket route is cut with a 0.500" ball mill.

Here is the backside of the body top after routing.

The top is flipped over on the CNC.

The bridge mounting screw holes and string through holes are drilled with a 0.093" end mill.

The neck route is done with a 0.250" end mill.

Then the pickup routes are also done with a 0.250" end mill.

The control route was cut with a 0.500" end mill.

The body needs a 1/8" roundover. The roundover bit is 0.350" deep so a precut is needed to make room for the roundover bit. The precut is done with a 0.500" end mill.