Question

Posted by BILL GRONER on February 16, 2016 at 6:22pm

I am new to this forum, and new to building a guitar.  I have started my first one.  I would like to put the jack hole in the wall while I still have 4 walls not glued together.  I have purchased a pickup with a jack and also a volume and tone control.  My walls are 1/4" thick.  Does anyone know what size hole I need to put through the wall and do I need to put a counterbore in?  I don't remember the name of the unit, but I bought it from CB Gitty and it was $26.99.   Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks! 

I know my avatar is a Kalimba, but I have yet to build my guitar.  The Kalimba was last year's project.

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Replies

  • BILL GRONER February 17, 2016 at 5:31pm

    This is where I'm at so far.  The aluminum bar is there for alignment.  It's a very snug fit.  It sits 1/8 lower than the top lid.  I did this so the finger board would sit 1/8" above the lid.  I have a piece of 1/8 basswood cut and sitting on top of the aluminum in the one picture to take up the space to the lid.  My question is, do I glue the 1/8" basswood piece to the neck then to the bottom of the lid or not?

    IMG_1698.JPG

    IMG_1699.JPG

  • BILL GRONER February 17, 2016 at 5:21pm

    Another question.........I have the neck running through my homemade box.  Do I glue the neck to the bottom of the top cover?  Right now I don't have the top or bottom enclosed, I don't want to build it wrong, so any help with this would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Bill

  • Bama Hound February 17, 2016 at 3:20pm

    I have been making furniture for years and I can tell you very painful lessons on doing any machining based on pieces that you don't have in your hot hand. The time you supposedly have saved never outweighs the Oh ****! moment. FWIW. 

  • Thomas "Duck" Petry February 16, 2016 at 7:07pm

    A good investment for your tools would be a cheap caliper to measure things.  Always better to know how big a whole needs to be before you drill it.  At $9.99 it will pay for itself really fast.

    http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-composite-digital-caliper-93293...

    • BILL GRONER > Thomas "Duck" Petry February 17, 2016 at 11:06am

      Thanks guys.  What I was looking for was the diameter of the jack and the length.  It's no big deal, my order from CB Gitty will be here tomorrow and I'll check the sizes for myself.  I have been a machinist for the last 48 years, so I have plenty of calipers, mics, etc.  Just thought if I knew what size the jack was I would pop the hole in the side wall today. 

      Again, thanks to all that replied.

      Bill

    • MadGomer > BILL GRONER February 17, 2016 at 1:05pm
      The OD should be pretty standard, but the lengths do vary so you'll want to measure that in hand if they're not clearly stating the thread length.
  • MadGomer February 16, 2016 at 6:38pm
    3/8" is the typical hole size for the jack I believe. Probably need to counterbore in order to get washer and but on it, you'll have to compare your jack length to box wall thickness.
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