JJCam's Marauder Project!

[JJCam]

Hello all!
I'm starting my first ever guitar CNC project and I want to document the process with updates in this post. Mistakes will be made...but I will get there!
There probably won't be many posts since I'm only making the body, but I'm doing it anyways!

Firstly, my inspiration for the build comes from the fantastic work of Fender Masterbuilder Carlos Lopez. Over the last year and a half, he has made a handful of these Marauders (maybe 6-8?). I'm sure you have all seen them, but here are a couple of photos.





Design elements I've decided on are the bound neck with dot inlays and the pickups will be the same. I found a used set of Curtis Novak HMB GTXs on Reverb so I've already got those one the way. Control plates will be coming from Faction Guitars.

Things that I haven't quite nailed down:
-Pickguard material. Tortoise, white pearl, mint, black...?
-Bridge. American Pro, Staytrem, Mastery? I will probably go with the American Pro for the financial aspect.
-Control plate layout. I like the pickup selector being on the bottom control plate, but I'm not sure if Faction is willing to have that layout made. The options listed on their site have 5 rocker or slider switches...not even sure what I would do with that many. I've also considered adding a built-in effect like Carlos did on the green Marauder, but that's probably too in-depth for my first build.
-Body color. I've been waffling on this quite a bit. Sherwood Green? Oxblood? Redburst? Let me know what color you would choose! I just don't want to pick something that Carlos has already made.
-Headstock color. Either matching or black.


Now for the CAD work that I've done so far. I also got the body and control plate layout from Faction Guitars. I don't think it's 100% accurate to the real thing, but it's close and works for me.



For the roundover radius, I have 3/8" shown here. The design calls for 7/16" but I think the 3/8" looks closer to reference images and I prefer the squareness.
The arm contour is twisted 25 degrees from the body centerline and then the "arm angle" I guess is 18 degrees with a 4" blend radius.





Modelling the body contour has been a little tough. I don't know that it's 100% there but I don't hate it.



At the heel, the 3/8" radii blend into 1/4".



And here's where I'm at now. Pickguard and control plates modelled.
I made another post about this, but my current concern is where exactly the heel of the neck pocket should be in relation to the bridge posts.

Let me know your critiques/criticisms and what color you would choose! Thanks for looking.

[MattK]

It looks great, the roundover radius is the right choice. The body contour seems a little off - seen from above on e.g. Strats, it seems like the classic ones were done so that the thinner edge behind the arm contour swept forward and ran along the front of the body, then fanned out to the top horn width. Like this (although this is probably too extreme):

In the renders, yours has a sort of kink where it heads toward the upper horn.
Hard to model, because the original was eyeballed with a rasp, but I'm wondering if your CAD software might allow you to intersect an ellipsoid with a slab body to scoop it out the right way.

[JJCam]

Cutting out an ellipse is actually how I modelled this. I think that kink is there because the center of the ellipse is not aligned with the waist of the body. Since it's an offset, I can't move that ellipse too far up or it will take out too much of the upper horn.

Here's a photo of my MIJ offset. That kink is still kind of present. I'll keep working on it!



Thanks!!

[HNB]

Looks good. One hard part about these guitars is mounting the roller pots. Since they aren't in one line, you have to either cut a normal one in half like I did with faction's plates or some other method of mounting them like the CS Fender guy did. (Notice no mounting screw holes there.) With faction's plates it is hard to keep the wheel from getting caught because only one screw is holding it in place. I kinda wish there were two close together ones to hold it in place better. I am curious how the Fender builder mounted the pots. I am guessing some sort of wood mount to the cavity wall or something.

[JJCam]

I hadn't noticed that. I'll probably fabricate something to mount to the cavity wall.

[JJCam]

Ok, I think I've got it now. I controlled the loft with guide lines so I could change the angle across the contour.

[JJCam]

I got the body wood in the mail today and I'll start programming the toolpaths this week.

I've still got a couple of questions before proceeding...

1. For American Professional bridge thimbles, anyone know what hole size will give me a good press fit into the body? Looks like the thimbles are 0.353 diameter.

2. I know it's hard to say without having actual dimensions, but does it look like the rollers pots will fit in this cavity I have drawn here?
I don't have any experience with mounting the rhythm circuit stuff. Maybe it makes more sense to connect all of the cavities and just deal with any gaps between the plates and pickguard.

[Deed_Poll]

Do also be careful not to radius all around the neck heel - on Fender guitars, there is a reason the edge radius tightens to 2mm or so around this point, it is so that the neck plate has a surface to attach to! Otherwise you will leave yourself with rounded gaps under the neck plate

[JJCam]

Do also be careful not to radius all around the neck heel - on Fender guitars, there is a reason the edge radius tightens to 2mm or so around this point, it is so that the neck plate has a surface to attach to! Otherwise you will leave yourself with rounded gaps under the neck plate

Thank you! It's currently at 0.25" radius (6.35mm) which is definitely too big.

[JJCam]

Short update, I've been working on programming slowly but surely for a couple weeks now. I think I should be making chips early next week.
I ordered a neck from Warmoth which should be done in 3-5 weeks.

[JJCam]

I got the control plates in the mail from Faction Guitars.
They look great but I have one issue. The slot for the lock button isn't long enough to let the button clear.
Has anyone else built a Marauder with these plates? What did you do? I'll probably get in there with an air grinder to lengthen the slot.

[repoman]

CAD model looks awesome, is that Fusion360?

[JJCam]

CAD model looks awesome, is that Fusion360?

SolidWorks!

[repoman]

CAD model looks awesome, is that Fusion360?

SolidWorks!

Have you used Fusion? I'm curious about ease of use in modeling bodies with complex curves/lofting in Solidworks compared to Fusion. That stuff breaks my brain in Fusion. I'm new to CAD though.

[JJCam]

CAD model looks awesome, is that Fusion360?

SolidWorks!

Have you used Fusion? I'm curious about ease of use in modeling bodies with complex curves/lofting in Solidworks compared to Fusion. That stuff breaks my brain in Fusion. I'm new to CAD though.

I haven't used Fusion myself. I think SolidWorks is pretty straight-forward but I've been using it for 6 years. If you're used to direct modelling like in Mastercam, it will probably still be confusing.