A Coffin

 

Case!!!

Hahahaha, got you there! 

If you know me, if you follow this blog, you know that I’ve been “playing” guitar for over 50 years.  I love it, it’s my top, number one hobby.  You also know that I have a tendency to try to do things I probably shouldn’t.  Carpentry is one of those things, and I have mostly given up on that.  Repairs around the house I (usually) hire out. 

There are things I’ve always wanted to do, bucket list things.  One of them is making a case for a guitar.  On a whim, I bought a Yamaha FG-Jr several months ago.  The case that came with it was a less-than-useless soft case.  Internet research for a nice hard case said it would cost almost as much as this little guitar.  Geez.

So, naturally I decided I should finally make a case.  You-tube provides plenty of videos of people with excellent equipment and lots of experience and they make it look so Easy.  Well, the fact is, it is NOT. 

What do I have for tools?  Well, I have a power miter saw and a table saw.  And drills, battery and corded.  My father left me many of his tools, and bought me a skil saw.  With these at hand, I planned my project.

First, I made a tracing of the guitar in question.  Not a perfect tracing, mind you, but one good enough to be sure the case would be large enough and correctly proportioned.  Then to the cellar workroom to see what wood I have already on hand.  This is supposed to hold and protect a guitar and be carried around without breaking my back.  Slender woods, thin plywoods and decent joinery are what we’re planning.

Fortunately I had some 1/8” plywood, two pieces of 2’x4’ that I had once intended for the back of small bookcases, that would do for the top and bottom.  Then it was off to a megastore to buy ½” thick wood for the sides.  I don’t have a planer to make my own, so when I buy, I am very careful to check the stock over thoroughly.

Then to start.  I decided on insetting the plywood into the sides, which meant using the table saw to cut the “rabbet” joint half-way through the edge of the sides.  Might as well do all of the side wood at once so it’s all the same (hopefully).  Then mark and cut the plywood top and bottom.

A rabbet needed cleaning up...

 

Okay, sounds pretty damn simple, doesn’t it?  Well, I’m not making a square box, there are angles and I don’t have a miter gauge for the table saw, sooo  In order to make the cuts on the plywood, I get out the skil saw and set up a fence and clamps and all measure of happy crappy in attempts to make the correct cuts. 

It took days.  I did manage to get both the top and the bottom out of one piece of 2’x4’ plywood.  Would have been MUCH easier to have put the two pieces of plywood together and cut top and bottom at the same time.  If I ever do this again…  (never)

(like the tracing?)

setting up one of the angle cuts for the Skil Saw.

Attaching the plywood to bottom to the sides was interesting.  Just trying to put the sides together was a project – I rabbeted the joints and used Titebond and screws but trying to keep it together with all the angles was just not fun.  At one point I resorted to using painter's tape to keep it all together.

Tape, lots and lots of TAPE

I put some bracing across the bottom.  The top would need it, too.  but first, make sure the sides will stay together.  That angled joint just didn't want to be secure...

Glue and screws took care of that!

A little blood never hurt anything, right?

Brace this!

Once the bottom was done, I needed to make sure the top matched the bottom.  Yikes!!!

I used everything I learned making the bottom, so making the top only took a week or so, not the month the bottom took.  Of course, I was doing other things, too.

It does look good here. 

 

It was not going to be a thing of beauty, as there were places where I had to use wood filler not only on screw and nail holes, but …  Well, anyway, guitar cases are traditionally black.  But there was still the inside, it needed to be padded and lined.

I spent considerable time thinking about the padding.  Eventually I decided to use floor-pads to line the inside.  It has the right consistency and firmness.  Then the cloth lining.  I had floor pads and I went through my fabric.  Yes, I had it all, including the spray adhesive that would put it all together.

First, paint it black. 

 

It took a good two weeks to cut and fit, then install (glue!) the padding, and another week plus to do the same with the lining.  Then I needed to buy and install the hardware.  

 

 

I goofed on installing the latches, but I can live with it. 

Several times, I brought Junior down to the workroom and made sure everything fit right, even with the template, you need to be sure the real thing fits.  It did!  Yay!

Looking at the “black box” I knew that something more needed to be done.  Decoupage using really really old music would complete the look.  I started by gluing the traced guitar to the top of the case.  Then the music.  On the bottom I added an American flag and one of my cards.  Oh, and then I added “feet” so I wouldn’t scratch my floor or the case. 

Junior fits nicely.

Let's Decoupage!

 

Notice Piper and Tyson getting in the pictures, they want my attention All the time.  So I added two expired dog license tags!

It weighs a lot.  This is not something you want to take for a walk.  Still, I DID IT.  I made a coffin case for a guitar.  Started in June, completed in September. 

It’s been too humid to finish it, it will be shellac’d.  Several coats.

Before I start any more projects that require use of the table saw, I am buying a miter gauge.  No one can cut a straight line without one if the table is too small to use the guide.  And lots of those cuts were. 

Holy Smokes, I made a coffin case. 

Now, to prove my friend Lisa right (she said it would be cheaper for me to buy one).

Already had:

Plywood

Floor padding

Fabric

Wood:            $25 (this was for the sides)

Hardware:     $35 (hinges, latches, handle and feet)

Paint:               $8

Shellac:         $15

Total:              $83

Cost to buy a hard case:  $65 – 85

So yes, it would have cost a lot less to buy one, but a bucket list item is priceless!  (maybe I should add casters to the bottom to allow rolling?!)

 

Junior, the cause of all this...