Builds 2 and 3!

[BlemMusic]

I recently finished my first guitar build and here's a pic of it!



It plays awesome! I'm actually pretty surprised how well it came out since I've never done anything like it before. So thank you to everyone who has build threads on here because reading all of them is how I did this!

Now I'm on to builds 2 and 3. I actually have 2 more that I want to do too but I don't have enough wood yet, they will be next.

I'm doing another one just like my first one, which I called the Tallen (a play on my first and middle name). This one will actually be a trade. My wife had the idea to see if I could trade a custom guitar for tattoos because I've wanted more for a while but just don't have enough money to have what I want done. I put up an ad on craigslist and actually got a response from a great artist! I'm getting a full Japanese half sleeve and he's getting a custom guitar. He's doing the paint job so it should really be cool!

The second one is going to be for my son. He turns 6 in May. I was going to do a half sized guitar for him but I figure that I might as well do a full size one and he can have it forever.

At first he wanted the same guitar as me but then he decided he wanted to design his own which I was all for! He said he wanted one like mine but he wanted both sides to be like the left side of mine and he wanted to call it "Lightning" He also wanted me to change where the pickup switch is and change how the tone and volume knobs are placed. He wants it blue and black with a black fretboard (so I'll get some ebony). He wants the same headstock and logo but he wants lightning written on it in blue. Also he wants 2 lightning bolt sound holes.

We drew it out together on paper and here is my template I made.



Here is his maple top being glued together.



With the wood I bought I figured my best option would be to cut and glue the pieces on the sides like this. I'm trying to get the most out of the wood I bought.

Here are the rest of the pieces to the guitars.

2 Honduran Mahogany backs.





The other maple top for the Tallen.



And here is the wood for the necks.



I had thought I had enough wood for 3 necks and 3 bodies but the wood that I had bought for the necks were cross grained instead of straight and my buddy who has a wood shop and has been wood working his whole life told me that it wouldn't be smart to use cross grained pieces for the necks because under stress there is a good chance they would break. The wood I bought for the bodies had perfect straight grains so I ended up cutting them down for the necks.

He also mentioned that it's not a good idea to have points in the lightning bolt sound holes. He said that with the vibration from playing the guitar the wood would most likely crack. He said that is why you see that most sound holes have circular cuts at the ends and no sharp points. Does anyone else have any opinions on that? I'm trying to figure out the best thing to do.

Thanks for checking out my thread!

[BlemMusic]

Alright, I've got a lot more done. I'm doing these two a lot faster than my last one. It helps when you know a little bit more about what you're doing.

I did weight relief in both of my bodies. More in my son's guitar because he's only going to be 6 in May. I have also discovered that mahogany is way lighter than walnut. It almost feels like balsa wood compared to walnut.



I also got my tops glued and sanded down.



I glued my neck pieces together.



Here's my son's "Lightning" guitar top and back with weight relief and rough cut.



Here is my second "Tallen" guitar rough cut and with weight relief.



Here's a little bit better look at the tops.





I decided to make a neck template because I can use it on more guitars and trace it out on both sides of the neck. Then when I cut it out on the bandsaw I'll know better where I'm at.



Here are the tops on the bodies that were routed to the templates.



Control cavities routed in the Tallen.



The necks rough cut.



And here's a better look at the Lightning guitar routed to the template.



I work tomorrow but will be doing more on Saturday!

I can't wait to get these done too!

[BlemMusic]

More work has been done and at a way faster rate than my first build!

I got the sweetest piece of rosewood for my second Tallen guitar. I'm kinda upset this isn't going on my own gutar.


I also got a nice piece of ebony for my son's Lightning guitar.


I glued the top on the Tallen.



Today I routed the channels for the cavity covers.



Next I routed out the steps for my carve.



And I ended the day by sanding down all of the steps and it's looking pretty sweet!





I also got a big ass bone to make some more nuts out of. I enlisted my dog to help me clean it off. He was a happy camper all day today!

[BlemMusic]

I'm back! I started paramedic school in June and have had basically no time to work on my builds. I've done work here and there but have done a ton of work in the last few days since being off.

I'm going to start with my son's guitar. Here's my progress:

I glued the body together


I routed the stair steps for the carve


I sanded the carve


I routed out my pickup cavities and drilled my holes for my electronics


I made my neck and fretboard. This is just a test fit.


Here it is glued on. This is actually me gluing the finished fretboard on.


That's about where I stopped about 5 months ago. Here's what I've done in the last week.

I fit my pickup rings, drilled the rest of the holes and final sanded it.


I test fit my electronics.


My son wants his guitar blue and black but done like my first one here's the progress on staining. I started with black.




Then sanded the black on the top back before adding the blue.






Next I glued on my veneer I made.


Then put the studs for the bridge and tailpiece in.


Now I'm waiting for a few sticker companies to get back to me so I can put a logo on the headstock. If anyone knows anyone who does them please let me know. I'm having a really hard time.

[BlemMusic]

I've also been working on the Tallen guitar I'm trading for my tattoo.

Here's my progress on that:

I routed my pickup cavities


I glued in my truss rod and made my fretboard.






I love this fretboard. No binding is going on this!


I put in my inlays


I glued on my neck


I drilled all of my holes and test fit my electronics. I used a dremel tool to set them into the guitar.




I made my cavity covers


I also final sanded it.


After this the guy who started my tattoo moved out of the state without finishing it. Luckily I didn't give him the guitar.

I had to search out another artist that would do a trade. The last place I stopped at was owned by an incredible artist who owns his shop. He's also a guitar nut (thank God!)

He has done a bunch of sessions on me which has been tough since he didn't start the tattoo. I just had another session the other day and here's where my tat is at.







The next session he's going to start the underside of my arm.

He was originally going to do his own artwork on it but is so busy he told me to just finish it up myself. He wasn't sure what he wanted so I showed him the steps in my son's guitar and he really liked the look of the pic with the black sanded off the top and decided he wanted that look on the whole guitar.

I forgot to mention that he had me route down the back of the guitar behind the neck to better fit his hand.

Here's the staining pics.





Here's the guitar after I sanded it down.







Here it is with the pickups and hardware on it.


I sent him the pics and he likes it. It looks great when you put a little alcohol on it. I'm hoping with the lacquer it will darken up.

Like my other guitar I'm still waiting to find a sticker company so I can put his logo on the guitar.

[szlash280z]

I like what you got there. The guitars look great! I dig that you are doing your own designs also. What kind of sticker logo are you trying to do? Headstock?

I can't get my 13 year old interested in guitars. I'd make him one if I could! Haha. He did help design my LeSG at least.

[szlash280z]

double post

[BlemMusic]

I've seen your build threads before. I like you leSG alot. My son wants his guitar called lightning so I was going to try to have "Lightning" done Les Paul style in gold and I'm looking for some one that can do my tattoo artists logo to put on the headstocks.

My son wanted his to be the same on both sides, like the one half of my first one. It's kinda a Les Paul/SG type design too I guess. He also told me how he wanted the tone/volume knobs and the the pickup switch. I thought it was pretty cool. I'm hoping to get it done before Christmas.