Build on spec.

[tnt423]

Just wanted to share one I'm doing on spec. Been meaning to post this for weeks. Need to make some room in the wood stash. Taking down a very large red maple that should yield some slabs in the 20 to 30 inch wide range. Hopefully with some nice figure. If not, well maple burns well in the wood furnace.

Here is the general plan.

Body:
Back is made from end matched cherry given to me by a furniture builder that was about 90 years old and he said he had gotten it from his teacher. Who knows how old that really is. Chambered to hopefully calm down some of the brightness.

Top is some red maple from a tree that I cut in the late 80s. It's not quite wide enough for a one piece, but I'll hide the narrow filler pieces in the burst. No Center seam at all.

Neck is old Cuban Mahogany, making it a five piece so I can get the grain closer to quarter and get two necks out of this. Its my last piece, that's large enough, from a lot I got in the mid nineties. The center strips will be Q-sawn Beach and Walnut. Headstock overlay burl Walnut and a back overlay of fiddle back Anigre, just cause I think it'll be fun. Fret board is Gaboon ebony with simple white pearl dots.

I'm doing a full width neck pocket and cut away the normal tenon extension for upper fret access.

I'm using some off cuts to make maple pickup rings. Gotta go through the scrap bin and see if the is anything that might be good to turn knobs out of.

I'm considering some salvage bobbins to make some Zebras approximately 9-10k at bridge and somewhere between 7-8k in the neck. Not sure I've given that enough thought yet. If I get a buyer I'll let him decide what he wants or let him try my admittedly unpredictable winds.

Obviously not a traditional build, by any measure. But what the hay, there seems to be a lot of people working in that direction right now, and doing it very well I must say.

Here are some progress shots. Sorry I need to get a better camera.

 

[tnt423]

Here's more pics.
I know somebody will ask, I embed a dime from the year that I build anything in every project. There is never any doubt when I made something.
If you look close I think you can see the seams on the top, hopefully those won't be very visible later.

 

[tnt423]

And now hear is where it's at.
The inlay is copper the side dots are tortoiseshell from an old comb I found in a antique mall for about 5 bucks. It was missing some teeth but makes nice dots.It doesn't smell like plastic when cut so I think its the real deal.

 

[EagleOnyx]

Looks great man! The dime thing is a cool idea. Do you always put it in the pickup cavity?

 

[tnt423]

Thanks, sometimes it goes in the control cavity. I inlaid some in back of the headstock and then cleared it to level. I think I got the idea from one of the guys who wrote for Fine Woodworking in the nineties.

 

[EagleOnyx]

The headstock seems like a good place because its easier to see.

 

[tnt423]

Yeah, its not very subtle though.

 

[tnt423]

Well after the holidays and work being very busy, finally got this in playing condition.
The pickups ended up at 8.3K for the neck and 14.2K for the bridge. They work well together.
Didn't care for the look of wood knobs on this one.

 

[SG Lou]

GORGEOUS !