First design and build... a little nervous

[LPJones]

Something like this?

Slightly offset, just like the body.

Actually I didn't see that until after I wrote the message and looked closer at the previous pictures. The headstock looks good but IMO a little long, I think it would look that much better with the stubbier Flying V headstock.

 

[MRJ5]

Very nice! Ok PG or no PG?

 

[C Squared]

[

Very nice! Ok PG or no PG?

the white one, hell yeah, Black 3 ply. The brown stained ash body maybe in cream, and the green... just not sure

 

[C Squared]

Actually I didn't see that until after I wrote the message and looked closer at the previous pictures. The headstock looks good but IMO a little long, I think it would look that much better with the stubbier Flying V headstock.

Yeah, it is a little long, especially on a 25 1/5" scale neck, almost makes it look like a baritone. Next one is gonna be a hair shorter, but still asymmetrical.

 

[LPJones]

No pick guard, looks killer the way it is..

 

[LPJones]

Yeah, it is a little long, especially on a 25 1/5" scale neck, almost makes it look like a baritone. Next one is gonna be a hair shorter, but still asymmetrical.

I assume that the current head stock is not angled? I think I'd like to see it angled.. Just a thought

 

[GreaseBox]

Hey man, any current pics of the green and maybe some gold on the green? Starting to get anxious on what this will look like...

Peace Bro!

 

[C Squared]

Hey man, any current pics of the green and maybe some gold on the green? Starting to get anxious on what this will look like...

Peace Bro!

Thanks for the interest man

Hopefully this weekend, as time ( and if the damn big brown truck shows up ) allows

Biggest problem is what to do with the sides. The mahogany on the back is just gorgeous to my eyes, so I'm just leaving that clear. Did a black burst edge and didn't like it at all. Sanded it off and started over. I put a dark brown stain on the back of the neck, and it looks pretty sweet against the gold, so if the weather cooperates I'm gonna try and do a tobacco brown burst on the sides and see how that looks. If that doesn't work then a green top and au natural sides and back.

Also considering doing one with a unique carve and a set neck... but that won't be for a while, still have to finish up these two.

 

[C Squared]

OK- Huge step back, but thought this was ironic, and wanted to share this.

The one I'm holding with the plain maple top in the pic was the "experimental" version. Basically it was built to check balance, horn placement, strap button placement, my neck angle "jig" if you can call it that, etc. It has a $10 ebay neck on it, the body was $5 poplar and $5 plain maple from Home Depot, and hardware that I had accumulated over the years. I never intended this to be a guitar that would be played. It was something to drill extra holes in and reroute till the end result was something I could use as a good model for the two real builds. The problem is, once it was strung up and tuned up, it sounded pretty fucking good?!?!

The body does have some very subtle chambering, but its POPLAR?!?! Anyway, I've been playing it more and more. I HATE the neck on it. The nut width is actually a tad smaller then 1 5/8, has tiny frets, but it does have a nice chunky profile. It's finished in thick heavy poly. But the thing just has a TON of sustain, nice pop, a HUGE amount of bottom end, nice highs without being shrill. These were all things I noticed about it acoustic properties. So I decided to say to hell with it and wire it up. (the pups in the original pic were old dead ones I had in a box, just dropped them in for the pic) Wired in a set of GFS Fat Pats with some of their cheap pots and an orange drop cap. It sounds great. It's missing some of the high end that is typical of those pups, but I'm just really amazed that a few cheap pieces of poplar and maple could sound so damn good. It's Also only weighing in at 6 lbs 5 oz.

What sucks is all the mistakes are so relevant. There is some snipe for the router. There are quite a few holes in the back from moving the strap button trying to find the sweet spot. The finish is me experimenting with the preval set up . It's my best SOUNDING build thus far, and it was never meant to be played

So learn from one of my mistakes, your experiments may turn out better then you realize in one way or another. I wish I had treated this with more care and patience.

and yeah, that is Charlie, one of my little furballs hiding behind it

 

[shtdaprdtr]

well here's a photo thread of what's been going on, and it's pretty pathetic compared to the ones I keep looking at here. I give A TON of credit to the talented luthiers and craftsmen here who take the time to really demonstrate what they're doing through photos.

Anyway, here is a basic update WITH PICS of where I'm at now

PLEASE NOTE: MOST OF THESE WERE TAKEN WITH MY BLACKBERRY, SO DEF NOT HIGH QUALITY,but hey man I'm trying

Started with some basic raw wood

very raw as you can see. What you can't see here is the maple I grabbed from local lumberyard for a top. Found a 1"X8" board that appeared to have some hidden flame in it. They planed it down to 5/8" for me and I gave them $12. Not a book match top. I just cut the board into a few pcs and found 2 20" sections that lined up nicely.

After joining and gluing and joining and gluing some more, then mapping everything out, and taking the router to it, then the band saw for a very ROUGH cut, we have this, or at least, this is the next pic I have

to the trained eyes, yes my pickup routes are just a hair off center (DAMMIT) but luckily they are a tight fit and the rings will cover and enable me to straighten out my mistake.

Also you can't see my neck pocket template which I made from a big pc of 1/2 MDF, used a basic protractor and poster board to measure how much higher the mdf should be near the base of the body to allow me to cut a 4' angle for the tom set up. I tried this on my mock body and it worked great I know after reading so many threads here that there are better and more precise ways to do it, but this was simple and worked.

This pic was taken just after my router bit exploded. Body was very close to being done, and luckily the only damage to the body was top of the body neck pocket which I was going to take a tad more off and carve a little bit for better upper fret access. I use ferrules instead of the neck plate it makes makes the transition quite nice. You can also see a hint of the flame I was talking about.

I Love thick maple tops.

I had decided after all I was going to do this in green for myself with gold hardware. So before I left for work I rubbed it one coat. I wanted to see how the green would contrast with the rest of the body, and I was curious as to whether or not any more flame would reveal itself wet.

Right now I'm thinking I'm going to tape off the maple just above where it meets the mahogany ( maybe 1/8" ) and stain the green down to there. When I route the edges it will give me a mock natural binding effect and then the 1/8" demarcation line leading to just the natural back. I don't have any pics of the back right now, but it has some nice grain and a little figure.

all that maple...this thing would have been perfect for contouring like an LP..itll also save some weight.

 

[C Squared]

all that maple...this thing would have been perfect for contouring like an LP..itll also save some weight.

I was thinking about it. Too late on this one since I have already routed out the control cavity... Possibly on the next build