reantel Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 I'm starting my guitar for my Senior Project. I based my design from this topic: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=36476 Details: -2 piece Alder body -Long tenon set Birdseye maple neck -Probably a deep red died 1/4" Quilted Maple top......depending on what it looks like when i get it in the mail. -Ebony Acoustic StewMac Bridge.....I want to put a Piezo Acoustic Bridge Pickup in it as well as a Humbucker and a Fast Track 2 at the neck/middle What I can't decide on is the fretboard....I want a 28 fret board but i'm stuck on what to make it out of....it makes sence to do an ebony board to match the bridge, but could i get away with a different wood like cocobolo or something with it looking good? Here is a ROUGH AutoCad mock up with just a black bridge and black fretboard, representing ebony. Your thoughts and opinions are needed here . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 looks like a hell of a lot of frets that you arent going to be able to reach to me. apart from that looks fine and dandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 looks like a hell of a lot of frets that you arent going to be able to reach to me. Agreed. Why go through the trouble of adding all those frets if you can't reach them? But maybe that's just me... I find all aspects of fretting very tedious. If you design your neck pocket carefully, you could cut out some of that body and make the frets reachable. Extending the tenon a long ways into the body (under the maple) would be an easy way to make the neck joint strong enough with a massive cutaway, so it sounds like you're on the right track with that. could i get away with a different wood like cocobolo or something with it looking good? I don't think cocobolo ever looks bad. I like it better than plain ol' ebony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhead28 Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 I agree as well. If you're going with a deep set tenon, you can surely reshape that body a bit for better fret access. The 24th even looks pretty hard to get to. That being said, it's a cool design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 i'd redesign it ala the Washburn EC-29, give it a super deep cutaway for intense upper fret access! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 The body perhaps looks a little to large in comparison to the scale length, which may go some way as to explaining the top horn not locating over 12th (rule of thumb for balance in most cases) and the fret access being impaired. The bottom horn looks a bit heavy in comparison to the sleekness of the top one. I would say, reduce the body approx. 80-90% although on second thoughts the way the neck looks thin might be making the body look overly large. Yeah, i'd say the body is slightly too large in relation to the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted August 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 The body perhaps looks a little to large in comparison to the scale length, which may go some way as to explaining the top horn not locating over 12th (rule of thumb for balance in most cases) and the fret access being impaired. The bottom horn looks a bit heavy in comparison to the sleekness of the top one. I would say, reduce the body approx. 80-90% although on second thoughts the way the neck looks thin might be making the body look overly large. Yeah, i'd say the body is slightly too large in relation to the neck. Yeah. I noticed the oversized body and I think its because I took the neck from a cad file for a different guitar. I traced the body from a picture of the body...so I know they dont quite match up. I printed the template out and did some adjustments. I'll post some pictures of the template later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 I'll be a bit different. I like it as it. I love the upper horn and the acoustic side of everything. Also, I'm guessing a few of the previous posters haven't heard of a slide! I've seen a lot of guitars that have frets that might be more for show or the occasional "finger tapping technique"- see many reasons to have those frets. What I would do- make the bass side of the body hollow (no F holes or anything) If you have some hollow space in there you'll enhance some of the acoustic properties and avoid some of the sterile acoustic sound a solid guitar ends up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted August 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 zyonsdream - I like the idea of the hollow bass side. I might have to do that. Here are some pictures of the template...minus the neck tenon and the headstock i will be using. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1562.jpg http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1564.jpg I plan on seeing the maple top pretty soon in the mail and i will be buying a long anticipated 14" bandsaw on Friday so i can start working on putting this thing together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted August 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2008 Ok...I got my bandsaw and finally cut the body and the quilted maple top out. -Bandsaw http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1628.jpg -Quilt Top rough cut http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1605.jpg -Alder Body rough cut http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1560.jpg I also got: -Ebony stewmac acoustic bridge -Bone 20" radius Saddle -Black Nut -Truss Rod -Red Stain - i'm currently trying to figure out how to get the deepest red i can with some test pieces -Black String ferrels for the back of the guitar -A bunch of little mother of pearl 4mm inlays -Two flush mount jacks -And I bought a single coil template for my neck pickup...if there is any room left from the 28 frets -And i ripped the preamp and piezo out of a free yamaha i got I'm still waiting on the ebony fretboard I'll be working on cutting the neck and gluing the laminates together. -Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted October 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Its been a while.....But i've been at work. I shaped the body and make the neck. Got my 28 fret ebony board. decided to go with the reverse Jackson/Charvel headstock and a not so long neck tenon. I inlayed the neck with 4mm MOP dots, I couldn't find a brad point 4mm bit so i just winged it, so the inlays kind of vary in position....which sucks!....but its not as bad as it could be. I started drilling holes for the side dots....and this happened... ...... http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1918.jpg This was not motivating...but i glued it back together and will fill in any cracks with some ebony dust and it should be back to normal.....i would like to know how I should drill holes for the side dot now....should i clamp the fretboard and then drill to avoid this? http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1911.jpg http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1913.jpg http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/rea...yshaperoute.jpg Anyway....I'll be routing the neck pocket later this week and working on fitting the piezo pickup into the bridge. Thanks for looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaycee Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Ebony is pretty hard wood, and I am suprised that happened. The board my have had a hairline crack in it and the pressure of the bit took it out., or as you were drilling perhaps there was to much upward pressure. I would use a sharp bit and drill using just enough pressure so that the bit is doing the cutting, or the weight of the drill and make sure that there is no lateral movement as you go in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 personally i free hand it, mark the center (or whereever youw ant the dots) and proceed slowly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 Ebony is pretty hard wood, but also very brittle and chips really easily. if in doubt go slowly, make sure the drill isnt clogged up and you could clamp something to the front as extra support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 I'll try to knock out the rest of the side dots later this week. I routed the neck pocket...not as long as i thought, but it goes in a little over 4 inches. Neck fits in pretty snug. Here are just some pictures of its current stage. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/CIMG0138.jpg http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/CIMG0140.jpg I got some control cavity templates from stewmac, i will be hogging out the cavity, then clean it up with the template and a router, hopefully thursday. Then....I need to fit the piezo into my bridge and get my maple top glued on. I'll sand down the neck tenon flush with the body after glueing, then put the maple top over it. It should look pretty clean. Hope to get all that done by the end of the month. thanks for looking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Good work! How right is "snug"? Can you pick the body up with the neck without worrying? Sucks about the 'board, but it looks like you've got this one going nicely. Are you glueing on a piece of laminated neck cutoff as a heel or keeping it thin as it meets the body? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Yes, It holds in place... I cut about 4 inches of the end of the neck and glued it on the bottom, its about an inch and a half thick at the neck tenon. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/DSCN1859.jpg I want to carve the back of the body to meet with the back of the neck, and maybe do some work on the bottom horn the more i look at it the more it looks out of place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted November 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 Today.....I routed the control cavity......it goes all the way through the body because i will have the quilted maple top. anyway. turned out nice...clean rout...no tearout. I had to go with the magnets in the cavity instead of the standard screws. i've always wanted to try it. I've seen it done here before, but how is the magnet/metal attached to the cover plate? Thin magnet tape? or sticky metal backing tape? here are some pictures of the current body. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/CIMG0194.jpg http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c333/reantel/CIMG0198.jpg Side dots turned out....really bad. I dont know what happened. I've done side dots before on ebony fretboards, it was dissapointing. so i have an idea to cover it up....its like binding but only for the inlayed frets. Once i get the supplies in the mail. i'll post some pictures. anyway...thanks for looking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 I stick the magnets on to the cavity cover with super glue. Epoxy might even be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted November 14, 2008 Report Share Posted November 14, 2008 You could sink the magnets into the body a little bit. Then you can just stick some metal posts or other magnets onto the cover plate. Or you could just have a metal cover plate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guerrilla Radio Posted November 16, 2008 Report Share Posted November 16, 2008 Man, I wish I had to do a 'senior project' so I'd have a reason to build myself a guitar. Build looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reantel Posted November 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 Well. I started the inlay cover up idea and quickly realized i just need to bind the whole fretboard. so i'll just be binding it. I carved the tummy contour in the body. Once i get the neck bound i'll probably glue it on then start working on the contouring between the heel and the body. for now.... fretboard pictures...maybe next week. the whole neck has just been a never ending dissapointment. I feel really bad for messing up the beautiful ebony fretboard i got from Erik. Hopefully it will turn out better. ---Thanks for looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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