Pointy Stick

[chops1983]

Turn ya guitar up Muzz! Sounds great mate, looks like a ripper to play. Me rike a rot!

[Akula]

Sounds pretty damn awesome! Seriously, I'd love to have a sound like that. What sorta amp you running that through? Love the song as well.

[Cam]

Sounds great Muzz! The guitar turned out great

[Muzz]

Cheers guys, I was just so relieved that it all fitted together when it came time to assemble. I am still in a bit of shock that it did. I am so pleased that I hung out for the super jumbo frets, I do not know why they make the fretboard feel good, because your fingers don't touch the frets Really enjoying being able to do both, up vibrato like a tune o matic and down vibrato like a strat, on the one guitar.

Akula in that vid the guitar was just running through a POD, a sound card and then into my crappy little lap top. Here are the settings except the Output Level was at 12 o' clock.

Behringer make an equivalent to POD but I have never heard what they are like.

Here's where I set the action, as a first go, but I am liking it there so I am just going to leave it.

[Muzz]

Just saw that my vid has been labelled "may have content that is owned or licensed by Sony Music Entertainment"

and has been blocked in Germany but has been allowed in the rest of the world phew

come on Germany, is a vid of a dude playing his guitar in his room along with a tape that will get about 50 hits gonna do that much damage?

[Our Souls inc.]

Muzz - great job. I like that you had a snarfle or two that you worked around and that you saw it out to the finish. Way to go ! as far as the video , nice stuff! Just write something original and the copyright BS isnt in play.

Check out this guy : http://www.youtube.com/user/ZackKim#p/u/44/P-B4sjUve3E

double ibanez!!

[guitarkid4143]

WOW! That is the greatest guitar I've seen in a while! The heel does actually look comfortable after I seen you play it. So what's next?

-gk

[FireFly]

Awe I missed the finish! I thought this thread would still be building by he time I got back

[Muzz]

Muzz - great job. I like that you had a snarfle or two that you worked around and that you saw it out to the finish. Way to go ! as far as the video , nice stuff! Just write something original and the copyright BS isnt in play.

Check out this guy : http://www.youtube.com/user/ZackKim#p/u/44/P-B4sjUve3E

double ibanez!!

Yep I did dodge a few snarfles along the way, for example I did notice that the stain went into the end grain darker when I was testing on scraps, but didn't think too much about it, Wez' post brought it to the front of my mind and I think I got the depth of colour close enough at the bottom edge as compared to the top and bottom.

I was also all set to put a 3 mm space around the floyd in the route when I saw Wes' post on another thread about getting in as tight as possible, I thought about it and halved the space, so glad I did.

Isn't that video funny, now that is how to get out of piano lessons, play your piece on twin Ibbies.

WOW! That is the greatest guitar I've seen in a while! The heel does actually look comfortable after I seen you play it. So what's next?

-gk

Glad you like it, I saw Our Souls' Sam n' Ella's guitar and the idea of a 50/60s vibe with the 80s floyd appealed to me, I went for sort of Burns horns to give my guitar a 60's vibe. Next? I will take a little break and get my guitar project fix vicariously watching yours and every one's projects. One idea I do have though is a rounded strat like shape in candy apple red and 26" scale.

Awe I missed the finish! I thought this thread would still be building by he time I got back

Hey better late than never and not by that much, welcome back

[Muzz]

Hey Obsidianhorse and Reinhold, cheers for the messages left on the video page, yes Obsidi the LP in the background is an Ibby 70's Les Paul copy, it has the lawsuit headstock

It is one of my fave 3 a side shapes, I also like the Guild and Hagstrom headstock shapes. I had the brass nut put on it because I like metal nuts.

I went in to a guitarshop and a dude was in there riffing on it, I could see it was a 70's model, as soon as he put it down, said he would think about and walked out, I turned to the shop guy and said wrap it up, I'll take it.

If there is anyone reading this who is thinking about making a guitar, and wondering how much tools are needed, here is what I used

Power - router, drill press, hand drill, jigsaw

Hand - plane, round bastard, rasp, sureform, coping saw, spokeshave, minifiles

Workbench - I wish, just a crappy little fold out trestle table

Which probably cost me all up around $475

I liked Johnny Foreigner's post where he said that the last stages of the build were so exciting, I agree making a guitar is exciting, so if you haven't already go for it

[Johnny Foreigner]

I liked Johnny Foreigner's post where he said that the last stages of the build were so exciting, I agree making a guitar is exciting, so if you haven't already go for it

I find the *entire* process enthrallingly exciting, but early on there's a definite sense that you only have a potentially awesome guitar. The closer you get to the end without major foo-bars, and the more this lump of wood starts to look like the thing you saw in your mind's eye all those weeks/months ago.... that's a pretty special moment, it has to be said.

[Muzz]

I find the *entire* process enthrallingly exciting, but early on there's a definite sense that you only have a potentially awesome guitar. The closer you get to the end without major foo-bars, and the more this lump of wood starts to look like the thing you saw in your mind's eye all those weeks/months ago.... that's a pretty special moment, it has to be said.

Absolutely, it is a great feeling, your guitar is going great, enjoy the finishing process. When you string it up it will be a real buzz.

The sun came out today so I can finish off the pictures in this thread with some in brighter light.

I like the way this guitar looks different shades in different light

When the light hits it, it really lights up the grain, in low light it goes dark navy blue.

Looking down

My little ceremony that signifies the end of the build and everything tweaked is taking the little tabs off the machine heads

Neck

And to finish off like I started here is the guitar

where I put a lump of wood 7 months ago

Which for me confirms Johnny Foreigner's observation above.

But now it is a different season, the pool cover is on. My latest problem is I sit down to play the thing and a moment later I look up at the clock and a couple of hours have past by.

Some lessons I have taken -

Floyd Rose bridges are so much more comfortable than Fender style, no little grub screws that stick into you, and the trem sounds and feel are so much better.

A neck 44 mm wide at the nut feels heaps better than 42 mm, easier to play fast without your fingers tripping over each other, who would have thought your fingers can feel a 1.5 to 2 mm difference

The feel of a neck finish affects the experience of playing, when it is lovely and smooth you just want to keep playing.

Happy building everyone

[MuffinPunch]

This guitar really turned out nice Muzz! You should put the image of the block of wood up next to the new image of the guitar by the pool. Link works too I guess, but it would be cool to see them together!

[Our Souls inc.]

The sun came out today so I can finish off the pictures in this thread with some in brighter light.

Happy building everyone

You = Success.

Very nice guitar Muzz. With a twist on the headstock that makes me grin everytime I read it......... IbeMuzz.....

on a side note, is your pool water clear when you open up or is it green?

[Muzz]

This guitar really turned out nice Muzz! You should put the image of the block of wood up next to the new image of the guitar by the pool. Link works too I guess, but it would be cool to see them together!

Cheers MuffinPunch, OK so here is the Jenny Craig version of this thread in the next two photos, I'm off to check how yours are going now.

Before

After

The bottom photo is saying to the one at the top, "I am you in the future" and the one at the top says "Noooo I really do want to be a Bo Diddly"

[Muzz]

The sun came out today so I can finish off the pictures in this thread with some in brighter light.

Happy building everyone

You = Success.

Very nice guitar Muzz. With a twist on the headstock that makes me grin everytime I read it......... IbeMuzz.....

on a side note, is your pool water clear when you open up or is it green?

Thanks Mike, you know I saw someone post recently that they thought decals were expensive, I should point out how I did mine, I just typed out the text in PowerPoint, and set a photo of goldleaf as fill for the text, if any one wants it, the image is at http://jktate.com/goldleaf.jpg then printed it out on waterslide paper and stuck it on. All up it cost me about $20 and I have enough decals for about 100 guitars

With the pool you just switch the filter and everything off, and when the cover goes on the chlorine doesn't evaporate so when you take the cover off it is fairly clear, and you get a lovely warm layer on the top, just as if 10 six year olds had been swimming in there

[Mender]

...A neck 44 mm wide at the nut feels heaps better than 42 mm, easier to play fast without your fingers tripping over each other, who would have thought your fingers can feel a 1.5 to 2 mm difference

You should try a 46 or 48mm nut width. Most of my builds have had one of those sizes, and that is the reason I never use locking nuts - can't find them that wide

I've always used locking machine heads or used the string-locking-itself method, and never had tuning problems.

http://vimeo.com/3587762

Watch the video from about 3.15

Your build is great. It took me ages to read through the thread, but the end result was well worth it

[Muzz]

...A neck 44 mm wide at the nut feels heaps better than 42 mm, easier to play fast without your fingers tripping over each other, who would have thought your fingers can feel a 1.5 to 2 mm difference

You should try a 46 or 48mm nut width. Most of my builds have had one of those sizes, and that is the reason I never use locking nuts - can't find them that wide

I've always used locking machine heads or used the string-locking-itself method, and never had tuning problems.

http://vimeo.com/3587762

Watch the video from about 3.15

Your build is great. It took me ages to read through the thread, but the end result was well worth it

I am interested in trying out wider necks, I think the pendulum might have swung too far from classical style necks. As the technology improved starting around the 1950's it allowed the necks on steel string guitars to get smaller, but when should that decrease in dimension stop? After a certain point, just because a neck can be made smaller doesn't mean it should.

I checked back on my old photos, the bare neck was planned to be 43 mm, but I stopped sanding a smidge over and by the time it got some finish it wound up at 44.

glad it did. Wow the tap stick guitar in that video looks amazing, that is a good technique to tie off the strings.

Great to hear that you enjoyed the thread, my intention was to encourage people yet to try guitar building to give it a go. By breaking the entire process down into bite size pieces and thinking about each of the stages and how they fit together I hoped would spur new builders on. You can see in the beginning I did not now how I would go with making the neck, but the neck turned out to be one of the most enjoyable parts and wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. The thing that was probably the most difficult was the scratchplate. Two tunes I must play on this guitar soon are the themes from Hawaii 5 0 and Buffy the Vampire slayer

http://www.911tabs.com/link/?5806018

http://www.911tabs.com/link/?5806018

[Mender]

...that is a good technique to tie off the strings.

I was shown that technique in my teens by a classical guitar player who had always locked his nylon strings using that method. Since then, I have never done them any other way. It's just as good as using locking tuners, but a whole lot cheaper, and "cheaper" is definitely my favourite word

[killemall8]

Ok, i'll admit it... that pickguard did not destroy it like i thought it would. Nice work, Muzz.

[Muzz]

Ok, i'll admit it... that pickguard did not destroy it like i thought it would. Nice work, Muzz.

Oh yeah you can't resist its pearly goodness , welcome over to the pearly side.

It's funny, in every woodwork project I do I get some scrape, nothing major just a bit of bark off the shin, or some off the knuckle. You know I made it all the way through this project without a scratch. Then I was soldering up the pots and switch on the scratchplate

and I pushed it to the left and felt this sharp pain in my thumb, I look down and the scratchplate point at the neck pocket is sticking into my thumb. Mother nature allways makes me pay for using her materials with a few microlitres of blood.

To route the points on this project I had to break the rules of routing

http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-ti...need-direction/

and approched each point from either side working towards the point, I don't know if there is a technique to get such sharp points while maintaining an anticlockwise direction around the outside with the router

[necroreaper]

Sorry if it was mentioned during the thread, but I had a look and couldn't find it (i's a bloody long thread!). Could you please post the exact finishing process you used? I am currently building an ash guitar and would love the finish to look half as good as yours!

Cheers.

[Muzz]

Sorry if it was mentioned during the thread, but I had a look and couldn't find it (i's a bloody long thread!). Could you please post the exact finishing process you used? I am currently building an ash guitar and would love the finish to look half as good as yours!

Cheers.

Sure I used Stewart Macdonald stain, 1/20 dilution for the blue and Feast Watson Black 1/30 dilution.

I brushed on the blue first, using a fairly dryish brush, I rubbed it on newspaper after dipping in the stain to make sure it wasn't sopping wet

Let it dry and then rubbed it back, then stained with black the same way Click Here and rubbed back

Pre staining with blue made a big difference to the colour of the grain stripes, when I stained first with black, the grain showed black through the finish, Click Here staining blue first made the grain stripes a deep navy blue.

Then I stained blue again, this time using a soaking brush for the sidegrain and a blotted brush for the endgrain, also used Wez' suggestion of prewetting the endgrain to stop it drinking in the stain and getting darker.

When it was dry I used Rustin's Plastic Coating with a 1/30 dilution of the blue stain in it for 3 coats, then clear for the next 8 coats. Rustin's is a two pack finish, it is nice and viscous, it grain fills well itself so is terrific for ash, and it sets really hard. I brushed it on using a very fine bristle art brush, the coats went on smooth. A tip is to have two jam jars of lacquer thinners to wash your brush, rinse in one to get most of the lacquer off and then in the second to get it really clean, your brush won't clog up this way.

Then sanded the surface with 320, 400, 600, 800

1000, 1500, 2000 then used micro mesh pads up to 12000 you can see them in this link

This all let the grain show through nicely

And gives a lovely smooth and hard finish to the guitar that feels really great, especially on the neck, makes you want to rub your hand over the surface and whistle like a chippie.

Have fun with yours and post the pics to let everyone see how you are going Some day, I must put that 25th fret in.

[necroreaper]

That's awesome, Muzz. Thanks for taking the time to post in so much detail! I was hoping to finish mine with a brush, so was considering the Rustins... this has convinced me! I will start a progress thread for mine soon... just hope it looks half as good as this!

[Mender]

Excellent job Muzz, and plenty of detail in the thread. I must use Rustins on my next build. I've had some here for a while now, but keep putting off using it because I havn't decide whether to spray it or brush it.