#4 Has An F-hole

[ScottR]

Cool is not the word, this thing came out savage.

as to the head stock, I rekon you will get away with saying it was a tonal thing. lighter/thinner head to resonate a little better with the neck bla bla bla voodoo -_-

Thanks Paulie, savage is a good word.

...and bless you Wes. Everytime I come up with a creative way to screw something up, it turns out you've already srewed one up the same way. It is always good to know that others have gone before me and learned the same lessons from the same goofs.

Of course this was not a goof! This is tonal voodoo! an intentional thoroughly thought out design feature!

SR

[pauliemc]

Of course this was not a goof! This is tonal voodoo! an intentional thoroughly thought out design feature!

SR

I knew it all along

[Bizzar_Guitars]

Absolutely Stunning!

I especially like the F hole and the back carve, among everything else.

The tuner 'feature' was an impressive work around.

Ciao,

Garth

[ScottR]

Yep....that thing is looking ridiculous.

As constructive criticism - or maybe a matter of personal choice - I'd be looking for bigger knobs or smaller divots around the knobs and switch. They look awfully big in the photos.

BTW, as much as I love the front of that guitar, the back is just as breathtaking to me. LOVE that burst with the deep grain of the Mohogany. I sort of want one that looks like that on the front now....

Hook--I had to work at work today and didn't get a chance to get to all my responses....

The big recesses are a byproduct of the thick tops I use so I can get a deep carve and short posted pots. I think I'll start buying long posted pots and go with shallower recesses. I could route the control cavity further into the top, but the edge of the carve is much thinner than the center and the recesses near the edge on one side. I also want the knobs all on the same plane.

That came out superb. I agree with Skull a bit on the knobs. Bigger speed knobs in black or clear might fill out the recesses better. At the same time I think the reflections of the knurls on the knobs looks pretty damn cool.

Nice job on the tuner shims. Don't breathe another word about the "mistake". Its a feature now.

Thanks SD. I like the reflections a lot, but there is a even more pratical reason for keeping these knobs. they don't come very far out of the recesses. I kind of need the space around them to get my fingers on them. And the chrome helps balance the chrome elsewhere. As far as mistakes there are plenty, most are not so noticeable. I have a few cases of solvent pops too. Unlike yours, mine showed up immediately, whenever I sprayed a little too heavily. I've never seen anything like it before. They did not remelt with subsequent coats, like they should have. They melted back somewhat with brushed on very thined lacquer and the polished out somewhat....but not all the way. I may go back and respray the thing later, but it looks good now and I want to play it. So they are going to ride for a while. I also am going to order some more tuners, since a couple of the barrels on these broke, when they hit bottom. The tuners are intight holes and are screwed into the back so they are useable....but I'm going to replace them anyway.

SR

[ScottR]

On 7/16/2012 at 9:04 AM, RestorationAD said:

Looks Awesome SR! I like the tuner fix.

There is a spot at the base of the neck on the back driving me nuts though... not sure what I am seeing.

This is what you're seeing.

My burst was first airbrushed onto the bare wood. Then several coats of clear were applied. Then I tinted some lacquer black and airbrushed the burst again. More clear coats and one more tinted burst, and the final coats of clear on top.

Where the lacquer was sprayed onto the neck it overlapped the burst on the bare wood, naturally. Then each layer overlapped the preceeding one. Since the neck is oiled, I sanded a fade back into the lacquer to blend the two finishes where they meet. I don't want to feel the transition. In sanding the edge of the lacquer I cut through the tint coats at the edge of the transition and got to a place where the first coats of clear overlapped my original airbrushed burst on the bare wood of the neck. In some places on the side of the neck I had some hard lines. So I went back and sprayed another dye/alcohol burst on the wood and lacquer to blend that. That worked great on the hard line, and it covered the clear area that you see. But while it sticks to the lacquer fine it is visible as a different surface. It needs to be cleared over. Polishing it reexposed the clear area. I should have sprayed the dye way up the neck before clearing it and sanding it back during the blend phase. For now I'm going to leave it and play the guitar. If this thing was going to be sold, I'd sand it out and respray it, taking care of this and the pops that I know are there. For now since it's mine I'm going to play it for a while and see if it makes me fix things things or if it makes me forget them.

It looks pretty good as is after all.

SR

[ScottR]

Bizzar, Levi, Maggotbrain, Piercefield, thanks for your kind words.

SR

Edited July 17, 2012 by ScottR

[RestorationAD]

I see... thanks for the explanation it was killing me.

So for what its worth when I blend spray finishes into oiled necks I use Lacquer Thinner on a rag. No sanding... then I just rub the line until it disapears. I am not sure it would help you with this particular thing but I thought I would mention it.

[ScottR]

I see... thanks for the explanation it was killing me.

So for what its worth when I blend spray finishes into oiled necks I use Lacquer Thinner on a rag. No sanding... then I just rub the line until it disapears. I am not sure it would help you with this particular thing but I thought I would mention it.

That's a thought. It might be worth putting a couple of drops of dye into the thinner and giving it a shot.

SR

[RestorationAD]

I see... thanks for the explanation it was killing me.

So for what its worth when I blend spray finishes into oiled necks I use Lacquer Thinner on a rag. No sanding... then I just rub the line until it disapears. I am not sure it would help you with this particular thing but I thought I would mention it.

That's a thought. It might be worth putting a couple of drops of dye into the thinner and giving it a shot.

SR

Probably not. Once you cut through the tint coat the clear will show through again. It will not help.

The only fix now would be some dye and clear in an airbrush and blend it by hand.

[Skullsession]

If it were me, I'd probably just stain that part with whiskey and cigarettes. Game on!

[ScottR]

I see... thanks for the explanation it was killing me.

So for what its worth when I blend spray finishes into oiled necks I use Lacquer Thinner on a rag. No sanding... then I just rub the line until it disapears. I am not sure it would help you with this particular thing but I thought I would mention it.

That's a thought. It might be worth putting a couple of drops of dye into the thinner and giving it a shot.

SR

Probably not. Once you cut through the tint coat the clear will show through again. It will not help.

The only fix now would be some dye and clear in an airbrush and blend it by hand.

Short of re-doing then entire clear coat--which I don't see happening any time soon, this was my number one plan of attack should I feel the need to work on that spot.

If it were me, I'd probably just stain that part with whiskey and cigarettes. Game on!

This is my current plan of attack. Aside from the shine it looks rather like the burst has been rubbed through....which I suppose it has. I want to see what whisky, sweat and hand grime do to it over time before I get too excited. Someone else will have to apply the cigarette smoke...

SR

[RestorationAD]

Short of re-doing then entire clear coat--which I don't see happening any time soon, this was my number one plan of attack should I feel the need to work on that spot.

If it were me, I'd probably just stain that part with whiskey and cigarettes. Game on!

This is my current plan of attack. Aside from the shine it looks rather like the burst has been rubbed through....which I suppose it has. I want to see what whisky, sweat and hand grime do to it over time before I get too excited. Someone else will have to apply the cigarette smoke...

SR

I am good with that. Drink Hard and Play Loud and no one will notice...

[Muzz]

This thing is a long way from being set up, but the wiring works correctly and the pickups sound very good so far....full of tone and vintage blues. I expect them to get even better once the set up is done and the amp is dialed in.

SR

Magnifico, you gotta be happy with that, what song did you christen it with?

but it's not finished until you get the cover on the control cavity

Love the little drum risers on the machine heads

[ScottR]

Cheers Muzz. Those shots were not quite the finished product yet....and she is as of yet still unchristened.

I did put the cover on plugged it in. It sounds great feels great and looks pretty damn good if I don't say so myself. I'm still tweaking the set up a bit. Soon it will go over to Skullsession's studio and get it christened proper.

SR

[SwedishLuthier]

I'm the only one that's ever had to deal with this, right?

No,Ive done it...I just added a backstrap or a cap...but I think your fix is better

Bin there. Done that. Got the headache. I was able to file away the first mm of the bushing thread

[ScottR]

I had considered that, but was worried about screwing up the threads. I ended up breaking two of the bushings any way and had to get some replacement tuning machines. They came in last night so I do believe I'll file a bit away before I put them in.

SR

[ScottR]

I did that and it went swimmingly well. In fact I now have a new set of 3 + 3 chrome Gotoh 510 Deltas less two threaded bushings. I'm going to have to try to see if there is anyplace to just buy the bushings.

And I deciede I still wasn't happy with the nut, so I went ahead and made a new one out of the bone blank I had. My problem was I had done all the calculations to get the right string spread with equal spacing between each string, but I didn't execute it very well. The spacing was not quite equal and a couple of slots had a slight angle, and the two E strings were just a tad closer to the edge than I liked. And finally, the three high strings settled or cut or somehow ended up a little deeper in the slots than when I first set it up.

Anyway I decided a guide for my nut files was called for. I set my calipers to the space between the strings I wanted and cut a small piece of bubinga. I sanded it to the proper width and cut a slot to fit over the nut blank.

Then I used it for a guide to ride my file against for the first slot. For the next slot, I left the file in the slot and used the guide to file the next slot.....and rinse and repeat right on down the line.

I was quite happy with the results.

This final shot is out of focus.....sorry....and the extreme close up and perspective makes the center space appear a little wider than the rest. I suppose it might be...but they are all within a gnat's ass (roughly the same as a bee's dodger) of being the same.

I took over to Hook's (Skullsessions) studio last night and got some audio tracks recorded.

Stay tuned......

SR

[pauliemc]

Looks good to me man. spacing is a pain sometimes. But so long as it feels right to play it doesnt matter a damned how it looks.

I use one of those string spacing rules from stewie mac a lot. Groovey tool well worth its cost.

[RestorationAD]

Scott --- brilliant idea on the nut spacing guide.

I am stealing this idea as well... I have a nice Stew mac ruler but using a block to keep everything straight is a good idea.

This project alone has given me 2 great ideas "Amber Fire" and a Nut Square.

Love the guitar... need to book a trip to T so I can play it.

[ScottR]

Come on down, I 'd love for you to give it a test drive....and I can't wait to see what you do with Amber Fire.

When I asked Brett to make me these pups I told him I loved the P-90s he made me and wanted some humbuckers that captured all their raw vintage tone but with the the overtones and harmonics you get with humbuckers. He said PAFs were the way to go and said he normally would make them out of A2s. I had been listening to some Iron Gear Blues Machines and mentioned that they were apparently A4s to which he replied - badass!

The first track is bluesy and I'm sure Joel would like to have a couple of those bends back.....but you get the idea of the tone. This is my guitar plugged straight into a Fender DeVille.

http://www.skullsessions.com/audio/riffle/CD Track 01.mp3

Just to illustrate how close RAD came to the P-90 tone, here is the same background track with the lead played on my previous build - the single cut with RAD's P-90s.

http://www.skullsessions.com/audio/riffle/CD Track 02.mp3

SR

[ScottR]

And then he added a tube screamer to the line and played a little rock.

http://www.skullsessions.com/audio/riffle/CD Track 03.mp3

Here's a quick cell phone snap of this going on in Skullsession's studio recording room - note the Hook Custom hanging on the wall in the background.

SR

[Skullsession]

Next time, I'll bring in a good solid blues player since that's what Scott REALLY wants for the audio files. My buddy, Joel, is in no way happy with ANY of the playing on the samples. He's an accomplished player, but I think he freezes up when it's time to improvise...which always surprises me, because I've seen him deliver the good live on many occasion. On these samples, I just had him lay down a bed track and then go back to improvise over it a couple of times. Nothing was perfected by any means.

Laziness. Once again I simply picked out a couple of pre-recorded drum tracks (from a Mick Fleetwood sample pack) for these guitar samples. In the future, I'd like to get Scott back to the studio and lay down a complete song with real drums - using only the guitars Scott has built. We'll even have to get Scott's playing in there somewhere. I know I won't have to twist his arm for that. Since he likes working with wood so much, I suppose I should wait till he makes a bass and a drum set before we do that....haha... No pressure, Scott!

All of the parts were played through a Fender Hot Rod Deville - 2x12.

For the gear nerds:

Mics: Beyer Dynamic M-160 on just one speaker, and another one in the room on the bluesy stuff. On the hard rock sample, I just used the one M-160 on the speaker.

Preamps: Daking

[Skullsession]

That was a happy accident to get the guitar you built me in the background of this shot. A few minutes earlier it was hanging on the opposite wall.

I've been using that guitar A LOT lately in the new band I'm in, so she lives on the wall in the live room most of the time now.

New guitar plays like a dream, by the way. Feels FANTASTIC! Looks really cool. The whole setup is absolutley awesome...nothing I'd change about it. Pickups sounded GREAT. Very focused....perfect midrange....not muddy or flabby on the neck position. VERY nice!

[Muzz]

It sounds rockin, great tone

[pauliemc]

Groovey man. sounds realy good. should be realy nice when it settles into itself in a few months to a year.

RAD is right about those Blues engines from Iron gear aswell. I had them in 2 guitars I built for myself (& then let go to customers) they realy are something else - especialy for the price.