Neven Posted December 13, 2013 Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Hey all! I'd like to share my latest build with PG members. I've been here on the forum since 2003, but not posting much. Mostly collecting knowledge and drooling over others projects. Of course I tried (and made) a few meanwhile, and I am buliding as a hobby, for myself and without pressure and obligations, so it's been a joy most of the time. Let's start with the latest one. Since I'm a big guy (195cm, 120kg), every guitar feels like a toy in my hands, so I wanted to build something a bit oversized. I've tried building thin superstrats before, but didn't bother to finish them because when they started looking like instruments, I've felt that it's the wrong direction for my builds. So I decided to try with a 7 string 26.5'' scale RG-ish guitar, with wider neck (53mm at nut and 70mm at last fret). I also upscaled the body for few percents, to (sort of) keep the aspect/proportions ratio of a standard 6 string RG. I kinda don't like the looks of big bulky necks on a small standard RG body, which is what goes on with factory builds. Hope I explained well what I'm trying to do. Specs: - RG shape - 7 string, 26.5'' scale - maple/sapele/maple neck with angled and reversed maple headstock and 2mm ash headstock cap - ash body, 2 piece - Gotoh tuners in black - Fixed bridge, black, unsure about manufacturer cause I got it for trade - EMG 707 for bridge & neck position - padouk fingerboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, offset aluminium rods for inlays, filled with padouk dust & CA glue. - volume, tone & 3way toggle switch, Ibanez JPM control layout. - bone nut - 53mm width at nut, 70mm width at 24th fret - metallic silver finish w/ graphic, and transparent matte lacquer (not sure how it's gonna look, metallic & matte together?) - black dome knobs - matching headstock. Unsure about the pics per post limit, so I'm gonna go with 5 at a time. MDF template with layout Body after sawing and some sanding, with pickup cavities routed Body and neck blank with truss rod inserted Truss rod slot closeup Gluing the fingerboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted December 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Pickups test fit Gluing headstock ears Neck tapered, preparing for neck pocket routing Neck pocket routed Headstock with ash cap glued on, and shaped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted December 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Back of headstock thinned down to 15mm Inserts in neck heel Bolted on and shaped a bit Cavities routed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted December 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 Then I did side dots, regular plastic rods roughly shaped neck back Inlays done, and fingerboard radiused to 16'' Then today I did arm contour and bridge holes Also did a tummy contour and shaped the neck heel a little nicer And sanded neck volute some more, plus drilled for tuners Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted December 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 So far, this is whats done And finally, a mockup of a finished guitar, done with the help from PG tutorial Soooo.... I would like some info about my idea with the finish. I plan to use metallic silver base, with my logo in a little darker shade of silver, and then use 2K matte over it. I'm not sure I've seen this metallic/matte combo before, so I don't know if it will loose some of metallic effect, and how it's gona look overall. I would like to see some examples of similar paintjob on whatever object, so please share some with me. Cheers, Neven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 dude i dig it. +5 definitely on the scaling up i had a gent build me a vandenberg slightly larger since i used an ibanez neck on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 Very Cool! Thanks for the pictures. Rather than two shades of silver, couldn't you spray a transparent coat over the base silver similar to a candy coat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Hi, thanks for the comments! I would surely like to do some sort of "ghost" graphic, meaning it's invisible from one angle and visible from the other, but I'm still not that qualified and confident with spraying. I also don't have lots of choises regarding paints and lacquers, and I've wasted a lot of money until I founded paints that are good enough for guitars, and still easy enough to work with. I decided to go with this sort of finish because it is closest to my original idea, I also have template for graphic already laser cut. I thought I might do just one shade of silver, and then polish the graphic after the guitar is lacquered in matte. But I'm afraid the matte is gonna get shinier with time, so it would probably look like a mess after few years of playing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 I managed to hammer the frets in today after doing final fingerboard leveling, and I also beveled the fret ends. Still have to do a bit of fret leveling, and then all that's left to do is final sanding to prepare guitar for spraying. The temperature is oscilating a lot where I live, I have -5°C early in the morning, and up to 15°C at noon, so most likely there ain't gonna be spraying before April or May. Here's today's pic, I'll do the closeup another day, it's too late now to shot without flash and then the pics are crappy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 That neck is far too nice to leave the back of the headstock like that. Put a thin veneer on the back to hide the end of the skunk stripe on the headstock. other than that your guitar is killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.neckel013 Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 I agree with pauliemc, the head would be more elegant. Ta getting one hell of a guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 I decided to go along with your advices, so I glued thin maple (flamed) veneer on the backside of headstock. This veneer was closest to maple color on the neck, so i choose this one. Have some more laying around, but were much darker in color, almost look roasted. I hope this looks like you guys imagined it would be, I myself like it a lot. I was a bit afraid that it would be too much with a bit of figuring going on in the wood, but it seems to blend in quite nice. Here it is, still needs a bit more fine sanding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pan_kara Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 yep. looks a lot better with the veneer. Looks like I'll have to do the same thing with one of mine too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajax Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Wow, looks great. The back of headstock veneer blends in very nice. I like your fret marker dots. What are they? They look like a black dot ringed in silver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.neckel013 Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 It was much better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted January 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Thanks for feedback guys! About dots, they are made of 6mm aluminium tube. The middle is filled with padouk dust & CA glue. When fingerboard gets darker in a while, and it will, the difference in color with center dots shouldn't be noticable at all. I originally wanted to make small padouk dowels, but my idea abot making them didn't work. I found some great tutorials later, but doesn't matter much now, I like these also just the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu. Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 They already look great and super sharp as they are! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted March 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Hi all, a small update to keep this build alive... I routed a battery cavity and got a plastic cover engraved for it: here is a closeup I also made a bone nut (bone cooked, sawed and shaped by myself), and marked string spacing with a small saw. I'll have to test fit hardware on guitar, and when I have the strings on it, I'll file string slots to depth. Also, I did fret leveling and recrowning, still some polishing to do. Edited March 8, 2014 by Neven 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 RGs and other modern Superstrat style guitars benefit from clean and sharp work. This is no exception and a great "by the numbers" build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted March 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 The nut slots are filed to final depth, and the hardware is installed for a dry fit. Action is still a little too high with saddles at lowest, so I'll probably sand the neck heel a bit. Intonation is not set yet, but doesn't matter at the moment. Here are a few pics of the current stage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Hi all, having a nice weather here so I've got some updates... Primed the body and had to recess the bridge beforehand, to allow saddle height adjustment: backside: and shot the basecolor, metallic silver: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted April 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Shot a layer of clear with silver glitter And a shot of headstock Pictures are shot with smartphone, I'll try to make some more decent tomorrow in sunlight. The flakes are difficult to photograph Please ignore my messy workplace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted April 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Here are few more decent pics And here is a spraying template. Hopefully it won't be hard to apply to body... I have one more in case I mess it up. Fingers crossed I'm planning to shoot some more lacquer on the body, so I can smooth it a bit by sanding. The surface is a bit rough now because of glitter particles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 9, 2014 Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Ditto what I said last post. Did you solve that ding on the rear side of the lower bout? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neven Posted April 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2014 Hi Prostheta, not sure what ding are you thinking of, I'm not aware of any dings? If you mean the particle that got stuck on the very edge of the guitar (where control cavity begins) on the back shot of primed guitar, it got sanded of while preparing primer for the base coat. If that's not the one, I'd really like to know about it while I'm still doing first layers Sometimes even I can't find mistakes until I check the photos later. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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