KnightroExpress Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 Hello all! I've decided to keep a thread going for my main project guitar, as I'd like to post more regularly here on PG. This guitar is 100% my design, though I have had to make a few small changes to fit some specific measurements that I'll be graded on. I'll consider this one a prototype and adjust the design as it develops. Specs: 25.5" scale Mahogany body Maple neck Indian rosewood fretboard Single coil neck PU Humbucker bridge PU So why 'Voyager'? First, space and spacecraft are awesome. In fact, I just left a career in satellite network coordination, which was very challenging and rewarding. Getting back to my point, the name represents both my love of space and my journey from an intensely technical job to a creative field that I love even more. Enough of my life story though, here are some pics of what I've done so far. Manual drafting is fun, but I'm faster in CAD. The headstock. I think the top edge continuing the neck taper looks cool, but I suppose I won't know for sure until it's all done. Headstock template on 1/4" MDF. Back to drafting, I'm getting started on the body. Neck pickup Hardware placed to make sure everything will fit ok. No, I'm not making a box. That's just the overall size boundaries I'd like to stick to. Modified neck pocket. That's it for now, I'll post more of the body design later. Thanks for taking a look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 20, 2014 Report Share Posted November 20, 2014 The headstock. I think the top edge continuing the neck taper looks cool Me too. ...that I'll be graded on. Really? This is a project for a class? What class? (Cool) It's nice to see some old drafting tools, brings back some good memories. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Thanks Scott! I'm currently attending the guitar craft program at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. A big chunk of my curriculum is the design and fabrication of a guitar for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 21, 2014 Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 That sounds like a cool class. Awfully long commute from Tampa though....... SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Haha yeah, it was a loooong drive. I was in the Army for the last 6 years, so we moved quite a bit. From Tampa to Georgia, then central California, then Baltimore, now back to Cali. When my program is done, we'll be moving back to Tampa and finally settling down a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2014 Alright, time for some body stuff. My main inspiration here was the Ibanez JS/Radius series. I'm a huge Satriani fan and love the feel of his signature series, aside from the square neckplate business. I'm shooting for a similar overall size and feel, but with my personal style and a few little changes. So this is pretty much it. It starts as a concept sketch and gets redrawn until I like it, then I recreate it in CAD. I intend to carve it like the JS/Radius: I like having a full depth control cavity paired with slim contours. Hopefully, I can pull it off. Time to make a template! The relevant bits of my plan are traced. Then, the trace is adhered to 1/2" MDF. After a trip to the bandsaw and spindle sander. It's all hand work from here. Here are my tools for now: a dowel and some little blocks. The control cavity is first cut out with a scroll saw, then taken close to the line on the spindle sander. This is pretty much ready to go. Oh! As for finish... I'm also a big Vai fan and have been drooling over his new seafoam green JEM, so that's gonna be the color on this one. Thanks for checking in! I'm currently working on the neck, so I'll have an update with some pics for that soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff St. Germaine Posted November 22, 2014 Report Share Posted November 22, 2014 Great looking design! I'm looking forward to seeing this take shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2014 Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Nice design. Looks a bit familiar though... more pics here>> I know it is extremely hard to be original, so no problems from my side... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Thank you, and wow those are very similar. I assure you that I didn't set out to copy anyone. I'd say that yours is much prettier, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Time to move on to the neck. Just plain maple, nothing fancy. It's tough to see, but I've drafted the outer dimensions of my neck on here. Truss rod rout and rough taper done. This is new to me. I usually use silicone, but they have little neoprene strips here. I kinda like this way better, it's less gooey. Oh good, it fits. Clamped up overnight. For some reason, I didn't take a pic of the fretboard by itself. Unclamped. Cutting fret slots on a vertical mill is time consuming, but very accurate. After slotting and tapering. Marking for dots. They'll be simple 1/4" MOP. Dot holes drilled. Side dots too! Redrafting for tuner placement. Hey, there they are. Roughly cut out and sanded. Still needs a lot of refinement. Here's a little heel template. I wish I had pics of the pin router, it's pretty cool. Still needs sanding, but at least it's in the right shape. Here, I've marked for thickness. The blue tape is on the very back of the nut support and represents the start of the headstock scoop. The scoop is cut, and the remaining headstock thickness is Safe-T-Planed away. Better view. Still needs sanding. That's it for today, thanks for taking a look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 That's it for today I'd call that a pretty productive day! I'll bet you're having fun with all those big boy toys. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted November 24, 2014 Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Thank you, and wow those are very similar. I assure you that I didn't set out to copy anyone. I'd say that yours is much prettier, anyway. He he, no problem. Lets just agree that we both have excellent taste! I'm really curious how you guitar will look in the end. And I'm sure yours will be very nice too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2014 Scott- I am indeed! I'll be sad to leave, but happy to have had the experience. Peter- Thank you very much, and I'll agree to that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2014 Here we go, more neck stuff! Maybe hard to tell, but I sanded the scoop and face smooth. Dots! These are regular ol' 1/4" MOP. Yep, those are dots. Getting my heel shape drawn on. You'll notice in the next pic- they made me erase this and draw on a standard triangle thing. I am allowed to carve my own shape after the next procedure, though. Back to the mill! Check out the huge roundover bit. It's pretty cool watching this thing chomp a neck blank and have a decently smooth profile emerge. Same time, new view. So this is how the heel looks after the mill. I redrew my heel and got to work with the Microplane. Headstock transition area. After rough filing most of the excess away. I decided to try my hand at scraping. I like it! These scribbles are at the lowest point of the neck shaft, I'm blending the headstock down to here. I was trying to show the transitions, but it looks like my phone liked the floor more. More heel action. Even more! Coming along! Still needs sanding and refinement overall, but it feels pretty good. And finally, I just couldn't resist! Thanks for taking a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 26, 2014 Report Share Posted November 26, 2014 You are missing out on all the fun of carving the entire thing by hand......'course, a whole bunch of other builders would like to miss that too. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted November 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2014 I definitely enjoy the process of hand carving, that's how I've done everything prior to this one. The mill is cool, but there's sort of an empty "oh, it's already done" feeling as it chews through the neck. I feel more connected when I have to work for it, you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 26, 2014 Report Share Posted November 26, 2014 I certainly do. I love working the wood, running my hands over it and letting my fingers tell me what needs to be tweaked and when it's done. Neck, volute, cutaways, top, back, waist.....I see it all better with my eyes closed and my fingers running over all the surfaces. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted December 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Hey all! I wanted to wait until I had a good amount of pics, and I ended up waiting until the neck was almost done. It's radius time! I'm going 16" on this one. So much dust. You never know when you might need some rosewood dust. Yep, there's the radius. Super jumbo frets going in. I might try a smaller wire next time, but I wanted to try some silly large wire this time. Filed flush. Bevels done. That annoying superglue drip will sand out later. Time to fill the gaps. I was excited to use my thoughtfully collected dust, but they made me use this goo instead. I sprinkled a pinch of dust in there just to feel better. This stuff is smelly and makes a mess, but it applies and sands easily. Once the filler was applied, I let it set overnight. Through the magic of the internet, it's now all sanded! I took some pictures as I was going up through the grits, but they weren't really interesting or helpful. Well, that's it for now. I'm on break for the holidays, so work on this will resume in the first week of January. I'm super excited to start work on the body, so expect a lot of pics. Thanks for taking a look! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 This neck is looking good. Do you still need to level and crown or did you sneak that in already? And what was the (name of the) goo you used to fill the gaps? Will you be using it to pore fill the body? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted December 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Thanks! I'll do the final fret dress after the neck gets some finish. The goo was just some Timbermate filler, and I'm not sure if we'll be using to to pore fill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted December 20, 2014 Report Share Posted December 20, 2014 Awesome looking neck, great headstock shape, love seeing maple carved so cleanly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted December 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff St. Germaine Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 This is looking fantastic. The neck work looks extremely clean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 21, 2014 Report Share Posted December 21, 2014 The "goo" should be used on its own. Rosewood dust will quite happily contaminate your Maple with its oily goodness. Don't use solvents to remove it otherwise that'll mobilise the dark oils further. Get your scraper out, or perhaps a craft knife blade with a hook turned on it same as you would a scraper. Take the blade, run it 45° down the shaft of a screwdriver. Go! Excellent work! That mill looks useful for things other than just the neck profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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