guitar of the month Guitar Of The Month - June 2015

[ProjectGuitar.com]

ProjectGuitar.com's Guitar Of The Month contest is a showcase for all members to exhibit their creations and to vote on their favourites from each other's builds. The contest is open entry for any and all members. The winner(s) receive a featured article placement at the top of the ProjectGuitar.com homepage, default site background wallpaper and privileged member perks across the site (plus a shiny member badge in the forums!). The main ProjectGuitar.com site sees thousands of unique visitors from around the Internet so show off your work for the world to see!

Submissions are open throughout the month until about the last week when public voting opens. Polls close at the tick of midnight on the 1st of each month.

!!NEW!! Lastly, if you didn't win a previous month's Guitar Of The Month contest, you are encouraged to enter your build again the next month for a maximum of three consecutive months. Sometimes one entry in a month really eclipses other entrant's stellar work. Go to it!

Tips and Guidelines

• Post a maximum of eight photos for each instrument entered.
• Ensure that your guitar has a name otherwise one will be given to it.
• List additional descriptive information specific to the build; for example....
  • The woods and materials used, especially if there is something unusual in there!
  • Scale length(s) and other specific configuration details
  • Electronics, pickups, etc.
  • Is this your first build, fifth or five-hundredth?
  • A bit of information on your background as a builder helps give context to your build. Knowing whose build is a "first-timer" and those of highly experienced builders can change a voter's mind in the contest. Was it built in the garage, at school, work or in your own shop?
  • A summary of the build's history. Was it built for yourself, friend/family or a client? Did you design the instrument and its specifications or was it built to spec? What were the inspirations behind the instrument and why were various build aspects chosen? Any background on what makes it special, etc. Tell us more about the instrument!
• Posting a link to your guitar-building website, Photobucket, Facebook, etc. is fine, even if it is your business. In the spirit of fairness we encourage instruments made by seasoned builders to have that disclosure made so there is a more even balance between weekend warriors and grizzled veterans.
• If you documented your build in the forums, post a link to the thread! Instruments with a build thread tend to attract more votes from the general community.

Unsure what to write? Have a look around the entry archives for suggestions.

If you are unable to link/post photographs or have any other questions about the GOTM contest, either PM me or ask forum members; we're a helpful bunch! In general it is recommended to upload your photos into ProjectGuitar.com Gallery and inserting them using the "My Media" button in the post editor.

This thread is exclusively for entry posts only - any post that is not an entry will be deleted. We love to hear your discussions and opinions on the month's entries whilst the polls are open. Alternatively, head over to that instrument's build thread if one has been made in the entry post.

Good luck to all entrants!

:croudwaits

[holzon]

Holzaxt Helluvacaster 7

This is my first build, the original idea was to make a somewhat more metal Telecaster. Did the parts requiring power tools up at our summerhouse, the rest is mostly done in my living room and apartment patio.

I've always thought that more is more, so there's a lot of experiments in this, such as flat fretboard, zero fret, 26 inch, 7-string. It plays and sounds far above my expectations, but I will thin out the neck a bit more in the future when I get the time.

Specs:

Scale: 26"

Body: Swamp ash, stained ebony, hard wax oil

Neck: One-piece Maple, C-profile, flat radius, bolt-on, double-action truss-rod, white-washed

Bridge: Hipshot Fixed 7 0.125" black

Tuners: Gotoh Rock Solid cosmo black

Pickup: Seymour Duncan Black Winter

Frets: zero fret + 24 frets + minifrets, Wagner extra jumbo

Nut: Graph Tech

Controls: Single knob for volume

Build thread:

Cheers,
Jens

[SwedishLuthier]

Toddlers double neck thread reminded me about not having showcased my double neck. So, on popular demand (OK, Chris wanted to se it at least...), here is the NorthStar DoubleNeck, a guitar I built as a "showstopper" for guitar and trade shows. I brought it to the Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin in November and also to the Fuzz guitar show in Gothenburg this May. It didn't exactly stopped the shows, but it got a bit of attention...

the specs

Design Peter Naglitsch NorthStar DoubleNeck

Body FSC--approved Spanish Cedar with a quilt maple top

Neck FSC--approved Spanish Cedar with laminated maple and graphite reinforcements

Fretboard FSC-approved Ebony

Scale length 25" and 25,5

Pickups StarStruck Custom made

Hardware Grover Mini

Bridge Gotoh string through

Nut Earvana

Controls 1 Vol, 1 Ton, Freeway six-position-switch

Frets Medium

Fret marks Mother Of Pearl

Finish Waterborne lacquer on top of body and heads, try-oil on back of body and tung-oil on the back(s) of the necks.

The web page promotion text...:

"This is really something special. A few very talented players have made the combination of 6-string and 12-string necks iconic. However the design of those instruments have left a few things to wish for. Better ergonomics might be the first things that come to mind. But also pickups specialised for those instruments and maybe a better switching system to make it possible to access all tonal combinations without having to fiddle with three different switches. Add to that the pretty wide 12-string neck we have been used to and the weight of the common double necks and there are certainly room for improvements.

Enter the NorthStar DoubleNeck. First thing to notice is that the necks are not parallel. By Angling them out with 2 degrees the strumming hand can be left in the most comfortable position, regardless of what neck is being used. The 12-string neck has also been made slightly longer than the 6-sting to make the most out of the chiming sound of the double chorus setup. A clever use of light FSC-certified Spanish Cedar for the body and neck make sure that the body is really light and resonant. The 12-string neck is also unusually narrow to make playing easier while still retaining room for complicated chord shapes.

The custom made StarStruck pickups have been tailored to suit the guitar with two full size, but Filtertron-ish pickups in the bridges (both customised for each neck) and mini humbucker sized Filtertron-ish pickups in the neck positions, and just like the bridge pickups, customized for their individual positions. The use of a 6-position Freeway switch means that the guitar can be operated with one single switch. Go from full throttle 6-string bridge pickup rocking to warm and lush 12-string neck pickups with the flick of a single switch. Brilliant!

And the look! Vibrant curly maple tops and body and heads, luxurious bindings works and flawless finish works makes this guitar stand out, even if it would have had only one neck."

And some pics:

A few more pics here:

http://peternaglitschluthier.com/guitars/eng_northstar_doubleneck.html

[ScottR]

I was hoping this month's competition might roll over another month to have a chance to include some more entries......but just in case it does'nt I'll sneak mine in.

Specs:

Name.....Let's call it Wicked.

Top and headstock cap: Madrone burl

Body: Zebrawood

Neck: Zebrawood and Macassar ebony

Fretboard: Macassar ebony

Tuners: Gotoh Delta 501s 21:1

Nut: Graphtech

Frets: 24 SS Jumbo

Pickups: Klein Wicked PAFs

Bridge: Schaller Hannes

Controls: 3way V & T

SR

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