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Guitar Of The Month - February 2016


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Welcome to the Guitar Of The Month entries for February 2016!

ProjectGuitar.com's Guitar Of The Month contest is a showcase for members to exhibit their creations and to vote on their favourites. The contest is open entry for any and all members, new or old. Winner(s) receive a featured article at the head of the ProjectGuitar.com homepage, a photo posting to our Facebook and elevated member status. ProjectGuitar.com receives tens of thousands of unique visitors monthly; Guitar Of The Month is a great way to showcase your creation to the world!

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

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 just hits it out of the park!

Tips and Guidelines

  • Upload a maximum of eight photos for the instrument in your post
  • Ensure that your guitar has a name otherwise we'll make one up ;-)
  • 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 own background as a builder helps give context to your build.
    • 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?
  • 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 professional 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 shared tend to attract more votes from the general community.

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

If you have any questions about the contest, either PM me or ask forum members; we're a helpful bunch!

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!

:crowdwaits:

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hello to everyone!
My name is Mike (Mikhail Sokolov).
I'm from Russia and today I want to show you my first experience in guitar building.
I'm owner of guitar repair workshop over 10 years and have experience in all possible types  of guitar repair, but it's first time when I made my own guitar by my hands.
I made it for myself but friend fall in love and bought it on third day after I finish guitar))

So, my first guitar is called "Fresco".
Specifications:
body - sapele with maple top;
neck - maplesapele/maple with rosewood fingerboard, 24 jescar frets, 25,5" scale, bolt-on
tuners and bridge - Gotoh
pickups - Fokin Demolition set https://www.facebook.com/fokinpickupsofficial
1 vol - 1 tone - 3-way switch
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Ultimega - 7 String Fanned Fret Electric Guitar


Hey guys, this is my second build ever, it is for myself, i dont consider myself a professional, this has quiet a number of flaws (for example i screwed up the position of the 26th fret). Fanned fret inspired the build from the start, my first build (8 string 30 inch scale) inspired the long scale length and the bendability of the thin strings inspired the short scale. The headstock was inspired by Viks Guitars, body was inspired by ESP Forest GT, and the neck join from a couple of guitars ive seen floating around the internet. Build time was 3 months, starting in 2015 November and finished in 2016 January. This guitar has been quiet the debate over a few facebook groups such as "The Electric Guitar Builders Resource", "Music Discussion - Brought to you by GP", and quiet a few others, which i also have been documenting my build over the period of time, which gave me quiet a number of people following the progress.

25 - 30 inch scale

F# Tuning, 9 - 72 gauges

Calibrated Bareknuckle 8 String Juggernauts (slanted them myself)

walnut fretboard
fir pine body
plywood strips

black leather dye
solarez

clean sound example so far on neck pickup
https://www.facebook.com/TMProjection/videos/vb.798705290/10156411014380291/?type=3&theater

More photos
https://www.facebook.com/TMProjection/posts/10156438429930291

Personal Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TMProjection

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Afterimage Guitars - MSR6 "Catalyst"

After completing my first mutliscale build aroung a year ago I was hooked with the concept and decided I needed a 6-string equivalent to complement the original 7-string build. Again, sticking to my theory that each build should be an excuse to try new ideas, I decided to throw in a few extra features and construction methods to the mix. The chambered body reduces the total weight to a bantam 3.5 kilos. The bound body and neck, along with the brushed chrome covered pickups give off an aged edge, while the use of fan frets, active electronics and an ultra-slim neck mean that this is anything but a vintage rocker.

  • Body - Chambered Tasmanian Blackwood
  • Top - Figured Eucalyptus with cream binding
  • Neck - 5-piece Tas Blackwood and Celery Top Pine with Jarrah accents, carbon fibre reinforcement
  • Headstock - 3x3 configuration, with matching figured Eucalyptus headplate, cream binding
  • Fretboard - Gidgee with Cheesewood "ring" fret markers, cream binding
  • Scale length - 26" - 25", 9th fret perpendicular
  • Radius - 16"
  • Trussrod - Allied Lutherie
  • Tuners - Hipshot Open Gear Grip Lock in chrome
  • Frets - Medium nickel silver
  • Nut - Bone, artificially aged to match binding
  • Pickups - EMG 57 bridge, EMG 66 neck in brushed chrome
  • Bridge - ABM independent saddles in chrome, through-body strung
  • Electronics - 1x vol, 1 x 3-way toggle
  • Finish - Danish Oil

Build thread located here

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My Second guitar is the "Weave Tele"

I've been a wood carver for longer than I want to admit, and a guitarist for even longer.  2 years ago I started on the quest to meld the 2 together.  My goal was to make one of a kind carved guitars that weren't just a wall hanging piece of eye candy but would be fully gigable while not breaking the bank.  I source the parts from various locations until I can get all my templates finished. 

The body is Pauwlonia, with a maple neck with maple fretboard. The electronics are GFS pickups and pots. (This is how I keep the price down).

I by no means am a professional luthier and have no formal training other the what I've learned myself through trial and error.

Standard 25 1/2" scale.

The Finish is an Orange Shellac base with a Wipe on Poly clear all hand applied via a French polish.  The carving is all hand done in my living room as it's too darn cold to do it out in my shop/barn.

Hope you all enjoy.

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Oxbow Guitars - "ADS" Bass

I was approached by a client who couldn't decide between buying a stock Rickenbacker 4003 or commissioning a custom build.

After going through all the options available, he decided to take the plunge, settling on a design that married some Ric features with some more contemporary appointments.

As the first of this design that I've built, it has inherited the name "ADS" from Andy Dixon-Smith, the fellow who commissioned it.

Many of the parts on this bass are bespoke, and some, as far as I know are unique.

34" Scale, neck through, strung with Roto flatwounds, tuned BEAD. 10"-16" compound radius.

Pomelle Bubinga/Wenge 9 piece neck with Maple accents.

Wenge wings.

1 piece Pomelle Bubinga 10mm top and matching headstock facing.

Ebony board with Ebony binding.

22 jumbo frets.

Bison horn nut.

Twin 2 way truss rods, parallel to centre line with magnetic grain matched truss rod cover.

5.5mm carbon reinforcement rods installed parallel with board edges.

Schaller M45 tuners in vintage copper.

Hipshot R bridge (brass) custom finished by Schaller in vintage copper.

Lace Alumitone Bassbar 3.5 pickups custom finished by Schaller in vintage copper.

Volume/volume/tone control configuration, all push/push pots with coil split per pickup and series/parallel on the tone.

Dual treble bleed capacitor/resistor circuits on each volume, .047uF tone cap, all NOS paper in oil cpacitors.

Vintage push back wiring throughout.

Schaller strap locks in vintage copper.

Switchcraft barrel output jack custom finished by Schaller in vintage copper.

Copper and abalone "bullseye" fretboard markers in "Z" configuration.

Copper and Luminlay "bullseye" side dot markers.

Copper cavity shielding.

Magnetic cavity cover cut from grain matched Wenge

Maple and dyed black Pearwood binding all round, no plastic!

You can see more shots of this bass, including some progress pictures on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/oxbowguitars

I build, repair and customise guitars for a living out of my workshop in Worcestershire, UK. Aside form a short lived stint building violins at night school, I'm completely self taught. All my guitars are built using handheld manual and power tools only. I have nothing against CNC, just don't have/use one myself.

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Hi

My third 'full build' for a bass and my first single-cut - Introducing "Sow's-Ear Purse Bass"

The problem with single cut bass guitars is that they can be stupendously ugly.  This was a commissioned by a guy who had spotted a build thread of one of my more conventional basses that I'd built for our own band's bassist.  I'm a hobby builder - I don't have a workshop or garage and build on the back patio or, when it's raining, a small spare bedroom - but the guy had been wooing me on the subject for a while and, heck, there's only a certain amount of wooing a guy can take before weakening :D

My plan was to try to make it not quite so butt-ugly as some, but meet the specific spec that Kert (the guy in question) was after.  This included: Single-cut; P-J type; pickup covers; lightweight; asymmetric headstock; wide tonal palette, drop D on bottom string.

Wood and hardware spec:

  • Camphor burl top
  • Alder back
  • Thru-neck mahogany/walnut/mahogany with ebony fretboard
  • Camphor pickup covers with ebony inlay
  • 34" long-scale, 4-string
  • Di Marzio P+J passive pickups
  • Seymour Duncan 2-band powered EQ
  • Hipshot ultra-lite tuners
  • D'Addario Chromes Strings
  • Household polyurethane varnish finish, wiped on.  Neck finish, tru-oil, slurried and buffed
  • Final Weight 7lb 13oz

The design itself tried to minimise the visual impact of the 'whale bulge' of the top bout by having a flow to the bottom horn, reflected a little in the shape of the headstock

My website is ajrguitarmods.co.uk

And the full build thread is here

Thanks for looking! :)

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Hello everyone, this is my first build. I call it SolariS .

Gabon body,

Spalted Maple top and matching headstock,

5 piece maple-wenge bolt on

24.5-27.5 scale 12 gauge strings (7 string)

Optic fibers for side dots

27 frets, planets in nebula inlays

EMG 707x in neck, EMG 81x in bridge

Spretzel locking tuners

The button in the electronics cover is to turn the optic fibrers` led on/off

 

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Hello All, I'm John Hawkins from Las Vegas Nevada. I have a little home workshop where I've built around 30 guitars over the last 10 years. I'm a lifelong woodworker, and I dreamed of making guitars from the time that I was a youngster. 


I do as much as I can "in house". This includes designing, and building my own pickups, making my own plastic parts,  making my own truss rods, and some hardware items. This gives me almost full freedom of design, and allows me to create unique instruments.
I prefer simple designs, but to add distinction, I like to have uncommon elements in my guitars, and basses so they stand out without being too elaborate.
As with all of my Surf flavored guitars, This one's named after a beach.


"The Redondo"


The original idea for the guitar was focused on the pickup. I had a vintage Fender XII in for some repair. I thought the pickups were pretty cool, but that they looked clumsy oriented square in the offset body. I like making unique custom pickups, so this was a good opportunity to put my design idea of an angled variation of an uncommon Fender pickup in an offset body into use.


The Body:  One piece African Mahogany. It came from a magnificent plank that was 17 feet long, and 15 inches wide. The shape is original, but heavily inspired by a Mustang.


The Pickup: The electronics are definitely the heart of this one. When I laid out the pickup design, I oriented the angle to conform with the design of the body. The spacing was adjusted so the strings would lay directly over the poles. Although I had an idea how the pickup would sound, I wasn't certain so I built two completely different prototype pickup styles. One has .790 AlNiCo V rods with 42 gauge wire, and the other steel poles, ceramic magnets, and 43 gauge. The coil forms on both are 13 mm tall with 12 mm pole spacing. I tried the rod magnet version first. It sounded so good that I didn't feel the need to even try the other. It's design would make it inherently darker, and I didn't need that. I vacuum form my own covers, so the pure white plastics are like icing on the cake. 


The Hardware:  There's nothing special about the hardware. I used some good quality Schaller copy tuners, and an inexpensive top loading hardtail strat style bridge. I thought the top needed a little more chrome, so I added the stratocaster jackplate. I finished it off with a tele dome knob.

 
The Neck:  I love one piece necks! Nothing could be more basic in design, but the aesthetic of the seamless look is so elegant. Besides the walnut fillet on the back side to conceal the traditional cambered truss rod, it came out of a single billet of hard maple. It's like "sculpture with a function". It's a 25.5 scale length with big jumbo frets.


The Finish:  This is my version of what Epiphone called "Silverfox" in the early sixties. The solid color finish with contrasting grain filler is tricky to get right, but the final result is worth the effort. I never visualized this one as anything other than blue, and it worked great on this guitar.
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