guitar of the month Guitar Of The Month - March 2016

[ProjectGuitar.com]

Welcome to the Guitar Of The Month entries for March 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.
• ProTip: Voters vote with their ears as well as their eyes....if you have any soundclips of the instrument or even a YouTube video, do post it! Everybody loves to look at beautiful instruments, but hearing them demo'ed is 10x as important.

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!

[verhoevenc]

I'll start! This was actually finished awhile ago but the customer just now got around to taking pictures. Sadly, I didn't have time to take pics of my own before sending it out, so I had to wait.

This is my Model2J with some additional crazy specs:

The body is a chambered hunk of "plyboo" bamboo plywood. The top is  brown-dyed quilted maple that's bent over the arm contour and accented with a veneer line of wenge. The pickguard is wenge too.

The neck is also plyboo reinforced with carbon fiber... it actually worked out great! Wenge fretboard with customer-supplied "sun" inlays in gold MOP. 25/5" scale with 12" radius.

The electronics are two Rose humbuckers in JM-style housings with 3-way, volume, and tone controls. The rhythm controls in the upper bout simultaneously coil tap the humbuckers and mixes in the middle single coil so you can get strat 2 and 4 sounds. The volume and tone control just that one pickup and the 3-way selector still works on the now-tapped humbuckers.

Hipshot open back locking tuners, limited run copper mastery bridge with matching pickup covers, and tru-oil finish.

Enjoy!

Chris

 

[boroducci]

Hi to everyone!
I'll be the second participant!

I want to show you my second guitar. I wanted to install very agressive pickups and call it Angry Strat, but change my choice to more "blues" sound. So now it's just an FatStrat ))

Basic idea was to modificate classic shape to modern look,  laconic and without unnecessary decorations like exotic woods, bindings and inlays.

Specs are:
sapele body with maple top.
25,5", 24  bolt-on fret maple/wenge neck with wenge fingerboard, Jescar SS frets
Fokin pickups "ROut" set with split-coil.
Gotoh hardware.

So, here it is.








And short home video))

 

[Hackett Customs]

Greetings!  This will be my first submission to the GotM contest, so I hope I am following protocol here.  Woodworking is somewhat of a Hackett family tradition, and I've been making dust since I was very young.  That being said, I am still fairly new to the luthier trade, so my skills and designs are constantly evolving and improving.  With any luck, perhaps I can match up with some of the fantastic work I've been seeing on the forums here!  This is only my 5th completed build, but it is the first completed as an official Hackett Custom,  I design and build everything myself and all carving and inlay work is done by hand (no CNC work what-so-ever).

For your approval, I present to you... Rapscallion.

 

Specs and hardware:

  5 string

  34 inch scale

  24 stainless steel frets

  Dual-action truss rod

  Carbon fiber reinforced neck

  Sperzel locking tuners

  Kahler fixed bridge

  Magnetically fastened control cavity and truss rod covers

  Neutrik locking output jack

  Both pups are hand wound Hackett pickups:
    Bridge pup is a single coil jazz bass style
    Neck pup is a single coil rail with two alnico-5's

  Bartolini bass preamp

  Copper shielded cavities

Materials:

  Neck- 5 piece laminate (black walnut, mahogany, maple)

  Body- Mahogany and crotch-grain black walnut top on a white oak back with black walnut and mahogany laminates

  Curly ipe fingerboard

  Curly ipe and white oak pickup covers

  White oak and mahogany knobs

  Paua Abalone head stock inlay and position markers

 

Tru-oil hand polished gloss finish

Custom made flight case made by Bestincase Road Cases

 

 

I apologize for the poor quality of some of the photos...

 

 

original post below:

 

 

 

[Guitaraxz]

 

Hello Guitarists!

 

This is a seven string build, I call her “Grey Thunder”,  where the goal was to marry an old line with a longer range & modern pickup configuration. So we decided on very light wood, painted it with a vintage style  grey yet put some modern looking red binding & modern humbuckers.  We did our best effort to keep her easy to play with a thin neck, despite being a 7 string bolt on, I always consider that the player must have a good easy access up to the 24^th fret.

·         Body; Caoba Blanca, nice & light.

·         Neck; Caobilla with Palo Escrito high light and Rosewood fret board. Glow in the dark side dots.

·         25.5” string length.

·         Bone nut

·         Frets; Stew Mac medium jumbo.

·         Seymour Duncan pups; Invader bridge & Pegasus neck.

·         Electronics; CTS pots & Switchcraft jack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the process of the build here http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/48439-7-8-string-axes/

Thanx for watching!

 

Edited March 8, 2016 by Guitaraxz
pics

[Chris G]

 

Chris Guerin 59ish Les Paul

I will throw mine in the contest. This was my first guitar build and the reason it is a 59ish is, because its a bit off spec. with a few mistakes I have made I had to reshape and the body measurements are not the full spec. Everything else is on point. The story behind the build was my wife told me no more guitars mostly, because the cost and I had 2 others. I have been playing guitar off and on for 15 years and never owned a Les Paul. I have always loved the Les Pauls and for some reason they felt at home with me. With my wife saying no more guitars, I got it in my head to build one. I started to look at the kits and I was hesitating on buying one, because I did not know the quality I was going to get. All the reviews I have read online was so so with the kits. I ended up seeing a video on a guitar build and the guy was talking about find a local wood mill for the best prices. At that point I was looking into getting wood from some luthier sites and was going to pay around 300 just for the wood. After watching that video I looked up wood mills in my area and found that one of the best in East TN was 3 miles away from my house.  When I went to this wood mill the prices were really low compared to what I would pay online. They also do milling services for the prep work. Without any hesitation I got all the wood I needed for the build and milled for around $130. After I got the wood I had no tools or experience with woodworking or tools. I got the tools from my uncle and started to teach myself. I also did not know what I got myself into. I did not know Les Pauls where one of the harder guitars to build and should have picked a different style for the first build. Since I was in the process of the build I just keeping at it and it turned out better than I could ever dreamed of. During the build I was asking other builders on how to fix my mistakes and got some harsh advice to just quit with this one since it was my first build and start over. I am not the type of person to just quit and that is way it took a year to finish it. I was able to find videos that go in detail on how to fix some of the mistakes I encountered and was able to fix them. I am still not on the same level has some of the builders on this site and others, but I am on the correct path to paving that road. I built the guitar in my garage, but now in the process making part of the garage into a nice workshop. I may not have a shot with the contest with the other great builds submissions, but I figured I would try.

The woods, hardware and spec:

Body is African Mahogany and a Flame Maple top

Neck is Honduras Mahogany

Fret board is the pre slotted Rosewood from Stewmac

The headstock veneer is Madagascar Ebony

I had Shark Inlay make a custom headstock logo of my name in the Gibson style

I made the control cavity covers out of the extra Mahogany

Scale length is 24 ¾

Pickups are GFS Aged Alnico 5 Old School. Bridge is 9.2k and Neck is 8.0k

I got all the used Gibson hardware from ebey to save money and wanted the age look.

Here is the final product!

Here is the video of the guitar!

There is the build link.

Thanks Guys!!

 

Edited March 12, 2016 by Chris G
Adding video.

[KnightroExpress]

Hello PG friends! The red guitar is all wrapped up and ready to rock, so here she is for your viewing pleasure. 

Knightro Guitars- Voyager MS6 "Project Balrog"

Specs: 25"-26" multiscale, 9th parallel

             Padauk body (one piece)

             Padauk neck with pau ferro laminate accents

             Pau ferro fretboard with ebony binding, 16" radius, Jescar 47095 fretwire             

             DiMarzio Air Norton (neck), Air Zone (bridge)

             Hipshot Solo bridges

             Hipshot open-gear locking tuners- staggered

             Graphtech TUSQ XL nut 

             CTS pots, Gotoh 3 way toggle

 

I'd like to thank the PG community for always being an excellent source of advice and friendship, you guys are always awesome. 

Edited March 14, 2016 by KnightroExpress
Once again, video probs.

[Original]

Hi Everyone. I'm John Hawkins from Las Vegas Nevada. I build a few guitars every year in my little home shop. Most of my tooling is home made, and the majority of my technique is self taught. I try to do absolutely as much "in house" as possible. It gives me great freedom of design, and the ability to make unique, original instruments.

My entry this month is a seven string Multi-Scale. It's my second using this format, and my first seven string ever. The trend for guitars of this type seems to favor the "Metal" genre. I chose to do something more my style. It's a Jazz Guitar.  My contribution for March is "The Dook"

> Specifications: The chambered, one piece Honduran Mahogany body measures; 12 7/8" at the lower bout, 10 1/2" at the upper, and 8 1/2" at the offset waist. It's capped with a book matched figured maple top, and single ply black binding. The overall length is 41", and it weighs a comfortable 7.8 lbs.

> The Neck: The laminated neck is made from Sapele, Alder, and Maple. It features a 15 degree laminated scarf joint. The fingerboard is reclaimed Brazilian Rosewood with football shaped Abalone inlays that are oriented to the angle of the frets. The scale lengths are 27/25.5, and perpendicular at the eighth. It has 22 frets on a 12" radius.

> The Electronics: I designed, and built the pickups specifically for this one. The low profile, double slug seven string humbuckers are completely handmade with the exception of the bobbins, pole pieces, and magnets. They are angled at 13.5 degrees to match the end of the fingerboard. I vacuum formed the custom covers, and mounting rings. The switch, and output plate, are no name, but very nice quality. CTS potentiometers.

>The Hardware: For this one I used the Agile Pendulum bridge system from Rondo Music. The tuners are Ibanez "take offs" from an 8 string. I was very lucky to have the finish match perfectly with the black output jack plate, and switch.

>The Plastics: I made the Control, and Truss adjuster covers from the same ABS plastic that I used to thermo form the pickup covers, and trim rings. The finish on the guitar, and metal parts is very glossy, so I held back on the luster of the plastics for aesthetic reasons. I polished the knobs, and switch tip to match. 

>The Finish: The Curly Maple top is stained with woodtone "Keda" aniline dye, and I used "Golden" high flow acrylic for the airbrush work on the Two Tone Tobacco Burst. On the Mahogany back, I followed the black Timbermate pore filler with the same Keda tint that I used on the top. The neck was left natural. The clear coat is Sherwin Williams Hi-Bild precatylized gloss lacquer applied with a gravity fed HVLP system.

Thank You! to everybody who followed along, and contributed on my construction thread. If anyone would like to visit, check it out at the link below.

 

Edited March 14, 2016 by Original
spelig

[pan_kara]

This guitar took much longer than planned, but finally here she is.

Etna - a 6-string baritone with a 27-inch scale, 2pc padouk body with "cracked" wenge veneer top and a rock from the Etna volcano cast in epoxy in a hole between the pickups. 5pc wenge-padouk neck, bloodwood fingerboard. 

Gotoh locking tuners, Schaller Hannes bridge, Lace Alumitone pickups. Body finished with rattle can 2k, neck with tru-oil. 

Plus a custom electronic board inside that a friend of mine designed, that lights a diode under the Etna rock as the strings are strummed

The build thread (shared with another guitar) is here: 

Pictures:

and, a video demo:

 

[Mikagi]

Hi folks! Miran of Mikagi Guitars from Croatia here, joining the contest with my flagship model named Bodra. The one in the photos is a semi hollow that I built a few months ago. I've standardised the model so this is pretty much how I make them these days. I change everything up a bit every few months or so, just to keep things interesting and creative and I'm always looking for new ways to improve the design with attention to the smallest of details.

Okay, so as I said, this particular one is semi hollow, however I do make them in hollow body version as well. The idea behind the instrument is to blend traditional sound, feel and design with some more modern construction features. 

The guitars feature carved maple top and bottom plates. Sides and neck are made of mahogany. For the fretboard I usually use ebony, macassar or rosewood (12 inch radius). I prefer to use open gear tuning machines, like the Schaller GrandTune or Grover Sta-Tite. The electronics are the best part -Wizz premium PAF humbuckers, one of the greatest PAF clones out there. Sounds like a charm! It's finished in sunburst, nitrocellulose.

Feel free to check out the Mikagi facebook page for waaay more photos of the build 

Good luck to everyone!

 

[ProjectGuitar.com]

Voting this month's Guitar Of The Month is now open!

Click ---> HERE 

Best of luck to @verhoevenc, @boroducci, @Hackett Customs, @Guitaraxz, @Chris G, @KnightroExpress, @Original, @pan_kara and @Mikagi!