Renkenstein

I'm in the test phase of dying a black burst to natural and doing an oil finish over that. I'll pop in with some results pics if it turns out.

It's all good. I've come to a crossroads in my life where I have too many hobbies and not enough free time. My last year in a band was nothing but frustration. My creative well dried up, and I just couldn't write anything I was happy with.

As soon as I started building, I knew I was on the right path because everything just flowed(once I got a clue of what I was doing, that is). I've had a lot of fun playing in bands and playing live for the last dozen years, but I find building is so much more rewarding.

I did not know you were working on that. Very cool! I can imagine setting up a CNC would be quite the time sink, but so worthwhile when you finish and gain that extra pair of hands.

I've liked the progress on your acoustic very much. Love seeing a pointy superstrat builder branch out and try new things. Everyone I know asks when I'm going to try an acoustic and my answer is always "10 years from now".

Happy anniversary of this thread.

She's getting a proper showin' and spankin' in public in January for a reunion/farewell show for my band Moire.

Really lookin forward to showing her off.

This is turning out to be the girl of my dreams.

Body sanded to 400grit, wiped with spirits.

It really tied the room together.

Looking forward to seeing where this finish goes.

THEY TOOK OUR JERBS!!!

Printing houses, printing guns, now printing guitars.

Outstanding result!

Thanks Scott.

For bevels, I use a Shinto saw rasp. I mark a couple quick lines and have at it. I'll clean up with a sanding block and 60grit, then I scrape it with a cabinet scraper. I'll alternate this a few times until satisfied.

This top was from a 6" wide piece, and the body is 13" wide at the hips, so I had to do the reveal to make it work. I'm a huge fan of the look myself, and I'm glad I accidentally bought that 6" board. *D'OH*

Couple updates on the current build:

Been a fan since the Chiefs won the Superbowl??? Whoaaaa...dating yourself there buddy! It's been a while.

It's cool you're from the area. TX seems to be a popular state for those moving out of KC. I've got a couple friends that headed down that way. It's definitely a hot spot for luthiers...lots of amazing builders down there...including yourself.

Shyoooot, I'm already addicted. With my musical endeavors fizzling recently, I find that lutherie is the perfect replacement creative outlet. I started on this journey back in 1997 when I met a local KC luthier who made me realize that building a guitar wasn't only possible by tapping into the arcane arts. Life unfortunately got in the way. After trying my luck in the local KC metal scene over the span of 12 years, 4 bands, 2 EPs, and 2 full length albums, I decided to chase down a that #2 dream(the #1 dream was being a rock star, of course).

It's definitely an exciting year for KC, sports-wise. The Chiefs are my #1 team, and I guess the Royals can be my #2 now...they sure fought hard and the spirit was infectious. I'm originally from STL, and I grew up in the cheap seats of Busch Stadium, so the Cardinals will always have my allegiance. There's always that 1985 World Series that Cards fans can never forgive or forget. The Royals sure showed talent and class, and I found myself cheering them on.

...

Thank you all for your votes! I'm well into my 2nd build, which is the same model, just a few added extras. Really stoked about this one.

That's the best looking mistake I've ever seen.

Bandsaw, hands down. The only thing I use my table saw for is cutting neck stringers. Unfortunately, I don't have a bandsaw with >6" cutting height, so I'm forced to bookmatch on a table saw.

+1 for brads. The smooth surface usually pulls right out, but I did lose one in my scarf joint that I had to dig out with a chisel. I had no problem at all pulling the ones from the fret slots.

Another to check out is Emachineshop. It's got a bezier curve function that makes designing guitars a breeze. You can also output to AutoCAD and vice versa. It's got a trace function that makes the workspace transparent so you can draw right over a scanned sketch too. Pretty cool.

I recall seeing Perry use one in one of his Youtube vids.

Renk - Siren Prototype

I'll step up as cannon fodder for the more experienced builders.

This was my first completed build. I started it in March after shelving an LP copy build I had botched. Just over a year ago I moved into a place that had room for a shop. I immediately hit the flea markets to equip myself for my life's quest of building guitars. I was reluctant to buy high quality timber for this build, so I worked with what I had on hand, which was some odd dimension mahogany and a maple offcut that could hardly even be described as figured. Where she falls short in looks, she makes up for in playability and sound. I had the pleasure of playing her onstage at a local jam show, and received rave reviews. It was a proud moment in my life.

Since these pictures were taken, I added a 3 way toggle between the 2 volume knobs, which can be seen in the final pic.

Specs:
Body: Mahogany back, Maple top
Neck: 5 piece Mahogany/Maple laminated construction, curly maple fretboard.
25.5" scale length with a zero fret and a Corian nut
Hipshot Griplock open gear tuners
Hipshot fixed bridge
Dimarzio Evolution(bridge)
Ibanez V8(neck)

3-way toggle
Allparts truss rod

Tru-Oil satin finish

I ran a build thread over at Luthiertalk. It can also be found on my imgur at the following link:
http://imgur.com/a/92fDD

Thanks for looking!

That's flippin beautiful, and I appreciate it for that....but I'm a CHIEFS fan.

I have ran an RG with 2vol pots and no switch in the past. It's cool for blending, particularly finding an interesting tone for leads in the studio. From a live performance perspective, it's a nightmare for me. Even when I have a pickup selector switch, I often forget to throw it to the neck before arpeggio passages and upper fret runs(I'm an Yngwie nut and love that neck pickup tone for leads). Getting two knobs turned in time would be impossible for my goofy ass.

Thank you fellas! It does have a sound all its own. I always had trouble with the Evolution in my Ibanez guitars into my 5150, it was just too scratchy sounding. I don't know what's special about this...maybe the fact it's Hog/Maple, but it took all the agressive scratch out of it, and gives this awesome articulate, punchy attack. The fact that I can play music on it at all has me pretty psyched and ready to go back down into the shop and do it all over again.

Yup! Chronicled the whole build for reference. I'll be building another(maybe 2?) to test my streamlined process I've been working on.

Full build album:

http://imgur.com/a/92fDD#0

Love those white parts against that finish. Classy.