Hey, folks... i haven't posted here in a while. Thanks to my buddy Canuck Brian, i got back into building again just before Christmas of 2009, and my first prototype is done! At least for now.
Here are the specs:
Body:
Figured walnut, 1-piece
Neck:
East Indian rosewood, 3-piece laminate with a scarf-jointed headstock
Fretboard:
East Indian rosewood, 24 frets, 27" scale, 16" radius, side dot inlays only (Luminlay)
Frets:
Medium-tall nickel-silver
Pickups:
Custom Nordstrand, 1/4" pole pieces
Electronics:
"Free-Way" 6-way toggle, master volume, master tone (currently not wired), Neutrik locking output jack
Tuners:
Black Sperzel Trim-Lok
Nut:
Earvana Compensated Tuning System
Truss rod:
StewMac double-expanding with spoke wheel at the neck heel (EBMM style)
Bridge:
Black ABM flat-mount with Wilkinson-style saddles
Strap buttons:
Black Schaller locking
Finish:
Polymerized Tung Oil on the body, lemon oil on the neck, matte acrylic on the headstock face
Planned mods:
GraphTech GHOST piezo system.
You can view the whole buildstory here.
Complete! At least until i decide to start modifying it and swapping out components to test other ideas.
Rear view. The aluminum control cavity cover is a quickie that i fabricated just to keep the innards from spilling out. It does a decent job, though! I’ll probably get better plates fabricated, likely from aluminum.
View from the butt end of the guitar.
Curly black walnut body.
You can almost see the Luminlay side dots glowing in the daylight!
Here you can see the radius on the top of the body. It’s approximately 16″, so everything follows the arc of the fretboard radius. It’s slightly flattened in the middle to allow easier mounting of the bridge.
Inside the cutaway. Pretty effortless access to the 24th fret.
Recessed controls. I like that they’re sunk out of the way. Future builds may be a little less recessed, as it does pose some issues, mainly because there’s some wobble to most pots, which causes the knurled knobs to make contact with the walls of the recess when attempting “pinky” swells.
Here you can see the organic blending of planes, lines and curves… visually interesting and extremely comfortable.
Neutrik locking jacks are superbly engineered, but are a little bulky. I chose to recess it, protecting the jack and cable, and giving a cleaner appearance from the front.
So there you have it. I'm extremely pleased with the tone and playability of this guitar. It's the first of many more to come!