RGGR Posted January 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 Some of their choices wouldn't have been mine. I still appreciate the effort though. And I think a proper JS-8 would be an awesome instrument. With the JS body shape, is doesn't look out of wack. Eh...well.....first need to finish my JS-7. OFR trem should be in the mail next week or so. Can't wait to get cracking again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 I think the same thing Darren noticed, the body ain't round enough, and good luck keeping the neck straight with a dual rod set up. I think the tension from both rods has to be the same in order to keep the neck from twisting along the run. And like you said the finish ain't that good, I think they went for a goth guitar, but I will never use a JS shape for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted January 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 (edited) With arrival of OFR 7 string tremolo, I finally can get cracking again. Put some dabs of GE silicone II sealant in the trussrod channel and installed the trussrod. Measured out the top nut, and when silicone has dried sufficied, I will start glueing the fretboard in place. Also marked out following pic in Autocad, and printed out template. Noticed there is quite a big gap (6mm- 1/4") between the string locknuts in tremolo and back of cavity. Is that really necessairy or can I adjust cavity hole, so it's bit smaller. Adjust mentioned 39mm to ...say 37mm or 36mm?? I don't see the tremolo travel that much back? (up down, and nut bold back and forth). I do understand that with intonation of lower B string...the whole nut (and so the nut clamb bolt) will move further back......And I do understand that with maximum back travel of this nut.....I do need the cavity space behind the nut. Tight fit My question now is....in what instance do I need to move the nut further back......with lighter strings??? *** Edit **** How stupid I could have been!!! I already was suprised no routing instructions were included in the FR package. That's why I initially used the routing tremplate once posted in this site. But checking Floyd Rose website I discovered there actually was a routing tremplate for the OFR 7 posted. Great! Now thing looks much more in order, and tremolo fits closer in cavity. Trouble now is relating OFR tremplate with necessairy scale length. Cause I'm having a hard time locating marker on template for this. Edited January 25, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted January 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 (edited) Routed fretboard down to final shape.......neck with attached fretboard is looking sharp. Really like the look of this Ebony. Had small tear-out when routing. ;-( Fixed it again with some CA and Ebony dust. With some sanding I hope you won't see it anymore. Should have known better and used drill press and robo sander to sand fretboard to shape..... After installing fretmarkers and side markers will continue with shaping of neck. First will have to test install neck on body, and position OFR in proper place. This way I'm sure the strings run properly over the fretboard and with mock-up strings in place....I can postition the fretmarkers accordingly. Edited January 28, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 (edited) Got reply back from apintl.com. I know it's the company selling replacement parts for the OFR.....but I guess they also handle complaints and inquiries concerning Floyd Rose tremolos. Reply wasn't very helpful though. They referred me to the offical Floyd Rose instructions on the FR website.........but I had looked there before and no info is to be found on location of tremolo in relation to scale length. For Speedloader model it's given, but not for the OFR. Strange?! Being referred to instructions again just pissed me off. Good news is.....I bought drill press. Did some test drilling today and figured I really need to take care drilling trem studs holes and tuner holes. It's kind hard to center drill bit exactly........for tuner holes probably end up making template of acrylic and go one by one.......so I can use acrylic to guide the drill bit to exact position. It's so easy to screw up here....and ruin whole look of guitar. Other good news is....that I got hold of some nice custom Ibanez Chrome decals. I have access to vinyl foil cutter........and with proper file.....and some work in Illustrator the results are awesome. Shown with application foil still in place. From www.brandsoftheworld.com I downloaded Ibanez.eps file. For 7 string headstock I needed to extend the swoosh in logo a bit. Next up was finding the right chrome foil. First try was with silver foil.......but this resulted in some greyish logos. I wanted them to bit more shiny..... They look cool......but I liked the logo on headstock to be chrome. Bling, bling!!! Luckily some chrome foil was available and the results are very nice. If I could get hold of laser type fond....I could make some great USA Custom decals too. If anyone has the lasersomething.ttf file on his PC, I would appreciate it. Took Tremolo apart except for base plate and high/low E string saddle. With some piece of string I can locate the trem in relation to neck. Edited February 2, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 I did some custom lettering for a client based on the Ibanez "j-custom" script, and i just ended up buying the Laser font from fontshop.com. It was only $32 so it didn't break the bank. I started out typesetting it on fontshop.com using their sample generator, then tweaking the images in Photoshop and then tracing paths for export to Illustrator, but after wasting far too much time on it, i decided that it made no sense for me to spend that much time (time is money!) trying to work around buying the font, so i just bought it and the job was done far more quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 (edited) I started out typesetting it on fontshop.com using their sample generator, then tweaking the images in Photoshop and then tracing paths for export to Illustrator, but after wasting far too much time on it, i decided that it made no sense for me to spend that much time (time is money!) trying to work around buying the font, so i just bought it and the job was done far more quickly. First it was bit of a search to find out it was the Laser font. Time and patience fixed that problem. And athough Ibanez tweaked the Laser font a bit .....as O and M in custom are much closer in USA Custom logo then would be in font lettering. Illustrator will take care of that, though. I did almost exactly as you described. I went to linotype and in the example I created the worlds u.s.a. custom.....playing with proper font size and importing .png image into Illustrator, and matching it up with Ibanez.eps I already had from www.brandsoftheworld.com. I think I got pretty close. Still having the font would be much easier..... And yes, $39 bucks is not bad deal.......but if you're like me only making one (or two) decals it's still pricy. And yes, I know....with access to Chrome vinyl and cutter it would pay for it self selling some of these Ibanez u.s.a. custom and regular Ibanez decals online........but to me this guitar building is a just hobby....... I build a JS-7 because Ibanez refuses to make one for me. I want to build a nice USA Custom.....because Ibanez refuses to open their US Custom shop again. Edited February 1, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 I kind of have ethical issues with putting "Ibanez USA Custom" on a guitar you built yourself, but that's your perogative. And the Ibanez Custom Shop has never been open to the public. They still have a custom shop in Los Angeles for making artists' instruments, but the only way to get one of those is to either become an Ibanez endorsed artist or buy one second hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 Brought drill-press back today. Wasn't happy with quality of "Kinzo" drill press. The drill head would disconnect from axle the whole time. Real pain in butt. In solid piece of wood I drilled some guidance holes and probably will use this wood to guide hand drill and do drilling like this. Still haven't got solution for fretmarkers though........maybe hand drill???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CudBucket Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 I kind of have ethical issues with putting "Ibanez USA Custom" on a guitar you built yourself, but that's your perogative. And the Ibanez Custom Shop has never been open to the public. They still have a custom shop in Los Angeles for making artists' instruments, but the only way to get one of those is to either become an Ibanez endorsed artist or buy one second hand. ← Yeah and why would you put anyone elses name on the guitar you built? I mean, it's not an Ibanez and why would you want anyone to think it is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 (edited) Tough luck, as I really don't give a rats a$$ what other people think. All that matters is ....if I think it's cool (or not). And I think it's cool to put an Ibanez decal on headstock of my guitar. Even found good technique to put serial number on there. But to be honest......if you're not trying to scam someone else in thinking it's the real deal when trying to sell it......I dont think it's so important what it says on the headstock. In my opinion it just finishes off the guitar. Also makes me remember everyday to give it my 110% and really try to match (or out do) the real deal. Chip Foose said it once....."I'm trying to design it so it doesn't look like it's designed by me. People should walk around my designs and think.....Gosh, why didn't come out of the factory like that." That's the attitude I'm trying to put in this built. Edited February 5, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 (edited) Installed side fret markers today. Used Stewmac 1/16" white side fret markers material. With 1.5mm drill I drilled small holes in ebony fret board....making sure everything was nice and lined-up. With little dip of Epoxy 330 on end of material and firm push the plastic material was secured in the fretboard. Epoxy will take 2 hours to dry, so tomorrow will sand everything nice and flush again. Looking gooooood. ;-) Edited February 5, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 How far away would you estimate completion is? I'm DYING to see the finished guitar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 (edited) Everything complete? Painted/buffed, properly set-up and ready to jam.......... Must be 6-7 months at least. As this is my first project... I'm just taking my time here. No rush job. Funny thing, I must have completed this JS-7 copy 8-9 times already.....in my head that is..... Edited February 5, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 (edited) I gave her hips today. ;-) With the sun out.....I decided it was good day to do some sanding. Need to smoothen everything out and add some more definition. Overall happy with results sofar. Edited April 15, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genbloke Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 looking nice RGGR. Is that paint on the surface? I'm only asking 'cos it looks like your using a 'guide coat' to see where you've sanded (a car repair technique to see where the 'high spots' are when filling a dent) genbloke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 (edited) Sanded horns and AANJ in shape this afternoon. With no JS or Radius to copy shape from....I have to go mostly by feel (and number of pics). I haven't done front yet (keeping flat front surface for easy trem & pups routing!!)......but must say this radius is one nice and comfortable guitar shape. Another pic And yes......in process of getting sides (and some other parts of guitar) really smooth....I have used some filler on guitar body. This is sanded down again....kinda pre-prime before real prime, I guess. Had some small routing tear-outs, some worm holes.....etc. And yes,....I familiar with this car repair technique by bring small mist of contrasting color on item and sanding this layer off again to reveil the low spots.....I guess, I'm using similar technique only now with primer instead..... Edited February 8, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 Made start with shaping back of neck this weekend. First used course file to bring curve in neck blank. Finishing up with finer file I was able to create nice smooth surface on back of the neck. Today with spokeshave I took some more material off. As neck is not yet brought to proper thickness I have to repeat this process a bit. Spokeshave when setup properly can really do some nice work at this. Old woodworking dude once told me that wood likes to be cut rather than to be sanded. I have same impression as spokeshave leaves really nice smooth finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 Yep I am always impressed what smooth surfaces can be done with spokeshaves or hand planers if they are really setup properly. However fine grit sandpaper will definately still give the better smoothest result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 Just lilke Maestro said, sand paper to do the last shapping is very nice, I will have to say better than the spokeshave, but once that sanding is done to say 320, I found out that using a scraper is the best thing to keep the grain from fuzzing back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 True!!!! I could not believe how great a scraper works. You think it's a cheap piece of flat metal but in fact you can do so much with it. Especially the thinner ones that you can bend to the contour you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 Scrappers he?!......will keep that in mind. What I like about the spokeshave......that there's no sanding dust to clog up the small grains and pores in the Wenge. It stays really nice and clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker_Fly Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 lookin good man! cant wait to see this finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 (edited) Worked little on volute today. Shaved little more off neck. Started snowing so had to park it. This is how project currently looks. Neck needs little more attention but it's going in the right direction. Edited February 15, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Looks yummy. Excellent work so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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