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Neck Thru Strat


MzI

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updates, mainly in the shade of green as in green paint on the neck thru strat

Neck Joint

2

3

it is actually chameleon paint and shifts from green to blue to turquoise(sp) to purple, i will say its beyond amazing looking dont show it in the pictures though

Next step to be to clear coat it prolly tomarrow depending on weather

I also went out and picked up some wood for my soloist, well not really picked up more like dragged across the floor cuz it was so damn heavy, purple heart. the board i got was 8 inchs wide by 3' long by 8/4 it was prolly in the 50-60 pound range. its by far the hardest wood ive ever used, my chop saw couldnt cut through it

anyways its just rough shapped right now and i have to clean up the piece for the headstock scarf joint also, im hoping to have the guitar done by the weekend and ready for paint next week

soloist

MzI

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Cool man I love That paint cant wait for That one or the flying-V B) and now You start this soloist It's like Your trying to drive me NUT'S :D

Good work man!!

!!METAL MATT!! :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

How bout some updates. The Neck thru strat is off getting a setup and having the nut cut and electronics done. I should get it back this weekend so ill post pictures when I get it. The Purple heart flying V has hit the E brakes and is skidding all over the road. WD is taking forever to get my pickguard cut. Im also waiting for a Flying V tailpiece. The Soloist... where to begin, how bout some pictures

Click here

theres a bunch more in that folder

Tomarrow or whenever ill route the final shape of the body. its only rough cut on the bandsaw right now. The neck is roughed out and the heel needs to be cleaned up. I have to find a binding bit. I checked the woodcraft site and they dont carry what I want in store so I may have to order it which will set me back another 5 days or so. I still have to decide on a fretboard either ebony or rosewood.

On another side note, I weighed the guitar in its current state which is 2 body wings and a roughed neck blank it weigh 9 pounds yes 9 pounds. this purple heart is insanely heavy I love it.

Ill post more over the weekend

MzI

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Man That's SLICK :D I love That headstock Hell the Whole Dam thing Is looking Killer!!

So Why did you Use the Purpleheart headstock anway?

And what kind of a neck angle Are you useing if any?

!!METAL MATT!! :D

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I used purple heart for the headstock becuase i dont have enough large piece of the flamed maple left, all i have small pieces and i wasnt about to throw a different piece of flamed maple on there that would be just unacceptable in my view

No neck angle im going to slightly recess the bridge which will be a carvin tune-o-matic which is smaller and is set up for smaller or no neck angles. The headstock is set at 15 degrees. if tou were wondering thats yellow trace paper on the face of the headstock. I use that as a template for when im shaping it and laying out the tuners

MzI

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on the tearout you need to reshape the entire crotch to get beyond it.i assume it is not going to be an opaque finish?

or you could put a cope out there...like this

http://westhemann.com/my%20music/pics/IM000009.JPG

on a side note..i have no idea why my site's software blows those pics up so big...and i cannot figure out how to resize them

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Right with that i have a special mixture in the tearout, basically what it is is super fine sanding dust from a couple of scrap pieces of purple heart i had laying around and some poly. it seems to be holding up ok but i mixed the stuff a tiny bit too drying so ill prolly end up sanding it flush and see what happens and go from there

MzI

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on the tearout you need to reshape the entire crotch to get beyond it.i assume it is not going to be an opaque finish?

or you could put a cope out there...like this

http://westhemann.com/my%20music/pics/IM000009.JPG

on a side note..i have no idea why my site's software blows those pics up so big...and i cannot figure out how to resize them

Pic teaser!!!!

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So i have encountered a couple problems this weekend with the purple heart soloist. Mainly the purple heart im using is too friggen hard. I have destroyed one router bit already and the second brand new one keeps jumping on me and on the last time it jumped it hit a part that i had already gone over and took a lil chunk out of my flamed maple. with that said this will be the last purple heart guitar coming out from me, i will try and finish it without hurting myself on the damn router. ill add some pictures of the old router bit and damaged caused by the new one shortly

MzI

Pictures

Router Bit

1

2

3

Edited by MzI
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I have a few porter cable bits that do that too. I don't know why is this, but I got so mad one day that I took a brand new 1" long template bit and smashed it to the floor and straight to the trash can. I have been using the 1/2" that I got from Stew Mac, and even if I got to go thre a lot of passes to get it done, I can abuse it and it won't jump at all.

I say try with a different brand, are you using that bit on a portable or table router, if it is on a portable I think it is too long to use it there. In soft wood there is no problem (or at least not oo much) but on strong wood, it is too risky.

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its supposed to be anti kick back but yea with the hard wood and large size running a 2 inch bit. im going to try a 1 inch pattern bit with the bearing on top which will allow me to take less wood off at a time. I really think it is that the wood is too hard because ive never had this problem with mahogany or maple. Im still going to attempt to finish this guitar though

MzI

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I've Never Had That Kind Of problem with purpleheart And It look's Like The maple Is doing The same Thing!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mziguitars/d...ba0.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mziguitars/d...0e0.jpg&.src=ph

Man I hope It starts Going your Way on these guitars!

!!METAL MATT!! :D

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Oh Dam That sucks Sorry to hear that

So How hard Will it all be to fix?

!!METAL MATT!! :D

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i believe the painting thing is more with spraying and oil paints. Not totally sure though. I think all new spray guns have to be hvlp or something like that. I know that your still able to buy 2 part poly products so thats not a problem. Another thing I think is for exhaust fans coming out of spray booths but again thats more business type places.

As for the chip in the maple i think ill just slide my template back a touch and just route off the tear out

MzI

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thought id add some more progress pictures. Each time I work on this guitar it gets closer and closer to WOD material. Last time I put an order into stew mac I bought a pickup cavity template, yea it got destroyed already. Second pickup cavity I took a nice chunk out it and the body of the guitar. I think most of it will hide underneathe the pickup rings. I also think I found a crack in my body, but I dont think it will really affect anything because of its location. Anyways heres the pictures

Front

Destruction

control cavity

Cracks

Cracks 2

Cracks 3

Roughed neck

MzI

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Man It just Look's like this one want to fight you all the way! :D

!!METAL MATT!! :D

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It really is. Everytime I go to work on it something happens. It really dont help motivate me to work on it. Itll get finished eventually. Plus on the bright side, because this purple heart is so hard that anything else I use like maple will be a breeze in comparison.

MzI

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  • 2 weeks later...

I havent done much on the soloist and the V. The router bit im using i lost the set screw that holds part of it together. I should be getting them in tomarrow from woodcraft. I will say that their costumer service is great. I told them what happened and they are sending me a couple extras free of charge and they are taking care of the shipping costs.

Anyways here are two projects im working on right now. They are just refins but good experience none the less.

Explorer

back

headstock

back of the neck with flash

its my old ltd exp 200 it was originally black. I sanded it down to the sanding sealer sprayed some primer and then some white. The white i used was wimbeldon white for 64-69 fords. Yes like the best white ever.

Im also refinishing a cheap strat copy that one will be gloss black. I didnt get a chance to spray any black on that. It was a little too late tonight to start it. Ill spray it tomarrow. As for clear im waiting for a logo for the explorer should be in in a day or too and then ill spray both guitars at the same time.

I also picked up a buncha wood for really cheap. An old lady down the street from me was getting rid of some stuff from her husband who passed away not too long ago. Its all rough sawn but there is a lot there. I believe there is some cherry and some ash. And just maybe some maple. Well see when I plane it down this week. Anyways here a couple pictures of the pile all stacked up and in the back of the truck when I got it home.

1

2

3

4

More pictures tomarrow

MzI

Edited by MzI
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Update time. This time for the Purple Heart Soloist. The body shaping is done. Body contouring is done. Neck joint is just about done. Gotta clean it up a bit theres a couple small lil dents here and there. I have a lil more work to do on the headstock, mainly drilling tuner holes and cleaning up the transition area. Next couple things I have to do are the input jack, havent decided if im going with a barrel or just a regular one. Drilling holes for the volume and tone and 3 way toggle. Make a control cavity cover. And I still dont have a fretboard. I decided im gonna go with ebony though with no inlays for a nice clear look. I thought about doing reverse shark fins but decided it be too much like a jackson and itd take away from the rest of the guitar. As for parts I have pretty much none. I have pickups which are gonna be duncan distortions, yea this guitar is gonna rip, and a tune o matic bridge from carvin, one of the slim designs. O and I have some precut and preradiused fret wire that I found at my local shop. The fretwire is actually from Gibson. Its a package of 26 pieces. 12" radius, and I believe it to be a medium jumbo wire. It was like $10 so I thought id try it. All my hardware will be gold, pickup rings will be black and itll be strings thru.

And heres the pictures.

Front full

Back full

Back close up

Tummy cut Yes that is carved Purple heart

Heel 1

Heel 2

Control cavity cover and top binding

MzI

Edit: Forgot to tell ya the current weight, just over 7 Lbs. Yes 7. And thats without a fretboard and truss rod. Im guessing this will end up in the 9 pound range by the time im done with it.

Edited by MzI
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COOL :D It's Good To see Your Finaly wining the War with this One!!

Hey just an idea, Why dont you try A nice resessed barrel jack On the Top,

I just did one On mine And I really think that I would work well with the look of this guitar.

Any way man Good work

!!METAL MATT!! :D

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