Canuck Brian Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) Hi Everyone! I decided to finally dive in and take a crack at building my own guitar. I've picked up almost every tool I could need for this and I have a drill press coming in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, i've been attending a class for building stringed instruments at the Ontario College of Art and Design. I've got access to the bandsaws and scrollsaws (i have been practicing). I've been studying everything I could find on this website as welll and this is what i've been able to get done so far. I already own a 7 string and i've wanted an 8 ever since i saw Fredrik Thordenal from Meshuggah with one and more recently, looking at LGM's creations. I've already picked up the Hipshot 8 string bridge, EMG 45DC and 45J (SA in a really big housing according to EMG reps on the phone), and 8 sperzels (4 and 4) all in gold. I've picked up this nice 1 piece mahogany and these perfectly dressed 40 x 3 x 1 1/4 inch purpleheart boards. I was planning to pick up another board of birdseye maple to laminate with the purpleheart, but i'm wondering, can you make a whole neck out of solid purpleheart? I've already ordered 2 carbon rods (thanks LGM!) for this guitar..... Edited January 11, 2005 by Canuck Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted January 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) I took border of the template material and picked out the best looking area. Edited January 11, 2005 by Canuck Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted January 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) Since the purpleheart is 3 inches wide, i made a mock up of a basic idea of what the guitar could look like. I was planning on staining the wood some color, but i haven't decided yet. That's a long way off anyways.... Edited January 11, 2005 by Canuck Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xebryusguitars Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 sweet this things gonna be slick. haha i like how you have almost everything laid out. tell me how the school classes go, i want to attend one of those when im done with high school Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Very cool! (And very ambitious building an 8 as your first build!) If this is your first guitar, what have you been building in class? Dulcimers and such? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted January 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Thanks for the kind words guys! I've only been in class for 2 classes at this point and haven't built anything yet. We've mostly been going thru wood selection and simply getting plans together. It took me about 7 hours in total to get the templates correct for the bridge and neck. I still have that nagging question of whether i can actually make the neck entirely out of purpleheart.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddiewarlock Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) sure you can build a solid purpleheart neck, that's what i'm doing with a BC Rich warlock copy i'm building, solid purpleheart neck, mahogany wings, ebony fretboard, also, i read that purpleheart sounds like right in between maple and ebony, and that it makes a great choice for downtuned guitars, i'm gonna tune my warlock to B, so for an 8 string it'll be really good Edited January 11, 2005 by eddiewarlock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddiewarlock Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Hmmm, if i was you, and wanted to use purpleheart exclusively, i'd make a laminate neck, an 8 string neck is way too wide, and you'd want the maximum stability, so i'd either make it a multi ply purpleheart neck, 3 or more pieces, or, i'd use a purpleheart/maple laminate neck, for both stability and aesthetic reasons, good luck man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
!!METAL MATT!! Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Hey I like the design but there are just a few things I would do to improve it first off you dont have to do a thing I say iam just trying to help and offer my ideas cool 1-green>ok I think this area need's to come in a bit more toward the pickup's and the line need's to be cleaner with more of a curve to it. 2-red>ok I like this idea but for some reason it look's off center to me witch will make the guitar look unbalanced so just a bit more work hear and your set. 3-dark red>ok I think this need's to be thicker and a bit farther away from the neck not alot just a litle bit. I realy like this design and and I love 8-string so good luck and have fun! !!METAL MATT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted January 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) Hey Matt! Thanks for the advice and kind words... The green part - I was going to make it come in closer, but then i started worrying about not having the body heavy enough to support the 8 string neck. I figured that if i had the wood still on there, i can take it off later if the guitar already balances..... You're absolutely right about the curve though...i'm going to fix that tonight. Red - I'm pretty sure that i screwed the centering up on that as well. I'm in the process of making another template without the section taken out of the back. I was also thinking about putting a cut similar to a BC Wave's intead of that cut. I like that cut so much on the GS steinbergers, i wanted to have it on my guitar....not so sure now. What do you guys think? Dark Red - I tried making it thicker but it just didn't look right to me....I was thinking about making the horn sit further away from the neck but again, didn't like what it looked like. I'm pretty sure that it's not going to interfere with playing.... I think i'm going to use the purpleheart with the carbon rods..... Edited January 11, 2005 by Canuck Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Purpleheart is pretty heavy, mahogany less so....so if you use all-PH for the neck, you might wind up with the guitar out of balance (especially with an 8-string). I'd second the suggestion to laminate PH and maple; if you cut the profiles from flat-sawn wood (which it looks like you have) then when you glue up the laminates you'll have a quartersawn neck blank, which is nice & strong. Personally, I think that if you have two good-sized PH laminates either side of center, you won't need the carbon rods for stability (although they would make the neck lighter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 Here's my thoughts: You can make a solid purpleheart neck, but IMHO it'd look better with a maple stripe down the center. Also, a 3-piece quartersawn laminated neck would probably work better in terms of overall stability. It'd look especially cool if there were maple stripes in between each laminate. The body shape is cool, but some of the lines aren't particularly smooth. before cutting out a template or the body, I'd straighten out some of the lines, in particular, on the bass side body curve, and on the back cutaway by the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moreau Posted January 11, 2005 Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 So is a quartersawn laminated neck, just flatsawn boards, laid on their side and laminated? Will you have to joint the surfaces? or just plane them? sorry if im hijacking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted January 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2005 (edited) Here's my thoughts: You can make a solid purpleheart neck, but IMHO it'd look better with a maple stripe down the center. Also, a 3-piece quartersawn laminated neck would probably work better in terms of overall stability. It'd look especially cool if there were maple stripes in between each laminate. The body shape is cool, but some of the lines aren't particularly smooth. before cutting out a template or the body, I'd straighten out some of the lines, in particular, on the bass side body curve, and on the back cutaway by the bridge. I've currently got another 2 boards of purpleheart being shipped to me of the same dimensions..... not bad for 5 bucks a board. With that in mind, i'm going to keep 3 of the boards aside and try my hand at building a neck out of the one board so i don't demolish 3 nice pieces of wood in one shot. If it works out great, if it doesn't, then i'll use the wood to build another neck for this thing rather than something else. I am worried about the balance, but i'd rather lose 5 bucks and one board rather than 3 boards and hours of gluing, joining and cutting.....I'm going to kick myself if it actually turns out though.... The black template that i've been placing on the wood isn't the actual template that i'm going to be using. I just wanted to get a feel for how the guitar would sit (the cut-out) and how the grain would look (the border). The actual template's lines are nice and smooth. I'm going to check it out again later tonight to make sure everything is up to snuff when i cut the body on wednesday. Any suggestions for that back part? I'm not so sure i like the cut out anymore.... ideas currently include 1) just rounding it off like a normal guitar 2) leave it scooped out (but center it) 3) do something similar to the BC Rich Wave..... I also have another dilemma..... i haven't thought about how to finish the body. I want to use a stain so that the grain really shows. Any ideas? I don't have access to a spray gun, so it's rattlecans for me or tung oil on an unfinished body. Edited January 11, 2005 by Canuck Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted January 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 (edited) I cut the body out tonight on the bandsaw and took the rest down on a ocillating drum sander tonight. The mock up i had with the original template was far too small, so I made it thicker. Edited January 13, 2005 by Canuck Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddiewarlock Posted January 13, 2005 Report Share Posted January 13, 2005 a mahogany neck would ne nice to it, if you want, laminated , mahogany, is IMHO, a the most tonally complete tone wood, along with Korina, i made an all mahogany 5 string bass and it sounds beautiful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted January 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 (edited) Well i cut the body down quite significantly tonight as the upper horn would end up stabbing me in the face. I also thought it was way to wide. I'm going to be rounding the sides of the guitar once i have the pickup hole, controls and neck pocket routed. I've also scarf jointed the neck but i dont' have any pics of it right now as it's still all clamped up. Edited February 24, 2005 by Canuck Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted February 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 I finally had a chance to take photos of the neck. I spent 4 hours today on it today getting it to what it is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted February 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
!!METAL MATT!! Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 I finally had a chance to take photos of the neck. I spent 4 hours today on it today getting it to what it is now. ← Hey man that look's great how do you like cuting that purpleheart tough stuff your trussrod cavity looks good what are you useing in there? how are the others comeing along? !!METAL MATT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibanezrocker61 Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 That looks awesome, I'm gonna be starting an 8-string project soon! Anyways, I was wondering, how are the actual truss rods installed in a neck, like connected or whatever (I just cant seem to find the right word.. i dont know lol)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Looks great, Brian! I'd like to see pics of your modified body, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Coming along really nicely. Well done so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Nice cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Brian Posted February 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Nice cat ← That's my cat "Squid." He's a 25 pound lazy, sucky, living pillow...the most friendly cat in creation! I'll get a current pic of the body tonight. I've got the fretboard faced properly and i'm going to be cutting the fret slots next week in a mitre box that i made. I'm a little intimidated by doing the radiusing though. I've seen a lot of "here's me radiusing a fretboard" but nothing really detailing how to do it properly. Does anyone have any tips, pointers, do's and dont's on this? I have a 16 inch radial sanding block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.