jay5 Posted September 2, 2005 Report Share Posted September 2, 2005 Cool, I plan on going a similar rout with the PRS project I want to do. I am going to use a cove/raised panel bit to do the edges and then fire up the Drak-carver (angle grinder) to rough in the shape. Then on to scrapers. I would really appreciate any/all pics you take of the carve process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2005 Cool, I plan on going a similar rout with the PRS project I want to do. I am going to use a cove/raised panel bit to do the edges and then fire up the Drak-carver (angle grinder) to rough in the shape. Then on to scrapers. I would really appreciate any/all pics you take of the carve process. ← I could have make pictures of the carve process, but I'm too far into it now to actually show anything. Next guitar I do, I'll take full photo's if you like. Setch has a great tutorial on carving a top at thislink. There is more that goes into it than just carving the sides, if your neck is angled back, then the body wood that is to the sides of the neck, should be angled so that the neck sticks up above the body the same height all the way. Your on the basic path with your method, a good router bit to rough shape the outer edge and give you the final depth at the edge is a great start. The angle grinder is great if you learn how to use it correctly, but if not you can really mess stuff up in a hurry.. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2005 The hardest part to get right is the horns. The top horn takes some time to get done, but I just got a basic outline and a start for it today. It will need to be really deep carved to give the look I want, this is just around 1/4" deep on the sides, I'm looking for 1/2" or more.. Here's a glance at how it will look shape-wise. Just using surforms, rasps, etc. all hand tools.. Again, I hope to get a lot more done this weekend.. How deep of a carve will I end up with? Who knows.. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 I'm back, and the top is almost just like I want it. It took a lot of work but it was worth it. The only problem is that I always got something going on, so I can't put my full attention to this guitar, which is what I need to do to finish it quicker. So here it is just needing some light sanding. As you can see it needs a little more work, but you get the idea of how deep the carve is on this joker. More pics of it pic 1 pic 2 Here it the back belly contour, but not a good picture of it though. JV-1 back contour Still more work to be done.. I took my work outside today, because it's so much cooler today and I wanted to get outside.. lol Any tips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Lookin' good! A few things I'd work on a little more: taper the upper horn down a little, so it's not the same 'height' as the rest of the top carve. Like a gentle slope, basically. I do mine like this (pre-rubout picture of the guitar I built for my GF): http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics/guitar_r_07.jpg Basically, I think the tip of the horn could 'fair' into the rest of the carve a little more smoothly. Second, the basic carve shape: I'd say put a little more recurve into it. Right now, the separation between the 'flat' part of the carve around the edges and the 'semicircle' dome shape of the actual carve, and the really overly large flat area on the face make it look a little unbalanced. I always aim for a transition that looks and feels smooth. Kind of a sigmoid curve sort of shape, more like it looks like you've done in the waist area, bass side. On my own guitars, the only areas I leave flat initially are where the pickups need to go, and where the bridge goes. The carve starts right there, and smoothly progresses out. It's a more 'gradual' curve, less obvious in it's immediate 'depth', but I feel carves look more balanced this way. To my eye, there's too much 'bulk' left in the lower bout, by a good bit. Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Damn!! That carve is nice. Almost like a PRS, but 100 times better. I like it very much. I can't wait to see this thing done, it's going to be hot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 yeah the carve is looking nice. I don't mind the look of the tight recurve.. all depends ont he look you are going for. Ash is not much fun to carve in my opinion.. maybe with rasps and such it's easier, but the scrapers just eat it up...it's so pithy down in the grain. great lookin project though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 I too think that the transition into the recurve is a bit abrupt. I also dont really care for how the upper horn carve just ends and doesnt taper off as Mattia said. Still, I cant wait to see it finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Thanks guys, I went back and looked at the guitar and did notice that it was much too abrupt of a curve, but the edges of the body aren't flat though. They are at a slight curve upward, then the other steeper curve is introduced. I do agree with mattia that it was too radical of a change and I did work on it. Also, yes the bottom half of the guitar was uniformed as it should be, so I fixed it also.. Here is where I am at now. Another shot The horns need a little more work, but I do want them to be higher and I might slightly sand them down at a slope, but I like the look of the deep carve on the horns. I personally like it. As far as this guitar having a PRS carve, it's total what I'm not trying to do here.. lol I would have already been done if that was the case. Again, thanks for the suggestions guys...!! I need all I can get, because I want this thing to rock... now to get ready to fret the guitar with the gold wire.. more fun ... Matt Vinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Much better IMO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Much better IMO! ← Thanks and I still have some more work to do on the horns, but I decided to get back to the neck. I leveled the fingerboard just a while ago, and made sure it was perfectly level. I am in the process of bending the gold fretwire right now, I should be able to press those in after I clean them good. I'll use titebond as always and use the fret tang nippers to cut the ends of the frets so they won't be visible. Much more work to do..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Yep, that's what I meant! Horn still needs a touch of work, but y'said that yourself already :-) It's the transition to the 'tips' that doesn't quite gel for me yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Yep, that's what I meant! Horn still needs a touch of work, but y'said that yourself already :-) It's the transition to the 'tips' that doesn't quite gel for me yet. ← I've been working on the horns some more, and I see what your saying about the tips of the horn, but I actually meant them to be that way. I might reconsider after I take a day off and look at things again, a lot of times I get too involved and lose perspective.. lol So for now I'm working on the neck.. I got the neck fretted just 10 minutes ago.. pics soon.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 Ok.. got the guitar fretted, now I will have to let the glue dry before I can use the fret cutters to cut off the ends and bevel the fret edges. Here's a bad picture of the neck now. Now to carve the neck.. probably looks like tomorrow for that.... Here's a list of things I still need to do.. -carve neck. -drill holes for pots, and route control cavity. -drill input jack hole. -install bridge. -drill for any holes for wiring. -glue neck in place. -carve the neck joint. -predrill any holes I need in body -grainfill 3 times or more.. lol and prep body to be finished.. Umm.. might have missed some steps.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 That neck looks sharp man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 That neck looks sharp man ← Thanks bro, and I think I like the looks of the gold fretwire.. very nice.. I just wish I'd have let Soapbar fret it for me though.. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlGeeEater Posted September 5, 2005 Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 That neck looks sharp man ← Thanks bro, and I think I like the looks of the gold fretwire.. very nice.. I just wish I'd have let Soapbar fret it for me though.. lol ← Yeah those gold frets do shiny pretty nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2005 That neck looks sharp man ← Thanks bro, and I think I like the looks of the gold fretwire.. very nice.. I just wish I'd have let Soapbar fret it for me though.. lol ← Yeah those gold frets do shiny pretty nice ← Yes, they do shine big time, but are they as level as they could be? Not till.... Neck JIg time.. muhhha.. or send it to Soapbar time, so I know the fret job will end up great.. and less headaches for me.. lol I don't want to push my luck though.. he did give the fretwire as a gift, sooo.. it might be asking too much for the fretjob that comes with it.. haha Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about the fretwire from my experience today. It's harder than regular fretwire, unlike what I had read before on message boards, or at least the wire he has is, it's harder to cut and fret tang nip. So, hopefully it will last longer too. Also, it's gold through and through, since I could tell after I looked at the sides after it had been cut, so no worries about sanding through the layer of gold film.. it's solid color. I went ahead and cut the frets off, I couldn't wait and it had dried really good. But actually it was just my impatience.. lol I guess I'm trying to finish a guitar in one days time.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Been gone for a week but yesterday I got back to work on the guitar. I carved the neck 19mm on 1st fret, to 20mm on 12th with a spokeshave. After I sanded and finished the neck, I glued the neck in place (gorilla glue again.. lol). Here is the back of the guitar and where I smooth the heel area. Can't use a spokeshave for this though.. rasp and surform time.. I'll work on it some more to smooth it even better. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I rounded the back edge of the guitar with a roundover bit before I glued the neck.. Also the back contour was already done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted September 17, 2005 Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Man, this is coming together really nice. Can't wait for you to start finishing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted September 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2005 Thanks Hunter, still have quite a bit of work left though. Here is a front picture of the guitar, still doing minor adjustments to the front carve for the best look I can get. You can probably see that I have the 25" scale length line marked, so I can get ready to install the bridge. It will need to be slightly angled for optimal bridge placement. I still need to drill for the pots, etc. so I can route out the control cavity and drill the output jack. The only problem I had was that the body is going to be so thin on the sides, 1", that a standard jack plate is going to be too big. I'm thinking of going with a smaller plate, or just using a flush mounting output jack, 1/2", like Stew Mac sells. Anyway, this thing is ultra light, I haven't weighed it after all the carving etc, but it's got to be one of the lightest I've ever handled. Of course, pickups, tuners, etc. will add more weight, but it needs some weight.. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenderSurrender Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Woo This guitar is really coming along now dude! Great work!! ~~ Slain Angel ~~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slabbefusk Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 That is a really nice joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skit Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Looking great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted September 18, 2005 Report Share Posted September 18, 2005 Very cool....I'm really interested in the glued-on heel....do you always do it that way? If you've been following my thread about converting a bolt-on neck to a set neck, then you'll understand my interest. I was thinking to do something fancy, like route the heel a bit , build up the top...but seeing what you did with the heel makes me think I can do pretty much the same thing ... hmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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