My Second

[dawn8]

Hmh. I had a hard time deciding whether I'll post this here or the guitar chat forum, since this is not yet actually a tutorial, but when I'll move along with the project this shall be a some kind of tutorial. So I'll place it here for now, feel free to move it if needed.

This is one odd kind of design I created on a boring lesson at school, and after a few minutes of planning I decided to actually build this. So here's the specs I have for now:

body shape: Ibanez JEM

body wood: mahogany with walnut top

neck wood: plain maple

neck join: bolt-on w/ AANJ

scale length: 25,5"

fretboard: dunno yet, ebony maybe or something more exotic

frets: 24 Jumbo

no body contours

black binding on body & fingerboard

flyod rose tremolo

hollowbody design

gold hardware

two humbucker pickups (don't know yet which ones though)

rear-routed controls and no pickguard

So it's really going to be a hollowbody, the trick being that the "F-hole" is the shape of JEM's monkey grip. And oh, before I boast with 'my new great design', please tell me whether some you guys have already done this, so I wont claim this as my own idea. Didn't find any similiar with a quick Google search, though.

I will post pics as I make progress, now the only thing I have is a few shots of my woods and the body blank planed with the JEM shape drawn. It still has the single-coil pickup cavity drawn, but I decided not to rout it and have it a H-H. I'll post them when I get them out of my camera

Comments and suggestions are more than welcome, actually I'm not yet sure if I'll go with the walnut top, perhaps some other dark, more figured wood for the looks. What do you think of Koa?

Cheers.

[Duff Beer Man]

I have thought about a hollow jem, but not with the idea of the f hole being a monkey grip. im eager to see it

[dawn8]

ok so i've changed my mind about body contouring, I think I'll make a forearm contour, but not the back side, 'cause I think it would be quite impossible to make because of the hollowbody design. Or is the top bend possible if i have so much wood removed => less area for glue?

[dawn8]

ok so here's some pics of my woods. I'll get started with the project soon, maybe I'll get a chance to saw the body shape tomorrow.

Some inlay material and fingerboard

Pic how the monkey grip will be located on the top

Plain maple for the neck

Full shot of the neck blank

Pic of body & fingerboard

[guitman32]

dawn8, I think this is a very interesting idea. I especially like the idea of the monkey grip in place of an f-hole. I usually dont go for hollowbodies, but I think this has the potential to grow on me.

[hyunsu]

good..

i think i will dark sound and good at heavy sound..

good luck..

[jay5]

It might just be the pic, but that maple looks pretty bowed. Also, how much did all that inlay material cost?

[dawn8]

It might just be the pic, but that maple looks pretty bowed. Also, how much did all that inlay material cost?

←

The maple is not yet planed and it bent a little when I got it home and had it dry for several months. But it should be ok when I'll plane it to correct thickness. I've had one neck piece bent too much due to humidity and one mahogany neck blank I had was eaten by woodworms, so I've learned to be r e a l l y careful with neck woods . The inlay material is from StewMac, the MOP thing.

As for the fretb inlay, I think I'm going to do a custom vine of life, something my own. I've done a few drawings and I'll post some pics for you all once it's final.