Neck Through Semi Hollow In Progress

[Mickguard]

So with all of the foolishness that's happening about the board,

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I think it's just the heat...things will cool down again in September...in the meantime, arguments are a good sign that a relationship is working.

This guitar is going to be amazing, I really appreciate all the care and thought you're putting into it.

I'm betting that your 'launchpad' is going to end up looking really cool --in which case you're going to be proud to call it that yourself (but when you go and trademark it, you'll give us some of the royalties, right? )

Can't wait to see this guitar stained and finished!

[thegarehanman]

I don't know if you'll like this jmrentis...there's not going to be a burst. I decided that a burst would be going in the wrong direction entirely for this project. The same goes for a very pronounced "3d effect." I will be staing the maple top and back(only those two portions) with the brown dye I created. I have to tweak it just a bit still, but it's going to end up brown. I figure the natural flamed maple binding and humbucker rings will contrast the brown flamed maple very nicely. I'm going for classy, not flashy, on this project. Although, this is arguably a very flashy guitar. I just don't want the finish to detract from everything else going on on this guitar. There has to be balance, you know?

There will be quite a few unique features. I'll give you a little tast of what's going into the electronics. The neck humbucker is going to be a Kent Armstrong 6 (adjustable) polepiece PAF humbucker and the bridge humbucker is going to be a Kent Armstrong 12 (adjustable) polepiece humbucker. The difference in # of polepieces isn't really supposed to be a technical feature, I chose it more for the bottom heavy appearance it will give the guitar since there will be more going on on the bridge humbucker than the neck humbucker, with more visable pole pieces and what not.

I have the headstock inlayed too. I couldn't take a picture of it though becuase I have epoxy setting on the inlays to fill in the scribing I did. I don't really ever try to make a guitar that's just one big variation from common construction; I try to make many subtle changes instead.

The ebony knobs for the tuners came in today. They will go with the guitar quite nicely. The idea behind those is that they will take your focus away from the tuners so you can concenrate on the inlays on the headstock. Gold tuner knobs would detract from the shell inlays on the headstock and neck. It's hard to find balance between everything that goes into an ornate guitar, but if you can get it, it looks so nice. I really hope I have that balance when all is said and done. And I certainly hope I don't take the heat that Thorn took for that indian themed guitar. I loved that thing, but some of the PG members really gave him a hard time.

[thegarehanman]

Oh yeah, let me explain in a step, by step description how to do that cascading route accurately. I know a lot of you guys would like to do that if you knew how to get it just right. (all routing must be done after you have carved the top and before the top has been attached to the body)

1. Determine the maximum and minimum thickness of your carved top.

2. Cut enough 7"(varies depending on application) long pieces of 1x4 so that you have 1 piece for every 1/8" increment between your maximum thickness and minimum thickness.

3. Cut out a groove into one of the 1x4's that is the same width as the maximum thickness of the top. Leave about 1" at the end so it doesn't break.

4. Cut a groove in another 1x4 except 1/8" less thick than the previous cut.

5. Continue cutting pieces in 1/8" increments, getting progressively smaller until you've gotten to your minimum thickness.

6. Grab a pencil. Take your thickest piece "calliper"(we shall call it) and slide it over the edge of your top until it won't go on anymore. Mark this point. Continue doing this with the calliper perpendicular to the side of the top at 1" intervals all the way around the body. Once you've finished, connect your lines.

7. Repeat the process with the progressively smaller callipers.

8. Route the inside section to the line and route out the depth of that section of the top minus 1/4".

9. To even it all out, use a dremel or foredom with a foredom burr to level out all of the "steps." You want the whole top to be about 1/8" thick. You may want to taper it to 1/4" at the edges.

Remember to leave strips in whatever pattern you see fit to serve as braces. You can see what I mean by looking at the picture of my "cascading top" a few posts up. If there is a hole in the back, you want more bracing around it.

I know this walkthrough isn't excellent. I'm not much of a teacher. Perhaps I will refine it and add pictures one day.

[thegarehanman]

Wow, I just reread that. What an awful set of instructions. Can anyone even follow those? I better stick to building.

[jmrentis]

I really would like to do a cascade rout for a top. But I am not brave enough yet to do a carved top let alone something like that cut. It's cool as hell though and after I build a couple I will attempt something like that, the one I'm doing now is my first as you know and next I'll probably do a neck through and the next one I might do the carved top and cascade cut. Very cool though, about your instructions maybe with a few pics it would be fine.

As far as the finish goes, the brown you are using is like the one in the poll right, somewhat tranparent? Thats cool as long as you don't go solid color, because there has been some people that cover super nicely figured woods and that makes me sad, if anyone is planning on doing this let me know and I will trade you, your quited top for some poplar. If you did I would understand because you didn't come to this conclusion until now and it's already all put together.

That pickup setup sounds killer, you'll have to post some sound samples when it's all said and done. I think the 12 pole piece will add a lot to the looks of the guitar as well as sound I'm sure. And the inlays are cool too. Very clean job on inlaying them. Will the finish not affect them, or will you work around them?

Where did you end up finding the knobs? Was it the place you mentioned before? Thats a really good thought, and I'm sure your headstock will look a lot nicer like you said because they won't catch your eye. Man this thing better win GOTM, I hope everyone can see how much has been put into this guitar and how unique it is. In that aspect it definately reminds me of Thorns's guitar.

Man that thing was amazing! Honestly it was the best guitar work I have ever seen in the 10 years that I've played, and it's not so much the look of it, it's the attention to detail. That guitar didn't have a single factory made part, everthing was made by hand, I know some of it was cnc but that doesn't really matter to me because you still don't see guitars built like that from factories with cnc. I still can't get over how cool it was, and how much disrespect it got. It doesn't matter if other people like the colors, it wasn't built for them, it was built for a customer. The point was how it was built, technique and the theme. Simply amazing. And I must say yours is coming along in a similar direction.

Keep up with the updates, so far this has been a great thread, lots of info, lots of pics and a great product so far! How much longer are you expecting? a month, more? Take your time and keep adding details, so far all the details have made this guitar great. Right on man good luck with your next move, glueing the top, finishing, or whatever else you have to do. Later. Jason

[thegarehanman]

The brown I'm using will be like that stain I had posted. It will be transpartent. Right now I'm messing with the amount of amber in it. That seems to make a big difference in the final product.

If the finish does effect the inlays, it will only be the ones on the back of the body since that's the only place that's getting stained. If it does get stained a litte, all I have to do is his the abalone and ebony with some sandpaper very carefully.

I went with ebony instead of maple for the tuner knobs because stewmac sells ebony ones for $25 as opposed to the $125 that the other guy wanted for the maple ones. I think it will work out better this way anyhow.

My next step will be to inlay, bind, and radius the fretboard. Then I'll glue the fretboard. After that I drill for the bridge and tailpiece. Then I have to drill and shape the hole that the wires from the piezo bridge go into. After that the back goes on. Then I bind the back. Then I do all of my drilling for mounting screws. After that I do final sanding and slap a finish on that sucker.

Man, I really hope it's done in a month. I have to back to LSU in Baton Rouge(1 3/4 hour drive from here) on August 18th. I really want to have this done before I leave. Trust me though, I wouldn't rush to get it done. I don't rush things like this. I believe it's possible to have it done. Is it probable...maybe. I'm not working at all from august 1st to the 18th just so I can devote all of my time to this project. Remember, I have to build a case for this sucker too. I already have that planned out.

[thegarehanman]

*hit(the abalone...)

Oh yeah, missed a step...a very important one at that. I have to fret and fret dress the thing too. Wow, would you imagine what it would be like to completely forget to do that?

[thegarehanman]

Ok, so here's a few pics to keep you guys tided over.

click thumbnails to enlarge

This is the headstock. You can see an inlay of my signature; that's gold MOP. The tree is green abalone and flamed maple. There is some grass under that piece of tape. And the nut is not glued in; it's merely sitting in the slot for propper positioning of the fretboard.

This is a pick of the clamps and cauls I use to glue the fretboard to the neck. The fretboard has been inlayed, scribed, bound, and radiused. I bet you wish I had taken a pic of that. Well I forgot, and you'll just have to wait.

This is the inside of the back of the guitar. As you can see I smoothed out all of the steps from routing, I painted it black, and I covered the area that surrounds the controls with shielding paint.

[Haggard Cky]

wow that is turnin out great. wut kind of pickups r u going to be using?

[thegarehanman]

I think I already covered this, but I'm feeling generous. There will be a Kent Armstrong 6 (adjustable)pole PAF humbucker at the neck and a Kent Armstrong 12 (adjustable)Pole PAF at the bridge. Also, the tune-o-matic bridge has piezos built into the saddle. This will allow me to switch between electric and acoustic sounds or have both simulatneously.

[jmrentis]

Nice! That headstock looks really nice. I use to never like 3x3s or basically anything other than 6 inline, now it's just the opposite, I really like 3x3s way better. After I do a 3x3, I want to do a 4x2. Anyways I'm definately liking that headstock,binding, and the inlay. Very cool, I can't wait to see the fretboard! It sounds like you busted it out pretty easily, it didn't take you too long to do all that, it will take me so long to do that area on mine.

Also that inside carve turned out really well, and nice touch on the paint. I really did like the cascading route you did. You really have seem to put a lot of thought into every aspect and detail of this instrument, and when it's done it will be art. I hope you get to finish before you have to go back. By the strides you take in each post it sounds like you should finish, with a case hopefully. I'm assuming you wish to take it with you to LSU.

I was wondering if you had any options for building while away? Any shops or friends near by that have tools? I guess it does give you a chance to plan amazing guitars like this one though, and possibly order wood and parts for when your on break. Oh nevermind I just reread some of your post and it says that your 1 3/4hrs away. Thats not super bad, but definately something you don't want to do every weekend I'm sure! When you do go back will you still be hanging around here? If so you can start showing us some sketches of your next work. I'm very interested to hear what it will be. Well good luck with the rest of your guitar and I can't wait to see more pics and what that fretboard looks like. Later Man. Good Luck! Jason

[thegarehanman]

If it's not done by the time I go back to school, I'm driving back home every weekend to work on it. I won't bring it to LSU until I have a case made though. I think I can get the case done while the clear coats are drying though. Don't worry, I'll still spend plenty of time on this board when I'm at school. LSU has wireless internet transmitters absolutely everywhere so I could probably be on pg on the cr@pper in Tiger Stadium. I don't know about posting sketches though, I know how everyone hates how people put sketches up and take forever to build it. My income will be limited once I get back to school so won't be able to build until, maybe as late as, next summer. I don't have access to any shops there yet, but I'm hoping to get in good graces with a professor who does have access to a shop. Since I'm an engineering major though, it may be difficult to find any tools that aren't for metal working. Although I am scheduled to take a coulpe of CAD/CAM courses(the call it "Construction Management," go fig.); so maybe I'll be able to sweet talk my way into having some body blanks cut out on a CNC router.

[thegarehanman]

Ok, so here are some pics of the fretboard as I had promised. No close ups; this is just to give you the jist of it.

As usual, click to enlarge.

Drak uses Drak Juice to perty up his bodies. I used my good friend Erl to give the board that shimmer before the pic were taken.

[thegarehanman]

d@mn that edit button. Just to cover my butt in case the question arises. The black appoxy in the horn is filling a few pin holes in the ebony I used as a lamintae.

[shanter]

that looks fantastic.

i love the leaves and how they pile up at the bottom.

genius.

[thegarehanman]

Gracias

[jmrentis]

Damn that looks nice. Super nice color on the fretboard and those inlays really look fantastic. The color in them is amazing really. It's great how well that whole thing turned out and how well it matches your project. It's getting there. This thing is going to match so well, every piece of it. Very well designed. Nice man, I'm glad it's out coming out to plan. Keep us posted. Jason

[thegarehanman]

I just finished drilling for my piezo tune-o-matic bridge and my schaller fine tune tailpiece. Man, you should see the holes I drilled for the piezo wires. It's just beautiful. Each saddle has 1 wire coming out from the bottom. What I did was drill a 1/4" hole, into the top, in between the 3rd and 4th saddles . This went 3/4" deep. I then carved a tapered slot from the 1st and 6th saddles towards the middle; this will make the wires look a bit cleaner. Then(and this was the tricky part), I took an 18" long 1/4" bit and drilled from the bridge humbucker hole through the very bottom of the hole for the piezo wires and into the control cavity without even getting close to the TOM or tailpiece post holes. I don't think I did this; I think a magical guitar building gnome came in and drilled the holes. I don't think I'll take a pick of this beauty. I think I'll be the only one to see it. It's more beautiful than the inlays, or the flamed maple or anything else on this guitar. I think I must be really tired, I just wrote a paragraph about a 1/4" wide, 6" long hole.

[jmrentis]

I don't think I did this; I think a magical guitar building gnome came in and drilled the holes.

I think I must be really tired, I just wrote a paragraph about a 1/4" wide, 6" long hole.

A hole that you didn't even drill, I'm really sick and tired of all these luthiers that use these nice friendly magical guitar building gnomes to do all their work in their sweat shops, please free the gnomes and start doing your own work!

Edited July 27, 2005 by jmrentis

[thegarehanman]

This post has been edited by jmrentis: Today, 11:08 PM

...and you said you didn't have your edit feature.

[jmrentis]

I know, I'm blind. I totally missed that button right in front of my face. I guess it had been soooo long that I totally forgot where it was and when I found it I almost cried out in joy! I missed my precious! So nice to edit. Jason

[Mickguard]

I just finished drilling for my piezo tune-o-matic bridge

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That sounds like a cool idea--do you have a link to the bridge you're using?

Does that mean you'll have two jacks, or you've got a switch that joins this signal to the existing jack?

You're becoming the inlay king around here!

[jmrentis]

This is a picture of the stewmac wooden binding I've got on the body. There are actually only two pieces. The inside purfing on the top(b/w/b/w) is one piece, and the outside binding and the purfing below it are another piece. I made another post about how easy it is to bend this stuff(that post). The jack hole looks a little awkward in this shot, but in reality, it's dead on. It's a rectangle with two half circles on either end. It had to be as big as possible as it has two 1/4" jacks, one of which is a 9pin; I'm also putting a few of the pots into the body through this jack. The rest go in from the battery hole.

I got this from a post on a page back. It says he will be doing two, I don't think he has changed that, but I can't say, he'll have to. I know there is quite a bit of info to go through but thats why I like it, you are able to see every step of the way, it's really cool to see. But as of that post it was two jacks, like you thought. I would also like to see that bridge, I don't think there is a link, but I could be wrong. I'll bet that thing will sound amazing, and will look even better. I agree with you idch his inlays are great, the routing for the inlays are amazingly clean, and the actual inlays are epic, the flamed maple and shell just looks super.

[thegarehanman]

Here's a link to the bridge I'm using:

LR Baggs T-Bridge(Expensive, isn't it?!)

It's going to be switchable from stereo to mone. The piezo bridge goes to an active preamp that mixes the peizo signal with the passive magnetic signal(from the humbuckers)when in mono mode. The piezo bridge(which is supposed to give a more "acoustic" sound) combined with the hollow body should produce a really nice acoustic-like sound. Of course, I'll be able to take the piezo bridge completely out of the output signal or have that without the humbuckers.

As far as inlays go, I'm getting better with every one I do. However, I still have nothing on PG's own Craig Lavin(clavin). He is (in my mind) the undesputed master of inlay on this forum.

Edited July 27, 2005 by thegarehanman

[thegarehanman]

Man, when I went to put these pictures up yesterday and saw the site was down, I was bummed. Any, here they are now.

(Click to enlarge)

The back being glued on. Once again, zip ties come in handy when using spool clamps on an angled surface where they tend to want to slide off.

Here's a pic of the controls being test fitted before I glued on the back. While browsing Universal Jems the other day, I discovered that gold mini toggles actually existed. I though about replacing that chrome toggle switch that came standard with the active preamp for the t-bridge, but I think I'm just gonna keep the chrome. I've seen PRS' and (I think) some Fenders that have gold hardware and a silver minitoggle. If anyone would complain about this, it would be idch. What do you say idch? Oh...and I'd bet the "launch pad" is looking pretty sexy to you guys now, no?

I'm so happy with how the controls fit into the back. There's not too much room to make it look odd, but just enough to have space for wires without looking cluttered. If you look in the top right hand corner, you'll notice two holes. The larger of the two(on the right) is for the 6 piezo wires coming from the T-bridge. That's what the hole in between the bridge posts is for also. The smaller is for, of course, the bridge ground. The humbucker wires will just be routed through the body as it's hollow.