metallisomething Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 (edited) This is my first guitar. As many other left handed guitars players out there will know it's hard to find a left handed production model at a decent price that does what you want. I've always been a fan of the Jackson Rhoads V's and although they do make left handed models, they only make their top end ones left handed. That combined with me always getting a lot of satisfaction out of making something myself made me come to only one conclusion...do it yourself... Here are a few progress pics, I will post more soon and until I'm done... Few preliminary stats: Neckthrough Maple neck and center Oak wings Tune-O-Matic bridge I cut out the wings on paper to use as a template for the wood Neck and center section of body This is the center section turned on its side. Note the neck angle Thats all for now...stay tuned Edited October 29, 2005 by metallisomething Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailman Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 i need to know something: how long are the wings? and how long is it from the neck heel to the crotch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunkielad Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 Looking good - as much as i'm not a fan of pointies, I keep looking at V's and thinking 'Hmm maybe I'll do me one of them!' It's gonna be sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLOAD Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 nice man, im a big fan of the v's, gonna look sweet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 That's cool, but there's no flat areas to clamp on, how are you gonna manage to glue this together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metallisomething Posted October 29, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 The big wing is about 20.5" long and the little wing is about 15.5" long. From the heel to the bottom of the body is about 13". You have to account for the fact that you are going to round the points on the wings. You also have to round them at the heel end to blend the wings in with the center cection of the body, this takes some of the length. This is what I'm talking about with the wing size. I am going to sand the tip of that wing to blend it in with the neck. The wing size really depends on where you have the body joining the neck, mine is at the 19th fret similar to most V's with 24 frets. As for gluing it together; it took a carefuly arrangement of clamps and wood blocks, most were the off cuts from the Oak itself. The other side is already glued and was done so in the same fasion. A little belt sanding and voila. Sorry no pics of the truss rod slot being routed, I was too busy making sure everything was straight to take a picture. I am using a Hot Rod double action truss rod, so routing the slot was relatively straight forward. My router has a fence that rested the router flush with the side of the neck, this was of course before I tapered the neck. To taper the neck (sorry, no pictures) I made a template that was the size of the neck and used a guide on my router to follow it up and down the neck cutting at a depth of about 1/8" at a time to make sure it was accurate each pass. This was very difficult because as you know no matter how good the template is, the wood won't respond the way you want it to. This was the most accurate way to do it though as my eye and bandsaw skills can't be compared to a straight line. The router slipped at one point and took a small gouge out of the neck, so I'll be filling that in soon. Rock & Roll Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughes Posted October 29, 2005 Report Share Posted October 29, 2005 looking awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metallisomething Posted November 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 Some more progress for the left handed V This would be the template i made for shaping the body aswell as routing the pickups and the control cavity Oak very hard and chips easy, so there were a lot of chunks falling off when i chisled it down. The little island in the middle is for the battery, I made that one section deeper than the rest of the cavity. This is of course slotting the fretboard. Getting ready to install the truss rod and attatch the fretboard. To align the fretboard properly I placed little pins in the neck sticking up about 1/16" and filed to a very sharp point. I then lined up the fretboard without glue and pressed the pins into the fretboard. Then when the glue is spread I just lined up the pins with the holes in the fretboard. This way the fretboard doesnt slide around when glued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hughes Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 nicr project...if you dont mind me asking, what did the neck through part cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailman Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 i was hoping you'd keep the crotch straight lines rather than the curved rhoads style either way, kickass guitar bro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Fruit Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 (edited) Blimey, thats quite a chunky fretboard What sort of thickness you got on there? Otherwise, looks good! edit: oops, just noticed it hasnt been radiused yet, move along, nothing to see here... Edited November 7, 2005 by Strange Fruit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lietuvis Posted November 7, 2005 Report Share Posted November 7, 2005 The axe is coming out great, man! Would you mind writing a review of how the Oak sounds, once you're done with the guitar? I have a bunch of White Oak lying around, so I could make something from it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 i thought you were going to be smart and show us a regular flying vee design, only with the controls on the opposite side, lol Nice project, makes me wish i didnt botch mine Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlexVDL Posted November 8, 2005 Report Share Posted November 8, 2005 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakeish Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Kudos, from one lefty to another...... looks great, the Rhoads has always been a nifty looking guitar in my opinion.... looks to be coming along nicely, congrats on tackling the task of making your own neck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metallisomething Posted November 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 The neck through part is Flatsawn rock maple. I bought a (roughly) 4"wide x 2" thick x 42" long for around $16 Canadian. I was surprised at the low cost because I bought it at an exotic wood store that carries very expensive woods. I will definately be writing about the Oak sound. I'll admit, I'm skepticle about the sound but it was available to me free so w'll see. I am using EMG pickups. 81 bridge, 85 neck. The holes in the template are bigger because the guide for my router cuts 3/16" smaller than the edge it rests against. therefore every template must be 3/16" bigger than the desired size. Also, I made the pickup cavities bigger so I can move the pickups back and forth a small amount to experience different tones. the bridge pickup will be able to be placed at the 43rd fret harmonic, and 1/8" closer to the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlexVDL Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metallisomething Posted November 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 The pickup cavities are not wider, they just span a greater distance along the length of the guitar so they can be moved up and down the face of the body. I worked it out so that the pickup rings will still cover the open space and it shouldn't be noticable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlexVDL Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted November 10, 2005 Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 This will be painted, right? (Not left natural or stained?) If so, I think I'd consider filling the pickup cavities and re-routing them. Unless there is some way to pull off what you were saying without seeing the cavities. Other than that, real nice job. I have found that neck-through's are more difficult than I thought. I haven't finished mine yet but I hope it's worth the effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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