WezV Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 I hate stating new inprogress threads when i still have others running, but i am waiting for lacquer to cure on the last few so i have started some new ones I am working on 3 or 4 guitars that will hopefully be going to Music Live 2006 in november so i am going a bit higher spec than the last few guitars i have built The first one is a 35" scale length 4 string bass. The body is lacewood (not sure which kind) with maple and wenge accent lines and a dyed acryicized (sp) flamed maple top from gallery hardwoods. The neck is 3 peice flamed maple with wenge pinstripes, and the fretbaord is ziracote. It will have a hipshot bridge and seymour duncan soapbar pickups with active 3-band EQ Heres the design: and the work so far, i wet the top with white spirit so its probably darker than it will end up: Body cut out (still need to remove more from cutaways) another angle neck blank, ready for final thicknessing wenge and maple accent lines The second one started is the most basic, its another ravelle type thing. Body is african walnut with wenge and maple laminates and the neck is black limba with matching laminates running the whole length of the guitar (like a neck through, but not). Its also gonna have a ziracote fretboard. Not sure whats going on it yet but heres the body roughly cut out: body The other guitar is a new double cut design. Its gonna have a black limba body with wenge and maple accent lines again and a maple burl top. Neck will be birdseye maple and ziracote fretboard (again). It will have bareknuckle H/S/S pickups and a wilkinson trem with graphtech F.A.A.S saddles and preamp (always wanted to try it) Heres the design: doodle top wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 That body shape looks to suit a single-cut bass really well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 It took a bit of drawing to get it right . . . as you can probably tell if you look at all the rubbing out in the plan The body still needs a lot of truing up, but it should start to make sense once i have the neck sorted, looks a bit weird on its own!! I wanted to keep some similar themes running thru this batch, thats why wenge and maple stripes and ziracote fretboards are a common feature. I was drawing plans yesterday with my cousin for another guitar that might be in this batch. We are building it together cause he's been spraying for me and wanted to learn more. Its a basic superstrat shape (strat with deep cutaways and longer horns) but we narrowed it down and slightly ofset the body. Its looking pretty nice and quite original but i dont have any pictures at the moment, we wont be starting it for about a month, need to gather materials first. It will be Swamp ash with another maple burl top, which i do have a picture of: ignore the outline, anyone who orders from gallery hardwoods will recognise it I love this peice of wood B-) This guitar is having the left over wood from the bass neck blank, 3 peice flamed maple with wenge pinstripes. 2" thick neck blanks are great, its always nice having offcuts you can make another neck from. It will probably be dual humbuckers and a tune-o-matic bridge, Nath doesnt stray far from that combo. So thats a lot for me to do before november the 2nd (also the day my brother decided to get married, the bugger), and i still have a LP jnr, 12 string and another bass that are nearly done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Fruit Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Hey Wez. Nice looking guitar (as i said over at UKGB) Anyway, did you have any probs whgen importing the wood from the states? did it get quarentined at all? I have horror stories of some people ordering mucho expensive stuff from the states, only to have it burnt when it reached the UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 never had any problems, even with heavily spalted maple!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Fruit Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Cool man. cheers for speedy answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 I now have the first three roughly cut out (the forth will have to wait a couple of months!!) sorry pics are a bit blurry and a bit large One is thicknessed, the other two are not. sides singlecut guitar back singlecut bass back doublecut guitar back bass front (not wiped with owt) doublecut front (again with nothing on it) Ziracote fretboards for all three Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campylobacter Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Love the singlecut bass already! The woods look great, especially those fretboard blanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 Love the singlecut bass already! The woods look great, especially those fretboard blanks! Glad you like it, they are hard things to design because they always look wrong at first. Have i mentioned recently that i love ziracote, i wanted solid ziracote necks on two of these but larry davis said he would have to use acoustic side material and it would be prohibitively expensive. He did offer me a good price on macasser ebony neck blanks but i have had reactions with that wood in the past so i went with some very nice maple instead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted July 8, 2006 Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 All 3 are looking very nice so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 I got most of the parts for these yesterday so progress can start properly Still waiting on pickups though so i will sort the necks out first and get them right, then carry on with the bodies. I am very impressed with the planet waves tuners i ordered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsguitar Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 very nice looking stuff love the look of the grain..... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 there has been a bit more progress on the bass today I have got the neck ready for carving and cut the route for it into the body. I think the design is starting to come together now!! I only have photos from my cheap camera phone but here goes: The hardware is just on it to show what i am planning, it isnt really in line. It has a hipshot bridge and will have two seymour duncan soapbars but they havnt arrived yet I also want to remove more wood from the cutaways, i have marked with pencil to show where the final outline will be. I should be able to get my speed up a bit with these projects soon. I break up for the summer holiday on friday (teacher not student) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I am wondering whether to add a headplate to the bass. At the moment it is showing the flamed maple and wenge laminates and i really like it, But i did get a headplate that matches the top wood and i always feel i should use these things once i have brought them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I feel that a matching cap on the head to the body "dampens" the overall effect. If you've gone to the lengths to make it a laminate body and neck with beautiful woods then show them off. Unless it looks gaudy in which case - don't. As far as a the maple burl goes, i'd say "do". Oh yes, howdy-doo neighbouroonie!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted July 20, 2006 Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 I think there's always that little something extra added by the matching cap and top wood. Like you went the extra mile. I'm also not a fan or showing the laminates on the headstock front. Back of necks is cool, cause you see the lams from the hell to the tip of the headstock, however the front you've got the fretboard, and then these lams coming out of nowhere. I say you've got them on the back, look at them there, but go for the matching headplate! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2006 normally i would definately add the headplate, i definately will on the burl maple guitar. But the bass has a short section of neck between the fretboard and neck pickup that will be showing, i dont think that will make sense if i cover the headstock as well..... plus the headstock is already at the right thickness so its easier to not cover it. I still havnt decided, i might cut the headstock shape first and then decide, not the way i usually do things but probably the way to go here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Heres more progress on the bass, I decided to make wooden pickup covers after a small router slip-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted July 28, 2006 Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 Heres more progress on the bass, I decided to make wooden pickup covers after a small router slip-up. Mistakes = Opportunity! The pickups are going to look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 Mistakes = Opportunity! The pickups are going to look great. Neccisity being the mother of invention and all that I made the covers with off-cuts from a ziracote fretboard and the headplate i was debating whether to use on this guitar or not, i think i am going to round the tops of them to show a ziracote boarder around the pickups. This means the bass will definately have the 3-piece flamed maple neck showing on the front of the headstock, but i may make the truss-rod cover from the cranberry flamed maple. At the moment the covers have 1/8" of flamed maple on top, not sure if this is too much or not so i may thin it down slighty. I was wondering whether it would affect the pickups strength, obviously its 1/8" extra distance between string and pickup but if i adjust the pickups close this shouldnt be a problem. I dont think the maple would affect the magnetic field because its not magnetic, so i dont think it should make a difference, but i am not sure how fields are affected by other objects. Any thoughts? I can easily get them down to 1/16" and i really wouldnt expect a problem with that thickness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campylobacter Posted July 28, 2006 Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 This is going to be awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 I hope so Still a lot of new things for me that could go wrong on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernova9 Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 Mistakes = Opportunity! The pickups are going to look great. At the moment the covers have 1/8" of flamed maple on top, not sure if this is too much or not so i may thin it down slighty. I was wondering whether it would affect the pickups strength, obviously its 1/8" extra distance between string and pickup but if i adjust the pickups close this shouldnt be a problem. I dont think the maple would affect the magnetic field because its not magnetic, so i dont think it should make a difference, but i am not sure how fields are affected by other objects. Any thoughts? The distance is the only relevant thing provided the obstacle is non-magnetic. mushy the shroom won GOTM November 04 (click for the thread) with a guitar with an embedded pickup, 1/4" away from the strings, so I don't think 1/8" covers would matter too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian d Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 Wez, could you explain how the cover and pickup fit with each other? How do you adjust pickup height, how does the cover stay on? Thanks in advance, Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theitalianrob Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 sorta looks liek a wishbass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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