Project Rebuild

[SoundAt11]

First, the guitar in question *was* this one:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soundat11/al...dat11/my_photos

My first build, a Carvin neck-thru section with weigh relieved (sideways) Honduran Mahogany wings in the PRS shape, string-thru, tune-o-matic, direct mounted double cream Seymour Duncan humbuckers, and locking gold Grover tuners.

It was a great guitar, although a bit heavy (had it for 2 years and was really hurting my shoulder) and too focused sounding and extremely bright.

So I cut the wings off (R.I.P), trimmed off the maple of the neck past the bridge pickup route.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soundat11/de...dnm=f800re2.jpg

I decided on a deep set neck rebuild, something warmer and fuller sounding, basically I want more beefy tone, so I know I wanted Mahogany for looks and tone. I play a lot of acoustic guitar, so I like that big fat resonant tone, so I'm wanting to go in that direction.

I dug out a one piece African Mahogany blank that had nice smooth texture, is lightweight, and just looked right:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soundat11/de...dnm=3e30re2.jpg

After rough cutting the body shape, I marked my centerline and measurements for the neck pocket and started routing:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soundat11/de...dnm=46e5re2.jpg

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soundat11/de...dnm=87f8re2.jpg

and cleaned up the routing with a sanding drum:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soundat11/de...dnm=9c3bre2.jpg

and later on I used chisels, rasps, files, and sandpaper to get the neck and the pocket down to a snug fit.

The neck is actually tapered, so it's wider on the very end compared to where the heel meets the body. I like this because it locks the neck in place very securely to where it can't be pulled "out" from the end, only pulled out from above. However, I'll be adding a 1/4" top, so once it's glued on, the neck is locked in place on all sides and won't be coming out.

Presently, I'm at a standstill, because I'm trying to decide on a top. I can really pick anything I want, so right now I've got a Bloodwood top that would look really nice against the gold hardware, although due to it's likely brightness and weight, I'm also considering:

Canarywood,

Padouk,

Zebrawood,

Swamp Ash,

Ribbon Striped Mahogany.

That and I will also be chambering the Mahogany body significantly and slightly angling the neck (so I'll have to cut the angle into the neck). The hardware will likely stay the same and I shouldn't have to recess the bridge as before.

Anyway, that's the status and if anyone wants to make any tone suggestions, please let me know.

[fryovanni]

Holy Cow How did you go about making that neck pocket? Looks like you really made your life difficult. Pre-drilling to remove the bulk of the material, and a neck pocket jig will save you a ton of trouble.

As far as the wood. I think you have defined the majority of the tone (as far as wood goes) with the neck and Mahogany body. Go for the top that you love the look of. Canary wood is one that you don't see very often. I really like the look when you get some strong red grain in Canary wood. You certainly have some great options.

Peace,Rich

[SoundAt11]

Holy Cow How did you go about making that neck pocket? Looks like you really made your life difficult. Pre-drilling to remove the bulk of the material, and a neck pocket jig will save you a ton of trouble.

As far as the wood. I think you have defined the majority of the tone (as far as wood goes) with the neck and Mahogany body. Go for the top that you love the look of. Canary wood is one that you don't see very often. I really like the look when you get some strong red grain in Canary wood. You certainly have some great options.

Peace,Rich

Hi Rich,

I set the neck onto the body, matched up my centerlines, and traced the neck pocket shape onto the body. I measured my depth based on how thick the neck is and my desired overall thickness (after adding the top, the body will be 1 3/4" thick) and simply routed it down until I got it where the neck fits in there snug and flush. The white masking tape was on there for the routing, since pencil lines are hard to see in the afternoon sun with the shavings flying and sweat in my eyes.

The router got rid of most of the material, then the drum cleaned up things, then I used my hand tools and sanding to fix any imperfections.

Anyway, the neck pocket is spot on perfect, so snug I can hold the guitar by the neck, it's tight as can be.

For the angle, I'll just trace the desired angle onto the neck and shave it down.

It's not really dificult, just lots of measuring and marking lines over and over. I rushed myself to get the original guitar done and it had it's flaws as a result. While I wished I'd left it as-is instead of hacking it to pieces, it's done now, so with a great neck and body, I just need to really get it all together and it should be pretty awesome.

Good tip on the Canary top, no one uses them, so that definitely interests me. I think if more people saw them fresh cut and how vivid yellow it can be, people would be interested. If I don't use one on this guitar, then my "Project Cheapskate" will get one and possibly a Canary fretboard or neck laminates, as that wood is so ridiculously soft and smooth to the touch.

Visually, I think I like the Zebrawood or the Bloodwood best, but I probably need to tap around on a few different tops and pick the deepest sounding one for this guitar, I definitely want more "chunk" from this guitar than "scream".

[erikbojerik]

Just go thin on the top and you'll reduce its affect on the tone. The top probably doesn't start to make much of a difference until it gets thicker than 1/8".

[travismoore]

Padouk or Zebrano would be my vote =)

[Maurits]

Padouk would look good. Or maybe wenge.

[SoundAt11]

Wenge is definitely awesome looking, I wish I had a desk and flooring made of it, very classy wood. The only problem I have with it on a guitar is that it's brown and black streaks and as any girlfriend will tell you, mixing black and brown is a fashion no-no ;-)

Padouk is definitely high on the list and was the front-runner for a while.

While I really like the Zebrawood, I think I'm going to pass on it for this project.

Right now, Canarywood is in the lead. After doing some research, it appears to be a monster tonewood, that and it looks very exotic and colorful.

It'll be a 1/4" top, so any affect on the tone shouldn't be too drastic.

[SoundAt11]

OK, today I got motivated to work on the guitar again.

I took the belt sander and sanded down the body edges until they were flush, so the shape is complete (at least on the Mahogany). Then the body was planed down to the proper height to allow for the 1/4" top. The neck cavity was a little too snug in places, so I used a rasp and a file to get the cavity and neck down to where they fit easier (I was concerned about too snug of a joint fracturing the mahogany body, as well as not having enough room for the glue).

Right now, the neck fits very nice in the long-tennon cavity and has room for the 1/4" top, plus around 3/16" of clear space below the bottom of the fretboard. My goal is to only have to recess the posts of the tunomatic bridge.

Next, the following things need to be done this week.

Pick out a top: Still up in the air, though I'm leaning towards a clever idea: flamed Limba!

Chamber the body and route my wiring channels into the top of the Mahogany

Cut the tummy cut in the back

Then glue the top, route, finish, etc.....

I'm hoping to have it finished during the month of September, but I'm really only working on it when I get really focused and motivated.

The Mahogany Body is around 4 1/4 lbs right now, with only the neck cavity, but without the top. The weight is quite decent and is quite pretty wood with light reflective curls in the background.

If I can get it even lighter, then add a lightweight top (possibly the Limba or another lightweight wood), then that will be great.

Pictures coming later this weekend.

[SoundAt11]

OK, well, I didn't get a chance to post any pics of this project lately, but I have been working on when I get a chance.

Presently:

Neck was trimmed back to end of the bridge p'up route, reshaped the heel, and glued the neck in place using hide glue (pics taken of the process), which worked great.

Body has been chambered and weight relieved (for places I couldn't get the router) and added a tummy cut, knee cut, and easy-access heel area (it's starting to look like a JEM on the back :-)).

Ordered a hard-tail bridge for it.

Next, I'm trying to decide on the top.

I've got a Canarywood set aside that should sound awesome, but I'm afraid that with all that maple and ebony, the guitar will be too bright. Canary is on the bright side, so I'm considering a figured Mahogany top. Basically, anything will sound fat and thick and crunchy.

When I can find all the pictures taken, I'll post links to them.

[SoundAt11]

Finally Updated!

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/soundat11/albu...460762331528186

I went with a 1/4" Canarywood top. I glued it up as a bookmatched top and then realized that I preferred the unmatched BACK better, so that is what you see.

For those of you that haven't worked with Canary before (ie everyone), it's very nice to work with, similar to Black Walnut, nothing like those "Hard Maple" rumors, it can't really be compared to Maple at all and has a deep resonant tone like Walnut.

The pictures (bad lighting) don't do justice to the guitar.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/soundat11/albu...8804287486348/5

In person, the Canary top looks fantastic in the sunlight.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/soundat11/albu...8804287486357/6

You'll notice that I'd added some cutaways in the back and trimmed down the heel. It's extremely comfortable and fits me like a glove.

Next on the list is mounting the Bridge, Routing for the Pickups (2 direct-mount humbuckers), routing the control area, and adding a PRS "cove" cutaway.

Edited March 20, 2007 by SoundAt11