Prostheta Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 (edited) After almost completing the four-string set neck "practice" version, I've gotten to the stage where I'm ready to tackle the big daddy-o. First of all, the CAD design: Edited September 16, 2006 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 Awsome =) Go for it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 (edited) The basic design is a neck tenon of 10 laminates, a 20mm thick top flame maple full cap and two rear wings, with a black pinstripe between them and the maple. The neck tenon is (outside to centre) 33mm flame maple, 0.7mm dyed black poplar, 5mm bloodwood, 0.7mm black poplar, 10mm rock maple, 5mm ebony. This should be bright and stable. The ebony should reinforced the lower fundamentals. The laminated neck tenon, sanded and oiled for the visual feelgood factor! Detailed shot of the neck laminations Test oiled scrap with flash and Test oiled scrap without flash. As you can see, I sanded at 80/120/180/240/320/400/600/800/1200 and then burnished with a burred stanley blade before oiling, buffing with 1200 and oil and a final thin coat of oil. The figure moves awesomely in this wood, so I'd hate to loose it in dye. Thanks for the words on that Drak. Your burnishing advice ruled on the scrap! On that note, thanks have to SoundAt11 for the bloodwood (cheers Will man - hopefully you can get something back out of seeing your stock turn into an instrument!) and David Dyke for the maple, ebony and poplar neck woods. Edited September 16, 2006 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Cool, I love the shape of the body. And the neck has some nice looking woods too, it looks great with all the different colors. You said the body will have a flamed maple top, are you going to stain it or leave it natural? I vote for natural. This should be a cool project, good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizzar_Guitars Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Love the look of those laminates! Keep us posted on the progress. Ciao, Garth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Good looking so far; don't compromise on a thing! Take your time and you'll love it that much more in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Where do ya'll all get these thin veneers long enough to do laminates with? Like maple ones, "ebonized" ones, rosewood? Thanks, Chris PS: This is looking HOT! I've always loved this body shape! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Verhoevenc: The thin veneers are dyed black poplar and it comes something like 10-12" wide and 3' to 4' long. It's cheaper than ebony and comes in larger (and cheaper) sheets:-) David Dyke supplied those! Erikbojerik: I'm not planning on compromising on anything. I've planned jigs to help true the carves on the top, and I think I'm going to step back rather than jump in if I'm not sure about anything. Shredgtrfan: I'm leaving all of the flame maple natural apart from an oiling to keep the wood clean and to pop the flame a bit. Sanding to 1200 and scraping seems to bring out the figure nicely and isn't difficult work. I'll be sure to photograph every step of the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 UPDATE: Laid the raw tenon on the bench today and marked out the nut position, bridge position and headstock angle on the side. I chickened out of the scarf joint as I don't have tools which will reliably mitre a 10° angle so I opted for a one-piece. After marking the nut position, I measured the width of the nut (45mm) and marked up the width of the neck at the 12th fret. Drawing these lines all the way up to the back of the tenon, I clamped a straight planed piece of wood to the top of the neck and used the router with a guided follower bit to remove most of the sides of the tenon and finished off by bobbin sanding the headstock to shape. Viola!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurits Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 That is one of the most beautiful necks I've seen. The veneer between the laminates looks absolutely great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 Thats looks superb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 I kind of wish I'd tapered the rock maple from 10mm down to 5mm at the headstock now, but to misphrase something, "there's plenty more wood in the sea". I think I'll glue up the top this week and do the carving. Since the top is going to be glued straight onto the cut back tenon (only showing on the rear) I can glue it up, true the back, rout the pickup cavities and start working on the violin-style curves on the sides. Thanks for the positive feedback - this forum should get equal thanks for the project :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 Update! More shaping on the neck and headstock. Just need to decide whether to have a volute or not despite me not scarf-jointing the neck. I do like the look of laminates going across a volute.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 Volute! volute! volute! volute! They do look kick ass on multi-laminate necks and speaking of not having "tools which will reliably mitre a 10° angle" here's a pic of my mitre setup, I'm sure you do own those tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundAt11 Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Wow! That neck is so beautiful, that's really a perfect job, the colors look so good and they laminating looks fantastic, perfect headstock, no glue lines, totally professional. Sometimes I get bored with mailing out wood all the time, but it really means a lot to actually see it put to use. Knowing the work I put into each piece, even before the ton of work you did, almost brings a teer to my eye to see it again, a little sentimental I guess. I even recognize the fretboard blank, it's got some monster tap tone and smooth as glass, so I know it's going to be an awesome fingerboard. I'm also pretty psyched to know that same wood that I cut up a few weeks ago is all the way over in England safely, that's just really crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Thanks Will - you've got even more sentiment to pour out once you make with the Padauk! I used to work in a job where I'd advise customers on a product for their home that I'd never see in use, and which is a MAJOR long-term purchase. The few times I ever got to see the product in the home was kind of a bit spooky when you mostly deal with it as words and a sample. Pretty crazy. Well, you're more than welcome to a testimony quote or whatever and some completion pics for your eBay store. Most sellers of exotics at GOOD prices would tell you where to get off when you request specific sizes! I think the "before and after" would look awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 (edited) Okay, so here's an update. I've held off a bit on this project to get the required skills up to scratch before potentially writing off a nice project. Today I glued up the padauk and maple with dyed black poplar veneer between, ready to joint and blank tomorrow. I've shaped the back of the neck and slotted a padauk fingerboard, ready to install the spoke truss rod. The adjustment hole drops underneath the 24th fret, so I'll need to take care routing a hole for that one tomorrow. The fingerboard has been cut for 26 frets :-D Larger version Fretboard ready to install (after a bit of thinning down methinks!) Edited November 18, 2006 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 Ahh awsome iv been waiting fro some progress on this one because it looked like a really cool project! Good job =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 Thanks Travis - my wife and me have been watching The Hostel tonight and I'm more interested in how to bind the fretboard. I have some laminated ebony binding from Stewmac that I'm toying with using around the board. Shame I only have a limited amount of the binding because I bet would look very cool bent around the body also, although I can't see it liking some of the tighter radii curves.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 (edited) Sounds good binding always looks cool depending on the woods =) The hostel is one messed up film i dont like it but i scare easily when it comes to films Edited November 18, 2006 by travismoore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jalien21 Posted November 20, 2006 Report Share Posted November 20, 2006 i'm diggin the colors in the neck. reminds me of those black-white-red comics that you see once in a while. and man. that cab looks so cool under your table, there. i want one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2006 Thanks :-D I'm just in the process of routing the binding channels and wishing I'd done them before shaping the neck. Poo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Update - radiused the 26 fret fingerboard and mounted it (with rod adjustment slot at 24th fret). Bound the fingerboard, sanded with a radius block and angled the binding off the edges slightly. PICTURE 2 PICTURE 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Looks very nice! I quite like bound fretboards. Throw some shellac or sanding sealer on that maple before you get too far on the finer-grit sanding. The ebony and padauk dust will work its way in and dirty up the maple, and you'll tear your hair out trying to remove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyd Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Looks good! The thing with the truss rod is why I started making my own. Cant seem to find them long enough to get past the fretboards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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