bscur Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 (edited) Here are a few pics of my first guitar/ I got a lot of information searching the posts on this site and I appreciate everyone's help. There are plenty of mistakes and problems, but my guitar plays and sounds great. I used a 2" thick mahogany body and put on a 1/4" maple cap. Before I put on the cap, I heavily chambered both sides, so it is fairly light fo being so thick. I painted the back black and did a pretty good faux binding job taping off the sides while I stained the top. I like Godin guitars, so I used a neck off one of those found on ebay and Fralin PAF's. It sounds very much like a Les Paul. Thanks for the advice. I'm planning more guitars now with an eye towards eliminating my mistakes. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/bsc...stGuitar003.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/bsc...stGuitar006.jpg I used a bit of zebrawood scrap for the control plate, any suggestions on eliminating tear-out on the ferrules? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/bsc...stGuitar007.jpg Edited October 25, 2006 by Maiden69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Try drilling thorugh another piece of wood clamped to the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted October 21, 2006 Report Share Posted October 21, 2006 Very nice looking guitar, far far better than my first effort! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logical Frank Posted October 21, 2006 Report Share Posted October 21, 2006 Wow--Looks awesome. The zebra wood cavity cover is a great touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted October 21, 2006 Report Share Posted October 21, 2006 i really find the best and safest way of avoiding tearout and other dangers, is to do all the drilling before finishing (exept for tuning key screws/truss rod screws/strap buttons) the bridge you would screw on last, but if you do mark everything out in your placements you can drill them out first , then just clean them up a bit; but if your persistant about drilling after the finish; i second the 'clamp wood on', or i would use a forstner bit and drill the one side till the center point gets thru; then flipping it over and cut it out by lining the points up; a lil tricky; but i do it when i install new control knobs in a finished body, with no problems yet ****knockin on wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted October 21, 2006 Report Share Posted October 21, 2006 I drilled my ferrules right along with the rest of the holes and routes. I drilled the skinny chamber from the top down, flipped the guitar over, and kinda just... eyeballed the larger holes for the back. It wasn't perfect, and I still had a few chips, but I filled 'em in with putty and they're fine now. I never even thought of drilling into another piece of wood, though, but that's a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I see the bridge isn't recessed. Is that the way you wanted it? The recessed bridge is a really neat feature on the Godin LG/LGX. Very nice work - I like the faux binding. For the ferrule holes chipping, as someone else mentioned, clamp the piece to another piece of wood, then drill. Its the same as for sawing. The backing piece holds the fibers so that they don't chip or tear out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 that's a really nice guitar & so similar in concept to my current one it's scary. Shame about the ferrules but if you've learned from it then it's not all bad...& at least it's at the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bscur Posted October 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 I'd suggest using the Fralin humbuckers if you are doing something similar. After completing this guitar my G&L Bluesboy with the Seth Lover in the neck sounded rather sterile. The Fralin PAF sound is jazzy to rockin and sounds very alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted October 24, 2006 Report Share Posted October 24, 2006 I'm actually using P90's but the general concept, mahogany, blue maple top, single cut, chambered, 3-a-side head, Godin inspired thingy is quite similar. clicky Did the ferrules splinter when you inserted them rather then when you drilled the holes?....I think that we're all thinking that it was the drilling that did it but I had the same thing happen on another guitar when I put the ferrules in. That's caused by the paint in the holes making the hole smaller. When the ferrules are forced in they force the wood open & crack the paint. A solution is to drill the holes after, cover the holes during painting or use a file or sandpaper to remove the paint. If the ferrules are loose, use some super glue to secure them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bscur Posted October 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 I can't blame it on paint. The tearouts happened when I drilled (pre paint). I need a drill press to get them going through straight. I ended up with nicely alligned holes on top and a poor looking top. I'm thinking of a P90 follow up. What brand of P90's are good? I had a Godin LGSP90 once, but the shorter scale didn't work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 I can't really suggest a particular brand of P90's, I think that it depends on your needs as with any pickup. I just went through harmony central's reviews & looked at all the ones that I could get...it came down to Lace, Bare knuckle or Dimarzio. I ended up with the Lace ones because I have a strat set that I'm very happy with & they were the cheapest I tend to play my guitars into the PC a lot & my Strat with Lace's is completely silent even when sitting directly in front of my monitor.....I doubt that any traditional single coils can boast that! I believe that Dimarzio have a replacement policy so that you can try out their pickups....they have several P90 models so maybe go for those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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