fookgub Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 (edited) My other project is on hold while the lacquer is drying, so I figured now was a good time to build something I've wanted for a while: a seven string guitar. I already had a Sapele body for a six string RG that gave me a good starting point. So I got a Wizard 7 neck from eBay and got started. Here what I've done so far: - Filled tremolo routs. - Routed for 7-string pickups and a battery box. - Started filling some of the chips and dents in the body. Some basic specs: - EMG 707 and 81-7 pickups - ETS hardtail bridge - All black hardware - Except the brass nut, which is my latest conversion nut. - Thinking about a dark grey metallic color. Toyota is using the exact color I want right now, so if you've seen a recent model of theirs with a dark grey metallic paintjob, that's it. I'm planning to put it together for a while before I refinish it. I've never played seven string before and I've never tried EMG pickups before, so I want to be sure I like it before I go through all the effort of refinishing it. The EMGs require special routs, so it makes sense to try them out while I can still rerout for normal pickups without too much effort. Anyway, here's the progress pics: A bit of routing to clean up the trem cavities: http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-start_top.jpg http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-start_bottom.jpg Mahogany for filling the cavities: http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-filler.jpg The filling process: http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-fill1.jpg http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-fill2.jpg http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-fill3.jpg http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-fill4.jpg http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-fill5.jpg Filling the pickup cavities: http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-fill6.jpg I had to make the pickup routs slightly narrower for the EMGs. Unfortunately, I didn't like how they came out the first time (bad template). So I made a new template (used a mill this time) and rerouted. This accounts for all the filler around the pickup routs in the next few photos. The filler makes the routs look haphazard, but they actually came out very nicely. Once the guitar is finished, they will look fine. http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-front_routed.jpg Here are some partial mockups. I don't have the 81-7 or the bridge in yet, so this is the best I could do. Hopefully those parts will come around Christmas. http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-front_pickup.jpg Next up, I'll be filling the rest of the chips and dents in the body, then sanding the whole thing out to 320. I'm trying to avoid sanding all the way through the finish because it provides such a nice base (thank you Ibanez for your amazingly think finishes ). The couple light areas on top go through the color coat, but the sealer is still intact. I'm going grainfill the mahogany with CA. Once everything is nice and level, I'll spray a few coats of shellac as a sealer, then it's just a matter of waiting for my hardware so I can assemble it. Don't expect any updates for a while, though... I'm still in the process of trying to order the bridge, and the EMG 81-7 was a custom order, so it's going to take a while, too. Edited December 10, 2006 by fookgub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlexVDL Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 very interesting...don't know why i never considered this for the extra bodies i have laying around... sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slabbefusk Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 Are ordinary RG bodies the same size as the 7-string ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 10, 2006 Report Share Posted December 10, 2006 yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slabbefusk Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 I thought they'd be a little wider or something. Good luck with the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted December 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 I thought they'd be a little wider or something. Nope, same size. Think about it, why would Ibanez retool for a completely new body shape when they could just take their existing shape and change the routing? The screw holes in the 7-string neck I bought even line up with the holes on the 6-string body. I've sprayed a few coats of shellac over the past two days. I just wanted to seal up the body and provide a nice base for whatever type of paint ends up going to top of it. I don't know if this is true of all spraycan shellac, but the particular stuff I bought ("Bullseye" brand) sprayed like crap. Runs, poor coverage, and tons of orange peel. I changed out the supplied conical tip for a vertical fan tip and I started warming the cans. That helped a little, but it's still going to take some work to level this stuff. It's not a disaster or anything... just a little aggravating. Anyway, I'm starting to think about refinishing this guitar now instead of waiting for the testfit. The reason is that it's taking forever to order my bridge from ETS... I doubt I'll have it before the second week of January. I don't know what to do about the finish, though. The color I want isn't available in regular (i.e. Duplicolor) spray cans. I could get an aerosol can mixed from a touchup company for about $30, or I could buy a spray gun and get the paint by itself, but it's still expensive. Other options would be to have a body shop or a luthier do the color and clear coats. Even if I did the color myself, I'd probably have someone else do the clear because I've only sprayed nitro before and I'd really like to use something that's more durable and cures faster. What do y'all think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted December 15, 2006 Report Share Posted December 15, 2006 (edited) I thought they'd be a little wider or something. Nope, same size. Think about it, why would Ibanez retool for a completely new body shape when they could just take their existing shape and change the routing? The screw holes in the 7-string neck I bought even line up with the holes on the 6-string body. I've sprayed a few coats of shellac over the past two days. I just wanted to seal up the body and provide a nice base for whatever type of paint ends up going to top of it. I don't know if this is true of all spraycan shellac, but the particular stuff I bought ("Bullseye" brand) sprayed like crap. Runs, poor coverage, and tons of orange peel. I changed out the supplied conical tip for a vertical fan tip and I started warming the cans. That helped a little, but it's still going to take some work to level this stuff. It's not a disaster or anything... just a little aggravating. Anyway, I'm starting to think about refinishing this guitar now instead of waiting for the testfit. The reason is that it's taking forever to order my bridge from ETS... I doubt I'll have it before the second week of January. I don't know what to do about the finish, though. The color I want isn't available in regular (i.e. Duplicolor) spray cans. I could get an aerosol can mixed from a touchup company for about $30, or I could buy a spray gun and get the paint by itself, but it's still expensive. Other options would be to have a body shop or a luthier do the color and clear coats. Even if I did the color myself, I'd probably have someone else do the clear because I've only sprayed nitro before and I'd really like to use something that's more durable and cures faster. What do y'all think? urethane sprays pretty much identical to nitro, at least in my experience, i started with auto body in high school, and when i did the finishing work at roberto-venn it was like second nature... you can also clear urethane with nitro, i did that on my RG7421 refinish... Edited December 15, 2006 by ElysianGuitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted December 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2006 urethane sprays pretty much identical to nitro, at least in my experience, i started with auto body in high school, and when i did the finishing work at roberto-venn it was like second nature... you can also clear urethane with nitro, i did that on my RG7421 refinish... Well, maybe you could give me a little direction. Keep in mind that I'm a complete noob at finishing. I don't even have a spray gun yet. I just got a compressor a few weeks ago, and I was planning to buy one of the $50 Harbor Freight HVLP jobs. The reason I say nitro doesn't seem to bad is that I know where to buy the lacquer and thinners, I have a basic idea of the steps involved, and nitro is easy to touch up in the (likely) event of a mistake. I still don't know where to get the colors I want, though, or if it's even possible. The custom mixed paint from places like here is pretty expensive for what you get, and I think it's acrylic. On the other hand, I don't even know where to buy urethane, nor to I have any idea of what's required to spray it. I don't have a respirator, either, and the good ones are expensive. The paint itself seems expensive, too, and I really don't know where to get the colors I want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTU 7's. Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 Nice work man! The top it's going to stay there or you are going to paint some solid color on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted December 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 Still trying to order that bridge from ETS. What's up with these guys? I exchanged a bunch of e-mails with them at the beginning of the month. About two weeks ago I sent them an e-mail telling them what I wanted and asking for payment details. I got no response, so I sent them another one last week. Still no response. Has anyone here dealt with them? How did the ordering process go? I'm really set on this particular bridge, but it kind of sucks having it hold up my entire project. All the rest of my parts are in now (EMG 81-7 came yesterday and I'm itching to try it out). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 what bridge are you wanting? http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchant2/merc...tegory_Code=GFB this one is certainly nice...and they are very easy to deal with.very prompt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted December 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 what bridge are you wanting? http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchant2/merc...tegory_Code=GFB this one is certainly nice...and they are very easy to deal with.very prompt Yeah, guitarparts depot is great (I got the 81-7 from them), but the ETS bridge is super awesome. It lets you drop the strings in from the top (I hate threading strings through little holes, whether they're in the back of the bridge or through the guitar). Plus it adjusts and locks in 3 dimensions, has no springs, and looks cool, too. Nothing against the bridge you posted (I'm using the 6 string version on my RG build), but I wanted to go all out with top shelf hardware for this guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 I also have that bridge, good for the money, cant realy go wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 that's cool...what part of austin you from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted January 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 that's cool...what part of austin you from? Oops... I totally forgot to reply to this thread. I'm right north of in town on 51st st. I've lived all over north and central austin in the last six years, and I have to say I really like this part of town. There are so many cool shops an restaurants on and near Burnet, it's almost shameful. Not to mention a woodcraft up the street. Anyway, after going back and forth a few times, I've finally decided to finish this guitar myself. I just finished up the color coats today, and I'm going to give it a few days to cure before I start shooting nitro. No flash: With flash: http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~wrobert/rg7-color-flash.jpg The color is Duplicolor metallic black, but it looks more like a very dark grey in direct light. Neither of the photos are accurate on my monitor (but the no flash one is closer), so I'm just posting them to show a little progress. I don't know what's up with the spots in the photo with the flash... something on the camera lens maybe. The color coats came out great and they're very even. I couldn't see any lines from the fills, either, so that's nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 i don't like that woodcraft much...paxton isa better source for woods but it is south of you...on industrial blvd...there also used to be a good cabinet shop on goodrich lane(off south lamar past musicmakers)that had a good selection of woods.i don't know if they are still there though. also they just opened up a pretty good coffee shop on koenig between lamar and burnet..thunderbird coffee or something like that.i never eat in that part of town...but if you travel north to parmer,then west to mopac,there is a mexican restauraunt called la morada next to the h.e.b which has an excellent chile relleno.and the happy buddah right next to it has good asian buffet at lunch. you live about 30 miles from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted January 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 i don't like that woodcraft much...paxton isa better source for woods but it is south of you...on industrial blvd...there also used to be a good cabinet shop on goodrich lane(off south lamar past musicmakers)that had a good selection of woods.i don't know if they are still there though. also they just opened up a pretty good coffee shop on koenig between lamar and burnet..thunderbird coffee or something like that.i never eat in that part of town...but if you travel north to parmer,then west to mopac,there is a mexican restauraunt called la morada next to the h.e.b which has an excellent chile relleno.and the happy buddah right next to it has good asian buffet at lunch. you live about 30 miles from me. I'm not quite up to buying rough sawn wood yet, but I have been meaning to check out Paxton. I haven't bought any wood from Woodcraft... too expensive. I mostly get lacquer and the occasional router bit or other small tool from them. I would like to check out some of their classes, though. Mostly the turning ones because I've never used a lathe and that looks like a lot of fun. I've been to that thunderbird coffee a couple times... pretty cool place and I like their espresso (that's saying a lot, too, because I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Little City espresso snob). I'll keep la morada in mind... Arrandas is just a short trip up Burnet for me, though, and that's hard to argue against. Sarovar puts on a pretty kickin' lunch buffet, too, if you're ever in the mood for indian food. Anyways, it's cool to see a few people from in and around austin here. We've got a decent little central texas contingent going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 arrandas is good...but la morada is a little better i think...and i also love my esspresso drinks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted January 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2007 (edited) The cold weather has prevented me from spraying any clear last week, so decided to refinish the headstock to match the body while I had some time. I've got an Ibanez decal on order, and that should arrive some time this week. For now, here's the headstock with a single coat of clear: another view For the trussrod cover, I've got a piece of balsa that press-fits into place. It's painted the same color, so it should be pretty "stealthy." If that doesn't work out, I may go to a more traditional Ibanez-like cover, but I'd really prefer not to. Also, my bridge from ETS is finally on order! I'll post the obligatory hardware shot when it comes in. EDIT: Here is a picture of the headstock after I sanded it flat. One of the main reasons for refinishing was so I could plug all the holes for the trussrod cover and string retainer. Edited January 22, 2007 by fookgub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibnaz5150 Posted January 22, 2007 Report Share Posted January 22, 2007 I did somthing similar regarding the fill process. One where I modified crud bridge to a origianl floyd. The other was just pluging up some control holes. I used wood and epoxy for the fill. Everthing was dandy for a year or so...then those fills come poppin out. I used duplicolor and their clear coats for one. The other was nitro. Hope this does'nt happen to you!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted February 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 I did somthing similar regarding the fill process. One where I modified crud bridge to a origianl floyd. The other was just pluging up some control holes. I used wood and epoxy for the fill. Everthing was dandy for a year or so...then those fills come poppin out. Hope that doesn't happen to me! I'm feeling pretty safe about it since the fills were a tight fit and I'm pretty careful about mix ratios with epoxy. Still, I may just use some extra long screws that would go through the fills and into the body itself when I attach the bridge. Anyway, I finished the clear coats on the body yesterday and it's looking great. Still waiting on the bridge and tuners so I don't know when it'll be done, but I'd like to wait a month for the lacquer to cure regardless of when the rest of the parts come in. I'm still working on the headstock. Here's the progress: It's taking a lot of clear to build over the decal, but I'll get it done eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_ado Posted February 14, 2007 Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 that decals mad wat is it vinal trust me my friend has a prestegie with the exact paint job looks fat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted February 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 that decals mad wat is it vinal trust me my friend has a prestegie with the exact paint job looks fat Yeah, it's vinyl. Got it from an eBay seller for pretty cheap. The real Ibanez decals have "Ibanez" in chrome, so you can tell this is a refinish. I'm not too fond of the chrome, though, because it seems to bubble under the clear. The bridge came from ETS today... a little earlier than I expected. It's extremely nice. I'd be totally excited... if it was a SEVEN STRING BRIDGE like I ordered, but it's a six stringer. Now it's got to go back, and I'm thoroughly displeased. ETS's stuff may be great, but they need to fix their customer service before I order from them again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 The bridge came from ETS today... a little earlier than I expected. It's extremely nice. I'd be totally excited... if it was a SEVEN STRING BRIDGE like I ordered, but it's a six stringer. Now it's got to go back, and I'm thoroughly displeased. ETS's stuff may be great, but they need to fix their customer service before I order from them again. I had similar experience. I send company with information request concerning one of their 8 string bridges. They send me email directing me to their reseller. Something I didn't fully understood. Yeah, I understand they sell through resellers, and not direct to the public. But didn't understood why they let reseller handle the information request. I told them I wasn't impressed with their customer service, and expected better. Hipshot answered me within 4 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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