Pyroiguana Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 I've been working on my first guitar lately and at this point I need some input, so I decided to go ahead and post my progress. Specs: Cherry body Bolt-on maple neck w/ ebony fretboard & cherry headstock veneer 25" scale 1.75'' thick body (At the moment : P) JB/59 Seymour Duncan Humbuckers w/ chrome covers All chrome hardware 1 Volume & 2 tone knobs, with coil tapping & phase shift probably 3-way toggle switch I'm trying to decide on where I should go from here. I have a pickguard blank handy that I was originally going to use on the first (much different) design of this guitar, and I was thinking about putting a half-body pickguard on it, with a strat sorta lower part for the three knobs. But then again, I think i'd like having no pickguard at all, and just having the control cavity on the back. Suggestions please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooglebug Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 the top looks pretty cool, id have no scratchplate and do a kind of fire on water stain, cos thats what the grain looks like to me. if you know what i mean. i do. lol how you'd do that i have no idea, but definately no scratchplate for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_kydd Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Personally I don't like pickguards on my guitars but they do look good some times so it's totally up to you. I'd suggest drawing a few pictures with the guard and see which one you like more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 I think it looks great without a pickguard, but if you were going to put one on, maybe something like this pic (maybe round the points I drew a little): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 heres what i would aim for: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 I don't think I'd go with the pickguard. I like the sound of Hoogle's idea, because the grain on that cherry is really sharp. I'd grainfill with black, sand it, and do a red stain, maybe with a purple/blackish burst around the edges. Whatever color you decide, though, I'd take care of that neck heel first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Cherry smells so nice. I could smell it all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyroiguana Posted May 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 (edited) Alright, so I went with no pickguard. (Thanks anyways for the drawings) Here's todays progress. I know, I know, still need to work on the neck heel : P The cavity cover and truss rod cover are both made out of walnut. Next workday i'll do the heel, fix the tuner holes (didn't have the right size drill bit, it turns out) and install the bridge & ferrules. One last idea - should I give it a walnut binding too? After sticking on a walnut cavity & truss rod cover it seemed like a neat idea. Would tie it together, I think. Thoughts? Edited May 7, 2007 by Pyroiguana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted May 7, 2007 Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 Glad you decided against the pickguard. If you don't mind my asking, where did you find that cherry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyroiguana Posted May 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 Found it in my dads huge pile of wood out in a shed haha... He has some really interesting pieces in there. The walnut I found also had some some amazing figuring, I'll get a close pic of it. Sadly, it was a very small area of it, hence the covers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted May 7, 2007 Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 If you're wanting to do a wood binding, depending on the color you want to paint/stain it, why not do a faux binding technique? For the effort it's going to take, you might want to save yourself some time, i dunno. Unless you're leaving it plain/no stain, then yeah, you might want to do the walnut binding. But the cherry isn't all that light colored of a wood, it'll be much more of a noticable accent if you do a faux binding than if you use walnut. Hmm... I guess it all boils down to what color you're going to do the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjhalsey Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Are you going to cut back the heel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyunsu Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 wow.. your first guitar working is very successfull... you make your neck your self?.. great.. i am too many failed work(neck making.. ^^) your working is great.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyroiguana Posted May 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 (edited) Thanks alot, but the credit for the neck has to go to warmoth ; ) It was a paddle neck, I only cut out the headstock. Building a guitar is such a fun and rewarding experience, I have to do another one sometime. Next one I do, i'll try my hand with a neck (Maybe a neck-through?) And yes, as i said I know the heels quite unfinished at the moment : P I'll do that soon. Right now though I need to find the right size drill bits for the tuner holes & some screws for the bridge. (I did get the ferrule & bridge holes drilled, though) It kinda annoyed me that it didn't come with any... Oh, and for the body I know I want a sunburst but am still undecided on the colors. My dad suggested a chemical that ages cherry faster (therefore darkening it) that might be applied around the edges, I might try this out of a scrap peice to see how it turns out. If you have any suggestions for the color though, please give em! Edited May 8, 2007 by Pyroiguana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Maybe something that just gives it a little red-brown, not too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl762 Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Yes, Cherry Wood must be somewhat reddish. Great body shape, but it needs some tapering/rounding of the body, at least on the top side. I'd do both. Nice job. I really like the controls underneath. Much neater look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyroiguana Posted May 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 (edited) Here's the cavity cover & bridge holes. I need those parts! My parents are leaving off to switzerland for three weeks in a few days, so I'll have to go down to home depot or somethin tomorrow and pick em up (Im 14, btw. can't really drive myself down there : P) Then I can pretty much finish up the woodworking. And yes, I was planning on rounding it off. ; ) But I have to figure out the binding first. I'm still undecided about the binding & finish. I was thinking that I kinda liked the colors at the moment, the light cherry (I know it'll get darker) and the walnut look kinda nice together plain. Especially if I had the walnut binding. So maybe ill scrap the sunburst and just use a lighter finish. But if I do use the sunburst, I agree, the faux binding would work alot better and be easier but really the main point of the binding was just to spread the walnut around the body a little more. Edited May 9, 2007 by Pyroiguana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameroo Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 I'd grainfill with black, sand it, and do a red stain, maybe with a purple/blackish burst around the edges. I think this would look awesome! Just keep the burst fairly thin so you can still see that nice wood! I'd just mix a little black into the red for the burst. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 9, 2007 Report Share Posted May 9, 2007 I might be the one with the incorrect understanding here, but my impression is that tight-grained woods like cherry won't really accept much grainfill, and therefore it would have no "cool factor" impact on the end product. I worked a piece of cherry for my lap-steel, and there's no way any grainfill was going to remain behind after wiping. So, just to clarify-- is the suggestion actually referring to dying black and then sanding back again so that the grain pattern is emphasized? Not the same thing as grain-filling. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyroiguana Posted May 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 (edited) Older pic - Shows of the wood a little better ; ) Well, I got the parts , tuner holes are fixed and bridge is done. Now... the neck heel! Finally. Edited May 10, 2007 by Pyroiguana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msherman Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Older pic - Shows of the wood a little better ; ) Well, I got the parts , tuner holes are fixed and bridge is done. Now... the neck heel! Finally. Cool It`s great to see someone else building that shape. Might I suggest shooting it with trans burnt umber. It will give it that cocobolo look and the figure will really jump out. Here is one I`m building at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyroiguana Posted May 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Wow... Thats pretty incredible. Way to steal my thunder (haha) I do like the finish too, i'll think about it. How long did all that inlaying take? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msherman Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Wow... Thats pretty incredible. Way to steal my thunder (haha) I do like the finish too, i'll think about it. How long did all that inlaying take? Thats the natural color of the cocobolo in the pic. The burnt umber will get you close. I have about 30 hours into all the inlay work on this one. Front shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Awesome guitar, msherman! It's coming along really nicely. That's actually very similar to the color I pictured in my head when trying to wrap my mind around the red dye job for pyro's finish. I like it, reminds me of a more "intense" SG with that red stain on it. And yeah, Greg, I did mean to say blacksandback, and for some reason it came out as "grainfill." Go figure I've never done a transparent finish myself, but the cherry has some nice figure, I thought that route would be the way to go to accent it even more. You do bring up a good point about the tight cherry grain, too, something I didn't take into account. Hmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Well, cherry *will* take dye + sandback method! My query was only to clarify that it was dye + sand that was actually being recommended rather than pore-filling. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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