Stewey Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Hello all, after my first build turned out all right for a bit of fun (first build) I've decided to do a second build out of proper timber. It will be 6 string, neck through with an RG body shape. The wings of the body will be hollow with some f-holes in the top. I am using Qld maple for the body with a mystery, lightly figured top. The neck is rock maple. It will have 2 humbuckers, wired like a PRS with a floyd rose trem. This is were I'm up to now, I've hollowed out the wings: Can anyone tell from this poor photo what timber the top is? Top (Sorry about the pic quality, I only have a camera phone.) Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Curly Redwood? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 With all that maple, are you worried about the tone of the guitar being too bright? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oblaty Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Man! This guitar will have all specs I like.. Maple...humbuckers...prs wiring...nech through...RG body shape... Good luck with this project!! I really do like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 i personally would have used the darker wood for the back, but thats just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted August 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Redwood sounds good in terms of the colour, it's alot redder in real life than in the photos, plus its fairly heavy. The Qld maple is supposed to sound a lot warmer than regular maple so it should be alright, I hope. Thanks oblaty, its my dream specs too. I do agree that darker wood usually looks best on the back but the qld maple is pretty boring looking timber. Now, should I glue the top to the wings and then the completed wings to the neck or should I glue the wings to the neck and then the top? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 could it be tassie myrtle ?? sure looks like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGman Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 could it be tassie myrtle ?? sure looks like it Sure looks like a plain piece of myrtle we have here. Queensland Maple isn't anything like Rock Maple as it isn't actually a Maple, but it does sound similar to mahogany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oz tradie Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 I'm with RG and Ray on this one. It smells decidedly myrtle-ish. And a nice , gentle figure to it also. cheers, Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 I'm with RG and Ray on this one. It smells decidedly myrtle-ish. And a nice , gentle figure to it also. cheers, Stu From the little I've seen of that type of myrtle from a local "tropical and exotic" wood shop, I would agree as well, but it would be just my best guess nothing more. As for the figure, I can see it in the picture and it looks very cool. Its hard to tell, but I would guess the top was bookmatched? The figure looks too similar on each side to be slip matched, not certain though. A member has a thread on another site that shows two pics of some walnut. Basically, they wanted to know which way to orientate the wood, to make it look best based on the figure. It has flamed figure, different from this one, but similar effect. In one pic the flames are angling down toward the sides of the guitar and in the second pic the flames are pointing upwards towards the side. This guitar looks to have the flames going up toward the sides. I actually really like this way of orientating the figure, though it seems many people prefer the other way with the flames angling down much more. Either way once finished I think that figure will look amazing. Congrats on a wicked looking project so far, definitely keep the progress picture coming. Best of luck man and keep us posted!!!. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted August 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Thankyou everyone, I think after googling I will declare the mystery timber myrtle. I really liked the figure, it seems to angle in two stages. The two pieces are just one board cut in two, so they are not book matched. At first I had the figure angled downward but when I overlayed the shape of the body it looked better with the figure flowing up towards the horns so I left it like that. Does anyone have an opinion about the gluing question I asked a few posts up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGman Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 Might be better to glue the tops to the wings first, then you could get the edges planed on both pieces before gluing to the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted August 6, 2007 Report Share Posted August 6, 2007 (edited) Very cool stuff. I would bet you that my local place would call that wood Curly Tasmanian Rose Myrtle, lol, seriously they would. You got a very nice piece because that figure lines up well, it must have been pretty even all the way through. Its not too easy to slip match a piece well enough to pass as bookmatched, I'd imagine that once its finished it will be more obvious, but still it worked out very well and yes I agree that it looks better with the figure going up like you made it. The other site I was at, out of 40 people so far who voted on what would look better for this walnut, a total of 4 people including myself voted for the figure going up and the rest voted the other way! I was fairly shocked myself, though it was for an acoustic and the grain might have played a factor on the decision as well. Either way I really like the way it looks when it is pointed upward like yours, very cool stuff. As for gluing, probably be easier to glue the top to the wings first. The main reason is if you glued the wings to the neck first, when gluing the tops on you would have to apply pressure and clamps both vertically and horizontally to get good joints both at the neck and wings. So, yeah I would do the wings and tops first, then glue them to the neck. Best of luck man. J Edited August 6, 2007 by jmrentis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted August 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Well I got a bit more done today. Firstly I roughly cut out the f-holes with my new coping saw. Then I tried routing the top to size using my template. This timber really doesn't like to rout! I tried a few different bits in varying degrees of sharpness and all sorts of router speeds but it just kept chipping and grabbing. In the end I gave that up and just sanded the top to size using my benchtop disc sander. Here you can see one side of the hollowed out wings. http://users.tpg.com.au/stewart7/Semi-hollow/10082007332.jpg And I ended the day by cutting the headstock angle with a handsaw because it wouldn't fit in my bandsaw , damn that was hard work. I have no idea how I will cut out the neck profile, I might need to borrow a bigger bandsaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGman Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Interestingly enough, i found some hard eucalypti that looked the same as your top, though it still looks like myrtle. I used to use a handsaw and the good ol' stanley to do my headstocks, but now its all router and jointer work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted September 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 (edited) Been a little while since the last update and I haven't really got much done in that time, damn work. Got a camera for my birthday so no more camera phone pics. I finally cleaned up the f-holes and routed for the pots and switches which allowed me to glue the top to the wings. Top Clamped Unclamped And here is were the fretboard stands at the moment: Now that the tops are glued on I have to work out how I'm going to cut the neck profile so I can glue the wings to the neck. Edited October 8, 2007 by Stewey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Well a little bit more progress done, I finally got the neck profile cut which I had to do with a handsaw, damn that was tiring. Neck profile Neck profile other view I also got the edges trimmed with my router and sander. Next time I've got some free time I'll shape the headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTU 7's. Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Wow man, i didn't see this thread before. Very nice woods you're using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraser Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 very nice. can't wait to hear how it sounds.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted October 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Thanks guys. I managed to find some time this morning to shape the headstock and glue the body wings to the neck, it feels good to finally have some major progress. I'll get some pics later, gotta go to work now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr_XD Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 sad i have to go to sleep now, 2:21 am in Spain XD don't forget those pics, i really like how your project is turning out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted October 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Ok here's the headstock pictures. The shape is PRS with a bit more swoosh to the curves and it's a little pointier. Another view Then I glued the body wings on. I was glad I saved the off cuts from the wings, they made clamping a lot easier on the curves. Clamped up And I bound the fretboard, it's not scrapped down flush yet. I also managed to glue my fingers together and to my shirt. Fretboard Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to continue on with all the routes on the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Ok here's the headstock pictures. The shape is PRS with a bit more swoosh to the curves and it's a little pointier. I really like that headstock shape. I might steal it for my LP build coming up in 2008. Hope you don't mind... The body glue up looks weird in the photos. Looks like there are gaps. Is it just the shadows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted October 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 (edited) Yeah it does look a bit weird. It's just a shadow caused by the flash and that the wings are a little taller than the neck part. Feel free to steal all you want. Edited October 10, 2007 by Stewey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stewey Posted November 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 Well my original plan for routing stuff was delayed untill today, first day i've had off in ages were i haven't had to do a mountain of things. First up i routed for the trem and then the pickups. Trem and pickups routed. In this pic you can see in the spring cavity were the router bit fell out of the router while i was going, stupid new router. I went back to my old one after that! The routing on the back. Since the day was still young i decided to forge ahead and do some carving with my trusty angle grinder. It's still very rough but i reckon it looks quite good. I did have a small slip though. Linky. Any ideas on the best way to fix it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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