Inisheer Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Thanks for the comments guys! Found a little time today to work on this. I cut out the basic shape and used a router and template to bring it to the final shape. All went well, except for one tiny mistake where I bumped the router crooked against the side and made a small gash. Hopefully when I do the tummy cut I can blend it into that so it won't be as noticeable. I started to design the chambers for the mahogany since I want the body to be fairly light. What do you think of this idea for chambering? The upper left two won't be routed as deep since I need some wood on the bottom for the tummy cut. The one for the controls though will go completely through the body though. (This has been done before right? I think I saw that method used on Maiden's SC). dbm, yep, I can see the starship too. RjY, you are right. People are able to see how a copy of an existing guitar should or should not look. In a way, this helps, though building any design takes work. Everybody should build what they personally like and be happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdog Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 The one for the controls though will go completely through the body though. (This has been done before right? I think I saw that method used on Maiden's SC). Yes, the control cavity should go all the way through in a maple topped guitar. In fact you'll probably have to route a little of the maple top too when you finally deepen the cavity to fit the pots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted December 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 I have a problem! I finally got my maple from Larry-it isn't pictured in any of those previous choices, but he said he liked this particular set. I don't have my camera to post pictures of it yet though. Anyway, I glued the top together yesterday and went to unclamp it this morning...and there is a significant bow in the wood. I am not sure what to do. I am afraid that if I just clamp down the sides that stick up, it will somehow break the wood. Again I don't have my normal camera, but here is a bad pic I took with phone (the top is actually the backside, and the front is facing the table). Any advice would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougK Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 Wow thats got a pretty good bow going. I'd try getting it really wet and then put alot of weight on top of it and let it dry. Might correct some of it. I've seen titebond do miracles before but you'll have to have ALOT of gluing surface on the body (ie not chambered) to really be sure it wont be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 How long did you leave it at your place before gluing it? And was it flat when you got it? Did you keep it indoors, in an acclimatised area, or in an unheated garage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted December 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 How long did you leave it at your place before gluing it? And was it flat when you got it? Did you keep it indoors, in an acclimatised area, or in an unheated garage? I left it to acclimate for about a week before I glued it, and it was pretty flat when I got it. But, for that week I did keep it in my garage, which is fairly cold. I suppose that was probably not the best thing to do. I did some more research into the subject and tried one method I found. I wet the board down a little, put some other wood across it (stickers?), and put a decent amount of weight on top. I did this twice yesterday and once again this morning, and the bow isn't quite as bad as in that pic. The bow used to be around 1/2", but now it is closer to 1/4" or a little less. I will keep it like this for awhile to see if it gets any better. Do you think this wood is still usable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 You may have to do the thing you dont want to do and try clamping it down. if it goes flat with clamping force then its definately usable.... but the thing i would do is either clamp it up or leave it stickered and weighted for a few more weeks before using it. larrys wood does come fully seasoned but obviously it needs to adjust to your enviroment like all wood will. if he cut this wood from a larger billet specially for you (i.e. cut it a day or two before posting) then it definately needs longer than a pre-cut set.. thats how i work it anyway - any major change in the dimensions of a piece of lumber needs to be followed by some aclimatisation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted December 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Ok, I might try clamping it. And I will leave it for a couple weeks before I start working with it again. In the meantime, I guess I can finish the final sanding on the neck and I can make some pickup/neck pocket templates for the body. I also have some other non-guitar projects I can work on too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted January 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Ok, I've had the wood for about a month now so I thought I'd try working with it again. The bowing went down pretty nicely so I cut out the maple top roughly oversized and glued it to the rest of the body. I then put my template over that and used the router to even everything up. It went well until the very end....somehow the router skipped or something and chewed through the mdf template and got a nice little ding in the lower left corner. I then tried to use a drum sander to fix it up a little. It is not as bad now...but the lower left corner of the guitar isn't as round as a result. Maple top Top and back Glue and lots of clamps What is left of the accident on the side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 (edited) Sorry if I hijack your thread a bit. I'm looking at building a PRS Singlecut (Tremonti-look-alike). I have 1pcs Mahogany for the body and 1pcs mahogany for the neck and head. The problem is that here in Sweden it's a little hard to get nice flamed mapletops... I found one nice but its a little thin, only 1/4". Following this thread and lots of google-ing made me believe that 3/4 is the "correct" thickness to use. The plan is to use maplebindings instead of the faux-binding, in that case I can carve all the way (almost) to the mahogany. Singlecuts doesn't have the same carvedepth as the regular PRS right!?! I looked at bending the top but... Any ideas guys? Second and last option is to use the european maple I have (2" thick) and make a solid color btw This looks like a nice build, I'll follow it!! Edited January 10, 2008 by Kenneth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted January 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 Thanks, Kenneth. I believe that the carve depth of the singlecuts is the same as the doublecuts, so 3/4" would work for both of them. I'm not sure I understand what exactly you are asking, are you just looking for a supplier for flamed maple? If so, then there are several suppliers in North America that may be able to ship to Sweden (I think they should be able to....). Bending a thin 1/4" top is done over one small part, like the arm contour, not over the whole body. If you want to do a carved top, then your only real option is to find some thicker wood. If you have any other questions, just let us know and we'll try to help any way we can. Good luck, and welcome to the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Found some thicker maple today. Regarding suppliers in the US... Found some reeeally nice tops there but shipping them here costs more then the wood itself. It's like 50-60$ shipping and than I have to add a tollfee (3%) and on top of that tax (25% on the total amount...) I'll post updates on the build, just have to finish the CAD drawing first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted June 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 School's out, now I can finally work on this some more. I got the neck pocket routed so I can attach the neck to the body , though they won't be glued until much later on. The pocket was slightly wide so I had to add a little veneer to make it fit snug. There is still a bit of a gap at the end of the pocket, toward the bridge. Will this be a problem? The neck fits in tightly against the sides and won't slide up anymore, but this gap doesn't look so good. It will be hidden by the pickups but I want to make sure the neck is stable. What do you guys think? Sorry the picture isn't that great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted June 6, 2008 Report Share Posted June 6, 2008 The little gap at the end shouldn't be a big deal, as long as the rest of the joint is nice and tight. Like you said the pick up with cover it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pestvic Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 I am not planning on doing a pale denim type thing. It will be a bit of a darker blue, pretty similar to that blue singlecut Maiden69 did a while ago. This should work then? And I know the carve won't be very deep. How thick was the top on that SC, Maiden? Also, Jeff Miller uses a 1/2" thick maple top on his guitar to carve and has faux binding. And doesn't PRS use 1/2" tops? This wood would allow the carve to be .19" deeper than those, so it should work fine, right? Option 2 is 1" thick, would this work better for my purpose? It is also more consistent in color. PRS tops are much thicker than 1/2" I would say about 3/4" (19mm) at the highest point. For a deep carving like a PRS you need about 1/2" (13mm) for the carving itself (I used 13mm for my build), and add something between 3/16" to 1/4" (5 to 6mm) for a faux binding to make sense. For my next build (carved top, faux binding) I got a 19mm top. 0.69" (17.5mm) is doable, but probably too close a call. Now 1" is more than enough, but maybe too much: you'll want to concentrate your efforts in the carving, not into converting 5mm of maple into sawdust to get it where you need it. Believe me, it's a lot of work. Maybe you can ask the supplier to thickness it down to 3/4" before shipping ?? I know the german provider I bought from will do that upon request. actually my friend has a PRS Private stock #805. and it only has a 1/2" top the SE's have a 1/4" inch top (if i remember right when i measured at guitar center) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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