Hsc Death Metal Style V Guitar Project.

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

Hello.

I am a student who has started his higher school certificate in NSW Australia who has an interest in death metal and a newer interest: Guitar building. I have decided to build a some what unique guitar and possibly guitar case to go with this some what different guitar.

I have begun to research guitar building and I have decided to attempt to build a warrior V shaped guitar as used by Karl Sanders of successful death metal band Nile.

I have added some pictures to give anyone who has not seen this guitar an idea of what I mean.

Some pictures in this link that give you an idea of what i am talking about.

I would like to do this guitar with a quilted maple top with a finish that will bring out the gold color of the maple top.

For the neck I have found in the school store room some red jarrah and coach wood (I am not sure what the correct name for the coach wood is) I am hoping to do a three piece laminate on the neck with these timbers unless someone would suggest this to be a poor choice of timber?

For the body I have some old maple that may be planning to use?

Would anyone have a good suggestion for the neck joining method for a n00b?

I am happy to see that a forum like this exists and I am looking forward to hearing any suggestions and comments.

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

Also I plan on documenting all of the build and taking many pictures of the processes involved in the construction of this job.

[G-Axe]

Wauchope would have to be a good place to source timber from, no?

I haven't had any experience when it comes to actually working with any Aussie timbers as tonewoods, but I've been doing my own research. Jarrah is a dense, hard wood, not dissimilar to ebony. It's tough as nails, and the irregular grain makes working with it difficult. There are a few acoustic guitar and mandolin makers out there who have put it to use as soundboards, and I've heard of people using it in neck laminates, but it sounds like prime fretboard material to me.

Coachwood I haven't really found any mention of in terms of guitars, but on paper it looks as though it has characteristics close to walnut or lacewood (silky oak) which seem to stack up pretty favourably as neck timbers. The maple (Queensland?) would work well as a body top, neck laminate, or even the whole body, and seems to be a pretty reliable wood for guitars. I know Maton use it pretty heavily.

But most of that data is just bits and pieces I've picked up here and there. I found this link pretty helpful when I was asking similar questions not too long ago. Anyway, hope that helps you a bit. Look forward to seeing what kind of metal monster you can put together up in timber town.

[Mickguard]

Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, from the Greek copros (feces) and phagein (eat). Many animal species have evolved to practice coprophagia; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions. Only in rare cases is it practiced by humans.

[dominus]

Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, from the Greek copros (feces) and phagein (eat). Many animal species have evolved to practice coprophagia; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions. Only in rare cases is it practiced by humans.

Just what I wanted to know as I eat dinner while browsing the forum.

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, from the Greek copros (feces) and phagein (eat). Many animal species have evolved to practice coprophagia; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions. Only in rare cases is it practiced by humans.

Just what I wanted to know as I eat dinner while browsing the forum.

I will admit it's an acquired taste.

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

Well I figured that living in the town of timber I would have had access to a range of quality timbers. (Seems to be a wide range of local hardwoods and limited instrument grade timbers)

I have contacted a timber supplier and walked through his warehouse and have select a solid piece of Brazilian mahogany 50mm thick, 17inch wide and 10 feet in length, I will be buying this slab with a few of my class mates for $365.

I asked the supplier if he stocked any quarter sawn silky oak, he had one piece that was not quiet figured enough.

A substitute teacher has told me that he has some 4mm veneer of some flamed maple that I had been searching for; he is reluctant to sell as in my area this timber is becoming very rare to source. If I am able to get this timber from him I just want to give it a few coats of finish to bring up the flame of the grain and get a golden yellow look to it.

I have found some great jarrah that I will be using for the fret board and thanks a lot for the link.

I will be taking some pics and get them up here of the timber that I have sourced when I get back to school after I journey to Sydney to see Arch Enemy, Trivium, and Machine Head live

Thank you for your reply’s and advice.

[Mickguard]

Thank you for your reply’s and advice.

Well, he's awfully polite for someone who eats feces. Even dead feces. Nice!

[westhemann]

I have the kxk SFU v built by Rob Kaufman himself,with another soon to be complete to my specs(as was the first)....and I find Rob to be very reasonably priced and more than willing to build to any wood species available...so you might want to look into just buying one,as you are going to have a VERY hard time building to the quality he does(trust me on that,those guitars are just awesome)

But if you feel you should build it yourself,you should definately stick with the neck through design of the original.

I only mention the first paragraph because I only build either originals or improve on what I dislike about exiisting designs,I would rather pay the "inventor" for the guitar if it is already built to a 99% perfect degree...which I assure you it is.I find most guitars lacking in one fashion or another....but Rob just has it going on.

[Nekul]

Just out of curiosity, who is the supplier in Wauchope? I grew up in Port and when I started building my first guitar (it was a complete failure by the way) I got all my timber from Hastings Sand and Gravel (since closed). Everytime I go home to Port for the weekend I drive past that place and almost cry to think of how much Brazilian Mahogony, Zebrano, maple, walnut etc is still sitting in those racks and only for sale by the sling, if you are lucky enough to get the guys number.

As for the Sub teacher, there was a guy teaching music when I was in high school (15 years ago) who used to build guitars. He was a music substitute. I loved his lesson because my friends and I would listen to tapes of Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen etc (and the occasional Cheech and Chong tape) instead of working. We got good marks too. I saw one the music shops in Port had one of his guitars in their racks one time, not sure if it sold.

[black_labb]

ive heard that jarrah is actually a very warm sounding wood, warm to the extent that it sounds boomy. may not be a bad option, but dont think that it will sound like ebony.

qld maple is a good body wood, as is silky oak as well as a variety of other timbers.

there is an australian instrument makers forum here

if your interested. there have been some recent discussions in some threads about australian timbers if you want to see what others oppinions are.

what subject are you doing the guitar for? i finished my hsc 2 years ago (im at uni now studying engineering). was it design and technology or industrial technology: woodworking? i did design and technology and enjoyed it quite a bit, also did industrial technology but in the multimedia area.

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

I have the kxk SFU v built by Rob Kaufman himself,with another soon to be complete to my specs(as was the first)....and I find Rob to be very reasonably priced and more than willing to build to any wood species available...so you might want to look into just buying one,as you are going to have a VERY hard time building to the quality he does(trust me on that,those guitars are just awesome)

But if you feel you should build it yourself,you should definately stick with the neck through design of the original.

I only mention the first paragraph because I only build either originals or improve on what I dislike about exiisting designs,I would rather pay the "inventor" for the guitar if it is already built to a 99% perfect degree...which I assure you it is.I find most guitars lacking in one fashion or another....but Rob just has it going on.

Well, the idea of this project is to build a guitar for my HSC (Higher School Certificate) practical assessment. So buying it is not really logical in this case.

I am only using that custom warrior V for its body shape and head stock shape. I am not suggesting that I will come close to the quality of the KxK guitar; I will give it my best though.

Do you have a link of a picture of that guitar? I would like to check it out.

I am defiantly going to go with the neck through design, “fo-show”

I love all of Rob Kaufman guitars they are made of pure god and win.

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

Just out of curiosity, who is the supplier in Wauchope? I grew up in Port and when I started building my first guitar (it was a complete failure by the way) I got all my timber from Hastings Sand and Gravel (since closed). Everytime I go home to Port for the weekend I drive past that place and almost cry to think of how much Brazilian Mahogony, Zebrano, maple, walnut etc is still sitting in those racks and only for sale by the sling, if you are lucky enough to get the guys number.

As for the Sub teacher, there was a guy teaching music when I was in high school (15 years ago) who used to build guitars. He was a music substitute. I loved his lesson because my friends and I would listen to tapes of Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen etc (and the occasional Cheech and Chong tape) instead of working. We got good marks too. I saw one the music shops in Port had one of his guitars in their racks one time, not sure if it sold.

I got the number for that old timber place and it turned out that my old man went to school with him (this unfortunately did not get me any discount). I got his number and arranged to meet him down there and got walk through all of that amazing timber

He told me that a lot of the highly featured timbers had been rummaged through by guitar builders and that I would have trouble finding some timbers. We found a 10 feet long 17 inch wide, 50mm deep Brazilian mahogany board that we (4 students and teacher) bought together for $365.

That teacher you are talking about is the same teacher that I am talking about and I also got good marks in his class.

He said that he sold a guitar last week for $2500 to some dude in some band from some place. This teacher is giving me lots of help in this project and gets VERY excited about it. I think his name is “kundasivic” but most students know him as “Mr. k” and he calls his guitars “mukundi guitars”

If I get the chance I will get some pictures of his guitars if anyone is interested?

[Nekul]

You lucky bugger. I bought a 302 windsor recently of David Hayes's brother and asked about his stash of timber. He told me David only sold stuff in slings. I would love to get into that shed to have a look. Maybe if I told him $500 on timber is on teh cards he might open it up.

So Mr K (aka Mike Kundicivic) is still teaching. He is an amazing player. I sat and watched him play Mark Knopfler solos note for note. He was hands down one of the best players I have seen. I cant believe he is still teaching. We had him for a few terms at Westport.

I would love to see pics of not only the guitar but the timber you guys bought. Is Mr K helping you out with the build?

Edited November 4, 2007 by Nekul

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

You lucky bugger. I bought a 302 windsor recently of David Hayes's brother and asked about his stash of timber. He told me David only sold stuff in slings. I would love to get into that shed to have a look. Maybe if I told him $500 on timber is on teh cards he might open it up.

So Mr K (aka Mike Kundicivic) is still teaching. He is an amazing player. I sat and watched him play Mark Knopfler solos note for note. He was hands down one of the best players I have seen. I cant believe he is still teaching. We had him for a few terms at Westport.

I would love to see pics of not only the guitar but the timber you guys bought. Is Mr K helping you out with the build?

302 Windsor. Very nice. The way he made it out to use was that he was rather eager to get ride of the timber. The only condition was that we buy the timber in the slabs as they were. (as he dose not have a saw for cutting it.)

Maybe you should ring up David Haze yourself and tell him that you are willing to throw the money around and he might sell some stuff to you. There is heaps of great Brazilian mahogany down there.

Mr. K is the one of the most talented guitar players I have ever seen. I try not to bring it up because he gets a big head at times. He is helping me with the build when he is not on classes, he has brought in some templates and fret board scales.

I am packing my camera for the next few days to get some happy snaps for you guys.

Anyone know where I can get some she-oak for match boxing the face side of my guitar project?

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

Mr.k les paul

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

similar guitar that i will be building:

[westhemann]

my guitar is the SSV...there are pics on the KXK site of the same guiitar.Only visible difference on mine is the 24 frets vs the standard 22.

I do have pics that I have posted before,but I don't recall where.

[RGman]

Anyone know where I can get some she-oak for match boxing the face side of my guitar project?

http://www.australiantonewoods.com/

Give Tim a call or an email and he will be able to track some down for you.

[Postmortal Coprophagia]

Anyone know where I can get some she-oak for match boxing the face side of my guitar project?

http://www.australiantonewoods.com/

Give Tim a call or an email and he will be able to track some down for you.

****in oath thanks RGman