Michael.Speer Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 hey my names mike and im a fifteen year old living in London England this is my third build and is actually being done for a school wood shop project though i will be doing most of it at home. Originally it was going to be a les paul jr. completely white with black binding, but i saw a dean caddy in a guitar mag and decided that i preferred it as it was a little bit more original (not dissing the les paul jr.) theres the dean in case anyones unfamiliar. I'm making it out of a solid chunk of mahogany with a zebrano neck and wenge f/b and will be changing the headstock as im not a fan of theirs. though i changed the style of body i am going to stick with the les paul jrs. one p90 and vol+tone as i dig the simplicity. thanks for reading and any input will be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 Dude...you have the same name as the bass player I jam with now. But he's got 20 years on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 Welcome aboard, Michael! Cadillacs are certainly interesting guitars. I like unconventional shapes, myself-- and while the Caddy isn't my favourite, it's still pretty cool. Hope you have fun! A single P90 on a Cadillac is going to be sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 I gotta say that I think the Cadillac shape is the only body that actually works with the Dean headstock. Looking forward to watching this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael.Speer Posted November 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 hey so on sunday the wood arrived i quite like it its got a nice grain that sort of gets lighter as it goes further out which should look pretty good ive never worked with mahagony before and expected it to be much harder than the basswood i used in my last two projects but its really not that bad which i was happily suprised about the zebrano is also quite nice, it really like the grain i enlarged my template and stuck it on to the wood and then cut it out using a jigsaw normally its quite hard to get a very straight edge using a jigsaw but it worked out ok mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 Looks great so far. That shape is quite cool, and will definitely prove to be a different take on the LP Jr style. You said originally you were planning white with black binding? What are the plans for finish now? Obviously you won't be covering up the zebrano neck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael.Speer Posted November 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 im currently thinking that im going to use a dark brown Rosewoodish stain that will hopefully look good with the black binding wat do u think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted November 26, 2007 Report Share Posted November 26, 2007 Sounds like a cool combination to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Nice job on the cut out Michael, I like the shape. On the Dean model there is a tune-o-matic bridge with a tailpiece, but on your plans I can only see one bridge part. What sort of bridge arrangement are you going to go with? String through one piece? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Very cool. I gotta say that the piece of zebra you have is beautiful, seriously very cool looking piece, much more clean lined and cool looking than much of what I have seen and what I've had. I'll tell you this, it will not work nearly as nice as that mahogany with tools, but it will make a killer looking neck. I think if you'd had a longer piece, that piece would have made for a wicked looking neck through guitar, though the neck is going to look super cool anyway. Well, best of luck. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael.Speer Posted November 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 (edited) hey yeh never really thought bout a neck through could have looked awesome o well thats why building guitars is awesome SO MANY OPTIONS about the bridge im using a lp jr bridge because i kinda of ordered the parts before i changed my mind towards the Dean style so i decided to roll with it. got some more updates to im currently taking exams at school but didn't have any today so i stayed home and did some work around my revision... thats the drill bit i used to clean up the sides its a good tool but can take off a lot of wood fast and can leave it bumpy so u have to be careful then i drew out where i wanted the curves of the body to get to and shaped it with a combo of rasps spokeshaves and files cleaning it up every once and a while with a power sander to see how it looked i also marked up the points where the tone and volume pots will be drilled through which you can see in that photo mike Edited November 27, 2007 by Michael.Speer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Nice work, coming together well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael.Speer Posted November 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 hey so another half day and i got some more work done routing out the back chamber with a... router started out with a template that i cut out of mdf then just kinda freehanded it heres another that shows the holes drilled through for the pots I also freehanded out the edges around it for the coverplate that ill be making out of black plastic later mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael.Speer Posted December 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 hey got some more work done. routed out the neck pocket and the p90 pocket and drilled through into the rear cavity for the wires once again i used home made mdf templates those things are invaluable mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 Looks like some major chipping around the holes for your controls. Hope it's getting a solid color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael.Speer Posted December 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 yeh that is where it cracked but i filled it up with wood filler and im using a pretty dark stain that i have done a little test of with the stain and its barely noticeable. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 Same thing happened to me on my first build. Now I know to always drill from the top, not the bottom, and always ALWAYS use a pilot hole. Needless to say, mine got the solid color Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael.Speer Posted December 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 hey havent posted in an age but thought id do an update got a lot done in the past month which is mainly the neck and fretbaord thats a pic of the carved neck i guess we cant do mpore than one photo but here are some links to some more pics http://www.shutter7.com/coppermine/displayimage-740-40.html http://www.shutter7.com/coppermine/displayimage-740-9.html there ya go mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted December 29, 2007 Report Share Posted December 29, 2007 yeh that is where it cracked but i filled it up with wood filler and im using a pretty dark stain that i have done a little test of with the stain and its barely noticeable. mike Try clamping a piece of wood so that your drill bit will emerge into it rather than into air. This seems to prevent chipout. Very cool project, man. I've always loved the "look" of the LP Jr. (black p90's, pickguard, etc.) Your Dean shape is a cool take on it. The neck looks great. The links don't seem to show any pictures though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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