ByronBlack Posted January 5, 2008 Report Share Posted January 5, 2008 Ok, this is a new thread on my current build. It's a walnut explorer, the body was pre-bought off ebay for a bargain price. I'm making the neck for it also from walnut - with a stew-mac pre-slotted rosewood fingerboard, so it's a pretty straight forward project. The reason why i'm getting some of this pre-made stuff is mainly because i'm in a severe need of a new guitar :-) Here's a pic of the body: And here's a link to my current photo-stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/byronblack/se...57603608562622/ You'll also see a few photo's of a custom shape body with figured maple top this is my 'wafercaster' project that never got finished, but will be completed after this explorer one. Progress so far: Body obviously complete Neck laminated Fingerboard template completed Headstock template completed Neck thicknessed and scarf jointed Tomorrow/Monday should see the truss-rod installed, headstock thicknessed and shaped and fingerboard glued on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bygde Posted January 5, 2008 Report Share Posted January 5, 2008 Looks really nice. Didn't like the other guitar much, but the explorer looks killer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Some more progress today! Neck building is a lot more satisfying than I thought it would be! Here's the truss-rod installed: Updated photoset: http://www.flickr.com/photos/byronblack/se...57603608562622/ Last pic of today's progress; the fingerboard and spalted maple backstrap veneer glued on: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=21...3075&size=m Tomorrow should see the neck trimmed to final size with a template and pattern-bit, headstock shaped, and front-veneer glued on, I'm not sure if I should start the fretting process as I think I my buy some files and various things from Stew-macs to ensure I don't cock it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Was that the body going on eBay a couple of moons back? I was thinking of snagging that myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I did snag it from ebay, the guy seems to sell them quite often, I was watching another about a week after I got this one, they seem to go for a decent price, and they are nicely made too, the neck pocket especially is clean and with a 3 degree angle which for me worked out perfect with the TOM bridge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Neck is coming along really nicely now. I've trimmed it up to my template, and with great fortune it fits perfectly! I've also shaped the headstock after gluing a couple of small 'ears' on, it just needs a little further sanding and refining. I'm in two minds as to whether i'll veneer the front, i'm quite like the 'rustic' look of all the walnut and rosewood so I'm not sure the spalted maple would look out of place, but it does look good on the back - i'll have to sleep on that one. Here's some more pics: I just need to finish sanding the headstock and start the carve, when my fretting tools from stewmacs arrive I can get that part finished, then it's just putting in the electrics which I'm quite nervous about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Oh man, that table router just looks plain *deadly*. I hope you made your worst enemy do that work Byron man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Oh man, that table router just looks plain *deadly*. I hope you made your worst enemy do that work Byron man. NO KIDDIN! Yer gonna get hurt with that spinny spike of cuttingness sticking out of that table. Invest in a guard rail. Seriously. You can't play that axe without fingers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanhorton Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 wow looking good man, keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 the necks looking good!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Don't worry fella's, I have a box guard that I attach to the table-top when I do the routing, the pics are just for illustration. What are your collective thoughts on veneering the front of the headstock, would the spalted maple be too much of a contrast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Possibly not. I would end up binding the neck and headstock in that case though...this is where personal taste becomes all the more subjective! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 I don't think my skills are upto binding just yet, the fingerboard is pre-radiused which will make it tricky to route for the binding, and the headstock is kind of curvy and pointy so my limited knowledge/skill of binding see's that as a very difficult job! :-) But it's something I would like to have a go at in the future. Just out of interest, considering the curves of the headstock, what material would be best for the binding, and finally how does the binding on the headstock transition into the main part of the neck? Does it just stop at the nut, or is there a more graceful way of integrating it? I was however thinking about using a nice burr-walnut veneer on the front instead, this would be more in keeping with the overall look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 What are your collective thoughts on veneering the front of the headstock, would the spalted maple be too much of a contrast? Since you asked... Personally, I like to repeat patterns & themes. I feel it ties the appearance together to have a color or pattern repeated in various places throughout the piece. Introducing a new element in only one place is, to me, distracting & out of place. TRANSLATION Unless you have some spalted somewhere else on the body, I wouldn't face the headstock with it. A spalted p/g would tie it together nicely. If you do that, I might advise laminating a spalted veneer to a more stable wood for the p/g. Spalted is known to be brittle, so it might not hold up on it's own as a p/g. For the binding, why don't you look around at what others have done and take some inspiration from them. Mirroring what I said already, I wouldn't just bind the headstock. If it's done, I'd do the fretboard too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 i think its a nice simple guitar and you should keep the neck subtle too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted January 8, 2008 Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 This is looking really good! I like the look of walnut and even though I'm generally not a big fan of spikey guitars, I have always loved explorers. What type of inlays are you going to use? I think leaving it simple without any inlays would look nice, but other ideas would work too probably. Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 Hi Inisheer, glad you like it, I'm very pleased with it so far, I'm liking it's rustic look, quite 'woodland' As for inlays, I've got some gold pearl dot inlays from stew-macs, they are quite small so as not to be too obstrusive, I was thinking of having this at the bass side of the fretboard as opposed to in the middle, although I did consider having them in an angle from the bass side down to the treble size upto the 12 fret.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 More neck progress Here's a pic of the end of todays work, I've completed stage 1 of the carve, the basic shape has been roughed out and sanded to 80 grit to smooth any bumps/undulations out. Tomorrow, I'll be refining the shape to the final profile, and i'll work out a better transition to the headstock Some in-progress shots: So far, all I've used is some rasps and a spokeshave and a bit of 80 grit. I've also received my fretting tools from SMacs so I'll be getting to that over the weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Carving of neck is now finished. Here's a pic of the neck sanded to 400grit: And a couple of close ups with a single coat of danish oil Tomorrow will see the sanding of the fret-board finalising of the headstock and if time, the fretting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 That neck is looking really awesome! The only thing I find a little odd is how the spalted veneer doesn't completely cover the volute. Are you planning on adding another veneer to get full coverage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I would leave the oil a little longer - I know it's the weekend and all :-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 HI Matt, I made a mistake with the veneer and the volute, in hindsight I would have marked this out before adding the veneer, I'm going to have a think as to whether I should fix this or not. Prostheta - the oil is a quick drying danish oil ( touch dry in 6 hours) it shouldn't stop me from continuing with the fretboard sanding/fretting as I'll place the neck on a support while I do the sanding/fretting so as not to upset or touch the oiled section to much, I intend to give the neck about 3-4 coats of oil over the course of the next 5 days (a day between each coat). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 I would personally have left finishing until the last minute, especially after fretting as you may find the neck profile needs adjusting to your taste, or the face of the heel may need fine tuning once you add hardware into the equation (especially with a neck angle). At least you can sand through the oil if you have to do this. The heel looks great, BTW - which seems like a really sad thing to be noticing as a third party :-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted January 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 You make a good point about the profile, but hopefully I shouldnt have a problem as I made a template from another explorer that I used to own ('59 LP profile) so thats why I started to add some oil - but again in hindsight, your right, but fingers-crossed I shouldn't need to change it! Either way, this is a great learning experience, and I'm looking forward to another one where I can put into practice the things I've learnt from this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 12, 2008 Report Share Posted January 12, 2008 Oh totally. It's the difference between "in theory" and "in practice" :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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