evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 ok well ive finished my first guitar which glad to say was alot of fun and i learnt so much from it,but not enuf to satisfiy me so i decieded to build another to build up my skills ,this is pretty much the same as the last one i build just a little more involved and i used my own design this time ,not wanting to be like the average joe i went for something a little crazy and way out ,i think metal matt could apreciate this one ,has taken a fair while to do but theres been no rush on it just plodding along so im not going to go into heaps of details as you guys cetainly know how to build a guitar ,im soo impressed with the bilds on this forum i only wish i could get up to the quaility of what others are doing ,how ever im learning alot and playing around with lots of ideas , i call this one the BAT, becasue the theme of it was spose to be a bat like shape, ull see as we go along. so first i designed my shape took a few days to come up with something i liked but was happy on the design i chose, i took influences from bc rich guitars mainly as thats what i like and also play heres the scribbley first scketch on paper:::: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 so that was the shape pretty much,and i stayed reasonabley close to the design only altered it a bit, i then put it into solid works which allowed me to see it in 3dimentional views so could get a idea if it was going to work or not....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 happy with how that looked i decieded to make a ruff card board shape in full size to see where i was heading ,not sure if others do this but i like the idea of choping up cardboard and getting the shape exactly how you want it before you go and butcher exspensive wood , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 heres another with it along side one of my old warlocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 awww yeah and the head stock went thru a similar design process till i found one that i could use,learning from my mistakes on the last guitar with the tuners i made sure they were going to fit in the right way and work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 and just to make sure i made up a perspexs head stock of the shape so i could test the tuners and there positions! worked out well as i needed to change it a tiny bit,but i liked the idea of having a scale model of sorts to help me visualise the thing ,so thats what i did .................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 and carrying on that idea i made the wing templates the same way ,used them to draw around and cut the shapes out of mahogany ,the top wing was a bit of a pain how ever as i didnt have a piece long enuf,and couldnt just buy another piece to cut 1 wing out from,so i had to add a small section to the blank to give me the size i needed ,i did this by using wood dowels and alot of glue ,it was clamped and let to sitt so a while, then i fitted up the wing template and cut that piece out also........................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 heres the top wing blank with extra added ,when i was doing this i thought it was the dogyest thing ever how ever i also made a second piece using the same joint method and i clamped it to the table and swung a hammer on it as hard as i could ,in a sort of violent rage to test the join ,amazingly it held up!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 and heres the 2 halfs laying on the card board shape ,after ruff cut out ........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 so next was a bit off carving and sanding and shaping,i learnt from my last guitar its a good idea to get as much of this done before you stick them to the neck,i know alot of people will disagree with this ,but for me personaly it works very well and makes life alot easyer later on,so thats the method i use and probably will stick to it,,as far as the carving and shaping goes i also found a real easy method of just drawing your shape and masking it off where you dont want to carve and then ripit up by hand ,with files and sand paper, this masking technique is very similar to one used in auto refinishing industry in which i work so know alot about paint and finishes,it works very well and i recomend trying it out can get precise shapes using it,well i think so any way ,and proof is in the pudding so heres a few shots, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 i also routed out a controls cavity and drilled the jack hole ,and the pot holes ,also a channel for the from pickup wire,as pointed out by the lovely moderator here from my last guitar ,cheers for that!! it worked a treat ;-) and again a steward mac neck thru,i love the quality of these things , i think my next build ill have ago at carving a neck ,still working up my skills and confidence at this stage tho, we will see ,any way heres the s m neck,24 fret eboney fret board paddle headstock ................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemjinStrife Posted July 7, 2008 Report Share Posted July 7, 2008 Wow... very measured and thorough. Great work! By the way... Carvin supplies Stew-Mac's neck-through blanks. I say this because if you decide to get another one, Carvin allows you some limited customization of woods, inlays, and the like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 cheers mate yeah being careful this time around not just going all crazy,measuring and double checking and cuting shapes and geting visual aids helps alot to be able to see the direction im going , so having the 2 winds semi done i primed them and let them sitt for a while, i then turned my attention to the neck ,had to do several things to it first to make it usable, first being the neck angle,now the way i did this i know its not the right way but it worked for the first guitar with the same neck so i thought id do it again since i knew what the go was, so added a small wedge to it and ended up with ........................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 then had to cut the bat head shape on the end of the neck......................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 and with the wings sitting beside the neck it looked like this kinda sweet i thought ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 so that looking pretty good i went to the head stock and started on that with my choosen shape, to make it work i had to add wood to either side of the paddle, heres a shot of the wood glued and clamped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 once was dry had to level the sides nicely ,look at my cool neck suport lol, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 heres the headstock ruffly shaped came out ok too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 so head stock shape was done the wings done neck angle ruffley sorted and the bat head shap at the neck end also done ,so next the hard part hahaha actualy it was a little fidley but to help line up the wings with the neck i used 2 small wood dowels they helped alot! heres the wings being glued and clamped the hell out of it .......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 then out of the clamps and dryed lets see how it came out ................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! quite happy at how it was taken shape at this stage!!! awesum to see something ive scribled down on a bit of paper turn in to something real!!!! still heaps to go but making great progress at this stage, next was a mater of finishing the wings and smoothing them into the neck and basicly getting every thing sanded smooth an nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbetty Posted July 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2008 many hours of sanding and got it pretty smooth and even, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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