Replacement Rg7 Body

[ElysianGuitars]

i've had this alder in my possession for a few years now, bought it from the guy who chopped down the tree, and its been drying ever since. figured now that i have the proper toolage, i'd turn it into something. after planing, it came out a little thinner than an RG body, but i'll make up for that with a flamed maple cap. so here it is, all cut out and mostly shaped, my sanding drum took a crap before i could shape the inside of the cutaways.

and i decided to start on the rear cutaway, so here it is, rough carved

http://www.elysian-online.com/RG7/RG7Cutaway.jpg

i really can't do much now until i get my board that i'm saving for top's resawed, and after that, i'll need to get an RG7 neck, though i have a local friend who has one. i'm also going to route it for a lopro 7, so i'll be making that template at the same time i get the RG7 neck to cut the neck joint

[ElysianGuitars]

got the top glued on today, its wet with acetone, just to show the flame(don't have any naptha, but i figure acetone shouldn't hurt anything)

learned a valuable lesson today... my planer hates flamed maple, tearout was pretty bad, the top is gonna wind up a little thinner than i was planning because i have to sand through the tearout

[ihocky2]

I like the look of tha flamed maple, but I have to admit that carving into the alder for the arm rest makes it look kind of cheap. Maybe a shallower carve would have worked better, or if the top is a veneer, pressing the veneer to match the carved contour. Sometimes the contrast of the carves into seperate layers works nicely. But in this case, I donl think it does.

[ElysianGuitars]

I like the look of tha flamed maple, but I have to admit that carving into the alder for the arm rest makes it look kind of cheap. Maybe a shallower carve would have worked better, or if the top is a veneer, pressing the veneer to match the carved contour. Sometimes the contrast of the carves into seperate layers works nicely. But in this case, I donl think it does.

i don't have a vacuum bag setup currently, nor do i have anything heavy enough to press on it without hurting the wood itself, and the burst will follow the contour, somewhat similar to this guitar

i've done the vacuum bag thing before, and i admit, it is a better solution, this one will do, i've actually already sold this RG7 body, and the customer is aware of my intentions, and has 0 issue with them.

on an aside, this build will possibly fund a vacuum bag setup, so i don't think i'll be doing the forearm carve this way in the future. i'm currently jobless though, so this is my job

Edited July 30, 2008 by ElysianGuitars