staticunderwater Posted December 2, 2008 Report Share Posted December 2, 2008 (edited) About time I get around to making an account and posting a thread here. Specs: Body: Walnut with a Flamed Maple top Neck: 5 piece Maple-Walnut-Maple-Walnut-Maple Fretboard: Cocobolo 25.5" scale length Frets: 24 Medium Jumbo Pickups: D-Sonic 7 (B ) and Air Norton 7 (N), each will be splittable and there will be a switch for phase reversal. Bridge: 7 String Hardtail (gold) Tuners: Gotoh (gold) This is also by the way, my first build; its been great so far. I think I can say I've been bit by the bug. Everything glued together and rough cut: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/sp...ot/Maine185.jpg My first mistake was not cutting the neck before gluing the body wings on. Body cleaned up and the neck cut to the right taper: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/119.jpg View of the back: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/121.jpg Template for routing some meat off the back to make carving more plausible: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/01.jpg Action shot with the router (its starting to get cold here in Pennsylvania) : http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/004-1.jpg When I was cutting the fretboard to taper I had a little mishap with checking my measurements and accidentally cut the board too narrow: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/051.jpg Luckily I was able to glue the piece back and have a second chance: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/053.jpg (cheers to everyone who helped over in solid body chat) Lets play a game of spot the glueline: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/0162.jpg (Hint look around the fret slots on the bottom side) Where I now stand: I'm hoping to glue up the board tonight. Edited December 5, 2008 by staticunderwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juze Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Wow! That IS nice! Hopefully my build will look like that even in one step... Hope to see more! And keep up the good work. -Juze aka Ghroath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuntinDoug Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Lookin good! I absolutely love walnut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Good to see the build, SUW! Looking good, buddy. Nice to see the fingerboard was saved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staticunderwater Posted December 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 (edited) Fretboard has been glued on and the neck carved. Obligatory "boatload of clamps" shot: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/019-1.jpg Starting the heel end carve: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/021-1.jpg Neck End with the volute starting to shape up: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/030.jpg It came pretty good, a bit thick for my taste but I'm kinda nervous to make it much thinner. A few questions: I have a headstock faceplate I'm putting on (I can't stand the look of stripes on a non-symmetrical headstock) but the maple I'm using is a few shades darker. What can I use to lighten it up? Normal household bleach? Hydrogen Peroxide? Or do I need a special wood lightening bleach? For fretboard inlays, which of the following patterns do you guys like, I really can't decide. A: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/012-1.jpg -or- B: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/015.jpg -or- C: http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s218/splotspot/018.jpg :cheers: -steve Edited December 6, 2008 by Prostheta added "C:" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 Don't use C because i'm using that on my next eight. My imaginary lawyers will be in touch or something. But seriously, C. (My lawyers will make me rich) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staticunderwater Posted December 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 Perhaps we should both hide from Black Machine's lawyers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 I'm voting C, regardless of BlackMachine's or Pro's scary boogymen I am not a fan of dotsallovertheplace inlays. It's a nice sharp build, keep it clean looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djhollowman Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 Hmm.... B or C. B could look good if the "sweep" of the dots kinda mimicked the sweep of the body shape?? C already looks good! BTW - I think you'll all find that Washburn have been using that dot pattern (like C) for years! My WR150 is like that. Like so: DJ Why is "the administrator not allow"ing links to photobucket????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 (edited) That's some nice walnut there. And C. My current build: Edited December 6, 2008 by Rick500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juze Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 As you can see from my plans. I like offset dots, so C! -Juze aka Ghroath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 Totally. I much prefer offset inlays - I had them on a couple of Jacksons, and side blocks on my ESP Mirage. Love em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boundsteelblues Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 Why is "the administrator not allow"ing links to photobucket????? Not sure...I think the board dislikes linking using dynamic URLs which Photobucket probably utilise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 man, i love all the 7 strings being built on this forum now, i really hope we're looking at a 7 string insurgence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staticunderwater Posted December 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 (edited) I think C is the clear winner, I've been leaning towards it since the beginning anyway. Rick500- That neck is beautiful! That is one amazing looking fretboard. I haven't gotten anymore work done and probably won't get a chance to work until this weekend... Darn physics... And I really think 7s are definitely making a resurgence everywhere. I noticed this past summer over at Ultimate-Guitar in their GB&C section a large amount of 7s being made. And over at Sevenstring.org there I defiantly see they're really getting popular again. I'm predicting probably a few more 7's coming out from the mass produced companies at NAMM in a few months. I really love the wider neck, it feels so much more natural to me, not to mention all the possibilities it opens up. And they're definitely not just for metal, the low B opens up so many Jazz chording possibilities. This guitar here I'm building will be playing mostly Prog-Rock type music such as Porcupine Tree or Pain of Salvation (which by the way is fantastic neck carving music ), but it will also see its fair share of jazz, doom metal and post-rock, I'm hoping to make it really versatile with the switching options. Edited December 8, 2008 by staticunderwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staticunderwater Posted December 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 (edited) Ok, I now have some more time to work on this so hopefully progress will be made. But first I have one major set-back. Yesterday I was drilling the holes for the bridge and I did a few things wrong. Firstly I thought I could just do it with a cordless drill and didn't think I needed to go over and borrow a drill press. Secondly I probably used the wrong bit seeing as it broke off inside the body!! So now I have half a bit in the middle of the body, no way of know where it should of come out on the back (due to not using a drill press). It is deep enough inthere where I could drill a diagonal hole to the back but a.) I don't really trust the bits I have and need to know what kind to get and b.) the back of the guitar will look like crap with ferrules all over the place... So is there anyway of getting this bit out? Its deep in there, probably closer to the back than the front. Edited December 26, 2008 by staticunderwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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