guitart Posted December 31, 2008 Report Share Posted December 31, 2008 (edited) This is what I want to build in the near future Neck through construction... alembic style Body - sandwich - cocobolo maple cocobolo Neck - cocobolo and maple racing strips Pickups - seymour duncan 50's set single coil Tuners - Gotoh 510 chrome Bridge - Fender style Schaller roller bridge Fingerboard - cocobolo,,, inlay??? to be determined It'll be my first neck through guitar and the body will need a 1 degree angle for the bridge if I do my usual 1/4" fingerboard height. The design is based on carl thompson shape with alembic wood choices and style. Edited December 31, 2008 by guitart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpcrash Posted January 1, 2009 Report Share Posted January 1, 2009 That could be very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2009 I have most of the wood, just need to buy some cocobolo for the neck and save some money for the hardware. Happy New Year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted January 1, 2009 Report Share Posted January 1, 2009 This looks like a very cool project. If I may just offer a word of warning though- putting cocobolo next to maple can be a real pain in the butt to sand. The cocobolo bleeds like crazy- and the maple will turn orange. Even after BATHING the cocobolo in acetone/etc- it will still bleed. I am not sure if this will show up or not once I post this picture- but here is a Carl Thompson copy I made while it was in the sanding stage- the center block is cocobolo on the front- and striped maple on the immediate left and right of it- it has turned orange in places. I ended up scraping it and getting rid of just about all of the orange - but what a pain it was. If you want- email me at goooge@yahoomail.com. I can send you a piece of cocobolo and maple and you can see for yourself. You may (or may not) change your mind- or even consider putting some sort of dark wood "buffer" inbetween the maple and cocobolo. I am not trying to kill your idea -it is very cool- but believe me- it is a PAIN to sand. I read on the old bunnybass archive (no longer active) where Ken Lawrence did a cocobolo/maple bass and swore he would never do it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2009 Thanks for the heads up on the cocobolo bleeding. I've never had a problem with it doing that but you never know. I'll just have to be careful while doing the final shaping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bygde Posted January 1, 2009 Report Share Posted January 1, 2009 That shape is WEIRD! But I love it! That shape should make a cool bass as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 That is an awsome shape i have to admit and hope it goes well for you when you do make it. BTW what software did you use to draw that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I used adobe illustrator to layout everything at size. I have the bridge, volume, tone, 5-way switch and neck all measured out on other layer in the program. I brought what I needed into photoshop to render the mock-up. I may need to add pickup rings and that might change the way I shape the surface contour. I'll try to post a drawing of the pickup ring soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 (edited) Here's a quick drawing of the pickup ring. The ring will be done in cocobolo, in thick veneer layers to make them stronger. Edited January 2, 2009 by guitart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I don't understand why you need to do veneers on a pickup ring to mae them stronger. They're not exactly holding the guitar together. That having been said, I like the look of the pickup rings a lot. Very old world, almost Victorian design. But your mockup looks just as fine without rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I like to sculpt the pickup rings and by layering them they are easier to work with. The sides get so thin and flimsy that if I didn't layer them they would just break, I learned that the hard way. Anyway, I was at the local guitar shop today looking for pickup covers, which they were out of, and I got to looking at the other guitars that have single coil pickups and how they mounted them.... I think I will just rout out the cavity for them and mount them to the bottom. At least that way I can still contour the body the way that I want. What do you all think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Cool shape. It's one of those things that I think always looks a little weirder on paper than it will in real life. I'm not a huge fan of the exposed neckthrough, but that's just me. I prefer the top cap covering it, keeps the thing from looking to busy, but it's just personal preference. As far as keeping the cocobolo from staining the maple, the answer I've found when putting maple next to dark coloured woods is to get really good a using a card scraper. I find it easier than sanding anyway. Keep blowing your shavings away and you'll be fine. I'm not a huge fan of direct mounted pickups with traditional single coils, as the size and shape of the cavity always look weird to me, with the extra space to account for the mounting ears and the "tab" on single coils where the wires come off of. It's a little bit nice with more "modern" single coils like EMGs where the that extra bit on the bottom is gone, but still looks funny to me. But I feel like on an already busy guitar, the rings might be too much. Look forward to seeing this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Yesterday I bought some more wood for the guitar. Got some nice quarter sawn bubinga which I will use in the neck and body sandwich. Two strips of bubinga will be used between the three cocobolo strips on the neck. The maple will still be on the sides. For the body the bubinga will go between the cocobolo and the maple as an accent line. On Monday I'll make another concept drawing in photoshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 Here's the revise that shows the added bubinga and true to scale neck strips. I think I found a way to mount the pickups with out having to rout out an open area for the wiring. I'll pre-rout the sides of the neck before attaching the wings. This is where the wire portion of the pickup will slide into. So from the top of the guitar all you will see is the pickup and its screws. I'll have to make a mock-up and see if it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted January 6, 2009 Report Share Posted January 6, 2009 I think I found a way to mount the pickups with out having to rout out an open area for the wiring. I'll pre-rout the sides of the neck before attaching the wings. This is where the wire portion of the pickup will slide into. So from the top of the guitar all you will see is the pickup and its screws. I'll have to make a mock-up and see if it works. That'll work. I did it on my second build, which was a neckthrough. Nice and clean Just make sure you tape off the channel when you glue it, much like a truss rod, so you don't get any glue filling up the hole. I'm looking forward to seeing this rendered in actual wood, or at least 3D. The lightness of the inner sandwich makes the waist seem a bit anorexic. Should be fun to carve out, though. Lemme tell you, that is one aspect of a build I simply don't have the patience for. Hence my overuse of router bits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Since the body will only be 1 5/8" thick I think I'll use SPDT switches for each of the pickups. I have some bubinga strips dimensioned for he neck. I hope I get a chance to work on it some more this weekend. The wife has me painting the house..... fun fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Went over to my dad's shop tonight and got some work done. Check it out. here are some of the neck parts,, rough cut and close to thickness. And here's the top book-match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 Book-match for the back. Here's the board the top and back came from and I still have enough for another top set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2009 clamp time..... think I have enough clamps? I'm lucky my dad has a wood shop, he has over 100 various clamps. Before clamping Clamped I decided to not do the bubinga with the cocobolo. In a few years the woods would both turn brown anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Update, here's some pics from todays work. reminds me of an oreo cookie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Looks awesome, Can't wait to see the finished product =D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Thanks! I just ordered the rest of the hardware for it,,, I can't wait! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shredforbread33 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Wow your selection of wood is incredible! Will be watching this, looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted February 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Little update, got the fretboard radius done along with the fret slots. I hope to get more done next weekend.... I guess we'll see. cocobolo fretboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitart Posted February 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Glad I could help. When the guitar gets finished I'll put a few layers of danish oil to help pop the figure on the fretboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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