Mitch Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 This guitar is my second build (in progress). It is going to have a 25.5" scale length, 2 humbuckers (probably going to be Kent Armstrongs) and a cheapish pre-intonated bridge which I quite like the look of. The neck is a straight through neck with cherrywood on both sides and sycamore in the middle(all neck laminates grown within 50 miles of my house). The wings are ash(also from a tree grown within 50 miles). The controls are: 2 pickups with a tone control each, a master volume control, a blend pot instead of a selector switch and a coil tap for both pickups (not on seperate switches) operated by a DPDT mounted on the bottom of the volume control making 4 knobs on the front of the guitar all together. The top will be carved with a letter "M" on the top horn and the control area will be uncarved (a bit like the ayers rock/table mountain in australia but made of wood.. and quite a bit smaller.. and with knobs on the top). The Fingerboard is rosewood with a 12" radius and it comes from stewmac.com (it is also quite pink which Is nice). the fretwire is Stewart MacDonalds medium-wide and the inlays are 7mm abalone. Anyway, I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking and if you have any feedback, suggestions and/or question just post a message. And go easy I'm only 14. Here is the guitar with some of the parts just placed on. Here is the headstock shape drawn on the wood. It is similar to the washburn falcon. Here are most of the parts layed on the floor Here are some of the smaller parts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Looking down the length of the fingerboard. Note the pinkish colour on the right hand side(more clear in person). Here are the inlays just placed on the fingerboard. The top horn with the pencil lines to help me out with carving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 This is great and your especially for being only 14. I did my first build when I was 12 and am now 16, I wish I was building guitars this nice when I was 14. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Why isn't anyone replying to this???? Bump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 nothing to reply to; just sitting back and enjoying the ride it looks nice; keep updating you progress, and if you have problems, ask questions, and you'll prolly get some good responses; just keep the thread up to date, ppl are looking grant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Just did the fretting and inlay today. I think I was getting a bit stired up about the fretting (Heart speeding up, hands shaking etc.) and it really wasn't that bad. I think I did okay for a first fret job. The frets where not glued in at all but I used 2-part epoxy to glue the inlay in. I lost the tiny bag of inlays and spent 3 quarters of an hour looking for them before i finally found they had dropped of the edge of the work table. The inlays are not flush with the top so any idea for how to make them flush? Sorry this ones a bit blurry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Nice work, Mitch. Don't stress about not getting any replies. That happens a lot. Keep it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Sanding down the inlays to match the fretboard is tough with the frets on. My suggestion would be to make a sandpaper block that is thin enough not to bump into any of the frets, and go very carefully over the inlay, trying to hit the inlay as much as possible with the sandpaper, and the wood as little as possible. You don't want to flatten out the fretboard every few frets!! And as was said before, don't worry about not getting an overwhelming number of replies. I've grown accustomed to it, at least Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadovfor Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Why isn't anyone replying to this???? Bump. I refuse to participate in this thread because I'm more than triple your age and I think it's disgusting that people your age are doing work this good! P.S. As for the lack of replies ... just keep posting your progress. Sometimes you'll get some conversations going, sometimes you won't ... it just depends on lots of things: what other builds are going on the forum; the weather; how innovative you've been; whether Paris Hilton is in the news ... who knows?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 (edited) I filed down the inlays succesfully by using the side of a file as a sanding block and putting masking tape on the frets next to where i was fileing. I'm now im the process of glueing on the binding which will come up and be shaped over the sides of the fret like on hamer guitars. Sorry, no pictures this time because the camera is out of battery. Edit: I would also like to add that this guitar has been laying around for 6 months waiting to get some work done on it. I may stop again for a week or so at some point if I have forgotten to order a part(s) early enough. Edited January 14, 2009 by Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 (edited) Good work. You've learned one thing for sure... don't fret until the fingerboard surface is exactly as you want it on the finished guitar! Don't worry about the replies. Just look at the number of views you're getting. I probably only reply to 1/10 of the threads I look at. Aesthetic advice... I would lengthen the headstock a little. Just take the shape you drew at the end and move it two or three inches away from the nut. I think that would look better, but if you like it, just keep it. edit: nevermind, I see by the holes that the headstock is pretty big already. Not to nitpick... but I would move all the tuner holes closer to the nut and make the headstock not so wide. Edited January 14, 2009 by Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 I look at all the build postings but don't reply as a I don't have anything to add to the conversation except please keep them coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I did the binding on one side yesterday. This took quite a while (10 AM until half 3 PM with a half hour lunch stop) as I was shaping the binding over the fret ends. The binding i used was some strips of plastic from some pvc pipe. I was suprised how good it comes up when it's sanded. This it the fingerboard with the binding on one side and the end. The binding on the end has yet to be shaped to the board. When I use the flash up close it looks like the fingerboard is all mouldy. It isn't though, honest. You can see the binding quite clearly on this one. If anyone is wondering what the book is, it's: How to make your electric guitar play great! by Dan Erlewine (great book, comes with free radius gauges ) This pic is a bit dark but you can see the binding is still a little rough. That should be tidied up soon though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chops1983 Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Nice work mitch! When i was your age i was making wooden spoons and spice racks for mum so your going well! Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 (edited) Sorry I havn't posted in a little while. I have been busy and I tryed glueing the rest of the binding but it didnt stick properly (because I forgot to key the plastic) so i had to peel it off and glue it again. The other side of the binding may be finished tommorow or the day after. Edited January 17, 2009 by Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Not to much action recently, sorry guys. I got the other side of the binding glued and shaped. Things should pick up again once the truss rod channel has been routed. I am going to go to a friends house to route the channel as he has more experiance with a router than my dad and I (we do have a router and quite a nice one but we have only used it once and that was testing it on a bit of softwood with a fairly blunt bit.) I already have the head ears glued on so this might make routing a bit harder. I think I'll do that thing that they do on those spanish youtube vids on the tutorial section with the bits of metal. When I do get the channel routed I can then glue the sides on, route the pickup cavitys, glue the fingerboard on etc. and it should all get going again. Thanks for reading if you got this far, and sorry it's not nearly as interesting as the other projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Hey everyone. Its been a while since I posted on this in progress thread but here goes. I have routed the truss rod channel and glued on the wings. Once the glue had dried I started carving the top. I carved a letter "M" onto the top horn, this still needs some more sanding as it is still lumpy in places and rough in the little groves. Sanding round this letter is very fiddely and takes along time (makes me want to change my name so I have an easier letter sometimes). I also partly cut out the headstock, routed one of the pickup cavitys and carved the bottom horn. One of the things i have learned from this is not to have a neck angle (at least not as much as 3 degrees) on a through neck guitar as there is so much waste. Anyway, I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. The guitar as it is so far. Top horn with the "M" carving The headstock shape partly done. The neck pickup cavity with quite a bit of burning on the sides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cult Classic Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 great work. i love your sig btw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylanwad Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 That's shaping up nicely mate. The carving is cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 (edited) Sorry everyone, I haven't done any updates in a while. The guitar work is starting to move on now and I am hoping to get it in for GOTM march (possibly). Since the last post the truss rod has been installed(packed with silicone which is the white rubbery stuff they use to seal baths but this stuff is brown), the binding has been thinned down because the fingerboard was a bit wide, the second pickup cavity has been routed, the fingerboard has been glued on, the neck has been tapered down to the fingerboard the head has been fully cut out the neck has been shaped, the top has been fully carved, the pot holes have been drilled, the control cavity has been routed and the little hole for the control cavity to pickup routs has been drilled. The neck on this is quite thick(personal preferance) at about 50% thicker than my red guitar with a bought neck. Anyway I'll put the pics up now. Any question just ask. Sorry, the fingerboard is masked up to stop it getting damaged. It is there though, I assure you. Here is the back. Control cavity Here you can see the join where I put a wedge of wood because there was a big gap in the back where I put the neck angle in and if i planed it away the body would have been too thin. I'm planning to do some sort of marquetry over it to cover it up. Any other ideas for covering it up would be REALLY REALLY helpful. And the colour differance isn't quite as obvious as in this pic. Edited February 18, 2009 by Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 The headstock you can see the wood isn't smooth but i'll sort that out The pathetic and tiny belly carve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hector Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 I think the bridge you got needs a neck angle. you should check that to see if it will work for you. great work, but I would redesign to headstock. draw lines to simulate the strings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madawgony Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 You have plenty of wood to work with for a re-design of your headstock. As Hector mentioned draw the strings as they would be coming over the nut and up the headstock. IMHO you would want the path of the string past the nut as close to inline with the string as it is on the neck as you can get. Look here Other than that keep up the good work. Dang, you are only 14? When I was 14 we were rubbing GI Joes faces on concrete to give them that blunt force trauma look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 good build, for the back; honestly i would throw a 1/8" top on there or somthing; it would cover your glue line there and it would give you another chance at your cavity recess; it all comes with trial and error and making the right templates and all; but you will end up being very unsatisfied with that when everything else comes out really nice. even using a wide rebate (rabbett bit) in a router to outline the cavity itself is a lot more clean than freehand; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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