First Build! (finally)

[dude]

Hey everybody,

I never really introduced myself before, so hi, I'm dude (or Phil if you prefer). A few summers back, I joined this forum with the intention of starting my first build soon after. I bought Hiscock's book and read it through several times, but ultimately got discouraged by the cost. I kept coming back to it, though, sketching out body ideas and the like here and there. Well, I've finally convinced myself to go ahead and knock out my first build. I know it's going to be a ton of fun - well worth the investment.

Now, on to the fun bits.

Specs:

Neck: 3-piece maple/mahogany/maple neck (neck through construction - no neck angle)

Body: Mahogany body wings - see below for shape

Scale: 25 1/2"

Frets: most likely 24 jumbo-wide from Stewmac

Pickups: 2 humbuckers (probably Dragonfire Distortion pickups) - zebra bobbins

Controls: 1 volume, 1 tone, 3-way toggle (or a 5-way with some coil-tapping/out-of-phase options. We'll see.)

Bridge: Strat-style hardtail (from the same seller as the pickups)

Finish: Natural (probably Tru-Oil). I'll likely stain the mahogany darker and leave the maple pretty bright. I've always had a thing for racing stripes.

Below is my design thus far. It's VERY similar to an ibanez iceman, but with some sizable tweaks - the most notable of which are the second cutaway and the accentuated rear horn/point/thing. This image is perhaps not as good quality as it could be. It's a shrunk-down version of my actual-size diagram I'm doing in Photoshop. Still, you should be able to get the general idea. I'm still working on the headstock. It doesn't quite do it for me as is.

Here's the production plan: I have 2 weeks to finish up my design. After this, I'll have about a week in my dad's shop to do most of the heavy lifting (band-sawing and routing) before I go back to school to work. If I can get the body and neck mostly shaped by then, I should be able to manage the rest with my own tools.

Any comments, input, suggestions, words of encouragement, or general criticisms are most appreciated. I can't wait to get started! Thanks everyone!

[psw]

I am a big fan of the iceman, not sure how successful messing too much with it is...matter of taste really.

However, you should check out this thread as it is close to the kind of thing you are contemplating...ICEFLY

Good luck with it though...

pete

[dude]

Thanks for the input, Pete. I've actually been messing around with the design quite a bit since my earlier post. You'll be happy to know that it now hardly resembles an iceman, save for the waist curves and the point on the bridge-end (my favorite part of the design). What I have now actually looks reminiscent one of Paul Stanley's guitars (no, not one of his icemen, though I would someday like to get my hands on a shattered mirror iceman). Observe:

I'm still debating wood choices at this point. My main guitar right now is an all-mahogany, set-neck, EMG monster (Schecter Hellraiser Avenger). It's a beautiful sounding guitar, but its a bit too heavy at times. That's why I wanted to add the maple laminates to the neck. I almost want to try all-maple, though. Is this a bad idea?

[Xanthus]

Hey DUDE:

- If you're doing a not-quite-neckthrough, I would definitely consider doing a reverse-neckthrough joint like some Warwick basses. Do a google search for pics.

- I like your first mockup better, with the vulture-esque headstock.

- http://ibanez.com/ElectricGuitars/model-PGMFRM1 check it out, it might inspire you.