VesQ Posted June 6, 2009 Report Share Posted June 6, 2009 Ok. I´m trying to build explorer style guitar. I got wood and camera so I thought I might put some pics about the process. All I know so far is the body shape and wood I´m gonna use. Haven´t thought about what pickups or what bridge I need. I´m making the body from african mahogany and I was thinking if i could do bubinga top on it. I have some padauk and wenge which are the neck woods. Hopefully I´m able to join body pieces next week and come back with pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 I like the look of padauk and wenge, seems to be catching on around here Usually the bridge type is one of the first decisions to be made. Bridge type and scale length set in stone lots of variables about the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrkIncGuitars Posted June 7, 2009 Report Share Posted June 7, 2009 I like wenge for some strange reason. But you are just now seeing it on guitars. It's been used for basses for awhile now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted June 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2009 I haven´t done much for the guitar body cause I´m thinking what top joining method is the best. Basically i have 2 options A - join bubinga tops on body pieces while they are still apart. only drawback of this method is that how am I able to join body pieces accurately with tops on. B - make top and body in separate and then joining them. I probably dont have enough clamps for this. Well anyway neck black is almost there. Still needs ears for the headstock though. There it is. I think cocobolo fretboard suits the most. Progress pics gluing the laminates http://imgplace.com/image/view/b120f086d9f...db242984195c232 sawing the scarf http://imgplace.com/image/view/f0fb2dc0dfc...56a807f69a10ffe gluing the headstock http://imgplace.com/image/view/ca284d71226...2f3e8d0776f78a7 Month ago I got the body up to this state http://imgplace.com/image/view/68cf93d97ef...f55c5c64f48df1b http://imgplace.com/image/view/4ec2982a84e...f32d4b3c58322f7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted June 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2009 Update... sort of. No pics this time. I got it all well thought out or least I thought so. Left some extra length on body pieces so that snipe from thickness planing doesn´t bother me. Also cut the shape which can be glued with ease without any corner jigs. But one thing I forgot .The tear out. Planing causes tear outs for sure in bubinga and mahogany and tearouts dont look good in glue seam. All this comes together with top joining method I was about to choose which was making sandwiches and joining them. And if I want sandwiches accurately joined I need them accurately thicknessed. I dont want glue seam at butt of the guitar looking like in this picture below. Also don´t have any thickness sanding machines at disposal so I´ll just hand sand the surfaces make body and top separate and then join those suckers together. I think I´ve my made decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted April 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2010 Ok, so i just put down a pic what i´ve been up to so far. I though i need to try different pic hosting service. the one i mostly use is restricting me to put up image links. Made progress and de-progress with new neck which was scrapped eventually. There were few things i didn´t like about it and made mistake which sealed necks fate. So i´m making third neck for this project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted April 13, 2010 Report Share Posted April 13, 2010 Looking good. I like the grain on that wood. Perfect for an explorer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted April 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Looking good. I like the grain on that wood. Perfect for an explorer. Glad you like it. I was bit disappointed by the lack of figure. Type bubinga in google and you find beatiful waterfall figured stuff. i thought that all bubinga would be the same. apparently its not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Type bubinga in google and you find beatiful waterfall figured stuff. i thought that all bubinga would be the same. apparently its not. No..bubinga is mostly straight grained like what yo9u have.On the bright side,your explorer is going to have an awesomely wide tonal pallette to EQ from..bubinga is a great tone wood(especially for thinner guitars)and te straighter the grain,the better for the sound,IMO I built my explorer from waterfall bubinga,it is heavy,but sounds great...the piece of wood the body is made from is one piece and cost $300. Bad picture,but it shows the grain pretty well...that is a red transparent finish with a yellow topcoat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted April 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 More pics... Routed cavity for electronics. I´ll be using Gibson style pup-switch with simple volume and tone configuration mahogany neck blank with bubinga stripes wenge fretboard 25.5" scale ,slotted for 24 frets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 VesQ - are you going to Tuska? We'll be there if you want to meet up :-) Can you get two boards out of that Wenge....? It looks as though it should be wide enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted June 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 I dont have any ticket to that festival. It´s pretty much useless to start searching tickets as they are mostly sold out. Especially that day Megadeth is performing. If you can keep security guards busy I could try climbing over the fence. Yea, that fretboard looked like it was enough for 2 fretboards but sadly it wasn´t. Taper is now cut and fretboard´s glued to the neck. I want to make bit more progress until i post some pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 We have 2x three day tickets. Hoping to get chance to catch up with Devin since I haven't had chance to do so for 3-4 years now. Coincidentally I was hoping to buy one of his old EXPs a few years back, but I believe he gave/sold one to Beav. Shame. A genuine EXP is a find, especially with some SYL history in the mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted July 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2010 Neck progress so far, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Foreigner Posted July 7, 2010 Report Share Posted July 7, 2010 Hoping to get chance to catch up with Devin since I haven't had chance to do so for 3-4 years now. Is he still doing stuff as SYL? He was very briefly in my favorite band ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted July 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2010 another xplorer style guitar. i started this before the one with bubinga. Not too happy about workmanship. i`m doing whats left there to be done and make it playable. i`m not wasting huge money on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted August 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Allrighty, show must go on Finished fretboard without frets. Sanded up to 6000-8000 grit ( I can´t remember which one) with micromesh pads. I came into conclusion that it worthless to go up any furher cause there will be open pores no matter how hard I sand. I had few problems when drilling holes for dot markers. i accidentally drilled few holes too deep so had to fill them up with super glue and wood shavings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 2, 2010 Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 (edited) Hoping to get chance to catch up with Devin since I haven't had chance to do so for 3-4 years now. Is he still doing stuff as SYL? He was very briefly in my favorite band ever. Nope. SYL is on "permanent hiatus" on the basis that Devin can't just churn out SYL records on cue if he just plain isn't in or can't pretend to be in that zone I guess. SYL got really big with lots of Century Media pushing (pimping?) which I'm sure had a very negative effect on the enjoyment factor. You should check out his Devin Townsend Project album "Addicted" or perhaps his Ziltoid album....he's going with wherever the music takes him, rather than trying to falsely drag the music where the record contracts dictate to him if you see what I mean ;-) Allrighty, show must go on Finished fretboard without frets. Sanded up to 6000-8000 grit ( I can´t remember which one) with micromesh pads. I came into conclusion that it worthless to go up any furher cause there will be open pores no matter how hard I sand. I had few problems when drilling holes for dot markers. i accidentally drilled few holes too deep so had to fill them up with super glue and wood shavings. Wenge is great when sanded up to that level of grit! I wouldn't worry about the pores - as long as the sides are stable and won't splinter. I dropped a bit of CA into the ends of the slots on my multiscale Infinity to add a little stability (whether it will help is debatable) after I took a couple of splinters for the team during radiusing :-\ If you really hate the pores, then a thin application of dyed epoxy isn't out of the question. A quick radiusing will take the sheen off the surface, leaving the epoxy in the pores although a fair few will still be "open" of course. Open or closed, Wenge is a great wood! <edit: damn, this makes me miss my Lumi Explorer....I really should take some time out to do the final buffing and setup....> Edited August 2, 2010 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinhold Posted August 2, 2010 Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 Sorry to take this a tad off topic here, but listen to Ziltoid the Omniscient, I love that album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted August 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 Wenge is great when sanded up to that level of grit! I wouldn't worry about the pores - as long as the sides are stable and won't splinter. I dropped a bit of CA into the ends of the slots on my multiscale Infinity to add a little stability (whether it will help is debatable) after I took a couple of splinters for the team during radiusing :-\ If you really hate the pores, then a thin application of dyed epoxy isn't out of the question. A quick radiusing will take the sheen off the surface, leaving the epoxy in the pores although a fair few will still be "open" of course. Open or closed, Wenge is a great wood! <edit: damn, this makes me miss my Lumi Explorer....I really should take some time out to do the final buffing and setup....> Too late to fill the pores. After I took that photo, I installed frets in. Any case that´s a good idea. Maybe i´ll use it in future project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted August 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2010 Got into carving the neck profile. I felt that bubinga veneer between scarf was giving me ugly look so i carved the volute like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VesQ Posted August 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2010 (edited) Side dots are now installed. I had slight mishap there due my incorrect tooling. The drill bit I used was making holes too tight. So I decided to enlarge holes by wiggling drill bit around. Of course I snapped off tip of the bit in one of the holes. I was lucky cause the broken tip was 2mm below the surface so I just inlayed dot material in like usual. Edited August 10, 2010 by VesQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormLeader Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Hahhaha, I'm sorry, but that's funny about the drill bit. A real "Heavy Metal" guitar eh? -Stormy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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