Blackdog Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 Since I finished Cassandra I have been debating between reworking Clotilde and not touching her at all. The simple fact is that Cassandra was a far superior instrument, and not because it’s more ornate, but because it benefited from the little already acquired experience. Clotilde was never leaving the case for several reasons: the neck profile was too clubby, didn’t feel right. The fretting was not at the same level of precision of my later jobs, and it had some buzzing and fret-outs very difficult to correct with just a setup. To make matters worse the finish wore out too quickly, it was not looking nor feeling very nice anymore. On the other hand, she was my very first. And, in that context, I was proud of the result. It has historic significance to me. Well, I finally took a decision: without changing it into a different guitar (that would be betraying the spirit that drove the build) I made all the necessary corrections to make it a better guitar (and a few small cosmetic enhancements consistent with the original design). It was finished (again) in February. The functional modifications: The neck was completely recarved. Now it has a much sleeker profile, along the lines of the PRS wide-fat (yes, it was much fatter than that). The volute was re-carved to look and feel better, same was done to the heel. The frets were removed to re-plane and re-radius the fretboard. It was then re-fretted to a much better quality standard (experience pays off). The bridge was changed to a Pigtail aluminum wrap-around, with tone-pros posts. This bridge is fully intonatable and has a better string spread than the old Wilkinson. The tradeoff is that it is a bit taller. This and the slight loss of fretboard meat while reworking it made it desirable to increase the height adjustment range a bit. Instead of re-setting the neck with a steeper angle I opted for recessing the bridge a couple of millimeters. This proved a lot easier and safer, and it still looks great. The cosmetic modifications: I added a multi-laminate veneer to the headstock face. I never quite liked the way the long posts of the locking Grovers looked on the rather thin headstock. The added laminations increased the thickness of the headstock and added consistency to the looks, as it was made out of the same mahogany used for the body. The back control cover was redone in solid mahogany, again the same one used for the body. The belly-carve was made wider and deeper. I made some flame maple P90 covers and bought flame maple knobs to replace the plastic ones, in the end I found it looks better with the darker rosewood knobs. I bought these knobs and modded one of them with five inset bronze dots on the side, just like the side dots on the neck, to mark the 6 positions of the rotary switch. I have now finished the guitar in Danish Oil. This keeps the oiled wood appearance, but looks significantly better than the Plastic Coating I used before, and hopefully will last longer (it's easier to maintain, anyway). As a welcomed addition the Danish Oil brought up some nice diffused flaming covering the whole body that was completely invisible under the PC. Danish also polishes very well, and the complete guitar, neck and fretboard have now a nice mild gloss. So let me introduce to you the same old Clotilde again, but all new and shiny: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronico Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 Very nice rework Luis ! You take risks ! But the new look is beautiful ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kully Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 did your rose wood knobs come with the inlay or did you do that ur self? i expect in a while i will revisit my first build aswell. it was built with a warmoth premade bolt on neck which i routed the the neck pocket to deep and made the action to high(i temperarily fixed it bye placing washedts between the body and the neck) i feel know that i am making my own necks the i should actually make one for her that actually fits or at the very least recess my bridge and remove the washers so that she looks and feels better. but for my first build i am very proud of her despite the fact she is extremly heavy. another thing about ur guitar i love the inlay in the top of the body most of the guitars i have come across on the internet that have any inlay on the body i feel goes way over the top with it but urs i feed just looks in place and feels right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdog Posted June 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 Very nice rework Luis ! You take risks ! But the new look is beautiful ! Thank you, Andronico. It wasn't that much of a risk, I think. These days I feel reasonably confident carving a neck. And fretting doesn't feel that frightening anymore... Of course there's always the added discomfort of doing all that without removing the neck. The best thing is that she now plays beautifully, and I actually feel like taking her out of the case for a spin quite often. It was annoying before, because it didn't feel comfortable to play but still sounded very well. Something went really well with this guitar soundwise. It has a ringing and a richness and complexity of tone that the others I built so far don't quite have. I believe is the comparatively flexible maple neck, and the very simple construction. Next one-piece neck I build for myself I'll leave the CF reinforcement out to see if I get a bit of that lively tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdog Posted June 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 did your rose wood knobs come with the inlay or did you do that ur self? another thing about ur guitar i love the inlay in the top of the body most of the guitars i have come across on the internet that have any inlay on the body i feel goes way over the top with it but urs i feed just looks in place and feels right Thanks for the nice comments, The knobs came without the inlays. I did those a while back, when I was doing the inlays myself. Then, for the guitar building phase, my wife took over the design and implementation of the inlay work. The body inlays are her idea. The design in my second build is an evolution of this design. Now she created a new art-nouveau design that will grace my Sapele topped doublecut. But now you get the already inlaid RW knobs from several places. Ebay included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 You DO take risks! And I agree it looks much better than before, something I didn't know was possible hahah. Congratulations again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmth Builder Posted June 22, 2009 Report Share Posted June 22, 2009 Beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry356 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Beautiful! Real eye candy! Gorgeous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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