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Third Build - Double (neck) Trouble


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Been out of the loop for a good while, so I thought I'd post some pics of my latest project. It has taken me over a year just to get to this point, but I'm still hoping to beat my record of 2 years!

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Will probably be chambering this puppy to save on weight. Maybe I'll focus on the 12-string so it will have a lower center of gravity and be a little more acoustically inclined.

IMG_3075.jpg

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looking good, But id chamber out more of it. Double necks can get realy heavy. I have one on the go just now & have almost hollowed out the whole top guitar because of previous experiance.

Any idea of the weight of this one at the moment ?

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looking good, But id chamber out more of it. Double necks can get realy heavy. I have one on the go just now & have almost hollowed out the whole top guitar because of previous experiance.

Any idea of the weight of this one at the moment ?

I was hoping someone would "weigh" in on this subject. I don't want it to be too heavy, but I still want there to be enough structure for sustain. Right now I think I've got it at close to 1" around the perimeter and about 3/8" thickness at the bottom of the cavities. Is there a rule of thumb as far as how much material thickness to leave? 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch?

I'm also planning to rout matching shallow cavities into the topwood before I glue that on. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

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Here's a comp of the top wood:

DSC00999.jpg

Excellent work so far and nice concept. Though I'm not crazy about the top.

Just for grins, you could try a double bookmatched (BM) mockup. I'm not sure how wide or thick your top needs to be but you could take a 9" wide piece of 6/4 and resaw it down the center. Then rip one piece and flip the 2 halves out to the edges. This would give you the larger area between the necks and a BM on the center of each neck. I think it would visually bring down the scale a bit and create a linear flow toward the necks. Your current comp really spreads out wide visually...maybe that's what you're going for.

bookmatch.jpg

Just an observation.

Peace,

Mark

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Thanks for the feedback, Mark. Actually, I had given your double bookmatch idea some thought early on because I thought I'd have trouble finding a piece wide enough. But I did run across an extra wide piece on eBay which the client likes. I showed him examples of the figure in every possible configuration and this is the one he chose. It works out quite well because most of the flame will be toward the perimeter and not hidden by the pickups/strings/bridge. I just hope I'm able to accentuate the flame that is present.

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Thanks for the feedback, Mark. Actually, I had given your double bookmatch idea some thought early on because I thought I'd have trouble finding a piece wide enough. But I did run across an extra wide piece on eBay which the client likes. I showed him examples of the figure in every possible configuration and this is the one he chose. It works out quite well because most of the flame will be toward the perimeter and not hidden by the pickups/strings/bridge. I just hope I'm able to accentuate the flame that is present.

:D

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That is shaping up to be a beautiful build!

I've been watching the Rush special 'Beyond the Lighted Stage' lately, where Geddy and Alex do some songs both sporting doublenecks, so I'm stoked to see this coming along so nicely, it looks like a gorgeous build so far!

:D:D

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looking good, But id chamber out more of it. Double necks can get realy heavy. I have one on the go just now & have almost hollowed out the whole top guitar because of previous experiance.

Any idea of the weight of this one at the moment ?

I was hoping someone would "weigh" in on this subject. I don't want it to be too heavy, but I still want there to be enough structure for sustain. Right now I think I've got it at close to 1" around the perimeter and about 3/8" thickness at the bottom of the cavities. Is there a rule of thumb as far as how much material thickness to leave? 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch?

I'm also planning to rout matching shallow cavities into the topwood before I glue that on. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I wouldnt worry about sustain. so long as it is a strong-rigid structure with no movement in the neck you should be fine. Mass does not always equal sustain, look at olah strandbergs guitars, tiny little things but they sustain like a Les paul.

Personally I route out a hell of a lot more than you have here & still have no problems with tone or sustain. Id leave plenty of meat in the bottom guitar for balance, But the top can be hollowed almost completly out. Just leav enough anchorage for your bridge.

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its looking really good.

I just have a question about the neck layout as i am struggling to decide what to do with my bass/12 string double neck

I see you went with parallel necks with quite a distance between them - how did you decide on this?

I think i am going for a slight angle on mine with them being closer together than yours but i dont want to go too far and end up with the BC rich layout of having each neck nearly meeting at the bottom end

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its looking really good.

I just have a question about the neck layout as i am struggling to decide what to do with my bass/12 string double neck

I see you went with parallel necks with quite a distance between them - how did you decide on this?

I think i am going for a slight angle on mine with them being closer together than yours but i dont want to go too far and end up with the BC rich layout of having each neck nearly meeting at the bottom end

Well, I really just kind of eyeballed the spacing between the necks based on perceived hand clearance requirements. And actually, you can't really see it but there is a very slight angle between the necks... the "wedge" body piece between the necks is 1/16" wider toward the headstock, so the necks are diverging as you move toward the nut. It wasn't really planned; just a happy accident with my planer :D

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its looking really good.

I just have a question about the neck layout as i am struggling to decide what to do with my bass/12 string double neck

I see you went with parallel necks with quite a distance between them - how did you decide on this?

I think i am going for a slight angle on mine with them being closer together than yours but i dont want to go too far and end up with the BC rich layout of having each neck nearly meeting at the bottom end

I tend to muck about with it to figure it out. I make the centre block out of scrap pine & use straps to mock up the whole thing for a test fit. keep tweaking it until it feels about right, then use the pine as your template for the real piece. I find that placing the necks @ a slight angle to each other works best. I havent done many but I did notice that the bottom neck seems to land almost smack on the position of the bottom horn of the top guitar :D maby just freaky coincidence, but it happened 4 times in a row.

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