First Build!

[I Like Turtles]

Hey guys. This is my first post here, even though I've been a member for a while. I love this site and what you guys create, so I figured I'd contribute too. All suggestions and criticisms are welcome.

Specs:

xiphos body

28" baritone scale

24 frets plus a zero fret

five piece neck-thru (wenge/sapelle/wenge/sapelle/wenge)

sapelle mahogany body wings

ebony fretboard (I'm not dyeing it; I love streaky ebony.)

string-thru gotoh tune-o-matic bridge

locking GFS tuners

EMG 85/60 combo (I might get the 85x and 60x, not sure yet)

1 volume, 1 3-way switch

black hardware

anything else I forgot.

My wood:

this is the birdseye maple that would have been in the neck-thru. more on the wood choices later.

wenge

the ebony. I didn't realize at the lumberyard that it had a huge crack in it though.

It's still usable for at least one fretboard, so I'm not going to cry or anything.

The sapelle had really deep sawmarks that I couldn't hand-sand out, but you can still see the nice color.

Group photo. Not too bad for $250 considering I'll have a lot left over.

The wood with my MDF template.

I originally wanted to use limba instead of sapelle for the neck laminates and body wings, but my lumberyard didn't have any, and turns out I can't find any good sources of it. I bought the birdseye because I was going to use it in the neck, but now I think sapelle would look better. I've got enough wenge for two necks, so maybe I'll use that combo for another build.

Wish me luck.

[GermanFafian]

This will be one very interesting build.

I'll keep an eye on it.

[low end fuzz]

this one looks good; personally id add something tothe neck to show off the laminates, because theyre 2 dark woods; like maple veneer,

[I Like Turtles]

Update time!

I got my wenge and sapelle neck laminates ripped. I also cut out the wing blocks.

I was planning on using ormsby's neck-thru neck angle method, but then I figured out I couldn't do that because of the somewhat large angle (almost 4 degrees) and the fact that my neck blank is only about 1 3/4" thick. I'll be recessing the TOM instead, which will be easier if anything.

I used a festool circular saw with a rail-type jig that makes really clean cuts that can be glued without jointing. It's more accurate than my table saw would have been.

Those laminates look weird in the picture but they are even.

Damn wenge is hard to work with, and it's extremely brittle. Probably not the best choice for my first build. The sapelle was far easier to cut.

It's hard to see, but I traced the shape of the body wings onto the blocks.

The section I used had this really cool waterfall kind of grain, almost like bubinga. I'm actually starting to think that maybe it is bubinga and the lumberyard tricked me. Whatever

I should be gluing these up this week hopefully, then I'll plane it even.

[Cali-Blues]

Did you get your name from that video of the kid saying "i like turtles" on the news?

I know off topic.

cool build btw.

[I Like Turtles]

Did you get your name from that video of the kid saying "i like turtles" on the news?

I know off topic.

cool build btw.

Yeah haha. Did you know somebody made a mockumentary about the kid as an adult? It's so funny.

[I Like Turtles]

Update!

The neck is glued up. We used a fancy system of cauls just to distribute the pressure most evenly. Those big weird clamps are pipe clamps in case anyone wanted to know.

The wenge was already thicker than the sapelle, and some of the sapelle stuck out of one side of the neck, maybe 1/16" to 1/8". Again, the body will have to be made thinner now.

Overall though, things are looking good for my first build.

[I Like Turtles]

Update!

I took the neck out of the clamps. There was glue everywhere and the joints were uneven, so I wasn't sure how it would end up. I used the festool circular saw with the rail to cut things even (I want a planer so bad).

It took a few hours to get the sides even, but it is done.

No glue lines!

Started contemplating the scarf joint. I'm going to stick in three pieces: sapelle/wenge/sapelle, with the wenge being slightly thinner than the sapelle.

Moving along nicely.

I also decided on using a 27.5 scale length, because I've read a few threads lately and it changed my mind. The neck is now 1 1/2" thick, so that's what the body will have to be. Thinner than I had planned, but oh well.

Edited May 23, 2010 by I Like Turtles

[I Like Turtles]

Update!

Today I glued up the three pieces that are going into the scarf joint to simplify when I glue the actual scarf joint.

Me and my dad spent hours trying to figure out the best way to cut the scarf angle (14 degrees) with our limited tool supply. We ended up making a jig for the table saw out of this angle thing that came with that circular saw that's been so handy.

We made two practice scarfs, then we did the real one.

It turned out well. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get the faces jointed and then we'll get the scarf glued up. After the scarf is done, I have no idea what's next though. I guess installing the truss rod and gluing the wings on? I need to get my ebony ripped for the fretboard too.

[Buter]

Nice one!

I'm stoked to see you and your dad come up with ways to use the tools you have to get the job done. I pretty much have the proper tools for each job now, but I kinda miss the 'how the hell am I gonna pull this off?" moments. Most ended great, some ended in tears.

Take care when aligning your scarf joint - with the contrasting lams in the neck, even if you're off by a fraction of a mil, it will be very noticeable. There was a whole thread on scarf joints not too long ago if you wanna troll back through a few pages.

Look forward to more progress.

Cheers

Buter

Found it for you: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...c=42233&hl=

[I Like Turtles]

Thanks man! Yeah I just figured out that I cut those contrasting laminates wrong. I forgot to take into account that the scarf joint is angled. I'll just make another set of them.

[I Like Turtles]

Let me start off by saying that gluing a scarf joint with an accent piece sucks. Super hard and it took about 5 hours to get it right. It's a 1/2" thick piece of sapelle that had the headstock angle cut into it. Seems simple but without many tools it's very difficult.

Here it is glued up.

Here you can see the accent piece better.

Also hand planed the ebony. I love the color. I'm definitely going to leave it in all its streaky glory.

Parts will cost me about $550 including reusable paint and tools.

I also pretty much got down exactly how I'm going to finish it. I'm using stewmac's colortone waterbased lacquer with a satin finish, and grainfiller everywhere except the neck. MMMMMMM.

Does anyone have any good tips for putting an accent piece into a scarf? This process had me so lost and frustrated.

[King_Petrucci]

Hey looking good man. Love the accent in the scarf joint. I love the xiphos too. I love every Ibanez actually lol. I made a Xiphos a while back.

I cant seem to find a finished pic.

Im sure yours will turn out better than mine. My timbers were crap as it was my second build..

Your neck looks sweet!!

[I Like Turtles]

Nice xiphos man! I only hope I don't screw mine up.

Clamps off.

The join is good. It's a little crooked (maybe by 1/32") but we were expecting it.

[Stewey]

Looks good man, I can honestly say that I wouldn't have clamped it up any differently.

[verhoevenc]

I too think turtles are nice, especially when they chill on logs and stuff. However, when it comes to lake-living creatures I'm more partial to ducks.

Chris

[I Like Turtles]

Agreed, although a few puppies in a wagon can get pretty intense too.

By the way, your tutorials are very helpful.

[verhoevenc]

FRICKIN' AMAZING! Golden's are what we get too. New one coming in a couple weeks

Also, where in MD are you? I build up there about twice a year with some friends... however, the reason I ask is cause July 17th there's a lutherie get together in PA that a lot of guys from that area (and elsewhere obviously) are all goin' to. If you're interested in acoustics too, it'll be a good meeting. Lookin' like over 50 people this year, some big names in the semi-pro field as well. Check out the Official Luthiers Forum (OLF) for info.

Chris

[MuffinPunch]

Cant wait to see this one come together. I frickin' love the Xiphos! There was another guy building one of these about this time last year but the thread kind of died. Hope you see this one all the way through and share it with us along the way!

[I Like Turtles]

Hahah. Those aren't my puppies. They are pretty sweet though.

I'm in Charles County in Southern Maryland. I'm only 17 though, so I probably won't go to that convention. Maybe one day, man.

I love xiphoses (xiphes? xiphi?) too Muffin. I also loved your tabar zin guitar. When is that getting started up again? It was one of the first builds I saw on this site.

[MuffinPunch]

Hahah. Those aren't my puppies. They are pretty sweet though.

I'm in Charles County in Southern Maryland. I'm only 17 though, so I probably won't go to that convention. Maybe one day, man.

I love xiphoses (xiphes? xiphi?) too Muffin. I also loved your tabar zin guitar. When is that getting started up again? It was one of the first builds I saw on this site.

Thanks, Tabar kind of lost momentum when all of my image links got broken. All I really have to do with is attach the fret board, fret it, and finish it. Its been sitting in my office collecting dust for a couple of months now. Soon as I get some extra time ill jump on it. Ill probably end up starting a new thread for it when I do. I've been focusing on the seven string projects lately since im getting college credit for building those.

[wisdom727]

Great looking xiphos build! I have a related question: How do you and others create low-angle body bevels?

So far, I've avoided beveled body shapes due to uncertainty, but I can imagine a few ways:

1. Use a huge/expensive bevel r-bit with a router table, and take many shallow passes to minimize tear-out; or

2. Build a router jig to tilt an overhead plunge or fixed router, and mill the bevels with the end of the bit; or

3. Carve them out manually with rasp, handplane, and scraper.

Advice?

[King_Petrucci]

On the xiphos i built (the green one of first page) I roughed it using a flap disc on an angle grinder and the sanded..On my V before that, I used a rasp for all of it. Rasp is better in my opinion

[MuffinPunch]

There was another guy building one of these about this time last year but the thread kind of died.

On the xiphos i built (the green one of first page) I roughed it using a flap disc on an angle grinder and the sanded..On my V before that, I used a rasp for all of it. Rasp is better in my opinion

I guess It was you I was talking about KP. You gotta finish up that thread man! Evidently you have the progress pics, at least show us the final result! What did you end up using for the bridge?

Edited June 24, 2010 by MuffinPunch

[King_Petrucci]

There was another guy building one of these about this time last year but the thread kind of died.

On the xiphos i built (the green one of first page) I roughed it using a flap disc on an angle grinder and the sanded..On my V before that, I used a rasp for all of it. Rasp is better in my opinion

I guess It was you I was talking about KP. You gotta finish up that thread man! Evidently you have the progress pics, at least show us the final result! What did you end up using for the bridge?

Yea time sorta got away from me. It turned out ok in the end. I used a 7 string strat trem. I think I might block the trem but cos I dont like it..Ill try post final pics tonite...Wheres the progress on this one turtles???