scherzo1928 Posted May 2, 2011 Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 OH NO, HERE WE GO AGAIN Even my dog doesnt want to see what's to come. After gaving finished my 1st guitar... this one: I was ready to start the 2nd one. I even had all the wood and hardware ready. Then I had an idea and put that build on hold. Here are the initial specs: Seven strings... nylons. 24 frets... I think Neckthrough: 7 Piece flamed maple/walnut Pau ferro fingerboard 636-666 mm fan. so about 25"-26.2" Mahogany body... chambered to all hell. Flamed maple top... stained blue MAYBE some F-Holes... most likely not F-Shaped. Natural binding Nut material: honey badger bone. Ok, ok, just bone. Ok, this is the pau ferro board I'll use for the fingerboard: The initial shape of the headstock. It's changed a bit since I made this drawing. By the way, since I still havent bought a band saw, everything is being cut by hand... again. I'll eventually buy a band saw... yeah. The templates still need quite a bit of work, but they are getting there. Gratuitous pic of my dog being super bored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scherzo1928 Posted May 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 By the way, that other build I was talking about could end up looking something like this: Anyways. I bought flamed maple for the top from the only person who seems to sell flamed maple in Mexico. The figure is kinda decent, but it's not very constant. Also, the boards are NOT what I would call straight. So first thing I did was this: I will repeat that a couple more times. But they are definately better. Back to the figure in the wood. As I was saying, it is not constant throughout the top. Here you can see some spots with almoast no figure Maybe I could make some fholes around those areas. Another option is to turn them around and cut the inside, like this: So that each half would look like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scherzo1928 Posted May 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 Fortunately I had much better luck with the rest of the wood. I went to my trusted lumber place, and they told me they had some plain maple that has just been sitting there for years. I spotted a very straight board and asked them to cut it up. I went home with 8 boards bigh enough for neckthrough laminates. The next day I started inspecting them and OH SURPISE!! The maple was SUPER flamed. More pics on the flames in a bit. This time, I wanted to cut all the boards for the neckthrough laminate prior to glue up. So I made a template out of MDF. Headstock front and side(ish) view Very reasonable angle: I will cut it with a straight 25mm (about 1") thickness for now. But I made sure there was enough space for a volute with a 22.5-25mm neck taper. I already took into consideration a 2mm thick maple veneer on the headstock, which will be planed down to the rest of the laminate. The fingerboard will rest on top of it. Also made sure the truss rod fits nicely. And marked the heel. Did I mention I should buy a bandsaw? It needs a trip to the router table to get it all completely straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scherzo1928 Posted May 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 I then marked the laminate boards. I wanted to choose the best parts of each boards so that there was intense figure throught the guitar. I marked the parts with weak or no figure, and made sure tey ended up either outside the boards when cut. Or in a place that would not be seen, like right under the maple top. weak spot. Constant flames all along. Just look at those flames!!!! How lucky can you get?? I then numbered the boards. By the way, the 2 inner maple boards are actually bookmatched, same with the 2 outside boards, and I aligned the grain. At this point, I'd like to point out that I got 8 boards like this out of the board I bought. AND, I only paid 200 pesos for that 1 board. So... about 14 USD. Time to cut all 7 boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scherzo1928 Posted May 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 Used all the offcuts to help me keep the wood steady while cutting. And finally! That's where I am at with this build right now. Today I'm feeling terrible, and decided to take a small break, but I'll try and resume the build as soon as I feel better. Please feel free to give any feedback on the build. Also, if any of you has any experience with undersaddle pickups I could use, let me know. For now, I'm considering the Baggs ribbon transducer, the EMG one, and a highlander. Mainly because you can use any string spacing. Let me hear what you guys think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oblaty Posted May 2, 2011 Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 Wow! Very nice build thread. I might use some of your building techniques Great news on that nice flame maple... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mors Phagist Posted May 3, 2011 Report Share Posted May 3, 2011 No band saw? Thats got to be awful having to use hand saws. Do you plan on cutting the actual body with a hand saw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scherzo1928 Posted May 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2011 (edited) No band saw? Thats got to be awful having to use hand saws. Do you plan on cutting the actual body with a hand saw? Yep. Cut my first guitar with a coping saw as well... If that doesnt create a bond with your guitar, odds are nothing will. Edited May 3, 2011 by scherzo1928 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted May 3, 2011 Report Share Posted May 3, 2011 So are you planning on scarfing the headstock? Or is the headstock piece longer than it looks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scherzo1928 Posted May 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2011 So are you planning on scarfing the headstock? Or is the headstock piece longer than it looks? Nope not scarfing. Might look like that because of all the lines i drew on the template. The headstock is actually quite short, at 17cm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillchill11 Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Beautiful design.........Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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