SynysterCT Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 Well I decided to try my hand at building. I have limited resources so I decided to buy a pre-made neck. I know I will probably get flamed for it, but I'm 22 with limited income and simply don't have the money for the tools, jigs, etc. at this point. I am however designing and building the body, which is a good starting point. My only wood working experience is an 8th grade wood shop class. I will try and narrate as I post pictures, but if anyone has any input or suggestions about anything I would love to hear it. Specs: Body: 2 piece maple - quilted maple veneer Neck: Premade - maple with 24 fret rosewood fretboard - 25.5" scale - custom inlay Neck P/U - Seymour Duncan SH-2 Jazz Bridge P/U - Seymour Duncan TB-6 Duncan Distortion Bridge - Gotoh Floyd Rose, R2 locking Nut Tuners - Economy 2 volume - 1 tone - 3 way switch First off is my design. This is my 3rd or 4th attempt at drawing it up, but I finally stuck with this. Mock up with neck and parts 2-piece maple blank This is the Quilted Maple Veneer I bought. I am pleased with the figure. Fretboard and Inlay It turned out that my neighbor had a few things that he let me use. Here is the body Rough cut. And again after some sanding. I ended up not liking this compared to my original sketch and did some reshaping, but did not take pictures of it. It may be more noticeable in later pictures. I made a neck pocket routing jig with some old grade stakes I found in my basement I bought some MDF templates online for the recessed floyd and humbuckers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SynysterCT Posted July 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 (edited) More grade stakes to raise the templates Some MDF board pieces to raise the rear cavity Here I used the stake again as a routing guide for the recess for the back plate. The top left is the piece of a trash can I cut out to make the cover. Onto the humbuckers Routed out the electronics cavity mostly by hand, but again used the stake for a top guide. I accidentally drilled all the way through the body when I was removing material. It is obvious in more pictures to come. I thought about using it as a hole for a pot, but since I am covering the top with a veneer I decided to use wood filler. I know its not a Forster bit but it was all I had for the neck ferrules. The drill press is also my neighbors. I have been chasing him down all week for 15 minutes in his basement. I can't wait to have my own place/tools some day... The Floyd Rose posts are drilled out. The "boo boo" from the electronics cavity is obvious now. I couldn't expect it all to work out on the first try though I lined everything up before drilling holes in the neck. The string is tied to the fine tuners and clamped into the nut. So that is where I am at right now. My plan is to veneer the top and headstock with the quilted maple. I ordered some black and forest green dyes. I will paint the back of the neck and back/sides of the body black and fade the green to black on top. Hopefully everything comes out alright. I don't have a paint gun or compressor so my only option is rattle cans and lots of sanding. I picked up 2 cans of minwax polycrylic gloss and some valspar primer and black gloss. I also have sand paper from 60 - 800 grit. I have to call valspar and minwax and find out what the total curing time is on their paints and clears so I don't mess anything up too much. Wish me luck! Comments and Criticisms are more than welcome! (edit for correct pictures) Edited July 19, 2011 by SynysterCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plinky Posted July 20, 2011 Report Share Posted July 20, 2011 Looking good for first build. Since you're putting a veneer on the top couldn't you just fill in the hole with a piece of dowel rod? That to me would be a better option than wood filler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted July 20, 2011 Report Share Posted July 20, 2011 I would go with a dowel too. Also you list economy tuners. Given all the work and money you are putting into this I would spring for a decent set of tuners. They are not that much more. If this guitar doesn't work out you can always take em off and put them on a different one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SynysterCT Posted July 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2011 I was planning on going with the wood filler because I had it on hand, but had to go get a few things at the hardware store so I picked up a dowel. The reason I picked up some economy tuners is because I already have the locking nut and it was tricky to find a set in 4x2 to fit my quirky headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 20, 2011 Report Share Posted July 20, 2011 The body shape complements the heastock nicely. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted July 20, 2011 Report Share Posted July 20, 2011 I was planning on going with the wood filler because I had it on hand, but had to go get a few things at the hardware store so I picked up a dowel. The reason I picked up some economy tuners is because I already have the locking nut and it was tricky to find a set in 4x2 to fit my quirky headstock. I think stewie mac do single tuners. you could make up a set of 4x2 there. Cheap tuners will only ruin the "I built my own guitar - I abso-fookin-lutly ROCK !!!!!!!" experiance for you. Trust me. I run little building courses/seminars from time to time & nothing screws up a build for someone faster than crapy hardware. trust me, cheap out now & be happy for 6 months, cough up for decent gear & be happy for a decade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xadioriderx Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 hey, youre doing a green to black burst with dyes, and no compressor. i did that last month! haha i did a video of how to do a burst/fade rubbing on dye, i definitely recommend watching the vid and thinking about trying it. it came out pretty dang good! http://building.guitarbacktracks.hostei.com/burst.html and the result: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 That is, by far, the best use of wooden stakes since Buffy the Vampire Slayer(Kristi Swanson, not the show). Very innovative. Im gonna have to stop putting off my build due to lack of tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SynysterCT Posted July 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 Thanks for all the good replies guys! I'm excited to get this thing done but I'm not looking forward to the curing times. Here's an update on my progress thus far. I finally got the body sanded down for primer. Well, I actually sprayed my first layer or 2 of primer and realized what a terrible prep job I did. I ended up sanding back to wood and tried to get all the small dings and scratches out. It was along process of prime/sand/prime/sand/etc. but after a few days I got it to a decent place. Finally got it to the point where I could put my first coat of black on this morning. The neck was much easier. I reshaped the back of the joint-area to flow a little better with my body and sanded off the original lacquer. I don't have a picture with primer because it went much easier. Now that my paint is drying, I rough-cut my veneer where I thought it would look the best. I have plenty of scraps left over to test out my dye. I bought black and forest green powder dye from W.D. Lockwood (tools for wood working website). Stay tuned for some practice samples! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted August 2, 2011 Report Share Posted August 2, 2011 There's a bear in da yard. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SynysterCT Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 *Update* Well I dont know if I should call it an update because its more of a few steps backward. You guys make everything look so easy around here. I have a lot to learn. The veneering was a complete disaster. I used titebond II and a 50 lb bag of sand from home depot. I tried to follow the tutorial on here but I failed. Needless to say I wasn't not happy. I tried using the tinfoil+iron trick but it ended up drying and cracking the veneer. I decided that the only thing left to do was to take it all off, strip it, and come up with a paint scheme for the whole guitar. I sat outside for a good hour with a pocket knife prying this thing off in little pieces. Then I stripped the entire thing. The knife left some small gouges in the top of the wood, but I was able to sand most of them out. There are a few little spots but I am not too concerned about them. This guitar is for me (i.e. not a customer expecting something perfect) and its my first try. I'm not expecting it to have a perfect factory finish and all that. I decided on a little EVH-esque paint scheme with some extra striping and things. Hopefully it comes out decent. Here are a few progress pics but its drying now. I went with Duplicolor spray cans. I am trying to figure out the clearing process now. The final top coat is a metallic forest green. Hopefully it will come out decent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SynysterCT Posted August 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2011 Well here it is after the striping. The white stripes have the black outline then total forest green. The headstock looks really white but after a truss rod cover and tuners,most of it will be covered. I'm also going to put some sort of custom logo. I'm contemplating bursting the outsides black so it fades into the rest of the guitar. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 Body looks nice..the headstock needs a thin band of that other color in the middle of that huge white band.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 nice save. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fool Guy Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 The paint job looks awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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