gpcustomguitars Posted July 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2012 Moving along slowly... By gpguitars at 2012-07-20 By gpguitars at 2012-07-20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted July 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2012 Some more progress...I've rounded the body edge, started some rough sanding and am working on the bridge slowly. Neck lams are glued together. By gpguitars at 2012-07-22 By gpguitars at 2012-07-22 By gpguitars at 2012-07-22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted July 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Out of the clamps, and ready for cleaning up. By gpguitars at 2012-07-24 By gpguitars at 2012-07-24 Sawing the aluminum by hand didn't take that long, but was not much fun. Today I'll epoxy alu-strips in place, but I have to make a spacer to make sure it's all really parallel. Then I can have some fun shaping it on the sander. By gpguitars at 2012-07-24 I've thicknessed this on the router, and now have to resaw it, since I want to scarf it under the lams, and then add the top back on. Well see how that goes. By gpguitars at 2012-07-25 By gpguitars at 2012-07-25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 ...and finally managed to epoxy the fences in place. I seem to do a lot of precise little things on pause at work, in shop it seems like a waste of time, and at home it's impossible with kids. I'm starting to hear smurf-voices all the time in my head I hope I can shape the bridge some more tomorrow. I'm thinking of finishing it differently from the rest of the instrument, perhaps a coat of CA first, the ebony seems very brittle. It will be screwed to the body with 4 black countersunk screws. By gpguitars at 2012-07-26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 (edited) Ebony is very brittle. Be careful not to overtighten your countersunk screws or they will split that ebony like an over-ripe watermelon. SR Edited July 26, 2012 by ScottR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Thanks Scott! I will place them under the saddles, trough the maple, so no problem with that, but for the shaping, no routers or anything, just belt sander, small files and sandpaper. I'll probably CA all of it tho, I think even the sander could send me searching for that missing ebony chip on the floor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted July 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 Started turning the strap buttons, didn't have more time today for anything bigger. Still, this looks nice. I'll polish them to 2000, trim then to length, and thats it. By gpguitars at 2012-07-28 By gpguitars at 2012-07-28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted July 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 Well, I got an OK for the neck, we decided on some more fineses on shaping the body, turning the ferrules, neck profile, GFS MM pup has been ordered, hot rod will be soon, and decided on a rosewood fboard that I had! Since I'm making the neck, I can shift the scale upwards, and get some more distance between the body edge and the bridge, and also shape the heel freely, since I don't need to limit myself to fender-style neck . Freeedooommm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted August 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 Here's the fretboard we chose, and my drawing of how i plan to construct the headstock. By gpguitars at 2012-08-03 By gpguitars at 2012-08-03 Also, I patched up any irregularities with a mix of epoxy and walnut dust. By gpguitars at 2012-08-03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wretched Posted August 6, 2012 Report Share Posted August 6, 2012 Man, I'm always surprised at the seemingly endless number of uses for a drill press. Nice thinking on the custom strap buttons! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted August 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2012 Here's the first real mockup, GFS pup arrived 2 days ago, quick as always! It's a pity they don't offer truss rods... By gpguitars at 2012-08-05 Thanks, it's not a new idea, but works fine. I wanted to try it, and also since everything on the guitar will be either oiled, matte, aluminum or black, I wanted to have custom straps out of aluminum to tie it with the bridge, ferrules, etc... BTW, I took the alu stripes off the bridge, cause the alignement was a bit off, will re-glue. After the taking of this pic, I shaped the elbow relief which is drawn in pencil. Had the friend-customer actually standing by to try it, seemed like a lot of fun for him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted August 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 A really small update, my month and a half old daughter is a big competition to this bass for my attention This is the shape of the headstock, we decided on all the details I think, and I've resawn the stock for the scarf, and the headstock plate. Next I plan to thickness it on my overhead router, and start glueing. By gpguitars at 2012-08-14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted August 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 ...and another 15min session, preparing the neck pieces. I've milled the neck blank to 20mm thickness, I need to mill it to 15mm for the scarf area, headstock piece is thicknessed, and today I plan to thickness the headstock face to 5mm. I'll probably cut the truss rod channel prior to glueing the scarf, to make use of the flat stock of the neck blank. By gpguitars at 2012-08-15 By gpguitars at 2012-08-15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin623 Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 good job!!! i am so stunning with your job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted August 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2012 Again, a small update. Just had all the neck parts cut and sanded the contact surfaces. Waiting for the truss rod, and some vacation this week By gpguitars at 2012-08-19 By gpguitars at 2012-08-19 By gpguitars at 2012-08-19 By gpguitars at 2012-08-19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 Well, after an looong wait, I'm finally getting the truss rod tommorrow. My friend wanted to save some money, so he had an other friend make a hotrod at his metal shop, but he really took his time...we'll see what he did tommorrow morning - fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2012 I'm very happy with this - he never did this kind of thing before, and it went completely right! He forgot to put the sleeves on, but I can solve that with 3 drops of silicone between the bars, and wrapping it all in plumber's teflon tape. Now I can continue with this! The dimension is standard - 24" length, with 6 x 11mm channel. By gpguitars at 2012-09-06 By gpguitars at 2012-09-06 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Some more progress. I've routed the truss rod channel, and glued the first part of the scarf on. I liked the speed and ease on doing the routing for channel on the overhead router, so I will definitely do it this way for now on. For angled headstocks I made a sort of a sled to elevate them, and if it works as planned (to be tested soon), with it I can also route angled straight channels for classic truss rods... Truss rod was wrapped in teflon tape, and scarf glued with no jigs - I just waited for the glue to start pulling and slowly added the clamps. I waited for about 20mins, while setuping the bandsaw... Now I have to clean the headstock surface and glue the 5mm face part on. By gpguitars at 2012-09-08 By gpguitars at 2012-09-08 By gpguitars at 2012-09-08 By gpguitars at 2012-09-08 By gpguitars at 2012-09-08 By gpguitars at 2012-09-08 By gpguitars at 2012-09-08 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Do you have a pin installed on your overhead router? They're ideal for shaping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Do you have a pin installed on your overhead router? They're ideal for shaping! Great build too - your thunderjazz has a really nice retro vibe also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Not on this workboard on it currently, but I rarely use it anyway, most of my templates are made for flush-cut router bits, so i don't have to do any alignment. Thanks, Thunderjazz is something I'm very proud of - its my own personal bass, although I'm a guitar player. I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted it to do , and it came out just like that. Another pup for a more versatile sound would have been nice, but it works fine as is... Its not done yet, it's supposed to have an ashtray cover over the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Well, it's outta clamps, everything is in order and fits properly. I had another pic of the headstock, but I think I took it too close to my desktop neon light, so it came out as TV noise...didn't realise it at the time. By gpguitars at 2012-09-10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 And the face plate is on! Tommorrow I'll glue on the fretboard. By gpguitars at 2012-09-11 By gpguitars at 2012-09-11 By gpguitars at 2012-09-11 By gpguitars at 2012-09-11 By gpguitars at 2012-09-11 By gpguitars at 2012-09-11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Getting ready to glue on the fretboard! I later realised that my phone ate one pic that explains what I did in the first pic - I made a notch in the down side of the face plate that sort of a serves as a stop for the truss rod. Its under the same angle as the headstock itself. By gpguitars at 2012-09-12 By gpguitars at 2012-09-12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Sawn the tapper of the fretboard on the bandsaw, sanded to line on the sander, and glued on. A few drops of silicone and a few clamps later, it's all glued together. Tommorow I can start on the radius. By gpguitars at 2012-09-12 By gpguitars at 2012-09-12 By gpguitars at 2012-09-12 By gpguitars at 2012-09-12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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