A Single Cut Multi Scale

[Ripthorn]

So I got the bug to build a multi scale a while ago, which happened to coincide with me seeing a lower bout on a parlor acoustic guitar that I loved for a single cut design. Throw in to the mix the fact that I have never done a single cut, and it was all down hill from there. Now, I wanted to do this with quality materials, but not expensive ones. So the woods are good quality, but nothing terribly special, I will be making some of my own hardware, etc. Trying to keep cost manageable.

Specs:

- Carved-top poplar body

- Cherry neck

- 26 fret maple fretboard bound with Indian Rosewood

- 12th and 24th inlays, no face dots, etc.

- 4x2 headstock

- 2 single coil sized rail humbuckers

- Treble and Bass passive tone controls for each pickup

- Volume for each pickup

- Deep blue metallic body

Anyway, some progress pics of where I am so far:

Body shape:

Fretboard:

Roughed out neck pocket:

Cleaned up:

Should make a strong joint (yes, this is the "Look Ma, no screws or glue!" shot):

Quick mockup thus far:

[whalehazard]

I like the shape...it's psychedelic. I can't say enough good things about cherry for a neck. It's very similar to maple, but more fun to work with and it looks way cooler. Good work so far.

[Ripthorn]

Alright, I made some more progress on this bad puppy. I got the fretboard glued on, though I almost did so before doing the truss rod access. Ended up with this for the rough TR access:

And then the obligatory "not quite every clamp in the shop, but close" photo:

I also cut out a blank for the inlays at the 12th and 24th frets. This came from a sweet piece of indian rosewood:

Now, one of the difficult things about multi scales is the general lack of hardware such as bridges. Well, if we take something like this:

And we use something really ghetto like this (which I do not advocate as a particularly safe solution, though it does take the place of a metal bandsaw in certain situations, and I thought the uber ghetto rope footswitch control was particularly foolish/ingenious):

Then we end up with these:

With the intent of becoming these (as yet unfinished):

And, to keep the fingers safe for cutting the last piece, don't use the upside down jigsaw thing-a-mabob, but use one of these:

[Charlie H 72]

Wow, thats crazy stuff with your bridge pieces. im surprised the result is so clean.

[Ripthorn]

The bimetal blade cuts really smoothly, you just have to make sure to hold the piece against the "table" top really securely, and worked amazingly well.

[Prostheta]

Haha....I agree about the crazy metalwork on the bridges! I just hope you keep your fingers all in one place.

Great design....it looks like you might actually leverage access all the way to the top frets with that disturbing shape. Cherry neck, eh? I'm not too familiar with it myself - what is it comparable to?

[westhemann]

Cherry is comparable to maple in looks and workability but the tone is "snappier"...very noticeably so.The two times I made a cherry neck the final instrument was painfully bright..the first had a Maple body so I thought that might be the reason for the brightness but the second was a mahogany body and the results were similar.I ended up burning both instruments.

Might be better at low tunings or for a bass,but I won't use it again

[Ripthorn]

I used cherry in the neck of a guitar that I built for my daughter for Christmas last year and I think it turned out pretty well. I also had a nice looking piece of gummy black cherry that was just begging to be a neck, so I obliged. We'll see how the final tone comes out, but I am optimistic that it will sound good. Also, I tend to like brighter guitars, so maybe this will work to my advantage.

[Our Souls inc.]

I have used cherry for bodies and necks. I wouldn't write it off as "brighter than maple", and would judge each piece on its own merit. I just finished a maple and cherry semi-hollow , which is very "woody"-sounding and not bright at all.

On the other hand, i also did up a maple and black walnut semi-hollow with a mahogany neck and it is much brighter sounding,even plugged in.

[Pestvic]

Very cool Idea with the custom bridge. I think i will actually make a hardtail multi cause of this idea now

[Ripthorn]

Okay, so a little more progress. The bridges were a little wide, so I had to belt sand them to the right width. Got them all squared away and placed on the body along the stagger, so it looks a little like this:

Now, the next thing for me was to try to determine the control layout. There will be four knobs: two volume and two stacked tone. There will also be a three way selector. I have four possibilities:

A:

B:

C:

D:

They are fairly similar. I have two favorites, but I want to see what you all think first. Once I have this determined, then I can start on more body work.

[gpcustomguitars]

The second one looks better to me, but both are fine. Make sure you take care of any sharp edges on those bridges, but the idea is great!

Nice clean work so far!

[Ripthorn]

Well, made some more progress. I drilled 1/16" holes for the string through portion, pots and switches (went with option , and drilled for neck screws and ferrules. I also routed the control cavity and the neck humbucker cavity (hopefully this will result in a cool aesthetic effect, more to come). I didn't get the bridge one routed due to the fact that I ran out of double sided tape. Some pics:

Now, concerning the last pic, I have two questions: 1) does the neck humbucker look like it will be too close to the bridge (pencil outline visible) and 2) on a body style like this, how would you do the flat for the carve? I am having trouble figuring out just how it should look. Here is another look at what I am thinking so far:

[Ripthorn]

Alright, update time. I have risked life and limb to update this, seeing as how I absconded with my wife's really nice camera since the batteries in mine died. Well, I have made some significant progress. I got my beautiful new hipshot open back tuners, so I worked on the headstock, like so:

Which brings the neck as a whole to look like so:

I am thinking that I really like the look of the fretboard with no inlays whatsoever. Thoughts?

Continuing on, the body has had the bridge humbucker cavity routed, the depth of carve established with a rabbet around the edges, the belly carve roughed out, and the carve on the lower horn was also roughed in. Additionally, the neck heel section of the body has been sculpted (I personally love the look). A couple of photos of the progress:

[westhemann]

That heel is a nice design.Plenty of wood to add support and thinner where you need it

[Ripthorn]

Alrighty, another update. I really only did one thing this evening, and that was rough in the carve using the saf-t-planer. Well, I did do the roundover on the back and drilled for the string through ferrules, but I forgot pictures. Needless to say, roughing in the carve was labor intensive, but that could be because I took lots of measurements to make sure I didn't screw it up, as this is my first deep carve top. Anyway, enough with the yapping, time for some pictures:

[Ripthorn]

The work continues on. The carve is coming along, but after the angle grinder and ROS, it still needs work, but is looking decent. I did the dishouts using the cove bit in a drill press trick, then moved on to the neck. The profile is similar to Rick Toone's trapezoidal profile, but I tweak it a little. Anyway, roughed it out with a 12" coarse rasp, then moved on to Iwasaki files, then scrapers. Can I just say how much I love my Iwasaki files? They are awesome. Anyway, since it didn't happen if there aren't photos, enjoy:

Now, here's a bonus question. What do you think these could be? Hint: my carve top still needs some help...

[Prostheta]

Stoptail?

This is really heating up. Sweeeeeet build.

[crazygtr]

wooden knobs.

[Ripthorn]

A stoptail would be awesome, perhaps on a future build, but that's not what I've got cooking up. It's not knobs either...Hopefully I can make some progress with it tonight and post some updated pictures to see if you guys can figure it out. It's going to be fun, I think!

[ScottR]

I like the bevel you ended up with on the treble side waist.

SR

[Levi79]

That is a sweet carve! This one is going to be so cool!

[Ripthorn]

Glad you think so! I have made plenty of progress, just having an issue with cameras right now. I will post pictures soon. The neck has been fretted and the carve is being finessed (had to use some glazing putty in some of the low areas from the ROS). If all goes well, I hope to be spraying early next week.

[Ripthorn]

Alright, finally took the camera out and so it's update time! I have made quite a bit of progress, but with my wife's camera (which I am too stupid to operate), I can only get certain pictures (no close ups or anything like that). So here is a little rundown of what I have been up to. First, I have been trying to refine the top carve. There were some areas where the ROS made very slight low spots. I used some glazing putty to even them out. It's the red stuff, and though it looks like there is a lot, there really isn't all that much on there.

I double stick taped the individual bridges down and used a hinge drilling bit to drill the mounting holes. As you will notice, the string through holes were not drilled dead on center. That is because I marked those holes while the bridges were not parallel to the center line. But that's alright, with the bridges on and all, I don't think it will be noticeable.

I also fretted the neck. I had some issues with it that were explained and subsequently resolved here: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=46906. Here is what we have thus far:

And I drilled the side dots. One or two are off line so I will plug and re-drill.

I also carved some bevels into the back. The one along the bottom also goes onto the control cavity cover. I spent quite a bit of time refining the transitions and such with sandpaper by hand, and now they all flow very nicely.

The cavity cover is going to attach with magnets, so I carved out a little access place for a finger to easily get in there and pry it out:

I am using a barrel jack, but because the place where I wanted to put it is fairly thick, I had to drill a recess for it. And because I anticipate using right angle plugged cables at some point, I carved out a nice little contour, I think it adds a nice touch. Allow me to say how much I love the flex shaft attachment for my dremel. It makes it like a foredom. Use the 1/2" sanding drum, and voila, we have:

And that is it for this fine evening. I'm hoping to finish the last of the sanding and such tomorrow and shoot a couple of sealer coats on the body. The neck needs the fret job finished (beveled and leveled, etc.) and finish sanding, then it can be sprayed too. We're making progress, that is for certain!

[Ripthorn]

Alright, so I have been working on this, but it has mostly been prep work for finishing. I put down some sealer, and got my lacquer. I'm using Duplicolor paint shop deep blue. This is interesting stuff, very thin, but a very nice color. It was finally a decent day to spray (tomorrow is likely the last one until spring, so I had to start today, so I can level it out tomorrow and put one or two light coats on to even it out). Anyway, The photos thus far:

One coat:

Another couple:

And after several:

Well, that is it for now.