gpcustomguitars Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Time for a new project! Last year I have made some 5-6 body base blanks for LP's out of cherry, cut them out, and drilled some weight relief holes. Also, laminated a neck blank out of 3 cherry profiles I've cut out. The wood is not AAA, but I think I'll have lots of fun! I would like to make an LP out of one or two of those, and the goal is to refine my finishing and detail skills, try out some jigs, and to use as much of the domestic woods as possible. I'll have to use an rosewood fingerboard, since I still haven't found a dark sort of wood domestically. I have a log of some sort of walnut that has a purplish black core, about 15cm diameter, but it's still drying, and I have to get it resawn, so that will wait. Very plain local hard maple for the tops, almost no figure, but straight, quartersawn grain. For the headstock veneers I have some flooring to recycle that looks a lot like corina. I don't plan to follow the dimensions all the way, but to use the mix of various LP features that I like. Shapes will be the usual tho, no changes there. Here goes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 And yes, I tried to clean the shop a bit for the 2013 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Have you tried Cherry and Maple together yet? My gut tells me it'll be a pretty bright sounding guitar. I have 2 chambered electrics, one with maple and black walnut, one with cherry and black walnut. The cherry one is much more treble-y. Shimmery ,even. ( i combated it by adding 250k pots to the humbuckers, thereby squashing some of the higher frequencies) I like the relief holes. You could get even more weight out by routing them into a big void,not like you don't know that! P.s., I dyed a maple fretboard black once. It looked just like ebony. Fuel for thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 No, I haven't tried this combo yet, so I'm pretty curious how will it sound. I'm hoping the holes will dampen some of the brightness off, and I'll definitely use your advice with 250k pots. Since I'll probably make a few of these, there'll be a lot of opportunity for experimenting - I plan to use different pickups in all of them, regular hums, mini hums, P90s (I just love them), and I would really like to try out those P90-shaped hums GFS carrries. I thought to connect the holes, but decided it would change the sound too much. I might try that on one of the others. Dying a maple fboard sounds good, could you tell me how does the dye hold up, does it leave color on the fingers? It would be great if you could describe your procedure and the dye used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Two very hard dark domestics are mesquite and Texas ebony. Mesquite is becoming fairly easy to find, the Texas ebony, not so much. But it is very dark brown to black--very similar to Gaboon. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 Yeah,you know,mesquite seems tike a perfect fretboard wood,and it grows so fast around here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 well, far be it from me to stick with convention, I used black masons dye ( I'm a mason by trade ). Its powdered, available at the hardware store and dirt cheap. I just take a small tub, like an old butter tub, add a dash of dye, then dip a folded, wet rag into the powder, then wipe onto the maple. Wear gloves, as this stuff stains everything it touches. after wiping it on and rubbing it in good, you can clear it as normal. Once cleared, no staining of the fingers. Its holding up fine so far- three years give or take, but I really don't play it as often as I should. and for the pots, try 500k first. If its too brite, the 250k swap is just a cheap fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 The problem with Texas Ebony is that the trees are so small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 (edited) I looked up the texas ebony, and it looks great! But wikipedia says it's not found in my part of the world... I'll take a pic of my log tommorow, perhaps someone will recognise it. Our Souls, thanks! What I have is the powdered black pigment for oil painting that I've used in the bass build, mixed with epoxy to inlay my logo. I might try to mix the powder with some mineral thinner, and soak the blank maple fingerboards to have it penetrate the wood. I would like it not to get lighter in colour with wear, but I'll test it on scrap and resaw to see how deep it goes. Cleaned the neck blank a bit... Edited January 4, 2013 by gpcustomguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 The problem with Texas Ebony is that the trees are so small. I wasn't aware of that. The few I've been around were plenty large, but they may have been exceptional. I took seeds from one of them a dozen or so years ago and planted some to make bonsais out of. I still have one. I have seen timber available here in Houston, but David is right at least in that those pieces were small. Big enough for fret boards though. There are some historical sites down in the Rio Grande valley that has old stockade remnants made from Texas ebony. It's apparently pretty rot resistant. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted January 4, 2013 Report Share Posted January 4, 2013 no problemo. Sounds like you were already doing the same. I mix it with epoxy for inlays and side dots. It really doesn't take much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2013 Had a few hours in the shop today, and I've shaped the tenon on the router, made the headstock plate, sanded back the headstock thickness for 2mm ( headstock plate thickness), routed the back of the headstock, and setup everything for routing the truss rod channel. I want to try to use the straight rod as in the old LP's, but chickened out, this one gets a hot rod. The bearing for 2mm binding thickness died on my Stew-Mac cutter, so I swapped the bearings on some router bits and came up with the 1.8mm one, we'll see how that works. Since it's taller than the Stew-Mac one, I won't have to do the cutaway area in steps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2013 Some more pics! Cut out the truss rod channel, and rough cut access hole in the headstock veneer. I'll inlay the diamond and my symbol logo as on the "bass for a friend", probably plastic. I did that before and I liked the end result. I'm preparing to route the body top angles, check the tenon fit against the body and glue the neck parts together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Finally, some time at the shop...glued in a small piece to secure the rod with some CA, then cut the excess ona band saw, sanded flush and glued the faceplate on. In the meanwhile, routed an shelf around the body, about 1 inch wide, and made a prop for neck angle of 4 deg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Cut out the rough headstock shape on the bandsaw, made some more progress on the neck angle jig, and sanded the headstock to shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) Now comes the more interesting stuff! Planed the neck angle of 4 deg to the top using the jig I made the other day, cleaned the neck blank some more, tapered the headstock thickness slightly and made the correct headstock sides transition. I'm about to make the other jig, for the pup plane angle, and hopefully plane it later today. Can't wait for the carving stage!!! Still don't know if I want the diamond or not...? Edited January 15, 2013 by gpcustomguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted January 15, 2013 Report Share Posted January 15, 2013 so THATS what that wedge was for ! lol. i didn't get it at first. Looks like you're doing great, so keep it rollin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) I was in the shop TWICE today Made the second wedge jig , and it worked nicely, so I sawed the tenon ends flush. Thanks Our Souls, I'm having lots of fun making this LP! Edited January 15, 2013 by gpcustomguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 Did some more work, my bearing swap worked really well, I got a nice binding ledge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Routed the tenon pocket, fitted the tenon, and sawed off the neck taper. I've also managed to drill the hole for the jack. I should bind it now, and carve the top. Not to jinx it, but this went on very quick and I'm having a lot of fun! Scraped a spoonful of binding and poured it into some acetone yesterday, I've used pure acetone before, and would like to see the difference now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2013 Blisters!!! I've bound the body, and carved a big portion this morning. Just Ibex 10mm for now, scraping etc later today or tommorow. Perhaps stoping was a mistake, as starting again in a few hours will probably be more painfull ... I've made some templates for the top carve profiles to check against in a few places, they're nice help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 My hands hurt, but it's done! I should perhaps get a bigger plane, this small one works really great, but the blisters are a problem...and I use gloves and wrap my fingers in masking tape before work! Scraped the top of the binding flush with the top, and sanded the top and the back with the orbital, still got sides to do. Then its time for the humbucker routs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2013 Found the true centerline, less than 1mm off under the bridge! Making the pup routs template... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Glued on the fretboard, and routed the pup cavities, 26mm neck, 28mm bridge. My template worked OK, but one of the screws unglued a tiny bit of the treble side binding, so I had to reglue it. No harm done, will have to move the offending screw hole on the template... Frets are probably next, after the sanding of the body sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted January 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 Frets are in, so I plan to shape the neck next, and glue it in. There are still some details to take care of, but I plan to have it glued together by the end of the weekend. Then it's sanding... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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