pauliemc Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 nice to see another member of the "carve the living hell outa of it" brigade. I do something similar to some of mine. Your probobly gonna find that you want to take a little more off the faces & thin it more once you do the edge radius. It alwasy comes out a little bigger than you expect at first. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 You're exactly right, it still feels a bit thick to me. I know you build some killer JS-style guitars, so I've been meaning to ask you: how do you get that nice slim point on the bass edge? Is it just a matter of sanding and scraping 'til it's right, or do you have any tricks you might want to share? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 You're exactly right, it still feels a bit thick to me. I know you build some killer JS-style guitars, so I've been meaning to ask you: how do you get that nice slim point on the bass edge? Is it just a matter of sanding and scraping 'til it's right, or do you have any tricks you might want to share? You need to take off a lot of material. simple as that realy. I generally start with a 45-50mm thick body, mark a carve line on the front & back face thats about where I want the curve to start. mark a pair of lines along the top edge/side that are 20mm apart. then just get a spoke shave, a pair of good rasps & a No.7 plane - take away all of the material untill you join the lines. once its almost there just take the square edges off with a fine rasp in long strokes along the edge. dont bother with profile templates because you will need so many it is a joke. do it by feel. I like to use long planes & rasps, you get a better movement & more controlled carve that way, long soled planes & nothing less that an 8 inch rasp - no wider that 1.5 inch. Alternativly, you can use gouges. palm or hammer driven. But just make sure they are small gouges & kept razor sharp. I use this method only on harder timbers like Ash or Wenge. ScottR is a demon with palm gouges, you should go check his stuff out, much better than me with them, Im more a plane & file guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thank you very much! I'm definitely going to incorporate your suggestions next time I build this shape. Unfortunately, due to classroom time constraints, I'm gonna have to leave the overall carve as it is. Speaking of which, here's a few pics from the last couple days. Got my jack hole drilled. This area was lightly blended from the line to about 1/4" over the edge. Trying to show the shape a bit better. Still needs a lot of blending, but it feels nice. Parts came in! I was pretty excited to open my order. Yep, more scraping and sanding. So this is where I'm at now. As I said above, I'll have to leave the carve and sides in their current overall state and get going on sanding. I'm not falling behind by any means, but I'd like to get into paint before the rest of the class to avoid waiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Got my jack hole drilled. Can't say that out loud in mixed company. Carve looks good dude. Long sanding strokes following the contours will help blend areas where difering shapes come together, like where the big radius roundover meets the tighter one.......just below your jack hole. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 16, 2015 Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 I would go as far as saying that the sharpest edge is still tighter than your template! I don't know if those contours will translate over to your design purely on the basis of it being thicker overall. I might be wrong on this, and certainly pauliemc is the go-to guy on this. Personally I don't think that going overly thin on any of the edges would be good for this style of body. The stopped contours compliment a more hefty body. Constant contours are more amenable to aerofoil-type blade edge contouring. Any corners or very tight radii similar to an abrupt direction change throw that idea out. In my mind anyway. You can only go by feel, and be brave young Jedi. \m/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2015 Thanks guys! At this point, blending is the name of the game. I'm hoping to get this all smoothed out today, but I suppose we'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted January 17, 2015 Report Share Posted January 17, 2015 Prostetha is right agout the carve for this guitar. I think you have it about right on the front face. If you were to try make it more aerofoiled / thined out toward the top, you would need to be removing material from the back only. The larger ends of the horns on this model lend themselves more toward being thicker than on something like a JS. I would leav the front - any removal of material now should only be from the back, But then thats only my opinion. & you know what they say about opinions - exactly, Only mine counts & everyone else can shove it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2015 Thank you again! You guys are right- the more I work on this, the more I agree. I will probably make a solid try of the aerofoil thing later this year just for kicks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 Hey guys! At this point, pictures don't really show what I'm doing (a lot of sanding!), but I figured I'd put a few up anyway. This counterbore is used for the neck ferrules. Recesses recessed. Oh yeah, I drilled my control holes. So at this point, the whole thing has been sanded to 220. I'm gonna try to get up through 400 and grain fill tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassplr19 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Liking that carve so far, I want to do something similar to a Telecaster body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Liking that carve so far, I want to do something similar to a Telecaster body. That's actually a good idea. I love teles except for that square edged flat slab....and the ugly headstock. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thanks! I feel the same way, Scott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 In that case, it's taking it out of "Tele" territory and making it merely a "singlecut". I guess part of that whole "Tele thing" is the slab. The unadorned basic down-the-line simplicity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 That's a good point. I can still make it sound like a tele though, and that's the thing about teles that I love. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 I've been trying to come up with a Tele-esque variant of this design, but no luck so far. As Prostheta says, it just becomes a single cut. Back to the sketchbook! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassplr19 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 I think if you took the Tele body shape and carved it like the left side of your guitar, then just rounded the right side, again, just like your guitar - that would be pretty badass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassplr19 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 People on this forum have taken a Les Paul body and put Tele electronics and hardware, doesn't really work for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thank you! However, the problem isn't the carve, it's coming up with a design that is reminiscent of a Tele while still feeling like it relates to my own style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 People on this forum have taken a Les Paul body and put Tele electronics and hardware, doesn't really work for me. **raises hand** hahaha that was me, though in my defense, it was built for my son and that was exactly what he wanted. I gotta admit though, I love that guitar and plan to build one like it for myself sometime in the future. And it most definitly sounds like a tele. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 Yep! I was a big fan of that build, it was my vote for GOTY. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightroExpress Posted January 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 Hey forum friends, it's time for some new pics! Almost done sanding! Preparing to grain-fill. And done! Now it's gotta sit overnight. Thanks to internet magic, overnight is done. Here's my body and neck on sticks! This paint booth is way less ominous in person, I swear. All sealed up! So there we have it. This'll sit over the weekend, then I can sand it on Monday. I may be able to get some color on the same day, but I'm aiming for Wednesday. Thanks for checking in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 I also have a design that looks very similar, but, this is one of those designs I don't think anyone can "claim" ownership unless it's an exact rip. I know I based my horns off of a 1961 Rickenbacker 4001 and then changed the body a bit and changed the arcs of the horns ect to personalise it. So knowing this type of design has been kicking around for 54 years, I don't think anyone here can claim it as original! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 Great caramel colour on the body after the spray, all looking good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 I also have a design that looks very similar, but, this is one of those designs I don't think anyone can "claim" ownership unless it's an exact rip. I know I based my horns off of a 1961 Rickenbacker 4001 and then changed the body a bit and changed the arcs of the horns ect to personalise it. So knowing this type of design has been kicking around for 54 years, I don't think anyone here can claim it as original! Nice design. Looks a bit familiar though... more pics here>> I know it is extremely hard to be original, so no problems from my side... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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