2.5itim Posted February 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2017 Thank you guys!! @Mr Natural I'm not sure that patience is the right word to use here lol. It has been extremely frustrating and I feel sorry for the words that my neighbors have had to here coming out of my shop lol. As for the split I haven't taken care of that yet, it's on the back and I'm still trying to picture the carve in my head. Hoping to get that done today or tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2017 I'm about palm gouged the hell out!! Got the other top carved, gonna carve the backs on Wednesday and then I'll move onto carving the necks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2017 It's extremely hard to get a good picture but there is a really deep recurve where the carve meets the flat part of the body which looks really cool, I'm hoping that once I get a finish on it and get it in better light it becomes easier to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted February 14, 2017 Report Share Posted February 14, 2017 1 hour ago, 2.5itim said: It's extremely hard to get a good picture but there is a really deep recurve where the carve meets the flat part of the body which looks really cool, I'm hoping that once I get a finish on it and get it in better light it becomes easier to see. I can imagine the carve, but can't see it. Do you have an incandescent lamp or trouble light? Set it off to the side only a bit higher than the top ... and for real drama, turn off the overheads. Wanna see!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 14, 2017 Report Share Posted February 14, 2017 12 hours ago, 2.5itim said: I'm about palm gouged the hell out!! Naw, you don't get to say that till you've fill up your first 5 gallon bucket with chips. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2017 11 hours ago, charisjapan said: I can imagine the carve, but can't see it. Do you have an incandescent lamp or trouble light? Set it off to the side only a bit higher than the top ... and for real drama, turn off the overheads. Wanna see!!!! I don't have an incandescent bulb but I'll see what I can come up with. For the time being I edited a couple of them to try and show it off a little bit more, didn't work very well but you'll at least be able to get an idea. The recurve goes pretty much from the tip of the horns to the back of the bridge pickup position and the tapers up to the normal thickness of the body after that, except the bass side tapers into the arm bevel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 14, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2017 42 minutes ago, ScottR said: Naw, you don't get to say that till you've fill up your first 5 gallon bucket with chips. SR Ahh crap! Was I suppose to be saving those? Lol. I'll start now haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 (edited) Back carve on the first one is done. I had a really hard time deciding on carving the treble side of the back but I think I'll leave it asymmetrical and just round the rest of it over. Fixing the split worked out well I think. I did even out the bottom area on the last pic after the picture was taken Edited February 15, 2017 by 2.5itim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 I also think that it should have a darker fretboard, can y'all give me some advice here? I'm thinking I should do a dye and sand back type finish on the fretboard, something sort of like the last picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisjapan Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 11 minutes ago, 2.5itim said: I also think that it should have a darker fretboard, can y'all give me some advice here? I'm thinking I should do a dye and sand back type finish on the fretboard, something sort of like the last picture. I, personally, would go with a dark ebony board to contrast/accent the coloring of the top. That, or match the red of the "meat" of the sandwich body. To be frank, I think you will have a hard time showing off the carve in pictures because of the nature of the wood grain. Even side-light disappears into that grain! As I said, I can (as a photographer) imagine it very well ... I can see how thick the top is and how the contours cut into the red center, and a subtle line alongside the pickups. But unless you go with a high-gloss and a side angle with reflections, it will never do justice. However ( ! ), I'll bet it is incredibly curvy in real life!! If you "must" prove it in pictures, just recurve a bit more to make a red crescent come through ... THAT would make an impression! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StratsRdivine Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 Do you plan to round over the top body outline to expose the Padauk? The orange outline would look cool on the face like seen in the hips. Your light fret board carries the light center of the Limba well, and vectors your eye right into the fret board. Black ebonizing would be a nice contrast, but the way the sapwood in the Limba vectors right into the neck is a cool effect. Kindof agree with CJ. Heavier carving to expose the padauk will make an awesome contrast. Looking forward to the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pan_kara Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 I actually like the way the padouk only shows through the top on the hips, instead of all around (except the cutaways). It plays with the outline in interesting ways. For fingerboard I second the ideas above - I'd personally consider one of the three - black ebony to contrast the rest, padouk to match the .. padouk and maple but straight maple, not busy maple. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 As for the body outline no I don't plan on taking the padauk outline all the way around, like pan_kara I like the way it stops right at the hips. With the fretboard the maple is already glued up so ebony or padauk is out of the question now. I do like the plain curly maple that it is now I just can't help but think it'd be cool to do a really dark brown dye and then sand it back so it still has the plain maple coloring but in the curls will be a darker brown to match the wenge neck a bit better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 Dyeing the fretboard would look cool, but I wonder how it would stand up to heavy playing? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 That's what I've been thinking about Scott, and honestly I really don't know. I know that prs does it quite a bit but they also do a hard type finish where I will be doing a oil finish on this neck/fretboard so I'm kinda weary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 (edited) Second top has been carved, belly carve has also been done, rounded over the back with a 1/2" round over bit. I also did a mountain top inlay in the back of that one using black limba. It's the same mountain top I use on my headstocks this one is just a little bigger. As I said a few posts back I originally planned to do a 5 bolt neck joint and could only do 3, I didn't realize the 5 wouldn't work until after I pilot drilled the body for the bolts holes so I had 2 holes I had to do something with. I originally tried to make a padauk/wood glue filler for them but the filler was a bit to dark and stood out to much so inlay it was. Edited February 16, 2017 by 2.5itim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pan_kara Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Nice save with the inlay. This is all done by hand? Looks really tight. Why did the two bolts have to go? The lip on the neck was too thin to screw into? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 10 hours ago, pan_kara said: Nice save with the inlay. This is all done by hand? Looks really tight. Why did the two bolts have to go? The lip on the neck was too thin to screw into? Yeah I cut the inlay with a coping saw and the pocket with a dreamer and a 1/32" endmill. It's really hard to get the lines in the pocket just right but I'm getting better each time. This is definitely the best I've done so far. As for the reason I couldn't use the 2 bolts is because the heal in that area has to be quite thin and I use t nuts/bolts instead of wood screws, the t nuts are to long and I couldn't take the heel as thin as I needed with the t nuts in there. I've been able to do it once before but I had to do a bunch of modifications to the t nuts and it's to much of a pita to do when 3 bolts will hold just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 I got the necks carved out yesterday. Holy crap, this wenge is not fun to carve. It's definitely the hardest wood I have carved yet. Still have a little refining to do and finish sand but they are done for the most part. And also got the inlays for the headstock done, still need to sand the other one down so don't have a pick of that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted February 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 Today I had the joy of stripping the black top prs body again.... I am so freaking tired of this guitar lol. I was level sanding and sanded into the base coat, so I have decided to change my approach. No base coat, no color coat and tinting the nitro lacquer instead. I'm 5 coats in right now but it hasn't gotten to the opaque stage yet so tomorrow I will continue spraying, after I get it to the opaque stage I will continue on with clear lacquer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 19, 2017 Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 Three builders all loving () the paint on their guitars at the same time.....I believe you guys have started a movement! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted March 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2017 I have been crazy busy lately with working mandatory 60 hour work weeks so work at home has been somewhat slow. Ive been working on a few things here and there so figured I'd go ahead and post those up. I have spent the better part of last year stock piling wood, my spare bedroom in my house has pretty much turned into a lumber yard, while I've been stock piling I've been focusing on getting my body designs exactly where I want them in preparation for this. I've got 6 designs that I like and am going to continue using from now on and don't plan on adding any more to the lineup so went ahead and glued up and cut out body's out of the stock piled lumber, I've still got a bit more to do but I've done about 10 so far. Here's some of them, you will see more of them as I begin to build them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted March 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2017 I have also refined and finished my 6th body design. I started this design about mid last year and just got it to where I want it, here's that design cut out of an ash body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2.5itim Posted March 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2017 (edited) And finally, I was contacted last week by a guy who had a bass neck and hardware for a p bass, he needs a body made for the neck so we discussed woods and costs and decided on a walnut body with ambrosia curly maple top. He wants to do the finish and final setup to save money so I won't take it to the complete state. All I have left to do is the arm contour, belly carve, round over the edges, control cavity and mount the bridge and then it will be getting sent off. Edited March 2, 2017 by 2.5itim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 20 hours ago, 2.5itim said: Ooh that's nice! I want one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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