ADFinlayson Posted December 27, 2018 Report Share Posted December 27, 2018 (edited) I've been working on this on and of since October for my friend Luke. It's a custom 24 style guitar but he's a big les paul fan so there are a few gibson style elements including 12" radius, tunomatic and tail piece and some trapeze inlays. It was my first serious effort at hand-cutting inlays. It's a 5 piece flamed maple/kyaha laminated neck, 1 piece khaya body then a 2 piece carved maple top, ebony fretboard and headstock cap with flamed maple inlays and maple/ebony binding. I got a 2m plank of flamed maple cheap on ebay so I made it all out of that, it means the top isn't bookmatched because the plank was 22mm thick but that was a sacrifice I was happy to make. I used the same plank to make the neck laminates and inlays, and it was my first attempt at making my own binding strips instead of buying in. The ebony binding came from a couple of slithers I cut of the board before slotting it. It has a demarzio liquifire and super distortion, grover mini locking tuners, and graphtec tusq bridge and gotoh tailpiece (graphtec tailpieces are apparently out of stock for the forseable) 3 way switch craft toggle and 2 cts push pulls for volume and tone. I had a bit of a nightmare getting push pulls to work in this guitar due to lack of depth on the body, in order to fit the control cover over them, I'm going to have to carve the inside of it, luckily I can do this because it's 8mm thick and carved to the body contour (the back fo the body is also carved to mirror the top. But it's the first guitar I've made to include an "arch top" control cover Anyway, the push-pulls were a PITA, but they were worth the effort because it means we can coiltap the pickups individually for extra tones - Personally I often use the combo of bridge humbucker and neck single coil, it's one of my fave tones. To colour the top, I went over the whole thing with black water based dye, sanded it back to bring out the figure, then once more with black to blend in the burst. Then I mixed blue artist oil paint with mineral spirits and gave it one coat of blue, then after a week or so of drying time, I mixed more blue paint with Crimson guitars penetrating oil to give it a coat of tinted blue oil finish. Once that first coat was dry, I scraped back the 'faux binding' with a scalpel blade and then oiled the back and sides so there was no colour bleed - I like this method because there is no painters tape involved! The finish isn't really there yet, the top and the body needs a bit of work so I am at some point going to take it apart again and give it a very fine sand and several coats of oil and buff. I wanted to get it all together to A) make sure I could get the push-pulls in and working properly and get luke over to have a play on it and make sure he's happy with the neck carve. One of these days, I will find an order of doing things that actually works and doesnt involve me doing the same job twice Cheers Ash Edited December 27, 2018 by ADFinlayson pics weren't loading Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted December 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2018 (edited) Not sure what's going on with the forum, I see to be unable to embed photos, here goes again Edited December 27, 2018 by ADFinlayson 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted December 27, 2018 Report Share Posted December 27, 2018 really like how the blonde streak from the fretboard continues into the truss rod cover. vnice build altogether. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted January 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 (edited) Finally finished! Handed it over to Luke last night. I'm very happy with it as is he, but also glad it's gone to be honest. The pics aren't the best unfortunately, I wanted to take some proper photos, but just ran out of time yesterday. SpecBody: 1 piece carved african mahoganyCap: 2-piece flame maple w/faux bindingControl cover: carved flamed mapleNeck: Laminated flamed maple and african mahoganyHeadstock: Ebony w/ flamed maple inlayFretboard: Ebony with flamed maple trapeze inlaysBinding: Ebony + flamed mapleFrets: 24 medium jumbo nick-silverNut: 43mm graphtech tusqFinish: - Top: oiled blue burst - Back/neck: oiled NaturalTuners: Mini Grover Rotomatic 3x3Bridge: Graphtech Resomax untimatic with tusq saddles and Gotoh tailpiecePickups: Dimarzio Liquifire bass, SuperDistortion trebbleControls: - Switchcraft 3-way toggle - CTS push-pull volume with treble bleed - CTS push-pull tone, both pickups can be coiltapped individually. - Ebony lampshade control knobs Edited January 28, 2019 by ADFinlayson 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted January 28, 2019 Report Share Posted January 28, 2019 Very nice! I love the back carve. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 congrats on GOTM! well deserved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 woo hoo! congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 12 hours ago, Mr Natural said: congrats on GOTM! well deserved. 10 hours ago, mistermikev said: woo hoo! congrats! Thanks gents! I was surprised to win. Smug mode engaged! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZekeB Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 Congrats on the GOTM. Very cool guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 Congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted November 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 After a few months of procrastination and worrying that the lacquer might change colour or crack. I've finally wired her up. New mahogany body, Croatian maple cap and rejig of switch/pot positions. It's a done deal. Didn't enjoying going over old work, but really enjoyed the finishing process. To be collected on Sunday 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted November 1, 2019 Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 That thing got a hell of a face lift! Nicely done. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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