evfool Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Time to plan and build another guitar, with all the craze going on with #greatguitarbuildoff in the builder communities. In any case, I did get hold of some cherry and black locust boards, two strips of walnut veneer and (not sure of what kind of) oak veneer (2.5mm thickness) and I'm planning a semi-hollow build with some twists: Here's the specs (heavily inspired by Starcaster, which is heavily inspired by ES-335) neck-through 5-piece neck : black locust, walnut, cherry, walnut, black locust 2 or 3-ply oak laminated sides Bigsby B5 trem roller tune-o-matic bridge double humbuckers (or maybe humbucker-sized P90s) 3R3L slim headstock, with fairly straight string pull, and with a smaller (PRS-esque) 10 degrees tiltback 2V2T plus master volume, plus 3-way switch carved top and bottom (aiming for 6mm thickness) some darker fretboard (rosewood or ebonized cherry/black locust/beech) Here's a rouch Inkscaped mockups of what I thought of: There are quite some challenges for the rookie in me, e.g. the carved top, laminating a neck (and preparing the pieces for that), routing a truss rod channel, but I have to learn those parts too sometime, and now seems like the right time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Looks good, I just did a hollow body and doing the carved top presented some bad words. The through-neck is a good idea, it would solve a lot of the problems I had. By the way what scale length are you aiming for? I did 24 3/4 on mine but I think 25.3 might have been better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evfool Posted August 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Whoops, forgot to mention that. I'm aiming for 25.5 (to be on the "standard" side). Why do you think 25.3 would've been a better choice on your semi-hollow (do you mean your ES-137 by that, that seems to be your recent semi-hollow)? And can you point out the problems a neck-through solves, which you would have with a non-neck-through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Ooh, I'm already so in love with that build! One reason might be that there's so much in common with my builds including multi-laminate neck-through, prs'esque headstock tilt and layout etc. I'd say the scale length is more of a question of personal preferences. A longer scale has a twangier sound and requires stronger and more flexible fingers especially on the lower frets which can be an issue for a novice player. Structurally there's no difference. On a neck-through you don't have to worry about the strength of the neck join. On a semi-hollow design like yours the bridge and trem are on solid wood instead of a thin veneer strengthened widh braces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 48 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: On a neck-through you don't have to worry about the strength of the neck join. The only time this is not true is if there is an especially deep neck contour and a neck pickup rout that cause short grain through the wood. This is usually more of an issue with doublecuts like SGs or some V designs, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 I'm looking forward to this one. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evfool Posted August 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 1 hour ago, Prostheta said: The only time this is not true is if there is an especially deep neck contour and a neck pickup rout that cause short grain through the wood. This is usually more of an issue with doublecuts like SGs or some V designs, etc. Hmm, thanks for the heads-up, I just drew the side-view to "calculate" neck and headstock angle (at least a rough estimation) and indeed, the short grain could cause some issues with a 4.5-4.8 degree break angle (that's what came out for me to have a proper action at the 12th fret with the roller bridge I have)., plus the neck pickup route. Maybe the multi-laminate neck gives some "protection", but good to keep in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Looking at your specific design, I don't think it will be an issue. It's always worth considering of course, if only to know you're good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 FWIW on my OR-git there's about 20 mm to the neck pickup cavity which is about 20 mm deep, the body is about 40 mm thick and the neck is at an angle. No issues so far. 5 piece (or 9 if the 0.5 mm stripes count) neck thru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 8 hours ago, evfool said: Whoops, forgot to mention that. I'm aiming for 25.5 (to be on the "standard" side). Why do you think 25.3 would've been a better choice on your semi-hollow (do you mean your ES-137 by that, that seems to be your recent semi-hollow)? And can you point out the problems a neck-through solves, which you would have with a non-neck-through? Yes on my ES-137 I made mistakes when doing my top and it ended up way too thin. I kept it full thickness down the centre but when I routered out the pickups I realised I didn't make it wide enough. When I strung it up the first time it held together until I tuned up the last string, then the top collapsed LOL (nothing serious just a glue joint) After that I glued in a block of wood between the pickups under the top and so far has held together. If that fails I have a "sound post" ready to install Before I installed the frets I tried 25.3" scale and it had a nice chime about it, just that little bit brighter. Unfortunately I had designed it for 24.75" and I couldn't move the saddle further back. Just for the record 25.3" is what Gibson actually use when they say 25.5" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted August 28, 2020 Report Share Posted August 28, 2020 Ah, there's a whole minefield full of rabbit holes when it comes to how Gibson calculated their scale lengths and compensated fret positionings. Rather than go with what was anecdotally "correct", I'd suggest going with what you feel appropriate for your instrument based on experiences with others. It'll work out fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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