Alucard0811 Posted August 11, 2021 Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 Hey there, long time lurker first time poster. I started building guitars last year and allready finished my first four builds. An Explorer flat top with a bold on neck. A bariton Flying V with a fabric top. A second Explorer with a floyed rose and binding. A 7 String multi-scale neck trough explorer. All of them have been rather "easy" build with flat tops and fender stlye necks. This time I am going all in with a walnut top and a scarf joint setneck. I got a really nice piece of walnut from ebay and a limba body blank. I am really happy with the bookematching got some nice flame. I was thinking of mixing some gold and black hardware and HH configuration. Cheers Alucard 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 for the neck its still open between a mahagoni purpleheart wenge 5 Piece or a mahagoni wenge maple 5 piece. I am leaning towards the purpleheart one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2021 The back will be some nice Limba / Korina. Any recommendations about finishing. I was thinking to use chrimson high build oil on the top, but not sure about the best way to finish limba. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted August 12, 2021 Report Share Posted August 12, 2021 4 in your first year, caught the bug then Welcome, that walnut is going to look lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 12, 2021 Report Share Posted August 12, 2021 Welcome! 12 hours ago, Alucard0811 said: Any recommendations about finishing. I was thinking to use chrimson high build oil on the top, but not sure about the best way to finish limba. It pretty much depends on what you want from your finish. Crimson high build oil is a good choice for about any wood but as with any oils it will take forever to fill coarse grain and deep pores. As each piece of the same species can differ, look at your limba or even better make a test piece. Instead of Crimson oil you can also use Tung oil or similar wipe on oil-poly mixes - or even mix it by yourself! The basic recipe is boiled linseed oil, turpentine and oil based lacquer, 1 part each. For faster drying increase the turps, for faster buildup add more lacquer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2021 5 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: 4 in your first year, caught the bug then Welcome, that walnut is going to look lovely. Psssss naaa its just a phase. And i haven't bought any special tools or things like that 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 13, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2021 Got some hours in the last 2 day. Have decided and started the neck: Also got a really nice piece of Ebony for the fretboard: This will look awsome. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 13, 2021 Report Share Posted August 13, 2021 4 minutes ago, Alucard0811 said: This will look awsome. Agreed! That is a nice piece of ebony. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 13, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2021 Got the Neck and body cut, routed and the fretboard slotted and glued. Last thing today was to allign the neck an route a really shallow neck pocket. Fretboard got of-centre dots and added a walnut top to the headstock. Schaller Gold and Black Hardware is on the way. Still have to decide if i go for a brass nut or a black Tusq. Also binding on the neck maybe... I hope to get in the shop over the week end to get the neck done and the top glued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armaan Posted August 14, 2021 Report Share Posted August 14, 2021 That fretboard is really interesting! Great and unique piece of wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2021 Got some hours in today. Didn't like the plain maple fretmarkers so desided to add some 4mm brass rod: the lots and lots of sanding. Radiused the board and sanded up to P1000 for a nice shine: All the while the top and body got to know each other really well: I got it routed ( spot the one tearout ) and fretted. Hardware arrived today. I hope to get it ready for test fit by the end of the week. Also the neck is only 20 mm thick I think i maybe need to switch from a set neck to a bold on? Or could i still glue the neck in with such a small neckblock? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 18, 2021 Report Share Posted August 18, 2021 35 minutes ago, Alucard0811 said: Also the neck is only 20 mm thick I think i maybe need to switch from a set neck to a bold on? Or could i still glue the neck in with such a small neckblock? Doesn't the neck go under the pickup as well? That'd be plenty of gluing surface. If the sides are snug as I believe they are, you should be golden with glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Bizman62 said: Doesn't the neck go under the pickup as well? That'd be plenty of gluing surface. If the sides are snug as I believe they are, you should be golden with glue. Unforutunally not... due to the neck beeing only 20mm and i route my pickup cavities 20mm there is nothing left under the pickup. I was thinking about adding some offcut from the top or the fretboard to the neck to give it a bit more meat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 18, 2021 Report Share Posted August 18, 2021 Ahh, so you'll cut the end of the neck flush with the fretboard then? Anyhow, by looking at the pickup cavities and knowing their approximate measures I suppose I'm right in saying that the upper side of the pickup cavity is at least 8 cm and the lower close to 5 cm long. That's close to how a Les Paul neck is glued in, except that in an LP the pocket is much narrower. The glueing surface should be sufficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2021 Got some more work done. Finished all routing and carving. Also added a walnut back riser to the neck and got the neck carved. Glued the neck in and testfitted all the hardware. Now to finish the neck transition and lots of sanding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 24, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 Got the neck finished today and finish sanded. After Sanding it was time for the first layer of oil. I am alway amazed how much the color pops with just some oil really happy with the neck and back also I also could use a cut-off from the fretboard as the cavity cover No on to let the finish build up and way for the last parts to arrive. Still missing the nut, Jackplate and Pickups. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted August 24, 2021 Report Share Posted August 24, 2021 This is looking really sweet. Also you did an excellent job on your neck join/transition. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted August 26, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2021 Thx @ScottR But looks like I need to go 2 steps back. Went in today for the 4th coating of oil and the sund was coming in just right getting it all nice and shiny.... And you could see some swirl marks on the lower right corner on the back. First I thought about leaving it but i bugged me all day. I think I will sand it all down again this weekend 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted August 27, 2021 Report Share Posted August 27, 2021 10 hours ago, Alucard0811 said: looks like I need to go 2 steps back. Went in today for the 4th coating of oil and the sund was coming in just right getting it all nice and shiny Ahh the dreaded sun, always spoiling your pleasure by revealing flaws in your sanding! My daughter is moving from home and I decided to finally do something for her desk. The top was just an unfinished piece of glulam pine with stains from leaking felt pens and such. So I took my random orbital and went through grits from 60 to 240, fast and furious. Then I applied three layers of dye for a cherry red finish only to find out that there's a hand long scratch at one end and some swirl marks at the other... I just couldn't see those during the sanding, it was cold outside and it looked like it'd rain in a minute so I hurried. And the stain ran out so I couldn't sand it back and redo the staining. I see the flaws every time but she's very happy with the overall result and as it won't be the eye catcher of her new apartment it's just fine as such. And light years from what it was before! Guitars are a different thing, you'll look at them all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2021 Everything finished.... Just waiting for the Bareknuckels to get out of customs. And for the Gotho Jack plate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted September 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2021 Got smth in the post today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 3, 2021 Report Share Posted September 3, 2021 You must send them back, they're so badly chipped! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted October 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2021 ITS DONE Finally had the time to get to the workshop and get the last bits together. It came out really nice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted October 15, 2021 Report Share Posted October 15, 2021 That looks like a serious tool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted October 15, 2021 Report Share Posted October 15, 2021 some great details on this build. nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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