82DeanZ Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Hey all, I normally get to pick up a new guitar about once a year (usually the result of a tax return or work bonus). Well, lately I've been pretty happy with the production models I have and quite frankly have become bored with most current production models. Let me qualify that....bored with most current poduction models I can -afford-. I've always liked JEMS, but I feel they are a bit over valued. Therefore, this year I thought I would take the money I would normally spend on a production model and buy some tools and wood and books and take a shot at building my own guitar. A JEM tribute seemed to be a logical choice and not too difficult for my first guitar. Since you all have been so kind as to offer me advice along the way I thought I would share with you my progress. So here is the first picture: This is a one-piece alder blank that I over-planed, but recovered by gluing a 1/4 in quilted maple top to the blank. Thanks Wes! The maple was in the special "sale bin" at Global Wood Supply in San Jose, CA. It was about 3/4 in thick and 6.5 in wide so I used my planer to bring it down to 1/4 in then cut it in half and glued the two pieces together. Even though it's not bookmatched, I think it came out quite nice. By the way, that red carpet is in the workshop so please don't think that my house is that dirty! This is a photo of the neck after quite a bit of work actually. It is quartersawn maple that I routed for the truss rod and glued a Stew Mac pre-slotted maple fret board to. Then I rough cut the outline and headstock. You can still see my centerline mark. Here I test fit the neck. You can see the edge of the maple top and some glue running down the side of the alder blank. This picture was taken after the body had been cut and sanded and the neck refined a bit as well as the inlay holes drilled. Here is the body and neck after I finished fretting and adding the abalone dot inlays. Finally, here is a close-up of the body and neck. Again, thanks for all your advice so far. I participate in a few forums and this one is hands down the most friendly and supportive forum. You guys show a lot of patience and restraint and are very supportive of everyones' work. You should all be very proud. Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Wheres the monkey grip? Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki swordsman Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 patience lad patience looking really good 82! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted July 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Thanks Ki! Patience, yes....but actually I've grown pretty attached to the maple top and may omit the grip in order to keep more of the maple figuring intact. And as luck would have it, most of the interesting figuring is right where the grip would go. With no grip it will look more like this USA Custom which I really like: Cool Ibanez USA Custom Does anyone know what kind of stain was used for this guitar? Honey amber? Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAI6 Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 So, you're going for a flat top, without the armrest, eh? Is that comfortable....? Seems like that would be somewhat irritating... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki swordsman Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 i assume he'll still sand/cut it in damn that ibanez custom is nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Does anyone know what kind of stain was used for this guitar? Honey amber? that guitar has come up before a long time ago...i think we decided that it was either a very light honey amber kind of stain,or just completely natural i think it is natural myself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchfield Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 I think we is right the caption says its natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeli Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 If I ever bought an Ibanez, that's the only one I would buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 Nice job Mike! Very clean inlay job - I've seen many necks with the dots not all lined up properly but yours looks perfect. Where did you get that routing template? Is that for a floyd or some other type of bridge? Are you going to put 24 frets on that neck or stick with the 22 that it came slotted with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82DeanZ Posted July 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 Thanks Dave! After seeing a few misaligned inlay jobs myself I was a bit nervous when I did mine. However, I just worked off of the carefully drawn center line and used the "X" trick to get the midpoint between frets and it turned out O.K.. I used my drill press with it's laser guide to route the inlay holes and used epoxy to cement the inlays. The template you see in the picture is from Stew Mac and it does both the standard Fender trem route and the Wilkinson/Gotoh route. The reason it's in the picture is that I almost forgot to take a picture before routing and I had already carefully aligned and double sided taped the template to the body! Since those pictures were taken I've done all the routing including pickups, trem and control cavity. Oh, and I'm going to stick with 22 frets. I have a USA Jackson Soloist with 24 frets and I almost never make use of the extra 2 frets and when I do I find it very awkward. Maybe scalloping would help, dunno. Or maybe more practice (what a concept)! I'll bolt on the neck and post some updated pictures in the next day or so. Thanks for taking a look! Best Regards, Mike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swirlslave Posted July 27, 2004 Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 it seems to come along very smooth and nicely, great work !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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