ProjectGuitar.com

Fireswift This one is a special build in a number of ways. My building has slowed down in the last couple of years and, while I still have the passion and dexterity (pesky hand arthritis) I thought I ought to get round to building some of the ones that have been on my mental list over the past 12 or so years of this crazy hobby! This one has been built for my son in law, Alex, and I have been able to indulge my flights of fancy a little more than many of my other custom-builds. By its nature a custom build is - and should be - a representation of the future owner's needs and requirements. Over the past few years, as many of you know, I have built a number of bass guitars, acoustics and electrics - and have enjoyed doing them all. But when it's for family...well, maybe I have been allowed to let my imagination wander a little further than normal The spec was simply that "I was going to build Alex a guitar because he's a good guy and his go-to guitar is presently an Epiphone Firebird". The plan Alex and I finally cooked up was to take the essence of the Epiphone - and the iconic Gibson Firebird it is based on - but design-in a number of things to suit specifically how Alex plays. The main change was to shift the neck/bridge geometry rearwards to ensure that it balances well on strap and over the knee. It was then an attempt to add actual or illusionary curves to try to move away from the flat-top look of the original. Both would mean that it the shape would be tangibly different to a Firebird but, if I got it right, there would remain a hint of the icon that inspired it. I'll leave you wise sages to decide whether that has been achieved or not Spec: - Through neck, 25" scale, dual humbucker solid electric - Alder back wings; figured ebony top; maple/ebony laminated neck; ebony fretboard and headstock plate - ebony sanded and polished to shine; alder and maple tru-oil slurry and buffed; final light beeswax (Briwax) application and polish off - Seymour Duncan P-rails wired for full humbucker or P90 split; 3 way switch; 2 tones 2 volumes including CTS push-pull for coil splits - Steinberger gearless tuners - EVO gold frets - Weight 8lbs 2oz The build diary is here: I don't have any sound files yet but will try to get Alex to record some video when he gets this to his next band practice. With the P-rails, though, rest assured - it sounds great! Here are some pics:

Damselfly F-hole inspired design loosely based on my Coral Firefly and other more famous 'jazz' guitars. - Redwood one piece hollowed out body, parallel top braces, 16" lower bout and 18" length, roughly 2" thick with top. - Sitka spruce soundboard - 24 fret neck I bought (Ibanez vine design) with additional decoration added - 25.5" scale length with Bigsby type copy tremolo and roller bridge - Lipstick pickups (GFS brand) with A250K tone and volume pots. Star point grounding and full enclosed control shielding - Completed May 2020 as a commissioned custom build for my boyfriend - I believe this was somewhere around my 5th to 7th overall build, including some acoustics made under Jeffrey Yong in Malaysia - I have had the building 'bug' for some time but it really started going in 2015 in terms of actually making stuff. Currently I do about 4 a year, plus mods, etc. It is mainly for myself, friends, and a few clients. I build both LH and RH instruments, though lefties especially love that I service their needs and can do guitars right for them - I build from home and have work benches set up inside and outside (like for routing), plus spraying fixtures, etc. - I did the full design and layout on Adobe Illustrator 1:1 scale, made all the routing templates and responding 100% to customer custom requests. In other words I made the design from scratch and then added specific features as requested, which I also had to design (as needed) - My 1967/8 Coral Firefly, a very unique instrument from Danelectro, was certainly the jumping off point, but this newer guitar builds and improves on many aspects -Unique and/or improved features include: - upper bout mounted 4-way pickup switch B/B/B+N/BxN series, in an easy access cavity all fully shielded - fully shielded easy access control box inside an easy access control cavity lid - tremolo with roller bridge and locking tuners for tuning stability - 2 layer veneer (rosewood 0.5mm and maple 0.5mm) covered F-holes for a pinstriping effect - easy upper fretboard access to all 24 frets thanks to slimmed neck pocket and recessed bolts - fairly unique in that 99% of 'jazz' type guitars have only 22 or fewer frets whereas this has 24 - I made the outlet jack plate and recessed in into the body for a more flush look, plus made the pickup switch mounting plate - side edges are all rounded over so no binding or harsh edges are experienced - my background with a router and solid body guitars certainly played a role here in the build. Since I did not have the bending equipment for a traditional F-hole guitar, I elected to make the body from a single piece of wood that would form back and sides and also much of the support struts, so this in turn makes this a rather unique guitar blending some aspects of traditional guitar with router based technology. Also do to that same lack of bending equipment I elected to make the top flat like a steel string acoustic, and it turned out well Beth Horner

Fish On I try to push myself beyond my comfort zone on every build. For this build I had planned many milestones: first time doing a scarf joint, first time doing a channel around the fretboard/headstock with veneer, first time doing a piezo bridge, first time building a bridge myself, first time doing a 5 string and reinforcing a neck via carbon fiber strips. This build is a "sister" to a purple heart version that is similar but fretless. I frequently build two because I use one build as sort of "lab rat", and anything that I'm unsure of myself on I attempt on that build first so that I can limit the risk of throwing away more expensive wood. These two builds took forever. I had so many issues I can't even recall them all. I had cut the body on both of these thinking I was going to use a hipshot "Type D" bridge, and then made a mistake on cutting the studs too wide and decided I would take the opportunity to build my own piezo bridge but could not reconcile how I would get a ground wire to the strings. Fortunately, the forum was here for me, slapped me and said, "why don't you just do EMG and you don't need a ground". One of those, "why hadn't I thought of that" moments for sure (thank you all for your continued support!!). I also realized after the fact that I had no wire channels for either the piezo or the magnetics, so I had to do a dangerous drill from the neck pocket all the way to the bridge, then connected that hole to a straight down hole from the bridge, then used "sanding cord" to soften the 90-degree transition. This was my very first CNC build. Right off the bat my CNC broke down and screwed up the neck pocket on this version. If you look very carefully you can see just to the left of the fretboard where I spliced a piece back in to fix. Turned out to be an issue with a bad driver board that @curtisa and @MiKro were instrumental in helping me solve. Initially I had planned to use fretboards that I bought but being a glutton for pain I decided to cut them out of oak/purpleheart on my machine. Problem is my machine is only 24" max, so I had to struggle with figuring out how to cut a 28 1/2" fretboard on it with acceptable precision. Again, relied mostly on an old thread I saw by @curtisa to manage that. As usual the forum here gets 50% credit for my build. Always some member there to encourage me when I feel like giving up, and slap me when I think I know something. @Bizman62 and @curtisa also gave me a lot of feedback on my camera work, so I hope that help shows in the photos. Many of you have stopped into my thread with a word of encouragement and I very much need and appreciate that. With that in mind, I stand here on your shoulders screaming "in your face guitar!" to this build... having barely survived it!! SPECS: 27 Frets 35" scale length 10 deg headstock angle 1 11/16 Nut Width, 16mm String Spacing at the bridge Profile is a thin "C": .834" thick at the nut, .945" thick at the 12th fret Compound 6" to 8" radius fretboard 8lbs 8oz Weight. MATERIALS: 3/4" Flamed Red Oak Carved Top 1 Piece mahogany body Multi-lam neck: Mahogany/Oak-Veneer/Sapele/Red-Oak/Sapele/Red-Oak/Oak-Veneer/Mahogany 24" LMII dual action truss rod and 1/8" carbon fiber reinforcement on either side Fretboard and headstock overlay are Flamed Red Oak Inlays are Maple and Gaboon Ebony HARDWARE: Frets are Jescar Stainless Med Jumbo Gotoh Tuners Graphtech Saddle Graphtech Nut Bridge is Oak/Ebony has locking studs and grub screws for forward/reverse intonation movement Truss rod cover and control cavity covers are all secured via magnets ELECTRONICS: EMG 35P Active Pickup wired to 18 volts Controls: Vm (volume magnetic), Tm (tone magnetic) Artec PP-537 under saddle piezo Handmade Active Bass/Treble Piezo Preamp Controls: Va (volume acoustic), Ta (treble boost/cut acoustic with push/pull preamp bypass), Ba (bass boost/cut acoustic) Switchcraft jack Link to my project thread: I would normally do a vide, but my office is a disaster area that I am not going to clean until I finish the purple one, so some sound demos will have to do for now... Piezo: Magnetic:

Erebus Escobar Built for Pyedawg keeper of the beat, Pablo C Body - black walnut, beechwood, padauk Neck - curly maple, padauk. Fretboard -birds eye maple Pickup - GFS MM Pro Plus Bridge - Hipshot KickAss Tuners - Gotoh Cheers - Hydrogeoman

The Zenith This is The Zenith. A semi-hollow whose design I based on my acoustic guitar bodied mandola that I built awhile back. The body and neck are flamed maple and black walnut. The fretboard, headplate/backstrap, and knobs are wenge. The finish is Original Tried & True Oil. Scale length is 24.75". It has Golden Age overwound humbuckers, a Hipshot Baby Grand bridge, and Planet Waves locking tuners. Here is a link to the build thread: Zenith Guitar - - - o o o O O O o o o - - - Mum's Uke This is Mum's uke. I decided a long while back that I would like to make my parents ukuleles as they have both got into their playing in recent years. It's also become a bit of a thank you and welcome present after my folks decided to sell up their house in the north east if Australia and move to the southwest to be closer to me, my wife and their now 3 year old grandson. The specs: Soprano size All Australian timbers throughout; Tiger myrtle back, myrtle sides, both laminated onto bunya pine cores. Bunya pine soundboard. Qld maple neck with tasmanian blackwood accent strip, and qld maple and dyed black maple binding. Mulga fretboard, rosette and bridge. Qld maple blocks and braces. Passive, peizo pickup (the discs on the underside of the soundboard type) This has been my first acoustic instrument build and I've learned heaps. Dad's one should follow later in the year. Unfortunately I don't have any particularly brilliant photos of it just yet, I finished it 12 hours before handing it over. The note to mum is on the inside of the back, so is visible through the sound hole. Mum absolutely loves it. It plays easily and had a lovely, mellow sound.

Dave's Semi-hollow Here's my latest one finished. Semi hollow, carve top Vela style build for my friend Dave. He picked it up on Friday and is over the moon with it. Spec - 2-piece European walnut top with Dave's design of F hole - 2 piece chambered black limba body - 2-piece flame maple neck - African ebony fretboard and headstock veneer with walnut logo inlay - Ebony back cover - 24 SS girders, 25.5" scale - Hipshot hardtail bridge with hipshot open gear tuners - Bareknuckle polymath and p90 pickups - 2x volume, coil split mini toggle and 3-way switch