Stewey

I've always admired this design of yours and this one takes it to the next level. Utterly beautiful work.

Thanks for the link Wes. I didn't even realise there were no dimensions until after the order had shipped. The wire turned up today while I was at work. I ordered quantity two since they said it comes in a length to do one guitar. It is definitely more wire than I have received from other sellers who claim it is enough for one guitar so I am happy overall. I already have a regular supplier for my fret wire but they don't sell stainless unfortunately.

I have on order the Warmoth 6100 stainless steel wire. I can't see on the site the tang measurement, only the crown width and height.

So we decided to scrap the conical fretboard for this one and go with a 20" radius. Routed the headstock shape. I really should get a new bit for this. And I rough cut the neck to shape. The next step I am wanting to do is get the fret slots to final depth but the fret wire hasn't turned up yet so I can't measure it. Hopefully it turns up this week.

Hello All, In this thread I shall be building a 7 string version of my 8 string design. The guitar itself will be fairly plain but it will be the electronics that stand out. The plan for the electronics at the moment is to pair a set of EMG 707's with the full Graph Tech acoustic and hexpander kit. Hopefully this all goes in without a hitch QLD Maple 2 piece body, top bound with black plastic. Flamed Maple neck and fretboard bound with black plastic. All black hardware. So far I have the body cut and routed to shape. The body is going to bit a little bit slimmer than the 8 string (43mm versus 50mm) because I don't need as much weight in the body to counteract the neck weight. I picked up a strat neck blank second for a good price because it was discoloured at one end. This will be made into fretboards. The neck has a scarf joint with some dyed maple veneers for accents. Truss rod fitted. I sliced the neck blank second into three fretboards which came out at 6.5mm each when finished. And catching up to today's progress I marked out the fret slots. This one is having a 27" scale. I have allowed for my binding thickness because I always forget this so I have taken to marking them separately. Fret slots cut with my new Japanese style saw from Stew Mac. It is much better than the older style one. Only roughly tapered at the moment. Tomorrow I will be attempting to build a jig for routing a conical fretboard (16"-20"). I think I will go with this one I found on TDPRI. Does anyone have any input on performing this style of fretboard? I have read all the threads I can find on here and on TDPRI so hopefully I should be all right.

Excellent work.

Wow, I forgot all about this one. I just received my first orders straight after this one was finished and promptly put it in my playing room. Thanks for reminding me to dig it out.

That neck holding method looks needlessly complicated to me. Your bridge design is looking good though.

That is ridiculous. Every aspect of the design just works so well. Can't wait to see this one finished off.

Looking good, what kind of finish are you going for with the cream parts?

Oh man, you are re-awakening this thread again? I thought you finished this thing years ago. That plate looks handy, maybe you should just use a nice solid bridge in the future though and not have to worry about springs?

Thanks Muzz Unfortunately no word from Meshuggah yet, I'm sitting here waiting for the call though

Thank FireFly It really is serious business on the front with a bit of a party out the back. I felt I had to do something different with this one after two nearly identical builds.

Well I finished up the third and final one of these a few days ago. This one is the same Qld Maple as the other two. It has a Mahogany neck though with a Rosewood faceplate. Thanks for all the help that was offered in this thread, made the process a bit easier Now to think of my next project.

It is a real pleasure to just sit back and watch your builds sir.

Got the bulk of the carve work done this weekend. Also drilled all the holes and did the electronics cavities. This one will differ from the past two by having a neck pickup, selector switch, two volume and two tone and full chrome hardware. I will also be going for a more complicated finish on this one, I haven't quite ironed out the details yet though.

Looking good mate, did you decide what to use for the pick guard yet? With the finishing, I have done it both ways. If I want a completely different finish on the neck than the body I will finish them separately. This is only convenient though if your neck to body join has a definite transition. 99% of the time I end up doing the finishing last. With the type of neck join you are using I would be performing the finish last, especially on the body. I wouldn't want to have the body finished and then find out you need to tweak the top of the neck tenon a little bit once it was attached, etc.

I finished the second one up about a month or so ago now, I swear I updated this... or maybe not. Anyway here she is, sorry about the horrible lighting, I had to rush the shots because she was being picked up that night: This one ended up with the same customer as the first, the two different neck materials gave them a different enough sound that he had to have this one as well The third one is now well under way. I decided on the SD Blackouts for this one, progress pics soon.

Looking tidy as usual. You are always a good builder to watch, doing nothing wrong which is why the comments have dried up I guess. I was looking at your truss rod access jig and thinking that has to be one of the most over-engineered jigs I've ever seen. It is awesome and a shame that you haven't made it work yet. I'm sure you will get there though, I don't think I've seen you stumped yet. Cheers Stewey

Oh man, laughing so hard. Perfect placement having the neck come out of his forehead.

A few weeks later and we have some progress on number two. I am going with a smaller neck heel on this one, here I have just finished routing it. This one has a rosewood neck compared to the first one which was maple. This shows the mini volute I am doing on these ones: And this is where it stands as of today. Lots more sanding to do and carve finishing:

Hmm, off to youtube I go then to have a listen to some pickups. The guitar has gone to its new owner now, here is a final pic showing the carve a bit better:

Thanks mate. Yeah I really tried to make this easy to replicate and also with no odd features (weird neck angles etc.) so that it can suit a wide range of hardware. The pickup on this one is a result of the customers budget. It is the 8 string pickup from Rondo. The cool thing is that it is a "standard" size so he can drop in something like a bare knuckle at a later date. Pickups were easily the hardest decision with these builds as the range is still a bit short for 8's. Sure you can go custom but you need the money to do that. The second one will also be a Rondo pickup. It is a surprisingly good pickup, more than good enough for bashing around in my room which is all the action it will ever see. The third one will be an active set. I haven't decided whether it will an EMG set or a Blackout set yet. Anyone have any advice either way?

Nice work but I can't help thinking that it would make a very effective weapon.

Thanks for that Prostheta but damn, spelling was always the one thing I was good at.