Stewey

Yeah but guitar manufacturers are boring, I want to know what the real pros think.

Hi Guys

Well I have been caught by the 8 string bug

Only problem is that I have very little idea about them.

I've done some searching for the 8 string builds and no-one seems to mention the specs.

I was wondering if some of you 8 string guys could help me out with some opinions?

I am planning:

8 strings (unsure of the gauges, any suggestions?)

27 or 28" scale

Alder or ash body, Fat RG shape

Rock Maple neck with single truss rod and 2 carbon rods.

Indian Rosewood fretboard, no inlays.

24 jumbo frets

Bridge pickup only. I am thinking Barenuckle?

1 x Volume

4 + 4 tuners. Is there any easier way of getting 8 tuners than buying 2 six packs? (especially in Aus)

Fixed bridge. Is the Hipshot one any good? Or am I better off making my own with strat style saddles?

It's fun throwing yourself into something you know not a lot about.

Thanks in advance.

Yeah that is a bit of checker plate around the bridge pup. The original has that metal cover over the bridge pup so I put something shiny there to give it a similar feel. I'll have more pics on the weekend.

Thanks guys, I am quite excited for how this one is turning out.

low end fuzz, that is exactly what I did. It was a bit of effort making the joint line up below the bridge area, I just kept skimming it off a bit until both sides clamped onto the neck blank square. The reasoning behind it was that I can source 2nd class guitar length neck through blanks rather cheaply. I also can't see it making any difference to the tone. The bridge mounts right on the end of the blank so everything along the string path is mounted to the same piece of timber, just like a proper neck through.

Well I have ordered some Rotosounds, they should be here during the week.

This weekend I got a few of the little bits done. Buffed out the clear coat, finished off the pickguards, got all the wiring together and installed most of the hardware.

I still need to slot the nut, make the truss rod cover, install the strap buttons and give the frets a look at.

If the strings turn up I can probably get this one finished next weekend.

Nice to see you branching out into even more different kinds of builds.

A mahogany practice neck?! I wish I could get a hold of mahogany that easily.

I agree, I wish my milky looked like that.

That looks damn good.

With the CF rods, did you stop them shy of the nut area due to that being the rods maximum length or for some other reason?

Yes, good point on the tape wounds. I've never used them before, any recommendations on brand?

The three way fits nice. It is the deepest cavity up near the bridge pup. I had 7mm of wood to spare behind it. Perfect fit.

I've been progressing along with this one. I kept forgetting to take photos though so I didn't bother to update the thread, I know how much you guys like photos.

Grain filled, primed and painted:

Today I scraped back the binding, you can also see the electronics cavity here, I got a bit creative with the routing in the places where I want to mount the active electronics and the battery:

I'll finish flattening the colour coat tomorrow and then lay on the clear. Leave it for the week to dry and hopefully buff it out next weekend.

Those router bits look a bit of alright. Did you source them in Aus?

Oh, excellent looking template. I wanna see that hole in the guitar though! Chop chop. :-)

Ahh that makes more sense, you need to set more posts per page.

Looks great.

I agree the poplar looks good on the top, but that extra bit you glued on the side really contrasts at the back, it would be enough for me to paint it.

If you do paint what colour are you looking at?

Thanks MP63.

Rail pickups might solve which problem Cam? Angling a normally spaced pickup?

The body looking long and skinny is a bit of an optical illusion. It is really not very different from a standard les paul, it is probably about a cm difference on most of the edges except for the horn which is quite a bit smaller.

Thanks Galaga Mike, with the nut you just make it as regular while taking the angles into account.

I had the same resoning as Wez with the pickups. I wanted to leave the option of using any humbucker in the future. I also looked at it like a strat angled pickup.

Yeah the 7th fret is the perpendicular one. I did a few drawings with the fret at various spots and 7 looked the best to me. You can place the perpendicular fret where ever you like, just remember that the further you go from the middle of the board the more drastic the angle will be at the ends.

I have it tuned standard and it plays and intonates great.

I made the bridge myself. It is simply a piece of angle aluminium, 3mm thick. I borrowed the saddles off of a cheap strat bridge.

Kenny - thanks for the comment. I also thought the same as you when I started drawing my neck design, however I started to think that it may be more accurate to measure the scale down each tapered side as then you are effectively measuring your scale down the strings. The whole purpose of the design is to set a different scale length on each string.

Does anyone else have a theory on this?

Thanks for the comments guys.

Don't worry, I measured the fret positions down the tapered sides of the fretboard. I just like to keep the board square while I cut the slots as I find it easier to clamp.

The body is 1&1/4", just thick enough for a 3 way toggle switch. The scales are 25" to 27".

Well it's been a little while between successful projects. I tried a hollow body explorer which didn't end up so well. (It collapsed on itself )

This was a bit discouraging so I decided to take it easy for a while and start doing some drawings. The basis for this project was a tracing I did of my LP. After seeing Ormsby's awesome white multiscale I got very motivated to get back into it.

Unfortunatley I didn't take many progress pics as I was very unsure of the outcome.

The plan of the body:

Here is the body rough cut, it's basswood:

The headstock rough cut with the fretboard placed on top, mahogany neck with ebony fretboard.:

Another view of the fretboard:

Fretboard

And the finished project:

A pick of the back:

Back

The back of the neck showing the volute:

Neck

Thanks for looking!

I would be putting some bracing between your neck pocket area and whatever you are mounting your bridge on.

I made an explorer with almost the same frame layout you have going there. About a month later the neck pocket support area started to cave in toward the bridge.

I thought the 16mm ply I was using for the top and back would be strong enough, not a chance.

I love that top, looks like the guitar is melting.

Excellent, I love beveled RG's

I bought the timber at Wood World on the Gold Coast. http://www.woodworld.com.au/index.htm

The guys there are quite helpful, and the prices were good too.

Looks awesome mate. I love the contrast of the fretboard with the inlays.

Are you having a neck angle or is your bridge designed to be low?

Awesome, I can finally see your work the way it really looks.

It turned out very well, you should be proud of that and hopefully learn something from this whole thread.

Congratulations for taking something you were ready to toss and turning it into a beautiful instrument.

I agree, you can't make me wait forever to see that finished after posting those photos.

That is magnificent. Very well done.

I love the look of all the timber, I didn't realise tassie oak could have such a nice figure.

Do you have more pictures of the top carve?

Also, where do you get nitro in australia?