Blackdog

Hi there José Luis !! Well, yes and no... You see, the feathers inlay I'm putting in the customer's guitar 12th fret has become the de-facto logo... He insisted on this and the previous customer (for whom the korina SC was originally built) also requested the "Blackdog trademark feather inlay" at the time... I'm thinking about commissioning somebody to provide me with the already cut pieces for this inlay so I don't have to cut the same design over and over again... Regarding the headstock, there's not much real state there to put anything, even with the redesigned one. Specially if the TRC gets an inlay, which in the case of mine will, it may look too busy. I guess that the place for my "logo" is the 12th fret in the end. But all my guitars get my signature on the back of the headstock, anyway... Thanks for the support !!

And the maple top of the korina guitar flattened pretty well after the marble tile treatment. I could join the halves, rough cut and glue it to the body back. For this guitar I decided to add a thin macassar veneer to highlight the maple to korina transition. I will do the same with the fretboard as it will have a flamed maple binding. This was a bit tricky because I did it all in one operation which meant 4 surfaces to apply glue to and the careful alignment of the top and back had to be quick. It all worked out great and the center seams of the top and back align perfectly. I also run the roundover bit on the back of this one. This Korina is terribly soft and light, it's worrying me a bit, I really hope it sounds good !! Also the cavities were cleaned, and I wet the top a bit for the pictures, it's going to be an impressive quilt. Thanks for reading.

Got some things done this weekend. The top on the Sapeli guitar was trimmed to size and I eun a roundover bit around the back, it's incredible the difference it makes... I also routed clean the cavity from the top glue process, just for the looks, because it will require deepening further on anyway. After a bit of sanding it looks like this:

Since the saddles are not slotted yet, string spacing is not really an issue with the TOM. The wraparound will have to be slotted cleverly too to maintain the proper string spread. Like I said in the first post I think that slotting the saddles while they are at the approximate intonation point will minimize the problem with the adjustment. It's all trade-offs, but in principle it looks like it may work... Here are the same two designs with the perp at the 12th fret: It's starting to slant a bit too much at the nut, I think...

Thanks for the reply Wez, I tend to agree... I adjusted (corrected the bridge position and slant) the drawings a bit and this is a comparison of the wraparound version with the perp at 7: And at 9: This last version already looks promising IMO... I will try later with the perp at 12 and see what it looks like...

So I'm building another Korina Singlecut, this time for myself, because I liked how it sounded and played very much. But I was thinking about maybe adding a small twist without changing the design or the configuration much: I'm thinking about giving a fanned-fret/multi-scale version a try. It seems that if I keep my scales reasonably close I could get away using the same hardware configuration: Tone-Pros wraparound or TOM/stop tailpiece combo. For my first attempt at playing a fanned-fret guitar I would prefer something not too extreme anyway... So for the following drawings I used 25"/24.5" scales with the 7th fret perpendicular. It seems that the intonation range of the saddles in said bridges could handle the difference. I could even move the perp further up (to the 9th fret?) and it would have a bit more margin. I can see that adjusting the intonation alters the string geometry because of the slant of the bridge (it always happens with a TOM, but it's more pronounced here), but slotting the saddles when they are close to the right intonation might keep the issue under control... Anyway, what do you think ?? Will it work or should I save the multi-scale idea for a design with individual-string bridge ??

Just a bit of an update. Things have been a bit slow these days because I've been doing some amp work too, changing output trafos and blueprinting my old 64 Princeton... Anyway, I have cut the pieces for the 12th fret inlays and they have been glued on top of the fretboards for scribing around... Trying to convince my wife to do it. Not succeeding so far... I started with the tops. The sapeli one was significantly cupped, but since it was a good 23mm thick and I only needed 18mm I joined it all the same, and planed it both sides afterwards, down to the 18mm needed. I rough cut the shape and it is now being glued to the mahogany back. The maple one is a bit more problematic. One of the halves was significantly cupped, the other one was not. This topset is 16mm thick and I can't afford to make it any thinner, so I followed the method that seems to be the most popular around this forum: I sprayed the cupped side with some warm water and I put it over a verified flat marble tile, and under pressure. Let's see how cupped or flat it is after a few days. That's pretty much all for now, thanks for reading.

All very interesting builds this month !! rogerabjet - 'Scarab' : Never been a fan of these kind of shapes. But the implementation is still very clean. Absolutely love the silver "constellation" fretboard inlays. NotYou - "Abused Blues #1" : Not my thing. A guitar concept that I don't quite understand. I'm definitely a shiny-and-pretty guitar kind of guy. Muzz - Pointy Stick : Very clean build. The neck goes too much into the body, as has already been said, and the heel seems a bit bulky. Still an impressive build for your 2nd body/1st neck. avengers63 - The Cherry Blossom : I see a lot of evolution in your builds, so many interesting ideas and nice, fun guitars. Still it is in the details that I think they fall a bit short: the alignment of the pickups, the flow of the pickguard curves. I would make a special mention for the intricate soundhole work: VERY IMPRESSIVE. However the design goes in too many different directions: the elegance of the soundhole, the elaborate inlay and purfling job on the fretboard on the overall funky vibe of the trem, shape, pickup and pickguard configuration. Jaden - purpleheart original series TT : Clean and professional. My only criticism is about the back covers: it would have been nice to see a better grain matching on the control and battery covers, and the tremolo cover is definitely missing a purpleheart stripe to visually merge with the back. chops1983 - "Seth" : Obviously my kind of build. Nice original shape, nice carve and beautiful woods. I like the carving of the back a lot too. I think the 12th fret inlay is a bit too big, but the overall guitar design is just great. Gets my vote. Johny - chambered body nylon string guitar : The most original idea among this months' builds. Great headstock design. I think the plain, understated vibe goes well with the "classic guitar" concept. Don't quite like the soundhole, doesn't quite flow with the body shape. If not for Chop's guitar this one would have gotten my vote. hooglebug - Holly Esq. #10009 : Very nice esquire !! Not too crazy about the headstock shape, looks a bit too Jetsons to me. But I like the slight departure from the original body shape and the scratchplate design fits the original shape perfectly. Great tribute to a classic, perfect choice of color.

How dare you cover that maple with black paint !!!! (Sorry, just joking !!! ) But the truth is that I would love to make me some kind of goldtop, but all I ever buy are figured tops and I can't bring myself to paint anything like that with solid colors... Kudos to you for the resolution and the nerve !!

Beautiful builds !! So clean and professional, congratulations. I absolutely love that #27 bass !! I want one (and I don't even play bass) !! My other favorite is the reverse FB, #26. Out of curiosity, is Queensland maple as heavy as the usual mahoganies ?? One last question about the serial and signature on the headstocks' backs: looks handwritten but it is engraved, how do you do it ?? Not free hand, right ?? Thanks for sharing !!

Man, I know what you mean !! I'm starting playing in a band context again after a good 8 years, and it's getting tough. I find that I should devote more (some ?) of the available free time to practicing, but then I love building... It's a struggle. Maybe I should just quit the day job.

A few more things were done in the past days: Routed both necks for the CF bars. Thicknessed the headstocks and carved the HS part of the volute. Added the laminations on the headstocks: Brazilian RW for the SC (to match the fretboard), and a BRW veneer as a backstrap just for looks (will also have a similar heelcap). Figured Sapeli for the DC, with a thin maple accent between faceplate and headstock. Shaped the headstocks and drilled the pilot tuner holes. I'm using an updated headstock shape, it was a bit too small in my previous builds. This version is just a bit longer and wider, should look more balanced. Thanks for looking !!

All I can say is that I have a Metabo the size of the small one Mattia posted (looking at the pictures seems like pretty much the same machine), and just like he said, for bodies and necks is just fine as long as you go slowly. At the time I bought it my shop was in a small attic, my constraint was not floor space but headroom (OK and $$) !! Right now I would definitely go for something bigger, which I will do if mine ever fails. The second axmister one seems really tempting for the price...

Thanks for the interest chops, I'm loving your last build too !! With the available spare time my day job leaves me with it seems to take me between 6-8 months to build one of these: The original korina SC was started in early May'09 and finished right before Christmas. I don't know how much longer it will take making two, but I'm taking advantage here of the fact that the customer is not really in a hurry. Clearly, if time becomes a factor the commission will take precedence, for now I'll try to keep building both concurrently.

I don't think you can do much of a carve on a 1/4" thick top. The very subtle carve of the Les Paul is done with a 1/2" top. You can definitely drop-top it. I've never tried, maybe bending burl is a bit trickier than straight grained maple ??

Wow !! What a beautiful guitar !! I love this build: great original shape, graceful top and back carving and very well balanced design. Only the 12th fret inlay is a bit too big for my taste, but the implementation is superb. I miss the top inlay, I like inlaid tops .... I see you put it up for GOTM, I'm definitely voting for this one.

I'm still very confused with what happened to the neck blank... How could that happen ?? Where is the part missing in the middle ?? Anyway, the body looks terrific. How do you plan to do the mortise/tenon ?? If you plan to do a full width neck pocket, a gradual heel will look better and be much more comfortable. What I used in my LP-like and the singlecut builds is actually an extreme version of the PRS singlecut neck-body joint and it works and looks (IMO) very well. The blacktop Gibson style looks killer, but also does a flame maple top stained in charcoal/trans-black. If I wanted black is what I would do, but I'm a maple-top kinda person... Another option could be flamed redwood. Nik Huber does a very nice redwood tops with black staining. He also has an interesting, less bulky neck-body joint. Is this the one you plan to carve the top on ??

And this is the (similar) status of the Sapeli DC: Cheers.

A short status report, this is where I am at the moment with the Korina SC: Thanks for reading.

Hi again, it's been a while... The original customer for whom my last build (the Korina singlecut) was made backed-off on me when the guitar was finished and ready to ship. I was really pissed-off but the guitar was great, so I was keeping the guitar for myself until a colleague at work got the chance to try it and fell in love with it immediately. We agreed on a good price and he now happily owns it. The guitar is so resonant and light that I have been missing it since, though. Since I have all the necessary woods and parts, I decided to build one for myself. A couple of months later, this same colleague had the chance to try my Sapeli doublecut. He wanted to buy it too, but I want to keep that one for myself (the figured sapeli neck is a very unique piece), so he commissioned me to make him one. So, the way things are now, I am building another run of the last two builds... Up to now it has always been a one-off one at a time build process, so for me this is going to be interesting in two ways: I will try to drive the two builds pretty much in parallel and I will get to see how consistent I can be at building these things. I was hesitant about starting another build thread because of the repetitive nature of these builds, but I think there might still be some interest (to see if I make the same mistakes again or all new ones ) so I decided to give it a try. These are the two originals: Sapeli DC24 Korina SC22 The cosmetic details will change slightly but the structural elements will all be there: Korina SC22: Two piece korina back, slightly thicker that the original at 41mm. Bookmatched top-grade quilt maple top (16mm) One piece korina neck with hot-rod and CF bars. BRW fretboard w/flame maple binding and maple/macassar purfling. 25" scale, 22 frets. BRW headstock faceplate, backstrap and heelcap. Sperzel tuners, TonePros wraparound bridge, Bareknuckles pickups (BKP90 and Blackdog HB) Nickel hardware. Pearl Inlays on the 12th fret, TRC and body. Sapeli DC24: One piece honduras mahogany back, 36mm. Two piece figured sapeli top (18mm) One piece honduras mahogany neck with hot-rod and CF bars. Maccassar fretboard w/IRW binding and maple purfling. 25" scale, 24 frets. Figured sapeli headstock faceplate, TonePros wraparound bridge, TBD pickups, but dual HB. Gold hardware. Single pearl inlay at 12th fret.

If I can remember clearly, this guitar won a GOTM in 2007 Sorry if I´m wrong, but I believe I saw it finished I'm glad there's still some interest... Yes, the guitar was finished in late November 07, and presented in This Thread. Then, in February 09 it was reworked quite a bit, and it was again presented to this fine audience in This Other Thread. This first build never won GOTM (but Builds #5 and #6 did - see signature), but is a great playing guitar with an amazing resonance/ringing and the strat-on-steroids electronics make it very unique. I've evolved quite a bit with the builds, but I still love to play this one every time I take it out of the case.

When carving a top in the Les Paul style there are actually 2 angles planed on the top, not just one: (Note: not my drawing, this was borrowed from another forum from a guy specializing in LP replicas whose name now escapes me...) This is done because with the LP mortise/tenon design the bottom of the fingerboard sits on the top. I make the full neck insertion in the LPJr or PRS style, but I cut the two angles all the same because I like the neck binding line to be parallel/flush with the top of the guitar in that area.

That's what I wanted to know. With the strong field question I was thinking more in magnets or washers coming unglued when trying to remove the cover. In that sense a small gap of CA or epoxi can help a lot... Thanks again.

Good stuff !! Thank you guys. One final question for RAD: In your final setup, does the washer come in direct contact with the magnet or is there a layer of finish/epoxy creating a virtual gap ?? I haven't received the magnets yet but I get the impression that they are pretty strong, have you found any problems with too much magnetic force ?? Thanks again for your time.

Hello guys, I've seen that many of you attach the back covers with magnets instead of screws. I did a search for "magnets" but all I get are pickup-related threads... I bought from ebay a bunch of neodymium disc magnets (1/4"x1/16") that I haven't received yet. I hope these are adequate... I suppose that I can simply make a shallow recess and glue the magnets in place, but would like to see how you implemented yours. Do you use magnets on the cover AND the body, or some kind of metal plate on one of the sides ?? Got any pictures to share ?? Many thanks in advance.