Blackdog

Thanks pukko and mattia for the movie link !!! Actually, looking at that movie he makes it look easy... I will start some color tests soon, will report the progress (or lack thereof) in the other thread. Thanks again. BTW: that switchtip is just amazing !!! The attention to detail that you show on your build is an inspiration to all of us. Keep it up !!.

Progress report, now the holes for the controls have been finished and the control cavity deepened as required. Here I installed the switch, pots and knobs to see how everything fits. Another view. I didn't take pics of the cavity, but it is much cleaner than my first. I routed a recess where the 90° switchcraft toggle seats, so the rest of the cavity is not weakening the top by being unnecessarily deep. I'm using long-shaft pots for this one and routed a recess for the washer and nut on the top to allow the knobs to sit low into their dishes. So the top is only thin enough where it needs to be. I have to drill the jack hole and the strap pins' holes, and then the body is basically finished.

Maybe this helps:

Can you work with a schematic ?? This is what you're after: As you said Les Paul, I'm assuming 4 pots. I rearranged the pots to work as infividual volume for each pickup and a master tone. You only need two sections (poles) of the rotary switch for this, and it gives you the usual Strat combinations: N, N+M, M, M+B, B. Options: -Neck+Bridge instead of middle in position 3 can also be done with two sections of the switch. -Coil tapping for the in-between positions (2 and 4) would require the other two sections of the switch. -All-three instead of middle in position 3 would also require the other two sections. Let me know if I can be of further help. Hope this helps.

Thanks !! I've done a good deal of checking and measuring (I own a McCarty and a Hollowbody II) to actually understand what makes the PRS carving so graceful. The results are that prior to carving you have to break the top into three planes or flat areas, as per the following picture: And this is the operation you saw in my previous posting, and you end up with this. Then the neck pocket has to be routed with respect to the plane defined between A and B, adding a neck angle as needed. If you leave a consistent 6mm all around the perimeter for the faux-binding this leaves you with 13mm (at the belly area) and 7mm (at the horns area) carving material. You can, of course, do it without any top angle (keeping the top parallel to the back of the body), but some problems become apparent. This is how I carved my first build (see signature), leaving 13mm carving material all around. In the first attempt the horns had a very deep carving, that from some angles gave the impression that they raised above the level of the top. So I sanded the horns down for a much more pleasing effect. Still, from certain angles you get the impression that the central part of the body (where the pickups seat) raise above the top level. But this is a much more tolerable effect. Now to the second part of your question, 14mm might be quite enough: While for Customs, McCarty's (and apparently Santanas) PRS seem to use 3/4" maple tops, on Singlecuts the carving is far less pronounced and (according to a couple I inspected) they seem to be using 13-14mm tops. The philosophy is still similar, there's "at least" an angle from the bridge to the front edge of the body, but with 6mm binding there's much less carving material to work with. And it shows. The situation is simple, the more material you have available for carving at the highest part, the more pronounced the "belly" you can achieve. And for the horns you can usually get away with significantly less. Another useful alternative to enhance the apparent depth of the carving is the recurve, but that's a different story. Hope this clarifies what I did and why.

There are. Most of the metal ones are fully flat (and shallow). And if you want to get fancy, replacement rings for tremolo-equipped PRS guitars are also flat-topped (as in not slanted). Several sources sell wooden replacements for these guitars, like these. Hope this helps.

I'm guessing you have a TOM bridge of some kind, right ?? Ideally you should install the B5 so that the strings have a decent break angle at the bridge saddles and still clear the back edge of the bridge body without touching it. Think Gibson: this positions the bridge so that the tension bar more or less seats where the stop tailpiece would be. I don't think there's any good reason to put it farther back.

Thanks a lot for the reply !!! I absolutely love the subtle sunburst effect you achieved. I'm very tempted to attempt something similar. When the time comes I will do some tests on the maple offcuts and see how it goes. Did I get it correctly ?? You use the brighter stain (yellow) to actually rub off some of the previous darker stain, right ??

Thanks !! Regarding colors, what I know right now is that the neck will be finished with a few coats of Danish oil, to keep the bare-wood look and feel and still get a little glossiness. The body will be lacquered glossy, with a grain filled natural back and faux-binding and only the top will be colored. I will be using StewMac's concentrated stains, what I have available is Vintage Amber, Medium Brown, Cherry and Blue. So any combination of those is possible. I'm thinking about double or triple staining, and also saw this thread where a sunburst is applied at the staining stage... So anything is possible. I would rule a dominant blue out as I don't think is going to look good with all the rosewood... Hope I'm not disappointing you, but there's a flat surface where the pickups seat, and another where the bridge seat.... It still is more rounded than the PRS carve, though clearly along the same lines.

Amazing work !!! I was thinking about something lately, and now you confirm that what I thought was indeed possible !! You can actually do a sunburst with the staining !!! Please, if you don't mind, tell me more about the staining process and technique. What did you use ?? Water or alcohol based ?? I will stain and finish with spraycan lacquer my current project (it's going to be the first time for me) and I'm really curious... Congratulations, it's a beautiful design and impeccably implemented.

Simply beautiful !! Congratulations !! I'd love to see some progress pics. How did you stain the top ?? Do you have any close-ups ??

Thank you all for the links. I actually found that following the instructions it's no big deal to sharpen the scrapers. As a matter of fact in less than 1/2 hour I had the two scrapers I use the most in top form and ready for the action !!! So now I have a carved top : This is a mockup, nothing is fixed. Just wanted to have a peek at how's going to look like. The pickup rings shown are ebony, but I'll use rosewood for this guitar. Same with the knobs. A couple of angle shots to show the carving of the top: One side. The other side. There are a few humps here and there, some scratches still refuse to disapear (read more sanding required), but this carving is pretty much what I was going for. The maple top in the pictures is just the bare wood and completely dry. It looks like it's going to be one hell of a top once stained and lacquered !!!

Thank you guys for the nice words and the support. I agree, the double binding looks great. As a matter of fact I will use it again in the future. At a very least one layer of some contrasting wood under the fretboard, headplate and even between the maple top and the back wood. It looks classy and it's reasonably simple to do. The binding was made from 7-8mm strips cut from the 1.5mm maple veneer. My wife cut the strips and did the bending for the headstock. It required litteraly boiling the maple for a few minutes and then bending (while still hot) and tight strapping to a headstock template until cold and dry. Rather difficult indeed, but now I'm spoiled: I don't see myself using plastic binding now... The small mistakes seem to be unavoidable. I'm beginning to think it's the nature of a handbuilt instrument. Factory instruments (even the cheap ones) are more "perfect", once you've got the program right the CNC machine will do its thing exactly the same, every time.... I will have to make a few tests regarding filling the maple, since it will be stained. I will run into a similar situation when inlaying the top. I thought about enlarging the blemish a little and filling with solid maple material. I guess I'll have to test the different options. It's not that I am fast. Killemall is fast !! I think it's something else... Spring it's almost here, was it summer when I went to visit you ?? One of these days I'll need to rough-cut another neck, you better get busy so you have something new to show me !!! My wife designed and made all the inlay work on the first build and she's doing the same for this one. She says "thanks". The concept for the fretboard inlays is pretty much ready, she's currently cutting the pieces. It's going to be a continuation/evolution of the feathers we used on the first build, just to keep a "family connection" between the two. Future builds will definitely use something else. As a matter of fact she just told me she's got the design ready for the body inlay, I'll see it today when I get back home. I tried to advance to top a little bit yesterday without much success. My scrapers are dull. Some of them have barbs that leave ugly marks. Is there a tutorial on how to "sharpen?" scrapers in the forum ??

No, I built a GT2 close using the Tonepad information a year ago and works great. Here is the link : http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=22 Is not an easy project but sound really good. I have to build another board to put inside the guitar. Thanks for the link. I have one of the original SansAmps from 1993 (later reissued as the Classic), and I still think is one of the most organic and warm sounding solid state pedals out there. There was a lot of point-to-point wiring in those and a board/module completely potted in black epoxy. The GT2 was intended to be pretty much the same but easier to use. Talking about pedals I just finished building a Compressor kit from these guys: BYOC Highly recommendable, sounds great and comes with absolutely everything down to the rubber feet. They even include all the additional components needed for the most popular mods...

Are you transplanting an existing GT2 or building one from scratch ?? Is the schematic available ?? I thought it was almost as secret as Cristina's plastic surgeon name...

AMAZING job for a first time !!! I find it really hard to believe this is your first metal working job !!! Looks like an interesting design, I toyed with the idea of "getting" (it was not "building" at the time) a travel guitar some years back, when I travelled a lot for a week or two at a time to Bariloche, but never crystallized. Looking forward to seeing the progress. Saludos.

Ok, let me revive this old thread with some updates... Significant progress has been made. I finished the neck's heel, and shortened it accordingly. I also cut the neck pocket in the body. This time a nicely tight fit. Some things I'm actually doing better than on the first build. Also routed the pickups' cavities. These didn't go completely well, I need to make me a new, more accurate, template. They're still perfectly functional, but not as clean as I wanted. The recesses for the back cavities covers were also cut, these went well and are really clean. I made the covers too, just like on my 1st build, from ply-wood I made from mahogany+maple+mahogany 1.5mm veneer sheets and with the maple section cross-grained. The result is a very stiff and nice looking material that after sanding has about 4.2mm. Carved the belly-carve too. This time significantly deeper and wider than on my first build. After the edge roundover and belly carve the back is pretty much finished and it looks like this: With covers removed. I have also advanced the top quite a bit. For this build I decided I wanted an angled top and the recurve on the edge, I feel they look better. So after cutting the lip around the edge (I don't know how to call it...) I run a round-nose bit too, to produce the recurve and get rid of the sharp angle. Now I was ready for the top angle, for which I made this jig. So now the top angles from just in front of the bridge mounting posts down to the edge where the body meets the neck, at a gentle 2.3°. From there to the tip of the horns the angle becomes 0° again (to leave enough carving material at the horn tips). The neck pocket is now at 0° with respect to this new top plane. After routing the pickup cavities I started with the rough carving of the top with the mighty power-grinder and the sandpaper slap disk. The sandpaper roller on the handheld drill also proved quite efficient for this rough "sculpting". It was also very useful for carving the lower cutaway scoop and the belly-carve. This is where I stand now. All in all I think it's going well, a few things here and there that will need a little cosmetic correction, but nothing really serious so far: When routing the neck pocket, the bit made a small (about a mm) notch on the top edge of the pocket. I will need to refill it with some maple-dust epoxi mix. I needed to reshape a little bit the lower cutaway after the neck pocket had been routed. The bit produced a little tear-off (or is it tear-out ??) at the front edge of the pocket. Again, some cosmetic filling will be required. Both can be seen here. Next steps: obviously to continue with the top carving and then the control knobs dishes. In the meantime I'm waiting for my wife to finish with the fretboard inlays, she's been getting a little sidetracked lately and I will need that finished before fretting. Thanks for reading.

25.0625 is 25 1/16 24.750 is 24 3/4 Those are the closest fractions I found, and should be close enough.

So why do you still get the answer wrong? No, you do NOT need a neck angle. But if you want your neck to be straight, the fretboard needs to stand quite proud of the body --much more than a Strat. Have a look at most Rickenbackers to see what I mean. They accommodate the difference by stacking the pickguard. There are implications in doing it this way --for one, your pickups will need to stand up pretty high too, which won't work for all pickups -- but then, this lets you use other types instead, like toasters/surface mounted pickups. I don't know if PRS has an angle or not --I'm assuming they don't, because they lower the bridge into the surface of the guitar, which allows you to build a straight neck with a lower profile. On the other hand, if the only reason you don't want a neck angle is because you think it's too difficult, think again, it's not that hard to do. For the bridge ground, you simply drill a hole from the control cavity into the hole for the bridge post, run the ground wire into there-- the stud will brace the wire and provide the ground. Easy enough. Let me just add a few things that I DO know. PRS has a neck angle on the hardtail models. PRS do not (to my knowledge) recess the bridges into the top (is this what you meant, Mickguard ??) The PRS hardtail has a 12mm profile, about the same of a wilkinson wrap around. The intonable one is around 13mm tall. The lower lip of the studs add 1.5 to 2mm to that. In my first build (check link at the bottom) I got the right clearance with a 2deg neck angle. It's a PRS style, 22 frets, 25" scale and a wilkinson wraparound. But DO NOT take this figures as the absolute truth: measure, make drawings full scale, calculate and measure again to double check. Only then decide what is the angle you need !! Just seating the neck tall is not going to look right, and angling the pocket is not that difficult anyway. Search and read this forum, lot's of interesting discussions on the subject. And good luck with your project.

OK, since you're looking for some sincere feedback. Just take into account that most of the following criticisms may well be just a matter of taste. I am not crazy about the top carving. I prefer designs that "flow" better. Still I have to admit that it is cleanly executed and in the finished product it looks much better. I don't like the carving of the heel and the volute. They look too "squarish" to me. Maybe they're exactly what you were after, but they look like a rushed work out of lack of patience to me. Functionally speaking, the heel is quite small, but if the joint is solid it may not be an issue at all. The volute should be behind the nut to serve any purpose, but the headstock-neck transition seems to be thick enough anyway. The design of the PRS headstock is intended to allow for straight string pull from the nut to the tuners, doing it differently looks slightly "wrong" to me but is just a matter of personal choice. Even if you decide not to do a belly carve, the back of the body would look much more "finished" with at least a roundover around the perimeter. On the other hand, it was really fast, as anticipated. You have finished the guitar and I haven't even finished the neck of mine.

OK, I guess it's time for an update. Hope you've all had a great Christmas, I had time to work a little on my project during what it is here a week long holiday. The body: I routed the springs cavity for the tremolo. Unfortunately I run into the wiring channel. Not a big issue, really. As I can always close it with some veneer, aluminum tape, or even leave it open. I also routed the bulk of the control cavity, all the way through the mahogany body, up to the maple top. Will need deepening, but only after I have the top carved. The back. Another view. The neck: A lot more work went into the neck. Now the headplate and fretboard have been glued on, and the back of the neck has been rough-shaped. Still more wood to remove though. But had many problems along the way. So far I seem to have worked them all out with reasonable success... Here I test fitted the tuners and TRC to have an idea of what is going to look like. Another Another Another The multi-binding you see here is the result of a problem solving exercise: When I tapered the depth of the neck with the router I made a mistake that left me with 1mm less than what I wanted to have. I had to make up thickness, so I decided to do this maple/macassar veneer trick under the fingerboard. For cosmetic consistency it had to be done on the headplate too, and this is the result. I actually like how it looks, so I'll probably plan it from the beginning next time. The double side dots at the 5th fret are another mistake correction. To guide the drill bit consistently I made an aluminum piece that allows me to drill single and double holes. At the 5th fret I aligned it using the wrong mark. I decided it looked better doubled than off-centered...

After this discussion I thought it would be nice to make a whole BRW neck. So I went last friday to visit a timber supplier some 150km from where I live. I remembered from my last visit that he had "some" pieces of BRW. But what he's got there is all small recycled pieces. Maybe you can make a fingerboard or two, but nothing like a neck out of what he has. And terribly pricey too. I bought a piece good for a fingerboard in Santos Palisander (Pau Ferro), but couldn't find a piece good enough for a neck.... I guess I'll stick to IRW for the time being, I have another piece for a neck just like the one I'm making now...

I voted for Erik's singlecut. The original design and details like the control knob arrangement made it for me. Superior craftmanship, like Inisheer said. A close second was Daniel's acoustic. Maybe there's not much eye candy in an acoustic, but the beauty is in the purity of the design and the impeccable execution. After all, "real" guitars are filled with air. Gigi's fretboard, and neck in general are not my cup of tea. They don't quite belong into that V body. But I may be a little too traditionalist... Blackdog's build is not bad... Specially for a first build... But something I've seen before. Wait !!! It's sitting right next to me !!!

FWIW I bought the fretsaw with the depth stop from StewMac and it does the job. However I read somewhere here that it's not the best option around, it was even mentioned as the only piece of their fretting kit that was not that great. Do a search in the tools forum before buying....

Progress Report !!! I finally put a few hours into this build: I finished the binding on the headplate, shaped the headstock and depth-tapered the back of the neck. I also trimmed the heel a little bit and run a 1/2"round-over bit along the back edges to remove some of the excess wood. The headplate and fretboard are not yet glued on, but putting things together for the picture it looks like this: Another... Back of headstock... Heel... After the wood removal I've seen that flatness of the front face needs a little adjustment before glueing the fretboard on. Nothing dramatic, some sanding should solve it nicely. Then after the fretboard and faceplate have been glued in place, I'll start the actual neck carving. This time I went for a slimmer profile than the previous build (it feels quite substantial). This one will be along the lines of the PRS Wide/Fat. We have decided to stay with the feathers theme for the FB inlays, but I think we will go for a full set (not only 12th fret) this time. We'll see once we have the pearl pieces cut...