DougK

Is the image on your computer? You could try a local sign shop, have them plot it and make a "decal" of sorts out of it for you.

Could you build a body out of cherry? I have piles of the stuff laying around... hell its why my bassman is cherry

Thanks Rick Shaker is a mainstay of our business, we've been doing alot of that over the last couple years. Actually my parents kitchen is shaker cherry If you want to see more pictures of my kitchen the entire remodel process can be seen here http://www.pbase.com/dkauer744/kitchen_remodel (I did everything but the granite and the sheetrock)

Well today has been an up and down day. I had to pull the bridge bushings because apparently I screwed up just enough that I don't quite have enough adjustment to get the intonation set. So I made myself a little bushing puller using some scraps around the shop. puller blurry picture of the puller 'assembled' That worked great On to project 2: Made a couple truss rod covers. They might be a bit thick though, so I'll have to sand it down a hair potentially. Laminated a piece of maple and walnut to each other then ran em on the cnc. Came up with a couple things. So my thoughts is to fill the maple area even with the walnut with some sort of clear epoxy, kind of like how they fill holes in granite. Who knows maybe that'll work, maybe not. Cut the outer edge with a 45* v-bit. I think it came out pretty slick. Couple other pics: pic1 pic2 "dk" are my initials incase anyone was wondering, made it look a bit more musical. So thats the good part. The bad part. So I made plugs to fit the existing bridge bushings which fit and they fit great. The problem is I grabbed the wrong bottle of glue (apparently outdoor titebond or something) and it turned green around the plug. Grrr, wonderful. The maple plugs themselves didn't match up that well either. So this leaves me two options. Either way Im thinking I need to make a "large inlay" to hide this. I think Im going to make a bowtie of sorts that looks like a giant dovetail. There are two thoughts on this, I can either use a piece of maple I have (its actually the extra 2' of material left from this top). I can get a piece out of this that should look pretty close and once everything is dyed blue it might disappear mostly. Or I do it out of walnut making it look like the back has a giant dovetail right through the top. Could be kind of cool, but once the guitar is dyed blue it might not be visible and just look odd. or, or, I do another top color like a like red or orange (possibly sunburst)... But atleast I can try to picture the end of the tunnel here Photoshop of what the end result should sorta look like ('cept the "last" knob should actually be a cream toggle)"

I was just wondering that the other day. Was about to ask actually...

Well since your going with that one I think I'll steal your top left original design awesome idea... crazychester is into RC planes, could make a neat project crossover.

True but think about where the PRS is the thickest aka up at the bridge. Once you put the taper on it (if your being true to a PRS) its 1/2" tops near the horns anyways. Since you have the long smooth taper down to 1/4" on the "arm" side of it, that will probably be almost impossible to really see unless you look at a real PRS next to it in cross section. just my 2cents

thank you my cnc brotha ;-)

Steve and I started working the nut today. Got the ends filed and started on the strings. I have some adjustments at the body end to do that I probably wont get to till next weekend (going out of town this weekend) but over all, its coming along. pic2 I also rerouted the rear cavity to fit an easier shape. I made a quicky cover on the scroll saw, when I get a chance I'll use a better matching piece on the CNC to get a nice tight fitting cover. (sorry for the bad picture, the flash is acting up)

Heres the guitar after I reset the neck pocket. full shot side shot This post is puppy approved

That is really really slick. Very cool!

sometimes I'm not sure how much skill I have... I rerouted the neck the neck pocket. The bottom of the fret board is about a 1/64th off the body of the guitar now. Looks better, but now Im worried I might be a bit to low. Oh well, if I am I can always glue in a piece of walnut and try again. Looks WAY better now though edit :// Looking at it more, I only need to come up a hair (literally) I could probably just stick a small shim under the neck and you'd never see it. Well NOW I'll wait till I get the nut setup to decide.

thanks guys Down here at the shop to finally fix this damn neck pocket but someone has my plunge (top bearing) router bit!! oh well, it was close to time for a new one anyways lol

After a crazy week at work, we all took friday off. Couple of the guys went fishing, I called "Crazy Chester" to come over and help me get the neck attached. I drilled the back for the ferrules and then all the way through for the screws. Steve and I then aligned the neck by stringing it up more or less. Clamped it together then drilled into the neck. Since the Warmoth neck came predrilled, I made dowels to plug those and set it with 2 part epoxy. The holes we drilled sat in from those so it wasn't really an issue but we did it just to be safe. length shot close up of neck pocket angled shot Did a few other things today, but this was the battle of the day. I did get to finally hang the guitar from its strap... the balance is very good. Maybe a bit heavy towards the neck but I think by the time the electronics go in it should be just about perfectly balanced (its so damn close to perfect already). Im excited I think sunday Steve and I might start on the nut and getting it "strumable". On a side note, the planet wave self trimming tuners, once we figured out how they work are really really slick. Just dont put the strings in the wrong end, you cut em off the wrong end LOL. - been looking at it for a while now... I still think I might need to route that neck pocket deeper some. I'll wait till we finish the nut on the neck before I make a final decision.

Blues and Classic Rock are about the only music I've ever been interested in and all I've ever really played. I hate to say it but most of my guitars are plain off the shelf Strats. My main squeeze is an original 74 strat. My backup is my 50's reissue surf green strat I put a set of lace sensors in. I've got an epi LP I use for Allman Brothers sounding stuff... but I mostly strats. Not very original Now... when I finish the guitar Im working on, maybe that'll move up in the rotation.

Absolutely, love every single part of that guitar!

random thought: once your ready to do the final sanding on the maple portion, get it wet and raise the grain. Might help bring that dust to the surface.

fry, just busting chops. Course that board was 8" x 96" so I have a few good sized chunks left. We go through lumber price fluctations all day at work. As far as price hiking for "instrument grade" I'll have to keep my mouth shut as I've never really spent alot of time shopping for super grade materials.

I have to agree. Sorta... I think just to rough out an idea for shape and stuff then hard to beat a bandsaw. But the consistency of my CNC and the actual machine time (not programming) is hard to beat.

I dont know... the piece I used for the cap on my guitar only cost me about 10 bucks

have you tried using compressed air to "clean" the dust out of the maple? could be all it is

My thoughts too... I think my next project is going to be white of some sort

that looks freaking awesome

The 74? Thats technically my dad's, I have to ... "borrow" it from time to time. Absolutely my favorite playing guitar.

better than I could ever do by hand... I couldn't cut a circle by hand after almost 10 years of being spoiled by the CNC I'm already brain storming for when we do yours eheheh