gpcustomguitars

Well, the name of the thread is Custom SG for me, so...I should finish it Tung oil worked very nice for the bass, so I would like to oil/wax the SG too. BUT - it needs pore filling. I could use waterbased filler, tinted, can't find pumice locally...I was cropping the pics and saw that I have a cup of coffee in quite a few of them - could I use ground coffee with oil to pore fill? It would give a nice contrast to the wood I think. Anyone tried this?

The strings are on!!! My fretless playing is...entertaining , but it feels and plays ok. I want to lower the slots in the nut a bit more, as I can feel the tension close to the nut. Sounds nice acoustically! Not on the pics is quite some work in drilling and dremeling access routes that needed some tweaking, but so far everything fits nice and snug. I hope to be as lucky with the bulky preamp. I've made the jack plate out of black plexy, same as the pickguard, and will try to make a tr plug/cover today. The side is a bit curved in that spot, about 1mm difference, so I've ground off the rough profile and refined it on sandpaper, then polished dry on some jeans. If I get some rubber, I'll cut it a gasket. My little bridge adjuster with piezzo-in-a-sandwich works with no problems and has nice adjustability, so that experiment officialy worked fine!!! 147 by Goran P, on Flickr 148 by Goran P, on Flickr 149 by Goran P, on Flickr 150 by Goran P, on Flickr 151 by Goran P, on Flickr 152 by Goran P, on Flickr 153 by Goran P, on Flickr 154 by Goran P, on Flickr 155 by Goran P, on Flickr 156 by Goran P, on Flickr 157 by Goran P, on Flickr

Started the assembly! Nut is glued on, tuners were (barely) fit, strap buttons. Starting to look like a bass! I'm waiting on the black screws for the pickguard and the jack plate, which is still just rough cut. As a note for the next build, I need to work further on my finishing and I need to sharpen the lines, there are some bumps visible now, not that bad, but there... 137 by Goran P, on Flickr 138 by Goran P, on Flickr 145 by Goran P, on Flickr

Thanks a lot, waiting for the updates I should definitely take some time to make the sled!

Very nice! Looking forward to more pics! Could you perhaps comment a bit more on you scraping process for the tr channel? Did you use a template, or just went by the feel, measured the steps? Very interested, as I'm avoiding the classical rods for the same reason. I have seen sled-like router jigs for it, but never took time to make one.

Well, I understood that you layered 3 x 12mm, so you could add another layer of 4mm or even 6mm and it should be in the standard range. It would help to know some of the measurements, ie neck thickness without the fretboard. You could shorten the screws or get shorter ones, stainless ones are nice and you can get them in non-guitar related places, but you would need to have enough body thickness left int the neck pocket. I'll assume that the neck without the fretboard is around 20mm, so you should have around 36-20=16mm. That should be enough, but additional 4mm on the back wouldn't hurt. You could lighten the body with some contouring if that's an issue.

Hi! First of all, great first project! I especially like that you have worked around the tools you don't have by using alternative material that works well with the tools that you do. Regarding your problem with the depth of the neck pocket, one way of uniformly deepening it without router would be to score the inside outline of the pocket with scalpel, exacto knife or a chisel, and to use the plywood to your advantage once again Use the chisel to peel off a layer of plywood or two, that gets you reasonably close to desired depth. Some riflers and a good flat double cut file should make the surface nice and flat, and/or get you to the exact depth. Hope this helps!

Made the brass parts and finished the nut, installed the inserts, seems OK! Dismantled it and added another coat of oil, wax is probably next. Still to do is the jack plate, it will be black, and perhaps some sort of plug for the TR access. I think cables will not be fun, but so far so good... I've decided against the adjustable nut, it should be OK as it is Hope you like it! 1-IMG_20171008_164709 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20171008_174412 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20171008_182413 by Goran P, on Flickr

Thanks Scott!!! I wanted to add some more mass and rigidity to the headstock, but it did take space - tuners barely fit in. Looks nice though, glad you like it! Finally got some time to route the bridge slot. I went real slow with this, 1-1.5 turns at a time. It took about 40 minutes but went fine. The router bit is tiny bit less than 3mm, 2.8 or 2.9 I think, so I'm polishing the brass down and should run a piece of plexi wraped with some 320 in the slot. I'll cut the brass in 2 strips when it's nicely rounded and thicknessed. It's a 20mm strip, and I'm planing bridge to be max 10mm and the filler piece 5 or less if needed. 1-IMG_20171006_192851 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20171006_204319 by Goran P, on Flickr

Great work and great attention to details, as usual! Watching carefully!

Some progress - I've been sanding and sanding (and occasionally scraping ) for a while now, drilled jack hole which I hope will work nicely with some cable movement with swiveling of the piezzo preamp. Other point of worry is the piezzo connecting hole, which might be too cramped in actual assembly. Will re-drill if needed. Big components for such a small space... I've also drilled ferule holes, 9mm, and they are 9.5, so I'll probably touch them up with my Dremel, which came back from the Dr. with a new rotor....could try to press fit, but I don't think the wood could compress that much. Started with tung oil, one coat to highlight all my sanding mistakes, and corrected (I hope) them all. Then another coat, and prepared the wax paste. Pure beeswax + thinner + roughly 15% paraffin for some added hardness. I need to route the bridge channel now, and make the brass parts. After that, I think another 2 coats of oil, and then wax. 1-IMG_20170928_184421 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20170929_201325 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20170929_200250 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170929_192413 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20170930_164916 by Goran P, on Flickr 6-IMG_20170930_164928 by Goran P, on Flickr 7-IMG_20171001_153223 by Goran P, on Flickr

Not much to see, but I've drilled the adjuster holes. My drill press has a bit of play in it, but it went ok. Also drilled the tuner holes and started sanding.................................................................................................... what to listen to while sanding? I can use orbital but there's also a lot of curvy details. The Dremel went to see the Doc, waiting for news... Still to drill - string-trough holes, got my ferrules a few days ago, and the socket, which will be somewhat tricky. Haven't decided what to use for bushings on top. 1-IMG_20170924_181347 by Goran P, on Flickr

Well, glue-in-the-truss-rod problem got solved real easy - relief!!! Searched for PVA solvents and found that alcohol or acetone will melt it, got a few drops of alcohol and my glue syringe to apply it with. it took about a minute to get the key into the truss rod nut, and it turned with no problem! Adjusted the neck and continued scraping and sanding. 1-IMG_20170924_114143 by Goran P, on Flickr Rounded/blended the end of body with the wings, router first, blending with file/scraper. Pilot holes for the bridge adjusters are drilled, can proceed with largest to smallest drill diameters. Dremel needs a doctor, have to see to it tomorrow... 2-IMG_20170924_142056 by Goran P, on Flickr

I've managed to glue the other wing on and decided to even out the differences in thickness with some light carving. It will be just a shallow dip, but should make the lines flow and perhaps make the bass a little more comfortable. I've somehow managed to get a small amount of glue into the hole on the truss rod, and saw it when I wanted to correct some bowing in the neck...should(n't) be a problem to pluck it out, but sure is a waste of time...I'll need to make some sort of tool to get in there.... 1-IMG_20170923_175000 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170923_175644 by Goran P, on Flickr

A few minutes in the shop late yesterday...routed the ledge, marked the angle and chiseled away most of the bulk, then refined some more with scrapers...I love scrapers! Last shot got both of my feet in it, so...showing one half of the wing 1-IMG_20170917_180550 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170917_180556 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20170917_193458 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20170917_194233 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20170917_195819 by Goran P, on Flickr 6-IMG_20170917_202405 by Goran P, on Flickr 7-IMG_20170917_204851 by Goran P, on Flickr

A busy week at work...managed some shop time yesterday. Started the tricky bit by drilling corner holes and routing from the side, followed with some corner holes, depth holes and routing from the top. I completely forgot that the hinge will cause the piezzo block to need more depth as it rotates, so had to route trough and add a layer. 1-IMG_20170910_111906 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170910_113128 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20170915_190032 by Goran P, on Flickr Ddidn't like the closeness of the screw holes to those corners, so 2 small bits were glued in. I'll add some more acrylic dust and CA. Lightly sanded with orbital to get matte look, I think it will work better with the wood. 4-IMG_20170916_175024 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20170916_180951 by Goran P, on Flickr Decided to route some additional rotating space before gluing, and to save the thickness, trimmed the offending point. Works fine now. 6-IMG_20170916_193229 by Goran P, on Flickr 7-IMG_20170916_205601 by Goran P, on Flickr ...and of course, as many clamps as there could have been squeezed for the gluing. 8-IMG_20170916_211143 by Goran P, on Flickr Truing the side is next, and then bridge channel.

Well, here's what I meant - took of a strip of material from the pickguard, I think it sits a bit better now. Used the cutout to laminate a nut blank, I've tried it before as nut material and it works fine. Some trimming, rough faceting, drilling is next. Then, put together a shooting board to join the other wing, still some sanding to do. I'll try to make the job smaller by routing from the side, it's flat enough for that. Not sure if this will work, but I can always make another wing. 1-IMG_20170908_213645 by Goran P, on Flickr 6-IMG_20170908_222123 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20170908_221112 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20170908_221536 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20170908_221801 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170908_220837 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20170909_165233 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20170909_204655 by Goran P, on Flickr 6-IMG_20170909_205137 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170909_163708 by Goran P, on Flickr

I'm just overthinking this - you're right, the nut should be just fine sound-wise. I think I might even have those inserts somewhere. Regarding the bridge, I would first drill 2 pilot holes from the front, all the way trough, in the intended places of the screws. Then start drilling from the back starting with the largest diameter to the smallest to set depth, and then route from the front like for the acoustic bridge saddle. The slot would be 3mm. Mock up time! Thanks!

2 versions of the pickguard, it is to hold and rise the piezzo unit, can't decide which one to use? Re-reading what I wrote, it does sound confusing I took off a strip 4mm wide from the side of pickguard facing the edge of the fretboard (long straight side) in the mockup, as I didn't like what I made last night.

Sorry for the rough mock-up, obsessing over this at work... Here are the versions 2 and 3- took off 4mm from the upper straight side, bringing it closer to the edge of the fretboard, and in the version 3, the bottom side. It could be parallel to the fretboard line or not. I'll probably go with the bigger one, or make both and then decide...opinions are more than welcome! verzije by Goran P, on Flickr

Started planning/making the riser/pickguard. This is v1, can't say that I like it, but it's a start. I'll probably make it smaller, but the main problem is that the unit is not completely vertically placed, it has a ~15mm portion going further toward the butt end. I plan to route both from the top and from the side. 1-IMG_20170907_193210 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170907_193745 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20170907_194956 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20170907_211431 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20170907_211523 by Goran P, on Flickr

Well, some dilemmas prior to cutting the bridge channel. I want to make the bridge from bronze or brass, and I would like to make it adjustable, so I'll try this: bridge detail by Goran P, on Flickr The screws are adjusted from the back, possibly with some plugs to keep them clean, and they are pushing on the filler piece, also brass or bronze. The piezzo is sandwiched between the filler piece and the actual bridge, It's10mm tall to stop any wobbling. I should make a test piece first, though. Also thinking of making the nut adjustable like this: NUT DETAIL by Goran P, on Flickr I'm having second thoughts on this - it would be nice to have total adjustability of action from both ends of the strings, but I don't know would this affect the tone too much - I think that a finely cut nut should be superior to any contraptions, as this nut would float on two 3 or 4mm allen screws. Then again, TOMs do just fine... Am I overthinking this?

Bass-side wing glued on! It seems to be very comfortable so far 1-IMG_20170904_203750 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170904_203947 by Goran P, on Flickr

Thanks! I just try to solve problems using what is available Did some more work in the meanwhile, finished routing, scraped flush, refined the treble side of the neck some more, sanded to 120, and sanded the fretboard to glossy, if it's visible in the pic. I need to decide what to do with the fretboard, to protect it from wear... any opinions please? Would flooding with CA followed by sanding/polishing be enough? Is epoxy overkill? Just oil? Fretboard is hard, dense cherry. After some more neck profile refining, I'll glue the bass side wing, and start preparing the routing of the treble side. I'll glue it on if I manage to squeeze in the piezzo unit, If not, well...still got the template 1-IMG_20170902_180736 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170902_180744 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20170902_180753 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20170902_183147 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20170902_191440 by Goran P, on Flickr

Radiused! The round ledge was started with scoring it's edge, and creating a shallow channel by scoring and then cutting with a V mini chisel. It stopped the bit from wandering when routing. I'm now routing off the rest of the height difference. Thought to order the top ferrules, but now I'm thinking of turning some from the same black acrylic stock as the fret markers. 1-IMG_20170902_122948 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20170902_132312 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20170902_132953 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20170902_133642 by Goran P, on Flickr