gpcustomguitars

OK, sorry and thanks, I haven't changed anything for at least a year i think, my bad...

Hi, I've made some 12-13 so far, some of them were posted here, an LP most recently. I've started selling last year, and I'm still doing the friend circuit orders, so no problems so far.

Well, this is kinda long story, but here goes: I've got a friend who's got a friend living close by to both of us, and he was building a house. To make some space for the house, he had to cut down 6 old walnuts, approx 40cm ( ~16') diameters, 2m+ long logs, and didn't know what to do with them. My friend called, we went for a visit and I bought a whole log, shipping & cutting at the mill included for 80 EUR. On the spot, I saw that he had to dig out the stumps to be able to dig in the fundament, and so I asked abut the price of the stumps, and he was like, well you bought the good wood , so if you want, take these for free - I'll even drive them wherever you want them I took 3. I got a guy with a chainsaw, and we made some blanks out of those stumps, and it's been drying for quite a while now. Anyhow, recently I took one out to thickness it and see what texture is hidden under the mess that the chainsaw made, and when planed flat, I just went and hand drawn a bass shape on it, liked it and decided to cut it out. I liked that even better, so I decided to sand it, and realised then that I'm actually making a bass Oh well, just a quick one so it's gonna be a fretless. 32' bolt on probably some exotic that looks & behaves like very yellow maple for neck a piece of veneer from the body blank for the matching headstock Well, that's it for now, some more pics soon! Time spent so far - about 3 hours total. Comments please! http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2904 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2905 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2941 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2942 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2943 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2944 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2945 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=2946

You can download my plans for a Firebird over at mimf, under templates. You will have to modify them some tho, cause they're for the set-neck. Feel free to PM me for details if needed. Also, you can see the making of an actual gitar by those plans by clicking on my sigs. BR Goran

I've had a Sparky for 5 years now, Made in Korea, and wasn't tempted to upgrade as yet. It came with collets for both 6 and 8 mm. 450W, believe it or not, and I also use it as in a jig for thicknessing, planing etc... Never felt underpowered. Had it fixed 2 times - rotor was re-wound due to my inexpirience (reads: stupidity) cause I happily routed for an hour, and therefore burned the rotor, and re-adjusting the main bearing, due to my use of a very wide bit (42mm). I think that power is never the issue, I would check the whole carriage for wobbleness, cause that's the main problem with most of the cheapos. Push it up and down a few times, check for easyness of return, locking in position, etc...if that's OK, you should be fine. That said, I still would consider buying something in the 80-120$ range. BR Goran

Thanks! Plain nitro, with StewMac's Amber yellow & tobbaco brown. A total of some 6-7 coats... I used a greek brand as primer, CosmoLac I think, not available anymore, and Duga ('dooga', means rainbow, local brand), and will go on with Duga's stuff probably, high quality, very cheap...I have an SG almost ready for spraying... Cheers Goran

Thanks guys! I'll try to get some soundclips soon, she'll probably be heard all over the stuff we'll be recording this winter

...and the guitar! http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1969 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1970 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1971 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1972 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1973 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1974 It's missing the e string, I thought that I had a full set, but someone (probably me ) took it, could be my brother tho...anyway... Still have to wire it, but sounds nice and resonant acoustically. The whole process is under the second line of my sig (gpcustomguitars2). Cheers Goran

Thanks guys! I'm using a standard tune-o-matic & stop bar combo, looks nice to me. BTW, the guitar is done, it still needs some setup and wiring, but othervise, just fine! Acousticly, very lively guitar!!! Some pics to follow later today!

Thanks Drak, that means a lot! Here's another pic, installed tuners yesterday, I love the way it looks http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1871 Hopefully, I'll do some more work tonight, if I don't fall asleep...

Yep, that's it! Thanks!

Well, cilyndrical things that are jumping up and down in the motor, 6 of them or so, moved by the explosions of fuel and air? I tried to use a dictionary, but the actual technical expressions in my own language don't sound familiar at all Klip is a everyday term for it. I just never had much interest in cars...the other guitar player in the band used to work with all kinds of motors, so it was his idea. I could be persuaded in fully restoring an old chopper for myself, tho

That makes us "The Connecting Rods"? Cool! You know, when I first heard the name of the band (when they asked me to join) I assumed it's The Corn Cobs, cause Klip means that too , but it was just my work-deformed mind (I work on a plantation, peers, peaches, apples...and some corn, soya etc...). Glad you like the guitar!

Thanks! We are called Klipovi, which means those rods in motors, my english is not that advanced in that area

I've test fitted the parts, looks nice...the pic is a bit dark, sorry. http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1777 Resonator is on the back burner, but I hope to start it again some time soon...glad you like it!

Thanks guys! Yes, we play some Doors, but usually we cover 60's and 70's stuff, like Stones, Allmans, Clapton, Cream, Free, along with alot of blues standards...we do Doors two or three times a year...should be a lot of fun, it's summer, and we have an open sky stage. Decal?...No decals there I bought some shell on my last year's vacation and did whole inlay with that, looks quite nice. Why? Well, I started out building a Standard, but it kinda evolved into this - I always liked the way those diamonds look, and I like doing binding a LOT So I just went ahead and did the headstock and the back of the body too... I even considered making a wooden pickguard dyed black, bound and lacquered, but stopped cause I would probably have it off in no time I might do that for the back covers... The finishing is almost done, just need some more clear and buffing, but I won't press it for the gig. If it happens, cool! The colour is not gold, but id does look like it on one pic, but I'm a bad photographer... I wanted something like a teaburst... I'm not a big fan of figured woods, being a kind of person that wears the same pair of jeans until they dissintegrate, so a flashy guitar makes me nervous I didn't even dye the wood directly... You can find the whole photo story under http://community.webshots.com/user/gpcustomguitars2, along with some other photos, and comments...

Just need some feedback! Here are a few pics of my LP, I was aiming at very-faded-burst look, and I'm wondering how close I got? Opinions please! Will do another clear coat or two after some scraping, sanding, etc... Finish is nitro, 2 clear coats on bare wood with sanding in between, Stew Mac tinted amber yellow stain over that, 2 coats sprayed, sanded, tobacco brown stain sprayed, as needed, one coats and some touchups. It basically looks as it will be, and I'm quite satisfied. Pups are just pushed in a bit, cause cavities lost some width because of lacquer...will deal with that in assembly. Would like to finish it by friday, cause I got a gig and it would be nice to use it as a spare We're doing a Doors Tribute... http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1274 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1275 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1276 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1277 http://www.spimagehost.com/pic.php?u=226d5FMj&i=1278 BR Goran

Just great!!! Wonderfull job with the burst, I like it very much, congratulations!!! Hope to hear a few sound clips! Cheers Goran

Thanks Setch! Glad you like it! Your LP tutorial was a major inspiration, and helped in many ways. I still have to finish shapeing the neck, glue it in, drill the jack cavity and route for back covers, then it's sanding. I'll use filler for back and sides. Still wondering how far to go with sanding paper - 600, 800? I was thinking about sealing the wood with nitro, then some very weak coloured coats (yellow, perhaps a drop of red or brown, will have to test on scrap), applying a few more coats around, rather than adding darker stain - I hope it will give that faded look. Any ideas? Then clear, etc... It will be sprayed, I haven't tested my HVLP yet. Cheers, Goran

Some more work done: frets are in, leveled, and neck was tapered and somewhat shaped. I didn't glue it in as yet, just wanted to see what it looks like. BTW pic is not very good because I took it with my mobile phone... BR Goran

Nouseforone: Yes, it will have the standard hardware. Neck pocket is angled to be paralel (sp?) with the neck angle planed onto the top. If this sounds clumsy, just click on the second line of my sig and see all the photos. Basically, you plane the neck angle on the top and then use that as a base for your router. You need to draw the side wiev. Maiden: thanks! Yes, it still needs a lot of sanding, but not too much, as I'm going with the flatter top, like on the old 'bursts. More pics soon, I was hoping to do the frets today, even made a caul for pressing them in (didn't try that before), but my day job got in way ...

Fretting is next, hopefully tomorrow. BR Goran

A few more:

Bill - thats just it - I didn't taper the neck blank as yet, because that gives me 2 parallel surfaces to use with my vise, and also prevents marring. When I do everything else, I'll cut off the excess and then shape the neck. Curtis - click on the second line of my sig and you'll find a lot more photos of the same guitar. I carve the bulk of the top using a router held in a home made holder (also on those pics), by sliding the material under it. By placing strips of MDF of right thickness under the body, I can route 3 main planes of the top, then route a 1' wide "road" almost all the way around the body (BUT NOT ALL THE WAY, CHECK PICS), leaving desired thicknes of the maple top. If you want, you can route some more steps on the top, but I take it by hand from there, with 10mm Ibex and scrapers - on this top there was no sanding so far. I also added a slight recurve. You can check your carving by using shadow and some cardboard templates... BR Goran

...and one more! The neck is not glued at this point, that was just test-fitting. And yes, I WILL clean up the shop...eventually BTW, all binding is hand cut strips of ABS, sourced from places that pre-cut MDF and such, and also do the binding of those pieces - I got a few meters of it for just a few $, and it's 2mm thick and 18mm wide. Body strips are acetoned, and fboard and headstock are CA'd. BR Goran