gpcustomguitars

Not much time yesterday, but I've managed to cut my nut blank. I still need to radius it, glue it in place and mark the slots.

1-IMG_20190528_190920 by Goran P, on Flickr

2-IMG_20190528_192647 by Goran P, on Flickr

Just a little update - I have planed the surface flush by hand (a big victory for me, getting somewhere with my learn-to-plane policy ) and used the resulting surface to route the back to uniform thickness of 19.5mm for now.

047-ZS047 by Goran P, on Flickr

048-ZS048 by Goran P, on Flickr

the headstock was also planed by hand and routed to 12mm thickness, as the plan is to add a 3mm headstock plate.

049-ZS049 by Goran P, on Flickr

050-ZS050 by Goran P, on Flickr

and had to see how it will look with the fretboard wood:

051-ZS051 by Goran P, on Flickr

052-ZS052 by Goran P, on Flickr

053-ZS053 by Goran P, on Flickr

we might have a definite winner in the headstock design department, so more pics to follow!

Thanks a lot I was preparing to make a quick jig for dowels like before, piece of wood drilled with a clamp and a chisel, when I saw my box with dies Pure luck

Here's where it's at now - I'll make a bone nut and drill for gibson-style tuners I got in the mail. Still waiting on the piezzo...

2-IMG_20190526_124327 by Goran P, on Flickr

3-IMG_20190526_124347 by Goran P, on Flickr

...a few headstock designs later, we are still not closer to deciding on a shape ....

Same here, that's why I often try to work on such projects, no pressure and a lot to learn on.

Finally had some time to cut the remaining  lams (day before) and glue them up (yesterday). They'll be in the clamps until this afternoon, cant wait to see how they will clean up. I'm planing to level the fretboard surface on the router jig shown earlier.

I've been working on some more headstock designs as he wants a few more options, so there'll be a update on that as well, and we are also talking about a few other inlay options as well.

045-ZS045 by Goran P, on Flickr

046-ZS046 by Goran P, on Flickr

Thanks mistermikev! I hope this will be a useful guitar, that I don't have to worry too much about getting scratched etc when we play on the porch For me, projects such as this are a good place to practice and develop skills without the fear connected with more valuable instruments. I'm doing repairs from time to time, and a hopeless project is sometimes really useful in the learning curve, even pro bono sometimes, just for the experience points

A slight mistake - One end of MOP was a bit thinner, and after sanding it looks a bit off

27-IMG_20190429_201009 by Goran P, on Flickr

Decided to build up the color around the heel to hide the damage/repairs

28-IMG_20190429_201218 by Goran P, on Flickr

29-IMG_20190429_201248 by Goran P, on Flickr

Then, I wanted to re-position the tuners and needed some 6mm plugs

30-IMG_20190430_171906 by Goran P, on Flickr

31-IMG_20190430_172039 by Goran P, on Flickr

Then pulled the frets and radiused originally flat fretboard to 12". The fretboard is a realy nice rosewood

32-IMG_20190430_190612 by Goran P, on Flickr

33-IMG_20190430_195355 by Goran P, on Flickr

Decided to put the back braces to their original positions

34-IMG_20190503_205931 by Goran P, on Flickr

and added a strip of mahogany veneer over the seam

35-IMG_20190504_121418 by Goran P, on Flickr

the braces glued

36-IMG_20190504_121427 by Goran P, on Flickr

and shaped

37-IMG_20190504_152143 by Goran P, on Flickr

next stop, fixing a missing chip on the top, found some matching grain

38-IMG_20190505_112638 by Goran P, on Flickr

39-IMG_20190505_113633 by Goran P, on Flickr

40-IMG_20190505_122124 by Goran P, on Flickr

Also in the pic, small bit of back binding reused, I'll try to fix the details later on

41-IMG_20190505_122258 by Goran P, on Flickr

and after some skipped photos (sorry)

03-IMG_20190517_184034 by Goran P, on Flickr

04-IMG_20190517_184047 by Goran P, on Flickr

color coats were brushed on thinly in about 8-10 coats, the burst is (badly) brushed on, and 3 clear coats were sprayed. Not in the pics, I also tried to even out the sides, we'll see how well that worked in the final photos. The headstock is sprayed flat black and clear coated, Ive built up the missing thickness of MOP with some coats of CA, which worked reasonably well, pics also to follow.

Frets are ready to go next, and Gibson-style tuners and a piezzo are on their way.

Original tuners, slightly out of their proper place

14-IMG_20190429_123843 by Goran P, on Flickr

Decided to make some predictable modifications:

16-IMG_20190429_124807 by Goran P, on Flickr

17-IMG_20190429_131127 by Goran P, on Flickr

18-IMG_20190429_133037 by Goran P, on Flickr

19-IMG_20190429_141723 by Goran P, on Flickr

Had to sand the neck clean and glue the heel, no pics but I drilled 2 small holes and injected some glue in the seam and clamped. Using some waterbased lacquer and Stew-Mac Tobacco Brown started painting on some flame on othervise really plain maple:

20-IMG_20190429_150636 by Goran P, on Flickr

Decided to get rid of the zero fret:

21-IMG_20190429_151122 by Goran P, on Flickr

22-IMG_20190429_151235 by Goran P, on Flickr

23-IMG_20190429_183557 by Goran P, on Flickr

24-IMG_20190429_184443 by Goran P, on Flickr

while that was drying,

25-IMG_20190429_190141 by Goran P, on Flickr

26-IMG_20190429_193104 by Goran P, on Flickr

Hi! Another project that I was doing for me on and off for a while now, for my acoustic duo with my next door neighbor I bought this guitar on a flea market some years back, meaning to restore it as my dad had a Melodia once upon a time.

First I removed the completely cracked back and some failed gluing attempts and found some cracking on the sides:

12-IMG_20181007_140419 by Goran P, on Flickr

The whole thing is plywood, but seems to have been a reasonably nice instrument - I found some attempts to repair some of the cracked braces etc...some binding was cracked and missing...

I decided to use some really nice plywood I have left from another project for the back, as the whole guitar is already plywood:

06-IMG_20181006_145505 by Goran P, on Flickr

and salvaged a few braces I could

07-IMG_20181006_145515 by Goran P, on Flickr

This i what was left:

01-IMG_20190422_184734 by Goran P, on Flickr

Decided that I have to thin the sides down a bit, because of some cracks I couldn't patch reliably:

02-IMG_20190422_185527 by Goran P, on Flickr

03-IMG_20190422_192214 by Goran P, on Flickr

Tailblock was really small, so I added some stock there, no additional contact with the top. Reused some of the original linings, there was no bridge plate so I made one.

03-IMG_20190422_192214 by Goran P, on Flickr

05-IMG_20190423_204141 by Goran P, on Flickr

Previous attempt of repair was done with some rock hard glue , so I had to build up some of the cracked braces, rather that shave them down and replace them.

07-IMG_20190424_223651 by Goran P, on Flickr

Also, had to make some new lining and braces -

08-IMG_20190426_174156 by Goran P, on Flickr

10-IMG_20190426_175002 by Goran P, on Flickr

I even had to build up 2 braces, as I couldn't remove them

11-IMG_20190426_184524 by Goran P, on Flickr

12-IMG_20190426_190842 by Goran P, on Flickr

and glued the 2 back halves together - yes, the back was completely flat originally, so I'm repeating that

13-IMG_20190427_211052 by Goran P, on Flickr

Finally had some real time to work on this yesterday, I'm also including a few photos from the previous session.

First, used some of the fretboard offcuts to make the electronics cover

032-ZS032 by Goran P, on Flickr

and roughly cut a suitable piece for the fretboard. It had one small knot which I'd like to use as a feature if I can, but first, some CA to stabilize it.

033-ZS033 by Goran P, on Flickr

and started the routing jig for all the front cavities:

034-ZS034 by Goran P, on Flickr

Printed out life sized neck profile

035-ZS035 by Goran P, on Flickr

and picked one of my 1" maple blanks to cut some lams.

036-ZS036 by Goran P, on Flickr

had to use a jigsaw, as my bandsaw is not available at the moment, some burning of the edges, but everything is oversized for now

037-ZS037 by Goran P, on Flickr

038-ZS038 by Goran P, on Flickr

humbucker routes I've managed to cut almost perfect just by electric coping saw, almost no need to touch up with a file.

039-ZS039 by Goran P, on Flickr

My flattening jig, works really fine

040-ZS040 by Goran P, on Flickr

and first 3 lams, maple/cherry/maple add up to 50mm out of 58 needed, so I'll add 2 lams of canadian walnut used for the fretboard. Looks nice I think. I'm using the piece with some features I wouldn't be able to work around for a fretboard, but can avoid when cutting a neck profile.

041-ZS041 by Goran P, on Flickr

042-ZS042 by Goran P, on Flickr

Neck pocket part of the jig I've routed flush:

043-ZS043 by Goran P, on Flickr

...and realized that I need a bit more material between neck pocket and hum cavity, it would probably be prone to breaking. I'll make the fretboard hang over the neck for about 5mm.

044-ZS044 by Goran P, on Flickr

That's it for now, I should cut the 2 remaining neck lams in the next session and glue the neck up. The truss rods are in the mail, I've also ordered some fretwire.

BR,

Goran

Thank you all for the kind words! I was trying to come up with a suitable thread name, and I think this was fitting Usually guitars get modified to be headless, not as much the other way around.

Regarding my wood choices, I happen to have a huge batch of cherry, along with some other stuff, near to 5m3 of seasoned wood. It would seem wrong not to use it, so I try to overcome any inherent flaws in the material, which is also rewarding as a learning experience. Also, any irregularities in the wood do give it some character, which I prefer to actual figured wood. Most of my stash are trees that were cut down and rough sawn when I was present, and I've air dried it all in my shed.

Andy, very nice work as usual! Yes, that does look pretty close, does it have a bit of purple hue in person?

I was not able to do any work for a few days now, but I'm preparing one jig to route them all (neck pocket, both hums) which could get done during the weekend. With shaping the back of the body  and the electronics cavity routed after that I should be done with shaping the cherry body and start sanding.

This is my fretboard stock, canadian walnut, dried as a log in my shed for a few years now, freshly cut:

06-ZS 006 by Goran P, on Flickr

07-ZS007 by Goran P, on Flickr

the pics are not doing it justice, it's more purple-brown in person

012-ZS012 by Goran P, on Flickr

there are knots and irregularities there, but I'm sure I'll manage to pick a fretboard and electronic cover.

Just a mistake in my drawing - it will be there on the actual bodies. I'm planing to Inlay either a 1mm aluminum strip there, or a 2mm cream/white abs strip, mirroring the radius of the fretboard inlay.

and then sanded on the oscillating sander...at this point I decided to concentrate on the cherry body first.

019-ZS019 by Goran P, on Flickr

020-ZS020 by Goran P, on Flickr

021-ZS021 by Goran P, on Flickr

and the edges were rounded

022-ZS022 by Goran P, on Flickr

Then, I drew the edges of the slope

023-ZS023 by Goran P, on Flickr

and the arm rest area

024-ZS024 by Goran P, on Flickr

and proceeded to cut them with firstly marking them more visibly with some marking tape.

025-ZS025 by Goran P, on Flickr

Then some chiseling to bring it down to 15mm from the bottom

026-ZS026 by Goran P, on Flickr

027-ZS027 by Goran P, on Flickr

soaked the heartwood with some CA

028-ZS028 by Goran P, on Flickr

and started sanding

029-ZS029 by Goran P, on Flickr

pencil line shows where I intend to place the jack

030-ZS030 by Goran P, on Flickr

and planed the armrest.

031-ZS031 by Goran P, on Flickr

Now it's up to date, more pics to follow.

One piece walnut root body blank:

013-ZS013 by Goran P, on Flickr

One piece cherry blank - it has a slight bit of center of the log, radial, decided to try to preserve it as a feature:

03-ZS001 by Goran P, on Flickr

Starting the routes:

014-ZS014 by Goran P, on Flickr

015-ZS015 by Goran P, on Flickr

016-ZS016 by Goran P, on Flickr

017-ZS017 by Goran P, on Flickr

018-ZS018 by Goran P, on Flickr

Last 10mm of thickness were cut roughly on a model saw, and then routed to spec form the other side.

I was recently asked to make 2 identical bodies, template being a headless shape, to be used with common necks based on Ibanez specs. The bodies would be cherry and walnut. I wanted to tweak the shapes he wants a little, and we settled on this:

001-ZS0000 by Goran P, on Flickr

Colors will be different, but it's a starting point.

Made a template for the bodies:

01-ZS000 by Goran P, on Flickr

04-ZS003 by Goran P, on Flickr

05-ZS004 by Goran P, on Flickr

08-ZS008 by Goran P, on Flickr

09-ZS009 by Goran P, on Flickr

010-ZS010 by Goran P, on Flickr

011-ZS011 by Goran P, on Flickr

Hi!

Sorry for the late reply, I've been quite busy for a few days! I'm using a local brand of alu tape with conductive adhesive. It's relatively cheap and works nicely, this bass is completely quiet I've been using it for a few years now.

Thanks!

I was also hoping to use both pieces I designed, but the client is trying it first without the top one, and we might add it sometime in the future.

Found a few more pics of the progress:

1-IMG-bbb853f1f4ff39ba703b130191681bba-V by Goran P, on Flickr

this is how the headstock came out - I didn't want to do the whole restoration, as we agreed that we want all the accumulated dings and scratches to show, but as a something-in-between, it isn't too bad I think.

IMG-f6fd2d08a90fac4377f9e4fb20f2082e-V by Goran P, on Flickr

i tested the sizes first with printouts, before committing to laser, more times than I'm willing to admit

IMG-ea2a629f04348c33e5aaa9c78822c566-V by Goran P, on Flickr

shielding, and the separately removable electronics plate, my usual beef with strat-type pickguards. I actually had 2 made, for different versions of circuit

IMG-ae419f2554ea3a59975643623d5fad9f-V by Goran P, on Flickr

IMG-bc70d80cc38ca3eacba6d70ea4b9cc18-V by Goran P, on Flickr

IMG-bfcd59a3d90eca4667770946b7576b31-V by Goran P, on Flickr

pickups were cleaned, some light rust removal form pole pieces with steel wool, and polished with some medium compound

IMG-44070506b1ce042e4e0ff5100ef8f4ed-V by Goran P, on Flickr

trying to free the seized height screws

IMG-a7b432fe3c69aa6a3999e9a336fb7ca0-V by Goran P, on Flickr

As usual, there's a bit of a backstory to this build - I was commissioned to build a bass a few years back, the price was friendly, and as a sort of thank-you, I got a dismantled P bass in a poor state. I just can't resist those, my friend knows me (too) well

Well, a visitor in the shop spotted it in the all 4 corners in pieces and said his bass player would probably be interested in buying it. So, I got the initial spark to finally do something with it.

Dirty, dusty, marker lines all over...

01-IMG_20190119_170520 by Goran P, on Flickr

Some disassembly, nail polish remover (non-acetone one)

07-IMG_20190318_212835 by Goran P, on Flickr

Polished

08-IMG_20190322_202726 by Goran P, on Flickr

Neck was not in that a bad shape, frets filed down to get a fretless, but tangs still in fretboard, which was exactly why he wanted to buy it...

06-IMG_20190120_180447 by Goran P, on Flickr

05-IMG_20190120_180438 by Goran P, on Flickr

04-IMG_20190120_180433 by Goran P, on Flickr

but

02-IMG_20190119_170651 by Goran P, on Flickr

also from the other side.....some people have really weird ideas...so after some careful watering and ironing to bring the fibers at least a bit back up, had to fill and try to match the color to the rest of the surface.

13-IMG_20190323_134528 by Goran P, on Flickr

12-IMG_20190323_134523 by Goran P, on Flickr

polished all the hardware, not hiding the mileage, but it should at least be clean

16-IMG_20190324_142027 by Goran P, on Flickr

14-IMG_20190324_141725 by Goran P, on Flickr

btw these felt polishers are great for making spare felt rings for strap buttons, I use old belts also

15-IMG_20190324_141807 by Goran P, on Flickr

17-IMG_20190324_142305 by Goran P, on Flickr

I re-lacquered the neck and polished it next. All the hardware, pickups and screws went trough detailed polishing/cleaning/oiling where applicable, shielded all the cavities with tape, and some custom lasering later:

18-IMG_20190404_173816 by Goran P, on Flickr

but for now, we settled on this:

19-IMG_20190405_185609 by Goran P, on Flickr

20-IMG-c58e0ae4ff9ebcbf48fef7e59345bc01-V by Goran P, on Flickr

Not that great pic, and also no pics of how the  headstock came out, but will add those when it comes in for a final setup.

Pretty much stock electronics, had to replace all, change is that I've added 2 piezzos, one under the pickup, and the other under the brigde, in parallel, and with their own volume pot. I thought it might add some vibe to the fretless sound.

Soundclip to follow I hope.

Well, my fretboard is 6mm at the top of the curve, so the neck itself is 16mm. Truss rod I used is 9mm deep, so I'm good for at least 2mm less thickness, and would still have 5mm left to truss rod. I'll shave it down to 20 then. Thanks!!!

I did manage to glue the bass wing last night. Made 2 softwood cauls and drilled 2 shallow pin holes d10mm, to index with 2 d10*10mm dowels. I used 2 clamps, and it all went rather well. Two small clamps were holding a mdf cutoff that made sure it was all nice and flat.

1-IMG_20190320_223106 by Goran P, on Flickr

This morning, everything se(a)ms OK Took an opportunity to make a pic in the early morning light, everything is in bloom already, first day of the spring!

2-IMG_20190321_081037 by Goran P, on Flickr

3-IMG_20190321_081044 by Goran P, on Flickr

4-IMG_20190321_081107 by Goran P, on Flickr

5-IMG_20190321_081119 by Goran P, on Flickr

So, I foresee 15 seconds of routing the remaining roundover, and 1000000hours of sanding in my near future............

I'm toying with the idea to dye it light yellow, and do a classic 3-tone burst. Would the small space allow it to be visible? 3-ply white p-guard would be used then.

Thanks! I've managed to install the side dots yesterday, no pic tho. I've run out of side dot material some time ago and made a habit of making them out of 2mm abs strips I use for binding. I just use leather punches for different sizes. Could have glued the wing on yesterday, but sort of run out of steam, probably better to stop...might do it later this evening.

One major thing yet to do is sand down the thickness of the neck, any favorite thicknesses for a fast neck anyone?

So, the current to-do's are: glue the guitar together, level the body front and back, level/recrown/polish the frets.

Little bit more pics this time. Mainly about shaping the neck, as I don't want to glue the second wing on until most of the work is done.

I've thinned two cca 2mm layers of wood to be easily pliable, and glued them in place. Ive made the oversized, mainly to be easier to carve, but also to prevent any mishaps due to slipping during gluing.

01-IMG_20190315_194242 by Goran P, on Flickr

02-IMG_20190315_194248 by Goran P, on Flickr

Then removed some stock with chisel

03-IMG_20190316_103306 by Goran P, on Flickr

some rasping and a dowel wrapped in sandpaper

04-IMG_20190316_144407 by Goran P, on Flickr

and then carved the heel some more, which led to full neck carve I wasn't planning yet

05-IMG_20190316_161437 by Goran P, on Flickr

Some refining with the scraper. I've made a habit of using the 9.5' radius block for flattening the carved neck. it's ~20cm long and easy to use and leaves a really nice finish.

06-IMG_20190316_161443 by Goran P, on Flickr

Some more fiddling with the lams:

07-IMG_20190316_161449 by Goran P, on Flickr

08-IMG_20190316_165959 by Goran P, on Flickr

Almost done. The neck is still on the thick side, 22mm the whole length, I'll sand it down with the radius block some more, but feels good already.

09-IMG_20190316_170008 by Goran P, on Flickr

This is mostly for looks, but it does add a bit of strength I think.

10-IMG_20190316_171804 by Goran P, on Flickr

March is still tossing the daily temperatures all over the place, but the spring is definitely here! I think I'm set on the small and compact compressor I need to buy, probably to be used/tested on this unsuspecting guitar

So, managed to finish the freting in few sessions, used 1 whole and a few pieces from the second 24-fret set. This is the first time i did the undercut tangs on a unbound fretboard, I suspect this is what I should've been doing the whole time... Now I'm getting ready to glue the bass wing on, but due to limited operating space once that is on, I started carving the heel.

Last but not least, a want to add accents like on the headstock using some acero left from the headstock and some cherry, still to be picked from the scrap bin.

3-IMG_20190313_173711 by Goran P, on Flickr

1-IMG_20190313_173637 by Goran P, on Flickr

2-IMG_20190313_173644 by Goran P, on Flickr

Tolex just takes some patience, but it's really rewarding.

Just a quick update, I was cutting some materials for a house project, and managed to squeeze a few mins to glue the treble side wing to the neck lam.

1-IMG_20190305_223521 by Goran P, on Flickr

2-IMG_20190305_223558 by Goran P, on Flickr