andyt

just fretted

got to make some sawdust & fill the ends

nearly finished shaping

and a quick pic of the fretpress

Thanks wez, I was sweating this first neck & knew from here the sensible way was to rasp out the head & heal then carve the gap. I did the opposite, no rasp so just started shaving down to a line, making sure i didn't go into the truss rod. Did a couple of hours this morning, heal fitted, neck is a very flat back D shaped, not quite a wizard but only a couple of mm off. I must admit shaping necks are one of the most fun things - just shaving some bits off - checking the feel - shaving some more etc - very satisfying. Whats left? Drilled the tuner holes & had a bit of tear out despite backing with wood, time to chuck out that vintage 10mm bit. Tomorrow plenty more sanding & maybe some frets

Neck is starting to take shape

neck pocket test

which reminds me I need to get some neck screws

Drill broke the other day so got an ebay special - drill, jigsaw and sander for £15.99.

Jigsaw the rough shape, then onto the advanced sanding station

Then onto the spokeshave to start roughing it out

The body was cut with my crappy 20 quid B&Q router - lay the template on make a cut, take the template off then use a bearing bit to cut down as far as it would go and the outside wood would support the router, but mainly because I have no bandsaw & didn't want to cut it out with a handsaw.

Horay, i was right.

How long did it take to do it with the router? I'm sure you had to go pretty slow to avoid damaging your bit. I'm asking because there was a thread about a week ago that asked if you could rout out an entire body using just a router.

not long, half hour? about 5mm at a time, made it about 3/4 through then flipped it over & used a bit with a bearing at the bottom

glued up overnight

The body was cut with my crappy 20 quid B&Q router - lay the template on make a cut, take the template off then use a bearing bit to cut down as far as it would go and the outside wood would support the router, but mainly because I have no bandsaw & didn't want to cut it out with a handsaw.

Started on the neck

Fantastic! I also looove those PAW swirlies!

Will be watching this one with great interest!!!

Looks very good so far!

Are those neck inlays your own work? Or a kit?

DJ

DJ

cheers

aiguitars is the seller name on ebay

Did some more today, the claw is never fun without a cnc machine. Mark up the body, 10mm, then 1mm gap, then 10mm etc, make sure the router doesn't slip sideways & go for it.

The garage is covered in dust & shavings as usual

Loads more sanding to do but its getting there & remember to use a fully charged drill when doing the neck screw holes.

Ok another 80's Ibanez build, always wanted a Passion and Warfare Universe, but the price of 7 string parts is too expensive. Was even thinking of buying the cheapest 7 string i could find & just cut & shut, replace fingerboard & swirl, but theres just not much out there - so 6 string it is.. but why not try my first neck.

Fretboard been sitting around for about 6 months waiting to be used.

Spent last week making templates while I was waiting for the wood to arrive, also made the pickguard.

routing today - pickups

Outline

body

Tomorrow, going to tidy up, do the contours & the lions claw...& start the neck..maybe

thanks Daniel, its quartersawn.

I'll get on with the body then

Humidity??

Uk so low- & the wood has only come from 100miles up the road. Do I want to store it in the garage rather than the house or just leave it somewhere constant for a month?

thanks Daniel, its quartersawn.

I'll get on with the body then

Ok, please bear with me if these are stupid questions.

Finally got another build on the go & thought I would try my first neck, picked up a nice blank off ebay & arrived last week. Pretty sure it was straight when it arrived, but after building templates for the body all week went to check it today & its warped. It's been in the house, in a room with a window always open not near any extreme heat, ebay listing says 5 year dried.

So is it ok to use & if it is how do I get it straight, my tools consist of not a lot more than a cheap router & a saw.

thanks

http://www.ibanezrules.com/catalogs/index.htm

scroll down to the bottom of the page & there is an edge manual with all the install measurements

you bought a pickguard for direct mount pickups, like GMC & florals- did you mean to?

thanks DJ

I wanted to leave room in the swirl to show the patterns on the gold leaf so used black & clear plasticote enamel (little pots from B&Q) You can get gaps using just black on water, but it can thin in places leaving grey patches, so adding the clear paint keeps the black 'concentrated'

Andy

Goldy? no idea never named a guitar before

Ok, I've got a pretty limited taste in guitars, thats basically late 80's & onwards Ibanez. I'd been playing the same 2 guitars for the last 20 years, but after finding this website a couple of years back through jemsite, it inspired me to start cutting up cheap stuff off ebay & making copies of guitars I always wanted. After 10 or so cut and shut copies, I spotted a cheap lump of wood on ebay & thought it was time to try an Ibanez JS body from scratch.

I never seen people price stuff up, but the reason I started making these was to avoid paying £1200 - £4000 for the real thing, Jems, LNG's, GMC's, donnies etc.

All parts are 2nd hand Ibanez parts from US ebay sellers as the £/$ was so good for the last few years

Body ebay mahogany £27 (with postage)

Neck 1998 Ibanez 540s £115

hardware all second hand ibanez parts from ebay

tuners gotoh £20

Trem ibanez edge £110

pickup rings £10

neck screws £7

wiring, knobs, jack £25

Pickups - spares

Finish

Gold leaf & size £20

swirl paint £6

Halfords 'finest' spray clear 4 cans £24

Total £364

dodgy cameraphone clip

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TS2jLTkLKKs

build thread

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=38011

cheers Andy

QUOTE (andyt @ Sep 29 2008, 09:12 AM)

...but then the only reason it was mahogany in the first place was the dirt cheap blank I found on the bay, so next paint job I'll look for some cheap basswood

Please don't do that. Use good tonewood always. With a great finish like that you should use great wood. Otherwise what's the point?

Really nice job! I love the mutli-level finish. I've got some gold and copper leaf I am experimenting with currently. I can't wait to get started now that I've seen this. Thanks for the inspiration!

~David

David thanks, I checked your website....wow... I can't wait to see what you can do with some gold leaf. About the basswood, I meant the plain look rather than the tone, I've got several basswood guitars.

'plain mahogany is like the beige of tonewood IMO other than some ribbon and quilted sapele, theres so much better out there'

'Wood brown guitars...uggh'

And as I've never had a guitar that wasn't painted, I'm quite into the brown guitar I just stripped

still you can bet the next will be painted.

now if someone can tell me how the quotes work

Nearly finished, neck came in from US ebay, original 1988 r540s wizard. Need to reshape the heal from strat style to aanj. Wired up, sounds good, maybe a pound heavier than my donnie copy JS.

and for some mahogany justice, bought a ibanez s320 last week, so stripped the paint off that & oiling it up

Sure, I just bought some 'eberhard faber metal leaf' from ebay, but while I was waiting for it to arrive found this cool site

http://www.stonehouses.co.uk/categories.php?mcid=270&

which has some different colours

Once again thanks for your comments guys. I do admit to feeling a bit guilty about the mahogany once I saw it with a couple of coats of oil on it. I thought for a couple of minutes, shall I leave it as is, but then the only reason it was mahogany in the first place was the dirt cheap blank I found on the bay, so next paint job I'll look for some cheap basswood

Andy

Cheers for the comments, did a mock up today as the rest of the parts came in. The neck is not tightened as I need to sand the finish out of the neck washer holes, finish up the wiring & make a control plate cover.

I love it, theres not enough green guitars in the world

http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q70/amr...¤t=100_0794.jpg

yeh, sorry about the mahogany, but if god wanted natural finish guitars he wouldn't have invented the 80's.

After the tru oil sealing applied vareigated gold leaf - not real gold but I think its copper or brass thats heated to give the colouration. Then a couple of coates of clear or it oxidizes, then a swirl in black & clear - standard platicote enamel 'little pots' - the only thing I've ever tried. No borax just pour into a storage box full of water & dip, then some more clear, just auto spray cans from halfords (UK)