toddler68

I can only recommend the method I used last night. Rout about a 1/2 inch wide channel (at your desired depth) around the perimeter of the guitar (or however much of the perimeter you want). Then round over with 100 grit on a random orbit sander. It was easy as pie - took about an hour. And the results were amazing! Check out the thread: my carve You'll have to scroll down to the appropriate string of replies, but it's there somewhere - with some pictures too!.

Are you saying my guitar has gender confusion issues!?

Yeah, if I had to choose my influences those 3 guitars would be it. On a side note, didn't you have a Number of the Beast avatar before?

Believe me, next time I will rout the channel while the top is still flat! I have learned my lesson. But with that little fixture I found it to be so much more controllable moving the guitar under the fixed router instead of the other way around. Like an inverted router table. I think I might even consider making a more finished and stable version in the future. But for now, scrap particle board and a 2X4 did the trick. I know the resulting channel looked a little ragged but the fine side of a 4-in-one file smoothed it right up. And since I was sanding back down to the flat anyway, I didn't even necessarily need to do that. I will say that I only had one desklamp on and it was clear across the room so I was practically in the dark. But it really accentuates the shadows and I could tell immediately where my high/low spots were. Anyway, just a tip. As for a wet pic of the carve, I will bust out the mineral spirits tonight. Expect a pic tomorrow.

I used the random orbit on the whole thing. Just some $30 Black & Decker job from Home Despot! The plate on it is rubber-like so I just increased the pressure and angle (until the plate was almost perpendicular to the top) in the waist area and very light in the horn area - so it kind of feathers out. I also used 100 grit which is pretty forgiving - not so aggressive that I had to be REALLY careful, but enough that it didn't take me all night to bring the surface down. In fact, I nicked the fretboard (which really should have been protected anyway ) and the bridge bushings during the process and didn't really do much damage at all. Also, an unexpected side effect of this method was that I got a small recurve all around the edge which looks quite nice. Let me reiterate: I, toddler68 do solemnly swear that my next guitar (if in fact it is a laminated neck-thru with cap) will feature capped wings only: the laminations will be visible from both sides of the body! So help me Dog. Maybe I'll even go so far as to run a lamination or two through the fretboard!

I got a great start on my top carving this week. Thanks to Gigabyte for the orbital sander recommendation. It worked quite well and only took about an hour. Because I already tried to carve by hand, I didn't have a square edge to route a rebate around the perimeter of the guitar. So, I had to cob together a fixture to hold my router above the table and run the guitar under it (carefully of course). You can probably see a couple dings where I wasn't so careful. I decided to go to sleep soon thereafter to avoid any more 'mistakes'. Here's the fixture: Closeup of the fixture and the rebate: Resulting partial rebate: After about an hour with 100 grit on the random orbit: I am quite pleased!

Yeah, I'd love to see a tutorial or at least some plans.

Hey gigabyte, what did you use to get those knob recesses? Someone posted a thread in 'Solidbody guitar and bass' wanting to know the best way to do this. Here's the thread: Recessing controls

I have tried this method and it works quite well.

Yeah, I discussed this on another thread. I think I'm going with something in the amber/orange range - possibly a light burst. I was thinking about tung oil, but now I'm leaning towards shellac. I've also seen something called urethane oil that Woodcraft sells. Looks interesting. Here's the link: Urethane oil Here's also an example of the look I'm after:

It's actually maple, paduak and walnut. The paduak and walnut were about 1/4 inch thick and the thin maple in between were just under 1/8 inch. I'd probably go a little thinner on the walnut next time, just to add a little more interest.

Thank you for the pics. I am in the process of doing a similar carve. You have given my random orbit sander a new lease on life! Man, how thick is that top, like 3/4 inch? Very nice. Way to go on the pickup routing - livin' on the edge. Excellent work!

I have seen him selling some seriously wicked birdseye on eBay over the past few months. Simply outstanding.

No new progress but for the sake of chronology, I am reposting this in my original thread: Here is my progress so far. It's not much, but I'm to the point that I want some opinions about the maple cap. I routed the electronics cavity. The cap glued on. It's 1/2 inch thick and I did a shallow transition - like an Ibanez S and left a 3/16 inch natural binding. The problem is that it doesn't seem to show the carve at all. It's not outrageous or anything, but I wondered how I might accentuate it. Any suggestions? Top wet

It's Father Time meets geriatric alien.

Can I ask one of the moderators to move it and just append my previous thread?

Yeah, I've seen some people rout a 'rebate' along the entire edge of the guitar- about 1/2 inch wide or so and then transition from there. I think that's what I'll do. I don't think I'd feel comfortable carving through into the mahogany, though!

Here is my progress so far. It's not much, but I'm to the point that I want some opinions about the maple cap. Here's the link to my previous thread. Previous thread I routed the electronics cavity. The cap glued on. It's 1/2 inch thick and I did a shallow transition - like an Ibanez S and left a 3/16 inch natural binding. The problem is that it doesn't seem to show the carve at all. It's not outrageous or anything, but I wondered how I might accentuate it. Any suggestions? Top wet

I'm doing a 26.5" scale, akin to the Schecter C1EX. Not sure what difference it makes having a longer scale, but I believe you can tune the strings lower. Never too low I always say!

I always thought that you could put anything over lacquer, but not the other way around.

Thanks for the quick replies. I'm getting ahead of myself as I haven't even routed pickup cavities or bridge holes yet. But this gives me some time to mull it over while I finish these things. After my post, I found a perfect example of how I'd like to finish my project on the LMI homepage: a beautiful job by Mike Doolin. I'll let you know what I decide. And when I can track down the location of my digital camera I'll post some more pics.

I need some advice on my first project. I've got a neck thru (maple-walnut-paduak laminate) with mahogany wings and the whole top capped with a shallow carved burl maple (1/2 inch thick). I've left about 3/16 inch thickness on the edge to serve as a 'natural' binding. I'm not partial to any particular finish, but I'd like to really be able to feel the burl maple top. So I'm leaning towards Tru Oil. I also don't want to pore fill it (the pores are more like crevasses) because I like the look - and I don't really want to see a bunch of clear filler (epoxy or CA) in the big cracks. I'd also like to keep the edges of the binding almost totally natural while giving the top a very light amber/orange dye or stain, possibly even a mild burst. Can I achieve this with only Tru Oil and dye or should I think about using a combination of methods? I think I also read that Tru Oil (or maybe it was Tung Oil) shouldn't be used on purpleheart. Why is that? On that note, will my paduak create a problem considering how oily a wood it is? Thanks in advance.

I too am a moron I only skimmed your last reply and didn't realize your tree was not walnut. Oh well, it's good information to have anyway.

I know here in the states (at least in the midwest) you can get a guy to come out with a portable sawmill and cut up your tree for cheap! My uncle had it done last summer on 2 walnut trees for $125! They cut up the entire trees (more likely just the trunks) into 1 and 2 inch thick lumber as long as 10 feet! I have no idea what kiln drying would cost though - he's air drying his for a few years. Sure, it might be an investment up front, but you would not be sorry in three years when you're drooling over a ton of perfectly dried walnut. You could even sell some to finance more projects. You might even be able to go in with a couple guys to offset the cost and then split the wood among you. It would be a shame to see it just turn into firewood, or worse - mulch! Check out this website for more info on processing trees for lumber: Trees to lumber I know this doesn't solve your immediate issue - just something to think about. btw, I used 2 walnut laminates in my thru-neck. Looks great! And I've heard of cherry being used before as well. No idea on apricot, though.

wolfcoast, this is exactly how my "dust-free" drywall sander works. I believe the theory is the same for a bong as well! The vacuum is human-powered of course.