Dirge for november

Must say it looks a lot better with the neck on! I'm quite curious how it will look when it's done! I didn't know before that emg also had cheaper pickups My first reaction was: Well....if you think EMG's are cheap....What do you call an expensive pickup

Cool reflection, I'll pass that one right back The guitar and bass look extremely sexy! I especially like how the neck is also black.

Thanks a lot! This helps plenty as I'm a wood noob.

I know that a lot of questions have been asked on this topic before, but using the search function looking for a tonewood comparison list I can only find a couple of topics that only deal partly with what I want to know, and a dead link. Do any of you know where I can find a tonewood comparison list? Preferably with an indication of prices. I'm sorry if this is an unwanted badly placed question!

Looks cool! Do you know any place for tutorials regarding fx pedals?

I'm quite a noob to finishing, Why do you do the grain fill after the stain, doesn't it ruin the results of the staining? (obviously not, because your result looks spectacular!)

Wow, that looks extremely sexy I'm not that specific about coloring yet, (I think I even like your finish better) just that I want it to be a clear black sunburst. Do you think it's also possible to do something like that with only stains/dyes finished of with clear lacquer?

On my coming project (i'm probably going to start in June) I would like to try my hand at a sunburst. I'm asking here since all the topics I found using the search function turned out to be multi coloured sunbursts. I would like the sunburst to be clear black, something similar to: So the question is: Can this be done with one dye (black) as in different intensity of colour and amount of layers? or do you need to use some lighter colour to get this effect? I'm sorry if this question was already asked countless times without my knowledge.

@ prostheta: I met some Finnish excange students, two to be precise. Two of which look very cute (and lovely etc.) . So who knows! Untill then I'll have to stick to drinking water

Looks good! I don't know half enough to answer your questions, except your last one. I took a long wood drill and drilled a hole from the pickup cavity to the switch cavity under an angle. I did the same for the potmeters cavity (les paul style has them seperate.)

Looks great, i'm becoming jealous of your skills . I also love your new design, do I see right that the neck extends through both pickup cavities? Did you carve the top the sameway as the test piece? (With a router?) I have hopes for my next guitar after what I've heard, I'm currently doing an internship in Sweden and drinking plenty of Scandinavian water!

I agree, though a flying V has the same problem. I prefer the design of existing flying V's, but it is an original shape! And original is always good imho.

Tanks a lot! On topic: The guitar looks great!

@Mattia, Thanks! But those don't have the openback sperzels, the normal Sperzels I had no problem finding.

Those tuners look great!! Do you by any chance know if there's a place where I can order them in the EU?

Here are some more pictures, the strange shapes in the covers on the back are actually the blinds in my appartment reflected. On the pictures the finish somehow looks a bit grainy, but in real life it's actually totally smooth. It may be the flash of the camera. Looking back I should have done some extra layers, good to remember for the next project. Actually I started the finishing with a layer of polyground. An older picture with the wood unfinished

I forgot, pictures of the back... I don't have them, but I'll make them right now

Hey Thanks for all the replies!! The finish is just plain car paint, worked out fine in the end. I still have no idea about finishing, but I'll be sure to look into it before the next project. The funniest part of building it was that I did the carved top with a flex, it took about 5 min. When I went to a prof. guitarbuilder to ask some questions about bridge placement he asked me how I got the nice subtle curve. Imagine his face when I told him The Jack location... I'm not sure, but imho the cord angle would look a bit strange when it's on the downside of the edge, It wouldnt be a problem for the wheelchair as the corner sticks out quite far. Building it was indeed a bit of a problem with the wheelchair, I got some help from my dad. Next project I want to do completely though, as I now have a standing chair which I can push up to standing position. This way I'll be able to lean over the work. The next guitar I plan on building will stick to the same shape, but I want to make it look more a luxury product. I want to add binding and do the neck myself. I was thinking about a shiny black finish, although visiting a museum I got a new idea: In real life it was a bit lighter. Also I would like to try and build it with a tremmolo preferably a floyd rose model. I'll start a new topic when I start building (it will take a while as I'm currently in Sweden doing an internship)

Looks interesting!

(edit) .

This was my first guitar building project. The body is solid mahogany, the neck is maple, and so are the inlay strips in the body. The pickups are the EMG Zakk Wylde set. I actually bought the neck second hand as this was my first project, and I didn't dare try and build a neck yet. I chose the pickups because I actually had no idea whatsoever about pickups except that I knew these pickups were often used for louder music, and liked by a lot of people. (Also disliked by a lot of people I found out later, but I'm really happy with the sound. They can sound warm and bluesy just as well as brutal) The design was inspired by: obviously the Les Paul, the BC rich Bich (for cutting up a classic looking body) and as I'm in a wheelchair, the wheel is usually in the way of getting the body close to my body. The cutout also deals with this problem. Excuse the pictures, I have yet to make some better ones. It might sound stupid, but the finish looks a lot better in real life as the flash doesn't reflect then. Not yet finished yet to eager to play already the jack is hanging on with ducttape. The finished product

Okey, Thanks.. I understand a lot better now. And the neck part was just an idea I wanted to throw in to get some feedback. I see the problems it causes now. My previous guitar luckily didn't have to many of the problems you noted mainly because I cheated. I bought the neck as it was second hand (to save money, and I didn't dare making the neck myself yet). One of the problems I did have was that my neck and pickup cavities weren't in line, but I fixed the problem eventually. This project is going to be a lot more difficult as I plan to do a lot more myself, for instance building the neck. Although I do plan on buying a pre fretslotted fretboard. The project is also going to be more complicated because I want to try and build a guitar with tremmolo instead of a fixed bridge.

Hey, about the third part: I have that book, but somehow it goes into detail in the parts I need least and is totally shallow on other parts, I did get allot of basic understanding from the book though but nothing beats individual knowledge imho. Also I Learned a lot from projectguitar! As for the second part: I always have the urge for new solutions, for a big part because I study industrial design (which also has allot to do with innovation). And by now I've learned that especially on tried paths there is always room for improvement, for people automatically create their own tunnel vision. (not talking about you or guitars at all) Sometimes the problem needs to be looked at from a different (noobs') point of view. But besides that I totally agree with your point on getting experience with tried methods As for the first part: (sorry about working backwards ) Excuse my lack of knowledge, but what's the difference in experience between glueing a top on (with the right kind of glue/method) for the first time and after you've done it a couple of times? Thanks for the feedback!! and as for the search function, my bad I'll use it better next time! PS: I found a technique somewhat similar to my idea, except that it's a bolt on instead of glue (what I planned on using). The discription they give seems pretty positive (but of course it's promotional ) http://bcrich.com/learn_necks.html

Thanks for the info, I thought that with the new way to set the neck, I would have more contact between neck and body. Which I have heard gives more sustain. Also it seemed easier to build then the end of a set neck. Somehow it was to be in between a neck through and a set neck.

Hi, I'm new to this forum and also quite new to building guitars. I have made one guitar previously, and against all ods it works perfectly! Pure luck imho, because I generally fumbled through the process. Please excuse spelling mistakes, because I'm from the Netherlands. So now I'm planning to start a new project, and I want to do it in a more structured way. Also I want to know more about building guitars before I start. Question 1. (excuse the amount of text ) First of, the placement of the pickups: I plan to make a guitar with just one pickup in the style of the Gibson Les Paul Junior. I know just enough about pickup placement to know that the neck pickup sounds a lot warmer then the bridge pickup. Personally I prefer the warmer tone of the neckpickup or the setting in between the two pickups. The single pickup in the LP junior is placed at bridge position, what is the exact reason for this? Because gibsons usually have a pretty warm tone. I actually have no idea what the LP junior sounds like. I wonder if there is any reason against shifting the pickup more towards the neck position. Quetion 2. (This might be a stupid question) I might actually build two guitars, one on which I would like to try fitting it with a floyd rose trem. What's the difference between a floyd rose, floyd rose 2 and floyd rose 3? What brand floyd rose is better, Schaller or Gotoh? Question 3. I have an idea for a different way of attaching the neck to the body. Excuse the terible paint images, I plan on making 3d cad models of the idea in the future, and have better sketches but no scanner. My question is: is this possible? (edit) one more question Is the difference in tone/sustain/whatever between for instance a solid mahogany body and a solid mahogany body with a maple top substantial?