peterbrown

Some more pics of the assembled guitar rough sanded, Peter

Hey, Got pics of the neck glued onto the body and the back rough sanded with the cavity covers fitted made out of matching blackwood. More pics to come of the assembled guitar. Cheers, Peter

Thanks for the feedback fellas, The output is not a tele jack, I'm just going to put a flush mount output jack that stewmac sells. I'll see if I can attach a pic...no, just a link here However I have recessed the body in the same manner as a tele, except that the body recess is the concave dome, rather than the metal dome. You are right about the circles Xanthus, they are just there to hold it in place. No need to clamp the body down for routering! Saves alot of time. I also have an mdf board that bolts on, but is suspended above it. The bolts adjust the height of the second board above the base, which is great for routering neck angles and the face angle as shown in one of the pictures above. It takes a little time to put these together, however definately worth it. These are by no ways original jigs, most of them I have just copied someone elses idea. Below a pic of the back with the recess routed for the cavity cover. Cheers, Peter

Hey, Pics below are with the body carve finished and rough sanded with an orbital sand to 120 grit. The neck just needs final shaping and it's ready to go on too, Cheers, Peter

No worries Dickie Rayne, Got a pic of routing the top angle. There are two angle transitions that I've routed on the face. The first is to match the neck angle (2.6 degrees) and the second is a transition angle (1.7 degrees) going from the end of the fretboard to about half way between the bridge pickup and the bridge. The firt pic of the neck angle routed on the front The second is a side on picture with the transition routed to show the angle. The third pic shows the carve roughed out. The angle in the front works realy well for blending the top carve. Pics to come. Cheers, Peter

Hi Dickie Rayne. Good luck with your searches in the UK, however I recon your best bet is to buy direct from Aust, because the flamed stuff is hard to come by even in Aust. All the good figured stuff is poached from the timber yard before it even hits the racks, and often the only way you can get it is to buy it from the poachers themselves with a hefty "middle man" fee. Plus with the exchange rate the way it is, you'd practically be getting it for free.... maybe not. I got this top from http://www.australiantonewoods.com. Got a pic with the binding glued on. I used laminates of tasmanian oak as the binding on this one. Cheers, Peter

Hey fellas, Got some more progress pics of the top jointed and glued onto the body. I trimmed the top using a flush trimming bit and then routed the binding channel by using a flush trim bit with a smaller bearing, which I suppose is a rebate bit. I have also started the neck pocket, whilst the top is flat. The full depth of the pocket is routered once I have angled the top of the body to match the neck angle. Cheers, Peter

Hey fellas, Thanks for the feedback. The neck is laminated out of 5 pieces NGR, maple, NGR, maple, NGR. The width is as it is because of the thickness of the timber for the edge laminations. I bought the timber for 1 neck and cutting it up turned out that width. To cut the laminations thinner would have wasted timber anyhow. In the future I will probably buy larger stock and make more necks by cutting it up more efficiently. The larger the piece.. the more options in terms of cutting up blanks I suppose. Good point though. I should make more of an effort to minimise waste. No chance of getting 2 necks though from this blank. The routing I just did with a standard following bit. template only for the headstock The accoustic in the background is not mine. The pic was one sent from the supplier prior to me purchasing. Below is a pic of the headstock inlay complete. The pearl is going to be engraved once sanding is complete. With all the inlay complete the neck was then roughed out. Pic below Cheers, Peter

Hi, Thought I'd post a build I have been working on. Pics are below of the progress. The top - Bookmatched Fiddlebacked Aussie Blackwood The body - chambered Aussie blackwood The neck - Laminated New Guinea Rosewood and maple with a santos rosewood fretboard and MOP inlays Cheers, Peter

My entry is called the "new growth double cutaway" The specs are: Body: Carved Wenge top and backplate with chambered New Guinea Rosewood core Neck: 3 piece Laminated New Guinea Rosewood and Wenge. Fretboard: 25 inch scale african ebony with green abalam "new growth" custom inlay Finish: Danish oil and Carnupa wax Pickups: B- Lollar P90 and N-Seymour Duncan Vintage P90 Electronics: simple 3 way toggle with common tone pot. Pics are below:

I definitely would not use grainfiller. The oil needs to penetrate the wood and oxidise. Using a grainfiller just creates a barrier. An oil finish is not the best choice for a high gloss. the best you can get good is a satin and at best semi-gloss. But if you want the grain to pop and have depth, then oil finish is definitely in my opinion the best. Look forward to seeing the finished body, Peter