Narcissism

Last week i made some more progress! Here's my inlay on the headstock, and how I did that: Its a pretty crude way to make an inlay, but I don't have a dremel, and this gave me the exact results I wanted. Exact-O blades do the trick sometimes! I then filled the cavity I carved out with my gold fill stuff. I'm going to call this material a secret I used this material, because I don't posess a steady enough hand to make an inlay without shattering it. The results after scraping were exactly what I wanted! I didn't take any pictures of the process, but I did drill out some string holes for the bridge. Now its a strings through body bass, and there's gold furriels in the back. I'm pretty happy with the furriels, because they came out mostly straight! Not bad for a hand drill! Basically its all done now. I just gotta save up for strings, and clean it up for photos

I'm going to back up Modulus. That is Mahogany. There's also a pretty good chance of finding a mismatched grain pattern under that wood. So far, there's been a lot of success stories with Ibanez stripping (one of them became guitar of the month a while ago), so you may be pleasently surprised. But worst comes to worst, you strip it down, find its mismatched, and then you have to paint it black again.

Oh! I didn't mean to offend or anything! I was under the impression that you may have wanted to move it or something. I totally have no problem with you or anyone else building things the way they do. Heck, I've done things that would make most of the people on this board come after me with pitch forks and fire lol. I was just trying to offer some perspective

The wood finder place didn't turn up any of the places I go around here either... I would ask your local lumber yards where you can find exotic hardwoods. They'll probably know the best places if they're into any kind of woodworking. You'd be surprised what Home Depot, Lowe's or Ace can tell you about that.

Hmmmmmmmm, all i see is that knob on the bevel line every time I look at it. Sure it'll only be a mm off, but if you think about it from an asthetics point of view rather than a measurement point of view (two very different things), you'll notice that that 1mm difference is like throwing a beer can into the middle of a crystal clear lake. Luckily its never too late to move knobs around unless you've chosen a clear finish.

Mmmmmmmmmmm beautiful black. I personally would have done a red bass coat and "accidently" sanded through on the edges in a few places Not to say that this doesn't look pretty freakin' sweet! I also never would have known there was a control cavity in the wrong spot if you hadn't told me lol. Good coverup!

Hi Everyone! I just thought I'd share a video of me playing with the first edition of From Simple Fear. The band is now a 5 piece with another bassist and another singer due to the band being based in Dover, NH and me being based in B-town, VT. It sounds pretty different now, but I liked this version of the band the most. I thought I'd share it with you all! I'm on the left with my favorite Frankenbass: V4.13! From Simple Fear - Breakaway

wood is good, you're offily quick to throw someone under the bus here. If you read the post before mine, you'll see that I didn't start the negatives. Who cares though? This is supposed to be a positive thread about guitar building, so someone can read it and maybe get some encouragement to start up a build again if they've hit a "Luthier's block" or something like that.

That's a different shooting board from what i've seen. The shooting boards I've seen have the plane clamped down on its side and you move the stock across the plane. I should check out the #7s though. There's one I've been looking at for a while, and now that I'm building more than 1 guitar/bass, I think it would come in useful.

I actually enjoy the wiring. Its the final step before I plug in my creation and hear its voice for the first time : Unfortunately, I really don't know what I'm doing when I'm wiring. I'm only following a diagram. Some day when I have more ambition, I'll figure it all out. I have some electronics basics under my belt at least.

Wow, its so hard to choose this month! Avengers - As much as I like the idea and thought of something original, I'm going to have to pass. I do understand that you've basically built a childhood dream guitar here, and I have a lot of respect for that! I personally would have cut the headstock right off. AndyT - That's a pretty cool Jem! I'm sure its been done with the acrylic pick guard, but that's the first time i've seen one. I'm not a big fan of the swirrl though. Being colorblind, this guitar makes me say "Nice work, but its a little too exciting for me." Southpa - I think this is the first build I've seen from you. I really do like it. I especially like the holly laminates running along the neck block! Davee5 - I really liked this one. I liked everything from the flowing grain pattern, to the flow of the knobs, and the flow of the furrles! The F-Holes are pretty sweet too. I like the logo, headstock design, and there really isn't much I don't like about this guitar. I'm not a fan of semi-hollow guitars, but this one got my vote! Rockin control cavity as well! Villavicencio - Nice restoration! Bravo! The neck looks a little twisted in that pic, but I'm sure it plays like a beaute. I'm a pretty big fretless fan! SJE-Guitars - If anything, I just find this guitar to be interesting. I keep finding new things on it every time I look. If I had ADD, I'd be set for life looking at your work here. The cutaway on the bottom horn bothers me a little bit, but I'm sure I could get over it if i were to see it in person. Feral Smurf - I laughed and smiled when I saw this. Its pretty cool! I would clean up my guitar before I submitted it to a contest though. Other than that, it looks like it was fun to make! Dickie Rayne - I really like this spin on an LP. It catches my eye just because of the familiar shape, but you've added your own slightly pointy touch. The difference in controls, cosmetics and bridge are what made me want to vote for this one. If Dave's wasn't here, I would have voted this one. Its cool, because I was actually wondering if that headstock would look okay with an LP style body. Pretty cool!

I made my bass without powertools... until I got to the pickup cavities and control cavity... But then I built a corvus and I used a drill and chisel to make my pickup cavities. Look at my build threads in my signiature. You'll notice that the bass isn't the most amazing shape, but I did get the shape I wanted using nothing but a dowel, sand paper, hammer/chisel/rasp (chasp). I did not use a roundover bit either. You'll also notice that the pickup cavity on the corvus isn't the most beautiful thing in the world either. But then again, neither was Eddie Van Halen's first one? He only used a chisel. I fixed the asthetic problem with a pickup ring though.

If i had to pick something i disliked about building, then it would have to be the finish... I hate working with wetsanding papers. Its messy, and you have to do it again... and again... and again... if you're using a brush. I really should have started with the rattle can. That stuff came out so much nicer!

I like my Elixir 10s... A lot of people don't though. I'm not much of a guitarist though, and I still can't find a good sound. For now, I'm a bassist, and I like my heavier sets of Rotosounds for my 4 string fretless 34 incher

That looks professional! Very good, John!

o.O Damn, that's scary close! Good job though! The force is with you!

The only thing I would like to point out about Carvin is that they don't use a scarf joint with their angled headstocks. I personally haven't had any problems with mine (I have 2 bass necks from Carvin), but I just thought i'd mention it.

That thing came out beautiful!

The guage of wire I use isn't 22. I don't know what it is, but its bigger. I figured bigger = faster transfer, so I just went for the biggest and most flexable balance I could. I want to say its either 20 or 16 or something like that... I got it like 9 or 10 years ago.

I use water. I'm not much of a finishing person, but I did try alcohol, and it gave me a slightly different feel for how much time I have to work with it before the surface is no longer prepped. I prepped the surface with whatever medium I was going to use. I preferred water because I was using the grain popping tutorials, and raising the grain just seemed to make sense after I sanded it and saw all the "poppage."

That looks much better!

I use a spool of wire I bought at Radio Shack. Its pretty sweet.

It would have been better if i winked

Dude, those F-Holes are freakin sexy.

A while ago, someone mentioned a wood that smells like BBQ sauce when you sand it.