Let's do this a little backward, so time for glamour shots:
Alright, time for some specs and back story.
Body: Pine
Neck: Pine
Fretboard: Pine
Hardware: Whatever I had on hand
Now for the story: On the woodworking forum I frequent, there was a challenge posted asking what the members could do with a single 2x4. I started thinking it would be cool to build an entire guitar from a single 2x4. Now, I am not necessarily advocating it, I know pine is not stiff nor terribly stable, but I wanted to challenge myself on these points:
- Wood choice (I'm a total wood snob)
- Design method; I usually am a meticulous planner and on this one I went wherever the wind blew me and didn't make any big decisions until I had to
- Design a new headstock
- Design a new body style
- Test a new finish that I wouldn't just "test" on a "real" guitar
- Dissect my techniques so that I can do better on future builds
- Mini toggles for electronics and no tone knob
Before you burn me at the stake, let me explain a couple of choices. I made the neck and fretboard extra thick (about 1.25" at the first fret). I also ripped the neck-thru section length wise and flipped one side. There is a double action truss rod in case the neck flexes, and I have 8's on it to keep the tension a little low.
The finish is silver pearl over a black base coat. Fretboard has faux binding (which was by accident). I made the truss rod cover, jack plate, and cavity cover from aluminum. I also placed on myself the constraint that I could only use hardware I had on hand. That helped drive the headstock design, as I wanted the 6 in line look but I only had 3x3 tuners.
Anyway, I call this model the Event Horizon. For those of you who aren't total nerds (like me), the event horizon is the area around a black hole past which, if something passes, it does not return. I named it this because now that I have built it, I am going to be using this design as my go-to for most every guitar from here on out unless trying to duplicate something specific. I am extremely please, despite the many mistakes. People have been asking me all along how it will sound. Well, it sounds like a guitar . It sounds pretty good, but won't be the first one I reach for when recording.
Any comments or feedback is welcome. Keep in mind this whole thing was basically a full-size mock up.