t1r12003

Following your process so far, the use of sanding sealer would be an unnecessary step.

Yours looks really fine so far!

That Buckeye Burl came up nice, how did you find working with it in general? We don't get that stuff here in the UK because Customs don't allow the export of its bark (or so I was told by a seller in the States), but I had a customer manage to get some past Customs when it was sent over for his custom build... I hated it! Had a big void to fill which went OK, the whole thing was then treated with superglue to fill the many smaller voids... but finishing was a nightmare! Three resprays in the end and it still didn't look 100%.

What are you finishing the with?

Agreed it's difficult stuff. I filled the large voids with black epoxy and all the small ones with super glue. I still have at least one or two more passes on the entire top with more super glue, leveling with a rubber squeegee, then sanding smooth. After I'm certain it's soaked up all it can, I'll move to sanding sealer, then a lacquer finish. I'll probably order the finishing kit from Stew Mac.

Mahogany back and sides will get grain filled and sealed then sprayed with gloss black lacquer.

Top wet with naptha and black pickup rings. Tried to get the pic quickly before naptha dried and the neck pickup was crooked, but you get the idea.

Love how it looks. that Floyd rose looks really slick.

Thanks. Ibanez Edge trem. Put a big brass block on it.

Not a lot more work done except a lot of sanding and scraping the binding. I did a mock up with chrome covered pickups. I may like this look better.

At long last I've made some progress on this project. I got the black binding added. It's framed nicely. I did some more finish sanding on whole guitar along with more super glue on top to fill the burl.

Yes. But I prefer a tone knob vs the single vol. I use it a lot on the neck pickup. Big influence though.

Just threw them on there for the pic. I still have to rout the control cavity. More thought will go into the placement of the knobs when I go to drill the holes. The tone knob looks high but I prefer the vol knob pretty close the the bridge pickup. I ride the vol a lot when i play and it's easier to do with my pinky when it's close.

I've actually got used to playing with the strings a little higher off the body.

Yes, thanks. I learned the hard way too a few years ago using an Edge trem on another guitar.

It's going to rest against the body, no trem cavity. It'll sit up enough that those front edges won't rub. I have a Roadstar set up the same way.

Thing is, since most burls require some kind of filling it is unlikely that the top will be in any state to be stained. Superglue will prevent stain penetrating so unless other stain-friendly fillers are used then staining is right out. Looking good.

You could stain, then use clear epoxy to fill in the voids... works in theory at least

I decided to keep it natural with a black binding. I did some test pieces of red and it seemed to be hiding more of the grain than showing it off. I have another bookmatched piece of buckeye burl I picked up and I may stain that one for a future build.

I think you are missing the fact it is a 2 piece body with a glueline to measure from

Correct. Center line as a guide, then I measured from the butt of the guitar, again at the center, up to the bottom edge of the trem cavity. Since I have my black Wolfie as a reference I used exact measurements from it.

Here's a quick mock up with the proper bridge pickup and wet the top a little with naptha

One more quick rout this morning for the trem cavity. I actually got an "In Progress" pic this time. I set up a couple 1x2's and a follower bit on my router to keep straight lines. Just one little burn spot I'll need to sand out.

Man I wish you'd have stained it Oh well, your guitar Looks cool though, you gonna scoop the horn too?

If you mean like a PRS has that scoop on the lower horn for access to upper frets, no. I'm doing a black binding all the way around, so I'm keeping the top flat.

Routed the pickup cavities. I'm waiting on a black/cream Bill Lawrence for the bridge, but for the pic I threw in this black one. Filled the large voids with black epoxy and used super glue on a lot of the top so far. It looks splotchy now because I didn't wet the top for the pic and I'm still in between passes with more superglue.

And next to the original for reference

No progress to report. I did score a pretty decent Wolfgang copy neck off an auction though. Ebony fretboard on maple.

It's going to stay natural with a black binding. There's so much cool swirling figure going on the red would end up hiding a lot of it.

Test scrap piece. Natural with naptha then red stain to get a quick idea.

Thanks for the tips. I do have a couple good scrap pieces left over. I saved them for color testing and to practice with the epoxy as well. Also trying to decide between a rounded edge top or a black binding. The black binding might just frame this piece nicely if I leave it natural.

I haven't posted a build in a while. I've also never worked with Buckeye Burl, so this should be interesting.

1 1/2" african mahogany 2 piece body rough cut with skill saw

shaped with my router

gluing up the 1/4" buckeye burl top

all glued to the body and about 10 minutes palm sanding. wet with naptha for a pic

The larger voids and bark inclusions will get filled with black epoxy. The rest filled with CA glue. I haven't decided to leave the top natural or stain it. For some reason I'm thinking red would look good.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...=44336&st=0

check that out. its black limba and mahogany.

That's really nice. I think he used a red clear coat though and I'm looking to see if I can accomplish the same color by staining the wood directly. Thanks for the link.