t1r12003

My next project is a PRS Mira inspired guitar using a Carvin mahogany neck through with white limba wings. I'd like to do a red stain, but really want to get the color to match as much as possible. Anyone had success with this? I know it'll take a darker red stain for the limba wings with a lighter stain for the mahogany center. Maybe just some trial and error on my part.

Very nice. Looking forward to seeing the finished guitar.

What color hardware are you going to use? Black would look awesome, I think.

All gold. Tele control plate, Carvin string through bridge, pickup rings and tuners.

Looking a lot like a black limba DC127 with a tele control route.

That was the inspiration.

Got a couple curved pieces of wood to help set the clamps. Taped off the neck and frets so no glue would get all over. Also, you can't see the back, but I did the same with the string through ferrules. Wiped off as much excess glue that squirted out with a damp rag to make the clean up sanding easier. I'll let it sit for a couple of days, then get back to finish sanding. It had been ready for an oil finish before coming apart.

Thanks for the quick replies and advice. I'll sand back to bare wood before gluing it up again.

I used Titebond, which I use all the time. I think that it was either not enough glue on my part, too much wax on the edge of the limba (got it from Gilmer who has awesome pieces, but they dip them in a lot of wax), or the maple neck through from Carvin was also treated and didn't stick.

Either way, it's a relatively easy fix, and again, I'm lucky the separation was clean and straight.

I'll post the final guitar pics in a new thread. Thanks again guys.

I was hammering in the string ferrules on this Carvin neck through I'm making and one of my wings popped off. It was a completely clean separation, so basically, a bad glue joint on my part. I think my neighbors heard me shout out a few F bombs, because I was not happy.

Question is, when going to reglue this, should I lightly sand back the dry glue on both the maple and limba pieces before regluing or just reglue it with the left over dry glue?

Cleaning out the projects closet.

Ibanez body, alder body blank, ESP and Washburn necks, Duncan Designed pickup set, tuners, bridges

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZt1r12003

Well, I'll build it, probably start a thread in the "In Progress" section, then figure out the pickups later.

Possibilities for bridge:

Duncan Screamin' Demon

Dimarzio Air Zone

Duncan Custom (could be made into a CC with A2 mag)

Dimarzio/Fender H4 (supposed to sound like Breed neck)

Possibilities for neck:

Duncan Quarter pound single if I wanted to go with H-S

Dimarzio PAF Pro

Dimarzio PAF Joe

Dimarzio/Fender H4 (like the Breed neck)

I could also grab a cheap Duncan '59 neck pickup, which I really like (in 2 of my other guitars)

Yeah, just looking for that general tone right now, like mahogany is warm, or maple is very bright etc.

Telecaster Style

2 piece padauk solid body

24 3/4 scale neck - purpleheart with padauk fretboard

Carvin FT6 steel fixed bridge (Strat style)

Strung through the body with ferrules on back

2 humbuckers with 3-way switch and a push/pull for coil tap

Let's leave pickups and electronics out for now. I'm trying to see what kind of tone the base elements above would give me. Then, I can decide on 250K or 500K pots, one volume and tone, or 2 vol 2 tone, and which pickups to use.

I bought this and really don't have time to do the project. One piece poplar body blank cut like a Scott Ian Washburn or SG type shape. Pencil outline is exact shape. Pretty much just selling it to break even. $35 shipped anywhere in Continental USA

were did you get the washburn idol neck did you buy it or did you get off a broken idol?

I got it off an Ebay auction. It was an overstocked item or something, but never mounted before.

After the 4th of July holiday, I did some more work. Got the control cavity routed, the neck glued on, and the pickup cavities routed.

Here's a full body shot. I'm actually coming to like the headstock as is. Might just leave it.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4189.jpg

View of the body without all the hardware on it. You can really see the neck tenon well. Nice tight fit for my first set neck.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4194.jpg

Neck joint. Still need to do some more sanding, but it's pretty good

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4192.jpg

Control cavity. I only rout freehand, so the edges aren't the best, but the control cavity cover will, well, cover it.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4193.jpg

Yeah, 36 grit sandpaper on a belt sander tore right through the nice soft limba.

I used the same technique on a bubinga topped guitar. It worked just as well, however took longer as the bubinga was definitely harder than limba.

thats one thick body is there a reason for that? just curious

The blank was that thick, and I carved it down by 5/8" around the edges.

I believe Les Pauls are thicker.

The body style is a cross between a PRS and Peavey HP Special. Here are the specs:

2 1/8" thick single slab of Black Limba

Washburn Idol series 24 3/4" scale Mahogany set neck with rosewood fretboard (Headstock will be altered)

Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge position

Seymour Duncan '59 bridge model with an Alnico II magnet in the neck position

Tune-O-Matic bridge

Strung through body with ferrules on top and back

500K Stew Mac Vol and Tone pots and 3-way switch

Here's the way it looks with the neck, bridge and a couple knobs set on top, then I'll go through the progress step by step with links.

First I printed out a template on my computer using 4 sections taped together.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4167.jpg

Next I rough cut the shape out with my Skill saw

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4168.jpg

Then I took my router and made a first pass around the shape of the guitar to smooth out the edges

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4170.jpg

I had to go around a couple of times with follower bits due to the thickness of the body

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4173.jpg

That's all done, now we have a nice shaped guitar. The neck pocket is obviously too big, but will be corrected later

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4174.jpg

Just showing how thick the body is

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4175.jpg

I used another router bit to start to created a carved top

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4177.jpg

After that, draw out the lines to start contouring the body down to the edge

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4179.jpg

Using a belt sander and 36 grit paper I start contouring the body

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4180.jpg

Finished with the belt sander, now it's time to use an orbital sander and 150 grit pad

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4181.jpg

Here's how she looks after using the orbital sander

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4184.jpg

Finally, I went over it pretty good by hand with sand paper to really smooth out the edges and lines

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/t1r...al/141_4186.jpg

Done for today.

Well, I couldn't resist putting all the parts on it and seeing how it looked. I also shot a picture of the side so you could see the stained swamp ash back countering the dark blue 1/8" maple top.

Whheeeew! I can't get enough of that blue stain. As I've said before my fav finished from here are those blue ones and that figure is amazing. Very nice stuff, looks great! Keep the progress pics coming. J

Thanks. Well, as far as progress, it's going to be hanging up curing for the next 3-4 weeks. Then I'll wet sand and polish it.

Got it stained. This is after 2 cans of Deft spray lacquer. I'm using at least 1 more.

Funny that you should post an EVH style the same time as another...both have different neck types to the original but yours doesn't seem to work for me. I think that the possible reason why is that the body curves upwards & the headstock slopes downwards. The more I look at it the more it grows on me but it still doesn't seem to flow quite right. The 4x2 would probably work better but I don't know how feasible that would be.

Y'know what I'm actually starting to like it as-is now

[EDIT] LOL...I didn't realise that you did the other one too

Yeah, the other one had been finished for a month, just added the chrome rings. This one is almost done.

I may leave the headstock as is for now, see how I like it, if it's balanced, and can always change it later.

I made some customizations to the EBMM EVH guitar.

One piece swamp ash body with 1/8" quilt/flame maple top.

Mighty Mite maple/maple floyd neck.

I have a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the bridge and a Breed in the neck.

I chose to use chrome pickup rings (like on my Limba Wolfgang)

I also chose to have both tone and volume knobs, but in chrome

Instead of a binding, I'm going to do more of a burst look with the edges darker.

It's going to be a dark blue color, which should make the white pickups just POP

Only advice I wanted was whether I should cut the headstock like the shortened EBMM style 4 X 2, or leave it like it is Strat shaped.

I'm amazed that the neck works on that body, I read the description & thought, " oh no...he's got a neck & he's going to use it!" but when I scrolled down to the pic I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm not a fan of limba unlike most people on here, it just looks like dirty rubberwood to me , but that's just me.

nice work

To be fair, I have been guilty of that in the past, but it does seem to work well with this guitar.

I have one more piece of Limba, a single one piece blank 2" thick. I'm going to try for this HP Special look. I'll try to post the progress pics as I get started on it.

BUMPED PRICE LOWERED

Not a Stephen's cutaway, it's an N2, just a standard square heel. Every now and then you see them on auctions. I got lucky with this one.

The verdict is still out on the Duncan Distortion in the bridge spot. For some reason I don't know why it's not feeling right to me for this guitar, but I always give the guitar/pickup at least 2 months before switching. Also, it doesn't blend with the neck pickup at all in position 2.

I do like the neck pickup though. Crisp to counter the korina and rosewood fretboard, but when I roll the tone knob a bit it gets really nice for jazz chords. With distortion it's really got a full sound. I'm very happy with it all in all.