SJE-Guitars

Yeah, i might. What I'm interested in is some kind of individual string/bridge option for doing multi-scale. I'm planning a multi-scale 8-string right now, and some form of bridge would be nice to have. :-) There aren't many options and they cost a fortune. Hmmm well I ain't got any individual string bridges planned . . . I should have a tune-o-matic 8 string soon - complete with 16" radius and lock down nuts made from solid stainless, just waiting on the sample now. Unlike Tonepros I actually get the bridges made not just tap out a $22 Gotoh bridge and stick a locking nut in it and sell it at $100. I should have ferrules, knobs and strap buttons also - I am currently waiting on the samples (the buttons and the ferrules are looking good, had a few hitches on the knobs)

Yep 1st thing I do with any templates is make one to working with and store the originals safely away from my router!

Yep it's elbow grease and sandpaper all the way! I do use a flappy sanding bit in the drill press to clean up the initial routing marks then it's elbow grease time! Those mops look interested though I imagine they help cut the sanding time down no end.

Hmmm true however I've already routed the slot for a hotrod size truss rod . .. I assumed that the machine shop could easily manage to tap a 5mm steel rod at both ends - not an over the top assumption! Alas I was wrong!

That is what is strange for me...I don't know if it is evolving musical tastes or what,but I used to hate that type of gutteral vocals...now I love it...and I think he is one of the best at it... Some bands never change pitch with those types of vocals,but he does that very well.. But you know...I used to be a fan of the Chuck Billy type of vocals...not as much anymore. I like Chuck Billy and his later more gutteral stuff is excellent! I like lots of very gutteral stuff Napalm, Carcass, Suffocation etc but I just find the Lamb of God vocals a bit forced and kind of like he's putting on the voice opposed to say Phil Anselmo. But anyway some decent work - I did have a chuckle at this Lamb of God - Redneck lesson on You Tube . .. . spot the difference between the normal speed and the 'slow' versions! :

I think I've used the term 'bloody machine shops' quite frequently just lately around here! However what progress has been made is Bareknuckle pickups on order which were ordered prior to my eureka moment on my 6 string build of making my own bobbins for self winding - I could of made some matching Siam Rosewood bobbins! However most importantly the news has filtered over the border from the precision machine shop in Thailand that the 8 string T-o-M is in production as I type! :D The inept arses at the machine shop who were supposed to be making the truss rod have been canned - totally clueless and useless! So I'll be getting a Stumac 24" hotrod, getting it cut and rethreaded for this build - the custom truss rods are on the future to do list! Otherwise nothing has altered from the last picture - until I have all the bits in hand I ain't making any cuts since the string spacing and neck width are dependant on these bits.

Some nice guitar work sure but I ain't overly keen on the vocalist. They've done some decent stuff but not a group I'd choose to listen.

Blimey 9 days since the last update. Progress made but no pictures on most stuff. The headstock has now got a matching Pyinkado cap - I did initial put the stripes on but decided I didn't like them since the neck is Afzelia already just 2 different grains - the pyinkado cap looks better and the headstock is has been shaped up. Sanding is progressing but still someway to do - the fretboard is radiused and the neck is shaped .. .. however this is all other pictureless stuff not what this update is about! So last night I was thinking about what pickups I was going to use and something that I've been itching to do it make my own. So did a bit of reading on several 'how to' websites - all simple enough stuff. So then I read a site where a the guy made his own bobbins out of a CD case and bits of maple now this got my brain thinkings . . . well bobbins are simple enough why not make some that match the stripes in the body . . . . . sooooooooooooo today I mainly spent my time doing this . . . .. Matching Rosewood and Afzelia Xylocarpa pickup bobbbins: Close up of the sides I made these purely on the dimensions of my existing SD pickups and I made the string spacing for the neck 48mm and the bridge 50mm based on a t-o-m bridge. Luckily a few kms from my house there is a coil winding company so tomorrow I am going to speak with them to see if they can wind them for me for a few dollars, so all being well I'll have some professional wound pickup coils tomorrow! Anyway I was rather happy with however bobbins came out and the matching pickup rings (yes I know one hole hasn't been drilled - well it had but was slighty out of position so it was filled and will be redrill). I've yet to decide on the the magnet to be used - whether Alnico or Ceramic - I am thinking a hot ceramic bridge pickup with an ultra mild clean Alnico 5 at the neck (or might experiment with an Alnico 8), that fun is yet to come! edit: Oh yeah forgot say apologies for the crappy phone camera pics - keep forgetting to take the camera to my workshop.

Agree with Drax here. As I like to use spokewheel truss rods my necks always have a 5mm fretboard over hang at the back to make things cleaner looking. I always make sure that the fretboard overhang sits flush with the top of the body regardless of what neck angle is being used. In general now I only use a 1.5 degree angle and recess the T-o-M - as for 5/8" the heel on my necks is usual 20mm (which is just over 25/32" for you imperial folk).

Some great work! RDub - the Skull - Love the finish and the overall look but for me the skulls knobs ruin the look of it - plain black dome knobs and it would look great AprilEthereal777 - "Toneflow" - love the top and the shape - however I personally would of liked to see a bit of carving done to the top - I read the build and you said you didn't so not to take away the look from the wood - personally I think it would added. Then minor-ish things controls seem to be miles away from the bridge and a matching cover on the back would of look far better. Jaden - "The Pablo-Saurus Rex" - I've got say I think this guitar looks great! Inclusive of the F holes! Very clean work all round. decadentjon - Finkelstein - Think this is also great looking guitar apart from the headstock - it suits the style of guitar sure but I just aren't 100% on whether I like or not. Guitars by Jake - "Zebra from hell" - Looks great - but need a better picture of the guitar as a whole as Wez said can't really make out the detail of work put into it. scottyd - Uli's - Nice burl! Like pretty much everything even the gold components (which is something I rarely like!) however I personally think the maple back looks out of place and is a little bit of an overkill. g1_ - "Mtawarira" - Sure is a beast! I like pretty much everything from the shape to the headstock to the matching knobs but for me there is just tooooooo much going on with the woods - don't get me wrong I love a good bit of wood porn - but I think you've got slightly carried away with the amount of laminates used! I think that design with a single wood for the body and a rosewood or ebony fingerboard would look unreal. bigdguitars - a natty lp - I can't get with this one I'm afraid - for me everything except the mahogany back is wrong - don't get me wrong here the workmanship looks great. I really don't like the grain in the spalt burl either looks in my eyes too much akin to a faux formica granite. Then there is gold everything which I really don't think goes with the burl either. So my vote goes to The Pablo-Saurus Rex by a whisker over the Finkelstein. Great work everyone!

Yes they are available...and they slip at the worst time...spoiling a delicate carve in a half a second...because when they slip it throws the grinder off balance,which can cause you to go where you don't want to. I have ruined aluminum handrails with them...I would not go anywhere near wood with them. Hmmm can't say I've notice any slippage from my usage - but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Gold for me just doesn't look good with anything other than Black (even then personally I'd never have gold components!). The blue is a nice touch but for me just not with gold - the wood being light would look far better with chrome or probably black. I also agree there is too many wood colours going on - was a mahogany neck not available? Also agree with psw that the imperial tuners look out of place. As for the switch plate - loose it - also the control knobs and switch seem unusually positioned for me.

Angle grinder is the daddy here - over here we've got the flappy sanding disk but now there is also flat velcro pads with flat pieces of sandpaper that attached. With the added bonus they go upto 100 grit so just using the angle grinder I can get a smooth finish! Also I tested the other day with a bit of superglue attaching fine wet and dry grits (320 and 600) to a couple of worn out pads and hey presto I got a great finish in the space of minutes. Going over it with hand with 600 upto 1500 is next to put a gloss on it - but all the hard work had been done. I assume with everyone mentioning flappy disks that these pads aren't available over in the States or UK yet?

No worries - just checking in as it's been the a week since it was posted which is about the norm for post from Laos to the western world!

I am guessing the bit hasn't turned up yet?

Ahaa so this is the Biohazard 8 string you mentioned previously! Have you got the Swinehead pickups yet? More importantly if you have have you tried them out yet? I've been talking with Tim at Bareknuckle Pickups about there 8 string versions for my 8 string build - which I am going to order in place of the custom SDs I was thinking. However got to wait on the t-o-m sample to check it out before I buy them due to my string spacing requirements. The build is looking very nice - look forward to seeing the finished article!

he he he - mmmmmmmmmm wood porn - just too add to that I did the matching rosewood pickup rings today - no pictures yet though. Actually the body is relatively light - sure ironwood and rosewood aren't light but it's only 35mm at the edge rising to 45mm in the middle. . . haven't weighed it yet to see what it is but I'd reckon around the 3kg mark. Funny you mention the cow horns - completely unintentional but I noticed them also - I was actually considering putting a Buffalo skull inlay spanning the 9-12 frets. I initially thought it looked more like a giant goldfish - at least it don't look like a raven in flight! The finish will be straight up natural oil - the colours of the wood won't allow much else. Oh as for the neck pocket I've used the same dimension on all my builds and it's completely solid - even doing neck bends.

Cheers - yes it does look out of place without the neck mainly because it's not a deep pocket for better higher fret access. I actually thought the same when I took the photos however it does looks a whole lot better with the neck attached. Personally I like bolt on necks - I know many on here prefer set or through. Also it'd completely screw up the scale of the guitar changing it at this point.

Agree. Sometime ago I used to on a shop floor doing soldering rework of computer motherboards and making specialised mainframe boards that the flow solder machines couldn't do - scope soldering. I can tell you for nothing that a cold joint (we always called them dry joints) was the main reason for boards failing testing. Using soldering flux helps ensure that solder flow into the connectors and onto whatever you are connecting - it also makes it easy to make a clean looking solder connection and more importantly reduces the possibility of dry/cold joints.

Dry joints a go-go! Flux - that's what you need!

Hmmm 199 views and not a reply . . . is that good or bad Anyway story so far . .. . today busy shaping and carving the body . . which now looks like this . . . Arch top . . well the central area for the pups and bridge are level .. .. Back with pocket and rounded edges.. No pics of the neck today currently in clamps having the racing stripes laminated to the front. Apologies for the pictures not being particularly great - night here and reliant on the flash . .

Gwar spings to mind seeing that . . . Also the headstock is a bit ordinary compared to the body!

One thing also to bear in mind when discussing this kind of thing is the density of the wood you are attempting to cut. The soft and lighter hardwoods like say Alder would be pretty easy to cut with router - quite possible even with a single pass with a decent router and most importantly a razor sharp high quality carbide bit. However denser timber you wouldn't have a hope of cutting a body in a single pass - some of the timbers I use (ironwoods) would break your blades. I tried using a solid carbide upward twist bit when I made my first guitar for the humbucker pockets in Burmese Ironwood and tried to plunge the bit straight into the wood - end result one of the teeth from the tip of the bit sheared off. At that time I didn't fully appreciate the types of wood I was working with, plenty of reading later and I am far far more savvy on the timber over here. Oh also no router is designed to cut wood! Shape and form wood yes - higher hp routers are designed for working with large diameter shaping bits not to cut timber. You want to cut wood use a saw!

Depending on the type of chuck it is but if it's akin to the Makita - single large nut with a button on the back to lock the chuck when tightening - then it could just be metal collar that is inside the chuck that grips on the bit shaft when the nut is tightened. If they are overtightened i.e. a collect slightly on small side or just tighten without a bit in if will basically bend the collar further than it should and then it will no longer grip the bit properly. I know this from first hand experience!

What do you mean cut out an entire body? As in cut from a body blank? Well yes you can if you make a template from say 15mm MDF then use a 1/2" or 3/4" length template tracing bit and make shallow cuts over numerous passes . . you wil eventual make it through. HOWEVER The one thing which you should really abide by when doing any wood working is use the right tool for the job and for cutting wood .. .. a saw is the way to go. You say you have a jigsaw so if I was you I'd cut a rough shape of the body with the jigsaw (remember to watch for dreaded blade bend) then use a router with a template bit to trim the body to temple. Of course the best tool for rough cutting a body is a bandsaw but if you ain't got one the jigsaw will do the job.