whalehazard

I love the green in the mockup. I hope you can get that shade in real life. This is a sweet build and the neck lams look very nice.

Those look amazing. I would assume you would finish them as you would a normal maple fretboard?

dictionary.com says they are synonymous, but let's talk about guitars.

Fair enough. For the record, the US Medal of Honor is in the shape of an inverted pentagram.

Alright, clearly this shape is not something people here appreciate...avengers, you're close, but it's actually an SG and a flipped Thunderbird...not nonreverse as that's more rounded in that area, which is exactly what the buyer asked for. I entered this month not hoping to win, but hoping to get some criticism that was a little more constructive from all you builders that I have learned from and respect. What's wrong with the pentagram? If you don't like it, it would help me a lot to know why. Great job this month, everybody. The blue LP got my vote without even seeing the rest. Amazing.

Whalehazard Thunderback LW

Hey folks, this is my third build, and is for the bass player in my band. LW is because he calls himself the Littlest Wizard.

This is northern ash with a maple neck, with a rosewood fretboard and headplate.

34" scale

Schaller roller bridge

Gotoh tuners

Duncan 1/4 pounder P-bass pickup

1 volume

1 tone

pretty straightforward. The headstock inlay is MOP and recon bloody jasper, and the dots and 12th fret pentagram are red marbled plastic.

There is a truss rod cover made of the same red plastic that I forgot to put on when taking pictures

Here's a close up of the 12th fret inlay before fretting.

DR Pure Blues!

looks good...I dig the body shape and the headstock works really well. looking forward to seeing your progress.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the biscuits. My dad was a cabinetmaker and uses them all the time. They might not be necessary to build a guitar but I don't think they hurt anything. It's hard to tell if the neck pocket is salvageable in those pics, but at worst you could slice the middle out and save it for wings of a neck through build. The shape is nice, and the body looks good otherwise.

The patchwork you see in the bottom of the pocket looks to me like an exposed biscuit joint...are the body halves biscuited together?

Ok, this thing is finally done...

Whalehazard Sentinel

This is my second build, my take on an LP shape...lots of new techniques and mistakes to learn from. This a chambered maple body with a cherry top and cherry neck, rosewood fretboard. The maple and rosewood accents on the top are a result of the cherry pieces being not quite wide enough, and a giant dent I made when I glued the top on. Curly maple binding on neck and headstock, curly maple with black and white accents on the body. The inlay is gold MOP and blue pearloid. Fretboard inlays are abalone and brass. Target Coatings EM6000 finish, which is great to use, but I'm still not happy with the durability. Prone to denting...damn. Well, this one's mine, so it's a player anyway. My guitars get a lot of abuse on stage and on the road. Anyway, excited to have one to post here. Tell me what you think!

24 3/4 scale

22 frets

12" radius

1 5/8" nut width

Schaller 3d6 nontrem roller bridge

Stew-Mac Golden Age humbucker

Gotoh tuners

Whalehazard Sentinel

This is my second build, my take on an LP shape...lots of new techniques and mistakes to learn from. This a chambered maple body with a cherry top and cherry neck, rosewood fretboard. The maple and rosewood accents on the top are a result of the cherry pieces being not quite wide enough, and a giant dent I made when I glued the top on. Curly maple binding on neck and headstock, curly maple with black and white accents on the body. The inlay is gold MOP and blue pearloid. Fretboard inlays are abalone and brass. Target Coatings EM6000 finish, which is great to use, but I'm still not happy with the durability. Prone to denting...damn. Well, this one's mine, so it's a player anyway. My guitars get a lot of abuse on stage and on the road. Anyway, excited to have one to post here.

24 3/4 scale

22 frets

12" radius

1 5/8" nut width

Schaller 3d6 nontrem roller bridge

Stew-Mac Golden Age humbucker

Gotoh tuners

It's done! Just need to do a final setup...this thing is fun to play. Fast neck. I'll try to take some better pictures this weekend.

Less odor than KTM-9, which is next to nothing. Open a window and put up a fan. What you can smell isn't bad for you.

Here's a teaser of my second build. Just sprayed one coat of EM6000, which is amazingly easy to use. Here's my Facebook page if you want to see more. Apologies for the blurry headstock.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whalehazard-Unlimited/160809310624598#!/pages/Whalehazard-Unlimited/160809310624598?sk=wall&filter=1

I've been thinking about doing an ash body with a rosewood neck. Interested to see how it sounds...anybody have experience with that combo?

Are you using EM6000? What's your experience with the durability of that stuff? I've only finished one guitar and I used KTM-9 and am very unhappy with the durability. I'm pretty hard on my guitars, but this one was soft for a long time.

It measures a whopping 26 degrees. I know this is far beyond the recommended maximum of 17 or 18, but is a good scarf joint at 26 really any weaker than a one piece neck that's cut across the grain at 17 degrees?

So I miscalculated my headstock angle. How much is too much? I know the scarf joint is good...what are the consequences if I use it as is?

This build is done! It spent a couple months in the basement being punished for a bad finish job. Sanded it down and started over. Here's a video sample of my band Nightosaur about 2 hours after I got it set up. Pictures soon to come. I started over with KTM-9 and am pleased with the results. 6 coats of blue and 7 coats of clear. Not the best sound quality, but you can hear the guitar plenty well in the mix.

Thanks, Buter

I had those doubts as well, but I assembled it all and played it and I forgot that I even thought it was going to be uncomfortable. I was more concerned about weight, but it balances really well. The final blue is a little darker and more uniform than that. I was gonna try a burst, but I didn't want to buy more than one color of dye.

Here's what it looks like now. The blog's been updated.

Ok, did what SwedishLuthier suggested. It looks like I have a bad coil. Black to white I get approximately 6.9k, and nothing red to green. I tried various combinations of wires black to white is the only one that gets a reading. Does that mean this pickup is f'ed or is there any way to repair this? I think I got ripped off...

I'm still slightly confused. It only sounds out of phase in the neck only position...should I just switch the green and black wires?

What do I need to do to switch the coil around?