gazeadgbe

Thanks, no way i was gonna do that, ..i got a gold top already even if it is an epiphone lol ... ----- Few more progress pics below, tackled the comfort carve and started round the edges over. (btw the 4 holes in and above the tremolo back route are from where we screwed the template we made when routing out the body on the wrong side of the blank lol,. ....another lesson learnt but at least we got some holes to screw a plaque on the back saying first build guitar 1 ... lol )

hi, i have tried my best to deepen the recurve and the outer edge is now deeper and wider than before, its probably not as deep or wide as a prs but i like it and am happy enough with it, so fair enough, today i finished carving the tuner holes out and had my first play with some dye, i will sand it back and re-apply again to get the contrast to build up even more , but just posting a bit of progress, cant wait to get that neck fretted and glued in mind.

Recurve is what I call it, Been carvin them for years on my Les paul-a-likes & never heard of it referd to as anything else. Dont chicken out. So long as you plan it ahead of the carve you will be fine. You know how deep your top is so you should be able to make it work. Even 3mm makes a big difference in the look when its cleared. & that depth is a walk in the park. Ok cheers guys im eager to get my hands on it a bit more now and will try and widen and deepen the curve from the edge , ...i was looking at Crows build pics earlier which shows a nice recurve on his builds, Gaz

Haha nice 1, I see boobs now as well but they were meant to be a kinda snake eyes idea lol, but boobs is cool. Regarding to the outer edge recurve, I will run around some more with the goose neck a bit wider and deeper , I just don't want to get anywhere near the mahogany coming through though so chicken out lol.

as mentioned a couple of pics of the back cavity template we made and routing. the template made drilled away some waste daylight, thats a good sign routing out the rest of the cavity finally the back control cavity routed and recess lips added and thought i would post a pic showing the inlay i did at the 12th fret, (reason i did the inlay is that i drilled one dot lower than the other by .5mm when i inlayed two dots on the 12th, so thought damn, got to get round this some how lol, but i like it so not too worried.) next step i think will be carving out some comfort swoops out the back or drill the bridge post holes, fit the nut and tuners and clamp the neck in place with the two E strings in and see how it all lines up before gluing the neck in

........ its also nice in our opinion how the carves are so different by both of us adding our own touch to the basic shape we planned, petes (on the left) has a carve that has sharper points on the horns than mine which are flatter and rounder, and my carve on the right has my side swoops on each side going further into the middle of the body, the bottom end of my carve is more rounded like a gibson, petes is sharper swoop,. its just our individual interpretation as first time builders from out plans,. but i can say its very enjoyable,. ..it is Prs style inspired and not a copy to exact after all, the back control route ie totally our made up shape route also, will update tomorrow with a pic . Thnx Gaz

yes u are right about a dip from the edge,. i have tried to study many photos, as a guide to the desired shape we are after, (and no need for me to laugh, all help is appreciated so thanks ,.) .. but i have been trying to dip down from the outside edge using a gooseneck scraper running around the outside to try and make a dip, its my first carve so just experimenting and trying how we can do it best, pete did his different to mine and ran the router around the edge, and it is kind of worrying wondering as you carve if u are taking too much off, (cant put it back). , although we are pleased how its gone so far, of course we don't have anything to compare to apart from photos of other prs styled guitar builds on the net, ... and to be honest its not a bad thing if it isn't as close to a prs as possible as its our first projects inspired by prs guitar,.not a replica of, and thats almost impossible for a first guitar build project by us to replicate a prs ;-) ...(wishes)

Hi ., progress shot as of 5th march of both guitars, with necks sitting in the bodies, back routes are done but will post later,

Hello, just a Gaz carve update pic, now with the volume, tone and 3way scoops around the holes roughed in, just need final shaping / tweaking with the scraper and sandpaper, then later we made a template for the control cavity route but that will be next time as time ran out this week, really enjoying doing this project, every time we do a little more the more it looks more like a guitar lol, and the more i want to do a bit more,., cheers Gaz

Ok , thanks for all the help, Gaz

Hi Keith, thanks for discussing this with me, and i have been looking at your schematic and doing some research to try to help me understand schematics so below i have posted a pic how i see the line schematic works, but before that im a little confused though re- the quote that ground is on both sides of my volume pot, as what i see in my drawing above as it is this at the moment, > my volume pot left pin 1 is going to pin 2 of my Tone pot which goes to the common middle pin of the 3way toggle which when toggled selects either/or both of the other 3way toggle pins to select the red hots of either or both pickups (so surely the red pickup hot wires are traced to pin 1 of volume) > my volume pot middle pin 2 is going to tip (hot) output jack > my volume pot right pin 3 is going to the pot case as ground, same as my Tone Pin 3 through capacitor to ground. so im not sure where i have both sides of my pot to ground (and below how i understand the schematic you posted) Thanks Gaz

Thanks Keith You are very helpful Gaz

Thanks Keith appreciate you looking, Hope u don't mind me asking but when you say I have ground to both sides of vol pot, do you mean I have grounded the north start black and the 3rd pot tag, 2nd pot tab I have to the tip without touching a ground and the ground I have on the pot top case Thanks Gaz

Hi, i did indeed do the Schematic first to the best of my ability, but after that i did the above photographic type for my own visual reference of how the wiring would possibly look if i understand the original schematic drawing i did(maybe should have posted that as well first of all), maybe its not even considered a schematic as its not just lines and symbols? but is the best i can do from what i have tried to find out for what i want to achieve and below is the said schematic i drew up first of all, although it is not the more complicated kind of bare drawing type that i have seen and that beginners like myself find hard to do or to understand, ....as i said (novice in wiring) in the post title. My intended hook up is 1xVolume 1xTone both push pulls for series and parallel, 3way selector, 2x humbuckers, thanks Gaz

Hi I am a novice with wiring so if i could ask please for someone who is experienced in wiring guitars to check my mockup wiring is ok (or not) on my drawing plans for 1xVolume 1xTone push pulls for series and parallel. thanks. I Would appreciate someone having a look and pointing out anything that i may have done wrongly/incorrect as basically its my first wiring attempt into a guitar i am currently building and so i have mocked it up before actually wiring anything, i have made a cardboard base with the cavity area printed onto it, then installed the Pots etc into the cardboard, then took a photo, and added where i think the wires should go using photoshop without wiring anything up physically, so it also gives me a visual reference (being a novice) when i come to wire up the electrics in a few months. I will wire it all up in that cardboard base then transfer it over to the guitar once its at that build stage. Cheers for any help with suggestions with the wiring, (hope that pics not too big but hard to see otherwise) Gaz

Hi, just a progress photo of the carve on my guitar top, almost done after hours of a bit at a time, wiped it over with a damp cloth (guess its ok to do that), just a few tweaks left and final sand with finer grades and i guess next up is to experiment with some dyes on an off-cut.

Cheers Chad (and Osorio) for the encouraging comments, we appreciate it thanks. I've done a bit more today, i tackled (or was it attacked?)the right hand sides curve today so below are a few progress pics, thanks. first off because of the sanding previously, i offered up the carve template guide i did and pencilled in the lines through the template onto the guitar body again for reference Body with fresh pencil lines for carve guide reference after a bit of chiseling work with the gouge ....and more wood removal...starting to get the shape ........after some finger planing and sandpaper and a bit of scraping and a coffee lol here it is as it stands at the moment, and im pretty well pleased so far, got the shape roughed in, but a lot of scraping and sanding to go...(another day as my arm aches again). cheers Gaz.

didnt get to to the other side but had a go at the horn shape instead, i think it needs a bit more taken off the left side of the scoop after looking back and seeing some of the photos i took during doing it, i guess a good reason to have a break from what your doing and going back and doing more another day. As it stands at moment in pic below, of course its not a PRS copy guitar im trying to do after all as its my own guitar inspired by a PRS, so doesn't really matter if it doesn't look exactly like a PRS scoop but id like to get it looking nice as i can, also i think the maple top is quite a bit thicker than photos ive looked at of PRS tops,

That is soo true. Looking good so far. SR thanks SR, yea especially using a gouge for the first time lol, id rather try taking a bit off at a time than too much, spent a few hours today roughing out the carving and got one side of the body looking a bit shapely (im a bit slow and inexperienced hence hours for one side i guess), i didnt manage to finish the side so its not finished yet but it is getting the shape there, ...i think i need to get a couple of scrapers to smooth it down. will have go at the other side and try and rough it in tomorrow if i can, Gaz.

Hi all, my names Gaz, i'm Petes friend from above post, as he said above its a first build project for us both, although Pete has experience in joinery its a first for woodworking and guitar building for myself so im really enjoying the challenges im having learning. Last weekend i got round to trying to carve the maple top, first researching on forums how best to go about it and we decided on routing levels away 1st before carving, below are a few pics where i am at for the moment, not being used to carving my hands and arms were killing me after shaping just the back of the body lol, and so below is as far as i got, but this weekend i will crack on more and try and progress the carve, i have the sides and horns to do, im looking forward to it but i know it wont be easy with my lack of experience but theres only one way and its to try my best, ive got myself some gouges and chisels as well as the miniature plane i used on the back of the body, so hopefully it will go ok. (....just got to remember i can take more off but i cant add it back principle, lol ) ,.i will post a pic again after this weekends efforts, ..cheers Gaz routed levels away once i got to this stage my arm was killing me and so had to stop last weekend, this weekend coming i hope to progress further couldnt resist a wipe over with a damp cloth, just to see how the grain looked, and smiled ..i like it.