immortalx

Congrats again man, that's a mean beast! I love the acrylic covers and all the little details, it's absolutely stunning. How does she play?

Thanks guys! Johnny, I'm glad i had the opportunity to try something new, but (like Workingman) i'm not into camo guitars to be honest

This body belonged to a late 80s/early 90s Vester, which i was about to throw at the bin, until my son asked if i could make something useful out of it. I stripped the body off the old paint, put some blocks in the tremolo and pup cavities and made a new neck. Well, this was the easy part cause he then asked me to do an urban camo finish...While i told him that was beyond my skills, he insisted. Kids always insist It took way more time to paint this thing than what i expected, but it's finally finished Body : plywood Neck : maple|wenge|maple Fretboard : maple with ebony dot inlays Bridge : SCHALLER 455 Tuners : SCHALLER M6 Pickups : EMG 81 bridge/EMG 60 neck Neck angle ~3° , Headstock angle 17° , 25.5 scale length , 22 frets Paint scheme copied from ESP Max Cavalera EX. I used Lesonal waterborne paints and Sikkens Autoclear lacquer And here's the proud owner

Guys, thank you all for the answers! I will have a look at the end grain with a magnifier when i have the chance and will report back.

Thank you all for the answers. Searching the wood database the closest in appearance i found is Tulipwood Again, this has a greater average weight per cubic meter, but i don't know how much i can rely on that. Can it deviate so much cause it has been drying for so long? I want to get some 15mm bookmatched tops out of it. Do you think it would be too unstable for that?

I asked some friends in another forum to make a guess, thinking it would be an easy one. I was directed to an article and learned how real wood identification works and it was very informative indeed. I'm currently moving my workshop and won't have the chance to do any tests anytime soon, so i thought i could post it here for anyone to make a guess Found it in a scrap pile on a local hardwood warehouse and i was told by the workers that it has been sitting there for over 10 years. No one knew what it was but it looked interesting and i got it for a nice price. I thought it was some kind of rosewood but i calculated the average weight (638 kg/m3) and it doesn't seem so. I cut a small piece and has a cinnamon-like odor. Although it's not planed, it's very smooth to the touch.

Second build? If i was guitar shopping, i would ask you if it's for sale (is it actually?) Congrats man, that's some seriously mean monster that i'd love to get my dirty hands on

I just ordered this bridge from thomann.de, together with a bunch of parts for a 7 string build. It's not listed on their catalog so i just asked them and told me they can get it for me. Anyone care to share his experience with this bridge? It's hard to find any info about it and i had to email ABM for dimensions. They seem to have excellent customer support though, cause they replied ultra fast with a detailed description and measurements and they apologized for not having any blueprints on their site!

Hey mate, that fade is interesting. I haven't seen anything like that and the overall concept looks cool. I'm planning a seven too and if you don't mind me asking, which bridge is that on the mock up? Keep us posted about the project

I was about to ask the same thing, so that makes 2 of us Are you making a 7 string ?

Saw that on ss.org too. It's unbelievably gorgeous! I'd love to see some big, daylight pics of it

If the front of the headstock stays natural (which IMHO it should, cause it's sexy curves deserve to be clearly seen), then a natural neck will feel more...natural Did i say i envy you? Even your mock ups seem freaking real

Scott, once again thanks for taking the time to answer my noobish questions My biggest concern was whether i should slice/plane the top and bottom of the blank to get rid of the holes. I wouldn't mind filling them if they cause no harm and i guess most of them will disappear anyway after shaping and routing the various cavities. Well, that will leave the total thickness as it is so, as you said, i can get 2 bodies out of a single plank. I only have access to a table saw so i'm thinking of ripping the piece in half from one side, flip it over to do the other side and finish with a handsaw. Time for some planning this weekend before i get to work with it. Thanks for the help man

That was one of the most enjoyable, humorous and well documented builds And what a stunning result for a first one! I just love all the ingenious solutions you came up with a limited set of tools. Like, putting that router into a thousand uses and the drill press on top of the super jig Congrats man

That's one sexy instrument you gave birth to I found myself staring at the neck heel for several minutes...I'm really speechless

It's such a beauty, both classic and modern looking! Hats off to you sir

I must be blind cause i can't find the edit post button ,sorry for that

It seems I'm getting lucky lately. Just a couple of days after finishing my first build, a friend of mine donated this piece of walnut. According to him, it's a slice near the center portion of the log (there's still bark on both it's sides) and has been cut before 15 years. Approximate dimensions are 2.2m X 40cm X 10cm (86 X 16 X 4 inches). It's full of holes that seem to go as much as 5mm (0.2 inches) deep. He said i can use the whole board but i insisted i should keep just a portion for one guitar body and return the rest. What in your opinion is the best way to get a nice blank out of it? And how much of a problem are those (worm?) bites? Thanks in advance and excuse my poor English (not my native language) https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Public/walnut1.jpg?w=fd45ba0c https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Public/walnut2.jpg?w=b6ff39ba https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Public/walnut3.jpg?w=c9004344

It could be a fungus; it's probably mineral stain, or it an area where the grain has folded a bit and exposed more pores or a combination. Was that visible in the raw surface of the wood and how far below the original surface is that area now--how much wood has been removed to get to the current surface? Sanding irregularities will show darker when finished too, there appeared to be a little of that on the insides of the horns. Whatever it is, you did a very nice job on this. The final shapes and contours give no clue as to how much work you had to do to achieve those fine results. Well done. SR Thanks for the kind words ScottR The marks were visible in the raw surface and i guess i removed no more than 2 mm from the top including hand planing and sanding. In the forearm contour, where more material was removed, they seem to have faded a bit. And indeed, i've done a poor job on the inside of the horns and although i sanded them for hours by hand, i couldn't get them perfect smooth. At least now i know why they are so freaking dark Thanks for the valuable answers man

That's so clean for a first build! Keep going man

Thanks for the feedback guys! Ripthorn, to keep myself going i kept telling the missus that in case of failure, it would still be a nice decoration element on the wall Plinky, it's not that noticeable anymore cause the wood has darkened quite a bit after oiling, i'm just wondering what would happen if the wood shrinks from moisture change Mike.D (funny, that's my son's name ), i didn't feel comfortable using it, but i had to work on a budget. Time to invest in some tools, i'm now certain i'm hooked BTW, i still don't know if those black marks on the front are meant to be there. Is it fungus or something? Any ideas?

Some more

After the oil has dried, it was just a matter of installing the hardware, soldering and do a typical setup. I also made an ebony trussrod cover and walnut pickup rings. To do the pickup rings i've traced a spare plastic ring over a thick walnut scrap, drilled all the holes and cut the outer dimensions on the table saw. I then used the pickup template to route the inside, making sure i avoided the little ears(the ones that the PU height adjustment screws go through). Finally, i sliced 2 pieces on the table saw and filed the little details by hand. Here are some pics of the final build.

I couldn't resist and stringed her for the first time While aesthetically poor, the fretwork passed the practical tests. A quarter turn on the trussrod and no sign of buzzing. The action is super low too. I made a knob out of walnut. I wish i had a wood lathe, i guess it would be way easier than shaping it with files and sandpaper I ripped a plastic insert from an old amp knob which was a perfect fit. I drilled a hole in the knob and glued into place Walnut 3 way switch lever (sorry for the blurry pics) I forgot to get pics of several of the steps, so here it is after a first wipe with linseed oil mixed with a tiny bit of varnish. I somehow managed to make an unrepairable damage on the back cavity cover, so i've made a temporary one from a sycomore scrap.

First layer of ebony dust mixed with wood glue applied. I sanded and repeated the process a couple more times. It actually worked and I felt satisfied with the result Carving the neck heel... ...and the volute Frets hammered and glued. While doing the bevels on one side, i realized i forgot to tape the fretboard and the metallic dust covered the whole fretboard. TBH I've made a very poor fretting job which needed a lot of filing to level out, and some frets had so much less material left, that it was impossible to recrown them properly