immortalx

Aluminum tape for shielding. I made a cover out of walnut. Fretboard glued with the help of a steel square tube and two nails to avoid slipping. Carving the neck with the spokeshave. That was the most enjoyable process! I used some 80 grit sandpaper glued on the bottom of the steel tube, to get rid of the deep scratches on the fretboard

More to come later, got to go at work

Wings clamped with the help of some scraps Out of the clamps. There's a spot on the upper portion of the right wing that the glue line can be seen. Not good And what about those mysterious black marks? I thought they were some kind of warehouse stamps, but they can't be sanded away. Any thoughts? PU cavities routed, but I deepened them a bit more later. The tube thing actually worked! Also, a close up of the ugly glue line near the cavity corner. Electronics cavity routed

Fret board carved with a small chisel as i had no access to a dremel. It took some elbow grease and a lot of patience. It was a very tight fit. I actually did something right. Here it is glued and sanded flat. Also installed side dots. Did the hs shape but it ended up a bit thin for proper installation of the tuners. I made my very first bookmatched veneer and glued on top. It looks like fish bone to me. I routed a slot and glued a plastic tube inside into where the neck will be glued to the right body wing. That's for the neck PU wire to go through the bridge PU cavity and then together to the back cavity.

Truss rod route slot and rough neck shaping Fret slots were done with...a kitchen knife which i had to sharpen after every other slot Next time I'll save myself by getting a nice fret saw. Sorry no pics of this interesting process! This is a freehand drawn initial glued into a piece of walnut. In case you're wondering, it's my wife's first name...After seeing this, she stopped whining about wood dust in the house. Strange. Used a hobby knife to cut this. Almost there Location marked over the 12th fret

After a failing attempt at a scarf joint (going freehand with the table saw...), i was left with a neck just 2cm longer than the right size. Fortunately, i cut everything over sized so i decided to go the easy route. 1 piece neck and headstock. The neck thickness wasn't enough for the 15 degree i was aiming for and ended up with just 10 degrees angle. Drilled several holes around the wings and cut between with a jig saw. After the first pass with the router i was met with Mr ugly huge knot...The funny thing is that it was visible from the bottom but it seemed more tiny and i made sure i avoided it. I somehow managed to mess up in this curve. It was so discouraging. I thought that by rearranging the curve a bit and with the help of the bevel between the top and sides, i could hide this. After i finished routing the shape i was left with this nasty hole...

Out of the clamps. Time for the so called "most enjoyable thing", the plane! The template was too big when printed at 100%. After several prints, 87% seemed to be the right size (compared to a BC Rich Gunslinger i own). It's just a JEM shape with the horns extended. PU cavity lines are just for reference, I'm going with a HH setup. Couldn't resist a little mock up... Parts arrived!

I've been lurking on this forum for quite some time starring at all those amazing builds. But having no woodworking experience at all (not even basic stuff), I could only dream about making my own. I finally took the chance after browsing through hundreds of "first build" threads, seeing what people could achieve with budget tools. So, a BIG thanks to all the pros and amateurs that share their knowledge I kept reminding to myself i should keep it simple, do not rush, take the time to make proper jigs and most of all, do NOT expect to build the umber guitar! Well, i broke those rules on several occasions and that led to terrible mistakes. I guess that's also part of the process. Isn't it? On to the build specs: Construction - Neck through with zero neck angle Neck woods - walnut/sycomore|rosewood|sycomore\walnut Body wood - walnut Fretboard - Ebony, flat(not radius-ed) Headstock - reverse 6 in line, 10 degrees angle, no scarf joint Bridge - SCHALLER 3D-6, flat mount Tuners - GROVER Mid size rotomatics Nut - GRAPH TECH BLACK TUSQ XL BLANK Fretwire - precut DUNLOP 6140 Trussrod - Goldo Pickups - Rockfield SWV (it's what i had laying around) Electronics - 1 volume, 3 way switch Got the wood from a local warehouse. A retired carpenter offered to cut the big walnut plank and square it for free(thanks Mr Antonis!) Fretboard template over the ebony blank Neck laminates planned,sanded and glued together While waiting for my first glue job to dry, i converted my father's donated circular saw into a mini table saw