Charlie H 72

this build is just TOO good. You have taken the inlay as far as it can get while still looking clean and avoiding gaudiness, good job on that. cant wait to see the final product. if i had to say one thing, all of your woods go together really well except the neck wood. maybe that will change once you get a finish on it?

Looking forward to this, these are going to be awesome

Yes, I was mostly worried about the discoloration. thanks for the input.

so, i have this wooden inlay on the fretboard of a guitar i working on, and im not sure if i have to put any finish on it, or if i do, what should that finish be, and how should i apply it? Thanks for the help.

Here are the update pics i promised. painted back black drilled for hardware and neck bolts made pup ring, truss rod cover edited neck position (angle and height) lots of sanding still to do-drill for pot and jack (waiting on parts, jack will be strat plate on back of guitar) make nut, fret finish im headed off to camp for the summer, so this is probably the last post youll see from me for a while.

yeah, i know, it works fine at this angle. i was just wondering how much lower i can safely go

Hey everyone, ive been really busy, and this thing is close to being ready to get some finish on it. Unfortunately, no good pics yet. i hope to have something good up tonight when my dad gets home. Anyways, i have a question regarding something that will affect setup in the future. at first (due to poor planning), the strings were too low to the body and the TOM would have had to have been recessed, but b/c of the tailpiece i am using, that wouldn't have worked due to the pressure needed on the bridge from the angle to keep the strings in place. So i boosted it up a little, and it looks good, but a little higher than i would like. I was wondering how much more you guys thought i could take away before strings jumping around is an issue. also, a rough progress shot:

just a thought, if you make the crosspiece on the top straight across, it may not fit the idea that this thing is an anchor. you might want to put some foreshortening or perspective on it. also, you could put some detail around the ends (maybe like the ball ends on this guy: http://www.beaverlakeboaters.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/anchor.jpg), or any of those three. it looks a little bulky compared to the rest of the anchor now as you have it planned.

wow, very cool. i hope this turns out as good as it looks like it will.

These are so cool. Its rare (i think) to see a travel guitar that is so well thought out and beautiful. you clearly have done a good job.

Nice! I wish all of the hardware was chrome, but then again, im rarely a fan of black hardware. I also like the unconventional pickguard shape.

Thanks everyone. RAD- yeah, i will try on the volute. I might take it out entirely as well, we'll see. How would you make the carve on the top sharper? ScottR-thanks, the curves will also match the tailpiece, if you look back a few updates.

been a long time since ive updated. basically, ive done a ton of work on the neck, and carved the top. the carve on the top is really shallow since i had to cut away at the inside of the guitar for the F-holes, and i did not want to go through. also, my dad's stupid 30 year old router crapped out on me, and wouldnt stay at the right depth on the last level, so theres a low spot. that is a bummer, but i cannot do anything about it. dont have good pics of the carve anyways. the island on the fb is near my cottage in maine, and the tree on the headstock is this tree in front of my cottage in maine we always called the doctor seuss tree, but then it had to be cut down. had to use a hand powered drill to do these guys since i didnt have the right size drill bit. it doesnt look great, but whatever. the grommets will cover it. The curve here and on the end of the fb will match the curve on the tailpiece if everything lines up right.

any reason you fretted it before carving? i was considering that on my current build, but did not go through with it.

yeah, i love the f-hole design. i hope you go for it.

I like that shape. Its like a modern, aggressive take on a jaguar. Clean work so far, keep it up.

The bottom right is cool, but i can't see any of the other ones looking good. maybe try something less traditional that compliments (or offsets) the shape more?

He is saying that the bridge pickup ring should point down like the rest of them. I think its totally your choice. it looks very good either way. it is a cool design you have there, i love the shape. I would paint it something other than black. Think about a few other colors.

Thanks guys! Good to know I have some support, haha. Demonx, i will do my best to consistently contribute to the forums.

Those carves look beautiful, and I love that nice sparsely spalted maple. I hate crazy spalt tops, but something like that is very cool. I don't love the way the headstock looks with the body, but maybe that will change when its all finished, and especially with the carve.

Okay, had to take a few steps back recently to take any forward, but here's what's up. the epoxied rod came out no problem using a heat gun, but the neck went back to the warpage it had before the rod was put in, so I had to level the whole top of the neck out, and then rout the channel to depth again. now the rod is glued in (only on the ends now) and the neck is back where it was before. This is the cool part. My dad and I made this dremel router base, which will be very cool once it is in action. it is based off of Stewmac's router base, but we only had to buy the bolts, so it all worked out to be much cheaper. the dremel screws into the big nut. We did make a stupid mistake though, and we used a nut that is too big for the dremel. after the first test fit everything seemed okay, but then we built the whole thing, and it turned out to be too big. So the top will have to be made again. Also, we glued on the top and did a roundover on the bottom The back will be painted, but i can't decide b/w red and black. Also, if nobody is following this, I will just stop posting. let me know if you're following!

do you have pics of the bandsaw blade rasp? it sounds very interesting. the neck is looking awesome.

Been following this for a little while. i am very excited to see the completed product. looks awesome so far

That's really sweet. Great Job.

I say go for the jazzmaster-style pickguard. a little hand touch can't hurt, and to be completely honest, i don't think that the one you have now looks all that good.