SynysterCT

I love that body shape. It reminds me of my first (and only) build. Unfortunately I had to move to an apartment and leave the tools behind.

Well here it is after the striping. The white stripes have the black outline then total forest green. The headstock looks really white but after a truss rod cover and tuners,most of it will be covered. I'm also going to put some sort of custom logo. I'm contemplating bursting the outsides black so it fades into the rest of the guitar. Thoughts?

*Update*

Well I dont know if I should call it an update because its more of a few steps backward. You guys make everything look so easy around here. I have a lot to learn.

The veneering was a complete disaster. I used titebond II and a 50 lb bag of sand from home depot. I tried to follow the tutorial on here but I failed.

Needless to say I wasn't not happy. I tried using the tinfoil+iron trick but it ended up drying and cracking the veneer. I decided that the only thing left to do was to take it all off, strip it, and come up with a paint scheme for the whole guitar. I sat outside for a good hour with a pocket knife prying this thing off in little pieces. Then I stripped the entire thing.

The knife left some small gouges in the top of the wood, but I was able to sand most of them out. There are a few little spots but I am not too concerned about them. This guitar is for me (i.e. not a customer expecting something perfect) and its my first try. I'm not expecting it to have a perfect factory finish and all that. I decided on a little EVH-esque paint scheme with some extra striping and things. Hopefully it comes out decent. Here are a few progress pics but its drying now. I went with Duplicolor spray cans. I am trying to figure out the clearing process now.

The final top coat is a metallic forest green. Hopefully it will come out decent.

Thanks for all the good replies guys! I'm excited to get this thing done but I'm not looking forward to the curing times. Here's an update on my progress thus far.

I finally got the body sanded down for primer. Well, I actually sprayed my first layer or 2 of primer and realized what a terrible prep job I did. I ended up sanding back to wood and tried to get all the small dings and scratches out. It was along process of prime/sand/prime/sand/etc. but after a few days I got it to a decent place.

Finally got it to the point where I could put my first coat of black on this morning.

The neck was much easier. I reshaped the back of the joint-area to flow a little better with my body and sanded off the original lacquer. I don't have a picture with primer because it went much easier.

Now that my paint is drying, I rough-cut my veneer where I thought it would look the best.

I have plenty of scraps left over to test out my dye. I bought black and forest green powder dye from W.D. Lockwood (tools for wood working website). Stay tuned for some practice samples!

I was planning on going with the wood filler because I had it on hand, but had to go get a few things at the hardware store so I picked up a dowel. The reason I picked up some economy tuners is because I already have the locking nut and it was tricky to find a set in 4x2 to fit my quirky headstock.

More grade stakes to raise the templates

Some MDF board pieces to raise the rear cavity

Here I used the stake again as a routing guide for the recess for the back plate. The top left is the piece of a trash can I cut out to make the cover.

Onto the humbuckers

Routed out the electronics cavity mostly by hand, but again used the stake for a top guide. I accidentally drilled all the way through the body when I was removing material. It is obvious in more pictures to come. I thought about using it as a hole for a pot, but since I am covering the top with a veneer I decided to use wood filler.

I know its not a Forster bit but it was all I had for the neck ferrules. The drill press is also my neighbors. I have been chasing him down all week for 15 minutes in his basement. I can't wait to have my own place/tools some day...

The Floyd Rose posts are drilled out. The "boo boo" from the electronics cavity is obvious now. I couldn't expect it all to work out on the first try though

I lined everything up before drilling holes in the neck. The string is tied to the fine tuners and clamped into the nut.

So that is where I am at right now. My plan is to veneer the top and headstock with the quilted maple. I ordered some black and forest green dyes. I will paint the back of the neck and back/sides of the body black and fade the green to black on top. Hopefully everything comes out alright. I don't have a paint gun or compressor so my only option is rattle cans and lots of sanding. I picked up 2 cans of minwax polycrylic gloss and some valspar primer and black gloss. I also have sand paper from 60 - 800 grit. I have to call valspar and minwax and find out what the total curing time is on their paints and clears so I don't mess anything up too much. Wish me luck!

Comments and Criticisms are more than welcome!

(edit for correct pictures)

Well I decided to try my hand at building. I have limited resources so I decided to buy a pre-made neck. I know I will probably get flamed for it, but I'm 22 with limited income and simply don't have the money for the tools, jigs, etc. at this point. I am however designing and building the body, which is a good starting point. My only wood working experience is an 8th grade wood shop class. I will try and narrate as I post pictures, but if anyone has any input or suggestions about anything I would love to hear it.

Specs:

Body: 2 piece maple - quilted maple veneer

Neck: Premade - maple with 24 fret rosewood fretboard - 25.5" scale - custom inlay

Neck P/U - Seymour Duncan SH-2 Jazz

Bridge P/U - Seymour Duncan TB-6 Duncan Distortion

Bridge - Gotoh Floyd Rose, R2 locking Nut

Tuners - Economy

2 volume - 1 tone - 3 way switch

First off is my design. This is my 3rd or 4th attempt at drawing it up, but I finally stuck with this.

Mock up with neck and parts

2-piece maple blank

This is the Quilted Maple Veneer I bought. I am pleased with the figure.

Fretboard and Inlay

It turned out that my neighbor had a few things that he let me use. Here is the body Rough cut.

And again after some sanding. I ended up not liking this compared to my original sketch and did some reshaping, but did not take pictures of it.

It may be more noticeable in later pictures.

I made a neck pocket routing jig with some old grade stakes I found in my basement

I bought some MDF templates online for the recessed floyd and humbuckers.

My current plan for my first build is to paint the back and sides of my body black, and I have a quilted maple veneer for the top that I will be bursting green middle to black edge. I plan on blending the edge into the rest of the gloss black body. I am wondering what order of glueing the veneer, staining it, and painting the body should be. I think there are multiple possibilities that could work, but I'm wondering what everyone's experiences and ideas are about the best/most efficient way to do it is. Also, when should I drill the holes for the neck bolts and pickup mounting rings?

Thanks in advance,

Syn

The reason I was looking to do this is because I have a maple body carved out that is currently a full 2" thick and is a little heavy. Im not sure how much weight I would save thinning it out by about 1/2" or so. Though the more I think about it, would leaving it the full thickness add a little sustain? I'm not in a band or anything and I mostly play sitting down so the weight may not end up being that much of an issue as long as I give it the contour to be comfortable.

That planing jig looks perfect. I've got most of the pieces already too. It also seems like much less work than the plane.

I am going to go to Home Depot this weekend and see what I can find. I'm concerned that I wont be able to plane the top uniformly But I do have some scrap to practice on.

I'm starting my first build and my body blank came in the mail. I went with a 2 piece maple blank that came in around 22" x 15" x 2". I have it rough cut and smoothed out a little, but I find myself wishing it was a little thinner. I don't have access to a planer but I'm willing to put in the time for a good outcome. Does anyone have a good way of thinning out my body a bit but also keeping it uniformly flat?