xadioriderx

did a little more work on the neck today, went ahead and thinned it out more. its down to .75" thick. its thinn! theres about 3/16" under the truss rod. cant go much more thin

i tried weighing it (weigh me holding it then me not holding it. but that said it weighed 0 lbs. haha

it really doesnt weigh much. avg is what 3 lbs? this feels more like 2 if that, but what do i know

after feeling it, i am not really worried about it being too neck heavy. plus, i dont gig or anything and i rarelllly stand up and play, even if it is.

wow, thats very unique! i dig

and also, id like to add this information to my webpage if that is alright, again with credit to you (B. Aaron on Projectguitar)

hooray, bubinga isnt on there. i was starting to enjoy the smell of burning/dusted bubinga, which smells like olives

books are definitely the way to go if you have a good supply of tools. and im sure there are some about minimal tools as well.

in my sig is a link to my webpage with numerous workarounds and tips for building a guitar (and actually more specifically a semi-hollow) with minimal tools. the last few links are currently dead because im updating the page every few days as i continue my second build. but theres still some decent stuff on there!

my number one tip is... post pictures as you build! why? because we want to see

wow this is awesome! good work! i heard bubinga was the second hardest wood (what im using on my current neck/guitar build), but this shows it as number one! that makes me feel better, and ill probably go make it thinner now because of your page

this is fantastic though!

i am on several guitar boards because i love looking at peoples builds. if youre not on ultimate-guitar, do you mind if i make a thread and link those up? giving you the credit obviously

i think these would be really helpful for anyone building!

Making a neck fit your hand perfectly is one of the best parts about building your own. How is it for thickness? With your wood choices and body construction, you have come up with a neck heavy design. Don't be afraid to luck for ways to cut weight out of the neck and headstock.

SR

oh interesting, i hadnt thought about the fact that bubinga was heavier... oops!

i guess my best guess is that i went with a thin neck, i dont have a caliper so i cant be exact, but its in the range of 20-22mm thick i think, at least that was what i was shooting for. its definitely thick, but i think its a tad wider than will be needed, i really didnt want to make it too narrow and have string roll-off. i guess once i get going on the body and get the bridge mountable and a nut on the neck, i can narrow it out some, but it should be pretty close.

the headstock is on the small side as well with the 3x3 construction. maybe ill throw in some wood chunks when i seal the body up

i cant really think of other ways to cut down neck material. i can make the heel as close to the pocket as possible i suppose. but the body is so thick that im going to have to thin the core out some, and have been thinking about adding vertically to the heel almost in an acoustic guitar style because of the thickness of the body...

with the fretboard on and truss in though, i cant think of how else to cut more off the neck

i pretty much finished shaping the neck today! still have a litttttle bit of clean up to do, and the headstock still needs to be done, and i need to round out the heel more.

ive got 23 frets, and a slight overhang of the fretboard onto the body.

the pics dont really show things well. i got creative with the shape! i do a lot of thumb wrapping, so instead of making the shape like a U where the fretboard goes straight down and then in towards the middle, i made the top side where my thumb will wrap more of a sideways C... heres a pic to kind of show you:

its SUPER comfortable because it conforms to my hand really well. i made the shape all the way up and down to match different things i play. one thing no store bought guitar can do! and i didnt make the fretboard narrower to do it, i just left the neck wider. so no string roll off!

one of these shows me starting to cut for the overhang. NOT fun! also it was super dusty when i took them so its hard to see anything really

Updates!

Bridge got here today, as did my 5way switch and Vol/Tone knobs!

Also got the neck partially shaped up!

I used the belt sander to rough it down to thickness, then i used an inch wide hand planer to shape it. i couldnt get close to the heel or the headstock with it, so it ended up looking like just a big curve =p

but tomorrow when its light out again ill get the nut area and heel down to size!

i couldnt get any pictures, but its actually got a good shape to it

EDIT: LOL i just realized i had the body upside down, what a moron

my awesome thickness gauge

haha alright! id probably get more frustrated trying to remember what settings i like than anything =p

I was asked to draw up a diagram for someone else, and finally today i added it to my webpage, and listed out all (46)of the combos you get. Its for an HH setup, and i hadnt realized it produces THAT many combinations

now, let me start by saying, its overkill, and i would never use it myself. and i cant imagine anyone using most of them. but oh well, it was fun!

so heres the basics:

2 Volume Push/Pull, 2 Tone Push/Pull, 2 DP3T ON-ON-ON Switches, 3 way pickup selector.

Neck Volume P/P Up puts both humbuckers in series "megabucker"

Neck Tone P/P Up kills sound "killswitch"

Bridge Volume P/P Up Reverses Phase of Bridge Humbucker to OOP with Neck

Bridge Tone P/P Up Routes Bridge Directly to output "blower switch"

Each DP3T sets its humbucker bobbins to Series(normal)-Split Coil-Parallel

Tonal Options (NVU=neck volume up, etc; NDP3T1= Neck DP3T in setting 1):

> 3way in ANY Position:

-- BTU (Any others) BDP3T1 = Bridge only Humbucking (all pots bypassed)

-- BTU (Any others) BDP3T2 = Bridge only Split to Single Coil (all pots bypassed)

-- BTU (Any others) BDP3T3 = Bridge only Parallel (all pots bypassed)

-- NTU (Any others except BTU) = Kill

> 3way in neck position:

-- NVD NTD BV(any) BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T(any) = Neck Only Humbucking

-- NVD NTD BV(any) BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T(any) = Neck Only Split to Single Coil

-- NVD NTD BV(any) BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T(any) = Neck Only Parallel

-- NVU (Any other) = Kill

> 3way in middle position:

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T1 = Both in humbucking, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T1 = Neck split, bridge humbucking, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T1 = Neck poles parallel, bridge humbucking, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T2 = Neck humbucking, bridge split, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T2 = Both split, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T2 = Neck poles parallel, bridge split, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T3 = Neck humbucking, bridge poles parallel, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T3 = Neck split, bridge poles parallel, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T3 = Both set of poles parallel, parallel, in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T1 = Both in humbucking, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T1 = Neck split, bridge humbucking, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T1 = Neck poles parallel, bridge humbucking, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T2 = Neck humbucking, bridge split, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T2 = Both split, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T2 = Neck poles parallel, bridge split, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T3 = Neck humbucking, bridge poles parallel, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T3 = Neck split, bridge poles parallel, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVD BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T3 = Both set of poles parallel, series (megabucker), in phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T1 = Both in humbucking, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T1 = Neck split, bridge humbucking, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T1 = Neck poles parallel, bridge humbucking, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T2 = Neck humbucking, bridge split, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T2 = Both split, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T2 = Neck poles parallel, bridge split, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T3 = Neck humbucking, bridge poles parallel, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T3 = Neck split, bridge poles parallel, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVU NTD BVU BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T3 = Both set of poles parallel, series (megabucker), out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T1 = Both in humbucking, parallel, in phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T1 = Neck split, bridge humbucking, parallel, out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T1 = Neck poles parallel, bridge humbucking, parallel, out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T2 = Neck humbucking, bridge split, parallel, out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T2 = Both split, parallel, out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T2 = Neck poles parallel, bridge split, parallel, out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T1 BDP3T3 = Neck humbucking, bridge poles parallel, parallel, out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T2 BDP3T3 = Neck split, bridge poles parallel, parallel, out of phase

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T3 BDP3T3 = Both set of poles parallel, parallel, out of phase

> 3way in bridge position:

-- NVD NTD BV(any) BTD NDP3T(any) BDP3T1 = Bridge only Humbucking

-- NDU (Any others) = Kill

-- NVD NTD BVD BTD NDP3T(any) BDP3T2 = Bridge split to upper bobbin

-- NVD NTD BVU BTD NDP3T(any) BDP3T2 = Bridge split to lower bobbin

-- NVD NTD BV(any) BTD NDP3T(any) BDP3T3 = Bridge poles parallel

and the diagram:

progress. i got one side roughly shaped. had to use the belt sander, took a longgg time, but it looks good! my glue joints are pretty good considering what i have. got my fretwire and binding material in today. im a moron and ordered enough for the top of the guitar only for the binding. forgot to double up =(

good seam

lots of glue!

scarf joint

yeah, i like talking to as many people as i can to learn stuff. UG gets a lot of traffic, but sometimes almost too much, and not in the right places or not the right people. so ive been looking for more good boards to join that are more build focused.

oh really? i wondered about that

whats up with headboard telecasters lol

theres a guy on UG building one too, i thought it was you at first but you went a little different direction with it.

thats some sweet looking grain on there!

build threads dont seem to get much attention on here =(

i just got my shipment of gold fretwire today! im excited to use it, its my first time fretting and my first neck build. stuff looks pretty sweet, and i havent seen it used a whole lot. where did you get yours? the cheapest i found was on LMII.com, i searched everywhere because its not cheap stuff! shipping from LMII is 8.50 flat though, so i made sure to order some binding and stuff on there too. some of their other hardware is a bit overpriced though.

anyways, build is looking really good!

boob-inga!

had to rig up a weird jig for cutting the 15 degree angle, only have pics with a partial cut. but the scarf joint is gluing up now!

roughly chambered today!

got my bubinga neck blank today, and the truss rod, just waiting on the fretboard =D

finally i can get back to work!

wow, its really looking great! good work!

all these great builds put the pressure on me for my current build, i dont want to be one of the ones that people look and go hmmm... im not gonna even comment... lol

and frankly i dont use my bridge pups that often, so i dont mind whatever result it has =p

Ive got another new build coming up for my brother, and we finally decided on a setup today. I just want to make sure this looks legit!

2 push pulls, one does phase reversal one does series/parallel.

Mostly, i want to make sure that if i switch to series, but only have the toggle set for neck or bridge, it will still have sound. obviously it wont change the sound, but it wont cut it?

for example if hes on bridge only, but it happens to be pulled for series mode, the ground wire from the bridge pup goes to the hot on the neck and then to ground, so it still works... right? and vice versa?

to me, it looks like if i pull for series, but have it on the neck pup, i wont have sound

thanks!

hey, youre doing a green to black burst with dyes, and no compressor. i did that last month! haha

i did a video of how to do a burst/fade rubbing on dye, i definitely recommend watching the vid and thinking about trying it. it came out pretty dang good!

http://building.guitarbacktracks.hostei.com/burst.html

and the result:

oh man this is looking great! im glad youre sticking with it mistake by mistake, thats what i have to do too!

my tele build isnt near as extreme as yours, but it gives me motivation to do a good job and be patient!

all the work will pay off soon for you

i was gonna ask about the thickness too! my current build may end up about 2.5" thick, which its a but much

i also agree that i normally dont like shapes like that, but yours flows so well! youve done a lot of interesting things that makes me think "awww shoot, i should have done this differently..." haha

i look forward to seeing the finished product!