WezV

Heres a bass body i am having sprayed at the moment, the finish has kind of evolved as we have gone along. It was going to be all rover british racing green but we had some compatability issues with the clear lacquer and it bubbled up on the back. Rather than struggling with matching colours or a whole new respray my cousin/guitar finisher decided to spray the back a different colour and add a go faster stripe around the edge. I am quite happy with the way its going and much prefer it now, most of my stuff is natural wood finish so metallics are a bit of a departure. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/Picture_049.jpg http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/Picture_039.jpg Here are the specs for the finished bass: Ash body (not swamp) Zebrano neck Rosewood fretboard Black hardware 35" scale length Dimarzio J pickups Vol,Vol,Tone.

Not sure gibson are making LP Juniors at the moment anyway. Hamer make a nice Korina one for £3000 which i think is slightly criminal. These are very simple guitars to make with very few components, great for a first guitar. If you are worried about doing a set neck then dont. You can make it as a bolt on neck quite easily by having the neck extending past the fretboard and using a normal fender style neck plate on the back. The scratchplate will cover the extra bit of neck on the front. This works really well with single bridge pickup guitars, but obviously needs a little more planning if you are having a neck pickup because the screws might be in the way.

I use the half round hacksaw blade version and like it a lot. But the hack saw does get in the way when you are near the heel, especially on through necks.

Thanks again to those who have voted for me. I am glad the poll has been restarted even if it does mean i lost the bit that says i had 70% of the vote My favorite guitars (other than mine of course) are also the bass and the tang top. I was thinking my next guitar is going to be dyed black maple and seeing the tang top has confirmed that decision, probably wont do the wedges on this one though. When i first saw them in the raw wood i wasnt sure but the black makes it a real nice feature. I am surprised perry hasnt had more votes, that restoration job is beautiful, shame hes keeping his methods secret. I suppose we have all seen too many strats and turn off without noticing the detail thats involved in something like perrys guitar. Good luck to all the other entries.

As the current leader in the polls i suppose i should at least give my opinion. Its clear that not everybody is happy with the way the system is working this month and if i am going to win i would rather it was in a fair fight that everybody was happy with. We seem to be stuck with two ideas, either restart the poll altogther or enter a playoff situation. My personal preference would be a kind of playoff. I think we should stop the vote now and put the top two guitars from each category into a new vote. I think that shoud appease most of the complaints we have heard in these discussions. Either way i will be happier than if i won unfairly. Can i also thank everbody who did vote for my guitar already, i hope i would have at least got some of them anyway

Heres my first ever entry into GTOM. Hope it does well. Heres the specs: 25" scale Black limba body with flame/burl maple top seperated by maple and wenge veneers. Black limba neck double bound with ebony and maple Dimarzio Norton (bridge) and Super II (neck) Vol, tone and 3-way switch recessed into body http://photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/

Lighter than a les paul because its thinner, the guitar is only just over 1 3/4" thick. The neck joint will hold up fine but i think i will add a bit more bulk to it next time, it does allow good access though. And i finally managed to post a picture

to be honest i dont normally think about it till its too late but its a great idea, i may try that on the next one.

heres the finshed product http://photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/?ac...w¤t=17_0003.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/?ac...iew¤t=back1.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/?ac...w¤t=17_0016.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/?ac...w¤t=17_0012.jpg

Sorry, i have heard that suggested before in seriousness, panic reaction sets in.

Please dont be tempted to get the blowtorch on that veneer, and dont sand it too much either, be aware of how thin the veneer is and how easy ity is to go through it at the edges. The flame looks great and will look even better when finshed, dont get greedy. If this is being finished a colour then its ok to dye the maple black and sand most of it off before spraying the colour, when i say most of it i mean it, you want most of the wood to be maple coloured again with just a hint of shadow on the flames. Bare in mind this means more sanding and therefore more chance of going through the maple veneer so i propbably wouldnt do it on a veneer topped guitar. This is probably the most effective way of popping the figure, but some people think it takes something away from the 3d effect of the flamed maple

I usually make a fake truss rod cover with my logo on it. I used to have truss rod adjustment on the headstock but i was never comfortable with it there with the two way rods i have been using, they have quite a bulky adjustment so i do alll my truss rods at the heel of the neck... But without the cover i felt the headstock looked blank. Its been pointed out to me a few times that this could be potentially annoying for any body doing a setup so heres my latest solution http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph It fills an area of headstock that i think looks bare and cant be mistaken for truss rod access. Its cut from 1.5mm thick indian rosewood. What do you think? I am not sure about it yet , partly because its a bit wonky i think

Cheers PSW. There are quite a few photos in that gallery of my older guitars. I think It has most of them except an acoustic kit i made last year. This is easily the best wood i have ever worked with. You will probably notice that Certain design elements keep appearing, I think this is about the 5th guitar i have done with a poity bit at the base. The first goes the other way because it was meant to have the jack socket in it, it wasnt my idea but i have claimed it as my own, heres the link: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...ba2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...5ad.jpg&.src=ph You may also notice the maple veneer under the top cap, i dont like binding with wood this fancy The maple burl ravelle inspired thing is my 17th guitar in under 3 1/2 years, with the green bass and violin ashbory i am nearly at 20. I approached this hobby by making as many guitars as i could till they started coming out right, not the cheapest way but i dont think i could spend a few years making one perfect guitar. In stead its 3 1/2 years for 3 useless guitars, 3 ok guitars, 7 alright guitars, 3 great guitars and this ravelle thing which looks like its gonna be the best yet, i have it strung and it sounds great + plays nice. I just need to do a few tweaks, make a backplate (shame i didnt make it matching) and make a faux trussrod cover for the headstock with my logo on it. Then there will be photos, and possibly entry into GOTM. http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...m/ph//my_photos This is my galler page with my first 17 guitars And this is the new gallery with the green bass and violin ashbory http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...d.com/my_photos

The Limba came from gallery hardwoods in the US. I dont mind ordering wood in if i know its going to be good stuff. Larry was good enough to send photos of wood to me to let me choose what i wanted and it was a pretty good price, postage pushed it up a bit but its worth it for wood like this. I did miss going to a wood shop and tapping lots of bits of wood to see which ones gonna sound best, but i dont really know what i am doing when i do that anyway.

and heres the bass being sprayed http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph Thtas with the first coat of green so it should get a bit darker. it going to have a scratchplate with dimarzio j pickups. the routs are large because i was looking for ways to reduce the weight on this. It weighed a ton before i started carving it to shape, bloody non swamp ash. Its acceptable now but the neck is going to be zebrano so that wont help, should still balance with that top horn though.

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph Heres the ashbory (rubbish camera phone pic). The maple has been dyed black and sanded back waiting for me to decide on the colour.

Well its been hanging for a few weeks now and i think its about ready to be put together so i should have some pics soon, got a couple more nearly finished as well. There is a ash bodied 35 " scale bass thats currently being finished in metallic green and a 20" scale ashbory bass with violin inspired body shape made from all my little scrap peices of wood.

heres a veneer company that iuse that is located in wales www.marquetry.co.uk here is a the that has rippled sycamore (a close relative of maple) and quilted maple: http://www.marquetry.co.uk/main/acatalog/1.html They sell by the square foot but that doesnt mean it comes square, i.e. a square foot may be 24" x 6 ". They are usually at least 6 inches wide so you will need to tell them the dimensions you need to make sure you get 2 peices wide enough. Email them and tell them what you are doing and they should be able to get consequetive veneers from the billett for you, that way it will be bookmatched. I would reccommed the rippled sycamore as it will most closely match the red guitar above. Veneering headstocks is probably easier than doing the body

Cheers!! I still dont think i can take that much credit for it though, its mostly the wow factor from the wood, clever distorted freaky trees, i love em!!

Its being lacquered at the moment - starting to look proper nice so time for some more pics. Its not fully sprayed yet so it will get even better. http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...c0b.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph Enjoy!!

Yeah i looked at that thread but at 75 pages i am not sure if i have time to start reading it.

Dont joke about sustainers, i am sorely tempted to try out one of them things. I am liking my plain fretboards at the moment, i am fed up of dots and normal markers, the last few necks i have done have had 1 inlay that covers around the 12th fret. Heres the ravelle one with ziracote fretboard and star on the 12th fret IIRC. http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...442.jpg&.src=ph heres another recent one on an ebony baord: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph I should have used wood dust and glue for the filler rather than black dye. and the most recent one has nothing at all, i think with all the maple and accents lines it doesnt need any further detail

That ravelle copy i posted above gets played live quite often. It was built for my cousin because he liked the design of the ravelle but didnt want a fernandes. It gets a very good response when its played live., people love the shape and most have never seen the original ravelle to know its a fernandes copy. I only redesigned the shape because i wanted to build more but couldnt bring myself to keep copying a design

Cheers!! Its not that complicated a guitar really, but the wood is something special, i particularly liked the way the figuring in the wood highlighted this body shape. hopefully it will be ready for spraying soon and the wood will really jump into life.

Ok i havnt actually posted many of my guitars here before but i just realised i actually had quite a few progress pics of this one. A few months ago i built a fernandes ravelle style guitar for my cousin: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...132.jpg&.src=ph I like the shape of this so decided to do my own version: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph this guitar got some good feedback from everyone i showed and was original enough for me to want to do more so i ordered some very fancy wood from larry davis and started on a deluxe version of the same guitar. Here are the specs: Black limba body and neck flame/burl maple top and headplate macasser ebony fretboard Telecaster bridge (tune-o-matic on original) volume tone and 3-way switch recessed into top 25" scale Dimarzio super II and Norton humbuckers Heres the body cut out: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph I think the wood grain suited the shape quite well Heres the maple and wenge accents: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph Heres a good shot of the black limba: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph The body was still a bit thick at this point so the grain changes when it is thinned down. I recessed the controls because of the relatively low bridge: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph Here it is with top carved (bevelled and rounded, not a proper carve) and neck attached: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph The neck has ebony binding with a maple accent between the binding and the fretboard: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph heres the back of the guitar with all the relevant contours: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph And heres the headstock i have used on most of my recent guitars http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wesley.ve...re2.jpg&.src=ph