piedpiperX2000

PM'd ya Ryan. and I'll go spray that blue once I get some breakfast in me =] peace

Thanks Mex and Kenny! I really wouldn't go as far as you two have gone! haha, i haven't even built a neck yet I was thinking of having a promotional entry for the business. Think of it this way, imagine you're saving money for a TRICKED out Carvin California Carved Top, you're lookin probably in the upper range of almost 2 grand. That's about what I'm going to charge I THINK, for the first couple guitars. Except mine will be hand made not 90% cnc =] If I charge about 1,999-ish for em, I'll be making somewhere close to minimum wage for building these which is obviously way low but I want to get some out in people's hands and being played; to give myself a reputation before I can charge enough to make it worth while. There's no way I could do "edorsement" type deals haha. If I had to estimate, once I start making alot and have a reputation I can estimate I'll charge anywhere from 2500-4000 for a guitar of this nature, i know it's a pretty wide range because well, i'm not sure exactly how to come up with a fair price for me. This might sound ridiculous but I sold every piece of equipment I had besides a line6 spiderII amp to buy all the tools and pieces for making guitars, sold my carvin ae185, esp lp style, schecter c1-classic, ibanez acoustic, takamine acoustic, yamaha M08, maudio reference speakers.. beh... thousands and thousands worth just to start doing this. Now I'm broke BUT i have what I need to finish this one guitar! Hopeless Dreamer Take Care - Josh

Hey ibanezedge!! =] =] =] We can start a guitar making business ha XD TigerEye it is, everyone seems to like it. Davis, you're right, it would follow the body line at the neck pocket if it was reversed good thinkin =]

definitely Ryan! I'm at work right now but I can tell ya step by step every tool/method/equipment you'll need to get glass like finish =] By tonight, or tomorrow morning I'll write up a nice post for ya

I"ll clear the blue tonight and see if I can snag out a quick pic for ya! As of the contour lines, I just eyeballed it to 4 layers including final side thickness. I've always been drawing since I was 3 so I have a background to some extent in drawing. Not that it's exceptionally hard to do but nevertheless =] take care! - Josh

About the laminate neck hehe I agree but the pieces run parallel the whole way through so it's better than being stopped and glued 45 degree ya know? Pickup configuration, I agree I probably could have chosen something more wide ranged, SH4 is definitely good for alot of things I might still switch out the neck pickup for something else I'm not sure yet, any recs? Dual Sh4's should give a unique sound with the configuration of everything else. It's harder to pop the blue as much because I'm only using black and blue and levels of diluted blue, with Tiger Eye I'm using brown, orange, red and yellow so the multitude of shades I can reproduce on quilt is wider. About Neck reseting, I haven't thought about that yet hah. It will be set deep enough that it should have about as much trouble as a McNaught (which are deep set necks) it's essentially the same exact concept minus the sides are bolted on instead of glued. plus he uses a permanent epoxy so I can't see a neck reset being too pretty for a McNaught. Im'a try to do as much as I can before friday, hopefully I'll have center insert planed, supports and neck pocket glued, top routed and drilled and contoured and I'll be happy! Thanks for the interest!

this looks like a kid drew it but I didn't have time to do a photoshop mockup of the concept The quilted top and back are still glued on but the neck pocket extents all the way under where the TOM bridge mounts, all sides and front are nothing but wood to wood contact. My reasoning for this is, typically set necks are essentially covered in a thin, yet tone-dampening glue layer. This solves this problem for around 60% of the coverage area, it has about 5 times more wood to wood contact than a standard bolt on, set almost as deep as a neck through, less weight, more pocket than a normal set neck. I've seen some instruments made that are bolt on all the way through but theres always neck bolts sticking out, this is my concept for a clean, maximized wood-to-wood neck pocket ****************** I need some ideas for a good tailpiece, has to be pure ebony besides mounting piece but design wise I'm not sure i drew these up quick ehh, i'm not sure what I want to do yet ideas plix! ****************** quilted top came today, it's better than I expected this is easily 5A Private Stock quality ************************ Couple new pics of tonights progress.. top cut, contour graduation lines drew. it's not being glued together in the last pic I just was making sure the sides were straight, dead on ****************** Took some double sided tape, stuck some wood on both sides, clamped wood on each side as a guide to keep it centered and cut. who needs a bandsaw anyways ************** *Current Update: 4/8/08 Trying to find time with working fulltime/dad/soon to be new dad Any suggestions or comments welcome!

Which Color do you like best? I'm thinking Tiger Eye for the whole thing, but my girlfriend INSISTS on dark blue but I'll let it up to you guys! dark blue (no clear): TigerEye1(no clear): TigerEye2(clear): I'm thinking TigerEye1, it's all tentative for now. That's essentially all that's done as of this point.. I'm currently waiting on my Top wood and to plane down the Hon. Mahogany neck support. I have a cool idea for neck mounting that I'll reveal in later posts once I can start assembly of that area. It essentially combines, set neck/deep set/bolt on all in one. It might sound retarded but it's really not I think it's a cool concept I'll explain later. Pointless but::: SH4's just arrived mmmm Some Ziricote I have lying around collecting dust A customers old BC-RICH they wanted retopped. Just got final buffed in both pics (hence compound everywhere hehe)

Checking fit of top to sides, absolutely perfect! Pickups Rings routed and sanded. This will be sliced in half/countoured for two graduated rings This is the headstock shape before it's cut (still isn't cut yet) Neck Angle and Top Depth drawn out Full Neck

Hi! For a quick background check, I'm Josh Katherman and new to the forums. I have aspirations of making my own guitar building business, whether on the side or potentially full time. I've played guitar for 14 years (i'm 23) and have been modifying/repairing/redoing guitars here and there throughout my entire guitar playing era. This is the my first attempt at a full build, this will be the key showcase piece for my website and (if it turns out good enough) my #001 guitar for my company! I started the project a little while ago and I'll post pics of some of the progress and ideas that I have for it. I hope for some suggestions, ideas, and opinions on where it should go and the final outcome that we'll see at the end of this thread! Unfortunately most (pretty much all ha..) of the pics were taken with my cellphone but it's 2mp so they turned out good enough to get the general direction of ideas by =] This won't be a full step by step guide since I JUST decided to post my progress and I dont have pics of everything. This guitar is going to be a Thinline Custom Archtop. Now I say this loosely because the construction process and size is vastly different than a standard archtop guitar. This guitar will be made to play anything from jazz/country/pop/rock/and hopefully metal if construction implementations are as solid as they're planned to be. LesPaul-ish body style modified 25" Scale Ebony fretboard 24 Jumbo Stainless Steel Frets 5 piece laminated neck w/ Wenge supports Bent 1 7/8" sides, Quilted top and back Ebony Accents (pickup covers, tuners, truss cover) F-Holes Duncan SH-4's No Inlays (as of now) L.R.Baggs TOM w/ piezo All Hardware Gold/Ebony Finish:haven't decided! Here's some pics of various progress points I dont have pics of making the jigs for the body mold but here's me bending the sides to proper angle Here's the body shape with sides bent ( i used way more clamps when freshly bent but this is after it's already dried ) It's a bad angle but you get the idea of the shape, essentially lespaul-ish with top curved in instead of straight, this will allow for a much smoother heel and ease of playability. This is a pic of the BACK quilted maple I received, they sent me the wrong piece for the front but I felt like working on it so I started the back first This gives you a better idea of the body shape, I didn't want to do anything too off the wall, stick with tradition to some extent while not being an exact copy. This is after I cut out the back, normally I would use a bandsaw but alas, i'm young and broke so I used my scroll saw for the job

Heck yea that seems like an awesome project. If you like the "yellow/brown/red"-ish color combo; check this out for a finish. I'm currently working on building a copy of this.. "slightly different" hollowbody. http://www.abyssguitars.com/pic%20131.jpg Insane Finish - I think it would look BANGIN on your PRS .. .....

Awesome, awesome color. I've seen similar finishes, speaking of tigereye, that when the sun hits it the yellow comes out really really strong, but in the dark the colors are dark brown and orange. *ponders* Excellent job I'm freakin jealous

lolol join the reeest of uussss WWAAA HSIUDHASIDUAHSIDUAH

Oh it's considered purfling ^^ lol this would be why I could find no good information on it ANYWHERE hey thanks! I'll give it a try

Hey again, I will be started a project soon and I had a question about abalone or other pearl type- like things type stuff material. It's hard and britle.. and to bind a body requires exact curves and seamless lines. I searched posts and couldn't find anything answering this question so I figured I would post it for me and anyone else who may have been wondering! How would one go about creating such curves and lines with something so hard and britle. I've heard things about "breaking" it or cutting it or whatever..but the lines seem too seemless for such vague and "eyeing it up" -sounding words to be used. Obviously I'm either overlooking something or people suck at explaining things I've seen pics with any particular section, diagramed and sectioned off into multiple and equal sections and cut, small piece by piece and individually inlayed. Is this the typical (or only) way of executing this? I've also seen the pre-cut bent strips but obviously this is for a particular curvature which wouldn't apply to any custom made or.. well.. any curve that didn't abide by that angle. help!

Awesome thanks everyone. Yeah I'll just tint clear some and burst! (thanks matt) I'll post pics upon completion, thanks

I feel like part of the family now!

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum. Some quick background; I've been working on this makeover project for my friend for a while now (whenever i have time) and I have an issue that maybe someone here with more knowledge could help guide me in the right direction. I have a BC Rich, totally stripped headstock and body, flamed veneer,( I've learned to hate veneer for so many reasons over thick ) and I dyed it blue. I didn't know of hte dye and sand techinque at the point of dying it or I would have purchased some black dye but anyways.. I bought blue dye from Grizzley.. it's Lawrence McFadden BLUE dye. - After dying the whole thing I was baffled to find out that this is freakin turquoise. I really didn't even notice to be honest I didn't have a blue in mind that I could compare it to. My question is simply, when I go to spray nitro, can I tint it with blue to slightly modify the color without making hte overall finish look dull from tinting clear? Here I posted some links to pictures of how it is now.. I'm already in the stage right before clearcoating so I really don't feel like regressing so far back and redoing all of it with better dye. It would be way too much work for what it's worth IMO I don't have "too" much time on my hands to constantly be working on it, plus i"m not getting paid anything for it so it really wouldn't be worth the time invested. help! ^^ (note: it looks slightly darker now that it has some sanding sealer coats on it but still! not blue.. too much green in it) http://photobucket.com/albums/c162/piedpip...nt=DSCN0192.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/c162/piedpip...nt=DSCN0196.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/c162/piedpip...nt=DSCN0195.jpg http://photobucket.com/albums/c162/piedpip...nt=DSCN0191.jpg

Any update on the progress? I really want to see it Or maybe try it myself; I would like to learn how to do the "burnt orange" burst. It seems to me that they either use black or really dark brown burst initially, then red burst after the black/brown is sanded, then sanded even lighter after the red is dry and use yellow overtop of that ( I really want to try this) Late - Josh ^^