Canuck Brian

Gotta say I'm really diggin that body. Looks really inviting and I can't wait to see more progress on this.

On my latest build, my main inlay spanned about 5 frets - i just slotted thru them with my gents saw (as also advised above) , gave a slight bevel to the slot and pressed as I normally would. No issues, no cracks and a solid contact with the board.

This is the jig I use to cut truss slots. You can use it for both tapered and non-tapered necks. I have a centerline on this board and the two boards attached to the bottom block the router from moving sideways and keeps it moving in a straight line. If your neck is tapered, line the neck up on the centerline and measure equidistant from the edges of your neck to the standing boards. Your neck will be aligned on the center and simply moving the router will cut a nice slot.

heck I'll make a template for a template, haha just kidding.

That's what I end up doing, actually. It's easier to work with a thinner piece of material, then transfer that to a thicker 'permanent' piece. Even if I'm not necessarily going to build a body shape again (how many longhorns do you need, right?), I'll usually have pickup or control cavity routes on there that can be re-used.

I do pretty much the same thing. I didn't do it on a build that I eventually scrapped and i took a look at where i could have used templates and realized that while they take time to make properly, they're almost guaranteed to save you time in the long run of your build - less mistakes, smoother transitions..... I just find that templates make your work cleaner and more efficient.

That being said, for neck pockets - i'm a fan of the rail method, but I whipped up the neck pocket jig from the tutorial section. (good way to contradict myself!)

Steinberger Scepter headstocks or the pointy reversed BC Rich headstock.

I'm also one of the guys that didn't finish on that whole competition. I ended up trying to rush a few times and trashed a few neck blanks in the process. I gave up out of frustration at that point so I could come back to building without wanting to take an axe to the guitars.

What CNC machine are you using to do the cuts? Looking good!

Why not use the stew mac routing attachment for a dremmel and run the roller along the fingerboard?

The cut can be altered to make a shallower channel and then all you have to do is make several passes whilst letting out the roller to make the channel deep enough. Although looking at your pic it might not work when you get to the body as this may prevent the attachment riding properly.

Would it be too much to take the fingerboard off?

He can't do that because the surface that the router place will be running on isn't flat - it's radiused. The binding channel wouldn't be cut properly.

Well. Not to dredge up an old post or anything, but I called ABM this morning (at 3:30 AM EST) and spoke to a rep there. Apparently the owner of the company has passed away and they have sold all the production machines. Official statement at this time is that there is no more ABM products.

This truly sucks.

wow, finally one thread about an 8th string that delivered!!! And not full of CAD drawings!

Hey! I delivered with no CAD drawings at all!!

That headstock looks bonkers!!! I love the recesses for the tuners and I seriously can't wait to see this one turn out.

I'm pretty sure that's one of Mr Sherman's customers that wanted the 39 frets.

Good to see you over here Mike!!

I went thru the pictures 3 times. That's a serioius gift you've got happening.

Got the arm bevel done, tummy cut, pickups routed, wire channel done (template slipped) and cleaned up the bottom cut out. Don't be put off by the cutout as the spikes will be rounded off with the cutout and be much more subtle like on my 8. I have DAYS of sanding and shaping left, but all the heavy stuff is done.

Shot of the back

Full shot with the pickup routes

Had about a hour to work on it today being Easter...got the control cavity routed and the holes for the strings. I'll be countersinking the string guides for the ferrules next weekend and doing the humbucker routes.

Spent most of the day carving the neck out. Very rough sanding in case you're wondering about the scratches. I liked the Rusty Cooley bottom horn carve that I put on my 7620 so I think i'll be including this on everything I make now.

Closeup of the body/neck meeting

Looking pretty awesome there! Any timeline to see this finished??? I'm really interested in seeing that top all done up.

They dont' have a 3 CM model, but check this link out. WAY cheaper (Canadian Prices)

Lee Valley Planes

Another weekend and there's more progress. I only got to work on it for about 4 hours today, but i got it fretted, glued up, roughly sanded to shape (aside from the bottom cut out) front sanded level....

I found that pressing frets and having the right tools to cut fret tangs cut my time for fretting down to a 1/3 of what it normally was.

Next week i'm at the shop the whole weekend so it's actually conceivable that I get it finished.

More progress pics for this past weekend and tonight

Got the neck tapered, headstock cut, tuners drilled, fretboard radiused and inlayed. Don't mind the burn marks, they're coming off tonight. the wings aren't on there yet, just set there for show. I might change the body wings a bit to make the guitar look less huge!

The two pickups are the 81-7 and 707.

I got asked the exact same question by my lady.

Steinberger Scepter with a Transtrem. I dont' really care if it's not custom built for me. It's one of those long unfulfilled dreams I have and she wants to fill it. A custom guitar would be another guitar to me. The Scepter would have one of those "god I wanted this thing for almost 13 years" story behind it.

What guitar have you ALWAYS wanted? That would be the right gift. Perry himself can't make an Ibanez Blue Floral patter because, well, he's not Ibanez. Before ANYONE takes a swipe at me for that, I'm more than aware that Perry's gits are probably better than almost anything Ibanez produces. Not the point though. A copy of what you really want is just that, a copy.

I did read that they were convertable, but I woudln't be using one on this guitar. I'd like to have a locknut installed but I dont' have enough room to intall it at the moment without taking more wood off the nut area.

I do thank you for the link though, i have another guitar that I have kept one of the 7 string kahlers in mind for though.

are you going to try the new kahler 7 trems i think it would look cool with that body shape

I've had it under consideration, but I think i've got around 6 guitars with trem's already in them and I think in the past 10 years i've put a bar in them once. More than likely, I'll be using a hipshot fixed 7.

More progress - got the fretboard glued to the neckblank and I got the wings rough cut. Next weekend i'll be cutting the blank down appropriately, fretted and hopefully have the wings attached.

I've got the long part on there to leave room for the swoosh like on the 8.

Here's a pic side by side with the 8.

Well i cut the fret slots, cut it to size and drilled for the inlays. Here's the inlays in the board but not glued in yet. I'm going to be tapering the neck on the blank tomorrow and hopefully get the body wings attached.

it's the auditory perception that is greater with a tube amp...the sound is much more complex...and it cuts through the mix alot better

I dunno about that at all. I've played in bands where my solid state cuts thru no problem and the tube head that the other guitar player was using keeps getting swallowed up.

That and I've had the honor of seeing Pantera live 5 times. Trust me, solid state cuts thru without an issue.