Andyjr1515

It's looking good

Only just caught up with this - it is absolutely splendid! Love the concept and the progress in equal measure

Indeed. Thanks, @ScottR

Looking good! And impressive that you are tackling three at once!! I gave up trying to do more than one at a time...I found that I started getting mixed up to as to what needed doing to what! Mind you, your brain is probably younger and more efficient than mine!

The old man, nudged by a *ping* and the now inevitable full bladder, stirs from his daytime slumber.... "What? Who? WHAT THE FLIP IS THAT BRIGHT LIGHT OVER THERE?? The Son?? The SON?? I don't HAVE A Son!! Well, I don't think I have a son?? Oh...the SUN. Hmmm...well...hmmm maybe... OK, first of all I would join the others in being in awe (as also in your previous posts @Stu. ) of your precision, mix of skills and results. A slow build admittedly - but some great techniques, skills and results on show. As to your concerns - well, I think we have all fallen in love and out of love - and often back in love - with our builds. Personally, there is always a point in my own builds where I think, 'this just isn't working!' - every single one of them. Clearly, it's your build and aimed at meeting your vision and no-one else's. But, for what it's worth, it looks great to me - and there is nothing I personally see so far that isn't fixable. Before I move onto options for removing weight, I'm not quite sure I understand yet what your concern about the walnut demarcation line is. If you are wanting an even width, say 5mm, demarcation stripe all around the edge of the spalted top, then yes of course, you have a challenge. The visible thickness of the demarcation depends on the angle of cut and the angle of cut depends on the carve shape so, unless the carve angle is the same all the way round, then that visible thickness will vary. This is a 2.5mm veneer layer: So yes, the visible width varies, but it is a continuous and smooth transition. Oh - and that smoothness of width curve, to be honest, only finally comes good at the final sanding stages, sanding around the periphery before the final 'remove the sanding lines' sanding along the main grain direction. The above picture also shows one way of getting a HUGE amount of weight out - as @mistermikev says - removing thickness where thickness is not necessary. This is MUCH more effective than chambering. I did a whole series of builds exploring weight reduction and trying to answer the often asked question 'why are electric guitars and basses SO heavy?' - the body has to be thick enough to accommodate the electrics, the pickup depth and the neck pocket. Every other bit of thickness is optional! So all of my builds nowadays have, as a minimum, an immense amount of material taken out out the centre-back. This is the above build end on: The thickening at either side is for two reasons: - to be able to accommodate the pot depth at the control panel area - so that it looks and feels 'conventional' to a guitar player. Ultra thin guitars, to many players, 'don't quite feel right' In that particular build, my lightest yet at 5 1/4lbs playing weight (and the body wood is English Oak!!), there is a little bit of chambering but basically just to create the faux thinline look - the chambering does very little for the weight reduction. The bulk of that (forgive the pun) is the reduction in back thickness. It looks like a standard full-scale electric, it plays like a full scale electric, it's made of oak and maple with a pretty heavy top wood too, it weighs 5 1/4lbs: You could take an enormous amount of weight out of the back of yours without affecting the front at all and without needing to cover up any chambers.

Well, as I get closer to the bucket, the list gets shorter I will tinker with guitars and basses until my hands (or mental faculties!) stop letting me, but - having recently finished one must-do, which was the 'essence of Firebird' designed and built for my son-in-law and that I was delighted won this month's GOTM - I have two similar must-do's left: - a conventional electric but spec'd like a made-to-measure suit for Matt Marriott, a UK pro-player who has been a friend and great support for a number of years. The spec is agreed and wood should be being shaved in the coming month - a Guilele/Guitalele sized acoustic for my two young grandchildren for them to learn play if they want to, or leave on top of a cupboard if they don't

I like the look of that both sides...but yes, the back is a little bit special

Lovely part of the world. I know it well

Sorry to hear about your wife's challenges! Glad she's OK. A mandolin has been on my own 'must do' list for years...oh, that and the cello, and the guilele, and the.... I watch with interest

Me too! I'm looking forward to seeing that build develop Whereabouts in the Peaks are you?

Excellent! Can't wait

Many thanks @mistermikev It's particularly pleasing as it was a special build for a special person. That said, I think @Dward13 should resubmit his entry this month...it was a fabulous build!

Another excellent video @ADFinlayson . Great stuff (and great result too!)

I don't think the vote's quite closed yet! Still time, yet - @Dward13's entry is an absolute beauty!

You are progressing well

That's fine. Remember that when it is working, it will be pressing against the bottom of the slot and the bottom of the fretboard and so isn't going to go anywhere. Some folks pop a couple of dots of silicone in the slot just before adding the fretboard to stop any rattle...but I don't and have never had a rattling trussrod yet. There is, by the way, a set up tip - in the unlikely event that the neck relief is absolutely spot on with NO tension on the rod at all, then nevertheless tighten the trussrod nut until you just feel the tension on it - this will give it enough pressure to keep the rod jammed in the slot but without it being enough to bend the neck and alter the relief.

Well - it was passed across to Alex yesterday and, I say with both pleasure and relief in equal measure, he's very happy with it He's going to get some recording done at their next band practice so I should have some sound clips available in the coming weeks. And it's entered in June's Guitar of The Month. Fingers crossed!

Yup - that's pretty darned good...

Well, @Dward13's beautiful build is looking a bit lonely and so it seems only right to add something to keep it company! I introduce my "Swiftfire" 6 string electric guitar. This one is a special build in a number of ways. My building has slowed down in the last couple of years and, while I still have the passion and dexterity (pesky hand arthritis) I thought I ought to get round to building some of the ones that have been on my mental list over the past 12 or so years of this crazy hobby! This one has been built for my son in law, Alex, and I have been able to indulge my flights of fancy a little more than many of my other custom-builds. By its nature a custom build is - and should be - a representation of the future owner's needs and requirements. Over the past few years, as many of you know, I have built a number of bass guitars, acoustics and electrics - and have enjoyed doing them all. But when it's for family...well, maybe I have been allowed to let my imagination wander a little further than normal The spec was simply that "I was going to build Alex a guitar because he's a good guy and his go-to guitar is presently an Epiphone Firebird". The plan Alex and I finally cooked up was to take the essence of the Epiphone - and the iconic Gibson Firebird it is based on - but design-in a number of things to suit specifically how Alex plays. The main change was to shift the neck/bridge geometry rearwards to ensure that it balances well on strap and over the knee. It was then an attempt to add actual or illusionary curves to try to move away from the flat-top look of the original. Both would mean that it the shape would be tangibly different to a Firebird but, if I got it right, there would remain a hint of the icon that inspired it. I'll leave you wise sages to decide whether that has been achieved or not Spec: - Through neck, 25" scale, dual humbucker solid electric - Alder back wings; figured ebony top; maple/ebony laminated neck; ebony fretboard and headstock plate - ebony sanded and polished to shine; alder and maple tru-oil slurry and buffed; final light beeswax (Briwax) application and polish off - Seymour Duncan P-rails wired for full humbucker or P90 split; 3 way switch; 2 tones 2 volumes including CTS push-pull for coil splits - Steinberger gearless tuners - EVO gold frets - Weight 8lbs 2oz The build diary is here: I don't have any sound files yet but will try to get Alex to record some video when he gets this to his next band practice. With the P-rails, though, rest assured - it sounds great! Here are some pics:

And..... it's done! There are always three times as many finish jobs than you originally list but yes, it's done. Alex picks it up tomorrow - I think he will like it. With a final beeswax and polish, it feels as smooth as silk and looks like I'd hoped it would. As an added bonus, it feels pretty good to play too! It was never meant as a lightweight and is just over 8lbs on the strap. It balances well with strap and over the knee and the long lower scoop allows either knee to be used to suit playing style. The controls are to Alex's spec rather than the standard Gibson arrangement and the switching too rather than the normal Seymour Duncan P-rails arrangement, ie: Lower forward - volume for neck pickup with CTS push pull to bring in the split P90 coil only Lower rear - volume for bridge pickup with CTS push pull to bring in the split P90 coil only Upper forward - neck tone Upper rear - bridge tone Here it is - forgive the self indulgence:

Thanks, folks Well, it's starting to get very, very close. I'm certainly hoping that by the weekend Alex will be able to try it out for real, plugged in and all In the last day or so : - Pickup rings have been positioned and fixed - Hatch and trussrod cover magnets are in - shielding done - bridge earthed - pots, jack plate and switch in place (not wired up yet) - spacer/nut shaped ready for final slotting - luminlay side dots fitted - strap buttons fitted And before you all shout - yes, the two test strings DO go over the four relevant pickup poles Here are a few 'present state of play' photos still fitted with the over-length test strings - the final set will be trimmed:

And so to the finishing. The alder and maple will be the oft-discussed Tru-oil slurry and buff method. But the ebony - I think it was @ScottR who did a great write up a while ago on sanding ebony up to a shine where it then needs no further treatment? I had followed that method in the past for fretless fingerboards, etc, but never with a body top. And what about the figured areas. Would they be softer and react differently? Well - got to be worth a try! The tru-oil method was my standard "two coats soaked in; slurry with 180 grit and wipe off two or three times; slurry with 400 grit and buff" method. For the ebony, I started with 120 grit and progressed down the grades to 2500 grit and then swapped over to microweb, starting at 2600 and progressing up to 12000. I used around 15 grades of grit altogether. The result was remarkable: The alder and neck are slurry and buffed and are therefore fully handle-able, but for good measure, I'll leave it overnight to fully harden before starting on the final stages (magnets, shielding, electrics installation, final fretdress, final assembly. Should be all done pretty soon

I've just found te time to catch up on this thread, @mistermikev. Your CNC skills are impressive. That top carve is sublime

I strung it up for Alex to be able to play it over the knee and on the strap while I fettled the neck profile shape to his preference with a razor-plane blade and cabinet scraper. A gooseneck scraper and also the wonderful Ibex mini plane were also used to start to take some bulk out of the back: Don't let anyone tell you that the Ibex planes are toys! I cut the rebate for the back hatch. Now...I have said in the past that experience doesn't necessarily stop you making errors - but it does perhaps give you more options for putting those errors right. Case-in-point: - I used a router bit with a smaller bottom bearing to cut my rebate: - I took a paper template to cut an alder hatch from some matching offcut: - Ah...um...an alder hatch over the ebony stripe placed carefully between the wings and the neck blank... - AHAA!!!! Experience!! Add an ebony stripe to the hatch and every one will think it was supposed to be like that

Yes - exactly that. It actually makes it very simple - you pull the end taut and clamp. There is a surprising amount of tensioning left and so, even for reasonable levels of up-tuning, they seem to work just fine