Guitaraxz

Damn, those are nice looking peices of Maple

Oh that shop looks incredible! It is the dream of every luthier....big space....big machines......yeah! 

Sorry that I forgot to take pics of routing the pickup spaces, I was too much in a hurry, but you get the idea.

Here are the finished pics, took them this morning and handed in the guitar at the afternoon, sheesh i'd never made one so fast! I know some of you guys could've done it in half the time, but it was difficult for me.

Specs:

Seymour Duncan Custom Shop buckers

Bigsby B50 tailpeice.

Poly finish, transparent top & Blue back.

Thancks for watching!

made holes for the tuners

glued the neck

drilled n installed side dots

routed space for the jack

finish; transparent poly for the top

Sorry for not posting every step in time, I was just to much in a rush!

I finished the guitar and handed her in to my buddy, here are some pics:

Used a Dragon file to shape 19mm at the first fret and 20mm at the heel

Then filed a straight line between the two

Rounded the neck to a C shape (more like a D)

Made a mock-up

On 23/8/2016 at 6:34 AM, Prostheta said:

I've had nothing but trouble with those glues. I'm planning on binding my Rickenbacker project using just acetone.

hehe, yeah glue can be messy!

How are you going to use acetone? 

My buddy told me he now has a plane ticket (to Uruguay) for August the 31st, so that cuts down my time limit. I have to finish by the 20th (which means in 10 days) in order to have enough time for the finish.

But still I decided to instal some binding.

No pic of cutting the chanel, but this is what was used

So here just pre-bending the binding....

My assistant said "BLUE BINDING??!! ARE YOU KIDDIN ME?"

Yup, blue. Allready glued in. I use CA glue, what do you guys use?

Sorry I hadn't posted!

Some work on the neck……

Glued in the ears

Used a jig saw to start cutting out the headstock

Finished it off with a Dragon file

Routed the body for the neck

Went for a 2.8 degree angle, I should make myself a Myka jig!

The fit is tight enough to hold the body's weight

I didn't take pics of installing the frets, but here is what I used to hammer em in, file off the edges and level 'em

This thread is about the finish, but damn I like that guitar! I hope that after some polish (and clear coats?) she looks awsome.

Glued the neck scarf joint

Logo on 12th fret

Routed the neck for the T-Rod

Glued the fretboard

Planned the wood for the top

Rough cut it

Glued it on the body

and used the body as a template to rout the top

On 2/8/2016 at 6:47 PM, curtisa said:

That's kind of you to say so - thanks.

I would have thought a private builder who can copy a Strat for half the price of the real deal and create something as good as or better would need closer scrutiny. Either he's making no money on such a build, or the quality of the finished instrument is questionable. Or both.

Both Curtisa, both. The problem is in the public who for hand labor they want to pay sh#t and they get what they paid for.

Just got back my two Rosewood Fretboards which had been sent to be lazer cut.

Put some glow-in-the-dark powder in

Looks like elegal powder from Colombia haha

Used CA glue as shown by Chris Verhoven somewhere in this forum

26 minutes ago, SIMpleONe89 said:

Do you work everyday or only during the weekends? I guess the challenge comes when you have multiple projects going on and can only work during certain days.

On this one I'm working before breakfast. In Benedettos book on making an Archtop he mentions that he wakes up every day at 5 AM, goes down to his basement and works untill 9AM when his wife calls him for breakfast. I wanted to do that but I'm not getting up untill 7 AM, jeje  so that's just two hours, more or less, per day. And my wife dont make no breakfast. 

16 hours ago, curtisa said:

As a non-professional builder (I'd hardly call myself a luthier!) I find it hard to understand why some businesses exist solely to create copies of Fenders and Gibsons. There's no doubt that they produce beautiful instruments, but why not put that effort to create something unique? And if a customer is willing to shell out top dollar for a Fender clone, why not just buy a top-of-the-range Fender instead?

For personal use, as a one-off gift to someone or for the educational experience I can understand why a clone might be built, but as I commercial venture I find the concept a little stale.

On a related note, I find it funny that guitars like the Strat, when initially produced were seen as incredibly futuristic and ground-breaking for their time. Over 60 years later players still prefer these designs over the "new" modern/futuristic instruments and the original manufacturers find themselves locked into producing those instruments. If this were the car industry we'd still be driving Austin A30s.

I've seen your work and in my book youre not only a luthier, but a damn good one!

I agree; copies should only be done ONLY for an educational experience. Here in Mexico people want me to make a copy in hopes of getting it cheaper, which sucks, and there are luthiers who go ahead and do it. They make a Strat for half the price and it just bugs me, they not only devaluate their own work, they also devaluate everybody elses work.

I did plenty of routing today, got two body's done, one is from the woods pictured above and the other from a single slab of Korina.

Yeah, rushing it is never a good idea......but he's my buddy.

Anyhow, today I routed out the body

I have always been asked to make copies. So I figure that in order to sell your own individual design you have make it first. I hate being asked to make a Fender Strat, or any other duplicate, so I have desided to start with my own variation of that and call it the Ratcaster. For the first one I'm using wood leftovers that I had laying around. I had to do some gluing in order for it to be wide enough.

9 peices of Parota, Jabin and Korina (Jabin-Parota-Jabin being glued untop).

Here gluing Parota to the Jabin-Parota-Jabin

Korina in the center

I ask all of you Luthiers ¿Do you make copies or do you stay firm and say that you only make originals? I would really like to hear your opinion on this, thanks. 

7 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Me too! Good luck!

It's going to end up looking nice with those wood choices.

SR

Thank you Scott, I figure that if I wish to stop making a living of just fixing guitars then I should accept this challenge and learn to make them quick.

This is the model which my buddy wants, I just made some changes in the line, made the lines rounder. Its also going to be a flat top and natural finish.

Been a long time since I worked on this guitar, so day counting is worthless.

Cut out a pool for the pickups and made sure they fit

First I drilled the holes for the neck and then used this modded bit (I used a file to make the tip thinner, this way It sits centered right into the hole to cut out a fit for the washers).

Perfect fit

Cut out a seccion in the back for the Jack

Made a wider hole for the tuners to fit in

Hey Luthiers, hows the saw dust today?

A friend of mine came to Puebla for a couple of days, he lives in Uruguay, and he wants me to make him a guitar. But he,s going back to Uruguay in 35 days so I have to hurry! I know that for many of you Luthiers this would be a peice o cake, but not for me, I have always taken about 90 days to make a guitar. So it,s time to learn.

I figured a Jr type guitar would be the simplest/fastest one to make considering that my buddy does not like Fenders (so no Teles or Strats)! I know that a Bolt-On would also be faster, but if all goes well I think that a Set-In looks better in a Jr guitar. 

So here is the wood:

Korina body blank

Palo Escrito top

Rosewood fingerboard

Cedar neck

Cleaning up the body blank before rough cutting

Rough cut and thicknessing

Preparing the top for a glue up

Glue up

Cutting the Fret Slots

It looks awsome. Thank you for sharing your design with us! I'm thinking of making one but in order to hold the Dremel in the Pantograph using this http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Tools_for_Inlay_and_Pearl_Cutting/Precision_Router_Base/Precision_Router_Base.html 

I see the 3:1 ratio clearly, but how are you setting the depth of cut?

Oh it looks incredible! I can't wait to see what pickups you use. 

it's a good thing that you started with a bolt-on neck. I started with a set-in neck and quickly realised that was a bad idea and that with a bolt-on it is easier to fix problems. 

I don't see the neck in your build, personally I prefer to make the neck first and the neck pocket afterwarrds, IMO this way one can meassure the width and depth of the pocket better. 

No matter what happens finish your build and good luck! 

Very nice! I love the design because it's an original, it's a Zack, and that (to me) is the beauty of being a luthier. 

Some pics,

Thanks for watching!

Some pics,

Neck

Three piece neck thru; Cedar-Chen Chen-Cedar

Fanned Stewmac Jumbo frets; 28.5”-25.5”

Rosewood fingerboard

Headstock; 8 degree fall away, Palo Escrito veneer

Inlay; glow in the dark

Body

Woods; Caoba Blanca (white mahogany) wings, Palo Escrito top.

Bridge; Fanned Fret Innovations individual bridges.

Finish; Sherwin Williams blue dye & Polyurethane

Electronics

Pickups; Lace Alumitone Deathbuckers

Pots; CTS

Jack; Switchcraft

Thanks for watching!