Sancho Marino

Got her finished and setup today... Plays awesome!

This is a great looking build man, very cool to see so much of your process.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks man! I wasn't trying to copy anything particular, but there are tons of carved SS's out there so I wouldn't be surprised if it's identical to something...

Yeah I wonder who started carving those things? Prolly some old hacker backyard chainsaw wielding drunken master builder

The scarf joint position is on purpose to get that look. I like it anyway, don't think the headstock will fall off. It's a hell of a lot more sturdy than a Gibson

Agreed. It won't fall off. As long as you know you are "doing it wrong" I am good.

It's different not wrong. It's only wrong if it doesn't work correctly..

I left more than enough material at the volute to make up for the position of the scarf.

Hmmm... kinda looks familiar. I like it \m/ except the headstock is not pointy enough

Ok so kidding aside.

So the only thing I would change is on the next neck make sure your headstock pieces is at least 1" thick. This will move your scarf back to the proper position. Scarf joint should land about the third fret side dot marker. The idea is that the fretboard helps support the joint and it is far enough away from the break point that it is not affected by a blow to the headstock. This also keeps the detail accents out of the volute area.

Nice work. Enter GOTM!

Thanks man! I wasn't trying to copy anything particular, but there are tons of carved SS's out there so I wouldn't be surprised if it's identical to something...

The scarf joint position is on purpose to get that look. I like it anyway, don't think the headstock will fall off. It's a hell of a lot more sturdy than a Gibson

I have adjusted the truss rod probably 7 or 8 times already, and it keeps moving like crazy. Before i only had to adjust that neck once a year.

It might work, but right now i just dont have the desire to put more work into something that is relatively pointless.

Just curious, did you remove tension on the truss rod before you started reshaping the neck?

I know wood can move a bit when some is removed, but it doesn't seem like a perfectly good neck would be rendered unusable after a little haircut...

Nice work, dude! Are you going to get some hardware and strings on in time for GOTM?

Thanks Stu... I'm waiting on the bridge, tuners, and a neck pickup so I probably won't be done in time to get slayed by Scott's masterpiece

Right! We need some company.

This one really is special. You've been cranking some out this year......and each one gets better.

SR

Thanks Scott... that means I'm learnin something right?

Looks great. Finish looks very well done.

Thanks man!

I think I'm finally getting the hang of the finishing process with this type of clear

All polished up and ready for hardware and pickups...
It's raining today.... obligatory sunny pics showing off the shine coming after it's strung up I guess

superb scott.... definitely a beauty!

You made some slight changes since I last checked it out... Your first incarnation was pretty damn awesome with the new armrest and all...

This one is a bit scattered looking... reminds me of an opened up swiss army knife with a neck attached... Props for being different man

Thanks Scott!

It is funny how a slight curve here or there can make such a big difference in a headstock

The time I spent on the neck join was well worth it. I think it looks 1000x better than my other set neck builds...

Friday is looking like a somewhat low humidity day, so hopefully I'll be able to lay down some 2K and get this finished up soon...

Thanks psikoT I appreciate it!

Here it is after a few coats of Tru-oil on the back and neck/headstock.
I'm trying something a little different. Tru-oil on the back for a thin-skinned open grain look, and I'm going to shoot some 2k urethane on the top for a bit more protection and shine on the spalted maple...

I really like what the tru-oil did, and the end grain on the sapele is beautiful imo...

Frets are in and finished up, neck is set in and heel joint carved
Reshaped the headstock a little, I like it much better now...
A few coats of sealer on the body and all leveled out.

This one is ready for clear if I can get a day without 90% humidity anytime soon

Top notch Scott... Top notch

One thing I don't quite get is recessing the strap buttons... I would think you'd want the strap out away from the body a bit to avoid rubbing into the finish, especially on nitro... IDK what the purpose is I guess...

And here it is finish sanded to 320 grit and a little Naptha thrown on to show it's colors...

Thanks man! No I didn't have to stabalize it. It didn't look rotten enough and it wasn't very soft so I didn't bother.

Bookmatching went without any problems and so far the carving has been issue free too.

I've gone at it a little more and the carving is just about done...

I'm planning on doing grain filling with epoxy so that should get everything hardened up real good too...

Yeah there's only a couple small spots that are punky the rest of it is pretty solid. I just need to be careful around the softer spots or anything I use digs in a bit much...

I put an edge on that putty knife and it works pretty damn good as a scraper... maybe a little more flex would help, but it's all I have at the time. The little finger plane is pretty handy for carving too, it keeps a noob like me from doing too much damage all at once

Whoa man that V is gorgeous! Sweet job

Thanks Scott...

Decided to make some wood chips today

Thanks Scott... wish I could say I had the forsight to plan the windswept look

I really like the fretboard... I was going to put some MOP offset dots in, but I changed my mind after I polished it up.

I want to get my neck heel joints looking much better than my previous builds so I need some advice on tools... What are you guys using to shape that area? I've tried rasps, files, and sandpaper. Is there something better? Maybe a gouge would be more accurate? IDK Just want to improve the results...

Awesome man... I really like the shape and the carve on the body... and the shape of the headstock works really well with the fanned fret look.

Thanks for all the suggestions fellers

Finally got back at this one yesterday.... Carved and finish sanding the neck, figured out a shape for the headstock, drilled out for the bridge and ferrules, and routed out the control cavity...

I routed around the edges as a starting point for carving, but I kind of like the way it looks, especially the back. Pretty sure the back is staying just as it is, but I'm not sure about the front yet...

Time to think about it while I bang in some frets I guess...

Everything is looking incredibly clean so far! For what it's worth, I like the lower horn as it is. How do you feel about the Jackson or ESP (Horizon) 3x3 heastocks?

Thanks... I was thinking of ESP H3 type of headstock if I can't figure out something else to fit more of the spalted lines in.

It's not that I don't like the lower horn the way it is, I'm just looking to do a little something different with it...

I would not carve the top... only the back with big rounding edges and a big belt carve. If this were my project, I would try with purfling... Regarding the headstock, you certainly don't have too much room to do things... as Stu commented, an ESP style would do the job.

I planned this one out as a 3x3 with a kind of hybrid reverse Fireman headstock design that I've used before and there's plenty of room for that.

Then I ended up with this piece of splated maple I wanted to use and it threw everything out of whack!

I have been contemplating binding the body and headstock as well...

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

I started this one awhile ago, but I'm kind of stuck at this point.

The body is Sapele and Spalted Maple, the neck is Mahogany and flamed Maple w/ Ebonyboard and Spalted headstock

I want to do something a little different with the horns so I extended them both a bit more than an RG, but I think I want to chop the lower horn short...

I'm also stuck on the headstock... I really wanted to use this piece of Spalt I had and keep most of it intact. I'm stuck trying to figure out a good 3x3 shape to go with an SS body?

I'm also trying to figure out a carve for the top right now, but here's where I am at now...

I tried going over Danish Oil with 2K poly once about 2 weeks after the oil went on and I got a ton of fisheyes in it...

Figured it should have been cured by then?