lunchie

I just wanted to stop in and let y'all know that I'm still around and have not given up on my build. I had to take a hiatus from sawdust, the perfect storm of late nights at work and a Colic-E baby. Good news is that I am using up a couple vacation days this coming week and I hope to figure out a neck jig to route my truss rod. My original goal was to build it tonight but we got a nice little snow storm going on outside and really dont want to venture out in it. Excuses, Excuses I know! I do have the build bug going tonight so I think I shall sit down with my planer and see if I cant get a start on the Thin Twin build. Anyway, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and I hope to have an actual update soon...

Thank you for the link, that is interesting in deed. I am kind of leaning more towards lipstick humbuckers at the moment. But I usually change my mind every 3 minutes until I make the final purchase haha. That is the one downfall to guitars, way too many choices!

There may be a small shot that I can find an original set before I'm ready for them. I am at like month 3 on my first build and at this rate I will be done by 2020 . But yeah there isnt a whole lot of info out there. I am a fan of the lipstick pickup so I'm not too worried. One thing I am also considering, I cant remember if its GFS or Dragonfire or who it is, has Lipstick Humbuckers. Although, it may be that Kent Armstrong or Lollar or the like would be willing to build me the same if I contact them. I don't like to think I am a snob when it comes to gear and things, however, for every love story of the GFS's and Dragonfire's, there seems to be a contradicting horror story as well. Onto the update: Well, I got to the lumberyard today and dug through the red cedar pile. I am more lost now then when I started . I got a couple cedar shorts and a figured cherry short for a contrasting middle. I think it will be SWEET when its finished. I am kind of thinking about doing a angled middle with the cherry sort of like an old Takamine I use to have. The great thing about using the shorts is that I only spent $2.85 on cedar and cherry that will work . Of course though I have to finish them but i can only imagine what a finished piece of Cherry goes for... What I am not sure about is, the Thin Twin is like 2 3/4" thick and pretty much everything I can find is 1" besides some 2" maple. So, I will need to sandwich 3 layers together which is not an issue but i have no idea what to use for the middle layer. I dont want to use Cedar because I want something that is harder, I think it will be easier on me when it comes time to make the hollows. I am not opposed to using Cherry shorts for the middle since they are cheap but it feels like sacrilege since its gorgeous stuff and it will either be routed away or hidden under the top. So I am kind of leaning toward boring old maple. Plus I can find a 14"+ wide board very easily and it would give me a single solid piece to build around. I dunno, I would love to hear what some of you experienced builders would do. As for the top I am going to go with solid red cedar. It may take some time to find the wood though. I never realized how much the grain varies between swirls and straight lines. I am also not sure if I want to use clean sections of board or use the knarley knotted up stuff and make it into more of a barn build looking thing. TOO MANY DECISIONS!!!! This is going to be a real fun build for sure!

Wowza, great builds to all. I ended up voting for Francine because that wood was just amazing! I wish I could find stuff like that locally.

Will do! I am sure a spindle sander would be much quicker and easier. However, the work I have done so far, the most enjoyable parts have been with non powered hand tools: Planes, chisels, spokeshave etc. So, why not just keep on doing it the old fashioned way!?

Thanks for the links! I am really liking the No. 81 Razor shave. Maybe Santie Clauz can bring me one.

Pretty much what the title says, I can find old ones on the Bay and the like but I was wondering if there is anyone out there still making them. I have no problem with buying an antique one if blades are still available...

Well, I was really hoping to get the truss rod channel routed and get a skunk stripe made today, but I was unable to find a 9/32 router bit locally. So, I had to order one and hopefully it will be here before next weekend. After taking last weekend off, I am getting a bit anxious to make some sawdust! Oh well, it is what it is.

No updates on actually building it yet, however I went to the local ma and pa shop and put up a Squier VM Strat that wasnt getting played and I will be putting another guitar or two up as well to help funding this build. I am really wanting a bandsaw and drill press for this build. I dont want to think about cutting out a guitar body from 2" maple with a jigsaw. Makes my elbows hurt just thinking about it.

Disclaimer: at the time of this first post, I have not finished my first build. So the updates to this thread will be even slower then the Tulipcasters, at least at first. But, while I am slowly finishing the first build, I might as well hunt for wood and accumulate hardware and the like. My second build is inspired by the old/new Kay/Silvertone Thin Twins. Goals and thoughts: 1. Again finish with the same amount of fingers and toes. 2. Give the router a good work out and try my hand at a chambered body. 3. I would like to build the Trapeze from scratch. 4. Since I will never be able to find 'thin twin' style pickups for it, I am thinking about using a pair of Kent Armstrong lipstick style pups. 5. Because all my projects need a Code Name, this one will be known as 'Fat Twin'.

I am still very much a greenhorn but I am always going to the local mill to see what they got laying around. I havent bought anything for a while, but Id rather go often and leave empty handed then miss out on the perfect wood that inspires build #2 which will be coming shortly. If I get a good couple solid days of work on my Tulipcaster I could start making sawdust on #2. Two things that have me thinking as of lately. First is a Thinline S-style made out of Cedar. I love my cedar classical guitars and a cedar electrics is not something you see very often. Plus it will smell fantastic while building . Probably wont be build #2 because I dont think I will have a drill press that soon. The second is Sassafras. They always have beautiful Sassafras laying around. However, the one downside is that its typically 4-5" wide and would end up being a 6 piece body if you consider front and back. I know thats not a big deal but it typically has really vibrant grain and I really havent found the right board(s) yet to make the grains look right. I messed up with my current (first) build by not getting wood that matched up right. There was an older guy there a while back, I think it was when I was picking out the wood for the Catalpa Tele body build my father did for me. I was there for probably an hour digging through all the wonderful wood piles. He asked me "Are you buying wood or are you buying grain." Didn't hesitate for a second and said "grain" . As for tone voodoo, yes people get crazy ideas in their noggins about EVERYTHING. Really love those 20 page threads on how fret marker material effects tone. IMO there is always an easy fix, an EQ .

haha yea... She likes to rock out during diaper changes .

I'm really liking that fretboard. Very pretty...

Well, financially I have to take the weekend off from my build. I gotta throw some money at it and this is a bad week for bills. So instead of an update, here is a picture of my little girl that is so cute she will make yeah puke .

Really cool stuff. Please keep the updates coming!

Welcome from a fellow noob. Check out my build to see what not to do . Its definitely a blast making sawdust...

If its only Awful then I didnt do a good enough job .

I got some progress done on the Tulipcaster and busted out a small project today as well. First the Tulipcaster... Update: Its probably hard to tell by the pictures, it kind of seems like pictures of this process is a bit pointless but 'if you dont post pics it never happened!' I got the sides straightened out to where I think I want them. At the nut its 1.75" and at the heel its 2.38" which is about 18/100" thicker then the neck I have been using as my basis. I think I can live with that . That is not a whole lot of difference down the neck but that will be alright. But anyway, its straight so I will be able to figure out my trussrod channel. Also, once I get the neck nearly complete and functional, then I will worry about finishing the shaping of the headstock. It just doesnt make sense to me to do it now while there is a chance of screwing it up beyond repair. I ordered my Trussrod and frets from Warmoth tonight. http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar-Double-Expanding-Truss-Rod-P85C46.aspx I went with this one because it looks like the easiest to install and it said it will work with a heel adjustment. I know it says its installed under the fretboard but I cant see any reason why I cant install it through the back? If it busts through Walnut and maple, that would be real impressive . Now the other project... Get ready its beautiful! My wife wanted to stop at the fabric store on the way home , so I turned my misfortune into some fun. I wanted the tackiest/ugliest looking paisley amp ever and I think I succeeded! The only thing, is it looks like it was done by a bunch of rabid blind baboons. I think next time I think I will recruit the help from my wife. :

Yeah, well you just have to know him. If he doesnt have it, all I have to do is point out that fact and he will have 6 of them by the end of the week . He usually develops the sickenss (oops mean hobby ) and then I follow shortly.

This one I will probably looking to my father for some help. He has everything needed for the nut part, I will probably just borrow his files until I can get my own. Plus, i have a precut bone nut that I am not using, it would just be a matter of tweaking it. Thanks!

I got a couple more hours in on the neck today. I got it to about the thickness I think I want it with the chisel (btw wear gloves! ouch! ) and then I took my No. 4 hand plane and smoothed it out and got it fairly consistent checking with my caliper. Its about as consistent as I am going to be able to make it with what I got right now. I ordered a Spokeshave and some rasps to finish out the shaping. They are suppose to be here Tuesday so hopefully I will have a neck that is ready for nut and fret cutting next weekend!

ordered and ordered. I never even heard of a spokeshave before, I watched a youtube video and I can see how it would be real handy.

Well, after taking last weekend off there was some progress tonight. I just wasnt in the mood to make sawdust, so I figured I better just take a bit of a break. I found a little set of Irwin Maples at a local big box home improvement store and decided I was going to start shaping the neck. Originally I was going to thickness it with the router but after doing some thinking I decided to use the chisels. I know its going to take 100x longer but I am in no hurry. Plus this way I think I have a less of a chance to have a 'oh shoot' moment.

All the builds are awesome! I can only hope I develop a fraction of the skill you guys got. My vote was for Andromeda, all the inlay work is phenomenal.

No I totally agree, I had a what the heck moment when I first saw the pic lol. Sort of like an earlier pic where it looks like the neck area of the body is way thicker then the rest of the body and its even. Maybe my mudroom is a fun house . Ah, thank you. for the warning Actually I found out that my dad bought the same bridge for one of his builds. I will pass that along.