KnightroExpress

This guitar turned out quite nicely! How do you like it?

I think you have a great start here! My only note might be that I don't feel that the very pointy headstock is a match for the rest of the form. Overall though, I definitely like it. If you'd like any help or advice on lasered templates, I'd be happy to share my experience with you, as I'm a heavy user of lasered acrylic.

I don't know if it'll get to me or not, but I suppose I'll find out sooner or later. I haven't reacted poorly to anything thus far and don't have any other allergies, so I'm hoping that my luck continues!

Also, the D-style does have a rough intonation point indicated on Hipshot's dimensions page, which is helpful for those of us (like you and I!) who like to get everything worked out in CAD before committing to purchasing parts.

I haven't done anything with cocobolo yet, but I'm well aware of its diabolical qualities. In fact, coco's gnarly reputation is exactly why I've been avoiding it for so long. I've got googles with sealed eye cups and a few respirators that I swap every so often, so I'm going to do my best to stay safe.

I really really love the oiled birch on display here. Since you've posted these, I've been looking for a decent source of birch in the US, but nothing promising so far.

Nothing exciting at the moment, as I'm just waiting for glue to dry. The spare bedroom is a disaster at the moment, so no clamp collection pics! I did, however, venture out to my local Woodcraft and got some cool stuff on sale. A nice piece of cocobolo, which will be the fretboard for an upcoming LP-style build: And a billet of goncalo alves with great color and even a bit of flame, enough for 2 fretboards: Tuesday night- the neck shaping begins again.

Glad you're enjoying it!

Dassault offers the SolidWorks student edition for $20 for military vets (that's me!), so I got it straight from the source. I'll have to rebuy every year to keep the license current, but that's still a great deal. I'm sure there are some...uh... less-than-legal sites that you can find an older edition on, but I'd make sure your antivirus is up to par before venturing into those shady areas. Speaking of SW, I'm glad you found it intuitive, as I've been slightly hesitant to make the jump to 3D. And as for free CAD programs with easy curve tools, check out eMachineShop. It's not the most full-featured software in the world, but it's free and fairly user-friendly.

I love the binary fret markers, what a cool little detail. I wish I had some TurboCAD knowledge to help you, but my experience is all AutoCAD. I just installed SolidWorks this afternoon though, so I'm looking forward to figuring that out.

Scott and Carl- we really should figure out a way to exchange! I just read a few notes on CCCCC, it sounds great. @killemall8- Thank you! I'd never had a failure like that either, but looking at both sides of the joint, the wenge itself had some sort of structural flaw... the glue was still fine and holding plenty of separated wenge. The extra apparent length might be a function of the angle I shot at and my headstock design. The bass-side edge is a straight continuation of the neck taper, so it visually exaggerates the length. Overall, this guitar is roughly the size of my favorite old Ibanez S-series.

Wow, simply beautiful. I really need to get a CNC....

Alright, now I need to install the T-nuts that I use for bolted necks. Step one: mark the location of each hole with transfer punches, front and back Step two: drill the recess for the nut base Step three: drill the recess for the barrel portion Step four: Pilot holes for the little prongs Step five: drill the remainder of the bolt path Step six: chuck up a big honkin' carriage bolt and slowly press the T-nuts into position Step seven: make sure everything lines up properly. And finally, step eight: remove the portion of neck tenon that extends into the pickup cavity. Finally finally, step 9: enjoy progress made, daydream about never carving wenge again.... And that's it for the night! I'll have the fretboard reglued over the weekend so I can get the neck recarved and refretted. Now if you'll excuse me, there's a fresh Jai Alai calling my name. Have a good night all!

This guitar is really cool! I think the lower horn looks good as well, but I understand how you feel when something doesn't turn out exactly as you want. Please keep us updated!

Just paste the direct links rather than the IMG codes, this happened in another recent thread. You've got some really cool projects going

OK, time to rehead this one. I just did the whole shaping process last week, so this will just be a bunch of pics. Tomorrow, I'll get the remainder of the sub-fretboard business done so I can have it glued up over the weekend.

I'm from Florida, no one will be surprised to see me write weird stuff

Hey, I can seeeeeee! I think it'd be cool to have a mandolin done in less traditional colors, that gorgeous sunburst would fit nicely.

I actually really like a lot of their designs and concepts- the 060, 070, and 080 line in particular. They're simple enough to avoid that 'look at me I'm a plastic guitar!' sort of issue, but they have a lot of cool details and ideas behind them. ...I know 'plastic' isn't exactly right, but I think it's a common misconception that many people have (I certainly did!) when they first see or handle one of these. I'm all for advancing the form with new or unexpected materials.

I'm just gonna switch to composites a la Aristides. That'll fix everything!

Still better than the coarse assemblage of jagged splinters that makes up wenge

Well hey! That's looking really nice. I'm glad to have helped out a bit, but you did the hard parts

I think I'll stick with something simple for the next one... gremlins seem to be attracted to unusual and/or figured things. Next trip to the lumberyard: "I'll take your plainest mahogany, please"

Bah, I'm not happy to host them, I'll tell you. Hopefully when the wenge wonder is done they'll be on their merry way. Out of my shop.

This is going to be great! I'm officially staying tuned