KnightroExpress

Thank you so much, everyone! 

Maybe on the next one I'll just extend the treble side of the fretboard to meet the pickup cavity and add a partial 25th fret. That's one more, innit? 

Frets installed:

That is some tasty walnut. This is going to be a really cool guitar, I'm excited to watch it happen!

I definitely know of some triple-coil humbuckers out there. Check out "The Motherbucker" lol

Man, this is going to be a great little instrument. I love watching your builds come together!

Haha yeah, what @Norris said- that's what pickguards are for 

Don't stress too much, bud! You'll get it all evened out, no problem. The important thing here is that you're taking the opportunity to learn and do your best to fix the issue 

Thanks Chris! I think I'm mainly leaning toward the headless 8 first, I just feel that it'll be super fun to work on.

7 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Temporarily returning to the wenge project, almost every aspect (in both the visual as well as design sense) makes you go 'wow'. A truly inspiring build.

Thank you so much, @Andyjr1515! I also appreciate the coco advice. I'm hoping that the acetone/regular glue combo will work, but I should pick up some epoxy just in case. And some new filters for my mask....

7 hours ago, psikoT said:

Go for the 8 strings first... no, wait, make the les paul first... damn, I can't decide either... 

See? I really am having a tough time here.

2 hours ago, curtisa said:

That's easy. Build an 8 string headless Les Paul.

Hm....I wonder what that would look like. Back to the sketchbook!

OK friends, as this build is getting close to wrapping up, I'm preparing for the next one. Trouble is, I can't decide what to try next. I find myself pulled in two very different directions: either very retro-inspired or even further into the hypermodern scene. Which would you guys rather see?

1- very Les Paul-esque. Will have PAF clones, carved top, full binding, inlays, the whole shebang.

2- headless multiscale 8 string Voyager. It'd be a testbed for the Mera hardware and also just a barrel of fun to play around with.

Honestly, I'll end up building both guitars... I just can't decide which to do first. Help!

Same as the padauk twin, totally open-pore with Odie's Oil. 

Heh, next time I do something really messy I'll make sure to snap some pics. I don't always manage to keep the dust under such tight control. When I do initial shaping and routing for my next bodies, it'll look like a proper tornado of dust and shavings.

I'm normally a massive template hound (like you guys couldn't tell), but necks and aesthetic carves are done to suit each individual guitar. It's not much of a method, but to me, it feels like the right thing to do.  So I basically go by feel, but I do have depth targets to hit and a profile in mind. For this one, I actually shifted the facet on the treble side more towards the centerline, giving a nice asymmetrical profile. It effectively disappears if you play all properly with good thumb position and so forth, but still retains a bit of reassuring heft if you do go for a full-handed grip. 

Thank you! I don't really try to go quickly when I'm shaping the neck, but it just seems to go that way. I think knocking the bulk of the thickness off with my router taper jig helps a lot. I also get pretty bold with the big edge sander in the shop, I use it to rough in the facets and round everything with my rasp and scrapers.

I'm definitely going to order a set within the next couple months. I'll do a little writeup whenever I get them. 

Man, I must be too used to looking at this guitar, it looks pretty normal to me at this point.

If I've made something that makes you keep looking, I suppose I've done my job 

Sorry for the double post, but I figured this would be good info for you. I've been talking with Dmitry (the owner over at Mera) for the last hour or so and he's simply excellent to work with. He offers great service and will even make custom baseplates to fit your desired bridge angle. Good prices, too!

Sounds like a good plan! I've been meaning to message Mera so I can get a quote on an 8 string set anyway. 

Indeed, the field is limited at best. The only other headless manufacturer I know of making multiscale capable bits is Mera out of Ukraine. I've heard good things about his hardware so far.

Another night in the shop, another night of carving away. The neck is feeling pretty nice by now, it just needs a few little tweaks here and there before I can call it done.

As luck would have it, those are the exact 2 systems I'm pondering. I'm looking forward to reading your impressions of each!

Looking lovely, as usual! I always feel the need to buy more clamps when I see pics like the second-to-last one there. 

What hardware are you going to use? I'm planning a multiscale headless build and can't decide what hardware to go with.

Just sell one, you were born with a spare 

As the others have said, very well done! 

Tonight I did some rough shaping of the neck.

I started with the taper and general thickness. Once again, it's back to the router jig.

Bonus feature- it does headstocks as well!

After a few minutes on the edge sander and some light rasping, we have the beginnings of a nice neck profile. This'll be 19mm at the first, 23mm at the twelfth. 

That's it for tonight! My plan is to get the neck rounded off and in a somewhat comfortable state when I get back to work on Thursday. Thanks for looking!

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