2.5itim

Walnut/zebrawood/flamedmaple update: so I got the neck/fretboard out of the clamps last night, cut the taper on the neck and cut out the headstock shape. Today I was able to get the neck pocket routed and get the top carved. I am really happy with how the carve turned out, it's a bit different and I ended up taking the sides of the body pretty thin (.400") and the body was already really thin to begin with so it just feels all the thinner. Heres some pics!

Ok yep I came across that video when I was trying to figure out how to do mine. His method didn't work for me but feel free to give it a try. Just make sure you practice on cut offs.

If you need more detail look up my build thread titled "3rd?!? Shhhh..." I go over it in pretty good detail in there.

Welcome! That link isn't working for me but I'm thinking you are probably talking about a gothic finish on ash. I have done it once and it took me absolutely forever to get right, I do believe I will never do it again! I could not get the gel stains to work for the life of me, i ended up wire brushing the grain to open up the pores a bit, painting my black base coat, let that dry for a day, apply my shellac and let that dry for a day, hand paint my red while pushing the paint into the pores with my little bitty paint brush, only paint over the grain area not over the whole base coat let that dry for about 30 minutes, steel wool the extra red off. I also shot a really light coat of black after i was done because I wanted the red to show up in light and to be all black in the shade.

Yeah I've tried one of those, I wanna say it was either emachineshop or fusion360. I need to just sit down sometime and make myself figure it out. Its funny cuz I run cnc all day every day and can hand right a program off the top of my head pretty fast but when it comes to the cad side of it I'm totally lost. I remember my biggest hurdle was I couldn't get the design exactly right to models I had already made using the ole pencil and paper method, I would probably be able to get it if I was trying to make a totally new design instead of trying to make the computer do what I've already done.

Very nice! I like the idea of using smaller templates for each step up, seems like it would work better for recreating the carve on other guitars exactly the same. I've thought about doing it but I'm terrible at computer stuff so would never be able to get the tremplates drawn out right.

HAHA man I was thinking Leonardo, he was always my favorite as a kid growing up lol.

I've also got this gorgeous piece of quilted maple for a top on it's way right now. IM taking some of my sapele up to work tomorrow to joint it and plane it down to 1-1/4" thick to get ready for the top. I see a ninja turtle right in the middle of this top so it may be getting a yellow shell and green body, (yellow middle with a green burst). We will see

Thanks skyjerk! I do believe I'm starting to get the hang of this carving thing and having a blast doing it. Yesterday I was able to get the primer sprayed on the prs body and today I got the black color coats sprayed, I am pretty dang happy with how this thing turned out. Now just hoping for some warm weather (fingers crossed) to spray the nitro. I don't really have and pics of this stuff but as for the flamed maple/zebrawood/walnut guitar I got the truss rod in yesterday and was able to get the neck blank I've had made up for months scarf jointed and truss rod slot routed. I picked up some quartesawn zebrawood and Birdseye maple for fretboards from my new wood supplier, all he had was 3/4" thick stuff so he resawed me 48" of each to .250 so 8 linear feet of each, I've got plenty for a while lol. I am using some of the zebrawood on this guitar so got the fretboard slotted and glued up to the neckblank, tomorrow I'll cut the neck taper and headstock shape.

I have to agree, that logo is freaking awesome!

Very nice! I can't wait to see this come along and welcome to pg.

Also as I have been working on the prs body I have been slowly working on this tele neck, I trued up the heel and laminated up some purpleheart/maple/Purple Heart, glued it up to the heel and finished the neck carve. The neck still needs a little refining but I've just about got it done, I am going to do a little carving on the body to tie in the carving of the laminates but I am really liking how this is turning out.

Mr natural, I agree! I really wish I could just spray nitro and be done with it because I love the ribbon in the sapele but the guy wants black so I've gotta do it. Either way it should turn out looking good I think. I got the body finish sanded and grain filled tonight, tomorrow I will go ahead and get the primer and color coat on it.

yeah there is just a hint of figure in the top around the control area that you can see if the light hits it just right. It's a shame the paint will cover it up, I should have planned it out to where that would have been on the back of the body.

That is looking really great Scott!

Top carve is all done, control recesses are done, belly carve is done, control cavity is takin to depth, input jack hole is drilled, strap buttons have been drilled and back of the body has been rounded over. Tomorrow I need to cut the cavity cover recesses and drill the holes for the neck mounting screws and it will be ready for paint.

Well it wasn't carved yet zoltar haha. i have spent the entire day in the shop today, I did a little work on the tele neck but don't have anything to show on that yet. Worked most of the day on the carve top, got the spring cavity and control cavity routed, pickup cavities routed and got my carve started. I decided to try it a little different this time from last time, this time I started with routing the final depth on the sides and then cut the bulk of the wood off with the grinder and then finish carved with the palm gouge and cabinet scrapers. I really liked this way of doing it and I think it will be my usual but I don't like that I routed the final depth to 3/8" into the top, I think next time I will go to about 1/8" and it should work out better. Tomorrow I should be able to get the carve around the horns done And the control recess carve done and get it finish sanded and ready for paint.

And once I got that where I was happy with it I went outside because I needed more double sided tape, as I was pulling away ups pulled up and delivered the neck and hardware for the prs body build. So that took up the rest of my day, I got the neck pocket cut with a 2* angle and got the tremolo mounting holes drilled and threaded and got the cavity routed. Tomorrow I am going to plane .300" off the back of the body, I didn't realize the heel on prs's bolt ons are so much thinner than there set necks so the body between the back and bottom of the pocket is way to thick, after I get that done I will route the control cavity and claw/spring cavity, then I can start on the top carve.

And also got the radius from the fretboard to the headstock carved, I used the trusty gouge for this.

Yeah scott, as soon as I saw it I just had to have it! this morning I got the back of the tele neck carved and worked in the Purple Heart into the carve, I am pretty dang happy with how this turned out.

Sorry for the multiple posts, all of my devices hate this forum and it takes me absolutely forever to make a post, or read a post and will only let me add a couple photos at a time. It's driving me crazy!

I had some time this morning to work on the tele before going to family's for thanksgiving things. The headstock did not quite go as planned. I totally screwed up with thicknessing it and didn't cut it even at all and went way to thin on the treble side of the headstock. The side that the tuners will go on is a good .580 thick all the way across but the other side got cut to .375 thick at the lowest point. I knew there was no way I could scrap this neck because I would probably never find another Birdseye fretboard like this and I really didn't wanna lose it. So I got creative on the backside of the headstock and the gouge, chisel, rasp and sand paper got some work time. It still needs some work with refining the lines but overall I'm happy with it and it's a bit different from the norm. My only concern is that part of the headstock only being 3/8" thick and worry that it won't be strong enough, but I know that some of the newer styles have some crazy designed headstocks that only have wood where the tuners are so maybe it shouldn't be a problem. Thoughts? i also got the heel end of the neck cut to length and cut my spoke wheel access in the fretboard.