Zoltar

This is looking so cool

Lots of 'out of the box thinking' involved in this one!

I'll second that - I'd love to get my hands on a bit of Ziricote.

I reckon you should treat yourself and get one, Norris. I've got one too and it's much better than the Bosch palm routers I've been using in the past (GKF600s). I use a Triton (which I also love) for big jobs but this little Makita is brilliant for more intricate stuff. 

You may have regrets about that axle-flag, but I don't think you should have any regrets about scratching around on a 70's RD350...

*...jealous...

Which conductive paint do you use Rob? I've been planning on checking out Bare Conductive's 'Electric Paint', but it would be good to get a heads up on any alternatives.

Congratulations on the new arrival mate

That guitar is awesome too, I love how the light colour of the fretboard seems to flow into the body.

Welcome Matti,

I have to agree with these guys, that is one lovely guitar. The sallow burl looks almost translucent. I reckon we'd all like to see a few of your other builds.

Maybe Will is making a Sprat-ocaster. or a Bass.

...I'll get my coat...

Absolutely gorgeous Norris, well worth the wait!

It's hard to believe it's your first build, there's so many brilliant little touches. Such a cool colour too. Can't wait to see more.

What a cool little tool

looks nicely made too.

Congrats for the GOTM win, looking forward to more inlay wizardry...

I've noticed that some guitarists dislike Oak for various reasons too. I'll not argue with them when it comes to discussions of how wood affects tone, but I'd disagree about aesthetics, I think Oak guitars look pretty cool. I've got an old Westone Thunder bass that's made of oak and it looks great. Some of the guys here will probably know the details better, but I think Westone guitars were made at the same factory as Aria pro basses in the 1980's (more as a tribute than a copy) and they look very similar to Aria Pro's, many of which were Oak too.

So, yeah. One vote for Oak

absolutely bloody gorgeous. I dunno which I like more, silver or gold hardware, both look great on that dark wood. And that shape is such a cool fusion of classic and modern. Hats off to you Osorio, you've played a blinder

Completely agree, the maple/wenge looks fantastic, especially with that beautiful top.

How did you find working with the tulipwood Rob? I used it on a project a couple of years ago (for Louis Vuitton, don't you know..) and really liked using it, but found it a bit soft. 

If Ironman decided to buy himself a guitar, I reckon he'd go for this one.

Looks great, well done

Hi Liquorice, welcome to PG

I'm a first time builder too and I completely understand that disheartened feeling that you can get sometimes. I think you've come to the right place - I was new to this when I signed up here a year ago and in that time I've learned more from these guys than I could from a huge pile of books (hoping to finally finish my 'V' before Christmas!) Just keep checking out these guys' projects and see how they work and it'll answer questions you didn't even know you had to ask yet. But definitely keep at it, it's incredibly rewarding and addictive and those disheartening moments will become fewer and further between.

Regarding your Ibanez style headstock, are you using a CAD program to help you design your guitar? I ask as you referred to a 'dwg-drawing', I wondered if you were using AutoCAD or something similar (DWG being an ACAD file type)? If so could you plan out hole positions of the 7 tuners, the centreline of the guitar neck and body, and then sketch by eye the outline around the string/hole positions? the shape wouldn't be identical to the Ibanez that inspires it, but you can get the 'balance' right and I always think it's those little variations that make guitars inspired by others more individual.

If I've got the wrong end of the stick and you aren't using any CAD software, I'd recommend trying it. There are some excellent free programs out there (ie the awesome Fusion 360) that really help when designing intricate stuff like guitars.

Mate, that just looks incredible.

Like Mr natural, I can't wait to hear how it sounds.  

Nice

great looking solution there.

That's looking fantastic Andy , you've really got the best out of that burl.

Don't want to divert any attention from Andy's cool guitar, but I'd love to see how that Camphor ended up, Prostheta. Looks like gold filigree!

I'm not sure about potential effects of the purple dye, but I find frosting the rim of the glass with sugar allays the bitterness somewhat.

Wow, and to think I've been worried about inlaying dots neatly

That's stunning Massimo, I'm not surprised it took a while. I often look at guitar makers' work and think that they'd be excellent furniture makers. I reckon that you'd be great at silversmithing too!

Well, you mentioned it being dedicated to your newborn son (awesome idea, and congrats!), so I'm going for 'Feb 22' - his birthday maybe?

Judging by the quality of this project so far though, it might be 'build no. 222'!

Gotta agree with these guys; It'll be a shame to cover such a nice set of holes! (they remind me of fractals) and I like the wood in that first pic too. I figured it was just a template, as its a different way round to the blank, but those ghost letters and the weathered look of the wood would look great on a guitar top.

Whoa O_0

That is beautiful...

I've just started playing with Fusion 360 myself, having seen it recommended by a few of the guys here. To say I'm impressed is a huge understatement. I generally use Rhino, AutoCAD or Sketchup when designing (mostly furniture, props and museum interactives) and I've been aiming to use Solidworks more. Fusion seems more like Solidworks than any of the others, but doesn't cost zillions of pounds. I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth into it.

I'm mainly replying here to see if you've checked out any Makerspaces? For those of us living in tiny shared flats with no shed/yard/garden etc. they can be invaluable places to use shared machinery that would otherwise be inaccessible, meet like minded people and even do courses in things like CAD and CAM (courses that are often free).

There's a brilliant one near me in Hackney that has a shared workshop equipped with lots of kit including lathes, mills, a laser cutter and a small CNC. I'm sure there's probably even more in LA - like this one: http://hexlabmakerspace.com/

(I know LA is a big place, but if you search maybe there'll be a Makerspace near to you. They're normally very friendly places, with lots of people itching to help fellow makers)