ZekeB

I'm going to go with a dome carved top on the Osprey. Its going to have some gold MOP purfling. Trying to find out a good binding to use. Would maple with black fiber then the MOP compliment against the black? I guess the question is does the maple have a gold color to it? I"m open to suggestions of material or sources. I want it to be gold binding ->black fiber 0.10" ->gold MOP ->black fiber .10" -> gold purfling (same thickness as binding). Maybe .20" on the black fiber if its not enough separation. Here's the effect I want to achieve with the top. Mayble a little more slight curve so the pick guard protrudes a little more. I'll make my covers out of the macassar ebony with the curve on the backside.

Congrats on the GOTM. Very cool guitar

Cut the body model and adjusted the size a little bigger to compensate the back side. Added about 1/2" to the body scale. Its surprising how much of a difference t makes. I'm going to do some more inlays with this one. Inlays are something I'm a lot more comfortable with and I'm excited about putting some color to accent it. Here's my design. Its going to a matte black so I'm going to run with the red and gold inlays. I'll add some fret markers on the boarder of the fretboard if it doesnt overcrowd the effect. Haven't decided yet.

I was reading the skinny build blog and saw a post using individually wrapped pickups. I've been searching around trying to see if any builders or companies have explored that route. It just seems like an interesting concept. You could really place the pickups anywhere and could get some really varied patterns with say the bottom 3 pickups at the bridge with 3 near the neck. That may be an extreme example but I'm just curious more than anything about the idea. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this concept?

Haha. Just add a few inches and move the bridge!

My builds are pretty slow going with work and have a lot of time in between so my guilty pleasure is just making some fun designs at night. The Mako was my first build and I'm working on the Osprey at the moment. I've made quite a few designs but these were my favorites. Not sure what to go for after the Osprey. Just thought it would be fun to share.

Love the thought into the build Mike. Really interesting from the conceptual to actual blueprint.

Thanks!

Hey thanks! Haha, I'm totally for a band. "Woody Doodiddlers." That's great.

I love the contrast. How does a wenge body sound? Is it pretty heavy?

I have the body wood. Made a visit to clark's lumber in Houston. Pretty cool store. I still need to get a laminate for the neck. I'm thinking Wenge against the mahogany? Any suggestions?

Its for me at the moment. I have a few inquiries though so who knows. I agree with you mike and andy. I think a fretboard inlay is needed. Markers or something.

Learned a lot from my first build. Feel like that's an understatement. Altered my workflow plan based and I've started to procure some parts for my next build. This guy is going to be a laminate neck through. Whats going to be unique other than the body design is the pick guard. going to make it out of Macassar Ebony, and Zebrawood and then put an inlay in there. The body will have a matte black symmetrically rounded over top. I want the binding & purfling, pickguard, and fretboard to be really accented. Not sure on a fretboard wood yet. I'm thinking something with some good looking figure. Any ideas?

Here we go. Big thanks to the projectguitar family for helping me through it. This is the Mako I Wood - Honduras mahogany body, figured maple top, macassar ebony fretboard Scale Length - 25.5" Compound Radius - 12"-15.6" Pickups - Tom Anderson pickups H2, SF, SFR (neck) 10 position Freeway Blade switch Master Volume & Tone Pots Push/Pull volume pot to act as a kill switch (standby switch) Schaller Non-Tremelo Bridge This is my 1st build. I've done other wood work but nothing to this scale. Spent about a year reading, researching, and designing before going after it. I built it in my garage starting with a few tools. As it progressed I accumulated more and tried different things before moving forward. Some worked, some really didn't, haha. I had an idea of what it was going to be and I didn't think I would break from that plan but I was pleasantly surprised it changed it so much. As I built it kind of took on its own character and I just went with it. It definitely took longer to change things but on the artistic side its a lot more pleasing to let the design take its own course. The other element was how it played. I'm much more a musician than a luthier and I'm really happy how well that turned out. Sounds nice and smooth with plenty of ringing sustain, some great flexibility, and low consistent action. The original idea was to take all the elements I love from other guitars and make something unique with all those variables. I feel I was pretty successful in that regard. I really enjoyed the whole process and this definitely won't be my last build. Thanks!

Ok. Got it wired up and sounds beautiful. I’m taking a long approach to finishing this. I’m going to play it for a while and come back and spruce up some things. I wanted to have a finished project I want to take notes to see how it plays and make those changes as well. Still need to at some cosmetic things like my bridge gold screws and fix my inlay for the truss rod cover. Also going to add a matte sheen to the knobs and covers to help bring it together a little more. Regardless im stoked to have a guitar I built and already have plans for the next. Thank you guys so much for the help. I’ll get some better pictures soon but in the meantime here’s some good ole fashion iPad pics. Heres the Mako I

Wiring up!

I'm waiting for the poly to cure at this point. been working on fine tuning all the little stuff like knobs and remade the pickup ring covers again. Getting better at it. Just routed out the middle on the table router and cut the outside with a dozuki saw and sanded them down. Just read Skyjerk's build thread and realized the black got washed out trying to dye the blue in. Really good thread full of information, as are many of these. Really trying to refine the balance on the top. Going to keep the Mahogany items a matte against the gloss of the maple. Also going to put a gold cap on the toggle switch to even it out a little more.

This is great. I sprayed on the coat I feel more comfortable with wipe-on and I was honestly thinking about just thinning it 50/50 to wipe on that final coat since its already flat. If this cycle doesn't work out I'm doing exactly that. Thank you guys for the help.

Thanks Andy!

I am all ears. Couldn't find his post if he made one. In the meantime I shot another coat and I'm going to let it cure while I get everything ready for final assembly.

Witness lines are the devil

Come on in, the water is fine. And bring your sandpaper!

Poly in progress.

Thanks guys

So decided to go another direction with the color. Made lots and lots of samples and I ended up going with blue. I in turn also decided to bind the headstock plate and make pickup ring covers out of some extra mahogany I had. Was fairly successful but one of my holes was a little to close to the edge so i have to make a new one. I'm also up to knob design 4 now. Still haven't chosen one I've liked. I know I want it to match the guitar in either the mahogany or the gold. Not sure yet. lol, just noticed my pics are going through all the seasons. Well, this one includes a fair amount of dog hair too!