ShatnersBassoon

I’ve never quite 100 percent figured out why I have so many problems on the wiring front, I’m following all the instructions as far as I can see. I’m getting hum but no sound from the guitar. Any ideas? I’m not running a wire under the bridge because it’s a telecaster setup, I’m taking it that’s not why?

Certainly happy with how it plays. I’ve learnt that fret erasers are a godsend! Help with those smooth bends.

I confess that I actually gained inspiration from how Ben from Crimson Guitars does his covers.

Yes I think that it’s so feature laden with design decisions, the recessing, the curves, the scroll, that an F hole would detract from all of that somewhat. It’s beautiful as is.

By the way, the fact that this is your first build is a bit depressing...I’m on build number 5...let’s just say it’s taken a while for me

Absolute stunner! Great grain patterns and really clean work! The copper/resin looks like a streak of toffee or caramel running through it. Reminds me of a Crunchie bar

Fretboard material possibly? Non radiused that is. For a neck trough build that I’m doing now... Two things put me off. Firstly, because it’s so stiff I figure there is the possibility that it could hinder the truss rod being able to function. It is only 6.5 mm though. Secondly I suppose I would have to detang the frets and epoxy them in? Not sure how well that would go.

Got it stung up, levelled, crowned and polished the frets and it’s playing nicely now. Just waiting for a Hot Rails Tele pickup to come then it’s all finished.

True artistry Scott, I love what you do to the contours on the back of your guitars. Also the guitar has a really organic look to it, it's alive! Lots of mojo here.

A few update pics

Absolutely, I should have clarified this I guess. With regards to the neck, I can only go by my limited experience, but so much of this is subjective isn't it? So many variables and of course confirmation bias comes in to the equation sometimes too. As has been noticed, I haven't really included 'tonewood' in this debate, although it is interesting for sure. I've heard of people getting death threats over this subject. Ah the church of the tone woods huh, people get so reverent over it!

A contentious issue I suppose (which in itself is kind of silly when you think about it), but everyone has their idea of what contributes to the (amplified) 'tone'. By 'tone' I mean what in classical circles is often referred to as timbre, but rightly or wrongly I've always included sustain in to the equation too. From my limited experience, here are my small nuggets of observations. I think that nut material absolutely does, compare a wood nut to a bone nut for example. The wood nut (padauk in my case) was dull and thuddy on open strings in my humble opinion. This suggests to me that nut density contributes to a defined tone. To such an extent I'm fairly certain that this dull character will change when I change the nut to to a brass one. Another. I think the neck plays a huge part in the tone of the guitar. Much more than the body. Notes that sustain nicely acoustically on a neck seem to translate nicely to the amplified sound. What exactly the magical formula of the ideal neck is remains elusive, but I will say that the Wenge and ebony (fretboard) neck i built seems to have a beautiful ring to it that was evident both removed from the body and attached to it. I think that density has a lot to do with this. Ofcourse there's definitely more that I have forgot, but its late at night Thoughts?

Thanks Yes, it reminds me of Black Limba a bit!

Haha I like it! Im going to be putting his name on the headstock, so hopefully no scraping needed Talking of which, I bought some glow in the dark powder. I didn't realise that the powder is actually white though (Glows purple). This is something of an issue because I obviously don't want it to get 'lost' in to the wood. I will figure something out I'm sure, maybe the outline of the letters can be a dark material and I could use the powder for the inner portion of the letters.

I’m going to be putting Tru Oil on it

Been building a guitar for my nephew, he’s 10 so have been making it lightweight, that’s the aim anyway. I was tempted at first to make a 3/4 size guitar, however was having great difficulty finding templates etc. Besides, it’s more likely to last him in to adulthood! It’s also a lefty, almost made a few stupid mistakes when I have forgotten this . I got a lovely piece of Norway Maple (grown in London). It was 7.2 lbs after I cut out the basic shape, so I planed it down from 45 mm to 32 mm (no toggle switch on this build so should be ok with regards to depth). This brought the weight down to 5.2 lbs. cut out the control cavity on the back and this brought it down to 4.6 lbs. I’m going to be putting contours in this guitar, same type that you get on a Strat, shoulder and belly cut. This should take off another 1/2 lb, maybe more. Neck is flamed maple. I’ve put some Evo gold frets in. It’s going to be a single pickup (Hot Rails), so kind of like a modern take on the Esquire. Haven’t glued the neck in yet, the photo is just for show at the moment .

Ok...here’s a question. What do you think? The top of the guitar as the predominantly brown end? Or include some of the flamed section on the top? Decisions decisions....

Ok I’m going to a local(ish) exotic hardwood place soon, always nice to buy in flesh as it were! Will make sure to ring first for sure!

I’m going to a local(ish) exotic hardwood place soon, always nice to buy in flesh as it were! Will make sure to ring first for sure!

Wood erotica welcome

It said flamed in the advert so I am assuming tiger stripes, fingers crossed

Indeed! £75 including delivery.

Here’s some ‘Norway maple’ that I bought recently. The contrasting colours are slightly reminiscent of black limba don’t you think?

Just finished my guitar, possibly putting it in to next months contest, thanks for the help everyone! Now on the way with another build (for my nephew) and it has the spoke wheel adjustment at the heel end...quite a long truss rod, right up to around the first fret. I have a question, is it viable to make this a set neck, can you invisage any problems? I’m asking this because I haven’t seen any set necks with this kind of truss rod setup. Are there any reasons for this or is it just tradition? I would prefer a set neck because I find them somewhat more elegant? Subjective I know. Thanks for any help,

The P90 I’m using is actually pretty quiet, I know because I cannibalised it from one of my working guitars