Mike T

Wish I could take credit for that design. I saw the truss rod cover on an original Bigsby guitar, a Keith Holter model.

The guitar is all I could hope for. It is a blast to play. If you like the project build, please vote for it in the July 2019 contest.   http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49896-guitar-of-the-month-vote-july-2019/

Here's a short segment with a looper in 5/4 time.

I cut out the maple headstock and marked out the tuner spacing.

I selected a walnut veneer to laminate over the maple. 

I wetted down the veneer to easily follow the headstock carve. I then glued and clamped it. 

I trimmed off the excess. I fashioned a truss rod cover out of aluminum. I used a natural stain and clear lacquer on the walnut.

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I used D'Addario 9-42 strings. 

Thanks guys! As far as the P-rail pickup switching, I used a three position toggle switch and volume and tone push-push pots. With that, I was able to go between the rail, P-90 and humbucker. I didn't want to use mini switches. I liked the pickguard design so much that I didn't want to busy it up. I posted a video of me demonstrating the different P-rail sounds in the July 2019 GOTM link below,

http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49819-guitar-of-the-month-july-2019/

I wanted to use some metal on the front of the guitar and happened to score a few aluminum panels at the recycle center of my local garbage transfer station. The metal was about 2 mil in thickness and cut easily on my bandsaw and scroll saw. 

I cut a pickguard  out of the aluminum and mocked it up on the guitar. It was a little overpowering, just too much metal. 

I tried different colors of 3 ply plastic and decided the black looked just right. I dulled it down to match the  aluminum finish.

This guitar is entered in the July 2019 GOTM contest.  A link is below.

http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49819-guitar-of-the-month-july-2019/

mistermikev, I think the build is just right and on the next level as it is! 

I applied bondo and spot putty to the glue seams. I finished sanded, masked off the back and sprayed on a couple coats of black primer. 

I use and recommend Mohawk lacquers. I mixed up black and Sy Casual blue for the front. I applied several coats, varying the mixture till I was satisfied with my idea of a midnight blue. I used the purple Harbor Freight touch up cup gun to spray the lacquer. I was so happy with its performance.  I clear coated the front and back and added a little amber to mellow the back.

Thanks to those who commented earlier, I appreciate it

Now on to the front. The strat blank was oversize so there was some meat to work with.

I couldn't get lacewood in anything but 4/4 so after I added the lacewood crescent to the back, I had to fill in the same shape to the front. I cutout and glued/clamped poplar to the end. After a lot of measuring and routing I worked out the pickup/control cavities. There still ended up being some trial and error but that's why I love working with wood, so forgiving.

It seemed that something was missing from the back. I needed something to enclose all that geometry. I bought some lacewood because it fit with the warm tones already on the back, in fact the lacewood had the vibe of the sun to me. So I cut a crescent on my bandsaw and glued/clamped it to the end. I love the look.

Guitar strap buttons work like a charm. Six could be had for about $6 on ebay

I cleaned up the routing with my dremel tool and layed in the veener. I've not done that before and it was fun. I think it came out awesome and exactly what I was looking for.

I drew some geometric shapes on the back to make it a little less plain. I plan on routing out and laying in some veneer. 

I picked this body up on ebay. Someone laminated 1/4" oak, mahogany and maple to 1  1/2" poplar to achieve a standard 1  3/4"  strat body thickness. I didn't mind, in fact I kind of liked it. I always hated a blank white canvas so to speak, so here was something to work with and hopefully improve. I was going to go with the strat shape but got turned on by some research of the Paul Bigsby guitars of the late 1940's. Could I honor his aesthetics in my own build? Hope so. 

I'm starting a Fender Marauder build based on the '66 prototype. The control/bridge plates are all unique. I'm going to cut them out of a sheet of aluminum and custom cut a pickguard, My project body is set up for a Jaguar trem. I will fill in the cavity and rout for the Mustang trem. I'm thinking of using two SD P-rails pickups.

The acoustic guitar is a beauty. It would be my #1. The Tele has nice use of wood characteristics on the body and electronic appointments!