Armaan

Hello - congrats on the well deserved GOTM win! Cheers!

14 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Fantastic guitar, you just need a safety cap on the end of the headstock when you play on stage, your band mates might mandate that! it's a gorgeous rock machine.

Well I’ve never played in band so this shouldn’t be a problem  I fall under the “camp fire guitarist” category haha. I’m more likely to poke a hole in a wall in my apartment.

@Gogzs Just looked these Strandberg guitars up. Really interesting, but I’m not sure whether I like the headless design. Looks like an amputated arm , but it seems quite popular.

I see what you mean about the jack though. I didn’t place it near the strap button as that is where the racing stripes wrap around the body. Honestly I was even thinking of not having strap buttons at all and just keeping the body as clean as possible, but where’s the fun in playing only while sitting. 

@Bizman62 Yes of course, no offence taken at all. I just tried it out the other way (without connecting to an amp) and it’s not that comfortable. The green line is not long enough to sit on the left leg, such that the red line sits comfortably on the right. It’s a bit unstable in that position. My ESP ltd explorer on the other hand was comfortable in that position, as the treble wing is way longer near the frets.

So @Ronkde you may want to adjust the design if you intend to play it that way. 

@Bizman62 I’ve always rested guitars along the green line on my right leg. That’s the most comfortable position for me. I would imagine the only time I’d not want the guitar sitting that way is if it were a Flying V, but I’ve never played one. 

7 hours ago, Ronkde said:

At first I wasn't a huge fan of the wood selection but damn this came out gorgeous! 

Does it balance nicely on your lap when playing with it pointing up? 

It was really difficult to get the wood I wanted, as there is no real luthier or lumber market here. Most suppliers were only willing to sell me really large slabs of wood. When I saw the walnut piece, after 3-4 weeks of searching in during a COVID lockdown, I loved the grain immediately. The Danish darkened the wood and poly gave it a nice semi-gloss finish  

It balances really nicely on the lap and also on the strap. Zero neck dive and really comfortable to play. 

When you say playing pointing up, did you mean like a classical guitar posture? The jack socket would get in the way of that (see the red line). I play with it resting on my leg along the green line.

19 minutes ago, Gogzs said:

Turned out awesome, wouldn't mind having it in my collection congrats mate, gotta love it when a fun thread ends this well

I’d be open to swap our most recent builds

Thanks! @Drak 

Cheers

9 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

Are we reaching a point where luthiers are no longer needed since first-timers can build guitars that both look and play good?

Definitely not! This guitar wouldn’t have been built without guidance from luthiers on this forum and detailed videos posted by luthiers on all sorts of issues. I would not be happy calling myself a luthier and selling this guitar to a customer - there are some flaws that I would think a customer should not have to look past. 

Also, this guitar would’ve been substantially cheaper if a luthier built it  

The sabbatical guitar - first build with zero experience

I’m a corporate lawyer on sabbatical. With some free time on my hands, I decided to build this guitar with absolutely no experience working with wood or power tools. Somehow, after watching YouTube videos and bombarding forum members with questions, I competed the build this month. The guitar was built partly in a rented workshop and partly on my dining table (as you can imagine, my wife was not too happy about it).

In terms of design, I wanted to build a guitar for playing rock and heavier stuff. That’s why I designed it to have sharper lines and a more aggressive look. The dark wood, all black electronics and high output distortion humbuckers, were chosen with this in mind.

Here are the specs:

-        Scale - 25.5”

-        Neck-through construction

-        5 piece laminated neck (3 x maple, 2 x walnut)

-        6 piece body (4 x walnut, 2 x maple)

-        Ebony fretboard

-        Walnut truss rod covers with laser cut brass inlays with my signature

-        Finish – Danish oil, followed by polyurethane

-        Seymour Duncan Distortion humbuckers pickups (SH-6N and SH-6B)

-        Schaller 3D-6 bridge

-        D’addario auto trim tuners

-        Ebony knobs

-        Brass inlay fret markers

-        Bone side dots

-        Copper tape shielding

Shout out to all the forum members that answered my million questions! Thanks for all the help!

The link to the build thread is here: https://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/54092-custom-guitar-build-first-time-build/?page=10&tab=comments#comment-604197

Till the next one,

Cheers!

On 8/14/2021 at 8:39 PM, Akula said:

How did you refinish it, with Danish oil again?

Yep - repeated the entire finishing process. A few coats of danish and a bunch of coats of poly after the danish. 

Continue with the beers - seems to be working!

This looks and sounds amazing! Fantastic work

Cheers

That fretboard is really interesting! Great and unique piece of wood

This is really nice! great job

22 hours ago, Akula said:

I have this idea, and please nobody ruin the illusion for me, that everybody must go through at least one finishing fark-up before they can call themselves a luthier. 

Not sure if this makes me a luthier , but I recently goofed up the finish in my first build.

I applied about 6 coats of danish, 5-6 coats of poly and then polishing it with wax. The wax filled pores in the walnut, which were not visible before applying the wax, and there were really ugly looking white spots on the guitar. Whatever I did, it wouldn't come off. So I sanded it down and refinished it. 

Cool design btw ...

The pieces of wood look really nice - will look amazing once finished. Are you planning a gloss finish?

@Bizman62 @curtisa Insulation tape worked like a charm. Easy fix!

17 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Just for better understanding why, here's a half cut sketch looking from the cavity:

Yep yep, that’s what I tried to do (by bending the lugs inwards toward the inside of the jack). It didn’t completely work, as there is very little space between the lug and the cavity wall. So either the insulation or widening the walls is the way to go I think.

@curtisa I had tried the way you suggested, but because the hole is very tight it’s difficult to see if something is touching the shielding. 

@Bizman62 Let me try the insulation tape - it had crossed my mind, but I wasn’t sure it would work. If this doesn’t work, I’ll remove the shielding from the problem areas and maybe widen the hole a bit.

Thanks both! Cheers

Hey - so I tested the guitar and found that the signal cuts out intermittently while playing. I think it’s an issue with the output jack - I removed the jack and it played fine while it was hanging loose. I think the problem is that a part of the jack may be touching the copper shielding. Any thoughts on this?

I think removing the shielding from the jack cavity might help, but I’m shooting in the dark here. 

Just now, Prostheta said:

Funny, I have a nice big jug of chilled thandai in the fridge

Haha I’m going to make some now ...

11 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Lasers on such a small width is difficult work. The heat quickly causes bellmouthing and distortion in the shape. I'm surprised just how well yours worked out! Very cool.

Yeah, I had to work with the engineer to increase the size to a point where he felt comfortable to try it. He did say that it was 50/50 chance of success, even after the resizing. Worked out though. 

16 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

That much outsourcing is perfectly fine especially since you did all the designing. Why buy a cow if you only need a cup of yoghurt for your lassi.

Hahaha I can’t believe you’ve woven in lassi into this thread. Makes the point though, and lassi is great - so kudos.

Have you tried some btw? It’s perfect for hot weather and to balance spicy food, and pairs beautifully with spicy non vegetarian curries. 

1 minute ago, Prostheta said:

Ah, it's laser cut. I see. Yeah, that's super fragile.

Yeah. I had an alternative in mind. I used a dentist drill (my parents are dentists) to make a groove into an offcut and filled it with ebony powder. Turned out quite nice, but the ebony and walnut did not have enough contrast. So I chose brass instead. I thought laser cutting the brass would give a nicer and more even finish than brass powder.