al heeley

Started work on carving the neck profile.

Wow, great build and what a STUNNING top!

Not always correct - for most LED's the long leg is actually the + (anode) and should go to the + of the battery. Most will have a slightly flat section at their base which is the - (cathode) - this leg should go to ground.

Here's a schematic for a passive A/B/Y box with LED's

Binding on the body

Martin launched a new range of 'eco-friendly' acoustics last year using resin-bonded wood particle laminates to mimic the feel and tone of real wood, but I'm sure it wasn't DIY-grade MDF they used. Martin have such a massive reputation and history to protect, its a bold move but they seem to be biasing the marketing on the eco-angle and of course the lower price bracket. As far as i've read, they are very decent sounding (and feeling) guitars. Not had the chance to play one in person yet.

Go for it Chuck - it was an idea leant to me.

Sadly the standard rics out of the factory these days are now rosewood fretboards, they've abandoned bubinga, which i think was one of the hallmrks of the rics.

Fretboard WIP - nice piece of stripey rosewood from David Dyke. Brass/wood plug inserts need sanding flush. then its fret slot cutting time. Oh joy.

Great build Wez, classic, understated and immaculate.

Excellent ! - mini HB's are really great choices for tele necks, fitted a SD one to one of my builds, its got tone for days

Not known for its rich tone or handsome grain, MDF is normally used strictly for making templates and dolls houses.

Here's the two body wings cut to final size and sanded. Next the edge channel will be routed for the binding.

not side dots - these are the fretboard markers!

More work on the body wings. Cut to shape and sanded smooth, ready for roting the channel for the binding.

Maple and walnut go nicely together. Here's the top edge.

Here the truss rod channel has been routed and the truss rod loose-fitted. Neck marked up ready for the start of shaping.

Here's the inevitable early mock-up shot.

Note: Body wings are laminated but not trimmed to correct size yet, which is why the lower one looks so big and the bass looks off-centred.

CF rods set into the neck, next the neck will be routed for the truss rod. Once that is fixed we can start cutting out all the wood on the underside and shaping the neck.

Neck pup is Kent Armstrong Toaster.

Got me some wood

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/wood.jpg

Found a very nice straight grained and beautifully blonde maple for the cap, and European walnut with a nice grain for the body.

The neck is a Maple/Cherry/Maple sandwich.

Really pleased to have managed to find a Ric bridge in the UK at a good price.

Here's the little trick with the inlay dots where you drill into a block of sycamore in this case, using a 7mm brass tube then cut little scetions off the end with a hacksaw to get brass/wood inlay dots for the fretboard.

Also managed to get a Seymour Duncan ric-replacement bridge pickup and a Kent Armstring ric bass neck toaster for this one.

Been itching to have another go at a Ric bass. Now here's the excuse i need - this is for Owen, our singer's son. He's called Baker (gedditt?!)

It will be a natural blonde maple with white binding, rosewood fretboard.

Initial plans:

That just about wraps up this project. Wiring works a treat - particularly the neck and mid pup with the mid out of phase on the mini toggle switch, a really nice powerful jangly rhythm sound and the mini bucker at the neck is warm and thick for some tasty blues. The bridge pup is nasty, loud and biting, just as it should be.

Be sorry to see this one go

Thanks Xanthus! If you look up 3 or 4 posts you'll see the ash came from andy, aka Wadkin1 ebay seller that some of us on the UK guitar forum have frequented. It really is a lovely slab and very well jointed and planed level. Highly recommended.

Finally a chance to get some more work done on the custom ash tele after an unfortunate episode in hospital and 4 weeks convalescence..

All routing now done, ready for body finishing, assembly and wiring:

Thinking about a 5-way strat blade switch with an additional mini toggle switch for phase reversal on the middle pickup.

Master vol and master tone pots as per std tele.

Adams family bass!

Oh my! That is gorgeous!

I really like this body shape, it's stylish and understated but looks really classy. it reminds me of my old PRS EG IV and something about the lower horn says a little bit of rickenbacker, but at the end of the day it's unique and it works well.

Now natural blonde + P90's has me salivating. Good luck with the builds!

Some progress today. Belly cut carved into back, bridge pup and ctrl cavity routed.