Xanthus

Since this seems to be very much an "art" piece, I'm going to throw in my vote for making this a fretless build. That's one impressive board! Much more classy than the Vine-o-Life, imo. What are you thinking for a headstock design? It looks a bit on the skinny side where you have it now. Check Warmoth if you're that sold on gold fretwire; I'm almost positive they have it. LMII might too. And if I might take a guess, it sounds like you already have a beautiful lady in mind to hang this one on

Epic That is a nice shade of red. Worked well with the ash, too. So I notice you left the sharp transition between the knob surfaces and the carve of the guitar. Pourquoi?

Ah! I completely forgot about that! It's a ribbon strip like you would find on a keyboard, I believe. I wonder if it's wireless.... Because that guy already has so much going on, I'd hate to be tethered to the ground by two cords.

Not to bump an old thread or anything, but could anyone give me a quick tonal comparison of cherry to other popular woods? It's pretty cheap at the store I buy from, and I'm planning on going down to buy wood for project 3 in a few weeks. Before I drop a bunch of money on (most likely) khaya, I'd like to know what others think.

Maybe you could build it into your project, and use the pedal like a B-Bender :D I'm with Greg on this one, though. Unless it's a knob or a switch, I'd rather it not in my guitar. I just can't think of a practical way that you could get the whole range of whammy motion controllable through the front of the guitar. Most likely, it's controlled with some sort of pot like a wah pedal, and getting a fast motion out of a pot isn't easy without some leverage, like a pedal. It's always been a much faster action with my foot, and more controllable. And when you're fiddling with a knob, you're not playing your guitar. It's one or the other. When you have a pedal to activate with your foot, you can do both. As far as power goes, the Whammy comes with a wall wart, so I imagine it ripping through 9v batteries like there's no tomorrow. A few members here have taken a tip from Matt Bellamy/Manson guitars and are putting fuzz, phaser, and the like into their guitars, but those are simpler to do, and mostly are installed in a "set it and forget it" configuration. If you're REALLY looking to put some extra electronics into your guitars, I feel that's the way to go. The Whammy is just too big and requires such a fine touch to control it that it belongs on the floor. In my opinion, of course

I might be partial to flipping it, throwing a veneer in the middle, and calling it a day. Like Prostheta's wonderful backslash diagram, because it's pretty perfectly 45 degrees riftsawn, the grain would look pretty unique, when you carve it.

I'm still concerned about adjusting the neck if need be (though looks like you should be able to reach it through the electronics cavity) as well as routing the neck pickup cavity through the neck bolt... But I am consistently impressed with how professional this build looks! Nice work, keep it going. ::EDIT:: I just remembered how thick the guitar is, so I'm not nearly as concerned about routing through the bolt. Will the routing for the pickup tabs break into the main cavity, or will they stay within the center block? The tolerances look pretty tight. I've always wondered about this part of a semi-hollow construction, whether or not the pickups hanging in the cavity or surrounded by the wood of the center block would make a difference on the feedback problem.

Well, you can, but unless it's a business, that could very well be a long time. I'd hate to be without my favorite guitar for 9 months or so

I like the way this is coming out, Daniel. It's much more interesting to look at than the other PRS-style double cuts. I'm not really feeling the swoosh on the headstock; I feel like the angles of the headstock and the swoosh conflict. But it ain't mine to say, so hey. I feel the sound of this guitar being bright bright bright! Wenge, maple, ebony, and EMGs? Damn I see some pencil marks around the TOM area. Are you recessing the bridge/tail?

Never ever let him see this thread title, then I thought things were looking messy at first, but it's turning out to be a pretty cool build. I think that a red-dyed back, headstock and sides and an amber top would look really classy, especially with that white strip you put in. The heel looks a bit boxy for my tastes, but then again I did the same exact thing on both my builds so yeah. It's hard to think in three dimensions sometimes! If I may... how are you going to access the truss rods? By the look of things, you covered them up with the top. Is that going to be routed out afterwards?

I'm carving out the bevels of my V right now, as a matter of fact. I'm using a half-round file to carve out the bulk and get it close to my depth lines, then wrap the same file in sandpaper to sand it in final. The curved, inside edges are still giving me a bit of trouble, but it'll come out well. Remember to do the bevels on the back, just in case You never know! I'm pretty pumped about my build; I want to be pumped about others'. Let's see pics!

As a side note, I'm now running my XT Live through the effects loop in my new amp, with all the modeling settings turned off, and it sounds pretty good. I'll be upgrading to a G-Major soon, but it's working well as an effects rack.

http://images34.fotki.com/v1125/photos/9/9...carfCuts-vi.jpg

Seymour put out a P-Rails that has people's ears perking up. I personally have never ever played a guitar with a P90, but I didn't see it mentioned above, so I thought I'd throw the option out there if you hadn't heard already. Dunno if it would be too much versatility/overkill though.

100% pure sexy. Though it looks thicker than the PRS Might be just my eyes, though, who knows. I'd check out Myka's page if I were you. He does a lot of LP builds, and a lot of them have a ton of knobs/switches. He might give you some ideas, you never know.

Yep, you're definitely missing something Routing the channels for the wires before gluing the top wood, especially on a Les Paul, is almost a must. http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/195...aulStandard.htm Check out that link. On the template, you can see the channels running from the pickup selector, through the pickup cavity, and into the electronics cavity.

The only thing I wish LMI had was a spoke-style truss rod. Once I find some money, I might start on a third project with a locking trem, and I didn't want to compromise the nut area by having the nut bolts and the truss rod taking out so much wood.

If you went VERY slowly, you might be able to heat up the metal to bend it, if need be. Not unlike using an iron for acoustic sides.

Well, of course they wouldn't be PERMANENT, but they'd be a pain to remove, and I don't feel like taking the chance scratching them or messing the body up if I chose to take them out. I don't know if the post holes would need to be filled and redrilled afterwards, either. I figure that since I won't be spraying a finish on, if I tape them up and just be careful, I'll be fine.

It was fantastic out today, weather-wise, so I spent the entire day outside sanding the guitar. I got the body sanded to 100-grit. I'm debating on whether to go up to 150 before or after the bevels. Probably afterwards, who knows. I have a feeling my neck profile is going to be a bit too thick for my liking. 1" at the 12th fret? Too much? I'd like to have strings on it before I hack it down some more, just to make sure that it's too thick. But that'd mean putting in the bushings for the bridge/tail, and putting tuners on. The bushings won't come out afterwards. Would it be advisable to finish the guitar with the bushings in, if I were careful about taping them off? Speaking of finishing, I'm pretty set on some type of oil finish, because it's quick and easy. Probably Tru-Oil. But, I'll need to fill the grain because the mahog and walnut have such large pores...... right? I also want to darken the overall color of the wood. So, would I be better off using black grain filler, or clear filler and black stain? I feel that clear filler and black stain would give more even/consistent results. And can one put tru-oil over stained wood without any interactions? If anyone could help me out with the finish questions, I'd really appreciate it. I wish I had internet access on my own computer, because I have a whole folder of bookmarked topics I've been meaning to read through...

I'm sure she won't complain if you get her a box of chocolate anyway

Wood accents/accessories > plastic, any day of the week

I'm game for the tutorial as well, even if I don't end up building a strat-style any time soon. Just having the plans is always nice

WORD, indeed! I'm pumped to see this build get assembled, and I want to hear some tunes out of it! More pics, more posts

Thanks, everyone! I am very pleased with the way it is turning out. I did some more work after the picture was taken, bringing the bulk of the neck down to size. I went to Woodcraft intending to get a spokeshave. But I was sitting there, kinda turned off by the prices (I forgot online prices are discounted to make up for shipping), and thought that I really did most of the bulk with my rasps I could probably do the rest with sandpaper. So I just bought what is hopefully my last pack of sandpaper until I do the finish. And I still don't know what type I'm going for, either. But that's down the road a ways. J, I'm not going to backstrap it, if only for the plain fact that front-strapping was a bitch. Granted, I did use an 1/8" piece of walnut veneer, and it was on a flat surface, but still hahaha. I like the look of the unmatched grain, that little bit of sapwood(?) that runs through it. It only goes about halfway down the neck, but it gives the neck character. I figured, that cool part is already completely covered up in front by the headstock cap and fretboard, I should leave the "oddity" exposed for everyone to see. Thanks for the well-wishes too, after putting in some quality work down cellar the day got much better If all goes well I should have the neck finished tomorrow, and the bevels done at the beginning of next week. Then it's just strange things, like countersinking the screw holes for the pickup switch, fitting a piece of veneer to make up the thickness on the relatively short Earvana nut, and drilling the pickup ring holes and tuner pin holes. Odd, miscellaneous stuff. Thanks again for the support, everyone!