Prostheta

As per the title. Would prefer fairly soft material so it will be easy to scrape flush with plastic binding. Opaque yellow only i'm afraid! Sorry to be so specific, but it's the nature of the beast I guess. If you've got some laying around (dangerous habit for cocktail sticks) or know of a source, it would be much appreciated.

Most probably. Perception can be a tricky thing sometimes of course! Back to the seven-string anyway :-D So what bridge have you decided on? A tune-o-matic will involve a little working out in terms of angles of course.

Without opening a huge can of worms, the tension from using a stop-bar or string-through is perceived instead of being real. Extra tension would increase the string tuning. String stretch beyond the saddles or nut may increase perceived string slinkiness, perhaps.

This is why I add a second bearing to my template cutters, and use thin templates (like the 1/8" masonite stuff) to create a thicker 10mm MDF template so two bearing can run against it. Sucks that it happened man. So where did it happen exactly? Anything you can solve with adding binding to sort the board, and glueing in a shaving of maple from elsewhere?

Just a geometric issue rather than an added benefit. If the headstock is angled and the nut is further back on the treble side, then the headstock has to be tilted in the direction of the bass side to remain flat with respect to the fingerboard. It's just two trigonometric calculations if you're working with angles but it's possible to use Pythagora's theorem if you measure by distance. Not that it makes it any easier to achieve. Just saying :-D There will be a blindingly simple solution, just too obvious to see.

I've decided to fill the grain with Rustin's grain filler (needs to be thinned with white spirit), prime with several thin coats of Plasti-Kote black, and finished with plenty of thin coats of Plasti-Kote black gloss. Of course, testing on scrap is going to be necessary.... Does anyone have any idea of the compatibility of white-spirit soluble grain filler and Plasti-Kote? I have some water-based grainfiller available (it drags out of the grain a little too much for my liking though) plus some Behlen vinyl sanding sealer. I could use any of those if push comes to shove.

http://www.parableguitars.com/

Hmm....I think I must have misread that initially too, Xanthus. I thought RGGR was going to pop a compound radius on the fretboard....but the headstock? Perhaps the headstock will be slightly twisted to meet the weird nut angle? I wouldn't call it compound, just geometrically perverse if so :-D

Yeah, although looking at it now it's more of a marginal neck alignment issue throwing the neck off-centre by about a millimetre. I'll pop a shim or two of wenge veneer in there when I disassemble it for final finishing to force the neck over to where it should be. The measurements are all correct as per the original design so I don't have to change anything for this one. Bandsawed the body within 2-3mm of the outline, kept the scrap for cauls to make edge routing easier. Marked out of the pickup placement and bridge position before committing the mounting and string-through holes. Drilled through to within 5mm of the back of the body with 8x 3.2mm holes, before marking out the back, counterpunching and drilling in 15mm with an 8mm bit for the ferrule mounting. All sweet as a nut! Cleaned out the holes and we're good to go! Used my CMT template cutter (rad. 12.7mm x 19mm) modified with an extra bearing for security. One pass routed about 10mm, removed the template, routed another 30mm in three passes, flipped 'er over (cor!) and removed the last of the rough outline using a template cutter with a bearing on the bottom. Woo! I bought a 19.1mm radius ovolo cutter (increasing the bearing size makes it into a roundover cutter) specifically for this instrument which is a beast I would prefer to use in a table rather than a handheld router, so I wouldn't recommend this to gung-ho luthiers who have no patience or aren't sure which direction to be routing in around the body (hint: draw this on your template!!). Four passes removed the 19.1mm roundover. About 10mm first pass (mostly shallow removal), then 2mm increments as the cutter curves out more to the horizontal and has more chance of tearing out or climbing into the piece. The arm contour has been roughed in, but i'd like to take this a little steeper into the body as I can feel the edge on my wrist still. Similar to the high fret access on the previous build, i'm considering rasping in some deep contours, but this depends on what design of pickguard I use (yellow perspex, or perhaps laminated black-yellow-black) as I have enough maple in the neck to have the neck deeper than the fretboard so I might cover this intrusion with said pickguard. This means slightly milder cutaways of course.... VIOLA!! Probably not too much work going to be done on this during the week due to work commitments, Muay Thai, band practice and moving house. That means five days of discussing eight-strings instead of building them

I love laminates in backstraps and headstock caps, pinstripes between neck and binding....where are you considering these? The Blackmachine headstock looks like it would be stronger if the scarfed headstock wood grain was aligned in the direction (or at least not straight) of the tuners....too much grain runout over the last three strings!! The headstock cap disguises this nicely of course.

Good choice of getting this one back on the road....I like the idea of a custom base plate with graphite saddles.... Have you attempted a compound radius before? I don't have enough experience (or the balls) to try one and potentially write off a fingerboard, but I guess with the fanned frets a compound radius will make the end product that much sweeter. What a fun fretjob that will be eh? :-D

I can tell you from my other eight....they feel a lot more tense than a standard scale, Xanthus! In that respect, they're not unpleasantly tense or ready to pop :-D If I needed more feel and bend out of the upper registers, I could have opted for a fanned system or a hybrid string set I guess (0.008 through to 0.066?). As a tool, CAD excels at weird things like fanned frets! I would have to go the chicken route however, and get the frets of a fanned board laser cut, plus I am using standard seven-string sets with one single for the eighth as it's nice and economical. Building a crazy set would double that cost. I prefer mild vibrato at most on higher notes for the style of music I play, and bends aren't as feel-y as say what you would (or could) play on a slinky ol' Les Paul. To the point. Like the best metal!

Oh, yes - the headstock outline is upside down on the neck. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow after we get the keys to the new (woodshop free - bwah) five-bed house. That's "hiz-zouse" for you non-English speakers. :-D

Even more progress! Popped off the clamps, sketched off the outline just for your view pleasure, ladles and joims!

Heh :-D Favourite guitar SOLO? It has to be a tossup between the last solo of November Rain (GnR), Deep Peace (Devin Townsend) or Play With Me (Extreme).

Today's progress: - jointed and glued up the sapele body blank - cut, scarfed and glued up the maple neck - created an MDF template (which i'll sell for next to nothing if anyone is interested in it after this job)

Just the one, as I figured that whatever bow the strings put into the neck isn't going to be huge and easily brought back into line by one rod. I was going to use two, but I thought it was overkill and would weaken the headstock under the nut. Twist shouldn't be an issue either, as the tension isn't what i'd call mindblowing or "bass-side heavy" (like a 12-string or an eight-string bass). The next eight has a maple neck, again with a single rod. I'm confident that the stability will be good as I build necks a little thicker than thin-flats and build in a 16" radius as opposed to 20". Much more comfortable. When are you going to wake your eight-string project? I was pretty stoked with that one. I really love playing this eight and can't bring myself to strip it down so I can finish sand and oil or poly the body. Perhaps when the second eight is complete :-D

I have to agree that wenge is awesome, and the stability speaks for itself. I'm unsure as to whether or not the truss-rod will be able to control this beast. Not that the neck has actually moved in the first place....

I believe people are angling around the solidity and precise nature of the nut as it is after all, a fulcrum point on the instrument. You would be shimming it underneath a locking nut, which I presume is anchored to the headstock from the back using two allen bolts? If so, plastic won't harm your tone appreciably (by sane, normal standards) as long as the nut is straight and secure. You'll be coupling the nut back to the neck with pressure as opposed to it "sitting on a deck of cards". Shim away my friend.

It is indeed, except I used some oak I had handy instead of maple. I wish I didn't, because it's more coarse and prone to splitting then the wenge veneer was :-/ Tough work maneouvering it into place and keeping it flat. I do have this thing about pinstriping. I did an oak/wenge/oak pinstripe under the fretboard too because i'm that obsessive. A beautiful piece of wood used in the right place fires the luthier in you eh? It sure as hell does me.

I'm going to polyurethane the body with Plastikote rattlecan varnish unless anyone can advise me against it. Wiping the body down with acetone has pulled and spread the natural oils out better and darkened the wood similar to the neck so oiling may not be necessary. Opinions? A couple of cans should suffice if it's as tough as it makes out.

Ummm....to make a wooden plate so people can throw money into it in the street? That's how short of cash I feel as a lutheir sometimes too :-(

Doug will do you proud, Wes. Top guy, and doesn't settle for less than perfect. Do it Killemall8 - but take more than five days to do this one, okay :-D

For reference, here's the instrument that the body shape was inspired by. Well, stolen from then.... http://www.zetamusic.com/products/display.asp?id=102

Wow, i'm so glad you managed to persevere, what with the original neck routing though and all the other issues....that is one nice Explorer! Is the shape the Gibson style or the slightly sleeker ESP lawsuit shape? It kind of reminds me of the original natural mahogany Ibanez ICs with the silver and black....very classy! When are you going to do the fretwork, or have you managed to squeeze that job in those five days also?! Olympic speed man, olympic.