pukko

Black with white binding looks nice, but the rear of the neck suits the red a lot more.

Yes, black would be cool too, maybe even with multiple binding a la LP Custom. I think you're right about the neck colour as well, I wouldn't have stained it nearly as much if the body was to be black, maybe not at all even, just natural birch. A little monochrome feel to it.

It was actually guesswork and some corrections by my wife. I don't speak Swedish and know only a little more Finnish L:-D

I thought it might be black or white to be honest!

My first thought was that it should be red, but then I started to think about other colours, of course. Black was one of them, silver was another. There's a little fifties spaceship feel to silver when it's not a hitech looking guitar, i like that. I never really thought about it being white since I put white binding on it. Maybe with a two-layer binding, white outside and a black stripe on the inside... That would be nice. Here's a mockup I made in the early stages of this project. I made some bursts as well, but since I'm using spray cans, that was never really an option.

Coming together really well, Hog Fart. Lovely neck. The body is reallly nice too, not sure if I would be brave enough to give it an opaque colour coat, but she's your baby and I'm enjoying seeing her come together

Thanks! One of the reasons that I'm giving it an opaque colour is that there were some imperfections in the wood, small cavities with dried whatever it's called in English (Resin? Sap? That sticky stuff that smells nice and turns into amber after a million years...) I filled those holes with epoxy, and since I don't have access to a spray gun I would have had to stain the wood and clearcoat it to get a translucent finish. I'm doing this with spray cans... I didn't know if that would look too good around the epoxy, so I decided to go opaque.

Another reason, and I reasoned like this with my first build as well, is that when people start building a guitar of their own, they want the most beautiful wood possible, flame tops etc. I wanted to be a little different, and all of my "real" guitars had translucent finishes, so I went with the opaque for the top on the first one. Couldn't resist leaving the back wood visible on that one though... With this one the wood kind of came to me by accident, so I didn't have any options really. The neck wood is so flamed it should be criminal to paint it over. I definitely want to build some guitar with really nice wood, but it's kind of hard to find really flamed maple in Sweden, and it gets expensive to buy from the US, for example. I've been drooling heavily over some lumber on eBay...

Very nice pukko, i love the red!

Thanks!

Just reading your newspaper there.

"made for a queen"?

"village"?

"3 for 2"!

It says "fart" as well. Hehe.

I didn't expect red. This is certainly going to have to be entered into the guitar of the month content Pukko. Very nice!

He he, you've been introduced to our local newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning! Finally a good use for it! So you know Swedish then? For all you non-swedish speaking people, fart means speed in Swedish. High speed=hög fart, and since you don't have the dots over the o that would be hog fart, then... Lovely language, right? Exhaust fumes from a Harley perhaps?

Thanks, you think it's good enough for guitar of the month?! Let's see if it ever gets finished first... I'm not exactly the speed champion when it comes to building guitars, I sneak down to the basement when the rest of the family is asleep so there isn't too much free time to work on this. And I'm really curious, what colour did you expect it to be? It's interesting for me to know since I've pictured it red pretty much from the beginning.

The body is being painted right now, I've only done the back so far. I thought it would be easier to handle if I did it in two steps. Since there's binding around the top edge there's two separate areas to paint anyway. It's really hard to take pictures of red things for some reason, in reality I think it's a little darker. Compared to my computer screen anyway...

wow! i may sound crazy, but i'd like to see that and the midnight sun when i lived in London i was amazed that the sun would rise at 4:30 am and would set at 10:30 pm, here in Spain it's not that drastic. In Venezuela it's just constact 12 hours or more of intense sunlight.

He he, wanna trade? I'll live in Spain until April, you live here. Bring your shovel... I've never seen the midnight sun either, never been that far up north in the summer. It's not dark for more than 2-3 hours in the summer where I live though, and even then it's not completely black.

Prostheta Posted Today, 07:19 PM

It just means the nights are longer which is a perfect excuse to extend beer-drinking hours in Finland :-D Shame it doesn't make working hours shorter though.

Yeah, and in the summer you can drink longer because it's not getting dark and nobody gets tired... Good drinking excuses all year long!

Can you route Perspex or will it shatter, pinning you to the wall like a circus knife thrower?

(sorry if this thread is in the wrong place, it was a bit too random to put in one of the main forums)

Is that some kind of clear acrylic plastic, like plexi? (Sorry, I'm Swedish, I don't know all the names and terms...) In that case I would say you can, I started making a pickguard from that material for my first build. I found some tortoise material and used that, otherwise I would have finished it. Anyway, I routed the outer shape of the pickguard, and it didn't shatter at all. The edges did get a little uneven (like really small waves along the edge) but so small that it would have been easy to sand it away in no time. I routed the edges at a 45 degree angle, I don't know if that had anything to do with it. Might have been my inexperience at handling a router...

Uppsala must be really cold and snowy at this moment right? hehe i'd love to see the snow someday

Not now, it's around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees F, right?), but no snow. A couple of weeks ago is another story... There were blizzards all over the country, trains couldn't move so people had to spend the night on the train, traffic chaos cause noone had their winter tires on when the roads turned to ice, the electricity cut out for several thousands of people... And then the rain came and melted it all. At least here in Uppsala, I went home to my hometown this weekend, and they still had some snow left. I'd rather have it like this though. We have had an extremely warm fall, and then the snow came at once instead of having to endure two months of constant raining and darkness. It's better with some snow, it feels a little brighter outside even though the sun doesn't shine for more than a couple of hours a day.

Well I'm from Venezuela, so i sure as hell don't know the diff between pine and spruce! lol I've been in Sweden, Göteborg in late April, i loved it, I wanna move there cuz i heard they need lots of dentists in Sweden and also in Norway, i also liked Göteborg a lot, shame that i didn't go to Stockholm or Lapland.

Touchstone tone woods is located near London, in England, they gave me fantastic prices when i went there, luthier discount, still, some stuff is expensive because they charge in pounds sterlings, BUT they sell double action truss rods for something like 4 pounds, which is roughly 6 euros, about 52 kronor each one, they also sell fretboards and most stuff you'd need, but the fretboards, even the slotted ones are not as high quality as stewmac's, you'd have you plane them to the desired thickness and radius them, this is not a problem for me, and considering i paid 15 euros ( 130 kronor) for each 1st quality ebony fretboard and about 6 euros ( 52 kronor)for the unslotted ebony blank. I think it's better to buy tools from stewmac, and some others from touchstone, also, you don't have to pay that much in shipping ( i think) and no import taxes

Cool that you like Sweden! Göteborg is 450 kilometers away from where I live, so I'm not there too often... Been there a couple of times, it's a nice town.

I'm definitely going to keep Touchstone in mind if I ever start another project, thanks for the tip!

Really, really nice work - I dig it very much!

Thank you!

It shouldn't be too difficult. Are you pressing them in, or hammering them?

The frets are already there on the fretboard. I hammered them in. I'm just worried that it's going to be uneven, that's why I'm glad they're jumbos so I have a lot of fret material to work on when I'm leveling them.

Ah! Another swede! Välkommen till forumet! Skitsnygg gitarr!

(Welcome to the board, nice guitar etc.)

Thanks! Bugar och bockar!

Prostheta Posted Today, 05:11 PM

Very very nice clean build there Pukko. It also reminds me of an ESP/LTD guitar which I wished I had bought when my wife could get crazy near-trade prices. The model is the JP-600 and can be found here -> http://www.espguitars.com/guitars_jardel.html

Yours definitely has that monochrome Mosrite vibe about it for sure. Very stylish!

Hey Slabbefusk - I didn't realise you were Swedish :-D

I'm itching to do a similar scorching technique as you did to your RG a few moons back.

To comment on the "is there a lot of birch in Sweden..." well, last time I was in Finland (visiting family) you couldn't MOVE for the trees :-D It's like, a land of trees interspersed with water and occasional concentrations of Finns who gather purely to drink beer.

Karhu-A!

Thanks! That ESP was cool! You're right, if that was reversed it would look like mine (or the other way around, really...)

At least the Finns use the birch, they have to have a lot of it. I mean, they have to fire up the saunas with something, whipping themselves with birch twigs, drinking Karhu, Koff... He he, me like!

WezV Posted Today, 05:50 PM

Very nice build!!

Thanks!

biliousfrog Posted Today, 05:35 PM

That neck is amazing...the figure, the shape, the logo, the binding...it all works so well together. You should feel very proud, first neck & it's quite simply great!

Thanks! I'm kind of nervous about it though, what if it plays like crap? At least it has jumbo frets, so I have some material to work with when it's time for the fretjob. Starts out jumbo, ends up like a Fretless Wonder...

>>WezV, cknowles, Mattia

Thanks a lot! I'm glad you all like it!

Thank you very much! The lettering and the dots on the headstock is spraypainted using a lasercut (I think) masking film made by a very good guitar builder who is active on the same Swedish guitar forum as I am.

It's like a piece of tape that is laser cut, and it has protective tape on both sides. You just peel off the protective on the sticky side, stick it to the headstock and remove the other protective tape. Very simple and effective.

And also a PG member

Actually its cut with a vinyl cutter/plotter.

Yep, that´s right! I didn't know your username here though until I found the Guitar of the month archive... Big thanks to JFC, he helped out with masking stuff on the first build as well.

In swedish (sorry everybody else): Jag mailade dig förut om du ville ha nåt pröjs för loggorna, men det kanske fastnade i mailkrånglet du hade. Om du inte vill ha cash så har jag har några svarta GFS-micksargar liggande om du vill ha.

That is one sweet guitar! that is really your first neck?!?!!? very well done! the whole thing is looking retro-tastic

Thanks! Yes, it's the first neck I've built. On my first build I used a paddlehead neck and shaped the headstock myself, but I know now that's nothing compared to building one from scratch. We'll see if it works as well as it looks...

Yep, what you have is pine! Very nice build, especially for a second build!

Oh, and i love your design!

Thanks! I've looked at some pine/spruce pictures, and it seems that sometimes the word pine is used (at least in the US) for the tree that I call spruce...

This is a Swedish spruce which I'm using:

And this is a Swedish pine:

Wow. Amazing, simply amazing.

I'll second that for sure. Well done.

Thanks!

Xanthus Posted Today, 03:46 AM

Oh wow, that is HIGH quality! I love the colors, paint, everything! How did you do that lettering, a decal?

Thank you very much! The lettering and the dots on the headstock is spraypainted using a lasercut (I think) masking film made by a very good guitar builder who is active on the same Swedish guitar forum as I am.

It's like a piece of tape that is laser cut, and it has protective tape on both sides. You just peel off the protective on the sticky side, stick it to the headstock and remove the other protective tape. Very simple and effective. I was thinking about making a decal with a printer and decal paper, but that's hard when the headstock is black. It doesn't work with an ordinary printer, and I didn't have access to one of those special printers that I can't remember what they're called...

redwhiteandthemaple Posted Today, 05:19 AM

Simplicity at its best. I just love the flow and the touch! And how it still retains the beauty of wood.

I'm jealous you can still work outside in November, as soon as it turns about Oct., my garage turns into... well, a garage... well before it was a 'woodshop'..

Thanks! The body will be painted i solid dark red, though. There were some imperfections in the wood on the top side that I had to fill with epoxy, and I don't think it would look good to stain it then. I'm using spray cans, so a burst is also out of my league, that could have worked otherwise. The outside pics are actually from mid october, but it shouldn't be possible to work outside then either. It's been an extremely warm September/October in Sweden, lucky me since the workshop i'm using is 100 kilometers away...

fryovanni Posted Today, 05:36 AM

You hit a home run dude!. I love how you got the wood. I dig the wood combination. That body, headstock, and overall design seriously is great. Very tasteful. If I saw that guitar in a store I would want to give it a test run Great for you! I hope you are very proud of it, as you should be.

Peace,Rich

Thanks a lot! That's a good thing designwise that someone wants to try it by just seeing it, cool! I just hope it will be playable too, first time making a neck... It's going to be interesting to hear how it sounds considering the unusual wood combination, I really have no idea what to expect.

eddiewarlock Posted Today, 06:59 AM

awesome, that guitar makes me want to move to sweden even more!! simply amazing!! and that pine looks almost like ash, very clean job, BTW do you get your supplies from touchstone tone woods?

Thanks! Don't move to Sweden now though, it's getting really cold and dark now... Yes, it looks like ash, but without the open grain, not a lot of grain filling to do. Is it called pine? I'm not sure what it's called, it's the same wood as acoustic guitar tops are made of, the tree you have as a Christmas tree... The swedish variety is usually no good for acoustics though, not closegrained enough as you can see. No, for this guitar I found most of the wood around the summer house, I got the rosewood from a carpenter/guitar builder I got to know through a Swedish forum. The wood for my first build was bought from a local wood shop. Where is Touchstone located? I thought about buying wood from the US, but the shipping to Sweden gets really expensive.

Desopolis Posted Today, 07:40 AM

wow I really like the birch neck..

cant wait to see the body!

Thanks! I'm painting the body right now, I'll post pictures when I'm done.

Wow. Amazing, simply amazing.

Thanks!

Man, thats impressive!

Also, is it just me or is there alot of beech and birch in sweden?

Thanks! Yep, a lot of birch at least. Beech is more common in the south of Sweden I think.

How about heating it up and bending it?

nice guitar btw....and nice to see some more Swedes...

Thanks! That might work, or I might take some epoxy glue and put between the metal and the plastic and just screw it back on. Too bad if some of it seeps out and glues it onto the guitar itself though... Are you Swedish too?

Here's my first attempt at building a guitar:

Body: Mahogany with maple top

Neck: Maple with rosewood fingerboard

Pickups: GFS Dream 90

Scale length: 24.75"

Kluson tuners, Schaller GTM bridge, GFS knobs

Tailpiece, jackplate own design (Nickel plated aluminium and tortoise pickguard material)

Some more close-ups here:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/pukko/91.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/pukko/92.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/pukko/96.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a336/pukko/97.jpg

There's a thread each month called "guitar of the month _______" and then the name of next month in the annoucements and test forum area. go to that thread, and reply with a post with pictures and specs. end of the month, everybody votes.

Chris

Thanks, I'll check that out then!

Wow. Amazing, simply amazing.

Thanks!

Headstock painted...

And the neck has been clearcoated with cellulose laquer, side dots added as well:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m283/pukko2/DSC02058.jpg

And that´s how far I've come, I'm painting the body right now.

and wow i just looked at the close ups, i REALLY love it

i like the way you accented things with the pickguard material

Thanks! I think it turned out pretty good. That jackplate is a pain in the lower back parts though, it´s not glued together so when you take it off it´s kind of hard to put back again since the plastic isn´t curved. I´ll have to fix that someday... It´s not something you take off too often though, that´s good.

The body has been shaped. As you can see it´s some kind of Mosrite meets SG body with a slimmed down Firebird headstock, or something... The body design was made by tracing my PRS and reversing it, changing the horns a lot and so forth.

Fretboard glued on, routing for binding done: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m283/pukko2/DSC01702.jpg

Here´s what the inlay will look like, the neck is now bound: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m283/pukko2/DSC01769.jpg

The body has been carved and the inlay is done: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m283/pukko2/DSC01780.jpg

The neck has been carved:

Here´s some of the hardware:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m283/pukko2/DSC01891.jpg

The body has been routed and bound, and the neck has been stained.

Front: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m283/pukko2/DSC01922.jpg

Back: http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m283/pukko2/DSC01925.jpg