pukko

>>Prostheta

I misunderstood you, I did'nt get that the Foredom was supposed to be mounted in the router base... But I think you're right about the weight, at least when routing with wider bits. My first try was on a piece of pine from an IKEA shelf and the router wandered like crazy because of the soft wood with harder grain rings. I guess the more weight there is downwards the less sideways movement there will be.

>>CD1221

Thanks!

>plinky

I don't know, I've never tried the StewMac one. This one is a lot cheaper than the StewMac one but I believe that if you're going to use it a lot the StewMac will hold up better. This one is made mostly from pretty flimsy plastic, I suspect something will break sooner or later...

>>Prostheta

Is that like one of those flexible cords with a little penlike tool to put the bits/drills/whatever in? One of those would be really cool if you're engraving stuff but for this kind of rout where I want a uniform depth and width of the routing I think a router base will work better.

EDIT: Double post, see next post on next page.

I bought a router base for my Dremel to try some outlining. Here's a quick (quick as in "first time I'm trying the router base out and I don't really care if the lines look that messy...") try to see how it would look:

I only had a small piece of mahogany lying around so it's hard to get the big picture of how it would look on the guitar, but you get the basic idea. There would of course be a lot of cleaning up of the lines and making points sharper with a smaller Dremel bit. I also tried with a round nose bit but I like the sharper shadows/contrast that the flat routing gives. The problem is that it will be hard to rout the finer details with this router bit, I might have to use a smaller one for those parts.

I like the way the mahogany looks when stained black with visible grain by the way (no oil at all on it here), I was thinking about doing a Tru-Oil finish to make it flat and glossy but now I don't know...

>>Our Souls inc.

Yeah, that would be cool, like one of those Zemaitis V:s but with copper instead of aluminium. But I've already done the copper thing, time to try other stuff...

>>IPA or death

That could be an alternative, but I think I've ditched the idea of filling it. If I'm doing the carve it's going to be left like that.

>>Prostheta

Good point. I'm also worried that any staining might bleed into the edges and make it look bad.

>>RestorationAD

I guess that particular finish is REALLY thin to show off the grain so well. And of course the ash grain is really pronounced so it's visible even if the finish is a bit thicker.

>>RestorationAD

If it's going to be black it will be by colouring the top with some stain or dye. I have no spraying equipment so a translucent black lacquer is not possible. I'm considering an oil finish for the whole guitar so I haven't thought about any type of lacquer actually. I was originally inspired by the look of Blakkheims Mayones signature guitar which has an ash top that's painted black with visible wood grain.

>>3DogNate

Thanks! I've thought a bit about it and I think the colour option is out of the question now.

>Prostheta

Yeah, well it would be kind of a black on black finish if I would carve the outlines and tnen colour it all black. Just a 3D version of it...

It's only the top that I'm having black, should go well with the ebony fretboard and headstock overlay. The back of the body will have the same colour as the neck. I'm making wenge cavity covers to match with the stripes in the neck. pyrography would be cool... if I had any idea of how to do it without making it look like a three year old did it. Hetfields stag EXP looks good: http://www.freewebs.com/montyjay/elkespexp.html

>>IPA or death

Nah, it's just drawn on with a pencil right now. It will be an outline, just carved shallowly into the top... if I do it.

>>darkshadow54321

Thanks! Do you mean a silver outline or the whole dragon?

>>jessejames

Thanks a lot! I’m not going to put a pickguard on it but that sounded kind of cool, maybe with white binding like on the truss rod cover…

>>WAK Guitars

Thanks!

>MexicanBreed

I’m keeping the back natural to match with the neck. All hardware will be black since I already bought all of it. Pickups will be black though…

>Unrealize

Thanks!

>>Reinhold

Even if it was all black?

>DC Ross

Thanks!

>>westhemann

Hehe, there is no real plan except that I was thinking of having the top black and the back natural… So get going on the V dammit! I want to see it! My “templates” were done this way: I had a drawing of a V, opened it in Photoshop, scaled it up to where it was the right size on the actual screen (measuring with a ruler on the screen… hitech!), put paper on the screen and copied it with a pencil. Then I taped the pieces of paper together. After that I made a full scale guitar on paper to put measurements on. When the pieces of wood were ready I transferred the drawing to the wood by using carbon paper.

>>davtheknave

Yeah, that could look cool. Maybe make the carving a bit darker.

I have had my mind set on having the top coloured black all the way from the beginning of the build but I'm kind of getting to like the look of mahogany...

Anyway, I've toyed with the idea of "carving" some kind of pattern into the top, probably with the trusty old Dremel. Here's one example:

One option would be to colour the top completely black as I first thought to give a kind of subtle embossed look. Another option would be to fill the grooves with some kind of light coloured epoxy, colour the background black and maybe staining the dragon some other colour. Might look a bit tacky if done wrong... Whaddya think?

Some progress: Routed for pickups, trem and electronics and fitted the body binding.

>>vedog

Thanks! Yeah, I remember those!

>>Prostheta

Yep.

Ha ha, yeah I know you were. An amber switch knob would look great! How about doing a TR cover in ebony or wenge and put some maple binding on it to match the stripes in the neck? Or maybe a two-layer one with the maple at the bottom, ebony or wenge on top and then bevel it. That way you could "engrave " it to have the maple show the letters/logo/whatever you want and have a maple border to contrast the headstock.

Hmmm... Not a bad idea. 2 Layer that is... except I don't engrave or inlay (against my "religion" ) I think I will work on that this weekend.

No, I've noticed that you don't like that. By "engraved" I meant any type of showing maple inside the perimeters of the cover, maybe like cutting out a line following the shape of the cover or something like that. maybe cutting away all of the ebony/wenge to have a miniature maple TR cover shape inside the ebony/wenge. And of course finish it the same way as the rest of the guitar to have the same warm hue on it.

Chrome knob? I build a complete Wenge V with maple lams and veneer everywhere and you point out the knob???

Just kidding ... the guitar has an amber tint to it and the knob really fits. But I think I had one on it at some point and it looked good as well.

I tried a wenge trussrod cover and a flame maple cover and a neck cuttoff that had the stripes from the back of the neck... none of them worked. I think the plan now is to buy/build a chrome trussrod cover that is a copy of a real gibson V cover.

I really like the one you put on yours and that is still a possibility of using ebony as a cover. I think I might try your cover shape as well (love your V).

I had this issue with the Hand of Doom and never solved it. It still does not have a trussrod cover.

Sorry 'bout that... Nah, I think the amber one fits in great as well since the whole guitar has this warm glow to it, it's just that you chose to use the mirror like pickup covers and I figured you could go all the way with a chrome knob as well. Would the striped one work if you used black (ebony?) binding to kind of separate it from the headstock wood? Or maybe even white binding to tie it in with the nut color? That last one might be a long shot though, not much more white on the guitar except the switch knob... An ebony cover would look good too, continuing the fretboard a bit. Anyway, chrome will be great as well! You could make one yourself out of aluminium (easy to engrave if you want to) and have it chrome plated. Or stainless steel and polish the hell out of it...

I was just giving you a hard time...

Yeah I like some of those ideas. I will just have to see what I can do. The only ones I can find on eBay say "Gibson" and I am not sure I want that (kind of like a party foul).

The switch knob is creme but it needs to be a bit more amber so I might find an aged one in one of my boxes.

I have my official guitar tester coming by tonight so I will get his opinion on the knob.

Ha ha, yeah I know you were. An amber switch knob would look great! How about doing a TR cover in ebony or wenge and put some maple binding on it to match the stripes in the neck? Or maybe a two-layer one with the maple at the bottom, ebony or wenge on top and then bevel it. That way you could "engrave " it to have the maple show the letters/logo/whatever you want and have a maple border to contrast the headstock.

Chrome knob? I build a complete Wenge V with maple lams and veneer everywhere and you point out the knob???

Just kidding ... the guitar has an amber tint to it and the knob really fits. But I think I had one on it at some point and it looked good as well.

I tried a wenge trussrod cover and a flame maple cover and a neck cuttoff that had the stripes from the back of the neck... none of them worked. I think the plan now is to buy/build a chrome trussrod cover that is a copy of a real gibson V cover.

I really like the one you put on yours and that is still a possibility of using ebony as a cover. I think I might try your cover shape as well (love your V).

I had this issue with the Hand of Doom and never solved it. It still does not have a trussrod cover.

Sorry 'bout that... Nah, I think the amber one fits in great as well since the whole guitar has this warm glow to it, it's just that you chose to use the mirror like pickup covers and I figured you could go all the way with a chrome knob as well. Would the striped one work if you used black (ebony?) binding to kind of separate it from the headstock wood? Or maybe even white binding to tie it in with the nut color? That last one might be a long shot though, not much more white on the guitar except the switch knob... An ebony cover would look good too, continuing the fretboard a bit. Anyway, chrome will be great as well! You could make one yourself out of aluminium (easy to engrave if you want to) and have it chrome plated. Or stainless steel and polish the hell out of it...

I haven't devided on a trussrod cover yet.

Damn, this one's looking great! I think I would have gone with a chrome volume knob too though. About the truss rod cover: Do you have any offcuts left from the neck that you could make a cover from? That would look really cool, having the TR cover continuing the stripes from the body.

Routed the neck pocket today:

And of course the “look mommy, no glue” shot:

And no, there’s not a gap in the neck pocket. Just my kitchen lamp making weird shadows...

>>Unrealize

Thanks!

>>supplebanana

Hadn’t thought of that... That would be cool! I’ll just have to find some really small magnets though, they’ll have to be really thin to fit the cover.

>>Prostheta

Thanks! It pisses me off a bit though that the ebony piece I had left wasn’t wide enough to make the cover as wide as the neck. It would have looked really cool if the binding on the cover would start at the same point as the binding on the headstock...

>>SwedishLuthier

Thanks for the offer! I’ll keep that in mind!

Inlay is... inlayed:

I went with my first instinct and put it in the middle as you can see.

>>Prostheta

Acorn? That grows on oaks?

>>SwedishLuthier

I'll have to try that some time when I have access to a power drill with a stand. Thanks for the tip!

>>oblaty

I used to drink Branik all the time before but they stopped selling it in Sweden...

>>mwcarl

>>masterblastor

Thanks!

>>Prostheta

Ha ha, I didn’t think of that but it does look like hill on fire! Maybe it’s Eyfjai.... Eiyaljaff... uh... that Icelandic volcano? I don’t know, Silja or Viking Line I suppose. The kids have been bugging us about taking a ferry trip but I suspect they’ll find it funny for about 15 minutes and the rest of the trip will be hell... I had to Google translate those mushrooms, those are tasty! When prepared right...

>>Reinhold

Thanks!

>>Ken Bennett

Thanks! It’s not too late to say your opinion, I haven’t even started cutting the pearl yet... Wait until you drop that little black screw that you need for your build (and you only had one) on the floor, it will inevitably be on a black square and impossible to find.

>>verhoevenc

Well, no risk of anyone removing this cover since I’m going to own the guitar... This is the first time I’ve done a locking nut ledge too. I just did it with a japanese dozuki saw, a sharp chisel, files and sand paper cause that’s what I had available. Probably not the recommended way... I measured and drew a line as deep as I thought it should be, cut away the wood with the dozuki saw, trimmed it down with the chisel and did the finishing with files and sand paper. Worked OK. sam_c and DC Ross are probably right with their explanations, that’s probably the way I would do it if I had the stuff and patience to make a jig for it. I never get around to making jigs at all, the little time I actually have for building is spent on the guitar. I always think it’s the last one I’ll build so it’s not worth spending time making jigs... and then I’ll start another build again. Can’t kick the habit obviously.

>>sam_c

Thanks for the tip!

>>DC Ross

That looks like something I actually could make, thanks for showing it!

>>WezV

Good point! Cool that you saw the matching shape, I actually shrunk a pic of the headstock in Photoshop and transferred it to the ebony to make it the same.

>>IPA or death

Problem is I don’t think there are pearl dots small enough to make a smaller version...

I think it’s possible to have the inlay in the middle without the strings going over it:

I think I’m a bit stuck on the middle position because I keep referring to Gibsons that have inlays in that position, like a LP Custom with the diamond or the SG and ES with the... thing (What’s it supposed to look like anyway?). Well, I have time to decide until I've actually cut the inlay.

I made a truss rod cover from some leftover ebony and white binding.

And here's a mockup of the headstock inlay, haven't decided where to put it yet but I'm leaning towards doing the middle one.

>>oblaty

Of course! I think I've tried all Czech beers available here. They're all good!

>>Prostheta

And I can't get Karhu here in Sweden. Have to go by Finlandsfärja some time...

>>Smutpeddler

Ooh, that's looking great! Specs for the build?

>>IPA or death

Yeah, I might just buy one and try it out.

Here's an in-progress pic from the neck carving here in my ultramodern workshop=kitchen. Thank God for spokeshaves and Czech beer:

That's what beards are for.

Yep. That and catching cornflakes at breakfast so I have something to eat on the way to work.

I had an L-500L (Bill Lawrence USA) in it, which was too trebly and harsh for my taste.

+ 1

Ive replaced 2 or 3 L500's after giving them a fair shot, for pretty much the exact same reasons as IPA.

Thanks, good to know!

I have a XL 500L in my Gibson V in the bridge position, works well with the warmth of the mahogany body and neck. The stock pickup was far too muddy for my tastes, the high end balanced the sound nicely.

Interesting with a different opinion, especially since that's what I'm building. A couple of important differences compared to a Gibson V though: The scale length on my build is 25.5", there's an ebony fretboard and some wenge in the neck. These might all contribute to a brighter sounding guitar I suppose... And the Floyd might take away some bottom end from it too. I've bought a Tom Anderson HN2+ humbucker too, I'll just have to wait until the guitar is built and try some different pickups in it.

Frets are in:

I had an L-500L (Bill Lawrence USA) in it, which was too trebly and harsh for my taste. Seemed to be aggressive at the expense of personality if that makes any sense. The AT-1 is better balanced and has a nice vocal quality going through overdrive. Still a pretty loud pickup though. Clean, it's just more well-rounded and interesting imo.

Ok, thanks for the comparison! Trebly and harsh sounds like something I don't want.

Fantastic! The contrast of the binding and the Wenge is a real winner. Your planning and execution from previous build should make this a great instrument to watch develop.

Thanks! Planning? You mean standing around, scratching my beard, thinking whattahelldoidonow? I do that a lot...

OOOooOOOOhhh...A V...I love those.

I think I am going to like this one.I have blueprints for a Gibson V on my wall trying to inspire me to get off my ass and build one.

Do it! You know you want to...

-Wenge V-

Wow that is awesome binding work. The ebony headplate makes a V

Thanks! Wow, that's a cool V! Get it done so we can see it completed! But as verhoevenc said: I don't envy you working with all that wenge, I've made a neck out of it and that's enough work...

Snyggt! How thick is that binding?

Tackar! Eller kiitos kanske? The binding is 1.5 mm thick. 1/16" or something like that in inches I think.

I just put the AT-1 in my Washburn N4 and I really like it, especially the clean sound. Very nicely balanced and articulate. Wish you good luck with the build.

Thanks! Interesting that you put it in an N4 since I've also considered buying a L-500XL which was in it originally right? How do they compare?

Fretboard, headplate and binding on:

I'm gonna do some kind of inlay on the headstock, probably the logo with my initials that I've used on my two last builds.

Hiya Pukko

I'm not a fan of the old school V's but this looks like it will be one fine instrument.

I can't be the only one wondering... what does the 'F Spaced' sticker on the pup case mean?

Lookin forward to more on this one.

Cheers

Buter

ps - forgot to say, diggin the inlay!

Thanks! It will be a little more modern looking than an original V but the shape is about the same as an old one.

Honestly, I was hoping for something less "normal" from you than a V. Of course, that won't stop you from continuing to inspire me to better things.

Yeah, I'm kind of disappointed with myself for going with such a known shape but when your head gets stuck in a certain direction you have to follow it...

Awesome!!!! Awesome!!! That reminds me I need to finish my V.

Cool! Is there a thread for it?

And here's a pic of what it's going to be:

Always wanted a V...