pukko

Build an AT100 clone? ;D

Nope.

Hopefully something as original as your previous builds. You have an eye for style and I'd personally hate to see you do something one of us might be able to guess.

Chris

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you this time. It's an established shape but with different cosmetics and hardware compared to the original.

Here's a pic of (almost) all of the parts:

This is what you see:

Mahogany/wenge neck blank as previously shown, now scarfjointed and with ears glued to the headstock

Mahogany body blank

Ebony fretboard with my star dot logo that I've used on previous builds

Ebony headplate

White plastic binding

StewMac Hot Rod trussrod

Black Floyd Rose

DiMarzio AT-1 humbucker

Fernandes FSK-101 Sustainer

3-way LP-style pickup switch

Volume and tone pots

Not shown is a set of black Sperzel Sound-Lok tuners

Haven't decided on knobs yet, have a set of ebony knobs lying around. Gonna buy a set of black strap locks too.

I had some scrap pieces of mahogany and wenge left from previous builds. Wanted to have a go at laminating a neck blank... I also visited Chicago during the summer to visit relatives. Damn, everything is cheap over there! Bought a Fernandes Sustainer and a DiMarzio AT-1 humbucker.

So what do you think I'm going to build with this?

Har du kollat med http://www.hagstromparts.se/?

Ok, this will be hard for me to explain in English but I'll try: Have you thought about making the headstock a little narrower on top? Imagine cutting out a wedge with the wide end at the top and then bringing it together. That would give you a straighter string pull and reduce the angle of the top tuner a bit. Just adjust the other tuner angles and the curves on top of the headstock so that they flow as nicely as they do now. Another option would of course be to make the route-down a little narrower too. That being said, I'm not bothered at all by it now either...

It looks fantastic, love the metal art.

Thanks a lot, glad you like it!

The guitar is finally finished:

See here for more pics: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=466983

LUCIFERI WREDE TRIBUTE

Decided to not call it the Firemaster... Since it became a tribute to my grandfather I figured it should bear his last name too.

See the build thread for the whole story behind design etc: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=41232-

Specs:

BODY: Mahogany (chambered, etched copper top, back plate and stringthrough plate)

NECK: Mahogany (etched copper headplate and truss rod cover)

FRETBOARD: Rosewood (pearl inlay on 12th fret)

SCALE LENGTH: 25"

NUT: Bone

TUNERS: Kluson

BRIDGE: Schaller GTM Tune-o-matic with strings through body

NECK PICKUP: Dimarzio Bluesbucker

BRIDGE PICKUP: Dimarzio Norton

ELECTRONICS: 1 volume, 1 tone (with push-pull for coilsplit), 3-way pickup switch

FINISH: Nitro

Headstock and truss rod cover: http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z35/puk...ollage2-6-1.jpg

i think it looks great in the pics how the edge is slightly different. the headstock looks like its glowing! but i guess how it looks in person and how it looks in pics is always different so you're on your own with this one it seems

Yeah, the idea with a darker edge isn't bad. It just has to be a"naturally aged/darkened" edge instead of a lot of fingerprints... It's really hard to take pictures of it, sometimes it's really bright, sometimes dark and sometimes it has a warm glow like the headstock in that pic. Taking pics with a flash is totally out of the question...

Time to bring this one back from the dead... or at least from the closet where it's been hanging for a long time. This is what it looks like now:

Still have to decide what type of knobs to use (dome knobs, amber bellknobs, something else that I haven't thought about yet...) and if I'm going to have pickups with or without open metal covers. Have to do some testing... I also tried polishing it but leaving the outer strip unpolished to make it look darker. I'm not sure I like it.

Man that is seriously cool as a way to create a sharp separation between paint and natural...

Yeah, and it's possible to do with different colored binding strips or by painting it as I did.

......with a plastic binding strip

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff15/av...alves/wip76.jpg

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff15/av...alves/wip09.jpg

Exactly! And it doesn't have to be as wide as your binding either, StewMac has binding that's just .075" (1,9mm).

Man that is seriously cool as a way to create a sharp separation between paint and natural...

Yeah, and it's possible to do with different colored binding strips or by painting it as I did.

I just had a thought...That thing would look killer the top and headstock of it painted gloss black,wrapping over the sides like binding,and leaving the back and neck cleared.

That could look cool! Maybe add a thin strip of white or cream binding underneath the black binding to create a line between black and clear wood. Like this but with different colors:

I think you could take it a few steps further by using transparent colours, different metals, by machining/brushing/grinding the metal into patterns etc. Like those Gigliottis: http://www.gigliottiguitars.com/

I visited an art exhibition in my hometown today and one of the artists had made something out of sheet metal that he had used a grinder or something to make it look stripey and catch light differently when you moved around. It was kind of like a metal version of really striped mahogany if you understand what I mean. Really cool, I was seriously contemplating breaking in at night and stealing it to make a top out of it...

well i feel i can offer metal leaf finishing - although i also want to experiment with some patterns and paint effects. things like a black guitar with silver leaf design (or bevels) sprayed over with trans black, or a leaf guitar with trans red flames, alternative candies and goldtops - things like that

I also want to push the aged copper thing a bit further, but maybe not with metal leaf. The idea i have in my head is a zemaitis/trussart mash-up. Imagine a Zemaitis metal front with an engraved copper/bronze plate on body and headstock. then giving these metal parts the trussart treatment

I think the idea of painting over metal will work really well. This is how my Firemaster copper front looked when I painted it before etching the pattern. It's hard to see in the pic but the metal is shiny and reflects light a lot more than the black:

And this is the result:

Still not sure if I'm going to have it polished and shiny or if I'm going to distress it...

Here's a quick mockup to show what a black burst would look like. My photoshop skills aren't too great but you get the idea... The first is with clear walnut (I guess the walnut would darken with a clear coat on top though...), the second is with some orange on the walnut and the third with some bright red.

Can anyone see the ears that I glued onto the headstock?

Yes I can, they are pretty hard to miss...

Are you tuning by ear?

I've been browsing the net for headstock inspiration, and the closest I can find is banjo headstocks with miniature C bouts, although they wouldn't suit a 3 over 3 tuning peg arrangement very easily. Plenty of time to decide this in the meantime. I better go find some more camphor burl for the headcap on that note....

How about taking a violin headstock, look at it from the side so you see the scroll, and make that the headstock shape? Kind of like the Stauffer headstock on old Martins, but maybe not so long, more detailed and adapted for 3+3 tuners if that's what you're going for? That would keep the violin theme going.

Like this:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_1979.380a.jpg

Or you could just go full on Ampeg or Burns scroll style...

thx pukko, i do appreciate the suggestions. if i did do this shape again i might change a few things but i am very happy with the way it worked out, especially the carved out bevels and the finish

its good to see the version without points because my next plan was to adapt this style of carve to a mosrite style build, basically this shape flipped upside down with some concession made to the fret access on the treble side. i think you are right about the treble cutaway as it stands now, from some angles it looks awesome but from others it does look a little small

i carved the wenge using the blades from the small stew-mac carving planes as scrapers... it scraped/carved really well... obviously paying close attention to grain direction. this set worked well. another set may have led to big bloody splinters, i did get some in the rough carve but none from the scraping

You SHOULD be very happy with it! And you should definitely make the reverse one as well:

Yeah, scraping the wenge was pretty easy, it was mostly during the rough carving the splintering occured.

That carve looks great! Was it hard to do? I've only worked with wenge once and found out it splinters pretty easily.

I believe you like constructive criticism, so here are a few suggestions: I'd like the upper edge of the upper horn (when seen in playing position) to be a wee bit slimmer. I'd also like the lower horn cutaway to be slightly deeper and the top of the headstock a little less flared out. Here's a lame Photoshop thingie to show what I mean, original first, alteration second:

And I just had to try your design out without the sharp points too, it looks nice that way too:

Wow! Great work on the stain! The whole build looks fantastic!

I looked EVERYWHERE for some real .090" single ply nitro-cellulose brown tort blanks but to no avail. Does anyone(please!) have a source on some that won't cost me more than $40? I only need a 8" X 8" piece.

Great looking guitar! I don't know if this will be any help, but check this site out: http://www.grevenguitars.com/tortis.htm

I have no idea if it's a good place to buy from, but there are a couple of different tortoise styles to choose from. They don't seem to have 8"x8" as a standard option, but maybe it's worth contacting them anyway?

Wow, a big thank you to all that voted for me and for all the nice words! I’ve been out of town with no computer available, so I had to follow the voting via my cell phone. Ssssloooowww connection, therefore no previous comments from me, better late than never… Some really stiff competition this month, and it’s wonderful to see all the different styles of instruments on display. I also cast a null vote just because I was in the competition, if I hadn’t been I would’ve had big problems choosing which one to vote for!

scottyd: Really really beautiful work, both workmanship and choice of woods! I was actually thinking about having the back on my build satin finished too to match up with the oiled neck. How did you do that? There are no edges on your body to give a natural border between gloss and satin, but on your bass it looks great anyway!

Canuck Brian: The zebrawood top is really nice as well as the padauk neck, but I don’t really think their colours go together that well. A black headstock would have been my choice, maybe an ebony veneer? The padauk and mahogany on the back match up much better to me. And what is that inlay/nut material? Looks really cool!

zyonsdream: I found the pics on your website, I can’t see the ones in the GOTM thread. You write that you set out to make something wild that really meshed well with the board. I would probably have done the opposite to highlight that wild grain. The front looks a little to busy to me, different shades of red/brown competing with instead of complementing each other. All the woods are beautiful, it’s the combinations I don’t like.The back is much cleaner in that respect, I love the padauk/limba combination there. The non recessed covers look a little rushed…

djhollowman: This one is great, I love everything about it! A really clean look, that Jaguar colour is really classy looking. The headstock has grown on me, I didn’t like it that much at first but I’m starting to now. Can’t say much more about your guitar than: I want it!

RFR: Another classy looking guitar! It reminds me a lot of my dad’s Ibanez Artist, which is basically the same carve top LP to DC shape. You’ve managed to take a classic design and make it look modern but still retaining the classic feel. Does that make any sense? Beautiful work! Just one thing to complain about: More pictures please! Would love to see more details, headstock shape, back side etc.

eveguitars: The shape is not my cup of tea at all, I just don’t like when there are all those pointy bits (yours isn’t as pointy as an ESP though…) on what is basically an ordinary modern doublecut shape. I totally like the V’s, Explorers, Deans, BC Riches etc, but this one kind of gets stuck in no man’s land between classic and radical. That said, I would love to play it just to feel that incredibly smooth looking finish. Beautiful workmanship and woods too!

pukko: Pretty half decent looking guitar, but can you play it? Nah, didn’t think so…

jjucius: I’d really like to see clearer pics of this one as well as of the back of the neck. That maple looks great! Also, some more info on hardware/pickups/finish would be nice. I’m not very often a fan of gold hardware (black LP Customs are the exception) but it works well on your guitar. As previously pointed out, that neck pocket looks a little strange. What is the string anchor on the back, almost looks like a tremolo block or something?

why not get chrome covers without holes Pukko?

Yes, that would be an option I guess. It gives a cleaner look, but traditional covers with holes look more... traditional which is the reason I'm considering covers at all. I think I'll go for those if I decide to use covers. Nice to be able to adjust the polepieces too.

Very impressive stuff! How do you fit the frets to such a neck? Sorry all, some Swedish: Kul att se att det finns fler Uppsalabor här!

Really really nice! Beautiful wood, love the soundholes!