IWishICouldShred

Alright, I've made more progress but it's slow going right now, as I haven't done most of this and don't have the tools required. Plans are changing slowly, but, I'll get to that in a moment. I left off with gluing up the blanks, so I'll get back to it there. Last weekend I took the clamps off and found myself with 2 nicely formed bodies and 2 sweet matching tops. After about... I'd say 4 million passes on the belt sander, they were flat and looked pretty good. Here's the ash body blank, post sanding but pre cutting, with the outline drawn on And here's the purple heart/spalt, in similar condition Here's one of the PH tops after cutting I'm pretty happy with the way the tapered spalted pieces came out. What I'm not happy with is the thickness I lost. This guitar will not have much of a carve, but it BARELY makes it to 1.5" now. I'd like to get it a little bigger, so I might go with a dark veneer between the ash and purple heart, which would actually like like binding in the joint from the side. The ash is going to be chambered anyway, so it might give it an interesting sound. 1/4" rosewood or something similar might be nice. Anyway, moving on to the necks. I bought some straight grained rock maple and another purple heart board. Due to limited sizing, I bought too much, and I may end up being able to make an extra pair of bolt-on necks from what I don't use. At least one will get sold (my friend really wants one). I bought 4; 4/4 boards, 6" width by 30" length; in maple, and 2 of the same dimensions in PH So I've made a M/PH/M sandwich for each neck. This gives me a lot of room for error and, like I said, I may be able to make a pair of bolt-on necks once I'm done for other projects or to recoup some expenses. The neck wood was 50 bucks total, but again, the 2 necks I needed, plus possibly 2 more and whatever I can sell them for, plus the experience of making 4 necks! Sounds good to me. Buying in quantity has been working well so far. Anyway, here is one of the blanks glued up. This thing must weigh 10-12 lbs, and even more with all the clamps on it. A veritible "brick sh!thouse of tone". And here's a lovely front view for all of you This week, those blanks went through the jointer and I made a template to cut them out. Wednesday, I'll be back in the shop to cut them out and rout for truss rods. I might also be able to slot the fretboards and start making my routing template for the body. I've got some PH scraps sitting around to glue on for headstock wings, so the headstock will actually match the body, PH/M/PH/M/PH sandwich. How sexy is that? After that, there's a lot of sanding and shaping I can do at home, so I'll have more frequent updates. I've also decided to stick with a more natural finish for now... I'm seriously considering buying some PH fretboard blanks and saving the bloodwood for another project (now that I'm addicted...), but I don't know. Anyway, in other news, I think I'm gonna mess around with hand-winding some pickups for one of these. I've got a friend who's an engineering student and seemed really interested when I started explaining pickup winding to him, so we might mess around with it and see what happens. I've also got a set of EMG's sitting around in an axe I rarely play, so I'll probably throw some GFS pickups in that and steal the EMG's for this build.

What if you were to do some acrylic pieces? Like... do a neck thru with semihollow acrylic wings, and load them up with PCB and LEDs and whatever else you want....

I seem to remember that Epiphone did a factory series of Les Pauls, Explorers, V's, and Modernes with a Floyd rose bridge installed stock... it would have been discontinued about 5 years ago though. I'll see if I can find more info. Poly-LP/V/X/M were the model names I think. EDIT: Poly X, V, and Moderne turned up results, LP did not. Judging by the reviews, I'm glad I went with a Greg Bennett "Rockwell" back in 2003 rather than that Poly X I almost bought. I was 13 years old and I saved up for a LONG time to get it. Anyway, Google found nothing for Epiphone Poly-LP, but it suggested I search for "Poly P". So I hit that link, not realizing that I was typing in 'Epiphone Polyp'. You can imagine what came up That gave me some interesting results, and a great idea for a much more accurate marketing campaign. "Epiphone: It's a pain in the ass."

What these guys have said pretty much covers it. My first response is to see what the broken face of the screw looks like. If it's got a part that sticks up (it broke at an angle), you could try using a hammer and an awl to tap the screw in a circle by placing the awl on the part that sicks up and whacking it until it turns. This is tedious, and something that I learned by doing it on engine blocks. Take appopriate precautions for your bass. Once it's far enough out that you can get some vicegrips or pliers around it, use those to turn it the rest of the way. If this is not possible, I'd try the extractor that fookgub mentioned. It might be called an "EZ Out" or some other clever misspelling. It basically works like the reverse thread bit he mentioned, if I remember right. Roman's method is time tested and will work 100% of the time, but I'd do that last because of two things that might apply, and I have a feeling both of them do. The first would be that you may already have a finish applied, or be planning on doing a transparent finish. Drilling and doweling would necessitate refinishing, possibly in a solid color. The second would be if you have mounting studs, you're going to need a new ones after you do this!

I've had no bad experiences with it... I know other guitar guys who use it too, so I haven't really thought twice about it. Anyway, your neck wood can change your tone dramatically.

I feel the same way about telecasters... they don't have any features I like, and a bunch that I don't. Ugly headstock, twangy single coils, small radius, etc. These appeal to most people for reasons I don't understand. I don't care too much for the maple fingerboards either (more common than rosewood on teles, I think) You can make a telecaster that I like, but by that time it isn't really a tele at all! Some body contours, a classy finish, double hums, reverse rout, some other kind of headstock... If it doesn't feel like a tele, and it doesnt sound like a tele, and it looks nicer than most tele's, I'll take it

I'm not sure how far the painting tuts go as far as masking... this is an art in and of itself. Take it from me, I've made enough painting mistakes to know-- If I can give you 3 pieces of advice on this, here they are: take your time, use the right tool for the job, and make sure you're good at it before you try it on your expensive guitar. Set aside an hour or two, just to get your masking layout to where you're happy with it. This is a relatively complicated layout, and it's going to be frustrating. Don't worry! Hot rodders can spend a whole day JUST planning and laying out the masking for flames for a car paintjob. Secondly, I don't want to be condescending but I don't know how much paint work you've done before. Make sure you've got decent tape. Cheap tape can leak and totally ruin a paint job. Paper tape will handle turns better, but it's generally more expensive than vinyl tape. For the fine lines on the back, you may want to stop by a local auto body/paint suppy place for pinstripe tape. You can get it in all different sizes. Also, don't forget masking tape and/or paper EVERYWHERE else on the guitar. Overspray shows up in the strangest places.... Third, again, I don't know how much of this you've done. Practice the same layout on a test panel to see where your problem areas are. Practice peeling your tape once it's got paint on it! Going around the tape with an X-acto is a good start, but remember to peel your tape from a 90 degree angle, slowly, in order to further reduce lifting. Best of luck! I'll probably forget to keep checking this thread, but you can send me a PM if you have questions about anything I said.

Excellent masking job. How long did you spend laying that out? If you're doing all spray cans, I believe Krylon makes a clearcoat that will sit just fine over that.

Yes! Even chrome accent tape, if you apply it under the clearcoat, would be awesome.

Thanks for the info on the multimeter and magnets! The potting thing was a mistake... dunno why I put that after the tape o.O I like your idea with the electric drill. If I end up doing the reed switch/magnet/calculator counter, I'll definitely try that. Places like tubesandmore.com have 42awg wire for what averages out to about $6/mile. Not a bad deal!

A warning-- If you start reading in the middle, looks like a tutorial, but it is not. I've never done this before. If you're another beginner at this, please do not get the wrong idea from anything in this post. I thought that writing out the process as I understand it so far would be the best way to show how I'm approaching this. With that said, I'm asking anyone who has done this before to please look over my process here and tell me what I'm leaving out, and please help with the questions I asked throughout. I've been spending a lot of time over the last few days scouring the internet for information on making your own pickups. I have a basic understanding of the process, but I have a few questions (some probably sound stupid) along the way, so let me go over this... NOTE- before anyone brings it up, I don't want to start with a pickup I already have. I want to build pickups from scratch, not re-invent something Seymour Duncan already sold me. First I've got to construct bobbins. This means making tops and bottoms for each pickup (out of plastic most likely) and 2 cores, for which I'll probably use leftover maple from my in progress build. Each bobbin needs 6 holes in it for pole screws/slugs. QUESTION 1- Do I need to do 6 screws and 6 slugs, or can I have 12 screws? Next the bobbins are wound with 42 gauge enamel shielded wire. There are more ways to do this than are worth going into here, but I think for my first attempt I'm going to use the hand drill method outlined by John Fisher. I'll be putting on 4000-7000 windings depending on how hot it needs to be. QUESTION 2- What tool would I use to measure the resistance? Is it an ohm-meter? How much does this tool cost? Next, teflon plumbing tape goes around the winding, followed by black electrical tape for protection. Pretty simple thusfar. Now the pickups get potted. Heat some water in a pan and melt wax in a can floating in the water. Don't let it get above 150-160. Put the pickups in for 15 minutes, not letting them touch the sides of the can. Scrape off excess and let them dry. Then the screws come out, the pickup cover goes on, and the screws go back in. Then the magnet is installed so that it touches all of the pole pieces, and the whole deal gets filled with wax. QUESTION 3- What dimensions does the magnet need to be for a standard sized humbucker? Can anyone point me in the direction of a vendor that sells Alnico 5 bar magnets in the correct size??? At some point in here, the pickup cover gets filled with wax again to prevent microphony. After that, the wire leads are hooked up, and the back plate gets soldered on, and the whole thing is ready to play. QUESTION 4 - What exactly do I solder the wire leads to? So like I said, please let me know if I basically have this down, and help me out with the questions I brought up throughout.

I've played 5 or 6 different guitars from Agile and SX (both Rondomusic brands) and I was actually really impressed with all of them. My next purchase (when I finish up 2 builds and one overhaul/refinish...) is going to be a Douglas semihollow from the same site. What I am NOT impressed with is Xaviere. A friend of mine just got this disgusting "schoolbus yellow" semi-hollow tele. It looks and (more important) feels like something you'd find at Toys'R'Us. Really. Every surface on the guitar feels like plastic. Cheap wood, and the fretboard has about a mile-thick layer of lacquer on it (polished to a mirror-like finish, to distract you from all the imperfections in the workmanship) I couldn't stand playing it for long enough to try plugging it in and making it sound good.

Wow! Another Rochesterian. How's it going, man? The width of the frets has a lot to do with servicing-- a wider fret can go longer between re-crowns. The other thing is that in really wide sizes, you can usually find slightly taller fretwire. Higher frets will make it easier to bend and play with vibrato... if you're into the blues, this is probably a good thing for you.

When you get to the headstock, leave a volute (bump) in the place where the neck bends down for the headstock. This will give you some extra strength there, as that's where most breakage will occur. It sounds like it will look weird but it's that bad really, and it adds a lot of strength if you're doing a really thin neck.

I disagree. For doom metal, you need a big heavy guitar! @ Efilnickufesin- I definitely think you were on the right track with the mahogany. Big, heavy, chunky tone. I'm really into Sleep and Yob and bands like that... right now I'm working on something similar to a les paul double cut and I'm using spalted maple for part of the top. It's been easy to work with thusfar, although I hear the finishing stage is a little bit more difficult. I suppose I'll just figure that out when I get to it! One idea for a fretboard that's not widely known is Bloodwood. I picked up a couple of blanks that I'm trying out on the axe I just mentioned. It looks cool and the name is so metal, I couldnt resist I just figured out your user name, by the way.

I took apart and cut up a bronze warlock with my friend (we made a V out of it) and it had this gross fiberboard/particle board stuff covering the top and bottom. B C Rich sure does some strange stuff, finish-wise.

I know the ordeal. I spent a total of $50 and about an hour in the lumber shop this week looking at boards trying to find what will become a pair of 3-piece necks. I ended up buying enough (couldn't find the dimensions I needed) that I'll probably be able to get an extra bolt-on neck out of each blank.

I really like the cristobal. The carve looks really nice too. Good vid by the way! The only thing I don't like is the pair of chrome pickup covers-- I think all black would look better cause you've got all black hardware and a black mounting ring. Other than that, looks awesome. Excellent work!

I've got a pair of builds going at the moment but once that's done, I'd probably be down to do some sort of crazy plytar. Plywood neck-thru with a pine top for carving practice. With all of the spare parts I've got laying around, I could probably do it for less than $50.

I put the 85 in the bridge and the 81 in the neck, as the 85 has a higher output. I just raised the neck pickup more to even out the sound. EDIT: I play the Kerry King set in my main guitar (v/v/t/t/boost) , but I have the Zakk Wylde setup in another (v/v/t).

You CAN build a plywood neck. If you laminate a few pieces together so that the plys show on the back of the neck, it should hold up. I know because I own one and it has stayed relatively straight. Plywood has less of a tendency to warp (sideways) than solid wood, and with this method of construction should have the strength to resist bending (front-back). Plus, if it gets ruined, it's all in the name of science. And not too big of a deal-- Steam off the fretboard and you're fine... you've lost a dollar or two worth of plywood

This is true. There's even a company that specializes in Balsa guitars. I can't stand them but if you want a 4 lb strat, that's the right place to go. Plywood instruments dont bug me... it's only a matter of time before some kind of "hi tech carbon fiber impregnated laminate" comes out and becomes the next big thing, when in reality it's still just glorified plywood. Plywood guitars are made to play-- they don't sound incredible but at least you know what you're getting. No point in a nice finish cause the plys will show. It's a cheap, servicable, utilitarian solution.

Quick update, I'll post pictures tomorrow-- I consulted with a luthier this morning who's going to show me how to make this a set neck and help me make up some routing templates. After this, I went and bought some wood for the neck- More purple heart and maple. The necks will be 3-piece laminates, Maple/PH/Maple, with a bloodwood fretboard. It sounds strange but it looks sexy! Photos coming soon

I had an old Global SG knockoff and rather than a 3 way switch, it had 2 on/off switches for the pickups. I don't mean flip-able switches... they were sliding switches. It's incredibly cheesy but it was a really cool feature, and it might fit this guitar well. 2 on/off switches and a tone knob.

I've been following this build for a couple weeks I guess, and I just wanted to give some thoughts- Occasionally you see a build that's a really original idea, but it just looks awful. Sometimes others will underestimate how good their work is and put it down unjustifiedly. Neither is the case here-- You admitted up front that this is ugly... cause it is.... but that just gives it more mojo. This guitar is like a tough guy who turned out tough because he's actually named Sue. I look forward to seeing how this comes out! I love this guitar.