J_48_Johnson

I'll cut down on the pictures per post Elysian Guitars, sorry about that. I don't think I'm going to bind the holes Tim. I used a 1/4" roundover bit but needed a little wood at the botton to let the bearing roll on. I'm thinking of cleaning it up by hand.

Also, on the wood, I made some other colors of stain, see what you think.... http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...0two/Stain5.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...0two/Stain4.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...0two/Stain3.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...0two/Stain2.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...0two/Stain1.jpg

I'm working on pickguard designs now. Here are a couple I'm kicking around. http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...wo/P1000977.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_.../pickguard3.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_.../pickguard2.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_.../pickguard1.jpg I think I have it narrowed down to the first two, but what do ya think? Has anyone out there ever tried to design one of these darned things? It is way harder than I ever thought. The lines have to be just right to flow with the body design. I bet I've cut out 20-30 to come down to these few.

I worked with some cocobolo once before many years ago. The wood was wild! It looked like someone laminated several different died woods together. Blue, yellow, deep red, brown, very nice, but heavy!

Here's the links to my last build: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...aster&st=15 http://www.fender-talk.com/message-board-f...pic.php?t=11145 The fretboard is bacote and the neck is made of avankol.

Neck plate pocket... http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...neckpocket2.jpg Here's a picture of the stain I mixed up. I think I'll try to lighten it a bit more. What do you think? Does it need to be lighter? http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...two/stain32.jpg

Thanks for all of the positive and negative comments. I can only do so much with the neck pocket depth as to where it contacts the fretboard since the body is already hollow, I'm almost to the chamber in the body now. I've left enough wood to round over the edge. I know the colors don't match, and that's okay. The body will be stained, and it will have a tortise shell pickguard. I'm going to mix some stains that I have at the house to get a light medium to medium brown stain to highlight the grain in the maple. I kinf of understand what a few of you were saying about the body design as compared to the headstock design. I've seen guitars that I thought about them along the same lines... the headstock is kind of traditional looking with a body that didn't quite match because the body style wasn't traditional. The look kind of grew on me so I went with it. Once again, thanks for the comments.

This maple is the first top that I bought. The maple that I put on the first guitar I built, I found after I had bought this one. The grain in this top is psychedelic to say the least. It goes with the wild grain of the fretboard very well. The grain there has a lot of natural color variation and should compliment the grain in the maple once I have the maple stained. As far as the f-holes being afterthoughts... they weren't. My original drawing had three and looks pretty good. Once I had the first two in the lower bout cut out, I thought that those two alone may be good enough. I kept looking at the body for a few days and then decided that the upper horn was too pronounced. In the picture I had drawn up it wasn't so I went ahead and cut the third f-hole. I'm glad I did.

My fist one came out nicer than I thought so I am starting the second guitar. This time instead of copying a design I am designing my own. I am making a semi hollow body. Since I didn't have my camera with me, I'll tell you what I've done up to this point. When I was buying material for the first guitar I bought enough wood to make a second one because I knew I would mess something up along the way. Since I didn't, I have enough for a second guitar. The mahogany used in this one started as three boards that I needed to cross cut and glue together, making two boards just larger than a guitar body that was too thin. After I had these, I had them planed them down and flat sanded to 180 so they were flat. Once this was done I face glued them to one another so they were now one big piece of mahogany. I designed my body style by drawing about fifty different desgins, throwing away what I didn't like and keeping the ones that showed merit. Once I had that done I narrowed them down until I had the one I was going to build, scaled it up from a one inch square drawing to a full sized body on posterboard. I cut my template from that. I marked out the outline and the chambers inside the body and rough cut the body on my bandsaw. After this it was over to the drill press to hog out the chambers using a forstner bit. Once it was looking like two big cavities, I used the template and my router to smooth everything up. I left a lot of wood down the middle and around the edge for glue and body strength. I glued the bookmatched maple cap on, cut it to rough body size, and then cut the f holes in. At first I had just the two in the lower bout, but I like it better afterI put a third one in, up in the upper bout. I did the neck pocket with the forstner bit to take wood away, then routed to size. I screwed the neck in place to get the alignment of the TOM and tail piece. I have some sanding to do before I drill the holes for them, so this is where I'm at now. http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...wo/P1000879.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...wo/P1000878.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...wo/P1000890.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...wo/P1000898.jpg

Clever design with the compression springs. I like to see those Ibanez guitars standing proud too! AF75D Trans. Orange S470 Ice Blue SZ520 Blueberry

This is a very good thread. I've been thinking about a CA or something other than nitro for my current project. Can you lay this on top of standard wood stains or do you have to tint the product?

Body shape and wood type do make a difference in the voice of a solid body guitar.... http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/guitars/electric.html http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/guitars/index.html http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/guitars/index.html

+1 for Larry at Gallery Hardwoods. He will cut/make you what you want andyou will not be disappointed with your blank when you get it.

Killer pictures! Some of the styles are way out there! One of the last pictures is one of an all carbon fiber no-body that is... uh... different to say the least. I saw a bass with triple neck design. What would be the reasoning behind a bass guitar with three, five string necks? Thanks for the show!

Could it be a straight grained piece of bocote perhaps?

Dustin: I think what you're talking about is a compound bar made to use with a buffing wheel on a bench mounted polishing wheel. For those, you turn on the buffer and then let it come up to speed, then jam the bar into the wheel. The speed creates enough friction and it "melts" the bar leaving the compound in the wheel. The friction thing is why you always want to keep your work moving and DO NOT stop. You'll "burn through" your finish in a heartbeat. The compounds I used came in a tub. I stirred it up and then applied it onto the foam pad I was using to polish, not on the guitar body.

This is my first build and I see that the compitition is pretty stiff! I have named her Flamecaster. Okay, here's the list of parts: Fender Output Jack Fender 5-Way Switch Gibson 300kOhm Pot. Linear Taper Long Shaft (Tone) Gibson 500kOhm Pot. Audio Taper Long Shaft (Volume) Seymour Duncan SH-1 ‘59(Neck) Seymour Duncan SL59-1N Little ’59 (Middle) Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader (Bridge) Q Parts Shell Dome Knob Black w/ Natural Abalone Gotoh Locking Tuning Keys (Black) Dunlop Dual Design Straplok System Black neck plate and screws Black Strat Jack Plate Hipshot Baby Grand guitar bridge in black finish Mighty Mite Fender Strat. Neck (MM2925) Black Pick guard Material .090 3/16” Metal Black Humbucker Mounting Rings Black Metal Mounting Ring For Single-coil Pickup Black String Retainers Mahogany for soundwood Quilted Figured Maple Top ColorTone Concentrated Vintage amber Liquid Stain ColorTone Water base Grain Filler ColorTone Aerosol Guitar Lacquer ColorTone Clear sanding sealer Preval Spray Unit Pipettes Mixing cups Shielding Paint and Tape Assorted sanding paper from 80 grit to 2000 grit Buffing pads Med. polishing compound Fine polishing compound Swirl Remover Here's a link to the entire build from raw materials to finished guitar with a lot of pictures all along the way: http://www.fender-talk.com/message-board-f...pic.php?t=11145

I'm sticking with Flamecaster

http://www.reranch.com/reranch/viewtopic.php?t=11946

Loosen up a bit Greg.... I was kidding! Also, I still say your avatar is flicking us off!

I took it to work to show it off a bit. Since I wasn't with it the entire time, I was a bit nervous but she came home fine. A guy I work with is contimplating having me make one for him. If I do, would I be considered a professional luthier? Right!

Naah! I've already put the manufacture logo on the headstock, I wanted to name her! Flamecaster it is!

How does Flamecaster grab ya?

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...n/Shadows01.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...ckguardedge.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_.../Looongneck.jpg http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o176/J_...ackshadow01.jpg

You're a funny man Mattia! err, Dude.