Hector

by the way, thats not a scarf joint. its just gluing the ears to the headstock.

how thick is that fretboard??? and the head seem pretty thick too. I really like the look on that short scale. great work!

hey man nice one. I see some bad tearout and some burn marks on the sides... you should sand some more til the burn marks are gone, and maybe glue some piece of spruce where its missing (you can route paralel to the grain,avoiding the winter lines, glue anothe piece of spruce there i can garantee you that if you do a good job, it will be invisible), sand again and then refinish.

I do the hinge thing like setch does, and before clamping, I drill 2 holes, where the tuners will be, and place a broken drill bit (the same size I used to drill the holes) there so it won't slip. apply the pressure. as much as I can get, and then remove the bits. works like a charm! here you can see the holes. voila I use this tecnique all the time. even when gluing other things.

there you go

Thanks Hector and supernova, I do understand what both of you are saying. The problem is that I do agree with both of you. Let me do the easy one first. There is no pickguard. I have 4 stupendous bookmarked veneers of birdseye maple, and I don't want anything to cover that up; I can't really buy a slab top - the budget is already over extended. The issue that I have is the chunk missing from the small horn which I glued back on. I have tried to photograph it, but it doesn't show. The glue line is a really obvious blemish, and I just don't want it there. At the moment, I know that I don't have the skill to route it out and put in a patch, so I am down to covering it, as I think that putting an opaque stain on the maple will kill it visually. So, I am trying to make the best out of a mess. I hear hector's doubts about the MDF feel to it, and Supernova's about the 3 faces, but I cannot see any other way out on this beast. I can only hope that a simple black binding will tie it together. BTW all the hardware is black. Please don't think I am not listening - I truly am, but if I am going to lose the glue line, this seems the only way forward. I would love it not to be so!! Thanks again Denis I see your point here. and in that case. do it! if you're happy with it, we all are! and post some pictures too. BTW, I think the veneer on the edges can look good, like a semi-acoustic, or archtop(if your guitar had a thicker top, I would suggest to hollow it, and make some F-holes, that way the edges would look like solid wood bent to shape! lol) . don't forget to tie the top and back bindings with a end graft. that should make everything flow nicely. again, nice work!

I would suggest that you should do a round over in the back, since you're leaving the maple back showing. and I think the binding on the top would look awesome about the edges, I don't think you should put some veneer on it. It will look like the guitar is made out of mdf or something other than solid wood. one other thing, if you bind it. in my opinion, it will look weird with a pickguard.

my suggestions? jumbo (gibson) size or even bigger if its possible. long scale! lattice (classical guitar) style bracing on steroids! you should place the bridge in the center of the lower bout, not like some factories do placing them way back there. just some things that should make your bass sound really good. and with some volume too! that worked for me!

I think the jackson headstock does not fit in the fender. You're gonna have to glue some " wings" to your existing headstock. and to do so, you'll have to cut, route, glue, level, and refinish. it's a lot of work. And you're gonna have to find a wood to match the wood of your neck. I'm not sure it's worth it. one more thing, the angle in the jackson and fender headstocks are completely diferent.

c'mon man! you have to finish it! It's looking very good! she's gonna sound amazing too. maybe you could sell it, buy more wood and try again later on! don't give up!!!

nice woods! are all the neck blanks quartersawn?? never heard of nyatoh before.

You're right 2x! the neck is wider than usual (not tapered) and the body is smaller than a regular guitar. Today I made and glued the peghead overlay, I don't know what wood it is, a friend gave me some pieces and he'd been told that it was brazilian rosewood, but I'm not sure. I don't think it is. is harder (broke one of my saws) and smells diferent too, but looks kinda good, don't you think? here's a pic I'm gonna use the same wood to build the bridge.

wow, that's a nice piece of wood you got there! it looks like a world map! lol look! there's Italy! lol

I've always used white glue for that. and never had any problems. I just use a lot of tape, and a lots of pressure. just be careful not to use too much pressure and implode the guitar. (if it's a acoustic)

hey! got some work done today. cut the f-holes, and I'm still deciding if I cut two more or not. any suggestions? In that case I'm gonna have to reinforce the top between the 2 f-holes. what do you guys think? sorry about the low quality pics... cel phone camera... more pics here http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p270/HK...rs/lap%20steel/

I wouldn't recommend rosewood for a explorer body. waaaay too heavy.

does the baby grand require a neck angle?

Yeah, the neck positioning can be different because you can place the bridge way back almost like in a bass. that way the neck will look shorter and It will look better for a guitar with such small body. some people also use a shorter scale lenght too. I'll try to update this ASAP!

hi jon! thanks a lot! I did the hollowing free hand, that's why its not perfect, but i'm pretty happy with it. I left about 15mm of wood there. I'm still thinking about the depth, for now i routed 30mm of the body, that is 40mm thick. should I take out some more? is a 5mm (of flat sawn mahogany) back strong enough?

hi everyone, while waiting for the hardware for the mahogany strat, I got bored and started another one. this time its a lapsteel (25" scale length), semi hollow, made out of some spruce I found in the trash, a imbuia neck that looked awesome when I got it, but it turned out to be kinda yellow, light yellow , and ugly. not like the other board I got that was very dark and pretty. and a mahogany body (just because I couldn't find any more wood to recycle! lol) and this is what I got done so far. the electronics will be just a humbucker, tone and volume pot. http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p270/HK...rs/lap%20steel/ what do you guys think? any ideas? thanks for your time!

Hi there. brazilian rosewood is a little hard to work, it clogs sandpaper easily because it has lots of oil. Bends very well, easy. The tone is amazing and it is porous. lots of pore filling to do. smells nice too! great wood. great tone!

wow! it looks amazing! nice one!

I agree. One question though, if you are sticking with the strat shape, it looks like you cut off a bit of where the neck fits in on the body. I'm not sure if that's enough room to fit the neck in. Hey guys, I changed the shape a little bit to make it more comfortable to play. The neck will have a very long tenon, that will be deep set into the body. It's gonna be a glued in neck. I hope everything turns out ok! thanks for all your comments. Hector!

hey guys, today I started my 2nd guitar. It's a mahogany strat with glued on imbuia neck and ebony fretboard. I'm pretty sure this one will sound completely diferent than any other strat. What do you guys think It'll sound like? here's some photos: http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p270/HKNguitars/Strat/ one more question, should I do the headstock flat like a fender or angled? how much? I know that for 3+3 anything between 10º/15º will work. what about 6 in line? any comments and sugestions are always welcome! Hector!

Made some progress on my guitar, here's how she's looking now. http://s130.photobucket.com/albums/p270/HKNguitars/ the neck is glued, the tenon is covered. hardware is gonna be all gold, I already ordered a new bridge, what about the knobs? I've chosen speed knobs, but I'm not sure about the color, what do you guys think? black or gold?