Muzz

That's great, a lot of the fun for me on this guitar has been the influence of the chat on this thread on the way this guitar has developed. That's why you need to finish it up quick, then you will care less when you drop it. I can't drop this guitar Stewey, I decided not to round off any of the edges, the 2 pack lacquer I used is rock hard and as Akula points out it would lop my toe off Wez was saying a while back about neck joins on factory guitars not being as tight as some of the joins we do, here is proof, I saw this in a shop window on Thursday, it is a Gibson Sonex Look at the space between the body and the neck, you could drive a small toy truck around in that channel. You know what is even more disturbing? Have a look at where the black finish has worn off, that looks like MDF or masonite I have never liked Gibson guitars, this one reinforces that feeling for me. Here is the gear I should have used for drilling the jack hole

Lovely earthy colour, very natural

Absolutely beautiful, I only have one quibble, why no logo on the headstock? Nonetheless, a very desirable guitar.

Hate to tell you but, the template you made won't work with the humbuckers you are using, because they have wide feet and the template bit doesn't cut right into the corners of the template, I am guessing the bit has a 0.8 cm radius? You need to make a template like this Buter is right, taking the time to trim your template edges is worth it check out this template Your guitar is looking really great, I am looking forward to seeing how you go.

You shouldn't always be in a rush to reach the finish line, didn't those Scandinavian girls teach you anything? Won't be too much longer now, I'm polishing it up. Back and sides are done, still working on the front. Imagine if you spent this much time on a guitar and put it in a shop to sell and some guy grabs it and dings it into something, that would be hard to keep a lid on. I'm looking forward to putting it all together.

Looking great, fluid and smooth, now go watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D with those glasses

Filling in the grain Finally got to the shop to get the jack plate, I bought one of each, another choice to make

Looking good, if it's a Fender style bridge you probably don't need a neck angle, are you going to try it out on your practice body?

Hey that black came off OK, yep I think keep it simple, stick with the trem and have some fun with this.

Good thing we all take guitar building so seriously Have a great Friday night

Well Cam, I have heard that comment from many women about my other pointy stick. I'll give you the same answer that I gave them, yes it may look a bit large, but the way it is shaped makes it very comfortable

Art

Fantastic , gold trem is hot, what pickups are going in? DiMarzio XN2?

I like guitars better when they have had a mistake and then been fixed, I have no idea why except that it may reflect a strength of character in the builder. Dude that is a seriously cool guitar, but what happened to brown wooden guitars yuk? Never mind, when it's that shapely you get a leave pass

I stained with blue and rubbed back first before staining with black and rubbing back, this brought up the grain but kept it looking dark blue. So now I am just building up the layers of clear.

Hey Duke, I can certainly see the irony here I have been working away at putting a floyd cavity in, while you have been filling yours up The strings do seem to be sitting low on the neck, is that the problem? Whatever the issue, don't worry, everything can be fixed.

Yep you were right about Rustins taking a stain well, and going over the top with a tinted lacquer evens things out nicely. The other tip I forgot to throw out there is that Rustins goes straight over a decal no worries, no crinkling at all as long as you don't thin it, saves all that mist spraying. I am going for a very deep blue. Starting to coat with lacquer. 2nd coat on now, it's hanging on a coat hanger (with a bean bag underneath, I have read too many posts where the body falls off the hook )

Lovely work Erik, that instrument is bonza

Great, red looked OK as did golden oak, but I think you are right, this guitar is telling me it wants to be blue. Oh yeah, I went for the white pearl, and yep Axl Rose is going to finish Chinese Democracy before this guitar gets strung up I am going to try concentrated dark blue for the grain accents first, if it is not intense enough, yep it will get some black. Lining up the neck plate Drilling in the neck screw holes Haven't seen anyone do this with the heal before, so I thought I would And that is all the routing, drilling shaping finished, next step rub off all the pencil marks, there is a lot of them, and then on to staining.

I love this thread and its digital dreaming about guitar design, I don't care that we are in no danger of seeing any sawdust anytime soon

Yep we have qualified for that club a few times over, now if I could just figure out how to scoop out the ferrule holes with my Swiss Army knife .......... My desk is covered with little bits of ash all stained in different colours, here is my fav so far

Hey ray and Stewey, delivering the good oil on the auger/speedbor bits, I have crossed them off the potential guitar equipment list, they sound nasty. Just got to knock the corner off the heel and drill the holes for the neck screws and I am at the stain and finish stage. Drilled the earth wire hole today, I drew a diagram to get the angle and used a piece cut out of a wire coat hanger for a long bit.

Speedbor http://secure.newellrubbermaid.com/irwin/c...IrwinProd160002 I have one. I didn't like it. The screw end pulled the rest of the bit faster than the wood would allow it to go. Made a real mess of the whole thing. Maybe I was doing it wrong - I don't know. Hmm I better be careful when I try one of those I used a guide to point a 3mm drill in the right direction I was holding my breath hoping I had got it right until I saw the end poke out Reamed it out with a 6 mm Close enough to on target

Beautiful craftsmanship.

I saw another type of bit that might be good, like a big chunky bit with a screw on the end, don't know what they are called or if anyone has used one for an input hole. I used a guide to connect the humbucker route to the control cavity Testing the fit I had my first slip of the router, the guide wasn't clamped hard enough, if you want to see mild guitar injury click here But I took it out with a spade router bit And that's it for the routing on this project, just some hand shaping around the neck area and drilling to do