darren wilson

Thanks for the book suggestion! I'll check it out.

Yeah I'm with RestorationAD on the finish. Looks like you've built too much gloss up to still have open pores... I'd knock back the gloss with some 0000 steel wool for a nice clean sheen that actually works well with open pores. Gloss and open pores just looks like a poor finishing job...

Yeah, i learned to not trust the manufacturer's claims.

Everything i read said that after a few coats of the matte sealer/finish, the pores would be sufficiently filled. LIES! Next time i'm using a proper pore filler first.

I agree that matte generally looks better with oil finishes. However, with every coat i put on, the figure in the wood looked amazing when wet, and the matte finish diffuses enough light when dry that it just killed the 3D quality of the figure. So i impulsively decided to throw on a coat of gloss and got the pop i was looking for with the figure, but it did highlight the open pores.

Ah, well... that's why it's a prototype! Maybe in the summer i'll sand it back, fill it and re-finish it properly.

You guys will be happy to know that the guitar now has a new control cavity cover on it, courtesy of Dave Wescott at Frets On The Net.

To my knowledge, they haven't been made for a few years. There was news that they were looking for a new factory to produce them, but i don't recall hearing anyting come of that.

It's been my experience that some people read the title and first post and jump straight to "FAST REPLY" without reading any of the previous responses.

EBMM (like Anderson and Suhr) is buying roasted maple lumber that's been treated in an autoclave at high temperature and pressure in a near vacuum, not "baking" necks after they're made.

As a side note, composite-neck Steinbergers also have no truss rod.

im used to a fairly high action so i should be ok?

But if your neck backbows, you're screwed.

The truss rod isn't there for strength, it's there to allow you to make adjustments to your neck relief as the wood expands and contracts with seasonal temperature and humidity changes.

You can build necks without truss rods, but if they're made of wood, you run the risk of them being unplayable for at least part of the year.

Heh. That's what i thought, too!

My only idea was that "vulcanizing" is named after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, and since the wood is modified through a baking process...

Gorgeous work! I love the P-Rails.

My understanding is that purpleheart is VERY bright, so you may want to go with something warmer like mahogany if you want a more balanced tone. I wouldn't go by aesthetics alone... if you think the woods don't look good together, consider dyeing the back wood. Maybe a veneer of maple or rosewood between the purpleheart and whatever back wood you choose would help offset the visual difference between the woods.

Other suggestions might be basswood, white or black limba, even rosewood, but that would make it a pretty heavy body.

Thanks for doing this! It's great to see someone actually undertaking a little research project like this to come up with some empirical data, rather than simply continuing to spout the same myths that get recycled over and over.

The whole "pickup under a harmonic node" idea makes me laugh. My Tele has its neck pickup under the 24th fret harmonic node, and as a result, open-string 5th-fret natural harmonics are inaudible when played through the neck pickup. At first, i thought the guitar had dead spots, but then it occurred to me that it was the "harmonic node" in action.

Yep, i've gotta pick one up as well.

Princess Auto has a 1-ton Arbor Press for about $80.

http://www.princessauto.com/shop-garage/fa...ton-arbor-press

Apparently all you need to do is drill out the collet for the slightly larger shank of the StewMac caul and you're good to go.

That's looking incredible!

WHERE did you get a 16" radius bit? That looks awesome for putting a rough radius on fretboards!

Suhr buys the wood already heat-treated, then they make the necks from the "roasted" wood. (BTW, what Suhr calls 'vulcanized maple', Anderson calls 'chocolate maple'... there's no standard industry terminology for what it is, though i'm fairly certain the wood industry calls it 'roasted'.)

This type of "roasting" is done in an industrial autoclave at extremely high temperatures and in a near-vacuum. This is what gives the wood its darker tone all the way through. You can't do this at home in your oven with consistent results... you'll likely end up just burning it.

Also, trying to "bake" a neck after it's been built/carved/glued is just asking for trouble.

Wow... those redwood tops are stunning! Can't wait to see those finished!

That's looking KILLER!

Can you explain a bit more about this Luminlay stuff?

http://www.luminlay.com

It's phosphorescent material cast into thin dowels with a white outer coating that promotes internal reflectivity. They offer it in green and sort of blue/aqua. It was easy to work with, and looks great. It's visible in daylight and glows nicely. (They also provide a blue LED pocket light for "charging" them.) They also make a version with a black outer layer for light-coloured fretboards.

I'm quite pleased with it, and definitely plan to use it on future builds!

You said that the new one will most likely be from aluminum as well. Unless you anodize\paint them it's still going to be eye sore IMHO.

It's just like, the body, fretboard, and neck are all dark and beautiful woods, then BAM there's this big chunk of bright shiny metal.

Well, it's on the back of the guitar. I also like purposeful, honest use of materials. If it's an aluminum plate, just let it be an aluminum plate.

That said, i am looking at either brushed aluminum or black anodized brushed aluminum plates. The anodizing would be more to protect it from pitting and corrosion than just making it "not silver".

Why a bolt-on neck? Why not? Check out http://decibelguitars.com/anatomy-of-a-neck-joint/ for a full rationale behind why i chose to do a bolt-on neck vs. other neck styles.

Ok so while prototyping I get it. Sorry I let my personal hatred of bolt-ons cloud the rational for using them. :

Why the bolt-on hatred?

I don't mind bolt-on necks at all. They also let you adjust the neck angle after the guitar is completed and strung up, which is something you can't do with a set neck or neck-thru. :shrug:

Chances are, i'm going to stick with the bolt-ons for a while. Using the large-head connector bolts with T-nuts embedded under the fretboard makes for a VERY solid neck joint, and i can remove and re-attach the neck pretty much forever without worrying about the holes stripping out and having to potentially dowel and re-drill them.

Well, pots wiggle, with knobs on them or not split-shaft pots seem to be even worse. Personally, i hate split-shaft pots when i'm not using push-on knobs. I need to find a better parts supplier that has solid-shaft pots. When i'm using split-shaft pots with set-screw knobs, i always align the set screw with the split, so it won't be squeezing the pot closed when tightened.

With regard to the aluminum back plate, yes, it's rough, and it's temporary. (Doesn't anybody read the words between the pictures any more?)

Why a bolt-on neck? Why not? Check out http://decibelguitars.com/anatomy-of-a-neck-joint/ for a full rationale behind why i chose to do a bolt-on neck vs. other neck styles.

As far as the finish goes, i'm not totally thrilled with it. I'm used to using pure tung oil, and this was my first try at using the polymerized stuff. This is my first build in a LONG time, and it's a prototype, so i'm trying different stuff with it. I may outsource my finishing to someone who's got the equipment and expertise to do a pro job of it. I intensely dislike painting, so i'd rather have someone else do it.

Hey, folks... i haven't posted here in a while. Thanks to my buddy Canuck Brian, i got back into building again just before Christmas of 2009, and my first prototype is done! At least for now.

Here are the specs:

Body:

Figured walnut, 1-piece

Neck:

East Indian rosewood, 3-piece laminate with a scarf-jointed headstock

Fretboard:

East Indian rosewood, 24 frets, 27" scale, 16" radius, side dot inlays only (Luminlay)

Frets:

Medium-tall nickel-silver

Pickups:

Custom Nordstrand, 1/4" pole pieces

Electronics:

"Free-Way" 6-way toggle, master volume, master tone (currently not wired), Neutrik locking output jack

Tuners:

Black Sperzel Trim-Lok

Nut:

Earvana Compensated Tuning System

Truss rod:

StewMac double-expanding with spoke wheel at the neck heel (EBMM style)

Bridge:

Black ABM flat-mount with Wilkinson-style saddles

Strap buttons:

Black Schaller locking

Finish:

Polymerized Tung Oil on the body, lemon oil on the neck, matte acrylic on the headstock face

Planned mods:

GraphTech GHOST piezo system.

You can view the whole buildstory here.

Complete! At least until i decide to start modifying it and swapping out components to test other ideas.

Rear view. The aluminum control cavity cover is a quickie that i fabricated just to keep the innards from spilling out. It does a decent job, though! I’ll probably get better plates fabricated, likely from aluminum.

View from the butt end of the guitar.

Curly black walnut body.

You can almost see the Luminlay side dots glowing in the daylight!

Here you can see the radius on the top of the body. It’s approximately 16″, so everything follows the arc of the fretboard radius. It’s slightly flattened in the middle to allow easier mounting of the bridge.

Inside the cutaway. Pretty effortless access to the 24th fret.

Recessed controls. I like that they’re sunk out of the way. Future builds may be a little less recessed, as it does pose some issues, mainly because there’s some wobble to most pots, which causes the knurled knobs to make contact with the walls of the recess when attempting “pinky” swells.

Here you can see the organic blending of planes, lines and curves… visually interesting and extremely comfortable.

Neutrik locking jacks are superbly engineered, but are a little bulky. I chose to recess it, protecting the jack and cable, and giving a cleaner appearance from the front.

So there you have it. I'm extremely pleased with the tone and playability of this guitar. It's the first of many more to come!

The Fly is now sold. Thanks for all your interest!