Digideus

Nice Colour! looking good, but one thing, it may have been a better idea to do any routing before you added the stain. once you start scratching it with routers and drills, youll have to revisit it anyway! Good start tho!. well done

OOo it reminds me of something, like a jackson warrior? is that the one? I cant remember. Still its gonna be interesting to see this one develop. The inlay job on the neck is killer! Id love to see the proper jackson sharkfins in that stuff. That would look awesome! As for pickups, Kent Armstrong Pups are supposed to be great value and uo there with the SDs and Dimarzios. Or you got the Bill Lawrence range. Im keen to try some of those myself. Your choice really, but if you play metal, I would say EMG all the way. keep us posted!

nice looking axe there. Very Retro looking body shape. Thanks for the info on black walnut as well. looks like I will be using it for sure

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) A deciduous tree from the Walnut Family (Juglandaceae) Black Walnut, a rapidly growing tree common in all of Ohio, is most common in moist bottomlands and open fields, but is found everywhere due to squirrels burying its nuts. Its beautiful, fine-grained, chocolate-brown, relatively lightweight heartwood is the ultimate choice for making solid wood furniture, interior trim, gunstocks, and high-quality veneer. The large nut contained beneath the husks of Black Walnut is round and can be cracked open to expose the bittersweet, oily, and highly nutritious kernel. A native of the Eastern, Midwestern, and Great Plains regions of the United States, Black Walnut is a pioneer invader tree in open fields or cut-over woodlots, and grows rapidly in youth. It displays an irregular and open growth habit when young, dividing into several spreading branches that give it an upright rounded shape as it matures. Its bold winter texture makes it an outstanding tree to observe during the dormant season. This tree may easily grow to 70 feet tall by 70 feet wide when it is found in the open. As a member of the Walnut Family, it is related to other Walnuts and to the Hickories. The walnut/butternut group (Juglans spp.) contains 15 species which grow in South America [6], Eurasia [4] and North America [6]. The word juglans is the classic Latin name of walnut, meaning nut of Jupiter. Distribution Black walnut is native to the eastern United States, from southern Minnesota east to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York; south to South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama; west to Texas; and north through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The Tree Black walnut trees reach heights of 120 ft (37 m), with a diameter of over 3 ft (1 m). The Wood General The sapwood of black walnut is nearly white, while the heartwood is light brown to dark, chocolate brown, often with a purplish cast and darker streaks. The wood is heavy, hard, and stiff and has high shock resistance. Working Properties: Black walnut is straight grained and easily worked with hand tools and by machine. It finishes beautifully and holds paint and stain exceptionally well. It also glues and polishes well. Durability: Rated as very resistant to heartwood decay–one of the most durable woods, even under conditions favorable to decay.

Excellent stuff guys. Ive been waiting for this info for ages!!! I commend your effort damo. And to add my own... there are many historic sawmills in the strood area in kent who can supply mahogany, wenge, maple and ash. No specific name at the moment. Theres also one or two guys on Ebay, Jerwood timber being the most prolific I know of. He does Body blanks for £20 and neck peices for £2, but they only measure 10mm so you will need to laminate about 7 together. may i suggest this thread be added to the respective place on this site for UK suppliers?

I quite like the cutouts, but id make them spikey!

Well, I have to say I would have bought more wood. the idea of gluing packing crate on my guitar would make me cringe Just dont drop it on the shipping crate bit. Nice job tho. the simple colours make it look really retro. its like something from the 70s that Slade would have played! How does it sound?

I love the colour! nice work. One thing tho? does the bridge and tail look too low on the body? its just the arm rest piece looks a bit high compared to some others. it may just be me... Not to take anything away from your accomplishment tho. Id be proud of that!

hehe, prepare to be sick then, cos ive been offered body blanks for £20 ($35-40) :D

hmmm, are you sure its a crack and not just 2 peices of wood seperating? Both of those pics look like The crack is very straight and uniform and is almost perfectly central to the neck! I cant imagine how the neck was put under that sort of force to split the neck in half unless the string tension is forcing the two parts of the neck away from each other. I would imagine you could glue them, but I would be worried about mating the peices together while gluing. I would probably look to see if there is a way to reinforce the two halves of the neck so that its stronger in future. Sounds like a lot of work.

wow, thats different!

Sawmills are a good source in the UK. there arent many, but I tend to find them cheap and willing to deal with you. You may have to buy a 12ft plank, but the cost is cheap at about £30 for 2" mahogany Do a search on www.yell.co.uk for companies in your area

A custom shop finish job can cost hundreds on its own! its costs so much because it is more than just slapping wood together. Like i said before, go read some stuff and learn whats involved. If money is no object, then go for it and get the axe you want.

I think you have much to learn and need to read some more. Posts like this one do tend to get ignored or create a great deal of negative comments because its obvious from what you have said that you have no idea. If youre learning about guitars and the art of the luthier, then fine, go read some books and learn a bit about the instrument. Typically this place is for those who are attempting to build their own guitars. To answer your questions tho, The cost is very variable. A luthier built neck should cost you far more then a ready made neck from Warmoth. The neck however is only the beginning of the process. You then need to take into account a bridge as the body you specified has no bridge mounting on it. This will have to be added at an additional cost for hardware and then a cost for a luthier to do the work. different types of bridge will incurr differing costs You also have to buy tuning heads, a pickup, the afore mentioned bridge, electronics plus finish the wood so it has some protection against the elements and everyday wear and tear, plus body and neck binding, Fret scalloping and the final setup. This all costs money. Unless you intend to do the work yourself, the cost could be hundreds.

Thats actually quite helpful. I had heard of sapele before but i wasnt aware it was part of the mahogany species. I did some searching and found out that sapele is used as a substitute for hondurian mahogany in europe a lot, which fits with what ive found out so far. THIS website sells hardwood chessboards. It gives some idea of the colour variations to honduras mahogany as it seems to be darker. I also found the following info.. FAMILY NAME Entandrophragma cylindricum of the family Meliaceae COMMON NAMES Sapele: sapelewood, aboudikrou, sapelli, sipo, sapele mahogany, tiama, Gold Coast cedar, penkwa, libuyu. Sapele pommele. HEIGHT/WEIGHT Sapele grows from 150-200 feet with diameters of 3 to 6 feet and clean boles for 100 feet. Weight ranges from 35 to 43 pounds per cubic foot. PROPERTIES Sapele seasons rapidly but has a tendency to warp and is very variable in drying properties. Experts recommend a kiln schedule of T2-D4 for 4/4 stock; T3-D3 for 8/4 stock. Careful stacking of material minimizes problems. Works easily with hand and machine tools, although presence of interlocked grain can pose problems such as blunting of tools. Wood finishes well, saws easily, peels and slices satisfactorily. It has good gluing and nailing properties. Heartwood is moderately durable. Sapwood sometimes susceptible to powder-post beetle infestation. Heartwood can be resistant to termites, but not always. Wood has innate luster. I think its safe to assume its tonal qualities are close to mahogany but Ill ask Doug over at Black Machine and get his opinion. In the meantime if anyone has used this wood, please tell us what its like. Ill let you know!

Excelent. one thing tho, can someone add Sapele to this list? I have no idea what its tonal qualities are but i have been offered some

Has anyone got any experience with Sapele and black walnut. I have been offered a very cheap supply of both. What I would like is someone that has experience using Sapele in partuicular for bodies and can tell me the tonal qualities compareed to Ash. Ive been offered sapele and black walnut strips for necks, already machined and ready for laminating. The trouble is it comes in 10mm strips so i would need like 7 parts to make up a neck blank. Im not overly worried about that but I was wondering about tonal qualities of those woods for necks as well. anyone? Edit: I have just found this thread which does answer a lot of what i was after, but no Sapele info.... http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=10375

Im a bit late to get on this thread, but Matt, you rule dude. You have SO many good ideas and you have already been an infulence to me as you know. I would spend some time on an original headstock. something that screams MATT! ya'know what i mean. Kepp on the designs dude. I for one believe that the more you design, the better you get at it, like anything in life. The deathviper idea is kewl and I think you should revisit it several times. Draw one out in full size and look at it long and hard. It works for me. Keep us posted dude.

In my experience, most production guitars dont have more then 15-20mm of wood on the lower part of the neck pocket, which is no way enough to hold it still if you put extreme force on the neck to move it . Generally, neck movements are usually restricted to the bowing of the neck due to string tension. Nothing *SHOULD* make a neck move left and right in the neck pocket unless its forced to, in which case you should hear the tell tale "RIP" sound as the wood splinters and you end up with a two piece guitar. It does make me wonder if neck pockets need to be so small, I mean, on average they are what... 60mm? Surely a longer one would be better. Just like set neck guitars and glue ins which have a tenon running along most of the body. The only problem i can see is with ensuring they are straight. Any deviation along the length of the tenon would cause a problem. Opinions anyone?

Dont a lot of the Ibanez Jems have recessed Floyds? Ive seen a few, especially the Frank Gambale ibanez which has recessed everythings! perhaps someone can post some details here cos i know lots of people here have Ibanezezzezs! Remember to take lots of photos of this project dude. I Love Vs and am building several for the exact reason you quoted in your original post. NO-ONE MAKES THEM LIKE I WANT THEM! Or they will, but it will cost £2000!!!

Ive seen this before and I believe it was an Ed Roman guitar. Ragas, I love the carvings. Never seen Buckeye before. Whats it like to work with and whats its acoustic qualities?

may have been suggested already but... Make templates out of clear 6mm perspex and draw all the features and the centre line on the reverse so you can see through the template and see the wood. Its also easier to work than mdf and wont cause you lung damage if you breathe in its sawdust! Protection is vital Ears (Earplugs are cheap) Nose & Mouth (face masks are available from DIY stores for pennies) Eyes (Goggles or glasses. Not eyelids) Fingers (gloves when you need them, especially on radial saws or table saws) Hair (if its long, tie it back. I once caught mine in a drill chuck!) clothes (wear overalls when handling stuff that will stain, burn or generally ruin your nice clothes) Feet (Wood has a habit to make splinters. Sharp Tools like to stab you in the foot. Wear proper shoes) And lastly, have fun. This is not a competition or a sport. Rushing it will ruin it. Enjoying it will make it all the more special.

My friend used to build at cost for his friends, then he built some astonishing axes for people in the music biz, bands and producers he had got to know. He now charges about £2000 for an axe, but these are extremely nice with exceptionaly rare & expensive woods and one off configurations to order. he has a 4 month waiting list and does work for people all over the world. The EBAY suggestion is great. youre gonna lose out at first, but ebay offers a ready made customer base and the tools to complete transactions worldwide. if I were seriously thinking of doin this as a job, I would use ebay. As it is, I just want the nicest axes I can get, and self building them it the only way to accomplish these I think.

Since this thread isnt closed yet and its STILL going on, I will offer my 2p worth.... Kevan, in future, just delete threads that you feel are inappropriate or time wasting. Im not knocking you for what you did cos this is *YOUR* forum, but replying to it may have been like a red rag to a bull. If a post by a newbie is stupid no-one is gonna answer it anyway, so just delete it. I was gonna say how I had a simular experience when I first came here asking about UK wood suppliers. I got flamed by people telling me to go look for myself, which I didnt think was fair cos I had looked and couldnt find anything. Luckily I have a list of people now that I can use. I found it myself and thats was that. Im still here over a year later and I know how this board works. I have no problem with newbies coming asking stuff like that, but arguing with a forum mod is like juggling with hand grenades. eventually its gonna blow you to bits! Now, can we *ALL* put this behind us and get on with the art of building stuff? NOTE: Please disregard anything you do not agree with in this thread. Im not looking for replies or arguements, just for peace and a nice place to come and see some amazing work.

...and improve your sweep technique? Id love to see someone actually do a novelty guitar like that just for fun. it wouldnt even have to be playable!... or is that missing the point of actually building one?