New guitar day(almost!)

[deaconschwaz]

I know I'm kind of jumping the gun here but after working off and on for a year I finally got the strings on my first guitar and started setting her up! I've been bringing the action down and just have the lightest buzz on the fifth fret of the low E, which will be pretty easy to clean up. The building phase is all done and in the next few weeks I'll finish installing the electronics and have my first build done! So I just had to post some pics to show what I did. The body is Sapele, chambered and wrapped in flame Maple with Bocote binding and fiber purfling. Ziricote fret board, laminated neck of quartersawn, and flame maple with American Walnut accents. Headstock is Spalted Maple, Holly, Copper, Walnut, West African Ebony, Abalone, impregnated curly Maple. Abalone fret markers and side dots, relic'd Grover Sta-tite tuners with ABR bridge and tailpiece also relic'd.

It's going to get wired with a five way, rotary PUP selector switch with Tom Anderson H1 in the neck and H3 in the bridge position. Without further ado, here's some pics:

 

[YellowJacket]

Wait, this is your FIRST build!?

I'm guessing you have previous woodworking experience? If I attempted a first build, it would probably look like a 2 x 4 strapped onto a log!!!

 

[deaconschwaz]

Wait, this is your FIRST build!?

I'm guessing you have previous woodworking experience? If I attempted a first build, it would probably look like a 2 x 4 strapped onto a log!!!

Yep, first one and yes I do have previous woodworking experience, I've been a custom cabinetmaker for 16 years. Still there was a whole lot I didn't know before,I couldn't imagine how difficult it would have been learning woodworking and lutherie at the same time.

 

[deaconschwaz]

Been awhile since I've posted anything here and I realized I never posted pics of it complete. Here's a build thread that pretty much shows everything it took to build this thing. Still really happy with this and I'll need to post some sound clips of it, love the Tom Anderson pups with coil splitting on them. I really get the most range of any guitar I've ever had and the single coil configuration is pretty dang convincing.

I'm on the second build now, another double cut with quilted maple top and bareknuckle nailbombs going in, wired up PRS style.

here's the build: http://s902.photobucket.com/user/specialguydurr/story/6161

 

[RR]

I'm totally blown away!

As a weekend woodworker warrior I could imagine the hours of labor in that guitar!

Did you do a Spanish Luthier joint? I don't care what purists say, I repaired a few one piece mahogany and limba necks. I'm high on luthier joint for short grain neck woods like limba or mahogany.

I'm thinking about all-scratch build including neck and all. I have done bodies but not the neck yet. I first have to get fretting under my belt (have all the tools) and installing the truss rod. I read this is a bit tricky. You don't want the truss rod to rattle what newbies' experiences.

Nice work.

 

[deaconschwaz]

I'm totally blown away!

As a weekend woodworker warrior I could imagine the hours of labor in that guitar!

Did you do a Spanish Luthier joint? I don't care what purists say, I repaired a few one piece mahogany and limba necks. I'm high on luthier joint for short grain neck woods like limba or mahogany.

I'm thinking about all-scratch build including neck and all. I have done bodies but not the neck yet. I first have to get fretting under my belt (have all the tools) and installing the truss rod. I read this is a bit tricky. You don't want the truss rod to rattle what newbies' experiences.

Nice work.

I actually did a bolt on neck, partially because I was terrified something was going to go wrong with the neck and I'd have to replace it, and also while I was doing some research for the build I came to the conclusion that you can get just as good a connection to the body with a bolt on as a set neck, if you make that joint tight. My big thing with this was making that neck joint a pressure fit, the thinking being that by having a tight joint here I wouldn't have anywhere in the guitar where vibrations would get inhibited. I'm not sold on different woods having a real effect on how an electric sounds, but I think the difference between a guitar that feels alive in your hands and one that doesn't is its ability to maintain string vibrations.

I would tell you to just go for it man, the neck is not nearly as hard as it seems. You just need to plan it out well, I did a full scale drawing of a front view and a profile with a detail of the neck joint. Make sure you find any funky spots on cheap paper before you start cutting through wood. I started out laying up one blank that was long enough to cut a heel section out of, and a scarf joint. Do those glue ups, clean it up and then cut your groove for the truss rod, which you absolutely need on hand at the time. I had a local saw shop grind down a 1/4" bit to the exact width of the truss rod ends, which was .23". I'd recommend using a router table and a fence, with a couple passes to get to full depth. After you get done shaping the neck all you need to do is lay a bead of caulk down in the slot, put the truss rod in and then you can glue the fret board in on top of it.

Like I said, just plan, plan, plan. You want to make sure you have the correct scale length and placement for the neck. When you design the head stock, lay out the string paths taking into account the thickness of different strings and to which side they will be tangent to the tuning posts.

I still need to improve my fretting, I think it's just something that comes with time and experience. The one I'm working on now has a bound fret board which is a different animal. A whole lot more work undercutting and filing the fret tang so it lays flat over the binding.

Go for it man, the more you work on it the more it all makes sense! (Thanks for the compliment btw!)

 

[RR]

I use to just assemble (not build) bolt-on neck guitars for me and friends. I later got into routing the bodies from tonewood slabs (ash, walnut, mahogany (yes Sapele, Honduras is expensive) ... )Then I got into tenon or through-neck purchasing them from Carvin, E-Bay (many Far East cheapies). But some of these Far East Cheapy necks needed some work and its a crap shot if they'll have issues (twisting, fret problems, etc ... ). So far I haven't purchased a "lemon neck" (knock on wood no pun intended) but I am well over-due if I keep purchasing necks this way - lol.

Yeah, I have a book on "How to Build a Solid Body Electric Guitar" and studied the truss rod installation. Frets are another skill I have to master. Like you said, its shear experience mastering fret dressing. So I'm checking out many YouTube video clips.


Wow we share the same philosophy with neck joint. I always wonder why guitar manufacturers haven't build a hybrid bolt-on - tenon neck. I think PRS did build something similar but I seen this model in a while.

But I a few guitar projects and upgrades / mods before I get into a "complete scratch build".

Thanks for sharing.

 

[TheMichaelAbe]

man, that guitar looks great...I would love to attempt something like that someday!

 

[screamingdaisy]

Colour me impressed!

 

[deaconschwaz]

Thanks a lot guys! I've got the bug now and am pretty deep into my second build, I've finally got a shop at my house so that's helping quite a bit. I'm not very fast at building these yet but I really try to put all of my skill into them. It's kind of a nerve-wracking process but it's really worth it in the end, there is nothing like playing an instrument that you built yourself (intense anxiety followed by relief and joy, lol.)

Does anyone know of any cheap or free recording software? I was using Adobe on my old laptop but when I got a new one it wasn't compatible with windows 8. Just need something for quick and dirty recording...

 

[TheMichaelAbe]

Well if you ever want to sign an endorsee, I'm your guy! lol

As far as the DAW thing goes I picked up Reaper a month ago(still demoing it but I think that the paid version is less than $50-$60) for my little mobile setup and so far it rocks! I'd personally recommend it for quick simple takes if you already have an I/O...better yet you can send me a guitar and I'll do whatever demo recording that you want lol: kidding, kidding

 

[deaconschwaz]

Well if you ever want to sign an endorsee, I'm your guy! lol

As far as the DAW thing goes I picked up Reaper a month ago(still demoing it but I think that the paid version is less than $50-$60) for my little mobile setup and so far it rocks! I'd personally recommend it for quick simple takes if you already have an I/O...better yet you can send me a guitar and I'll do whatever demo recording that you want lol: kidding, kidding

That sounds exactly what I'm looking for, I've got a little maudio usb I/O that's pretty handy for just plugging into the laptop, otherwise I'd need to hook up my old comp (which has been in a box since I moved) to get my big board going. Thanks man, I'll check that out! (you'll have to give me about ten years and 1000 builds before I can even talk about sponsorship, lol!)

 

[TheMichaelAbe]

Ha! well when you are ready to go global I wanna be your first endorsed artist

Yeah, Reaper seems pretty decent especially for what you are needing. I am assuming that you have some sort of preamp(digital or hardware) because as far as I know Reaper doesn't come with any amp sims or anything like that. You can def add your own plugins but it is fairly bare bones when you download it(if I remember correctly, it was a fairly small file given the nature of these DAWs)

 

[RR]

Audacity and Krystal are (or were) free.

I got my cheapy M-Audio Fast Track I/O (now discontinue no drivers for Window 8) to work.

( yeah, I know, time to upgrade my interface )

 

[deaconschwaz]

Audacity and Krystal are (or were) free.

I got my cheapy M-Audio Fast Track I/O (now discontinue no drivers for Window 8) to work.

( yeah, I know, time to upgrade my interface )

no drivers for fast track? Crud, that's what I've been using for my portable rig. It's always something!

 

[RR]

Audacity and Krystal are (or were) free.

I got my cheapy M-Audio Fast Track I/O (now discontinue no drivers for Window 8) to work.

( yeah, I know, time to upgrade my interface )

no drivers for fast track? Crud, that's what I've been using for my portable rig. It's always something!

My Fast Track was entry level (bottom of the line). There's drivers for XP, Window 7 but no drivers for Window 8 . I'm checking out if those LINUX geeks wrote a driver for these USB interface modules. All my laptop dual boots.

So I'm using my Fast Track on my 10 year old laptop XP and sometimes experiencing latency problems. Yeah, I think its time to upgrade.

 

[Cory]

WOW! :shock: - absolutely blown away by this man! I'm beyond impressed. You've achieved something I've always dreamed of doing (but probably never will be able to do). Congrats on the finished product, so awesome man.

 

[deaconschwaz]

Hey RR, might want to see if one of these drivers will work for your windows 8.

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/Download/en379411

I haven't tried yet, just got super busy.

Thanks for the compliments Cory! It was a lot of work but gave me a big feeling of accomplishment, and it won't be my last. I've got a neck gluing up in my garage right now, looking to have it joined up with its body within the week. If you ever change your mind about building one yourself I'd recommend getting some pre-cut parts or maybe starting with a strat style, make it easy on yourself. I thought this first one was gonna kill me...