First Build

[RottenCookies]

So it's not a tele (sorry!) but it is my first build. I've learned quite a lot so far, both from this site and from experience, and I will admit... I'm hooked. I'm catching myself thinking about my next builds, but I'm trying to keep myself on track on this.

Anyway! First picture is what I had in mind when I was designing it. Now, I designed that body shape myself. I really did. But after looking at it, I realized it looked very... familiar. My cursed subconscious. At least the headstock is (to my knowledge) completely original.

Second pic is a huge slab of maple tree. Yep. 4'x2'x3" of maple. Yummy. I knew that it would make for a heavier piece, but I don't mind a little heft

Pretty soon, I was at pic #3, showing the black walnut neck.

Pic number 4 is showing off the sweet fret markers. (They might not be great, but I'm proud of myself. Allow me this )

And finally, pretty much where I'm at now is the fifth picture.
Picture number 5 has a somewhat profiled neck, un-filed frets, and no bigsby (which should be arriving in about 2 days.) The body will eventually be dyed blue, with white binding. Pickguard/control cavity cover will be a white paisley.

Like I said, it's definitely been a learning experience, and I can't wait to tr again! Though I see myself building many a geetar in my future, I feel like this one will always be "my baby." Just bare with my while I finish this, huh? I might not be no Buckocaster or Preeb yet, but I'm learning.

[guitarbuilder]

That's a good start. I expect it will be pretty bright sounding . I thought of a Guild S-300 solid body at first glance.

[rcole_sooner]

Damn fine start. I'll be watchin'.

[Jack Wells]

Is it hard or soft maple? If you kept the 3 in. thickness and didn't chamber it, it has got to be heavy. What does it weigh at this point?

[RottenCookies]

Originally Posted by Jack Wells

Is it hard or soft maple? If you kept the 3 in. thickness and didn't chamber it, it has got to be heavy. What does it weigh at this point?

Whew! No way! I don't want to kill my back at the tender age of 21. It's at 1.75" now, and weights about 9 lbs. (that's weighing everything shown in the last pic.) Definitely on the heavier side, but not too bad, I don't think. There's still some wood to come off the neck, and off the body for the body contour. It's soft maple, by the way.

Thanks for lookin' and commentin'

[tnt423]

Match that up with some dark pickups and you could have a sustain machine. I have had trouble keeping frets seated in walnut fretboard though. You may want to make sure you are very accurate when prebending the fretwitre and epoxy them in. I like the inlays. Good job so far!

[BennyMac]

Mate, looking good. A trans blue finish on the way? Keep it up.

By the way, my ol' '74 LP Custom weighs in at 14lbs - 9lbs is kinda like a lightweight compared to that old anvil

Benny Mac

[Picton]

Interesting inlays on a nifty looking FB; there's just something about walnut...

[Colt W. Knight]

Whats going over the control cavity route?

[RottenCookies]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

Whats going over the control cavity route?

Here's an earlier pic that has a paper mockup of the control cavity cover.

(Yeah, funky controls.)

Also, I forgot to mention, the fretboard is rosewood over the walnut neck. I read about the troubles of getting frets to stay in walnut. Anyone ever notice that cutting or sanding rosewood kind of smells like BBQ?

[RottenCookies]

Working overnights has been killing me this week.
I did manage to get some little stuff done, though.
[X] side dots on the neck
[X] Cut out control cavity cover
[X] Brought the neck contour to final shape
[X] Fabricated a neck plate out of plate steel

I hope this measly picture satisfies y'all for now. I'm planning on big things on my weekend off of work! (Binding channel, drilling neck plate holes, maybe even dying the wood if I'm feeling brave)

P.S. here's a pic of the blue dye on a small chunk of maple from the same slab of tree. In between the red lines is the target color. To the right is 3 coats, to the left is 1.

[RottenCookies]

Update:

Just routed the channel for the binding, drilled for and installed the tuner bushings, drilled for the neck plate screws, and I applied some teak oil to the walnut neck.

Holy COW! that stuff really makes the black walnut look unbeLIEVable! I'll hopefully have some good pictures for you all tomorrow.

[RottenCookies]

More progress.

Glued the binding in, dyed the body, bursted the top, went back and scraped the binding and touched up some spots on the body.

Here's a picture of everything dryfit. (except the nut.)

It still needs a clearcoat, and will probably be done tomorrow. I don't want to jinx it, but we've been having fantastic weather here for painting/finishing, and it's supposed to continue for a few days at least.

[Colt W. Knight]

It is a very eclectic looking guitar.

Custom shapes, old style looking neck, new style body. Hardware is all over board.


Paint looks good in those pictures!

[RottenCookies]

If you could define what looks old about the neck and new about the body, I'd really appreciate it. I have a hard time understanding what defines each, but I know it when I see it. Any explanation that transforms quality to quantity would help.

Thanks! It's my first time trying a burst on something that isn't scrap, and I'm pretty happy with how it came out!

EDIT: Forgot to add, I got the belly cut in. The pickups are GFS fat pat, and Vintage '59. I'd heard good things for their price, so there's that.

[adirondak5]

Pretty cool looking

[Colt W. Knight]

Originally Posted by RottenCookies

If you could define what looks old about the neck and new about the body, I'd really appreciate it. I have a hard time understanding what defines each, but I know it when I see it. Any explanation that transforms quality to quantity would help.

Thanks! It's my first time trying a burst on something that isn't scrap, and I'm pretty happy with how it came out!

EDIT: Forgot to add, I got the belly cut in. The pickups are GFS fat pat, and Vintage '59. I'd heard good things for their price, so there's that.

For me, visually, when I look at the neck, the colors and textures remind me of older fralin banjos, and the body, with its shape, color, binding, and pickup looks like a modern rock guitar. No offense intended.

[gooberman]

I like it. The burst looks great! The whole thing reminds me of an old Surf Guitar. The binding really brings the burst out. Congrats!

[rcole_sooner]

That thing is other-worldly. Like something the Mad Hatter would play. Very original, and that is good.

[RottenCookies]

No offense taken, Colt! I really appreciate all of your comments, guys, thanks a lot.

I've been spraying nitro on the body, it really makes the blue dyed grain pop a bit, and subdues the black in the burst. Watching it all come together is a fantastic feeling. I know this isn't going to be the last build of mine. (And I'll know what to look out for on the next ones. Hah!)

I was thinking of a more traditional build next. Perhaps a telecaster with a humbucker. I'd like to make it either butterscotch or surf green. Who knows.