Oakland Axe Factory guitar thread

[Tom Drinkwater]

I never really officially started an official O.A.F. guitar thread so here it is. I'll try to keep it updated, I'm horrible at that.

Here is the latest news:

I am working on putting up a new shop!! It will be 32"x20". Lot's of room. I'll need to take some pics.

I have a couple of quotes out right now for materials for a small batch of 10 guitars. More on this as I receive materials.

I have contacted Kent Armstrong about getting some 8 string single coils made. Nothing to report on this yet but I am pretty excited about it. I also have a guy who repairs pickups interested in making singles for 8 strings so something will be happening on that front before the end of the year.

I have been talking with new wood suppliers!! You know those absolutely killer exotic wood fretboards you see on high end basses? The ones with sapwood and heartwood on the same board!! I have found a guy right here in Maine who has a huge exotic lumber import business and he is very accomodating to luthiers as we represent a good portion of his business. I will be sourcing some very interesting pieces from him in the near future and posting them for sale on my eBay page. I am also working with a supplier to get carmelized maple fretboards and neck blanks to the market through my site.

More to come!!!!

[Tom Drinkwater]

Here are a couple videos that I made a while back showcasing my single cutaway. The videos are pretty infomal but do a fair job of showing what the guitar is all about. I still have the guitar, it is available for purchase with a TKL case for under a grand shipped, PM me if you are interested.

‪oaklandaxefactory's Channel‬‏ - YouTube

‪oaklandaxefactory's Channel‬‏ - YouTube

[celticelk]

Nice work, Tom! I plan to have my deposit for that 8-string singlecut within the next month; I'll be in touch by email.

[Tom Drinkwater]

Nice work, Tom! I plan to have my deposit for that 8-string singlecut within the next month; I'll be in touch by email.

Cool!!

[Tom Drinkwater]

Ok, here is the latest from Oakland, Maine.

I finally talked to a concrete contractor today about getting a foundation poured for my new shop. This is good news because I have been calling and leaving messages for almost a month now and have only gotten one call back.

I am getting ready to update my site with the details of my first production run of 8 string guitars. The update will include all specs and pricing. When it's up I'll post links.

That is it for now. Gotta love the summer.

[Ishan]

I noticed that beautiful Holdsworthian fanned 8 on your Facebook page, what are the specs of this one?

[celticelk]

Originally Posted by Ishan

I noticed that beautiful Holdsworthian fanned 8 on your Facebook page, what are the specs of this one?

Click through the OAF album photos on Facebook and read the captions: the specs are given there, although you'll have to flip through several photos to get them all. That means you'll get to look at the photos, though, which are mighty tasty. =) I'm eagerly anticipating my own upcoming OAF singlecut 8 build!

[Ishan]

I noticed that after posting haha. What's weird to me is it come with Blackouts it seems but with that angle the strings spacing on this looks very narrow, am I right?

[celticelk]

Originally Posted by Ishan

I noticed that after posting haha. What's weird to me is it come with Blackouts it seems but with that angle the strings spacing on this looks very narrow, am I right?

I looked at photos of the Schecter ATX 8 and the Ibanez RG2228, which also use pickups of that size, and it appears that the pickup is just that large - there's plenty of margin outside the outer strings on those instruments to achieve the slant shown on the OAF with equivalent string spacing. Tom can give you the definitive measurement on the spacing, of course. =)

[Hollowway]

Cool! Tom and I have been talking about doing a 9 string C#1-E with a sapwood/heartwood FB. Not sure about the scale length, but I'm thinking 28-31 or 29-32. Maybe even 28-32. Gotta play my 10 string a little more to make sure I can handle the longer length.

Congratulations on the new shop, Tom!

[Miek]

That single cut 6 string is hella cool!

[Tom Drinkwater]

Hi everyone.

The string spacing on the purple eight string is 3/8" at the bridge. The Wilkinson VS100 style saddles are .5mm or so narrower than typical saddles. This makes the overall spacing a bit less which is nice and the string to string spacing nearly the same for the familiar feel. The spacing at the nut is a bit narrower than some find to be comfortable so I'm reworking the templates to widen that out just a tiny bit.

I am also working out the exact angle that I can achieve with passive humbuckers such as the Dimarzio's and BKP's so that I may be able to offer those angled as well. I have had several requests for this so we'll see what happens.

On the shop front I should be getting a quote for the foundation any time now which is exciting.

I am hoping to get a couple of pieces of poplar from a local supplier by next week to test it suitability for my purposes. If it goes well I will be able to get ahead of the standard guitar orders and pre build bodies. That will be nice. I'd love to have a selection of shaped/unrouted bodies for my customers to browse through while spec'ing out their guitar. Browsing is half the fun of shopping for a new guitar.

I may also have a lead on some hard ash for body wood. The purple multiscale single cut on my facebook page has a hard ash body and it is freakin' awesome. I never thought of hard ash as a body wood but as usual my customer knew his stuff and it worked very well.

Congratulations on the new shop, Tom!

Thanks man. I'll definitely take lots of photos during the construction.

That single cut 6 string is hella cool!

Thanks, it's still available if anyone is interested. It comes with a TKL case and free shipping for well under a grand.

I noticed that beautiful Holdsworthian fanned 8 on your Facebook page, what are the specs of this one?

Thanks, that one came out really well. 27"x25.5" multiscale, hard ash/maple body, maple/rosewood neck and fingerboard, SD blackouts, 16" radius, two step dye (purple over black), satin lacquer finish.

[Ishan]

Are you always using nitro finish? I find it a bit of a pain as it react with rubber, etc... gotta be careful choosing a guitar stand

[Tom Drinkwater]

Are you always using nitro finish? I find it a bit of a pain as it react with rubber, etc... gotta be careful choosing a guitar stand

I also use acrylic lacquer but some of that can have nasty reactivity to rubber as well. I have found a decent automotive acrylic lacquer that seems to work well for glossy finishes and I have also found a good satin urethane for my satin finishes. I'm always looking for and trying new products so that I can improve my product.

[Tom Drinkwater]

The new site is up now thanks to a fellow forum member and ERG enthusiast. Thanks Eric!!!!! Check it out at www.oaklandaxefactory.com

In other news......
Next week should see some progress with the slab being started for the shop. I drove about 114 miles (one way) to get the insulation for under the slab but I saved about $400 so wooohooooo. Totally worth it.

Soon I'll have some progress pics of a recent build that I'm doing for a close friend of mine in NY. It is a baritone 12 string SG, not something that I'd normally go for but it is for a friend. Specs are 5 pc maple and oak neck thru, african mahogany wings and master grade 3/8" flame top. Should be sick. He's having his friends at Dimarzio select and wind the pickups for him. I think we're dropping in an active pre to top it off.

That's about it for this week at the Oakland Axe Factory. I'll track down those cards so I can get the pics up over the weekend.

[severussnape]

That single cut 8 string is sexy as hell.

[Hollowway]

Is that a "holy crap, 12 single course SG!" 12 string or like a traditional 12 string?

[Tom Drinkwater]

That single cut 8 string is sexy as hell. Yesterday 02:47 PM

That single cut 8 string is sexy as hell.

Thank you.

Is that a "holy crap, 12 single course SG!" 12 string or like a traditional 12 string?

One of each actually, and a multiscale 12 string to boot. This first one is based very closely on the SG shape but with a 26.22" scale length and tuned down to A. We're going for an all octaves 12 string. The uncoursed 12 will be a tapper with my offset SG shape. The tapper will be hosting 4 Dimarzio x2n's that will be wound for a bit lower output. I have played the same pickups in a Soloway wide neck baritone. The underwound 7 string x2n's are fantastic. The last one will be a single cutaway standard coursed 12 string with a multiscale layout.

[Murdstone]

A 12 now?
What are you trying to do to me Tom

[thatguy87]

Originally Posted by Tom Drinkwater

Thanks, it's still available if anyone is interested. It comes with a TKL case and free shipping for well under a grand.

I could be interested. any more details??

[Tom Drinkwater]

I could be interested. any more details??

Not that I can think of. I touched on most everything in the video. If you have any specific questions about the guitar please let me know.

[Tom Drinkwater]

I have been extremely busy as of late so I haven't be around here much but here is what I have had going on.


I finished this beautiful custom Adler 8 for a friend of a friend. Evidently when Adler stopped building there were some unfinished beauties out there and I was lucky enough to complete this one. It arrived to my shop as a shaped bolt on body with no routes for pickups and an incomplete control cavity. The neck was mostly ready to go with the exception of some dents to be filled and fret levelling/crowning/polishing. It left my shop a high gloss finished ERB, on it's way to California to get it's custom hifi preamp fit and and installed. I loooooovvvvveee that redwood. The body weighs next to nothing with it's swamp ash back and redwood top and that neck........maple, purple heart and ebony.......simply amazing. I wish Mike Adler was still in the business because this was one sweet bass. If I'm not mistaken, Garry Goodman is responsible for alot of the design of this instrument and you can tell by the feel of the neck that alot of player input was used to shape this thing.

[Tom Drinkwater]

Here is a pic of the template that I created for a 12 string baritone SG that I am currently building. I always make fullscale templates so that I can cut and then edge route everything accurately.

[Tom Drinkwater]

Here are some more pics of that 12 string in various stages from the last couple of weeks.

[Tom Drinkwater]

Here is a practice finish that I recently tried on an older neck thru of mine. I basically made the nastiest color I could with lot's of distressing in the surface and then did a nice gloss over it. The result is as strange as I figured it would be. Nice though. It still needs some work and then it will be truely ugly!!