My adventure with my first 7 string build.

[aaron_rose]

Originally Posted by Faine

I cant wait to see this when its finished dude omg.

It has certainly came a long way from the 3d studio model/idea. Honestly I think the underlining reason for the sucess thus far is that we didn't stray to far off the beaten path. A lot of the design choices were considered recionsidered and considered again until it felt like the right thing to do for the right reasons. That coupled with my partners skill and experience as a Luthier should knock this thing out of the park.

[BlackMastodon]

Holy tits that is thin! Looking good though man.

[aaron_rose]

Originally Posted by BlackMastodon

Holy tits that is thin! Looking good though man.

that's just the top its a carve top, the mahogany is here with me while i work in the control cavity panel. ones 3/4 the other is like 7/8 ish , even then with the woods i chose this thing is defiantly for the necklace player, no James Hetfielding happening or crushing back failure would be for sure.

[JStraitiff]

Oh i see what you did there. So could you just not route the pickups deep enough or was the fretboard too thick for the saddles? Also holy balls thats thin!

[aaron_rose]

Originally Posted by JStraitiff

Oh i see what you did there. So could you just not route the pickups deep enough or was the fretboard too thick for the saddles? Also holy balls thats thin!

that's just the top wood, the guitar is under 2 inches thick but isn't that thin, its basically a 50/50 wood thickness scenario.

We didn't route the cavity for pups because we didn't like the look, these lace have a very unique design and they when doing swimming pool routes show way to much inside the cavity so we carved them in with files and a jigsaw and whatnot. it looks way way better this way and isnt that much more work considering the end result. Plus the way the screws work with the lace pups using foam behind them was just not working for me.

[Levi79]

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIN BODIES!

[aaron_rose]

Neck ferrules came in today, still waiting on sperzels nut and pots and rear string ferrules. But here is what we got so far.

The infamous whale penis bone, that makes a great nut!





The guitar

[Fiction]

This is looking awesome dude, I'm a huge sucker for thin guitars.

[Sirppi]

Delicious :3 Can't wait to see it done!

[BlackMastodon]

Whale cock for your nut: now THAT is metal.

[JStraitiff]

Curious why you routed the truss rod cavity the whole length of the neck.

[Pikka Bird]

^My best guess is that it's because it doesn't matter. Also, if he doesn't get it stuck too badly under the fretboard then it can be replaced later on if someone decides to get stupid when adjusting it and ends up snapping or stripping it.

[Purelojik]

did you guys put any silicont in the truss groove? it looks like it doesnt need any but just as insurance against rattle.

looks amazing dude.

[aaron_rose]

Originally Posted by Pikka Bird

^My best guess is that it's because it doesn't matter. Also, if he doesn't get it stuck too badly under the fretboard then it can be replaced later on if someone decides to get stupid when adjusting it and ends up snapping or stripping it.

You sir are right, it doesn't matter at all, considering when u build a multi piece neck using woods like maple "hard" and purple heart "way hard" it is already classically sound vs the shear compression value of the strings due to the build up. Also the wood used in the lamination was all vertical grain, again strong as hell. Also the technique used to cut that trus rod cavity out was a table saw, fast and easy. The headstock will get a top so its all good.

When I say classically what I mean is that for hundreds of years "ya i know it was cat gut strings" luthiers used wood like ebony or purple heart or whatever hardwood available to them to reenforce the neck.

Add in the fact that it's also reenforced with carbon fiber, that thing is not going anywhere. ever. The trus rod is a novelty with this design. But once the neck is shaped we will loose a lot of wood, so well see!

We are going to do a careful bead of epoxy along the sides of the trus rod to seal it against movement as well as glue getting in there. We plan on fitting a block of whatever length it ends up being behind the trus rod to make sure it doesn't move at all.

[SludgeMonkey]

Lookin real good my brother, can't wait to see it done

[SludgeMonkey]

Are the pups at different angles, or are my eyes deceiving me?

[aaron_rose]

Originally Posted by SludgeMonkey

Are the pups at different angles, or are my eyes deceiving me?

They are, at diff angels lined up with a invisible point below the guitar a couple feet which the entire fan is based off of. This way we ensure the pups are grabbing the tone from the vibration of the strings at mathematically true positions. Same idea as having a faned bridge and a straight pup in front of it, the space between the pup and the bridge would be 1.5 inches there abouts at the B string and 1/2 inches ish at the high e. NO bueno for me.

[SludgeMonkey]

Ahhh... I kinda was thinking that but I wasn't sure... the fanned frets I've seen seem to have the pickups parallel to each other. Your layout makes more sense though.

[aaron_rose]

Ya striving for consistency here I guess tonally speaking.. Who knows this is my first adventure. My partner and I are I think getting pretty anxious to hear this things scream tho.

[aaron_rose]

Today was about the headstock mainly. We figured out rough placement for tuners which let us know how much maple and purple heart needed to get glued on so we can accommodate the profile. We started looking for a 1/8 thick top wood for the head stock as well.

We also laminated the sepele to the maple and worked on the pup cavity's a little bit.

[BIG ND SWEATY]

i almost thought those frets weren't even fanned cause from a certain angle they look completely straight. it looks awesome though

[aaron_rose]

Originally Posted by BIG ND SWEATY

i almost thought those frets weren't even fanned cause from a certain angle they look completely straight. it looks awesome though

ya we had a good laugh about that here as well! -1 Photography =]

and thanks!

[Levi79]

Very cool dude!

[Necromagnon]

Originally Posted by aaron_rose

You already had a bone to make a nut.

Don't you fear the truss will slip down? Anyway, I'd just slip it a little more down, for about 2 cm so that it will be a little in the heel. It doesn't need to be to high in the neck.

Are you going to carve a little that top? Could look awesome.

[aaron_rose]

Originally Posted by Necromagnon

You already had a bone to make a nut.

Don't you fear the truss will slip down? Anyway, I'd just slip it a little more down, for about 2 cm so that it will be a little in the heel. It doesn't need to be to high in the neck.

Are you going to carve a little that top? Could look awesome.

Yes it gets a block of wood behind it so it cant move before fret wood is laminated, and yes its a carve top. Thats why thers almost a inch of top wood. I could have used bone for a nut but had already ordered the graphtech and its black , the rest of my hardware is black and didnt really feel like hand dipping a whale cock in the black morass. =]

It's defiantly a lot to keep track of. The devils in the details...