Avenger 7 Multi-Scale Build

[JStraitiff]

I have been toying with the idea of building a guitar for a while now. Oddly enough the thing that got me going the most was a 7 string telecaster.

This morning i was going to draw up a scale mockup and in the quest looking for cardboard to draw on i came across the perfect wood to use for it. I have an old waterbed frame that is just thick enough if i put a 1/4" top on it. It may not be the best wood to use but this is my first build so i wont be wasting expensive wood. I dont have any money for parts right now so im going to build the body and neck first then hopefully by then ill have enough for a truss rod and fretboard wood. Ill have to work as i can afford it so i apologize if it moves at a slow pace after these first few stages.

EDIT: i actually didnt realize how cheap truss rods are. Guess that wont be an issue

Now to the details:

7 String
Schecter Avenger body style (Unknown wood)
Regius headstock
3 piece set neck (unknown wood/maple)
Rosewood fretboard
Quilted Maple Top (Natural finish)
25.5" - 27.5" scale
EMG 707's
Probably Grover tuners
Graphtech nut

To start you off here are some pictures of my plan:

[ROAR]

I have an Avenger!
Rad shittt

[OrsusMetal]

Very cool! I probably wouldn't waste money adding a figured maple top to something that you don't know what the woods are in the body. I'd save that for a 2nd build when you have more experience and pick up some other woods to go with it.

[ILuvPillows]

You've done it! You've found a headstock that actually fits the avenger shape. Schecter! SCHECTER COME AND SEE!

[JaeSwift]

Nice design! If I can give you a tip, maple is rather in-expensive so you could easily build a neck and end up messing it up without losing more $30. You'll want the guitar to sound good at one point so you could prototype it with the wood you have, make adjustments if needed and transfer those adjustments to some real body wood later on.

[JStraitiff]

As an update on the crappy wood situation, it turns out its pine and it has apparently been claimed, Which im having trouble understanding as it is a part of my bed

Anyway it looks like ill be picking up some better woods to use. I guess now that i have to buy it ill try and find some mahogany to make the body out of. Any thoughts on woods for the neck? Would it make sense to do a stip of mahogany in a maple neck? or should just go maple neck all together? What other woods sound good with maple?

[Shredderboy1658]

Pete's Guitar Build

Check out the Schecter Guitar Forum! One of our guys is making a 6 string Avenger... Lots of random bullshit throughout the thread, but he is to the point of setting the neck.

[JStraitiff]

Considering neck through now. Ill see what i can find on the woods front. If i can find something reasonable thats long enough ill do that. Im thinking it would be badass to have the neck-through showing on the top with two quilted top pieces on the sides of it.

Does anyone have any good resources for buying woods?

[brynotherhino]

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lut...-new-post.html

[JStraitiff]

^ Buying resources, Wood dealers :p

[ASoC]

^ There's a thread that's stickied dedicated to this

[JStraitiff]

^ aw geez. I better use my eyes haha. ive been up for about 24 hours so im half out of it

[ElRay]

Great start.

I added the member built tag. When it's complete, be sure to post here: Guitars built by members of SS.org [Pic-heavy]

Ray

[JStraitiff]

I did some practicing on the pine i had. I didnt bother to sand off the finish except in the sections i was gluing. I did the scarf joint for the headstock. The piece i had was a little thick so once the joint was cut i took about 3/4" off the headstock piece so it was a little more workable. I glued that up. I also glued two larger pieces together for a body blank.

Tomorrow when those are both set ill do some sanding and then probably route the truss rod channel. In this practice build im just going to set the neck but i have decided upon going with neck through on the final build. Should be interesting cause im doing quilted maple tops on the two wings rather than doing it over the neck as well.

Dont fret, this is not the final build


Oh and i accidentally did this hehe


On another note im making final decisions on woods and other parts.

5 piece maple neck thru with walnut strips, Mahogany wings, Quilted Maple tops, Rosewood fretboard.. Im going to carve a bridge baseplate and use standard saddles. I havent decided on what wood to use for the bridge though.

[JStraitiff]

Today i planed and sanded all the surfaces to remove any finish and level the joints i glued yesterday. Everything is turning out great on this practice build.

I am going to try to purchase most of the woods for the final build tonight or this weekend. Im going to order the mahogany wings and quilted maple top from exotic woods, the rosewood fretboard from stewmac, and im going to try to find the maple and walnut for the neck from local stores tomorrow.

If anyone knows of a cheaper place to get the top from rather than exotic woods please let me know. I wont be buying that until im ready to put it on.

Oh and i was looking into bridges and i think i have decided upon doing a custom carved bridge plate for some standard saddles. I contacted kurt from agile because i heard they will sell you individual bridges for a fraction of the cost of ABM's but he has been less than helpful. I have heard more about stock and the pendulum guitars than i have about the bridges.

Here are some pics of the practice build from today:

Neck after scarf joint, planing and finish removal.



Body blank after joining and leveling. Body shape drawn on.


Low angle shot to show how tight that joint is. Look how pretty!


Body after rough cut.


Tomorrow is routing day! I am going to route for the truss rod and route the body for the neck joint, pickups and control cavity.

[pondman]

Good work so far.

[eddiewarlock]

dude, you might want to use another neck wood....

It has a huge ass knot on the treble side...

On the body wood, it might be, let´s say, forgivable, but not on the neck...

[JStraitiff]

So i went to a couple stores today looking for maple as thats the most common wood in my project. I got SUPER lucky. Lowes had maple and check out what i found:



Awesome! So i got an 8 ft section of that. I will have to go back to get another piece for the center of the neck laminate but i only had enough for this today. There are going to be some really nice flames in my neck

[aaron_rose]

dude, where did your thumb go?

[JStraitiff]

^ its magic

I have a question for anyone with staining experience. I want to stain the mahogany wings and the top but i dont want any stain to bleed off onto the neck thru at all. So would i be able to just tape over the neck and stain that way? Would that stop any stain from bleeding over? I want it to look like the back of a mayones with the dark mahogany next to the maple neck going through the body. Im curious if tape will be enough.

[brynotherhino]

Originally Posted by JStraitiff

^ Buying resources, Wood dealers :p

My bad! Guess I can't read gud haha

[JStraitiff]

ive worked out my finishing issues. It should be relatively straight forward to finish this guitar.

Now what color should i do? I really love eriza verde but i dont know if it will look too good. Give me some other suggestions. Im debating leaving the top natural color as another option.

On another note im determined to order the wood tomorrow. All except for the top for now. Then if i have any money left im going out to a hardwood dealer relatively close by to find some 1/2" strips of walnut and stopping back at lowes for another strip of maple.

[silent_k]

Are you planning to do the top and sides as the same color or different colors? One option would be to leave the sides and back natural and do a "faux" binding for the top, PRS style, which I did for a quilted maple project recently and it looks great. Depending on your color choice for the top, you might want to give it a two-part dye job to really pop the figure. The exposed end grain (all that nice, wavy stuff) will absorb more dye more deeply, so you can apply a darker color, sand back, then apply your main color to get a nice contrast. Do some testing on scrap and see what looks best to you. I like Behlen Solarlux dyes, which are available at Woodcraft if you have a store near you.

[JStraitiff]

^ Thats actually exactly what i plan to do if i understand correctly. Im planning to seal the back and sides and then do a two part dye on the top masking off the center block. This will leave a strip of natural maple along all the edges. Im actually going a step further and im going to cut in an angle on the bottom horn so the mahogany meets the maple in the cetner of the cut exactly like on a custom 24.

I went to a local store today and bought a nice piece of black walnut for the stripes in the neck. it has very little run off in the neck portion. There are some really cool grains in the body section as well which will look nice. I had them plane it down to 1/2" for me right there so now i just have to get one more piece of maple for the center strip and ill start work on laminating them.

funny story, the guy who worked at the lumber place builds guitars as well and apparently work(s/ed) at a local guitar place where they built customs. After an hour of talking past closing time i got this bad boy home.



The guy gave me a lot of tips but there was one that i found particularly useful. He mentioned using a drill press as a fret press. I think im going to try it just for fun.

Edit: Just ordered the truss rod, router bit for truss rod and fretboard. Tomorrow im going back to the lumber yard for the mahogany wings and ill stop to get the last piece of maple too. Then i can begin work on the real deal!

[Munch]

Dude! Looks like this is going to be awesome.