# Ash & Maple Carved Top Superstrat Builds



## Hywel (Sep 9, 2016)

A while ago I posted a thread (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=307792) asking the forum what I should build next and the winner was an RGA style carved top and since I had enough wood I thought I might as well build 2 almost identical guitars at the same time. Unfortunately I've now got an actual job so this might be a slow thread! 

The specs are...

Swamp ash body
Plain maple top
2 piece maple neck
Ebony fretboard
24 frets, 660mm scale (~26"). Drop B/C tuning
HH layout
Hipshot style hardtail bridges







Not the most exciting specs ever I'm afraid. No fancy woods or anything really eye catching but I love the look of the RGA121-NTF and I wanted something restrained and workhorse like so I thought I'd build something that fit the bill. I'm also trying to focus on refining and improving techniques and skills since I'm not doing much new in these builds.

First off (after making the drawings) was preparing the wood. I bought some long planks of ash and maple and cut them into chunks. They didn't even come close to fitting in my tiny workroom before processing. (Ignore the carpet and decor, the house is rented!)






Eventually I managed to get a pair of 2 piece bodies






And a pair of 2 piece maple tops






I jointed the bodies first with a #6 hand plane






But the tops weren't flat enough so I planed them to 10mm thick using a jig for my router. Once they were all flat they got jointed and glued.
















And then those bits got glued together






While those were drying I prepared the neck blanks. I'm going for a 2 piece neck as found on some Martins as it'll allow me to turn the rift sawn wood into something closer to quatersawn.






(The photo above is before jointing)






And now I've got to the point of cutting the scarf joints and cleaning them up on another router jig. 12° headstock angle as usual. The headstocks will get an ebony veneer I'm going to cut from a B grade fretboard blank tomorrow.






And that's as far as I've got. The plan for the weekend is to get the headstocks veneered, scarfs glued and bodies rough cut but we'll see what happens. Thanks for stopping by!


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## pondman (Sep 10, 2016)

Excellent work as always, super clean and tidy skills. All this is done in tour bedroom ?


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## jwade (Sep 10, 2016)

Man I dig this.


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## feraledge (Sep 10, 2016)

So much awesome! Excited to see these builds!


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## Hywel (Sep 10, 2016)

Thanks guys! 



pondman said:


> Excellent work as always, super clean and tidy skills. All this is done in tour bedroom ?



It's a tiny spare bedroom that was just being used as storage so I borrowed it for a makeshift workshop. It's better than nothing but there's no room for any decent size machinery or an actual workbench sadly. Can't wait to get somewhere with a good sized garage or something.

I didn't think a maple headstock would suit these builds so I bookmatched and planed an ebony fretboard blank into a pair of 3mm veneers.











I also had to plane down the headstock pieces to account for the thickness of the veneers but once that was done I lined them up and used some tiny 1mm drill bits at the corners to hold them steady for gluing.











Tomorrow I'll hopefully get the scarf joints glued.


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## feraledge (Sep 11, 2016)

Definitely a slow thread! Haha! Awesome progress, killer builds. Depending on the finish the headstocks might have looked cool if you could have worked the color shift spots in on the veneers.


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## electriceye (Sep 11, 2016)

Nice job! I like that router thickness jig you have. I started building a thickness sander last year, but it's been on the back burner for a long time (along with everything else).


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## Hywel (Sep 12, 2016)

feraledge said:


> Definitely a slow thread! Haha! Awesome progress, killer builds. Depending on the finish the headstocks might have looked cool if you could have worked the color shift spots in on the veneers.



Thanks! I was toying with the idea of doing a split headstock like Rusti's builds but I never got around to it in the end. Definitely something I want to try in the future though.



electriceye said:


> Nice job! I like that router thickness jig you have. I started building a thickness sander last year, but it's been on the back burner for a long time (along with everything else).



The router jig is a lifesaver. Now my router can be a planer, thicknesser and router all in one. Sadly there's barely enough room for the tools I have so no matter how much I want a good size planer/thicknesser and big belt sander, this'll have to do for now. I've sort of tempted to upgrade it with aluminium extrusions and proper hardware rather than softwood and double sided tape but I'll probably never get around to it. 

Scarfs are glued. I used 2 waxed 2.5mm drill bits on each joint to stop anything from slipping while they glued up.






Once they were dry I ran the router over them in the jig to flatten the veneer down and hopefully make the fretboard surface flat and ready for attaching the fretboard.






I made a start on making the templates up for using on the router table but my bandsaw blade snapped so I ended up using the jigsaw to rough them out and I'll use the router table to bring the thick MDF templates down to the size of the 3mm thick laser cut ones.


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## J_Mac (Sep 13, 2016)

Nice work! Two at a time is a good plan.


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## pettymusic (Sep 13, 2016)

Wow Hywel, impressive as usual! 

Do you make your templates yourself or send your drawings off to get cut?


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## Hywel (Sep 14, 2016)

Thanks guys. 

I draw the templates in Adobe Illustrator and them send them to Razorlab.co.uk (ponoko.com is the US equivalent) to get them laser cut in 3mm plywood. Once I've got the plywood masters I bulk them up with MDF on my router table with a bearing bit. I used them for every build except the home depot one and they've worked pretty well so far.


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## electriceye (Sep 14, 2016)

Hywel said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> I draw the templates in Adobe Illustrator and them send them to Razorlab.co.uk (ponoko.com is the US equivalent) to get them laser cut in 3mm plywood. Once I've got the plywood masters I bulk them up with MDF on my router table with a bearing bit. I used them for every build except the home depot one and they've worked pretty well so far.



OOH! This is great to know!!! Thanks!


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## Hywel (Sep 20, 2016)

Finally managed to find some free time. 

Truss rod slots got routed






I put 3 dabs of silicone sealant under each rod to stop any rattle or vibration but this time I put some plastic film between the rod and silicone while it dries so it doesn't stick to the rod. Once it's dried I can pull out the film and the truss rod is still held firmly but can still rotate freely.






Since I've cut through the area where the nut sits I replace the lost wood with a small maple filler block. Once the glues dry I'll plane it all flush.






I also managed to cut out the bodies on the bandsaw.






And route them flush to the templates. I used a few wraps of masking tape around the bearing of the router bit on the first pass giving me a ~0.5mm overhang from the template edge. Once the first pass was done I went around with a larger bit and cut everything flush to the template. The super shallow second pass takes out any small tearout or burn marks from the first pass and really cuts down on the amount of sanding needed later.






Both bodies weight 2.4Kg/5.4lbs at the moment but that'll come down once I route the cavities and carve the tops.

Tomorrow hopefully I'll get the necks cut to size, install the mounting hardware and get the main body cavities routed.


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## Hywel (Sep 21, 2016)

Mini update!

Necks are cut and trimmed and the headstocks have been rough thinned to ~15mm.






T-nuts are in as well.






Didn't get a chance to route the body today but that's next on the list.


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## BlackMastodon (Sep 21, 2016)

*mashes ghost of the Like button*


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## Hywel (Sep 22, 2016)

BlackMastodon said:


> *mashes ghost of the Like button*


 

Pickup cavities are routed






And I cut the neck joints. Aligned everything with a laser and then used some straight bits of wood clamped to the body as a template.






I used to cut the neck pocket straight through into the pickup cavity but now I've started making them ~1-2mm deeper just to give the neck a definite stop point and I think it makes a better joint.






Passed the neck joint without screws test.


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## Hywel (Sep 23, 2016)

And now they've got the neck screw holes drilled in the heel. I made a tool a while ago to drill centred 10mm holes for the brass ferrules around the 4.5mm screw hole and it seems to have worked well.






And we've got the control and battery cavities routed out


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## electriceye (Sep 23, 2016)

BlackMastodon said:


> *mashes ghost of the Like button*



THIS.


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## timbryant99 (Sep 24, 2016)

I love it. Your router thicknessing jigs are quite clever. Sweet looking guitars.


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## Hywel (Sep 24, 2016)

electriceye said:


> THIS.





timbryant99 said:


> I love it. Your router thicknessing jigs are quite clever. Sweet looking guitars.



Thanks guys!

I've seen those thicknessing jigs around for a long time and mine is definitely on the crappier end of the scale but it seems to work ok. I wish I had the space for a proper planer/thicknesser though.


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## Millul (Sep 25, 2016)

Cool thread and guitars!


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## Mehnike (Sep 26, 2016)

This thread is great! Love to see how you make use of the small space you've got. My space consists of a workbench in the corner of my living room. Need to throw out my bag of excuses already and start a build!

Where did you source those brass ferrules?


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## Hywel (Sep 26, 2016)

Millul said:


> Cool thread and guitars!





Mehnike said:


> This thread is great! Love to see how you make use of the small space you've got. My space consists of a workbench in the corner of my living room. Need to throw out my bag of excuses already and start a build!
> 
> Where did you source those brass ferrules?



Cheers 

The brass ferrules are from eBay but you seem to be able to get them at loads of hardware stores. Most places in the UK call them screw cups or cup washers. Much cheaper than the ferrules from guitar stores as these are ~£9.50 for 100


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## Deegatron (Sep 26, 2016)

What did you use to hold down that veneer while routing? double sided tape? I tried this once and it ended up lifting on me / wrecking the piece... I'm also afraid if I use too much double stick tape I'll never get the veneer of....


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## Hywel (Sep 26, 2016)

Deegatron said:


> What did you use to hold down that veneer while routing? double sided tape? I tried this once and it ended up lifting on me / wrecking the piece... I'm also afraid if I use too much double stick tape I'll never get the veneer of....



Double sided tape. I've tried a few different brands but this stuff works on a whole different level to others I've used. It's strong but not permanent but most importantly it comes off in one piece and you don't have to spend the next hour cleaning tape residue off everything. 

It probably also helped that the ebony was still ~2-3mm thick so it had some rigidity to help it survive the taping and plaining.


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## electriceye (Sep 28, 2016)

Hywel said:


> Double sided tape. I've tried a few different brands but this stuff works on a whole different level to others I've used. It's strong but not permanent but most importantly it comes off in one piece and you don't have to spend the next hour cleaning tape residue off everything.
> 
> It probably also helped that the ebony was still ~2-3mm thick so it had some rigidity to help it survive the taping and plaining.



Why wouldn't you just glue the veneer (and dry) before routing. That seems backwards to me.


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## Hywel (Sep 28, 2016)

electriceye said:


> Why wouldn't you just glue the veneer (and dry) before routing. That seems backwards to me.



With most things I would but once the veneer is glued to the headstock it becomes very hard to fit in the thicknessing jig since the neck will stop it lying flat. Ideally something like a drum sander could bring it to thickness without the risk of destroying it but they are a bit big and expensive for me at the moment. 

I back at work at the moment but I'm hoping to make some good progress on these at the weekend. Next steps are to glue on the fretboards, place and drill for the bridge, route the control cavity recesses, carve the tops and bevel the back.


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## JimF (Sep 29, 2016)

Still loving this! Went back to search for more of your build threads to read through but all the pictures aren't showing... 

Do you ever sell these on or are you a guitar hoarder, like most of us on here


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## Hywel (Sep 30, 2016)

JimF said:


> Still loving this! Went back to search for more of your build threads to read through but all the pictures aren't showing...
> 
> Do you ever sell these on or are you a guitar hoarder, like most of us on here



http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showpost.php?p=4643012&postcount=431 This post has links to the imgur albums of all the old builds but there isn't any text so the photos don't have any context at the moment.

I'm definitely a hoarder! I've got a full rack of all my builds, the travel guitar hanging up in the cupboard and a few other guitars standing around in cases. I've never sold any but I might have to soon as I am seriously running out of space.


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## pondman (Sep 30, 2016)

Hywel said:


> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showpost.php?p=4643012&postcount=431 This post has links to the imgur albums of all the old builds but there isn't any text so the photos don't have any context at the moment.
> 
> I'm definitely a hoarder! I've got a full rack of all my builds, the travel guitar hanging up in the cupboard and a few other guitars standing around in cases. I've never sold any but I might have to soon as I am seriously running out of space.



I have the same problem 
Subbed to this one.


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## JimF (Sep 30, 2016)

Well may I be first to call dibs on both of your first sales! Ha


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## JimF (Sep 30, 2016)

Hywel said:


> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showpost.php?p=4643012&postcount=431 This post has links to the imgur albums of all the old builds but there isn't any text so the photos don't have any context at the moment.



Loved seeing those! Wish the build threads still had the progress pictures they're mighty impressive! It's really spurring me on to crack on with my own build. Or pay someone!


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## Hywel (Oct 1, 2016)

pondman said:


> I have the same problem.
> Subbed to this one.



There's probably enough guitars around your place to outfit a small country. 



JimF said:


> It's really spurring me on to crack on with my own build. Or pay someone!



Build one! Even a partscaster is great fun and I'm sure the ones you build yourself play better. 

I've put together a mini drum sander to deal with the backs of headstocks and volutes. The drum is a little large at the moment but it got them level, ~15mm thick and free of saw marks. I might try and mod it to sand in a fretboard radius at some point.







Fretbords are glued on. I use a pair of 1mm drill bits though the 2nd and 22nd fret slots to hold the board in place. Once the glues dry I chuck the bits in the drill again and they back right out with no mess.











While I was waiting for those to dry I made the control cavity covers from some walnut. They are a bit thinner than I normally use but I need the depth in the cavity for the push pull pots so they'll do. Once I've modded some drill bits and routed the recess they'll be attached with magnets.






One of these guitars is going to get a set of Fishman Fluence Modern pickups (hence the battery compartments) but the other didn't have any specific pickups. I do have a spare set of BKP Juggernauts but I thought since I was building the guitar, I might as well make the pickups as well. I'm going to try a ~8k 42AWG alnico 5 neck with a ~15k 43AWG ceramic bridge in zebra. Nothing too fancy but I bet they suck. 






Tomorrow I'll get the fretboards trimmed, bridges placed, string though holes drilled and hopefully start carving the tops


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## JimF (Oct 1, 2016)

Very impressive work as ever!


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## Hywel (Oct 8, 2016)

JimF said:


> Very impressive work as ever!





Update time!

I added the back bevel.






And fitted the cavity covers. I've made the covers thinner than usual to make sure the cavities are deep enough but that meant I couldn't sand in a recess to allow them to be opened like I normally do. Instead, I routed a deeper channel at one end of each cavity so now if you push on that end of the cover the other end pops up. It'll be held closed by some 4mm neodymium disc magnets.











I needed to get the bridges placed and holes drilled before I carved the top so I used some fishing line as the outside strings to make sure there was enough space either side of the fretboard.






Once I was happy with the location I drilled all the holes and used my template for the ferrules on the back. I had a bit of tearout on one body but the lipped ferrules will cover it.






Once that was done I could make a start on carving the tops. I'm going for an Ibanez RGA style carve with no pronounced belly or recurve at the edges. I drew a quick template, transferred it to the guitar in pencil and marked a 6mm deep line all around the edge to guide the boundaries of the carve.






The Shinto saw rasp and Iwasaki carving files were my tools of choice on this one. Oddly I found the smaller 150mm extra fine Iwasaki was much easier to use and more efficient than the larger 200mm fine version.






Once the rough carve was in I blended it with a random orbital sander and some 80 grit paper. It came out really well and I'm really happy with the carve but it's basically invisible in the photo. I did actually carve the one on the left, I promise! 











Hopefully it'll be more visible once I've got some finish on there.


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## KnightroExpress (Oct 8, 2016)

Very nice! I love my Iwasaki files too, they're great little tools.


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## intortus (Oct 9, 2016)

Impressive work considering you don't have that much of powertools .I learned a lot from your build, and it really motivates me to go build my own guitar . Sometimes I'm kinda jealous with you guys because you can get your hands on high quality handtools (like the Shinto rasp) and here I am struggling with Chinese knock-off . Keep on the great work!!


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## Hywel (Oct 9, 2016)

KnightroExpress said:


> Very nice! I love my Iwasaki files too, they're great little tools.





intortus said:


> Impressive work considering you don't have that much of powertools. I learned a lot from your build, and it really motivates me to go build my own guitar. Sometimes I'm kinda jealous with you guys because you can get your hands on high quality handtools (like the Shinto rasp) and here I am struggling with Chinese knock-off. Keep on the great work!!



Thanks guys 

I didn't get quite as much time as I'd like today with other stuff going on but I managed to finish the carved top for build "A" and got the inlay in the fretboards. I was going to use white plastic as usual but after a problem with a supplier I thought about alternatives. In the end I bought a big roll of 2.5mm aluminium wire which is perfect for the small dots I like. 

I drilled the holes according to the template and glued in little bits of wire with CA glue. A squirt of accelerator and they could be cut and filed flush to the ebony. You can't see it in the photos but they are reflective with a satin finish, much better looking than white plastic I think. 






Once the dots were in I stuck everything together for a quick mock-up.


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## NovaLion (Oct 9, 2016)

Good looking builds so far!


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## electriceye (Oct 10, 2016)

So much cool ingenuity going on here. Love it! That drum sander = ( . )( . )


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## feraledge (Oct 10, 2016)

These builds are sick. Love them.


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## BlackMastodon (Oct 10, 2016)

Looking absolutely killer, Hywel.


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## Hywel (Oct 23, 2016)

Thanks everyone! Sorry I haven't managed to post anything sooner, it's been a busy week or so. 

I've got the fretboards radiused to 16" and polished up to 600 grit.







And I put in the 2.4mmx1.3mm Hosco nickel frets. I used my home made radiusing jig to bend the wire to ~20" and pressed them in with the drill press.






I've bevelled the ends at this point and I've trimmed the tangs so when I fill the slots with CA glue and dust, they'll become invisible from the side.











Then I trimmed the bulk of the excess thickness off with the bandsaw and got ready to carve the profile.






I'm still not got neck carving down to the point where I'm confident I can always carve the profile I want but the one I've done so far came out ok. I've ended up with a [email protected] to [email protected] wizard 2-ish profile using microplane, shinto and iwasaki rasps.
















I quite like how the bookmatched neck wood has given me symmetrical patterns down each side so if it doesn't start warping on me I'll probably keep doing that on future builds.


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## Dg87 (Oct 24, 2016)

Nuce projecy!


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## TamanShud (Oct 24, 2016)

"I'm still not confident about my neck carves" 

*carves the comfiest looking heel in existence*


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## Hywel (Oct 24, 2016)

Cheers!



TamanShud said:


> "I'm still not confident about my neck carves"
> 
> *carves the comfiest looking heel in existence*



Heels and volutes I can do, it's the bit in between that's hard!


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## Hywel (Nov 8, 2016)

I tried something I probably should have done from the start and thinned the 2nd neck to just over final thickness with the router jig. It made the second carve much easier and I've no idea why I didn't do it sooner. 











Once the second neck was carved I tweaked the first one to get them as identical as possible. I can't wait to try them strung up.






I've drilled for a slightly recessed barrel jack on these. Normally I'm not a fan but a big plate wouldn't really work here.






And I got the magnets in the covers. 4x3mm neodymium rods in the body and 4x1mm discs in the cover. Plenty strong enough to hold the cover on but easy to release if you push in the right place.






And that's all the proper woodworking done. Next I'll get the satin finish on and wind some pickups before attaching the hardware, doing the fretwork and setting them up! 

Edit - Forgot the last pic


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## MoonJelly (Nov 8, 2016)

Purdy!

Curiosity question, what is your reasoning/rationale for disliking the recessed barrel jack? Is it in inferior to the plate/jack in some way? Personally I like the look of the barrel jack, more subtle IMO.


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## Hywel (Nov 9, 2016)

They do look good but I've found them a bit less reliable than the normal style jacks in the past. They'll probably be fine and I guess I can replace them easily enough when they do wear out.


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## laxu (Nov 9, 2016)

MoonJelly said:


> Purdy!
> 
> Curiosity question, what is your reasoning/rationale for disliking the recessed barrel jack? Is it in inferior to the plate/jack in some way? Personally I like the look of the barrel jack, more subtle IMO.



My experience with the barrel type is that they can become loose over time (so the cable doesn't stay in as well) and this seems to be impossible to fix by yourself.


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## dankarghh (Nov 9, 2016)

Congrats man! Natural finish on both?? You'd better do one satin black, right? Really nice stuff.


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## Deegatron (Nov 9, 2016)

Hywel said:


> They do look good but I've found them a bit less reliable than the normal style jacks in the past. They'll probably be fine and I guess I can replace them easily enough when they do wear out.



I've started using the electrosocket jack mount for this exact reason.
http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Jack_Plates/Electrosocket_Jack_Mount.html
It uses a standard input jack so it can be removed, tightened and or replaces VERY easily.
and it has the added bonus that you can put it just about anywhere.
Just drill a 1" hole with a fostner bit about 1/8" deep to recess it the drill a 7/8" hole with a spade bit about 1.5" deep for the jack to sit in, then you can drill a wire hole to your control cavity. it can go anywhere... I like putting it just under the rear strap button....
Comes in black, easy to mount easy to use, easy to recess... it's a win win win....


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## Hywel (Nov 9, 2016)

dankarghh said:


> Congrats man! Natural finish on both?? You'd better do one satin black, right? Really nice stuff.



Cheers! Natural on both this time around. Satin black does sound good though... 



Deegatron said:


> I've started using the electrosocket jack mount for this exact reason....



I don't know why I forgot those existed. I have one on my tele. I'll definitely look at using them next time!


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## Hywel (Nov 28, 2016)

Almost finished!

I applied a couple of coats of wipe on poly. I used a DIY recipe of 50% Ronseal gloss interior polyurethane and 50% mineral spirits. The gloss mixture worked really well and with only a few layers and some light scuffing with steel wool it has a very similar look and feel to oils but seemed a bit easier to apply and much more resilient.






Before finishing the bodies I sorted out the controls. The arched top might have presented some problems with the washers and nuts on the pots so I used a forstner bit just to level out the area under the pot nuts. It'll all be hidden by the knobs when it's done and this'll be nice and secure. 






Once the necks were dry I did some fretwork






While the bodies cured I made the pickups for the passive build. I made a very standard 7.65k alnico 5 42AWG neck pickup and a 13.5k ceramic 43AWG bridge pickup on my cheap hand cranked winder. I use a tiny G-clamp with sticky felt discs as a tensioner and it works very well so far.











The bridge was initially powered by 3 ceramic magnet but the output was insane and there was too much low end so I cut it back to a single large ceramic which worked well on the MDF test rig. For the cheapest neck eBay had and some spare templates stuck together it doesn't sound half bad!











I did some of the wiring but I've had to stop there for a little while while work takes up all my free time. Hopefully I can get the final touches done at the weekend. 






The passive build has a switch to cut the tone knob out of the circuit attached to the side of the cavity and uses a nice big paper capacitor on the side of the coil splitting push pull pot. The active build will have coil splits and the Fishman Fluence 2 voice switching available.


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## JimF (Nov 29, 2016)

Phenomenal work as per usual!


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## BlackMastodon (Dec 5, 2016)

How has your experience been with wipe on poly? I've always been curious about it as an alternative to spray since I don't have a spray booth. Does it work well over paint, too? Requires lots of layers/coats?


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## Hywel (Dec 5, 2016)

JimF said:


> Phenomenal work as per usual!



Thanks man! 



BlackMastodon said:


> How has your experience been with wipe on poly? I've always been curious about it as an alternative to spray since I don't have a spray booth. Does it work well over paint, too? Requires lots of layers/coats?



I've quite liked the wipe on poly. I've never used it before this build but I treated it like Tru-oil and it worked fine. I actually found it much easier to apply since it's much thinner there's little possibility for streaks or marks in the finish.

I used an oil based gloss poly base and thinned it with 50:50 mineral spirits (white spirit over here) and that was ideal but the satin/matte polys I tried didn't work very well and left a horrible satin/gloss finish mix with massive streaks. I just went over the gloss coat every 3 layers or so with some synthetic steel wool and it smoothed it out and took the sheen off nicely.

No idea if it works over paint but it does require a few layers. They dry MUCH faster than oil finishes though. 2 hours between coats seemed plenty for the thin finish I was going for. If I was going to buff it to high gloss I'd probably give it a week or so after the final coat to cure fully before buffing and have many more layers.


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## BlackMastodon (Dec 8, 2016)

Hywel said:


> Thanks man!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



+ Imaginary rep. Thanks for the info! I'll give it a try sometime soon.


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## KR250 (Dec 10, 2016)

+1 for the wipe on poly. I've used the wipe-on and spray on versions from Minwax, and much prefer them to Tru Oil in durability. 

To buff to a gloss requires many coats and a long drying time from what I've found. I also like the spray on version a little better in that it lays down a slightly thicker coat for building up the base. I used an old T shirt for applying the wipe on version and found that worked really well for a smooth finish.

Nice work BTW, and I dig your test rig.


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## Hywel (Dec 11, 2016)

KR250 said:


> ...Nice work BTW, and I dig your test rig.



Thanks! 

These are finally finished!

NGD over here -> www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4680290

Thanks for reading through my thread. I hope you've all enjoyed it. 






Guitar "B" - Drop B tuning, Fishman Fluence Modern pickups


























Guitar "A" - Drop C tuning, Home wound pickups


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## MikeNeal (Dec 11, 2016)

Builds look awesome man. Really good work. 
What do the Home wound pickups sound like?


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## Hywel (Dec 11, 2016)

MikeNeal said:


> Builds look awesome man. Really good work.
> What do the Home wound pickups sound like?



Thanks!

This is only the 2nd set of pickups I've wound and they sound fine but I didn't 100% get the sound I was after. The neck is kinda similar to a Duncan '59. It has a fairly low/low mid emphasis making it quite warm. It splits well and does good cleans but is slightly loose in the bass frequencies for me. Next time I think I'll wind it closer to 7.2-7.4k with a slightly bigger offset in the coils to brighten it up.

The bridge is interesting. It's hot with the Alnico 8 but not obscenely so. Nowhere near the Fishmans in the other build. It has a very mid orientated sound with a slight cut in the highs and tight bass. It works well for both high gain and surprisingly very well for cleans. The high cut removes the excessive top end I usual hate about bridge cleans. I'd probably say it's kinda similar in sound to the BKP Jugg (I actually might try a set of Juggs in this build at some point just as a comparison). I may also try some different magnets again as in E standard tuning the double thick ceramic was very bright and the Alnico 8 tamed it nicely but I'd be interested to see how the ceramic fares in drop C.

The recipes in case anyone was interested are below. Both are done on the hand winder seen in the pics so are scatterwound like crazy.

Neck - 50mm spacing
42AWG Poly
Screw coil - 5000 winds (Medium Tension), Slug coil - 4850 winds (High tension)
Alnico 5 

Bridge - 52mm spacing
43AWG Poly
Screw coil - 6800 winds (Medium Tension), Slug coil - 7000 winds (Medium Tension)
Alnico 8


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## DistinguishedPapyrus (Dec 11, 2016)

Wow man, really clean work. You certainly got the process down, how did you go about making my and applying the logo on the headstock?


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## Hywel (Dec 12, 2016)

DistinguishedPapyrus said:


> Wow man, really clean work. You certainly got the process down, how did you go about making my and applying the logo on the headstock?



Thanks!

I got about 100 of them made up as metallic vinyl stickers by Diginate for about £15. They aren't super fancy but look fine and couldn't be easier to apply. I'd love to do the logos as inlays but I think I'd need an laser cutter and CNC mill for that.


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## skeels (Dec 12, 2016)

Happy to see these come together, man! Excellent work - simple, clean, classy. 

I'm like a Reader's Digest lately!


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## Walshy (Dec 21, 2016)

Did you use any sanding sealer/grain filler or just leave that ash open grain?

Beautiful work, mate. Very impressed to see someone making builds of this quality in a bedroom! Also, I'm loving your Aldi Workzone drum sander rig (I'm always buying their woodwork stuff - some amazing bargains to be had).


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## Hywel (Dec 21, 2016)

Thanks guys! It's open grain. On these builds I felt the open grain suited them better and I wasn't going for a flat gloss finish. I did buy some epoxy to try as a grain filler but never used it in the end.

Aldi/Lidl provided most of the tools when I first started out. They make great stuff for the price and were a great way to get going without too much investment. You'll have to pry my Triton router from my cold dead hands now though!


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## Kanye (Dec 21, 2016)

Man. Great builds there. Minimalist, clean and mean. Really feeling them. Great work. 

I especially like the way you handled all aspects of the build including the homebuilt pups.

Now I just need a house that I can turn the top part into a workshop without wifey losing her mind.


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## Walshy (Dec 22, 2016)

I'm upgrading to a Triton soon  Pretty sure Ben from Crimson Guitars might have had a hand in persuading me haha.

Epoxy as a filler sounds very worthwhile if you're going with a lacquer finish. I imagine it's much easier to work with than regular grain filler.


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## JimF (Jan 7, 2017)

Fantastically amazing work! You are a very talented gentleman. As if I wasn't bowled over enough by the workmanship, the design of the logo/your signature and how it perfectly fits in the gap in the headstock between the tuners... Oh my I'm having a moment...

Everytime I look I find new things! How the chrome of the logo matches the silver of the strings, how clean the headstock face looks, the truss rod cover having no screws etc.

Please start a new build! No idea how I missed this being finished!

Just out of interest, do you sell these or are you a hoarder? Would you ever make a neck to suit a body or vice versa for someone? I'm asking here rather than by PM as I'm not pestering for a cheap build I'm just curious.


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## Hywel (Jan 9, 2017)

Cheers man, I'm glad you like them! 



JimF said:


> ...Just out of interest, do you sell these or are you a hoarder? Would you ever make a neck to suit a body or vice versa for someone? I'm asking here rather than by PM as I'm not pestering for a cheap build I'm just curious.



Originally I was going to sell the Drop C guitar at the end of the build but as usual, I ended up getting slightly attached and when everything was finished I didn't want to sell it any more so I found a place for it in my collection.

Like many other home builders I've often thought about selling builds and parts but personally I don't want the stress that comes along with commissioned custom work as that'll kill any fun of a build instantly. When I'm building for myself, any flaws or design changes I make are fine since it's for me and it's my money but if anything were to happen to a customers build then I'd be livid with myself and it'd cost me money, time and effort that I don't want to spend. There's always the possibility that even if everything goes perfectly (and no build has yet) then the customer might not like the end product and then it was all a big waste of time and money for everyone.

I've considered doing in-stock builds to sell on completion but since I only make guitars I like, I'd end up wanting to keep them all and I see loads of "custom" guitars from small builders floating around for sale with no buyers since most people don't want instruments made by unknown luthiers (especially at the prices you'd have to charge to make it worth doing). 

I may well rethink this in the future at some point (especially if I can move to a proper workshop with some bigger tools) but for now it's a personal hobby and I'm happy with that. 

TL;DR - I'm a horder and at the moment I don't really want to make guitars for anyone else since it'll be less fun and potentially a massive headache.


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## JimF (Jan 9, 2017)

That makes a lot of fun sense. Ive recently tweaked a hobby of mine to be less about making custom items and more about making stock and selling it depending on how it turns out. 
That said if you ever thinned the herd I doubt you'd have any issues finding buyers.


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## Danklin (Jan 9, 2017)

I've always wondered why would you cut the body in half then glue together rather than have just a solid piece of wood?


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## Hywel (Jan 9, 2017)

Danklin said:


> I've always wondered why would you cut the body in half then glue together rather than have just a solid piece of wood?



$$$

Wood wide enough for a 1 piece body is expensive. That's pretty much the only reason.


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## JimF (Jan 9, 2017)

Hywel said:


> Wood wide enough for a 1 piece body is expensive. That's pretty much the only reason.



Also wood wide enough for a 1 piece body with enough interesting figuring distributed evenly across it is even more expensive. I play at woodworking and the amount of large pieces that are crazy figured at one side and plain as crate wood at the other end is greater than you think.


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