# IceKelly build



## foreright (Mar 1, 2021)

Hi all,

Decided to crack on with my next build whilst I have the motivation. It will be pretty slow due to the kids being at home and me not being able to sneak off to the shed very often 

Anyway, I decided I have a distinct lack of pointy guitars and thought I'd try a kind of Iceman / Kelly hybrid. It'll be a 7 string multiscale using some ABM3210 bridges I've had lying around forever and Hipshot tuners. Scale is 25.5" on the low side and 24" on the high side. Body is (european) Ash with Black Limba neck and Rosewood FB. I might have a go at binding the body as that's something I've never tried.

I originally thought I'd go with 25 frets given it's kind of a Jackson shape and that's how they like to roll (haha) but then thought I may as well go the whole hog and go to 29 - I had a Washburn EC29 back in the day and it was pretty ridiculous 




I've got as far as jointing the body and started cutting out the neck. I spent an hour or so this morning making a final template for the neck / headstock so should get a chance to finish neck basic shape in the next day or two.





Anyway... Question: Where would one obtain 7 string angled pickup baseplates (for a reasonable price!)? My Google-fu is obviously failing today or does such a thing not exist on its own?


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## MaxOfMetal (Mar 1, 2021)

Wasn't sure of it going in, but that design mash-up is absolutely killer. Love it, dude.


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## Randy (Mar 1, 2021)

The point on the lower horn definitely ties the whole thing together perfectly.


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## Viginez (Mar 1, 2021)

really cool headstock


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## Winspear (Mar 1, 2021)

Sick!


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## Deegatron (Mar 1, 2021)

I enjoy that headstock a great deal. looks savage.


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## youngthrasher9 (Mar 1, 2021)

That design is fucking sick. Excited to see this project unfold.


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## Seabeast2000 (Mar 2, 2021)

That is a fantastic shape.


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## Hollowway (Mar 2, 2021)

Holy crap, how is this shape not already a thing? That’s incredible! 

And I’m glad you’re doing an angled pickup. Besides matching the fan, it will look good given all of the other diagonals on there. If you’re going to wind your own pickups, I have no idea where to obtain base plates, but you could ask Adam Bath, who goes by Elysian on here (or on FB). He makes pickups, so he might be able to point you in the right direction. (Or you could have him build you one - he’s a good dude.).


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## odibrom (Mar 2, 2021)

That's a pretty one, looking forward to its development. Nice CAD skills as well...

Regarding the pickup, are you building one? or probably re-assembling one so it could be angled? How about you draw it and have it laser-cut? I'm sure you can find some one to do it for a fair price...? Any way, start the drawing with the correct info on the bobbins sizes and poles' spacings...

... looking at that design, it is asking for a V sibling with the same aesthetics, like a Roads or a King type...


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## foreright (Mar 2, 2021)

odibrom said:


> That's a pretty one, looking forward to its development. Nice CAD skills as well...
> 
> Regarding the pickup, are you building one? or probably re-assembling one so it could be angled? How about you draw it and have it laser-cut? I'm sure you can find some one to do it for a fair price...? Any way, start the drawing with the correct info on the bobbins sizes and poles' spacings...
> 
> ... looking at that design, it is asking for a V sibling with the same aesthetics, like a Roads or a King type...



Yeah - pickups... I'm a bit undecided on this so far. I was planning to as you say, get a base laser cut and re-assemble an existing pickup but I think I'll decide on that a bit later on. Not sure I have the patience to start building pickups, at least not right now. I did actually re-draw the CAD drawing with a 20 degree angled pickup and it's WAY better.


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## odibrom (Mar 2, 2021)

foreright said:


> (...) I did actually re-draw the CAD drawing with a 20 degree angled pickup and it's WAY better.



I was about to suggest that, the advantage is that you have a standard pickup rout to put in whatever pickup brand you want... are there images of such iteration?


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## Winspear (Mar 2, 2021)

BKP sell 10 and 14 degree pickups  I do think it would look way better! Absolutely love this design though


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## foreright (Mar 2, 2021)

odibrom said:


> I was about to suggest that, the advantage is that you have a standard pickup rout to put in whatever pickup brand you want... are there images of such iteration?



With 20 degree slanted pickup:


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## Ivars V (Mar 2, 2021)

This looks so awesome! Good luck on the build! I will be following this.


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## odibrom (Mar 2, 2021)

odibrom said:


> I was about to suggest that, the advantage is that you have a standard pickup rout to put in whatever pickup brand you want... are there images of such iteration?



@foreright ... yah, I'm quoting myself... It's just that when I saw your awesome new drawing I realized this wasn't what I meant to say. I was thinking in rotated regular pickups, yes, my mistake, but your drawing looks awesome. Maybe the pickup is a bit too close to the bridge... a little less and it would be perfect, imo.


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 2, 2021)

Deegatron said:


> I enjoy that headstock a great deal. looks savage.


I thought it looked familiar. Waghorn used a similar headstock with his 8 string kelly build.


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## foreright (Mar 2, 2021)

KnightBrolaire said:


> I thought it looked familiar. Waghorn used this headstock with his 8 string kelly build.



That does look really similar - his is a bit pointier I think. It's incredibly hard to be original with headstock design as pretty much most things have been done somewhere. I almost certainly did see that at some point.

Edit: @odibrom - yes I did try drawing it with a regular pickup rotated - it looks a little off compared to properly slanting the bobbins but it would certainly be easier (and cheaper!) to go that route...


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 2, 2021)

foreright said:


> That does look really similar - his is a bit pointier I think. It's incredibly hard to be original with headstock design as pretty much most things have been done somewhere. I almost certainly did see that at some point.


Yeah, it's really hard to make both a visually interesting shape that's actually functional. I spent aaaages doodling headstock designs before I came up with a couple that didn't feel like overt copies of ESP or Jackson's pointy hockey stick headstock


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## Hollowway (Mar 3, 2021)

Now I’m brainstorming as if this were my build, but what I’d you ended the fretboard at an angle, and just float it over the end of the neck?


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## foreright (Mar 3, 2021)

Hollowway said:


> Now I’m brainstorming as if this were my build, but what I’d you ended the fretboard at an angle, and just float it over the end of the neck?



Yes that would be good and would certainly look better with the angled pickup also however the fingerboard blank is not quite long enough to allow it unless I start playing around with the length of the neck. That would break my self imposed rule as to not making major design changes after I started cutting - learnt that the hard way!


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## foreright (Mar 4, 2021)

Decided to go with the angled fretboard end and go to 27 frets instead of 29. Anyway - glued the fretboard last night and trimmed the edges today and started on the fingerboard to headstock transition - my first time attempting this with an angle like this - I think it kinda works although I might hit it with the normal 2" sanding drum instead of the 2.5" that I used to make the radius a little tighter. I do need to fill / redrill one of the tuner holes which is a little annoying but pretty please with it so far


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## Omzig (Mar 4, 2021)

Nice love the mash up of styles, Did you put any reinforcement rods in the neck? 

i had got a Flat top Ash loomis kelly all planed in CAD for the start of this new year myself but well as they say the best laid plans


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## foreright (Mar 4, 2021)

Omzig said:


> Nice love the mash up of styles, Did you put any reinforcement rods in the neck?
> 
> i had got a Flat top Ash loomis kelly all planed in CAD for the start of this new year myself but well as they say the best laid plans



Yep there’s a LOT of carbon in the neck - I tend to like them with very little / no relief so I’m hoping that with pretty light strings it will be sufficient


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## EarlWellington (Mar 4, 2021)

KnightBrolaire said:


> I thought it looked familiar. Waghorn used a similar headstock with his 8 string kelly build.


 Searls guitars from Australia had a similar shape headstock as well


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## foreright (Mar 9, 2021)

Did a little bit of experimenting with inlay dots today - these are 4mm OD brass tubes filled with glow powder and CA glue. Would go with 3mm tubes for side dots if I try this for real. The glow powder is really bright at first but doesn’t last as long as luminlay unfortunately - it is a hell of a lot cheaper though!

pics are of a purple heart offcut. Dots are sanded to 120 so pretty rough


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## foreright (Mar 16, 2021)

Managed to get the fingerboard slotted and bound. Acetone is magic stuff  

Side dots tomorrow - tried out some more luminous dots today but not satisfied with it. Will likely go with blue or similar which should be a decent contrast to the white binding.


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## Hollowway (Mar 17, 2021)

Fuck you, man. That build is beautiful, and I’m jealous of your design AND craftsmanship skills.  

But seriously, that FB with the bit of heartwood is glorious!


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## foreright (Mar 18, 2021)

Little bit of progress today - side dots installed and sanded flush and body shape routed out. Had a little bit of tear out on the lower horn so had to make the point a little rounder but I’m pleased so far 

The side dots especially are pretty cool - ended up using a sparkly purple-red-blue mica powder which doesn’t really seem to come out in photos. The stuff gets absolutely *everywhere* though. I made the mistake of touching my face with some on my hands and now have sparkly makeup on which is going to look great on the video conf call I have with work in 20 mins.


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## foreright (Mar 18, 2021)

Looks a bit like a guitar now


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## foreright (Mar 22, 2021)

Started neck shaping today - got a very rough carve going. Unfortunately kid duties stopped me finishing it today haha.


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## KR250 (Mar 22, 2021)

Looks great! Totally understand the kid duties, but that's still good progress. I'm lucky to get 4 hours a week for building until maybe I can start putting the kid to work on less critical tasks.


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## foreright (Mar 25, 2021)

Little bit of progress - twins are at nursery and eldest at school so a bit of free time between meetings 

So we have frets installed and body has a radius on the back. Also managed to route out the pocket for the jack. Test fitted the tuners too.

Decided to go with no controls except a kill switch. I rarely use volume or tone anyway and have never had a guitar with a kill switch. Built some custom arcade sticks for Street Fighter back in the day and have some Sanwa buttons left over. It means drilling a 24mm hole in the top though.


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## Taylor (Mar 25, 2021)

That ash is looking N I C E! You going with a natural finish? Be a shame to cover up that gorgeous grain.


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## foreright (Mar 25, 2021)

Taylor said:


> That ash is looking N I C E! You going with a natural finish? Be a shame to cover up that gorgeous grain.



I'll definitely be going natural for the back and sides and either some kind of stain (black or blue probably) for the top or I was thinking about trying a ceruse type finish - never tried that before though!


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## foreright (Mar 29, 2021)

Got some laser cut templates in the post this morning for cavities and a slanted pickup base. I have a cheap 7 string Wilkinson pickup that I thought I’d try slanting- seems to have worked pretty well albeit it wasn’t the easiest to get apart!


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## foreright (Mar 30, 2021)

Got the pickup cavity and 90% of the rear cavity routed before my router conked out and stopped  I’m hopeful it’s just motor brushes or something relatively cheap and easy to get to! Annoying as I still have to route the cavity cover and I don’t fancy trying it with the dremel.

Was experimenting with stain today as well. This is 3 coats of Royal Blue on a surface I just scraped smooth and then cleaned up slightly with 320 grit paper. The colour varies pretty drastically depending on angle and lighting. Quite a nice colour though.


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## foreright (Apr 15, 2021)

Decided to start with some sanding whilst I'm waiting for my router to be repaired. I only have the control cavity to finish routing now and then all major carving / routing is finished.

I forgot how much I *hate* sanding Ash endgrain  Anyone have any tips? I'm doing it by hand right now - might get some finer sleeves for my drill press drum sander to do the interior curves but holy crap - getting all the scratches out of the endgrain is a pain in the butt.


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## foreright (May 20, 2021)

Finally got around to doing some more - router bit for binding channels arrived this morning. Note: for people in the U.K., the Wealdon small rebate bit (https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Small_Series_212.html) is *significantly* cheaper than the Stewmac or other options - produced a very clean cut too being a down-shear bit.

I’ve done the easy bits of the binding - not 100% sure how I’m going to approach the inside on the lower horn as it’s a very tight radius - I guess I’ll try breaking out the wife’s hair dryer to bend the plastic but hmm... is there some easy trick to this??


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## Bodes (May 20, 2021)

CLEAN!!!

I sure hope it will end up playing as awesomely as it looks!
(I don't really like blue guitars, but I am willing to make an exception here )


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## KR250 (May 21, 2021)

foreright said:


> I guess I’ll try breaking out the wife’s hair dryer to bend the plastic but hmm... is there some easy trick to this??



Don't overheat the binding! I made that mistake once and had to start over. Some light heat until it just barely starts to bend and you are good. Looking forward to seeing the completed guitar.


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## foreright (May 21, 2021)

Yeah I made that mistake the first time around - actually ended up using some curling tongs on the lowest setting and it worked (thank goodness). Even managed to not screw the tongs up which would have been an interesting conversation with the wife. To be fair it was her suggestion 

Next step sanding, sanding and sanding and then masking and staining.


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## foreright (May 27, 2021)

Did some staining this morning - ended up using 3M vinyl pin striping tape in the end and it works really well for getting around curves. There are few places where the stain bled under the tape slightly but I’m pretty pleased with the result


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## WarMachine (May 27, 2021)

Noyce!


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## Kyle Jordan (May 27, 2021)

Looking magnificent so far. 

And I adore the IceKelly shape you came up with. It works incredibly well.


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## neun Arme (May 27, 2021)

Nice indeed!


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## foreright (Jun 4, 2021)

Question - I have applied a couple of coats of Crimson high build finishing oil, which I believe is either tru-oil but slightly thicker or at least is formulated as such. How long do people leave it to cure before buffing? I see various opinions on different sites ranging from a day to a month (!).


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## Randy (Jun 4, 2021)

Variety of recommendations is because of conditions. Temp and humidity are a huge swing in cure times. Also how thick you've got it.

If it feels dry dry you can probably polish it after a few days. You're at greater risk of fucking up a finish by polishing too soon if you're wet sanding because you're digging into layers that might not have gotten heat/sun/oxygen yet so could be wet. 

Polishing on an oil is more like, does it feel dry? Okay it's dry. Because the polish itself wouldn't be cutting particularly deep. Obviously test on a small part or the back first.


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## foreright (Jun 11, 2021)

Well, getting to the home straight now - test fitted everything and it seems to have gone together ok  Just need to make the nut, wire the pickup up, work out where strap buttons are going, make a rear cavity cover and then fret level and we are ready to go.

It seems to balance quite nicely which is a bonus - was expecting some pretty horrid neck dive.

Lastly, the screws ABM provide with these bridges are total crap - made from that rare element “cheesium” I think. Had to go to Screwfix this morning to get some proper wood screws. You’d think for the price they charge for these things that they’d pay a couple of pennies for some decent ones!


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## stinkoman (Jun 11, 2021)

I can't express enough how much I love this body shape.


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## WarMachine (Jun 11, 2021)

That's a clever way to hide a recessed input jack, never seen one done that way before. Looks great man.


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## foreright (Jun 11, 2021)

WarMachine said:


> That's a clever way to hide a recessed input jack, never seen one done that way before. Looks great man.



I can’t claim to be original on this - saw it on a Waghorn (I think…) Kelly shaped custom on here. Strandberg and probably some others do something similar also


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## Hollowway (Jun 11, 2021)

The Kelly used to be my favorite shape. Now this is. Super cool!


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## eaeolian (Jun 11, 2021)

foreright said:


> I can’t claim to be original on this - saw it on a Waghorn (I think…) Kelly shaped custom on here. Strandberg and probably some others do something similar also



Yamaha used to do that on the RGXs, too.


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## eaeolian (Jun 11, 2021)

That thing came out freaking gorgeous.


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## georg_f (Jun 11, 2021)

amazing build so far

are you sure about the red knob?


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## foreright (Jun 11, 2021)

georg_f said:


> amazing build so far
> 
> are you sure about the red knob?



I have a matching blue one arriving in the post over the next couple of days. I quite like the red though


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## LiveOVErdrive (Jun 13, 2021)

foreright said:


> I have a matching blue one arriving in the post over the next couple of days. I quite like the red though


Oh you gotta keep the red. It looks so good against the blue.


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## JimF (Jun 14, 2021)

God I love this! Build another!


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## FireInside (Jun 14, 2021)

That shape is incredible! Well done!


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## fabronaut (Jun 25, 2021)

this is so cool!  turned out great, well done!


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## foreright (Jun 25, 2021)

I might even finish it soon - never needed nut files before as I’ve always either gone with a zero fret and headless or a locking nut. They are in the post and should arrive next week so I can make more progress


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## foreright (Jul 7, 2021)

Finally finished as strings arrived this morning (thanks Royal Mail - 5 days to deliver a 24 hour parcel!!). Still need to cut a couple of nut slots a touch deeper but it’s nice 

Surprisingly it’s very comfortable to play sitting down in classical position - never had a Kelly / Explorer shaped guitar before so no idea if that’s normal. It feels very long, I think due to the length of the headstock. Haven’t had too much chance to play amplified so far as I was supposed to be working today 

This has been quite a fun project… looking forward to the next one when I get around to it!


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## Kyle Jordan (Jul 8, 2021)

You did an absolutely outstanding job here. Congratulations man. 




foreright said:


> Surprisingly it’s very comfortable to play sitting down in classical position - never had a Kelly / Explorer shaped guitar before so no idea if that’s normal.



One of the main reasons Explorer shapes, the Kelly in particular, are one of my favorite shapes is because of how comfortable they are, sitting and standing. It comes at a cost of less access to the upper frets, but if you don’t do many leads or adjust your left hand technique, it is a small matter. 

Again, you did an outstanding job.


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## youngthrasher9 (Jul 8, 2021)

As far as it feeling long, yeah pretty much any star or X shape variant will feel that way IME, probably due mostly to the rear horn and typical 6 reverse in-line headstocks. My death kelly copy I built is 28.75” scale and it’s too long for almost any case I could find. Fortunately a few guys in another thread provided some helpful links for that.


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## Hollowway (Jul 9, 2021)

If you did a bunch of those guitars, we’d buy every last one from you. That shape is surprisingly next-level.


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## bjjman (Jul 26, 2021)

I love this! I've been checking in on the build whenever I log into Sevenstring. The shape absolutely rocks, awesome job @foreright!


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## Crash Dandicoot (Jul 26, 2021)

That shape is _absurdly_ good looking. You did a great job!


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## Rev2010 (Jul 27, 2021)

This came out INCREDIBLE!!! I only would say that I'd loved to have seen the headstock match the body. Congrats man, awesome build and that shape was always something I thought was killer!


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