# My adventure with my first 7 string build.



## aaron_rose (Feb 26, 2012)

Here are the renders of the 3d model I am creating right now to help me get ideas about shape and dimension. More than likely I will be using sapele mahogany for my tone wood due to it being cheep and therefor seems suitable for a first whack at this. 

I know nothing about this aside from interweb research and we all know that goes.. looks easy!!!! Till ya get in there and find out it isn't!

Basic specs "subject to change"

7 strings
Jumbo Nickle Frets
27.5 inch scale "unsure of radius yet" "Unsure of neck profile"
Flame Maple neck "considering duel trus rods maybe on my next build" Seems like a pain in the ass.
West African Ebony fret wood - Gunna follow balls the the wall approach "Jim at s7" and go 1/4 inch thick
Sepele Tone wood
Whatever looks good and is cheep that I can get my hands on top wood
7 string Unknown Pickup
7 string Unknown Pickup
Hipshot bridge
Locking Sperzel Tuners 
Super Strat horns with some additional non traditional shaping.

Anyway cheers and thanks in advance for any tips or comments along the way.


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## Empryrean (Feb 27, 2012)

Your shape making skills make me a happy boy


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## aaron_rose (Feb 27, 2012)

Thanks, just copying what I see around me and blending together. Always been a big fan of the super strats sharpness at the horns, liked how it didn't neglect a back cutout and always came dropped. BUT~ I love seeing the new styles, a lot from you guys here at ss.org, been watching your builds for about a year now, but also from blackmachine,mayones,vik,s7,ran just to name a few. 

Seeing all this "being a carpenter currently and a X Game Developer 3d animatior/Modeler" and also being a huge ERG enthusiast it seems natural that I take the plunge. 

But what you guys get to look at and think "Shit man!! Thats gnar!!!" in the 3d aspects, are probably going to be over ridden by my pilfering of this age honored craft.


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## Purelojik (Feb 27, 2012)

dude awesome you made a thread on this! glad to see the hipshot pics worked out well. this is gonna be sweet!


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## TimSE (Feb 27, 2012)

I predict massive amounts of win still to come!


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## aaron_rose (Feb 27, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> dude awesome you made a thread on this! glad to see the hipshot pics worked out well. this is gonna be sweet!



Thank you for the pics it helps me visually speaking, shape, size and all that stuff. Your builds have been a great inspiration! I want to take my time with this and do it right as I can. Im starting a guitar teaching school with a friend here in town plus trying to work when I can to keep the roof over my head and write music all at the same time, when it rains it pours!


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## aaron_rose (Feb 27, 2012)

Had a few minuets so I threw on some knob placement and started separating and cleaning the shapes and geometry. The textures are just as a aid, I intend on doing a high rez pass with real images of real wood in the end of the modeling process.

I am finding that this headstock business is tricky!!! I gotta do some serious soul searching to find a good shape that doesn't suck and lends it's self to the rest of the guitars lines. Uggg!


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## aaron_rose (Feb 28, 2012)

I used fretfind to spit out a 27.5 inch 26 fret png and just applied it to the geometry. Added rear strap lock and EMG style pups , sorta thinking I might go with them due to the square swimming pool routes being a little less tricky. I'm tired going to bed!


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## Miek (Feb 28, 2012)

For the headstock, try drawing the strings out beyond the nut, and coming up with different ways of them meeting the tuners. I'm a sucker for straight pull down the headstock.


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## aaron_rose (Feb 28, 2012)

Miek said:


> For the headstock, try drawing the strings out beyond the nut, and coming up with different ways of them meeting the tuners. I'm a sucker for straight pull down the headstock.



So their angle doesn't change once leaving their doesn't on the nut? If this is what you mean I agree, also I plan on installing a bar, no the guitar wont have a trem but everything I read says that it helps keep the sucker in tune a little bit more. Once it is on there I may change my mind. 

Gotta start thinking about the angle of the headstock, I see how people cut ot off at a "angle" then flip the cutoff "scarf joint I think" and then glue it back on, not sure what tolerances are accepted there. What is to much and what is not enough. I don't like inline when it is reversed. I like 4 over 3, and 3 over 4 but it looks like as far as real-estate goes, this part of the guitar is crucial for a lot of reasons.


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## Purelojik (Feb 28, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> So their angle doesn't change once leaving their doesn't on the nut? If this is what you mean I agree, also I plan on installing a bar, no the guitar wont have a trem but everything I read says that it helps keep the sucker in tune a little bit more. Once it is on there I may change my mind.
> 
> Gotta start thinking about the angle of the headstock, I see how people cut ot off at a "angle" then flip the cutoff "scarf joint I think" and then glue it back on, not sure what tolerances are accepted there. What is to much and what is not enough. I don't like inline when it is reversed. I like 4 over 3, and 3 over 4 but it looks like as far as real-estate goes, this part of the guitar is crucial for a lot of reasons.



typically the retaining bar is for straight fender guitar or headstocks that dont have a pitchback angle. the angle compensated for that. as for the scarf joint i did a 15 degree angle and since i cut it by hand, after sanding and planing before gluing it decreased to about a 13-14 degree angle. 

take a look at the ONI guitars headstocks they have a straight string pull the more acutre the angle the more chance of breakage as i understand.

also on the drawing might wanna make the inner body curve a bit more defined. its a bit thicker on one side copared to the other. but its nice!


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## aaron_rose (Feb 28, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> typically the retaining bar is for straight fender guitar or headstocks that dont have a pitchback angle. the angle compensated for that. as for the scarf joint i did a 15 degree angle and since i cut it by hand, after sanding and planing before gluing it decreased to about a 13-14 degree angle.
> 
> take a look at the ONI guitars headstocks they have a straight string pull the more acutre the angle the more chance of breakage as i understand.
> 
> also on the drawing might wanna make the inner body curve a bit more defined. its a bit thicker on one side copared to the other. but its nice!



Not sure what part of the guitar you mean. The bass horn? If so, I shaped it outa wack and flattened one side to give it a thorny look on purpose. I love curves but I REALLY love fucking with them!


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## aaron_rose (Feb 29, 2012)

Mars by DragonsTeeth on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Something I have been working on for a few days now -_- Please add me to yer sound cloud list if you have one and think the tunes aren't mass fail \m/


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## ASoC (Mar 1, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Not sure what part of the guitar you mean. The bass horn? If so, I shaped it outa wack and flattened one side to give it a thorny look on purpose. I love curves but I REALLY love fucking with them!



I think he means the waist of the guitar on the treble side. I feel like the waist should be thinner, the lower horn should curve into the body more because the waist looks awkwardly fat on the lower side.



aaron_rose said:


> Mars by DragonsTeeth on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
> 
> Something I have been working on for a few days now -_- Please add me to yer sound cloud list if you have one and think the tunes aren't mass fail \m/



Sounds pretty cool, followed


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## aaron_rose (Mar 1, 2012)

ASoC said:


> I think he means the waist of the guitar on the treble side. I feel like the waist should be thinner, the lower horn should curve into the body more because the waist looks awkwardly fat on the lower side.
> 
> I see, ya I can turn on "soft selection" and nudge those verts till its more even, I noticed it after I posted this. Thanks Alex and asoc!
> 
> ...



Thanks! Once I get this one "its not meant to be production quality just a road map for future songs etc" finished I plan on moving into a must faster paced song, got some killer ideas brewing!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 2, 2012)

Good news, today I found out that there is a specialty wood supplier here in town! I am going to try to go down there tomorrow and look at some Sepele they have, ill bring the camera! O check out their site, Guinness book of world records level worst website ever. hardwoodstoget.com


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## aaron_rose (Mar 7, 2012)

Here I am wondering "Hmm is is kick ass?"






Then I decided it was in fact very kick ass!






Off topic but this is a round of Rosewood. The last known date of its history was that it arrived in 1971... insane.






Here I am happy and ready to go to work!






The Mahog cost me 25 dollars, it is Sepele. I'm super stoked to start looking for neck wood now!


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## HighPotency (Mar 7, 2012)

That is some awesome lumber!

Nice to see another SS.org member not far from me.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 8, 2012)

HighPotency said:


> That is some awesome lumber!
> 
> Nice to see another SS.org member not far from me.



Hell ya! We used to play Tracy's bar in Everette every other month for a couple years. I actually grew up in Lake Stevens \m/ 

I been reading and looks like it's not a true Mahog, o well, first build who cares about that right! This is a get the mistakes outa the way build learning adventure! I was talking to my good friend Dan down in Seattle and he suggested taht I build three of these exactly the same in an effort to really understand it. Also to get more and more comfortable with the process. Good advise I think. 

Still don't have a headstock shape but I think I have an idea once I get some time I will model it out in 3dsMAX and show ya!


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## HighPotency (Mar 8, 2012)

Still nothing wrong with a nice chunk of sapele, though. The stuff is pretty damn hard and is fairly popular. I think Purelojik is using it as neck wood for a build he's getting close to putting the finishing touches on.

Alder is also a very viable body wood. I picked up a nice slab of 8/4 from Compton in Seattle and it was long/wide enough for a good two bodies. Being in western Washington, alder is by no means hard to come by.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 9, 2012)

HighPotency said:


> Still nothing wrong with a nice chunk of sapele, though. The stuff is pretty damn hard and is fairly popular. I think Purelojik is using it as neck wood for a build he's getting close to putting the finishing touches on.
> 
> Alder is also a very viable body wood. I picked up a nice slab of 8/4 from Compton in Seattle and it was long/wide enough for a good two bodies. Being in western Washington, alder is by no means hard to come by.



True we have crap loads of alder! I just ran across this, this morning. 

How to Build a Guitar in 62 Easy Steps!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 9, 2012)

Here are a few more pics of the Sepele. It has a crack running from one end but after taking measurements I believe it will get cut off all together or finished being cut away during band sawing out the shape. I have about a foot of extra board length. It measures 2 inches thick which I want to plane to 1 X 1 3/4 again breathing room is good! 

My idea is to just cut the sucker in half and hing the two sides together and play with the 4 grain possibilities till i'm happy. Gotta get to work but I will post more as it comes.


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## Purelojik (Mar 9, 2012)

i love sapele the beauty to price ratio is just amazing. easy to machine. just be careful with drilling straight down due to its grain structure it digs deep and fast. so easy on the downward pressure


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## aaron_rose (Mar 10, 2012)

Looking for suggestions on neck wood, I want to do a three piece neck was thinking maple with Bubinga? the guitar will not have a top it will be one piece tone wood only, so I want a neck wood that will compliment the Sepele. 

A lot of you who's threads I've read have the experience and more importantly the taste that I have yet to develop. I also have yet to decide on fret wood becuase I see the neck wood as a dependency. It all has to be match!


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## HighPotency (Mar 10, 2012)

Wenge is always nice. Ebony would look good as a fretboard.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 10, 2012)

I can get west African ebony here in town , but not sure about the wenge, I will call em Monday and check to see whats available! ty sir! Thinking ill go maple with a wenge strip three piece!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 11, 2012)

A guy I am doing a remodel for told me I can use his Jointer! He makes cabinets, so maybe this might be more than just a jointer adventure! stoked!

Ok so after looking at this block of Sepele it dawned on me, I have to use a top wood or paint the thing since my lumber isn't wide enough.. good thing I guess cause it changes everything. I can now find something beautiful to go on top instead of settling for "granted this sepele is beautiful" the body being the top as well..

So ya, tracking alot of projects at the same time so I apologize if my brain seems pwned. I talked to the guy with the jointer and he also has a bunch of neck wood that I can look at and a full shop!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 12, 2012)

Exciting update!

Today I was at hard to get woods in Bellingham, WA looking for a top for my build. I wanted pacific northwest woods but everything they had was crappy and looked like a real pain to work with. There was a friend I have recently met there who just happened to be there when I showed up. He mentioned that I should stop by his house when I was done there and check out his shop and builds! So I did, and what a pleasure it was! This guy makes BEAUTIFUL guitars and engineers them to be unique by a long shot, absolutely amazing 6 shooters..

When I was there he showed me his pile of woods he has been collecting and he just happened to have a quatersawn hunk of maple with EXCELLENT figuring! He also offered a hunk to me at a amazing price so I happily bought the wood. I also picked up a strip wide and long enough to do a five piece maple neck. So the only piece I still need is one wide enough and figured enough for the rest of the neck wood.

Hope you guys enjoy and appreciate this as much as I do!

Wood pron is as follows.


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## HighPotency (Mar 12, 2012)

I want a giant chunk of figured maple! D:


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## aaron_rose (Mar 12, 2012)

HighPotency said:


> I want a giant chunk of figured maple! D:



That things friggin monster, right?!!!! Man ... what a day!


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## ElRay (Mar 13, 2012)

Great start. 

I added the *member built* tag.

Don't forget to post here: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...1-guitars-built-members-ss-org-pic-heavy.html when she's done.

Ray


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## aaron_rose (Mar 13, 2012)

ElRay said:


> Great start.
> 
> I added the *member built* tag.
> 
> ...



Thank you, I will post all the pics I can when she is done, this website and it's members/moderators are a real inspiration!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 13, 2012)

Her are just a couple of the guitars he makes.

This one has rails that the pickups sit on, a dude can literally slide both pickups back and forth and get a awesome in between tone! Series or parallel, volume, tone, this one also has many options.






This one has great tone sits easy on your knee and the fretwork is outstanding! Series or parallel, volume, tone, it's got it all.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 14, 2012)

Started trying to decide what way I want the light and dark of the maple to be when its on the top. Took some paper cut out a old peavey tracer I got laying around and this is what I came up with. 

I still got no idea what it will look like when we get farther into the hunk but this works as a general idea I guess.


























Any suggestions would be appreciated.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 14, 2012)

Changed my mind about pups. Going to go passive, Seymour Duncan Invaders.


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## HighPotency (Mar 14, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Changed my mind about pups. Going to go passive, Seymour Duncan Invaders.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 14, 2012)

HighPotency said:


>



Still in the air. Bare knuckles is right there as a contender. But I defiantly want passive. Also considering changing to a fanned design gotta figure out how the hell to compute those numbers.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 14, 2012)

what fretfind spitted out at me for a 25.5 to 27.5 7

this thing is awesome it spits out .dxf files that i can import into 3d studio!


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## ronjhoser (Mar 14, 2012)

Looks like a pretty ambitious build. Seems like you are building a little support system for yourself in the process. Way to go.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 14, 2012)

ronjhoser said:


> Looks like a pretty ambitious build. Seems like you are building a little support system for yourself in the process. Way to go.



I'm trying man. This is a pretty huge undertaking with a limited budget. But so far I have only spend 40 on maple 10 on purple heart and 20 on sepele, so the woods are going to be under 100 dollars, not sure what kind of shop fee's my friend will want if any but so far hes been a great help and inspiration. MY basic plan is "after it being suggested to me" to build 3 of this same guitar to learn the craft get mistakes figured out and better myself through hands on experience.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 14, 2012)

I think I might go with brass for the nut 

http://waguitar.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/7/7/5977012/1762506.jpg?703

after reading his info I am on the fence.


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## HighPotency (Mar 15, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Still in the air. Bare knuckles is right there as a contender. But I defiantly want passive. Also considering changing to a fanned design gotta figure out how the hell to compute those numbers.


If you're doing a fanned fret design, I'd go for Lace Deathbars: 
Lace Music Products | Since 1979 - Lace Sensor electric guitar pickups, Alumitone, bass pickups, California Acoustic pickups - A pickup for any style of music.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 15, 2012)

good point, they sound great to, first time I've really payed any attention to them. Funky covers on em!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 15, 2012)

Huge update today. MONSTER UPDATE!!!

I met with my friend today who has been helping me with wood and ideas and .. you name it this guy is awesome! For professional reasons I will make a name for him "I don't have his permission and maybe its not relevant" but well call him Mr. Gadget. I never thought in a million years that anybody would help me with hands on guidance. But I think after the specs were explained of my build ideas his gears started turning and basicly to make a long story shorter this build in some way has us both really excited and glued to it.

Used fretfind to get the fret layout and numbers, we needed it to determine measurements for a lot of things mostly for fret wood overhang, how far the neck pocket goes into the body and that sort of thing. We eneded up deciding that the sepele body and maple top wood will be 50/50 on thickness due to me not having a wide enough piece of sepele. We book matched both the sepele and the maple today in his shop. 



Anyway I am now going to spend like an hour linking pictures, hope you guys enjoy!


































































































There ya go, everything I shot today! \m/


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## aaron_rose (Mar 15, 2012)

Here are a few better pictures of his guitars he builds.

I can't stress enough how playable and awesome his builds are! Tone is great even unplugged they have a voice like it was a solid body. Blows my mind!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 15, 2012)

and there ya have it!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 16, 2012)

Any of you a *Trey Anastasio fan*?

If you are you will appreciate this shape!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 16, 2012)

Got a question about sawing the multi scale fret slots. How the hell do I do this! It is easy to fret find, but it looks like I need some sort of jig beyond stew mac;s mitor box..


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## WildBroskiAppears (Mar 16, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Got a question about sawing the multi scale fret slots. How the hell do I do this! It is easy to fret find, but it looks like I need some sort of jig beyond stew mac;s mitor box..



The Japanese Fret Saw that Stewmac sells is actually what ViK has used for years if not laser-cutting. All you need is a steady hand and precise measuring skills and you're good to go! The fact that it can even come with a depth stop is ridiculously handy


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## aaron_rose (Mar 17, 2012)

Got the body shape figured out. Put it on paper for use as a template and did some math to figure out general neck pocket size as well as pup cavity's. Gunna work on the headstock after I play for a bit.











The 24th and maybe some of the 23rd frets will get nicked off so that I can maintain as much wood under the neck as possible for a solid connection. Also didn't want to encroach to far into the neck pups area.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 17, 2012)

WildBroskiAppears said:


> The Japanese Fret Saw that Stewmac sells is actually what ViK has used for years if not laser-cutting. All you need is a steady hand and precise measuring skills and you're good to go! The fact that it can even come with a depth stop is ridiculously handy



Thanks for your help!


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## Purelojik (Mar 17, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Got the body shape figured out. Put it on paper for use as a template and did some math to figure out general neck pocket size as well as pup cavity's. Gunna work on the headstock after I play for a bit.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



now this body shape is fucking sexy


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## aaron_rose (Mar 17, 2012)




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## aaron_rose (Mar 17, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> now this body shape is fucking sexy



Making the carve top radius really makes the whole thing come together, thanks brother!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 20, 2012)

Looks like my favorite part the curved radius carve top isn't going to happen due to a geometry issue, farther back u take the center line in between those two points the deeper it will be so I don't want a "scallop" style carve.. making progress still "slowly." We managed to make a jig and test it for cutting the fanned frets and that part is going to be a non issue thankfully. 

On a side note I scored a bunch of black walnut today!


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## HighPotency (Mar 21, 2012)

Not angling the pickups???!?!??


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## aaron_rose (Mar 21, 2012)

Still working that out, hardware options etc, plus the exact scale lenghth as well as whether or not well have a 0 fret at the nut the 5th or the 7th , alot of it has to be ironed out, but pickups are the last of my worries, saddles go from 20 to 100 dollars a piece for a fanned bridge... I am not paying 700 dollars for a bridge. gotta do more research and find all the options for that. winding our own pickup is also on the table.

probably going with Novax its around $260 no cross talk indi saddles.

One issue I have right now with pups is I dont want active, and with passive i want my poles to line up under the strings, so ya, its a pain in the ass.


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## Purelojik (Mar 21, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Still working that out, hardware options etc, plus the exact scale lenghth as well as whether or not well have a 0 fret at the nut the 5th or the 7th , alot of it has to be ironed out, but pickups are the last of my worries, saddles go from 20 to 100 dollars a piece for a fanned bridge... I am not paying 700 dollars for a bridge. gotta do more research and find all the options for that. winding our own pickup is also on the table.
> 
> probably going with Novax its around $260 no cross talk indi saddles.
> 
> One issue I have right now with pups is I dont want active, and with passive i want my poles to line up under the strings, so ya, its a pain in the ass.



call kurt at rondo music he might have some individual bridges for sale. i bought a bunch from him last year just incase i wanted to do a fanned build. and they are littlerally a fraction of ABMs prices and just as good


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## Hallic (Mar 21, 2012)

WHOA!! does that guy who makes those exotic design have a website?


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## Faine (Mar 21, 2012)

I'm excited to see this build happen man! Good luck!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 21, 2012)

Hallic said:


> WHOA!! does that guy who makes those exotic design have a website?



Hal, yes I am working on his website right now actually, his guitars are awesome. BLOWS my mind that they have the voice that they do, we are trained to expect a certain look when guitars are the topic, and then wrongfully attach pseudo science to it. 

He completely re engineers the guitar. absolutely awesome! We have 2 builds in progress right now, my 7 string faned baritone "outlaw" and after taht we are going to make a electric hollow body 7 or 8 string fanned fret guitar.

On a side note, we figured out my fret wood, Ba ba ba binga! Still trying to figure out my desired fan, but as soon as that happens we will start cutting some wood.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 21, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> call kurt at rondo music he might have some individual bridges for sale. i bought a bunch from him last year just incase i wanted to do a fanned build. and they are littlerally a fraction of ABMs prices and just as good



thanks brother!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 21, 2012)

anybody got any samples of the lace alumitone deathbar? also anybody see any problem with slanting one, think it would screw with its freq response? They don't have winds so maybe it would work.


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## HighPotency (Mar 21, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> anybody got any samples of the lace alumitone deathbar? also anybody see any problem with slanting one, think it would screw with its freq response? They don't have winds so maybe it would work.


They do have winds, just very few compared to conventional pickups IIRC. Frequency response would not change with the position of the pickup unless it was placed too far/had something in the way of pickup up said frequencies. 

The Deathbars I believe are just soapbar (EMG routing) shaped versions of the X-Bar.

My plan for a bridge is to order Wilkinson VS-100 saddles from here: Products & Ordering - Graph Tech

Then I'll buy a plate of some metal... probably brass or aluminum, then mount that on the guitar and put the saddles on that. I may end up getting a plate thick enough to thread for the saddle screws, but I'm not sure yet and that's pretty far down the line from my build.

You could also buy some angled metal like this: Order Stainless 304 Angle in Small Quantities at OnlineMetals.com

You could cut it at an angle to match the fan, drill holes in it, and then mount regular saddles in it.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 21, 2012)

thanks for the info on the lace. Your bridge idea looks like yer going diy all the way, I salute you!


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## iRaiseTheDead (Mar 21, 2012)

Sweeeet


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## aaron_rose (Mar 24, 2012)

Depends on funds at this point, balancing act between getting it done and getting it done faster. 

I have looked at all the bridge possibilities. 

1)Novax is the top contender at 260.00
2)Rondo with the indi saddles is a close second
3)Toon and townsend is really more for trustafarians yet awesome none the less.

I've read the posts done the research and considered the options. I WOULD like to make a wooden bridge with a similar hardware profile to a slanted hipshot, rabbit a piece of metal into it "underneath" 15.12341235423452345 degrees or w/e


It would be a whole lot easier and faster to buy a novax bridge saddles, but I don't got that kinda scratch right now.

15.1234565768678 degree metal plate with wood on top it is. Plate is so the screws dont sink into the wood and doubles as a earth ground.

The fretwood will be babinga so the bridge will also be babinga.

Pups will be a LAce Deathbar at the bridge position angled to whatever works "looks best and is relatively parallel to the bridge saddles, the neck pup will probably be another Lace but jazz voiced.


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## Purelojik (Mar 24, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Depends on funds at this point, balancing act between getting it done and getting it done faster.
> 
> I have looked at all the bridge possibilities.
> 
> ...



im tellin ya get the rondo saddles. when ur buying novax your paying for the upcharge of everything too thats why its expensive. i wont put what kurt charged me here but message me and i'll let you know. its stupidly affordable and i doubt he'd fluctuate on the price that much really.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 24, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> im tellin ya get the rondo saddles. when ur buying novax your paying for the upcharge of everything too thats why its expensive. i wont put what kurt charged me here but message me and i'll let you know. its stupidly affordable and i doubt he'd fluctuate on the price that much really.



Thanks a lot for the bridges man! That saves me a ton of time and energy worrying about it. Plus these bad boys dont need metal behind them just under them they just facemount, hell ya!

YOU SIR ARE THE MAN


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## aaron_rose (Mar 24, 2012)

Might as well update the specs since a lot has changed and new things added.

strings: 7
scale: 25.5"-27.5" - Perpendicular fret at the 7th 
frets: 24 Jumbo nickle
tuning: BEADGBE 
neck body connect: Bolt on, 5 inches of wood connection, T-nuts
fingerboard: Babinga 1/4 inch thick, 16 inch radius
neck wood: maple,purple heart,maple,purple heart, maple 5 piece purple heart stripes 1/4 inch
tone wood: Sepele 
top/headstock wood: Fiddle back maple "flames"
note: neck will have a two way trus rod with purple heart or carbon fiber sticks set into it.
binding: none
inlays: "top side to the 12th" "bottom side 12 to 24"
hardware color: black
bridge: fixed Similar to ABM saddles, with a powder coated and "mortised piece of metal under the saddles."
tuners: sperzel locking tuners black
pickups: Lace alumitone Death Bar for bridge, unsure on neck pup but will also be a Lace.
controls layout: standard Volue, Tone, selector toggle switch.
knobs: Black
strap buttons: Dunlop recessed, black. 
color: wood 
finish: Unsure

On a side note the metal plate under the saddles will be the same profile as the fan so that it is barely noticeable. Pain in the ass but that's a fan design for ya.. also for a good time go check out the khaler multiscale trems. lawlercopter.


----------



## aaron_rose (Mar 24, 2012)

anybody know where i can order some t nuts for the neck?


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## Purelojik (Mar 24, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> anybody know where i can order some t nuts for the neck?



i got mine from rockler.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 24, 2012)

Just got off the phone with Dave over at Equilibrium Guitars, great guy to talk to really cares about his work he does, knowledgeable in many more regards than I am, anyway after talking to him about his masai model looks like I am on the right path by building the plate under the saddles.

*Breaths a sigh of relief*

Beautiful designs Dave!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 24, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> i got mine from rockler.




I see, thanks! The hunt is on for black ones!


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## HighPotency (Mar 24, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> I see, thanks! The hunt is on for black ones!


Why are you looking for black T-nuts? I'm assuming you'll be embedding them in the neck, which means you won't see them. 

Pretty much any hardware store sells t-nuts. I got 1/4" thread t-nuts from Ace, along with 1 1/4" long, philips head bolts with washers that i'll epoxy into place on the back of the guitar.

A popular method is using connecting bolts with allen screw heads. From what I've seen, they're mostly used in furniture, so they are long with large, flat heads.


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## Purelojik (Mar 24, 2012)

HighPotency said:


> Why are you looking for black T-nuts? I'm assuming you'll be embedding them in the neck, which means you won't see them.
> 
> Pretty much any hardware store sells t-nuts. I got 1/4" thread t-nuts from Ace, along with 1 1/4" long, philips head bolts with washers that i'll epoxy into place on the back of the guitar.
> 
> A popular method is using connecting bolts with allen screw heads. From what I've seen, they're mostly used in furniture, so they are long with large, flat heads.



i think he means black bolts


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## aaron_rose (Mar 24, 2012)

HighPotency said:


> Why are you looking for black T-nuts? I'm assuming you'll be embedding them in the neck, which means you won't see them.
> 
> Pretty much any hardware store sells t-nuts. I got 1/4" thread t-nuts from Ace, along with 1 1/4" long, philips head bolts with washers that i'll epoxy into place on the back of the guitar.
> 
> A popular method is using connecting bolts with allen screw heads. From what I've seen, they're mostly used in furniture, so they are long with large, flat heads.



I meant the whole assembly worded that one wrong, was wondering if there was a easy way to buy a package deal of all components from allparts etc. just as easy for me to grab all that at lowes! appreciate all your help highpotency


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## aaron_rose (Mar 27, 2012)

Ongoing this saga is!

We made good progress with the build today, plus we had a lot of fun learning about purple heart and what makes it a happy piece of purple heart.

Wanna start the show off with some paduk fireworks.






Now onto the build.

Today was neck day. We got our measurements figured out and start milling the maple first "sides and center of the 5 piece neck." The really interesting thing is that once we cut my purple heart it was no longer purple. Not even close to purple, in fact we thought it would probably make a better piece of firewood than a stripe and reinforcement on a guitar neck. It looked brownish blond, and was nowhere near acceptable for our requirements. I drove my red headed stepchildren pieces of wood back to the store and inquired further hoping at the least I could get a discount on a more purple piece of purple heart. The guy who works there " who knows his you know what " about wood told me that it was normal. I asked "wtf dude!?!!" he tells me then that all I needed to do was to either wait it out and let it oxidize and wait for the oils to come out, which I was very skeptical about or I could take a heat gun or hot iron to it and it would magically become purple. I said crap, and headed back to the shop "the only other piece he had available was way outta my ballpark size wise. I then took his knowledge to the bank and started in on a scrap piece with a heat gun, pictures are as follows and fyi I had the heat gun on it set to high for a very brief period of time, id say10 seconds doing little circles with the gun and below the images show that if your purple heart is crap once you cut it, no problem, just heat it up and yer good to go!

Before






Testing the waters
















And as you can see, this is badass!






Ok now onto the rest of the day.


























And finally, the fret wood, babinga as promised! going for 5/16 thickness.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 27, 2012)

Almost forgot to include the 26.5 to 27.5 fan.


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## Purelojik (Mar 27, 2012)

dude you werent kidding when you called! thats some great progress!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 27, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> dude you werent kidding when you called! thats some great progress!



Ya man, we talk about things a lot cause its a pretty organic design process, which I prefer. Yes sometimes you run into problems cause this effects that but with my friends experience and my vision "based on a lot of peoples here's visions "we are really getting some stuff worked out!" Build isn't done yet but seriously thank you to this forum and it's staff/members for the inspiration and information!

We are going to sister the trus "two way" rod on either side of it with carbon fiber sitting in deep routes "not to deep" the carbon is rectangular. should help stiffen the whole thing up a little bit. Headstock will receive a piece of burl 1/8 maple and the headstock will be thin accept where the tuners go through and as it's plotted every one of em lands in strong parent wood. Gotta do a wing on the bottom, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Forgot to mention we managed to sneak a section out of that gigantic piece of babinga that had that awesome flowing grain that's considerably wider than the rest with great contrast while retaining a very very close to vertical grain as possible.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 28, 2012)

omw into town to get more stuff done! I think!


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## Purelojik (Mar 28, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> omw into town to get more stuff done! I think!



Bridges sent! They'll be there by sat!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 28, 2012)

right on man, thanks! I sent the strings today as well, Saturday looks like the same day for us both. 

Wish I was part of a lawn mower forum..


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## aaron_rose (Mar 28, 2012)

Ordering parts today! 
Neck and headstock, glued scarfed. 

All orders are from LMII with one weird bird graphtech nut 2 1/2 inches wide to accommodate the fan.

18`` Trus rod 

6` Extra wide Extra high nickle , went with LMII due to the tang being real burly, we like burly.

Carbon Fiber #grb4 X2 " one on either side of the trus rod
Jack #ejste

My friend is doing the stew mac order and is picking up some other things.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 30, 2012)

parts ordered, all but the strap locks , tuners, nut and pups.


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## Levi79 (Mar 30, 2012)

Very cool dude. Stoked to see this come together.


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## aaron_rose (Mar 30, 2012)

Today the saddles came in the mail, from purelogik \m/

images of em just tossed on my top wood. After having them in my hand I wonder of a bottom plate is even necessary. Just running a earth ground wire under them should be all that needs to be there! But it may depend on the neck pocket and fret wood height, well see I guess.


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## Purelojik (Mar 31, 2012)

this forum is aweosme. and thanks for the strings and the oil dude!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 31, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> this forum is aweosme. and thanks for the strings and the oil dude!



Hell ya, get your bore oil on!


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## Alpenglow (Mar 31, 2012)

I really dig the grain on the bubinga. Looks awesome!


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## aaron_rose (Mar 31, 2012)

Alpenglow said:


> I really dig the grain on the bubinga. Looks awesome!



Got really lucky!


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## Compton (Mar 31, 2012)

Fantastic! Love the designs and looks like you got some very radical woods! Congrats sir.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 1, 2012)

thanks man, ill have more pics probably sometime next week once hardware comes in the mail.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 3, 2012)

Got a few things from LMII today.

Carbon fiber rods 2 for me and 2 for my friends build. Also received my 18 inch 2 way adjustable trus rod.


We started talking today and it is a pretty good possibility that the outlaw f-7 will be a hybrid instead of a bolt on. Just want more resonance and would like to get away from bolt on hardware of possible. Also I will be able to get ridiculous with the heal sculpting.











Super thin but STRONG, like habenero strong.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 6, 2012)

More stuff in the mail today.


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## Purelojik (Apr 6, 2012)

honestly the T-nut bolt design has much more resonance than my friends neck thu guitar. i dunno the whole argument about what has more sustain is kinda a strange one. to each his own but bolt ons give you the flexibility of instaling a new neck if somethign goes wrong with the neck thru


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## aaron_rose (Apr 7, 2012)

A couple shots of my neck fretwood and fan 











This is a piece of oldschool burl maple I might use for the headstock.


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## Faine (Apr 7, 2012)

wow man, Cant wait to see the finished guitar. I was waiting for an update!


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## aaron_rose (Apr 7, 2012)

ya no worries, we are planning on getting into the deep woods of this build starting Monday. Been waiting for parts to roll in. Only key elements still missing are the pickups and locking tuners.

Gotta save a little longer for the lace alumitone pups tho. Good thing is that isn't holding the build process back.

Put a few songs I been working on up on my reverbnation if anybody is interested. 

https://www.reverbnation.com/dragonsteeth


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## aaron_rose (Apr 9, 2012)

Got more progress to share. We routed out the slot for both carbon fiber rods as well as for the trus rod with the rods lining the sheer zone of the purple heart and maple lamination. Got the rough body cut out and i soon as i find time will cut out the back control cavity. We plan on doing this before we glue the body and top woods together so that the cut out works as a guide for the router later when finishing it out.

Anyway here ya go,


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## Randyrhoads123 (Apr 9, 2012)

Looking sick man! Can't wait to see the final product!


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## Purelojik (Apr 9, 2012)

damn dude thats some great progress!


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## asher (Apr 9, 2012)

That's looking pretty sweet


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## aaron_rose (Apr 10, 2012)

The neck pocket was holding everything up for weeks. Plus super busy schedules. In the end the words of purelogic reeled me back in and a standard bolt on approach was decided upon, granted there were some really exciting and pioneering ideas that I would love to check out being thrown around.

But I have played bolt on's for a long long time and I have never had a super huge issue with that part of a guitar. When I hate a guitar it's 9 times out of ten something to do with the neck. Dude could tar and feather his guitar and as long as the action was good, the frets were smooth without burs and all at the same plane, and it had a wide enough distance between end strings and side of neck. so vibrato didn't make high E or a low B pop off the side of the neck. If it meets these standards then hell yes I will play the shit out of that thing.

To be continued...


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## SludgeMonkey (Apr 12, 2012)

Yeah dude- that shit is baaadaassss


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## aaron_rose (Apr 14, 2012)

few more pics, I sanded in the neck pocket side walls so tight that it can be held outright with no glue needed and can still be adjusted for hardware. It is actually sunny in WA today!


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## Stompmeister (Apr 15, 2012)

Looks awesome dude, keep it comin!!


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## aaron_rose (Apr 15, 2012)

low res image but the fret wood is slotted, babinga!!!!


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## Purelojik (Apr 15, 2012)

fuck that fretboard looks amazing


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## aaron_rose (Apr 15, 2012)

My partner did the slotting looks amazing! Using the two dowel and a clamp trick!


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## Astcyr17 (Apr 15, 2012)

Great choice in woods and everything is looking very pristine. I like it a lot!


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## aaron_rose (Apr 15, 2012)

again i go back to the whole "well if i wouldn't have found this place this shit would have never happened" Granted my partner who I am building this with is an amazing luthier, so this isn't a Cinderella story about how some guy just shows up and one shots a erg with a fan.. This is way more about community good taste and commitment.

It is true tho, and ya ya ya I know the thing is still just chunks of wood but I will wager that this build will be finished in good time and then will wage war on peoples ear holes.


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## Pikka Bird (Apr 16, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> My partner did the slotting looks amazing! Using the two dowel and a clamp trick!



Which trick? Can you slot things with a clamp, or am I getting lost in my head-maze?


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## aaron_rose (Apr 16, 2012)

take a board drill two holes in it sized for dowels to glue into spaced a little wider than your fretwood board is flat dowels are vertical, place the board in between them and rotate it till u are aligned with your fret u want to slot, so that the saw glides along side the two dowels , use a third block or dowel to keep pressure coming from the other side on the blades side so it does move when u are cutting. keep adjusting it as you go.


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## JStraitiff (Apr 17, 2012)

^ Thats a cool idea.

This is looking really nice so far.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 18, 2012)

Couple shots of the roughed in control cavity.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 20, 2012)

Time for another update.
Below are images of the babinga fret wood my partner has been working on. I wont comment any further cause my words can't do it any justice.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 23, 2012)

Few shots of some new tools exacto blade, little clamps, 2 "1/16th X 5" inch pieces of rainbow abalone , a digital caliper and the best part of the day! The deathbar and the X bar have arrived! I have NO IDEA how to install these. Very diff than the usual when it comes to pup design.


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## Purelojik (Apr 23, 2012)

awesome!!! wiring them is the same as any other pup. just follow the wiring instructions. tin your wires properly then go for it. i learned it myself and turned out alright. i think you'll be fine dude.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 23, 2012)

the only instal video i can find is for a acoustic...


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## aaron_rose (Apr 23, 2012)

no no no, i can wire any setup no problem that's not the issue. I cant figure out how they mount inside the guitar. This is very diff.


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## EQGuitars (Apr 23, 2012)

I just checked the progress and wow! It looks amazing, especially for your first build! As for your mounting, I would seat the pickups at the bottom of the cavity and trace the mounting holes with a piece of artist's pencil graphite or a tracing scribe through the top of the pickup. 

Once you have established the screw locations and drill to the depth you need, use foam window sealant (you can get it at Home Depot and it already has adhesive on one side) to support the pickup from the underside without the need for springs. Given that the pickups you have chosen are mostly hollow you may need to use more than one layer, but it will definitely do the job and give you ideal control over the pickup height.


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## iron blast (Apr 23, 2012)

they mount in emg sized routes direct mount


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## aaron_rose (Apr 24, 2012)

Ok thanks guys! 

I think after talking to a few people listening to what you all just said here and looking at some pickups im onboard now. definatly dry fit, then score it where the screws go "I am going to pre drill with a uber tiny drill bit a tad" put the foam down and adjust to height. I was hoping I could just "cut" out the pup cavitys since my top and body wood aren't glued together yet with the tried and true drill bit jig saw combo.. but now that these are in my hands i see that I will more than likely be doomed to a forsner bit and a chizzle.. or a .. router. Unsure which path to take yet, guess I will cross that road when i get to it. which will be soon.


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## EQGuitars (Apr 24, 2012)

Definitely go the way of the router  You can make as many mistakes as you need to cutting a proper-fitting template out of MDF or decent-quality plywood, then once it looks and fits right, double-stick foam tape it in position and route the cavities to the required depth with a flush-trim ball-bearing guide router bit. The bit should only cost about $15-$20 and will save you HOURS in the long run, especially because the template is reusable. 

Also, if your neck blank is already final width, use a straightedge along both sides of it to mark lines on the body that you can use to center the template for each route.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 24, 2012)

Dave, you rock man! thanks for all the very helpful suggestions!


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## EQGuitars (Apr 24, 2012)

You're very welcome, Aaron. Keep up the great work!


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## aaron_rose (Apr 24, 2012)

Got an issue with the bridge/fret wood/fret height in relationship to the neck pocket depth. Since my fret wood is around 5/16th thick and we don't want to carve any of the sepele out we have opted to add a 1/8 - sandwich of purple heart in between the maple and sepele to compensate for the discrepancy in question. Working on it tomorrow, will post pics and information as it develops. 

Glad I went with lace.... due to how light they are. lol

Thanks to the people at Lace also I ordered the pups Friday and received them Monday!


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## JStraitiff (Apr 24, 2012)

^you mean the fretboard is too low and youre making it higher by adding a shim piece? 

I was concerned about this myself on my build. i think ill take the body down on mine instead.


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## scherzo1928 (Apr 25, 2012)

EQGuitars said:


> Definitely go the way of the router  You can make as many mistakes as you need to cutting a proper-fitting template out of MDF or decent-quality plywood, then once it looks and fits right, double-stick foam tape it in position and route the cavities to the required depth with a flush-trim ball-bearing guide router bit. The bit should only cost about $15-$20 and will save you HOURS in the long run, especially because the template is reusable.


 
So much this. 

Just a couple of things. Do NOT use foam double tape. Since it's foam, your template WILL move around as you press agaist it. There are tons and tons of kinds of double sided tape, just look for one without foam, should have no problem finding it.

As for the router bit, a good 2" bit with ballbearings should cost around $40, but holy hell, are they worth it. Or you can buy a smaller bit, and route the shape by layers... pretty much like a CNC would.

Btw, check these guys out. I'm in love with their router bits. They may have horrible customer service, but they sure know how to make the best router bits... and they are cheap!

MLCS Router Bits and Woodworking Products

edit: check out the katana bits =D


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## aaron_rose (Apr 25, 2012)

scherzo1928 said:


> So much this.
> 
> Just a couple of things. Do NOT use foam double tape. Since it's foam, your template WILL move around as you press agaist it. There are tons and tons of kinds of double sided tape, just look for one without foam, should have no problem finding it.
> 
> ...



Thanks brother, much obliged!

update,

Frets are on but unfinished. here are a few shots of them, this is my cellphone so it makes it look like thers huge long gouges / pores in it, but there are none, one of the pics shows it as it really is. 












this is the one that best shows the wood as it really is...






more tomorrow!


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## HaMMerHeD (Apr 25, 2012)

scherzo1928 said:


> So much this.
> 
> Just a couple of things. Do NOT use foam double tape. Since it's foam, your template WILL move around as you press agaist it. There are tons and tons of kinds of double sided tape, just look for one without foam, should have no problem finding it.
> 
> ...




Just wanted to pimp Amana's router bits.

I got this thing:

Dado Clean out Router Bits - Toolstoday.com - Industrial Quality Carbide Tipped Router Bits

It's a 1/2" top bearing pattern bit with a 1/4" depth of cut.

And it is fucking amazing for cutting cavity cover pockets and my recessed bridge route. (Before, Routed, Bridge Fitted)

It's also available in 1/8", 1/2", 3/4", and 1" depth cuts.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 26, 2012)

on a side note tomorrow we plan on delving into the wonderful world of carving the pup cavity's to perfectly fit the pups instead of doing swimming pools. please pray for us.


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## EQGuitars (Apr 26, 2012)

scherzo1928 said:


> So much this.
> 
> Just a couple of things. Do NOT use foam double tape. Since it's foam, your template WILL move around as you press agaist it. There are tons and tons of kinds of double sided tape, just look for one without foam, should have no problem finding it.
> 
> ...



Hi Aaron, I just wanted to explain my reasons for the recommendations so you can decide what works best for your application. Although I agree with scherzo that foam tape does have more side to side flexibility and the potential for slight motion, since this is your first build, the thickness of the foam tape allows for more complete cohesion between the perfectly flat template and your guitar body in the case that your body has any dips or other slight imperfections that haven't been sanded out yet. If there is not total surface to surface contact, thinner, less conforming tape can get loaded with dust as you're routing and fail, even if the adhesive is strong. 

I would also definitely recommend using a bit that is 1" long or less for routing pickup cavities. Although a 2" bit is perfect if you are using a router table to shape the body, you would need to have a template that is a minimum of 1.25" thick to have the bearing positioned high enough to route the cavity to the 1" depth you need. Also, definitely route in passes! You should never try to rout the full depth in once pass because the torque that you are creating trying to go through that much material greatly increases both the chance of chipping out the edge, and causing the template to slip because of the greater pressure that you are applying to the wall.

I know I'm outlining worst case scenarios here but with routing, when something goes wrong it usually happens quickly and irreversibly. Just take some time to evaluate which methods/tools are most appropriate for the job at hand and Good luck!

Your fretboard looks fantastic btw!


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## aaron_rose (Apr 26, 2012)

Right on Dave, I plan on buying a router, a nice one. Then I will spend a few weeks chewing through whatever hardwoods i can get my hands on to practice on before I put the tool to the real thing. The router tool is in its own right something that ya gotta get good with and comfortable with. Unfortunately I am not there yet so it looks like were gonna forsner chizzel these bad boys in. I thank you for your guidance and information!


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Apr 26, 2012)

Aaron, since you're up in Bellingham, you may consider on a trip to Seattle, visiting Tap Plastics. They're a couple of blocks away from Guitar Center, and on the way to the EMP.

You can take your scaled drawing, and have them make you some lazer cut acrylic templates similar to the Stew Mac ones, but to your own specs. They'll send them down to their master shop in California, but when you get them back, they'll be top notch templates. 

I always make at least 2 templates at once. One of them is always the control, the other the usable one. The control never gets used, just becomes a reference for reproductions.

I'd recommend the thicker 5/8' piece of acrylic as it provides more surface for the ride bearing.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 26, 2012)

Right on brother! This is awesome!


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Apr 26, 2012)

When I worked at Warmoth, even though all the bodies/necks are CNC carved, they are all template traced with an acrylic template & then cut on a bandsaw with 1/4 " reveal in order to avoid "flyouts" & excessive material waste. The bodies all have 2 index holes (to line up with the CNC table) there's one in the cavity that becomes the bridge pickup, the other becomes one of the neck mounting screw holes.

Another good resource for info on building templates is my good friend of the past decade, Neal Moser. I used to use the thinner ones, but he turned me onto using the thicker ones. Check out his page, Guitar Building Classes


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## aaron_rose (Apr 27, 2012)

Few new shots of today's progress. Pickups fit like a glove. Got the control cavity routed and a cover is in my hands right now that I have to work till it fits. The wire channels are also in.

Ordered the back string ferrules as well as the bolt on neck hardware ferrules, ordered the sperzel tuners the nut and potentiometers.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 27, 2012)

lower right hand section is gunna be the lam on the headstock


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## aaron_rose (Apr 28, 2012)

Trus rod and carbon fiber in and secure, frets and bridge saddle height in relation to pup height solved and completed. This is pretty much awesome! 

The return of the fly!!!


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## eddiewarlock (Apr 28, 2012)

Not crazy about the fanned frets, but it looks awesome!


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## aaron_rose (Apr 28, 2012)

Getting the control cavity cover worked in.


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## Faine (Apr 28, 2012)

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


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## aaron_rose (Apr 28, 2012)

Faine said:


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



Same here man, it's been a no bad mojo build so far, a lot of fun to. We still have some pretty large hurdles "in my newb mind" to get over ie: shaping neck, figureing out the headstock this's and that's, volute "not sure if i spelled that right" etc but if we keep this pace it shouldn't be to much longer till we start finishing it. The talk so far is to black dye very lightly the figured maple top. the sepele will be either oil or finished with some sort of something, i got no idea, haven't had time to really soak in how big of a deal finishing is but i have a idea im about to find out.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 29, 2012)

Couple more shots to share.

fabed in purple heart bridge plates, each is the same profile as the deck of the individual saddles but the outside ones are radiused in height lower and the middle ones higher to mimic the 16 inch radius of the fret wood. The final product will be ebony. Pretty sure were going to turn ebony knobs for the pots on the lathe as well!


----------



## aaron_rose (Apr 29, 2012)

eddiewarlock said:


> Not crazy about the fanned frets, but it looks awesome!



It's only a 1 inch fan, 26 half to 27 half, pretty subtle, when you put yer fretting hand on it it feels real good! Although since the neck isn't shaped yet it's sorta a guessing game cause its a square ass board in yer palm hehehe


----------



## aaron_rose (Apr 29, 2012)

Faine said:


> 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.


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## BlackMastodon (Apr 29, 2012)

Holy tits that is thin! Looking good though man.


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## aaron_rose (Apr 29, 2012)

BlackMastodon said:


> 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.


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## JStraitiff (Apr 29, 2012)

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!


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## aaron_rose (Apr 30, 2012)

JStraitiff said:


> 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.


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## Levi79 (Apr 30, 2012)

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIN BODIES!


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## aaron_rose (May 1, 2012)

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


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## Fiction (May 1, 2012)

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


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## Sirppi (May 1, 2012)

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


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## BlackMastodon (May 1, 2012)

Whale cock for your nut: now THAT is metal.


----------



## JStraitiff (May 1, 2012)

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


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## Pikka Bird (May 1, 2012)

^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.


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## Purelojik (May 1, 2012)

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.


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## aaron_rose (May 1, 2012)

Pikka Bird said:


> ^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.


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## SludgeMonkey (May 2, 2012)

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


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## SludgeMonkey (May 2, 2012)

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


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## aaron_rose (May 2, 2012)

SludgeMonkey said:


> 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.


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## SludgeMonkey (May 2, 2012)

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.


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## aaron_rose (May 2, 2012)

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.


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## aaron_rose (May 2, 2012)

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.


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## BIG ND SWEATY (May 2, 2012)

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


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## aaron_rose (May 2, 2012)

BIG ND SWEATY said:


> 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!


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## Levi79 (May 3, 2012)

Very cool dude!


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## Necromagnon (May 3, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


>


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.


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## aaron_rose (May 3, 2012)

Necromagnon said:


> 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...


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## Necromagnon (May 4, 2012)

I was talking about this bone. It seems my joke has sunk...


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## aaron_rose (May 4, 2012)

lol nice


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## aaron_rose (May 4, 2012)

started shaping the details into the body today.

Bastard file says yes!

I was planning on showing off the perfect end result build " as perfect as we could get it" and then showing the blooper reel and errors that were dealt with fixed etc all at once, so ya there are a few errors here but nothing that is a show stopper design augmenter or w/e.


----------



## aaron_rose (May 4, 2012)

shaping continued. All day affair.


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## aaron_rose (May 4, 2012)

new tuners came in the mail today!! Thank you Bob, Lori and Roger!


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## scherzo1928 (May 4, 2012)

Carves are looking fine!

One piece of advise though. Don't carve and sand next to your computer/electronics.


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## aaron_rose (May 4, 2012)

scherzo1928 said:


> Carves are looking fine!
> 
> One piece of advise though. Don't carve and sand next to your computer/electronics.



Ya I know limited space wa is rainy usually plus I just had to do a full rebuild on it due to drywall dust....


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## aaron_rose (May 5, 2012)

I'm not sure if masking using tape is the preferred method for shaping but it really worked well for me and I would suggest it to anybody wielding a bastard file or rasp.


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## Necromagnon (May 9, 2012)

Nice carving! 
And +1 with scherzo!


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## aaron_rose (May 9, 2012)

hehe, you guys keeping me in check! BFF's! 

Going to pick up the neck for shaping on the headstock today. W00000h000!!


----------



## SludgeMonkey (May 9, 2012)

:


aaron_rose said:


> Going to pick up the neck for shaping on the headstock today. W00000h000!!


----------



## swollenpickle (May 9, 2012)

FlaaGeebinSwaheet!!


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## aaron_rose (May 9, 2012)

Roughed in the head stock shape today.












Oops didn't mean to show the gnarly burl top wood ><


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## Empryrean (May 9, 2012)

Interesting pickup routes sir, you may have just inspired a few ideas in my head. 

the build is looking good


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## Levi79 (May 10, 2012)

scherzo1928 said:


> Carves are looking fine!
> 
> One piece of advise though. Don't carve and sand next to your computer/electronics.


I definitely have a couple little nicks in my keyboard because of this  I was doing it for the same reason, but definitely find a more suitable place to work if possible. Great progress man! Stoked to see this finished! Very fast too!


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## aaron_rose (May 10, 2012)

More bastard file adventures. Plus since I accidentally already let the cat outa the bag here is the top for the headstock.


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## BlackMastodon (May 10, 2012)

That is a pretty damn sweet cap for the headstock.


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## aaron_rose (May 10, 2012)

Prepped the body for finish today, almost there. The headstock lam is on and we re enforced the top edge with a piece of purple heart cause the maple ended up being pretty flimsy at the tip . design was cool parent wood wasn't really strong enough. We will get it figured out one way or the other.

Going to try to start shaping the neck tomorrow.


----------



## Pikka Bird (May 11, 2012)

Is someone liking Languedoc guitars a little bit?


----------



## aaron_rose (May 11, 2012)

wow, that's awesome, ya I have looked at them The stock is actually based off of the tre anastio model as previously discussed in this thread, modified to make it more aggressive and angry tho. Cool part about it is I highly respect that dude as a jazz blues fusion monster.


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## Pikka Bird (May 11, 2012)

^Whoah, I had completely overlooked that post... But then I guess I was right by proxy? 

I see plenty of differences in the shapes, of course. In your 3D model it looked a lot closer. I wonder- when you were making it more aggressive, why did you decide to round the corners?


----------



## aaron_rose (May 11, 2012)

two reasons, first to blend with the other lines of the entire build, all lines have relationships alone as well as together, secondly its difficult to finish hard corners and have it come out well. NOt interested in fighting the finish and the lines work better with the entire build =] 

yes sir you were spot on! Love me some Tre!


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## aaron_rose (May 11, 2012)

Fret wood laminated today. Head stock skin on as well.


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## aaron_rose (May 12, 2012)

Today was final pass on sanding the body and shaping the neck.


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## asilayamazing (May 12, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Ya I know limited space wa is rainy usually plus I just had to do a full rebuild on it due to drywall dust....


DUDE your in bellingham so am i  i had the "mesa 2x12 build" thread and i had to do most everything inside lol still dusting a week later!!!!! ill build you a cab if you build me a guitar! LMAO


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## aaron_rose (May 12, 2012)

ahhh right on man! ya I used to play with Umbilical Parricide, been working on a solo project and building this guitar tho lately so no time for grindcore... Cool to see somebody in my town on here! Defiantly may need to talk to you some time about cabs tho I got a couple I don't really get along with =]


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## asilayamazing (May 12, 2012)

cool man  ya im gonna be building another here this month ill probly be putting on craigslist lol but if you ever want one shoot me a PM.


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## Purelojik (May 12, 2012)

oh my god that stain on that headstock plate.....


----------



## asilayamazing (May 12, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> oh my god that stain on that headstock plate.....


never mind! whoops


----------



## aaron_rose (May 12, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> oh my god that stain on that headstock plate.....



ya it's going to rip peoples eyeballs out of their heads! Builds picking up momentum tho. It's looking like my 8 string from s7 is going to land about the same time this is done, NGDx2 D:


----------



## aaron_rose (May 13, 2012)

on a side note just learned Ola Stranburg teamed up with Jim and strictly 7, to make production stranburg's. Crazy!!

Strandberg Guitarworks » Blog Archive » Stock Model Production


----------



## BlackMastodon (May 13, 2012)

Well....I think I will be getting a .strandberg* sooner than I thought then.


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## aaron_rose (May 13, 2012)

https://www.dropbox.com/photos/Grace_EHB/#gallery:0 New preliminary design for a electric hollowbody neck through.

wenge neck 5 piece with maple stripes

Sepele wings

maple top

27.5 scale

P-90 pickups

7 strings

24 frets

Ebony board

Tune-0-matic bridge

Graphtech nut

maple neck bindings

thats the rough Idea so far


----------



## SludgeMonkey (May 13, 2012)

Damn Aaron, that is just beautiful man...


----------



## darren (May 13, 2012)

Really nice work! That's turning out beautifully!


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## aaron_rose (May 13, 2012)

Thanks guys! Tom Curneen who is the master Luthier I am studying under gets most of the credit here. My vision and design and his experience and craftsmanship together have produced this. He is also entitled to design credit when it came to problem solving woods used "His private stock."

The next one, which will probably be the same guitar with a 27.5 inch straight non multi-scale neck will be up for sale. I want to shop it around here locally but if any of you would be interested send me a message. Granted lets see how this one ends up first. I will provide a insane guitar porn photo shoot along with clean driven and distorted audio samples.

After that I am planning on moving forward with the electric hollowbody build.


----------



## aaron_rose (May 13, 2012)

darren said:


> Really nice work! That's turning out beautifully!



Thanks! I just watched your new video on your site, way cool! Love how the images start hitting you faster and faster near the end. is the video new or the web site new? something seems diff..


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## aaron_rose (May 14, 2012)

shots of things I have to finish and problems that need fixing.


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## JStraitiff (May 14, 2012)

Yea that glue line needs some work. When are you gonna cut the nut and see if it plays?


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## aaron_rose (May 15, 2012)

not sure when itl get strings on it, I have to do a lot of fixes and shaping and sanding first before the nut and babinga piece go on.

Also have to make the ebony bridge plate.


----------



## scherzo1928 (May 16, 2012)

Interesting books you've got there


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## aaron_rose (May 19, 2012)

scherzo1928 said:


> Interesting books you've got there



Ya not mine man, I'm an omnivore with carnivorousness in mind most of the time D;, that's all My girls.


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## aaron_rose (May 20, 2012)

All that remains is final sand pass and then it's time for finish! We still have to dress the frets level them etc but we are really really close! Err almost forgot I still have to make a bridge out of ebony.


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## Necromagnon (May 23, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Err almost forgot I still have to make a bridge out of ebony.


A bridge? I'd say a nut, no?

Anyway, looks really nice (except the headstock I don't like that much).


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## trickae (May 23, 2012)

omg i wish i had your 3D modelling skills - what software do you use?


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## aaron_rose (May 23, 2012)

Necromagnon said:


> A bridge? I'd say a nut, no?
> 
> Anyway, looks really nice (except the headstock I don't like that much).



If ya followed the thread you would see its getting a graphtech nut, glue it on after its slotted, pretty awesome! I am making the bridge in my freetime right now. Plus the frets need to be leveled crowned and dressed. Wire it up still..make knobs, buy strap locks install them, pore fill, sand, dye, seal, finish with varnish, oil the neck... ya thers stuff to be done still. but if you were along for the year and a half ride of RnD and 3 months of building you would probably get all excited and ahead of yerself to =] sorr ya ya dont like the headstock, I think it goes very well with the body, next one will be 100% my design instead of ripping off other designs but this was a learning process for me and imitation is the highest form of flattery.


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## Necromagnon (May 23, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> next one will be 100% my design instead of ripping off other designs but this was a learning process for me and imitation is the highest form of flattery.


In fact, in my opinion, all designs said to be purely original are always ripping from other designs. It might not be just a superstrat barely modified, but you can find anytime traces of existing designs.

It's not matter, but I think it should not be considered as problem, but on the contrary, as an inspiration source. All my designs are inspired a lot of existing guitars (Traben for its inferior horn, Artinger for the headstock, friends amateur luthier, and many others I forget).


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## aaron_rose (May 23, 2012)

trickae said:


> omg i wish i had your 3D modelling skills - what software do you use?



3d studio max, but I am a professionally trained animator. I worked for EA, Monolith Productions, Zombie game Studios, and Walt Disney in their respective studios. Now wood working... this is defiantly not my profession lol just a hobby.


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## aaron_rose (May 25, 2012)

I almost have the ebony bridge plate finished. Will have it done this weekend. Decided to go with a exact saddle per saddle profile with a 1/16th overhang, a parallelogram looked funky.


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## aaron_rose (May 26, 2012)

Got the ebony bridge almost done, got it roughed in and need to smooth out the edges and sand it etc.


----------



## Necromagnon (May 26, 2012)




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## trickae (May 26, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> 3d studio max, but I am a professionally trained animator. I worked for EA, Monolith Productions, Zombie game Studios, and Walt Disney in their respective studios. Now wood working... this is defiantly not my profession lol just a hobby.



Dude that is awesome. What games / movies are you working on now?

Also how long does it take to model a guitar like the one you had in the opening post? I couldn't get through all training vids for google sketchup and would kill to have skills like that for guitar modelling.


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## aaron_rose (May 26, 2012)

Thats about 2 hours modeling time, but once you get used to max or any other 3d app I highly recomend you learn all the hot keys, makes time be more on your side.

I worked on Altantis for walt disney and the character animation director, The need for speed 4 "high stakes" and NFS "motor city" as a 3d artist car modeler/track artist and a crapload of first person shooters as a modeler and motion capture assistant.

I since retired from the biz, watched the movie Office space and said to myself, TPS reports Ohh Emmm Geeee, peace!. Never looked back. In 5 years of games I worked on over 20 titles, so I paid my dues.

You ever need any assistance in 3d message me and ill try and help if I can dude.

Next thing I want to do is learn how to work in a CAD suite and or transfer my files to CAD which I am pretty sure is very problematic but I want to look into it reason being I need to figure out a way to make my geometry CNC friendly,


----------



## aaron_rose (May 31, 2012)

Got the wood filler / dye smeared all over the place. This is what I ended up with.

*






















































*


----------



## BlackMastodon (Jun 1, 2012)

Looking great man! That mahogany is beautiful.


----------



## Purelojik (Jun 1, 2012)

dude that looks outstanding. i love sapele. i stare at my guitar in the sunlight cause it just has such an amazing chatoyance. this is looking wonderful man.


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## aaron_rose (Jun 1, 2012)

Ya I am not happy with the maple, gunna have to dip it in black tar and hit it with a welding grinder, the mahog, hell yes!!! on a side note jim says hes sending my 8 string today!


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## aaron_rose (Jun 6, 2012)

Few things to report.

I ended up totally screwing the pooch with the finish got black all over the mahog and couldn't get it back off freaked out and sanded the entire thing back to 120 grit wood. This was a blessing in disguise because I then had the opportunity to chase out a few dings and scratches that were missed in my haste.

I since then have re pore filled, dyed and vinyl sealed the mahog and its good to go after a leveling pass with some 400. Before I do that I am going to take another stab at the maple "this finishing stuff is a experience thing for sure" dye it and seal it. Ill update the pics as soon as I get time to accomplish these tasks.

Other than that I have to shape the end fret wood that covers the maple burl on the headstock and deal with the nut get it plotted and filed and glued in. Then level, crown and dress the frets , there are things to be done but since I got as new job my project time has diminished greatly :/


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## BlackMastodon (Jun 6, 2012)

Nothing more annoying and frustrating then trying to dye your top and getting it on the body wood where you don't want it.  Especially when you tape up the S.O.B. Good to hear you fixed it up a bit though.


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## aaron_rose (Jun 7, 2012)

ya , it is better than it was to. But ya mastadon if you have done this before you know.. 

So now that i got the vinyl sealer on the sepele i can flood the maple and manually apply it on the sides with like a q tip or something.


----------



## Necromagnon (Jun 7, 2012)

I don't understand: you tried to stain the top after apllying wood filler?
I'd do the contrary, in that case.

Anyway, finishing is the most awefull part of the building process... Good luck!


----------



## aaron_rose (Jun 7, 2012)

no dude, you mix the dye into the filler mix it together then apply it wipe it off and its done so the dye is really just in the pores , which is what i wanted, but when hitting the top "maple" since i already treated the back side it was oily and wouldn't hold masking so i had accidents. no worries I got it handled this time tho.


----------



## Necromagnon (Jun 7, 2012)

Ah! ok.
Never tried to stain with wood filler, though. Don't you have pics of the work?


----------



## JStraitiff (Jun 10, 2012)

What type of dye and wood filler did you use?


----------



## aaron_rose (Jun 10, 2012)

Daly's paste wood filler and Daley's ebony wood dye, mix em together and rum em across the grain with a credit card, let it sit for 5 to 10 mins then wipe off with a cloth that doesn't leave residue. Then seal it with Bhelin or any other manufacture vinyl sealer.

I suggest waiting 1 to 2 days before you seal it.


----------



## ImN0tTelling (Jun 15, 2012)

Theoretically, could you instead seal it with Daly's Danish Tung Oil after using the filler/dye combo?


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## aaron_rose (Jun 15, 2012)

ImN0tTelling said:


> Theoretically, could you instead seal it with Daly's Danish Tung Oil after using the filler/dye combo?



Funny you say that, I have totally rethought the finish out and am now using a dyed top dyed headstock lam but am coating the entire thing in Tru Oil, linseed oil basically. Easy to do and is the only way I was going to avoid using diff products and getting really bad seams. Once I get a free second I can post some pics of this progress.


----------



## ImN0tTelling (Jun 15, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> Funny you say that, I have totally rethought the finish out and am now using a dyed top dyed headstock lam but am coating the entire thing in Tru Oil, linseed oil basically. Easy to do and is the only way I was going to avoid using diff products and getting really bad seams. Once I get a free second I can post some pics of this progress.



That sounds like a good idea, I'll consider using that to seal on my upcoming build. I'm really loving this build by the way, keep up the good work! Can't wait for the finished product!


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## aaron_rose (Jun 16, 2012)

I spoke to Jim at Strictly 7, I got my 8 from him and loved the finish on it so I followed suite =] It is fantastic tho man, u can gloss what u want and satin what you want all on the same product.


----------



## NUTSguitarchannel (Jun 16, 2012)

nice.. where is the NGD?!
Edit: already saw it


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## Necromagnon (Jun 17, 2012)

aaron_rose said:


> I spoke to Jim at Strictly 7, I got my 8 from him and loved the finish on it so I followed suite =] It is fantastic tho man, u can gloss what u want and satin what you want all on the same product.


Gloss and satin differs only at polishing, in fact. 
You polish up to 10000/12000 grain, with polish and everything, and you got a gloss finish. You just sand it to 1200 grit, and 000 steel wool, and you got your satin finish. For those, you obviously have to use a finish that is supposed to be glossy.

Matt finishes are harder to botain has you have to use matt vernish/finish, and because every little miss at preparing the surface will be seen... I'm quite scared of this because I've a matt finish to do on one of the guitars I'm building... :/


----------



## aaron_rose (Jun 17, 2012)

Necromagnon said:


> Gloss and satin differs only at polishing, in fact.
> You polish up to 10000/12000 grain, with polish and everything, and you got a gloss finish. You just sand it to 1200 grit, and 000 steel wool, and you got your satin finish. For those, you obviously have to use a finish that is supposed to be glossy.
> 
> Matt finishes are harder to botain has you have to use matt vernish/finish, and because every little miss at preparing the surface will be seen... I'm quite scared of this because I've a matt finish to do on one of the guitars I'm building... :/



Right on man.

Ya matt sounds like a headache..

I have my third coat on now plan on doing 14 or 15 instead of twice a day im averaging one a day... life.. pics soon!


----------



## aaron_rose (Jun 17, 2012)

This is after 4 coats applied of Tru Oil.

Still need to shape the fretwood that will go behind the nut and cover the top lam transition.


----------



## Serreen (Jun 18, 2012)

Looking good! That headstock is amazing.


----------



## NUTSguitarchannel (Jun 18, 2012)

dat neck!


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## Necromagnon (Jun 18, 2012)

hungry... HUNGRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!


----------



## aaron_rose (Jun 18, 2012)

lol dude thats the biggest ass pics my camera does :/


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## aaron_rose (Jul 1, 2012)

10 coats of tru oil on. fret wood finish out piece is finished and getting some oil, 4 or more rub coats then a final spray coat and that will be that for the finish aside from whats satin and what isn't. 

frets are next then electronics and final assembly.


----------



## TankJon666 (Jul 1, 2012)

Coming along very nicely! So close now


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## Purelojik (Aug 4, 2012)

jersus that headplate looks just phenomenal


----------



## Necromagnon (Aug 5, 2012)

What's that black stain on the headstock and so part on the side of the top?
Is it from wood?

Looks great!


----------



## aaron_rose (Sep 14, 2012)

Long overdue update, been trying to decide what kind of wood to use for the bridge riser, life has been hectic etc, but w/e you guys just wanna see a guitar so here is a video!


----------



## Jason Spell (Sep 16, 2012)

Purelojik said:


> jersus that headplate looks just phenomenal



My sentiments exactly.


----------



## aaron_rose (Sep 17, 2012)

Real bad news. Can not find the cut off finish out babinga piece for after the nut, cant find the nut, and cant find the saddles. might be pretty screwed. Still looking for them. Pretty sure the only option I have at this point is to pony up almost 300 dollars for the abm's. FML


----------



## JLP2005 (Jan 11, 2013)

aaron_rose said:


> Real bad news. Can not find the cut off finish out babinga piece for after the nut, cant find the nut, and cant find the saddles. might be pretty screwed. Still looking for them. Pretty sure the only option I have at this point is to pony up almost 300 dollars for the abm's. FML



Whoah, whoah, whoah, let's take a few steps back here, Aaron.

Where was the last place you could have placed them?


----------



## aaron_rose (Mar 30, 2013)

JLP2005 said:


> Whoah, whoah, whoah, let's take a few steps back here, Aaron.
> 
> Where was the last place you could have placed them?



I FOUND THEM!!!!!!!! I left them at a local shop on accident 6 months ago and have destroyed my house like 4 times looking for them , but now they are in my possession and the build is back on!!!


----------



## aaron_rose (Mar 30, 2013)




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## aaron_rose (Apr 5, 2013)

moar pics can be found here! ERG Dude - Luthier Newb | The very deep end of the pool&#8230;. and I will keep posting them to this site as well for for those of u that do the blog thing,,, thar ya go.


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## Suitable (Apr 5, 2013)

That is some sweet as luithery! Is this your first build or just first 7 string build? Very nice execution!watching closely for the finished product and sound demo!!!


----------



## aaron_rose (Apr 5, 2013)

Suitable said:


> That is some sweet as luithery! Is this your first build or just first 7 string build? Very nice execution!watching closely for the finished product and sound demo!!!



Ya it is the first one I have built. Finally at the finish line after taking a 6 month break due to missing hardware and just not having time for it. But within the next couple weeks it will be finished. Went down to the hardware store and picked up replacement mounting screws for the saddles the old ones were wasted from all the dry fitting.


----------



## Suitable (Apr 5, 2013)

That is awesome! Its a jaw dropping instrument! Let alone your first build!!!

When do you start the custom shop up?


----------



## aaron_rose (Apr 5, 2013)

Suitable said:


> That is awesome! Its a jaw dropping instrument! Let alone your first build!!!
> 
> When do you start the custom shop up?



I learned everything I know from this site. A few awesome techniques were taught to me from a friend here in town as well. No custom shop planned, to much money for the tools.


----------



## aaron_rose (Apr 7, 2013)

String ferrules are in on the back of the guitar. Tomorrow after work im going to finish the jack instillation, drill and set the two screws.


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## aaron_rose (Dec 14, 2014)

this build has been finished for a few years. I have since built 2 other guitars and am currently starting another one. I now have a company site up on facebook which can be found here 

https://www.facebook.com/gravelineguitars?ref=hl

I also have a wordpress site which is located here.

https://ergdude.wordpress.com/

cheers


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