# My first build - 27" scale 7 string - Walnut, Maple, Ziricote



## Levi79 (Mar 26, 2012)

As some of you know, I was planning on doing a Jaguar shaped 7 string, but I've now decided against that. I decided to just do a superstrat that is to my taste. I really like the tone of my Walnut/Maple Carvin 7 so that influenced the wood choices quite a bit. My specs are:
27" scale
24 frets
Bolt on
Stratish shaped body.
Ibanez meets Caparison headstock
Hipshot bridge
Black TUSQ nut
16" radius
3.8cm body thickness
Jumbo Frets
Tung Oil finish
Walnut body - Maple neck - Ziricote fretboard.

I may buy a laminate top for this build yet. I'm going to check a local store this week and if they don't have what I'm looking for I'll probably just stick with the plan and oil the Walnut.

The wood

























Bought some stuffs
















From Stewmac I got:
Fret Cutters
Fret Rocker
Dressing Stick
Deadblow Fretting Hammer
Fret End Dressing File
Medium/Wide Fret File
6" Fret Leveling File
Stewmac Fretwork book
Extra Jumbo Fretwire
GHS Fast Fret
16" Radius Block
Hex nut Hot Rod
Switchcraft Jack
Ebony knobs
Jack Plate
Truss Rod Cover
Side Dot Material
500k and 1 meg pot
2 Mini Switches for coil splitting

I actually got started on this today. My dads work has a tonne of tools and such so I went there with my dad tonight and did a few things. 
We cut the truss rod cavity out with the table saw and chisels.








There was a router available, but my dad said he didn't want to set it up. I told him it would be faster and cleaner, but we didn't bust it out until after an hour of sawing and chiseling. So we used the router and used the drill press for the adjustment cavity. 









After that we did the headstock angle





I had other pictures of that when we were finished it, but they seemed to have disappeared from my phone.
Glue time








There was the obligatory clamping pics, but they seemed to have disappeared as well. I put a piece of masking tape over the truss rod. That's another missing picture 

Back to it tomorrow!


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## Necromagnon (Mar 27, 2012)

I hate you!
I want so much to have a little workshop with some machinery! 

Do you have any pics of the plan?


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## JStraitiff (Mar 27, 2012)

Nice. cant wait to see more.


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## Faine (Mar 27, 2012)

I read the title and I was like GASP I had to click on it. I can't wait to see more updates man!!


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## TimSE (Mar 27, 2012)

That ziricote is lush!


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## Sebastian (Mar 27, 2012)

This will be pretty awesome! can't wait to see more pics


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## Levi79 (Mar 27, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words dudes. More work tonight!



Necromagnon said:


> I hate you!
> I want so much to have a little workshop with some machinery!
> 
> Do you have any pics of the plan?


 It's not my workshop. That'd be sick! I'm mostly just bandsawing out the neck and headstock tonight then drilling the tuner holes then doing the rest of the work on the neck at home.
I kind of wish I got 4 x 3 tuners, but no biggie. This is my planned headstock shape.




Y'all dig?


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## JStraitiff (Mar 27, 2012)

Reminds me of a bernie rico headstock. Im sure itll look cool, though we havent seen the body shape to tell you how it will go with it.


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## BDMCCR (Mar 27, 2012)

so sexy dude!! I´m so monitoring this build!!


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## Levi79 (Mar 28, 2012)

The body is going to be a superstrat. Lots of influence drawn from ......... and Blackmachine.

More progress!
























































Glued the body today too.
I made another oopsie today. Nothing huge, but I realzied after I cut the neck down to thickness that I won't be able to shape the neck as thin as I'd like due to the truss rod depth. Instead of shaving off all that maple I should have made the Zircote thinner. Not a huge deal really, I just won't be able to get Ibanez thin with it. Oh well. I'll know better for next time.

Next is the radiusing, then the fret slotting, side dots, fretting, then neck shaping. Then it's on to the body!


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## HighPotency (Mar 28, 2012)

I think Ibanez uses single-action truss rods like Gibson does. They're thinner, so the truss rod channel doesn't have to be as deep, which allows the neck to be thinner.

At least I believe that's how they do it.


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## Levi79 (Mar 28, 2012)

Huh. I was always under the impression Ibanezes were dual action...

So I have 2 sets of pickups I could put in here when it's done. I have some Bareknuckle Coldsweats, and I have some Q Tuner 7's. The Q tuners are stupidly sized, almost like an EMG, but apparently they don't fit in those routes even. So Id have to route special for them. Decisions decisions.


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## HighPotency (Mar 28, 2012)

Levi79 said:


> Huh. I was always under the impression Ibanezes were dual action...


I believe they can be adjusted back and forth, but single-action rods will only bend one way. That is to say, you can adjust it to flex out one way and then adjust it back the other way, but it will only go as far as being straight again.

Here's a good view of someone using a single-action truss rod on an Ibanez neck build.

Project Guitar :: The Single Action Truss Rod View


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## Levi79 (Mar 28, 2012)

Interesting. Maybe I'll look into those for the next build.


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## iRaiseTheDead (Mar 28, 2012)

Levi79 said:


> Thanks for the kind words dudes. More work tonight!
> 
> 
> It's not my workshop. That'd be sick! I'm mostly just bandsawing out the neck and headstock tonight then drilling the tuner holes then doing the rest of the work on the neck at home.
> ...



Looks like a Caparison Devil Horn Headstock. Me Gusta P: Can I get a template of that? <3


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## DropSplash (Mar 28, 2012)

That fretboard looks so sweet! Do you have a body design? Or is it just a straight up superstrat?


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## Levi79 (Mar 29, 2012)

iRaiseTheDead said:


> Looks like a Caparison Devil Horn Headstock. Me Gusta P: Can I get a template of that? <3


Sorry dude. I threw the cardboard piece out. I just traced out my RG7421s headstock and changed it to my tastes.

As for the body, I don't have anything drawn out, but it's going to be a sleek looking superstrat basically.


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## Necromagnon (Mar 29, 2012)

HighPotency said:


> I think Ibanez uses single-action truss rods like Gibson does. They're thinner, so the truss rod channel doesn't have to be as deep, which allows the neck to be thinner.
> 
> At least I believe that's how they do it.


I don't know exactly what ibanez uses, but I know you can find easily thin two way truss rod, that are much thinner that stewmac's.
In France, I buy two way truss rod at a french shop that are only 9 mm thick. With those, I've made the neck of my 5 strings bass for example at 19 mm at the first fret and 20 juste after the heel, and the neck didn't and won't move of a micron.

And for the single action truss rod, as its name tolds, it work in a single direction. If there's two way truss rod, it's because single action can't work in both ways. But the installation of single action truss rod really different from double action: you have pre-constrained the truss rod in a bending shape so that it could work even if the neck is flat or bow backward.


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## Levi79 (Apr 1, 2012)

Did some stuffs today. I did some neck shaping. With the files I have, I found my palm sander much more useful so that's what I've been using to shape the neck. Then it died on me. Should be fixed tomorrow though, so more neck shaping tomorrow 





















So after my sander died, I decided to move on to the radius. I went with 60 grit, 120, 220 and 320. Probably going to use some 0000 steel wool on it as well.









I also bought myself a Japanese fret saw from stewmac. Thought it'd be best if I got the correct kind.

More tomorrow!


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## Levi79 (Apr 16, 2012)

I didn't abandon this in case anyone was curious. I've made lots of progress on the neck shaping, but haven't had the time to move onto the body yet. And I'm waiting on a few things to do more work. 
I didn't bump just to say that, I'm looking at doing a 12th fret inlay, just cause I get lost if I don't have at least that. I'm thinking I might do my initials or something in a similar style to this.




Or maybe something like this using my first name 




This is one of the reasons I was looking at grabbing a Dremel 4000. From my research, they seem to be the best fit for the job when it comes to inlay work. 
Anyone have any experience here?


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## HighPotency (Apr 16, 2012)

If you're getting a dremel tool for inlay, you'd probably want to look into the flexible shaft attachment as well. 

225-01 Flex Shaft Attachment / Model: 225-01

You can use the hook on the dremel tool to hang it up out of the way and use the flex shaft so you don't have to try to handle a big dremel tool while doing such delicate work.


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## Levi79 (Apr 16, 2012)

Yeah for sure. I was thinking I would just get the biggest 4000 bundle which comes with it anyways.
4000-6/50 High Performance Rotary Tool Kit / Model: 4000-6/50


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## Necromagnon (Apr 16, 2012)

A lot of people uses dremel for inlay work. For me, it's just impossible to do something correct with that. I'm really afraid of those machine because if you just breath a little to hard, you can completely f*** up all the fretboard... :/

I use only small cisels (of 3 mm), sharpenned to death, and it works awesome. And, evenmore, you can do very very thin part that you won't be able to do with a dremel because of the size of the tool.


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## rick0link (Apr 16, 2012)

i too use a dremel with a stylus. there is no way i could use the thing without that extension.

awesome work so far though


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## Levi79 (Apr 16, 2012)

Using chisels sounds even more risky to me 
To each their own though. I'll probably be grabbing a dremel. Thanks for the info and kind words!


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## Levi79 (Apr 16, 2012)

Some pics from the past few days. 

New sander! It's not the nicest one out there, but it does the job and I got it for cheap on sale!





Little Stanley hand planer. I used it a bit on the neck shaping, but found myself using my surform mostly. The planer would just get stuck most of the time. Not too useful for hard woods.




Another Stewmac box?




Got myself a Japanese Fret saw with a depth stop and i got some more of those Ebony knobs for my next build. 





Also got my Hipshot the other day. Thanks to Elysian I was able to save myself a few bucks!


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## Levi79 (Apr 17, 2012)

Look at what I decided to get guys!




Should be here in a week or so along with some other wood. But that waits until this is done!


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## Ippon (Apr 18, 2012)

This page needs more pics!


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## Levi79 (Apr 18, 2012)

In time sir!


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## Levi79 (Apr 19, 2012)

Small update.

Took down the Ziricote a bit using the jointer. Alot of dust for such little wood taken off.





Did a little bit of practice fretting last night as well.









On the spare maple I was practicing fretting it was really easy to work with. Stiff enough, but easy to cut. 
Then I tried cutting the Ziricote. Not so good. Very very difficult to cut. I didn't have it clamped to a table or anything, so that might help a bit, but it was really hard to cut. Makes me kind of nervous to slot the actual board.


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## flo (Apr 19, 2012)

Maybe you should make a guide for your saw when you cut the slots so the blade can't move about 

Nice progress so far, and good wood choices!


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## JStraitiff (Apr 19, 2012)

Oh geez. I hope thats not a pic of your actual fretboard...


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## Levi79 (Apr 19, 2012)

flo said:


> Maybe you should make a guide for your saw when you cut the slots so the blade can't move about
> 
> Nice progress so far, and good wood choices!


Yeah, that's what I was planning to do. I just couldn't believe how hard this stuff was!



JStraitiff said:


> Oh geez. I hope thats not a pic of your actual fretboard...


Oh god no. I would cry. The wood wasn't held in place and I wasn't in a proper work area. That + the hardness of the Ziricote is what caused that in my test piece.


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## joaocunha (Apr 20, 2012)

+1 for the saw guide.

Clamping the neck on a table is a must do, also. You would ruin your fretboard otherwise.

Edit: congrats for the work so far! Ziricote looks killer


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## Necromagnon (Apr 20, 2012)

Ziricote a freaking hard and abrasive wood... We've resaw a complete lumber of ziricote with a friend and it took us 8 blades on the band saw just to cut blocks, not resaw it in the thickness...
And the blades were hand sharpened, and cutting very hard... Impressive wood. O_O

and +1 for the slot guide!


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## Levi79 (Apr 26, 2012)

Got myself a Dremel in the mail the other day. This thing is going to be so useful for inlays and other odd jobs.









What kind of slot guide do you guys recommend I use?


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## Necromagnon (Apr 27, 2012)

It depends on which tools you use to slot your fingerboard. You have a guide like stewmac's (that can be done by yourself for half-nothing) if you use a saw. Or you can make a simply table, with drawer slides, a little hole and your dremel with the thin saw mounted under. It works pretty fine (a friend uses it, and it works awesome on ziricote). The only thing is you will need an angled tool joint for the dremel, like this one:


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## Levi79 (Apr 27, 2012)

That's interesting. I was thinking I'm probably going to just use my Stewmac fret saw and use two perfectly straight edged chunks of wood. I'd clamp the two pieces of wood so there's just enough room for my saw to fit between and cut the slot straight and without moving.

This is another thing I'm going to do differently next time. Slotting the board would have been alot easier before I glued it to the neck. I'll probably put together some sort of miter box for that next time. Thanks for the tips dude!


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## Levi79 (Apr 28, 2012)

I managed to get the board slotted. It really wasn't all that bad. I just put a block to rest the neck on, clamped my radius block against the line to cut and cut it. There was a couple small messups that I'll have to fill, but nothing too serious.
Tested out my method




Chiseled out where the nut will go 




Started slotting




Done!






I think since I had a few struggles making the neck, I might grab some cheaper wood for the body than my $90 Walnut.


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## abadonae (Apr 28, 2012)

Looking nice man, like the headstock and daaaammmmnnn that fretboard!!

I'll be keeping an eye on this one


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## AscendingMatt (Apr 28, 2012)

that fingerboard is absolutely sweet!


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## Levi79 (Apr 29, 2012)

Thanks dudes!


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## Levi79 (May 1, 2012)

I had a couple of oopsies to fix.










Fretting


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## Sirppi (May 1, 2012)

That neck+fb is GORGEOUS!  Keep it up!


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## Stompmeister (May 1, 2012)

Aweosme work man. That fretboard looks phenominal. Have you taken a fret leveler to it yet?


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## Levi79 (May 1, 2012)

Not yet. That is tonights job.


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## sytraxiplague (May 1, 2012)

Wow that fretboard wood is lookin' gorgeous..


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## Levi79 (May 1, 2012)

Frets leveled.





I found this tool to be absolutely essential to fret dressing.





Frets crowned, bevelled and rounded.





I think I'm pretty much done the neck now.





All that's left to do on the neck is make the headstock match the body (this will come later), oil it, install the truss rod cover, the nut, the tuners and bolt it to the body.


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## Levi79 (May 2, 2012)

So I suck. And the nice people like Mr. Decible guitars, Mr. Elysian guitars and a couple other knowledgeable people over at MG.org were nice enough to tell em how much I suck




I'm going to have to reseat most of these frets.
Earliest reseating in all history? Possibly so.

Learning from mistakes seems to be every step for me


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## asilayamazing (May 2, 2012)

Levi79 said:


> So I suck. And the nice people like Mr. Decible guitars, Mr. Elysian guitars and a couple other knowledgeable people over at MG.org were nice enough to tell em how much I suck
> 
> 
> 
> ...


?


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## mwcarl (May 2, 2012)

Looks like he didn't cut the fret slots deep enough. Also the fret edges were sticking out. I sympathize, fretting is still one the skills I'm worst at. Better now, but still not perfect. My first three builds required some tweaking/redoing of the frets, so don't be discouraged.


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## Necromagnon (May 2, 2012)

Fretting is awefull part... A small tip, greatly used by a lot of manufacturers and luthiers: add a binding to the fingerboard. And if you want something near invisible, just cut the side of the board to the desired shape, slot the fingerboard, and then glue back what's left after sawing. It will be almost invisible, you can slot very deep and nothing will be noticeable.


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## mwcarl (May 2, 2012)

Adding a binding isn't really helpful in this regard. I like the look of binding, and not being able to see the fret tang from the side of the fretboard, but slotting deeper than necessary isn't the solution. By cutting the fret slots deeper, you're making the neck slightly more susceptible to bowing, which means you'll need more truss rod compensation to maintain good neck relief. Try to make the fret slots only just slightly deeper than necessary for the fretwire you're using. This is even more difficult with binding if you're applying the binding before radiusing the fretboard, since the regular fret saw won't work for deepening the slots once the fretboard is bound. There are special purpose fret saws for those cases.

At any rate, always check the depths of all fret slots across the entire width of the fretboard before fretting.


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## Exit Existence (May 2, 2012)

Some really nice progress!


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## Levi79 (May 2, 2012)

Yeah you guys are right. They told me my slots weren't deep enough. I thought it wasn't that bad and I was just going to leave it and possibly refret later, but everyone told me I should do it now and it would save me a big headache. So that's what I'm gonna do. 

It's funny you say that about binding though. I kept thinking the whole time I was fretting that it would look awesome with some binding. We'll see. I already installed the side dots and everything.


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## scherzo1928 (May 2, 2012)

asilayamazing said:


> ?


 
I think he means that the fret slots are not deep enough, and so there is a gap between the frets and the board. That or they are just not hammered all the way in.

Get a fret slot depth gauge, they are pretty cheap, and really work beautifully!

edit: didn't realize there was a new page full of comments about what I just said, so I just got 100x ninja'd


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## Wretched (May 2, 2012)

Perhaps aim to saw the slots deeper than you think you need to. I've seen that on a few builds and even factory jobs on here lately and deeper doesn't seem to be an issue, which as you've seen, too shallow is an issue. But I'm no expert, that's for sure.


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## Necromagnon (May 3, 2012)

mwcarl said:


> Adding a binding isn't really helpful in this regard. I like the look of binding, and not being able to see the fret tang from the side of the fretboard, but slotting deeper than necessary isn't the solution. By cutting the fret slots deeper, you're making the neck slightly more susceptible to bowing, which means you'll need more truss rod compensation to maintain good neck relief. Try to make the fret slots only just slightly deeper than necessary for the fretwire you're using. This is even more difficult with binding if you're applying the binding before radiusing the fretboard, since the regular fret saw won't work for deepening the slots once the fretboard is bound. There are special purpose fret saws for those cases.


?
I don't get it. When frets are placed, what will the depth of fret slot change? Really? Fret will take appart all the weakness brought by fret slots. That's why a lot of people unbow Martin's neck (that has no truss rod) with larger frets. You can have a deeper fret slot, it won't change anything. And for exemple, my 8 string and 5 str bass have fret slots slightly deeper than necessary, and I can assure you that neck won't move. And i've made flat bottom for fret slots, not rounded to follow radius, and it works fine.
But, obviously, you won't make fret slots deep enough to cut completely the fretboard.



mwcarl said:


> At any rate, always check the depths of all fret slots across the entire width of the fretboard before fretting.


Totally agree. And further this idea, alawys check what you're gonna do when you're planning a important part, like gluing, cutting, etc. Always check if it fits, how you're gonna clamp it, the step to follow, etc. I know what I'm talking about, I shit a lot of wood without doing it...


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## mwcarl (May 3, 2012)

Necromagnon said:


> ?
> I don't get it. When frets are placed, what will the depth of fret slot change? Really? Fret will take appart all the weakness brought by fret slots. That's why a lot of people unbow Martin's neck (that has no truss rod) with larger frets. You can have a deeper fret slot, it won't change anything. And for exemple, my 8 string and 5 str bass have fret slots slightly deeper than necessary, and I can assure you that neck won't move. And i've made flat bottom for fret slots, not rounded to follow radius, and it works fine.
> But, obviously, you won't make fret slots deep enough to cut completely the fretboard.



I don't consider this completely true. Of course you can change the relief of the neck with frets of different tang width, but wood still compresses to some degree, so deeper than necessary fret slots still result in a *slight* change in neck relief. The difference might not be huge, but since there's no practical reason to saw the slots deeper than the fretwire requires, it makes sense to keep it as close as possible. Sawing the slots with the radius of the fretboard is difficult though so I think that most would just saw them straight. I'm going to try with my builds this year to cut the slots with the radius and as close as possible to the fretwire tang depth.


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## Necromagnon (May 4, 2012)

Yes, of course you'd better try to get as close as fret tang impose, but what I say is that there's no influence on it (or not noticeable) if you just saw a little deeper. If we consider that on a side, there's a fret that is about 10 to 20 times stiffer than the wood, and on the other side of the fret board, there's the neck, that is also 10 to 20 times stiffer than fretboard, I don't think there'll be an influence at all.
I may be completely wrong, but in terms of mechanics, I just can't imagine an influence of 1 or 2 mm deeper slots (because slots deeper than 2 mm to fret tang would could the fretboard out).


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## Stompmeister (May 5, 2012)

asilayamazing said:


> ?



2nd-nd.

Why you gotta reseat em?

EDIT: Nevermind, actually read the thread


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## Pikka Bird (May 5, 2012)

scherzo1928 said:


> Get a fret slot depth gauge, they are pretty cheap, and really work beautifully!



Business cards and pencils are cheaper...


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## Tesla_1989 (May 8, 2012)

Excellent choice on the ziricote! My baritone-7 and my Warr TGSS both have ziricote fingerboards and all I can say is that it's definitely one of my favorite woods. Very beautiful indeed.

Also, looks like a very exciting build! Do you have an idea of which pickups you'll be using? (you may have already mentioned it and I'm simply too obtuse to have noticed )


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## Levi79 (May 8, 2012)

Either my Q Tuner 7's or Black Battleworn Aftermath 7s.


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## Tesla_1989 (May 8, 2012)

Hmmmm, interesting choices there. I'm curious to see how this turns out.


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## Levi79 (May 30, 2012)

This build was not abandoned!
It's been about a month since I've progressed on this build and I was very excited to get started back up today. I simply haven't had a place to work, but now I have a nice place to work in my garage!
I decided to use this Mahogany piece I picked up over the Walnut. These are the only good quality picture you guys get. Sorry. The rest are shit iPhone pics. There's some other stuff in this picture you will be seeing more of later  I made my 5 hour trip to the lumber yard worth my while. My favorite Ibby is sitting atop the mahogany just for reference. 










I am refretting the whole guitar, so I took out the frets. Then I used some CA glue to fix any chips and such. It's now re-radiused, resanded and looking pretty again. This time I'm going to make sure the slots are deep enough!





I have these to choose from for the pickups. Q Tuner 7's and Aftermath 7's. I'm kind of torn. I know the Aftermaths will sound awesome (have had them more than once) and the covers looks awesome, but I really want to try these Q Tuners I snagged. The Q Tuners require ridiculous routes, so that's the only thing holding me back.





Decided I want to do a tele! I've already had a few people tell me they don't like the horn, but whatever. I want a tele with more edge and I really like how this shape looks. So I'm going with it!





Today when I was drawing out a body shape, my brother came home with the mail and said I had a package to pick up. Stewmac orders>Christmas.
I got:
-Precision Router Base with binding edge guide and bit as well as a vacum thingy
-Fret Press Caul with a bunch of different radiuses
-Binding. Black, White and Cream plastic. As well as some fancy curly maple binding and cocobolo binding.
-1lb of fretwire
-Sheilding Paint
-Binding tape
-Bone Nut blanks
-A few Truss Rods
-A couple carbon fiber rods
-Needle Files
-1/32" router inlay bit
-Side dot material. White and Black.
-Inlay (jewlers) Saw with blades
-Fret slot depth gauge (thought it'd be a good idea this time haha. They're cheap anyways)
-Rock n' Roller neck rest (don't know why I got this really. Pretty overpriced for what it is and anyone who can make a guitar can surely make this for cheap.)
-Neck Support Caul (this one was cheap






It's got all the wrapping paper like Christmas even!





Started off some work today by bookmatching the curly maple you saw up above. Not using it on this guitar, but I was at my dads shop so I could thickness the mahogany anyways, so I did this. Table sawed the sides and put the middle through the big bandsaw he has there. Super rough looking at first, but it came out nice after putting it through the thicknesser a couple times. Looks so different just cause of the lighting haha. This is it just dry, so it'll look awesome oiled an/or stained!









Alright, now lets cut this body out!





These pics are truly awful. Now that I am working on it home I'll take some better ones.





My little work space I set up at home. I want to make some sort of workbench soon that's more practical than this table. In this past month I've bought alot of tools. Found some great deals on Kijiji. I got a Craftsman Router with 13 bits, a Craftsman 13" Scroll Saw, A Ryobi 9" Bandsaw, four different sanders (this tabletop one, another smaller tabletop one, a handehld belt sander and a little black and decker mouse), an old dremel tool (Even though i already have a new 4000 haha), a buch of chisels, files, clamps and random other woodworking tools all for $350! Then I got a like new Craftsman jointer and this Drill Press for $50 each. I love Kijiji. These aren't all excellent tools, but it's enough to get me off to good start. 













That's it for now.


I need your guys' opinions on a few things. 
Black or Cream binding around the body?
Q Tuner's or Aftermaths?


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## Necromagnon (May 30, 2012)

Dude... This mahogany... 

But one thing I've to say: I hate tele...

Anyway, nice collection of woods. You're almost as sick as me.


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## scherzo1928 (May 30, 2012)

That's a lot of tools... Nice.


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## JamesM (May 30, 2012)

Tools.


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## Levi79 (May 30, 2012)

Necromagnon said:


> Dude... This mahogany...
> 
> But one thing I've to say: I hate tele...
> 
> Anyway, nice collection of woods. You're almost as sick as me.


It's a nice piece eh? Grabbed that piece that is more than enough for two bodies for $80! I had no intentions to get mahogany, but it was so nice I couldn't resist.

I've got more wood pics if you want to see them.

All these tools and more for $450 too! 


What do you guys think of the body shape? I've had alot of people tell me they hate it because of the horn, but nobody has said they like it :/


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## JaeSwift (May 30, 2012)

Honestly, I really like it. It adds edge to it and the light enlargement & offset on the rounder side compliments the look nicely. Not so sure about the headstock + body combination though, as the headstock is a bit more dramatic and ''weird'' than the bodies lower horn.


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## Levi79 (May 30, 2012)

I know what you mean. I'm hoping the little scoop on the horn of the guitar will blend it together nicely.

Anyone have opinions on the binding colour I should use and the pickups i should use?


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## BobbyBaja (May 30, 2012)

I personally feel that the left side of the body is too high compared to the horn on the right. Besides that, I love the wood choices you made, and I think it's gonna look great!


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## Necromagnon (May 31, 2012)

Levi79 said:


> I had no intentions to get mahogany, but it was so nice I couldn't resist.


At that priece, it'd be a crime to resist...




Levi79 said:


> All these tools and more for $450 too!




In france, it's almost 1000 bucks (in USD)... 



Levi79 said:


> What do you guys think of the body shape? I've had alot of people tell me they hate it because of the horn, but nobody has said they like it :/


I already said I don't like Fender's shape.

About binding color, I don't know. It depends on if you stain the mahogany, just left it natural as much as possible, stained it just with varnish, and also depends on hardware color.
For exemple, on lightly sbrown stained mahogany, with gold hardware, I love maple binding.
With lighter mahogany, and black hardware, I'd go for something like ebony, or rosewood, or maybe snakewood or another wood I don't have the name in english (called "amourette" in French, if a french speaking have the translation).


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## Levi79 (May 31, 2012)

It's gonna be black hardware and I'm gonna be using plastic binding on the body for this one. And I'm doing it completely natural. I think if it ends up darkish I'll use cream and if it ends up lighter I'll use black.


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## Necromagnon (Jun 1, 2012)

If you have small pieces of your body left, try some finish you'd like to use, to see how it stained mahogany. It could help you choose which binding to use.


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## Levi79 (Jun 11, 2012)

You know how I said I was going to be taking pictures with something that's not my iPhone? Well I lied. Way too convenient.

Anyways, I'm almost at the home stretch here. All that's left is pickup and electronics routing and that's basically it. Then there's finishing and hardware installation, but those are both super easy.

Seeing how she looks with some hardware.





Routing front chamfering.





Smoothing out the transition area.





I like how this looks right from the router. Leaving it on this end.





Chamfered the whole backside.





Routed for binding





Neck drilled and bolted on. 





Binding installed.





Bridge all drilled and test fitted.






Fretting and fret dressing was also done. Forgot to get pictures though. Turned out way better the second time around. Pressing cauls>hammering. So much faster and easier!
Next update should be completion!


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## SanekN (Jun 11, 2012)

Really nice dude! Coming out clean and smooth! but too much blur on photos... =D


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## scherzo1928 (Jun 11, 2012)

Looking mighty fine. I'm starting to like that little horn thing.


Couple of things though. Did you continue the binding all the way onto the chamfered edge? If so, why not instal the binding first, and chamfer later? Or is the top chamfered to a point, then there is a small part without chamfering or binding, and then the binding starts? Can't see that on pics.

And, this.


Levi79 said:


>


 
In the future, avoid drilling holes on a straight line right along the grain like that, particularly so close together. I'm sure it won't be a problem, but I guarantee that if you ever drop it, or it gets banged up badly while shipping/moving, that's where it would break.

Again, looking awesome!


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## Levi79 (Jun 11, 2012)

SanekN said:


> Really nice dude! Coming out clean and smooth! but too much blur on photos... =D


Thanks dude. Maybe I should stop putting that in 



scherzo1928 said:


> Looking mighty fine. I'm starting to like that little horn thing.
> 
> 
> Couple of things though. Did you continue the binding all the way onto the chamfered edge? If so, why not instal the binding first, and chamfer later? Or is the top chamfered to a point, then there is a small part without chamfering or binding, and then the binding starts? Can't see that on pics.
> ...


I made the chamfering about 1/4 thickness of the body. The body is 36mm thick. So there's a middle section without chamfering or binding. And thanks for the tip dude, I'll be sure to change that on my next build.
The neck holes will be recessed by the way.


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## NUTSguitarchannel (Jun 11, 2012)

kinda liking the horn now


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## Necromagnon (Jun 14, 2012)

Looks great, even for a tele like shape... 

About the screws, it will stay like this? I mean, you'd use some ferules for screws heads, or try to make a chamfer to lodged screws head. Also, it seems that the upper screw is very close to the edge of the neck pocket, no?


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## BDMCCR (Jun 14, 2012)

DUDE!! So nice! Really clean stuff, keep it goin´!


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## Levi79 (Jun 15, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words guys. I was kind of unsure of the horn as well, but I'm really digging it now. The body is coming out basically just how I hoped. A more modern and edgy tele shape. 

I know I told you that the next update would be completion, but I lied to you once again.  I tried making a decent pickup routing template but failed pretty bad. It's not as easy as you'd think. I'm trying to get a hold of some templates from someone, but I think I might still have to figure it out on my own. I tried making it with 1/4" ply wood and it was an awful failure. My next step if I can't find any templates is to find some thin acrylic.
I did recess the bolts. Kind of not perfect because my drill press and my bits are really not the best. But they get the job done.






Bindings all sanded and scraped. That may or not be a new treat for me in the background.  RG2550e!









I made these little truss rod covers out of scrap on my sander. Literally took me a minute and a half each  I probably won't be using these though. I'll at least draw out a shape for the one I use.









I did this too. This is just after glue, so the ziricote isn't to the shape of the headstock yet. Not sure how I feel about it honestly. I wish I just veneered the whole thing in Ziricote like I was going to, but now I don't have any veneer left. :/


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## NUTSguitarchannel (Jun 15, 2012)

thats some nice progress i will have to wait for my salary before i can continue my build


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## Levi79 (Jun 15, 2012)

NUTSguitarchannel said:


> thats some nice progress i will have to wait for my salary before i can continue my build


Link me! Building is definitely a costly venture though. I wish I kept better track of all the stuff I've bought for building. I'm at least $2k deep in it already  When it comes to the parts I've bought for this build and others I have planned, power tools, guitar specific tools, wood, etc. etc. it get's up there.


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## nshaw12 (Jun 15, 2012)

I love that headstock! I've been working on some split designs of my own for a while now.


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## Necromagnon (Jun 15, 2012)

Nice idea for the headstock!
But what I'd done is reduce the thickness of the headstock, glue a ziricote veneer and on this a maple veneer (or your neck wood, in fact). Then, with a slight chamfer on the headstock, you bring up the ziricote veneer on the same shape you've done here.
It makes no step up on the headstock.

For the truss cover, aren't they to high? Don't the strings touch it?

Last, you're building a huge 7 string and you bought an RG? In 6 string?! What the hell?!


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## Levi79 (Jun 15, 2012)

Necromagnon said:


> Nice idea for the headstock!
> But what I'd done is reduce the thickness of the headstock, glue a ziricote veneer and on this a maple veneer (or your neck wood, in fact). Then, with a slight chamfer on the headstock, you bring up the ziricote veneer on the same shape you've done here.
> It makes no step up on the headstock.
> 
> ...


Yeah i guess doing somehting like that would have made a little more sense. Whateves. I don't think it would have made much difference. And yeah the truss rod covers a bit thick, but a minute on my sander and they'll be good.
I couldn't resist man. Got it for such a sick price! It sounds, looks and feels great too!


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## Levi79 (Jun 22, 2012)

Almost at the home stretch!

Pickup template made





All routed





Oiled up.





Out in the sun





Test fit. A couple tweaks and build 1 is done! Sounds totally awesome acoustically. I'm actually really satisfied with it. Stoked to throw some electronics in there. Unfortunately I didn't quite route the pickups deep enough. I could get away with putting them in, but I'd like to have more adjustability.


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## Necromagnon (Jun 22, 2012)

You couldn't make a second turn of router?
Or at least, just drill holes where needed (under adjusting screws, mostly).

Other thing, no pots? (  )

Glad to see it almost finished!


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## supercolio (Jun 22, 2012)

Oh man oh boy! 
That is so super awesome!! 
I really like the body shape. Awesome work. This thread gave me so much information about building guitars, can't thank you enough :3 Even though I've read all sorts of how-to guides, this showed me what and whatnot do in practice 
Can't wait to see it finished! AND HEAR! A nice demo would be super cool!


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## TankJon666 (Jun 22, 2012)

If it were mine I'd reverse the headstock but its not mine 

Love the body shape though. I really like that you left some of the sides of the guitar uncontoured and binded up to the edge. Certainly given me some ideas for my second build.
All in all! Friggin' awesome!


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## Levi79 (Jun 22, 2012)

Necromagnon said:


> You couldn't make a second turn of router?
> Or at least, just drill holes where needed (under adjusting screws, mostly).
> 
> Other thing, no pots? (  )
> ...


I should have. another pass or two and I would have been golden. I based alot of the depths and such on this build off of my RG7421 and their pickup routes are really shallow so I didn't think I'd need to make them much deeper. Stupid mistake. Whateves. Routing the pickups deeper, installing electronics and doing all the other final touches this weekend. I would say today, but my Axe II comes today so.... 



supercolio said:


> Oh man oh boy!
> That is so super awesome!!
> I really like the body shape. Awesome work. This thread gave me so much information about building guitars, can't thank you enough :3 Even though I've read all sorts of how-to guides, this showed me what and whatnot do in practice
> Can't wait to see it finished! AND HEAR! A nice demo would be super cool!



Thanks for the kind words man! It really means alot, especially since this is my first try. I'll be sure to get some clips up and maybe even a video when it's done. If you're learning about building guitars it's well worth getting a membership at project guitar forums. So many knowledgeable dudes there. Some absolutely awesome work too. That's the big boy forums for building 



TankJon666 said:


> If it were mine I'd reverse the headstock but its not mine
> 
> Love the body shape though. I really like that you left some of the sides of the guitar uncontoured and binded up to the edge. Certainly given me some ideas for my second build.
> All in all! Friggin' awesome!


I've never been one for reversed headstocks personally. I've always just liked normal ones  Thanks though man. That chamfering meeting the binding is straight stolen from Blackmachine and Huf, not going to lie. I always thought it was an awesome look.


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## sibanez29 (Jun 23, 2012)

Looking fantastic. Excellent mix of modernity and simplicity with the shape.


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## Levi79 (Jun 28, 2012)

All done!
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/sevenstring-guitars/202786-ngd-first-build.html#post3075133


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