# Taylor's Consolidated Projects Thread



## Taylor (Apr 12, 2019)

Figured I wouldn't clutter up the forum with all of my stuff.

Been messing around in Inkscape, either transferring my existing designs or creating new ones.

Transferred my third build shape into the program.




I wanted to create an X shaped guitar, but this one came out VERY Warrior-ish. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing.





I have an eight string 27 fret multiscale in the works. Mahogany body, bocote neck, and pau ferro fretboard.





The V is a replacement body for my first guitar, and the tele-style is just because I had a bunch of basswood laying around.







Of course I'll be working on my third build for the most part. I think I'll leave the thread I made for it buried though.







I also have a Macassar Ebony neck blank that I need to make something with.


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## Defyantly (Apr 12, 2019)

Taylor said:


> Figured I wouldn't clutter up the forum with all of my stuff.
> 
> Been messing around in Inkscape, either transferring my existing designs or creating new ones.
> 
> ...


You could make a friend with that fretboard and send it to me! But seriously great builds!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Apr 12, 2019)

I like that x shape a lot.


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## Taylor (Apr 15, 2019)

Took some photos earlier. Here's the Macassar ebony blank that I already have scarf jointed. My headstock doesn't quite fit, so I'll have to glue an off-cut to the side.






I had put Tru oil on the back of my third build, and while I like the feel of the finish on the neck I don't like the yellowing on the body. So I'm going to strip it off and finish the back with epoxy.


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## KR250 (Apr 16, 2019)

LOOOOOOOVE Macassar ebony! Great neck blank, the grain makes it easy to glue on extra bits. I found just finishing it in a coat or two of tru oil and wax was the best feeling neck ever for me. Regarding the epoxy, a lot of them yellow quite a bit as well so make sure to check whatever you are using. I'm switching over to Solarez that is suppose to be clear and not yellow for my grain fill/base coat.


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## Taylor (Apr 16, 2019)

I have some Famowood Glaze Coat that I'm going to use. It hasn't really yellowed on any of the stuff I've used it on before, so it should work fairly well.


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## Taylor (Apr 25, 2019)

The Glaze Coat is definitely a lot less yellow. Much better!




Broke a Forstner bit yesterday  Cracked the shaft right through. 





Starting another super strat type build. 7 strings, 26.5" scale. Mahogany body with flame maple and wenge neck and a pau ferro ferretboard.






I want to work on my inlay skills some more on this one. I have a few ideas rolling around too.





Have a jig that I'm going to make up here for this build too. I want to radius the top with a router. The jig will require tight tolerances to avoid the router wobbling and fouling up the radius. Here's what I have drawn up. Feel free to add suggestions!


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## Taylor (Sep 21, 2019)

Haven't been able to do much of anything lately, as I've been working very far away from home for the past few months. I did stop by Bell Forest Products yesterday though, and picked up a few choice pieces that I will make some ferrets out of.





Got a choice piece of Cocobolo, and a nice piece of Gaboon Ebony with some nice streaks in it. Also a piece of Ziricote with some sapwood.

Haven't been able to do any woodworking, but been doing some design work. Going to be building a single it for/with my girlfriend, so I drew up my own shape. Also photoshopped what I'd want to do with the X shape; flamed maple top with a dark blue to purple burst.


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## Defyantly (Sep 21, 2019)

Lucky! You live close to BFP, i have to drive an hour to get to a woodcraft where there selection is hit or miss and they don't follow the same sales that are on their website....It always takes me 1 to 2 hours of digging to find a decent piece that's straight or has enough figure, but i digress... Nice finds! Love the coco board!


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## Taylor (Sep 21, 2019)

I'm only living close because of work, be normally I'm an hour from a Woodcraft too


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## Taylor (Oct 2, 2019)

Got back home now that field work is done for the season. Getting some templates cut out. Feels good to put some hours in the workshop again!


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## KR250 (Oct 2, 2019)

Solid! I finally put some time back into templates I kept meaning to do, and has made current building so much more enjoyable. Very cool.


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## Defyantly (Oct 3, 2019)

I like the single cut! Is it an original design or did you base it off something?


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## Taylor (Oct 3, 2019)

Defyantly said:


> I like the single cut! Is it an original design or did you base it off something?



Thanks! I drew it up for my girlfriend. Just my take on a single-cut! Think we're going to do a semi-hollow design with an f-hole.


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## Taylor (Oct 7, 2019)

Got a little bit of work done on the gf's build. Going with a flame maple and wenge laminate neck and a bocote fretboard. Got the maple and wenge ripped, now to clean them up enough to get a good joint.
Specs on hers at the moment:
25.5" 6 String 22 frets
Hipshot trem and tuners
Maple & wenge neck
Flame maple top
Either black limba or Mahogany body (semi hollow with f hole)




Think I'm going to use the piece of streaked ebony for the X build. The specs I have so far for it is: 
26.5" 7 String 
Swamp Ash Body
Gaboon Ebony Fb
Flame Maple top (blue to purple burst)
Floyd Rose and Hipshot tuners


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## Defyantly (Oct 7, 2019)

That's a tasty looking fretboard!


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## Taylor (Oct 13, 2019)

Got some work done on the gf's build. Milled up some African Mahogany and got it glued up and cut to shape.




Find the seam between pieces, I dare you.




Looking good so far, gotta figure out how I'm going to chamber it next. That's all I've gotten done so far, hopefully next update will have more.


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## Taylor (Oct 21, 2019)

Got most of the stuff figured out for the single-cut build. Started hogging out the excess for the chambering.





Got some curly maple for the top. Not super figured but it'll do.




Fretboards for days! I resawed that piece of Ziricote, you can see the two pieces on the left.


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## Pikka Bird (Oct 22, 2019)

_The Sixth House is risen and lord Dagoth is its glory!_

Also, nice work of course.


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## Taylor (Oct 22, 2019)

Come to me through fire and war. I welcome you.


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## Taylor (Oct 29, 2019)

Got the chamber routed but goofed on the bridge pickup cavity and had to glue a piece of mahogany back on for the pickup tab to screw into.



Got the maple top bookmatched and glued on




Instead of my usual 45° chamfer the gf wanted a more "classic" round-over on the backside




A pic looking down the fretboard of the #3. Sanded to 2000 grit, and it reflects like a mirror


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## Taylor (Nov 5, 2019)

Some caveman fret slotting action



Still waiting on inlay ideas from the "client"


You can see the chamber from the bridge pickup route, which is neat I think, but it obviously still needs some cleaning up.


Decided to change up my original plans for the X shape guitar (I need to come up with a cool model name for it), instead of swamp ash and a flame maple top I'm doing a mahogany body with a flame maple syrup down the center with some ebony veneers for that extra bit of fancy.


Fancy!





One of the inspirations for this change, besides not being able to find any decently priced and dimensioned swamp ash, is Oli Herbert's LACS Xiphos (RIP). I've always drooled over his Xiphos so I thought I'd do my X shape in a similar vein.


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## Defyantly (Nov 6, 2019)

Thats a beautiful fretboard.


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## Taylor (Nov 7, 2019)

Don't like to spam with small updates but need some opinions. I originally drew the design up with my kind of "go-to" headstock (top), but drew up the bottom one too. Which one do you guys think works better?





The body blank when all glued up didn't have enough material for the back upper horn, so I used it as an opportunity to drill access to the output jack cavity. I drilled the wiring hole for the jack using a 16" long bit. Then glued up a piece of mahogany over the hole for the horn.






Got the neck blank glued up for this build. Wenge with flamed maple fillets.


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## KnightBrolaire (Nov 7, 2019)

Taylor said:


> Don't like to spam with small updates but need some opinions. I originally drew the design up with my kind of "go-to" headstock (top), but drew up the bottom one too. Which one do you guys think works better?
> 
> 
> View attachment 74393
> ...


bottom headstock works better for that particular body.


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## BigViolin (Nov 8, 2019)

Yup, bottom one.


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## Taylor (Nov 8, 2019)

Just going to dump a few more pics for you guys.


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## BigViolin (Nov 9, 2019)

Really looking forward to seeing these when they are done.


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## Taylor (Nov 25, 2019)

Got some contouring done on the X. Honestly one of my favorite parts of the process.


￼



With the pretty also came the ugly, as I was reminded to always check my router guides for any wobble or movement before making any routes . The cavity plate will cover it up, but I shouldn't have made the mistake in the first place.


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## Taylor (Jan 29, 2020)

Got the X build's body finished pretty much how I want it with the Danish Oil.



￼




Also drew up/modified my super strat shape, incorporating the "swoop" from my gf's singlecut build.


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## Taylor (Mar 20, 2020)

Home isolation has fueled productivity! Got some work done on the neck of the X build.





Needs tuner holes and truss rod access bored out.




Can pick up the body by the neck without anything but friction holding it on! 




Had some chip out at the end of the neck, easy little fix though.


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## KR250 (Mar 20, 2020)

Looking killer!


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## GraemeH (Mar 20, 2020)

*edit* wrong thread 

But since I'm here - does the Danish oil always come up a little glossy or is there a technique to keep it more matte like tung oil? The protection of the varnishes is attractive but I like the dull natural finish...


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## Taylor (Mar 20, 2020)

I did quite a few light coats, probably around 30 or so, and it gradually built up to a little gloss when dried. I liked the duller natural look too, but it definitely doesn't have any protection from little bumps and dents very easily.


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## Taylor (Mar 21, 2020)

Got this beautiful streaky piece of ebony that I'm going to use for the X ferretboard. 






Got a little bit of checking on the side that I'd prefer to use. Hopefully it isn't too deep. Thankfully the piece is quite thick and I have quite a bit of material to remove, so hopefully the checking goes away during thicknessing. If not I'll probably epoxy it instead of working around it as the checking is in the best part of the grain (of course).


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## Taylor (Mar 21, 2020)

Also just wanted to show off this gorgeous piece of Cocobolo


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## Taylor (Mar 22, 2020)

Well, I thicknessed the piece of ebony. Sadly the checking was not removed, and in fact more was revealed. The good news is that they are all very small and should be stabilized easily with epoxy.



They should be nearly invisible once everything is sanded up to 2000 grit.


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## Taylor (Mar 23, 2020)

Been busy. Got some threaded inserts installed on the BC Rich neck. The body still needs some work, but it looks like I'm about to have plenty of free time.







Broke a clamp today. Cheap old Harbor Freight squeeze clamp. Lasted me five years so I guess I can't complain too much.




Some more work on the X. Got the ferretboard on.


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## BlackMastodon (Mar 26, 2020)

Great work, but I gotta laugh at the fact that the BC Rich headstock is nearly half the size of the V body.

I'd say about 1/4 of my squeeze clamps have all gone to shit too, the plastic panel on the side of the handle pops out and you can only squeeze so much pressure out of them before the spring pushes the plastic aside and does nothing for the actual clamping. I'm slowly upgrading my clamps to pipe clamps though and absolutely love them.


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## Taylor (Mar 26, 2020)

The BC Rich headstock is THICC haha. Doesn't help that the body is a little bit smaller than say a Jackson V. And I'm slowly phasing out all of the squeeze clamps. When they die I buy parallel jaw clamps.


I started shaping the neck, and I have to say I am in love with the Shinto saw rasp.


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## Taylor (Mar 27, 2020)

Got some templates made up today for the new body shape I drew up. Also tried drawing a new headstock.





The neck is carved and getting oiled right now.


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## Taylor (Mar 29, 2020)

Basically got everything done on this build that I can for now, until I can get some hardware.












Here's a nice comparison to my Xiphos. Don't judge the wallpaper, I don't have my own place at the moment


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## Taylor (Apr 3, 2020)

Doing a bit of work on the build for my gf. The neck is going to need a "bolster" at the heel, so that it sits a bit higher in the neck pocket. This was necessary due to the thickness of the starting materials. 






She had trouble deciding what color she wanted the top dyed and couldn't make up her mind, so we're going to keep it natural and just do a coat of high gloss epoxy.


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## KR250 (Apr 3, 2020)

Nice work, what kind of epoxy for the top?


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## Taylor (Apr 4, 2020)

KR250 said:


> Nice work, what kind of epoxy for the top?



Famowood Glaze Coat. I've had some good results with it on other projects.


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## BlackMastodon (Apr 4, 2020)

Looking great, don't remember if you mentioned in an earlier post but are you gonna use a Wilkinson trem in it?


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## Taylor (Apr 4, 2020)

Hipshot term!


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## Taylor (Apr 22, 2020)

Got some hardware in the mail. The Floyd is installed as well as the hipshot locking tuners.





Also the pickups came in the mail today! 





Little Easter Egg on the packaging.


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## KR250 (Apr 22, 2020)

Turning out amazing! I've been wanting to try a set of the Black Winters.


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## Taylor (Apr 23, 2020)

KR250 said:


> Turning out amazing! I've been wanting to try a set of the Black Winters.



Thanks! This will be the first time I've used them. Been wanting to try them for a long while now.


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## Taylor (Apr 25, 2020)

She still needs a proper setup, cavity plates, and a volume knob, but she plays! Pay no attention to the Line 6 PoS model. It was just on hand so I could make sure my electronics soldering was done properly.





I finally came up with a name for this model/shape. In honor of the inspiration for this build, I present to you the Chiron! Named after the song by All That Remains (Rest in peace Oli).


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## Empryrean (Apr 26, 2020)

absolutely beastly work dude! Love curves you gave the xiphos shape


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## Taylor (Apr 30, 2020)

Been messing around in Inkscape drawing up different body shapes. Here's a lineup of everything I've drawn up. Some are more works in progress than others. Also need to think of more names for the different shapes. I'm pretty happy with the first five of the lineup but the last three need some tweaking. I borrowed and shared lot of lines and curves between models, and I don't know if I like it because it is kind of thematic, or if I dislike it because it makes them look too similar. Constructive criticism welcome!


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## KR250 (May 1, 2020)

1, 2, and 7 are standing out to me personally. I think I'd dig #8 more with a bit sharper head stock.


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## Solodini (May 1, 2020)

Taylor said:


> Been messing around in Inkscape drawing up different body shapes. Here's a lineup of everything I've drawn up. Some are more works in progress than others. Also need to think of more names for the different shapes. I'm pretty happy with the first five of the lineup but the last three need some tweaking. I borrowed and shared lot of lines and curves between models, and I don't know if I like it because it is kind of thematic, or if I dislike it because it makes them look too similar. Constructive criticism welcome!
> View attachment 80150




I really like the last two, but I think I'd prefer them with the 2 sided headstock. I think the 3rd from last (Muse DC?) would look better to me with a fatter bottom.


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## Defyantly (May 1, 2020)

I like them all! Did you take any inspirations from other builders? The couple of bodies that I have made started out as BC rich mockingbird outlines that I just started tweaking lines on.


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## Taylor (May 1, 2020)

Thanks for the input guys, the headstocks aren't set to specific body shapes though I do need to draw up some more.



Defyantly said:


> I like them all! Did you take any inspirations from other builders? The couple of bodies that I have made started out as BC rich mockingbird outlines that I just started tweaking lines on.



I basically start with an idea like "I want to do my own super-strat, or X shape" and start from scratch. The Muse was drawn without any references but came out very similar to a Vik singlecut shape, which was very much unintentional.


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## DiezelMonster (May 3, 2020)

All these builds look fantastic! I really dig the work.

Just judging by the pictures of the Chiron, my only constructive criticism, and this is purely from a player standpoint, since you can't change the string spacing of that Floyd, I would want more on fret either side of the neck. The low E and high E looks dangerously close to the edge of the fretboard. Once again, I'm just seeing pictures, don't have the guitar in my hands. Please don't take that personally, as I said the work looks great!

It's something to consider especially since it seems like you want to build and sell these.

Keep up the awesome work!

Cheers.


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## Taylor (May 3, 2020)

DiezelMonster said:


> All these builds look fantastic! I really dig the work.
> 
> Just judging by the pictures of the Chiron, my only constructive criticism, and this is purely from a player standpoint, since you can't change the string spacing of that Floyd, I would want more on fret either side of the neck. The low E and high E looks dangerously close to the edge of the fretboard. Once again, I'm just seeing pictures, don't have the guitar in my hands. Please don't take that personally, as I said the work looks great!
> 
> ...



Thanks! The pictures were taken before I gave it a good setup and got the action nice and low. I think the angle of the picture combined with the high action made the string spacing look off. The high E and low B have 1/8" to the edge of the fretboard. Been playing it a little now that it's setup and haven't had any problems with strings slipping off the edge. I do plan on starting selling once I'm confident in delivering an impeccable instrument. I feel like I'm getting there but there's still some skills I need to hone before I'm comfortable putting my name on something and selling it.


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## Defyantly (May 4, 2020)

One question that always bugged me on some builds...Why buy locking tuners when you have a locking nut?


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## Taylor (May 4, 2020)

Defyantly said:


> One question that always bugged me on some builds...Why buy locking tuners when you have a locking nut?



Had them on hand for this build so I slapped em on instead of ordering new ones.


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## Defyantly (May 4, 2020)

Fair enough! beautiful build!


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## Taylor (Jun 14, 2020)

Probably going to be the last post with any sort of meaningful woodworking getting done. No more workshop to work in! Got some bodies getting clear coat. Also got the logo cut and filled for my gf's build. Ziricote getting cleaned up after resaw.


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## Taylor (Jun 30, 2020)

Working on finding a new space to do woodworking. In the meantime I've been trying to learn how to use Fusion 360. The learning curve isn't terrible, and I'm starting to get the hang of it.


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## KR250 (Jun 30, 2020)

Very cool! I'm still getting started with Fusion 360 and so far only on 2D sketches. Are you creating the 3D bodies from the sketches?


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## Taylor (Jun 30, 2020)

KR250 said:


> Very cool! I'm still getting started with Fusion 360 and so far only on 2D sketches. Are you creating the 3D bodies from the sketches?



I did the neck by converting the 2D sketch into 3D, the body and headstock I imported the scalable vector graphic (SVG) file that I had already drawn up in inkscape. The file gets imported as a sketch which I can then extrude to the body's thickness.


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## MikeNeal (Jun 30, 2020)

Looks like a killer start to F360. Lofting the neck to headstock transition and heel to neck transition can be a royal pain in the ass sometimes.


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## Taylor (Jun 30, 2020)

MikeNeal said:


> Looks like a killer start to F360. Lofting the neck to headstock transition and heel to neck transition can be a royal pain in the ass sometimes.



I'm definitely having a rough time lofting the neck to headstock and getting the volute to come out decently


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## MikeNeal (Jun 30, 2020)

Taylor said:


> I'm definitely having a rough time lofting the neck to headstock and getting the volute to come out decently


 i had to make multiple profiles, then loft them, stitch the lofts, then create a patch.


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## Taylor (Jun 30, 2020)

MikeNeal said:


> i had to make multiple profiles, then loft them, stitch the lofts, then create a patch.



I gotcha. Thanks I'll try that!


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## Taylor (Jul 1, 2020)

Here is some of the progress I've made, mind you that I only have maybe six or eight hours total time working with this program.







Getting the scoops on the inside of the horns to blend with the bevels is going to be a pain.






The volute is passable but I think I'm going to redo it and add a couple more profiles so that it blends more smoothly and is more rounded.





If you take a 1/4" slice off the top of the body you can see routing pathways and the electronics cavities.


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## Solodini (Jul 1, 2020)

You're doing a great job so far. Well done.


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## MikeNeal (Jul 1, 2020)

to blend the scoops into the heel you have to draw your shape onto the body, and split face, then delete all the profiles using the surface tab and use loft and patch.


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## Taylor (Jul 18, 2020)

I've been transferring more of my designs into Fusion 360 and converting the 2D parts into DXF. Various stages of modelling shown.









Also started a new build that will probably end up for sale. It's going to be a neckthru "Muse" (my singlecut shape). Flame maple and walnut neck, african mahogany body and likely a flame maple top. Going to keep the hardware simple, a hipshot fixed bridge and locking tuners.






Got the frets hammered in on my GF's build, going slow right now because my only workspace is a garage that is currently sitting at well over 100F.


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## Taylor (Nov 1, 2020)

A little bit of work getting done on the build for my girlfriend. Have I mentioned I love card scrapers? One of the most useful tools I own. Want to get the burst a little more even, but other than that it's looking alright!


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## Taylor (Dec 27, 2020)

Haven't done much lately, decided to get back into Fusion 360 and do some work. Modeled up this V that I'm pretty happy with, body shape-wise. Modelling the volute and neck heel/joint areas are still tricky but overall I'd say I'm starting to get to know the program. Thoughts on the shape?




Also got a space heater recently, so I can get back in the garage to do some work. I have my old Jackson JS30RR V that I tried unsuccessfully to swirl and is still disassembled.




I think I'll give it another go. Also I've more than half a mind to redo my first build, which was playable but only barely. It needs a route for the hipshot to sit lower because I messed up the calculations for the fretboard height. Also on the list is to strip the finish off, change the body shape slightly, shave the neck down a tad (being my first build I was deathly afraid of breaking through to the truss rod channel), and give it a full fret treatment.


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## Solodini (Jan 6, 2021)

Liking the V design. Can we see it face on, rather than slanted, to get a better look? From that angle I feel like it'd look slightly better with the tip of the headstock pointed more toward the ground. Like not right at the ground, just less up than it is.


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## Taylor (Jan 6, 2021)

Solodini said:


> Liking the V design. Can we see it face on, rather than slanted, to get a better look? From that angle I feel like it'd look slightly better with the tip of the headstock pointed more toward the ground. Like not right at the ground, just less up than it is.



Here's a straight-on pic!


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## Solodini (Jan 7, 2021)

I think perhaps it would help symmetry/familiarity of shapes to extend the point on the headstock where the headstock joins the neck by the lowest string? Like make it more pronounced? It's a really nice shape overall, though.


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## Electrotimber (Apr 8, 2021)

Taylor said:


> Been messing around in Inkscape drawing up different body shapes. Here's a lineup of everything I've drawn up. Some are more works in progress than others. Also need to think of more names for the different shapes. I'm pretty happy with the first five of the lineup but the last three need some tweaking. I borrowed and shared lot of lines and curves between models, and I don't know if I like it because it is kind of thematic, or if I dislike it because it makes them look too similar. Constructive criticism welcome!
> View attachment 80150


hi good morning, please can you share a pdf template of body and nech regarding the muse model?


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## Taylor (Apr 9, 2021)

Electrotimber said:


> hi good morning, please can you share a pdf template of body and nech regarding the muse model?



I don't have anything on hand, but could possibly export a pdf if I can find the time. Can I ask what you want it for?


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## Electrotimber (Apr 10, 2021)

Taylor said:


> I don't have anything on hand, but could possibly export a pdf if I can find the time. Can I ask what you want it for?


Well the truth is I fell in love with that shape and want to build it for personal purpose. I do not sell any of my guitars I built because there are many and many in the market that it is becomed almost impossible . People don't have money to buy custom guitars . This is my opinion an what I saw in my city. I lost my job due to covid 19 and in my free time I love to woodworking and of course build guitars. that's it.


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## Taylor (Apr 11, 2021)

Electrotimber said:


> Well the truth is I fell in love with that shape and want to build it for personal purpose. I do not sell any of my guitars I built because there are many and many in the market that it is becomed almost impossible . People don't have money to buy custom guitars . This is my opinion an what I saw in my city. I lost my job due to covid 19 and in my free time I love to woodworking and of course build guitars. that's it.



Well I did some digging and found a pdf of it. This was from when I was still using Inkscape instead of Fusion 360 but it shouldn't be any different. Here's the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g3kjlgie6pfrcg2/Muse.pdf?dl=0

Happy building!


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## Electrotimber (Apr 11, 2021)

Taylor said:


> Well I did some digging and found a pdf of it. This was from when I was still using Inkscape instead of Fusion 360 but it shouldn't be any different. Here's the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g3kjlgie6pfrcg2/Muse.pdf?dl=0
> 
> Happy building!


Thank you Sir. Hope to be able to try building this beauty.


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## Taylor (Sep 6, 2021)

Haven't posted here in a while, but I started prototyping my V shape. It started out as a five piece padauk/wenge neck-through, but after a mishap with the depth stop on my router and the truss rod channel (I fucked up and didn't lock the depth stop, causing me to route to deep into the neck) I had to salvage it by ripping it down the middle with the table saw and adding another strip of wenge down the middle. African mahogany body wings and a macassar ebony fretboard.








Love making shavings with my old handed-down hand plane. It's over 100 years old and still running like a champ!





Little bit of separation of the laminates at the end of the blank, but I gave myself plenty of length for leeway.





Adding a bit of flair for the scarf joint







The bevel cut a bit deep and the output jack recess is lacking a bit of meat now, but there's still a couple of mm there. But this is how she currently looks. Pretty happy with the quality of this build so far. Making less and less mistakes as I gain experience, so at least I'm learning


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## neun Arme (Sep 7, 2021)

That already looks amazing.


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## Taylor (Sep 12, 2021)

Think I'll leave the heel like this. I'm sure it'll tessellate the thumb quite nicely. Jokes and cheap shots aside, I thought I'd do a scooped heel. Will have to see how it balances with strap button placement. Planning on quite a thin neck so hopefully not horrible neck dive.








Here it is after a few hours:





Got the volute about how I want it:


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## Taylor (Sep 14, 2021)

Some more pics for y'all


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## Taylor (Sep 20, 2021)

Ordered a 3/16" flush trim bit for getting tighter corners on my pickup and neck pocket routes. Worked beautifully on a new template until I broke it less than an hour into using it. Completely my own fault; got a little aggressive in the tab pockets. You can see the bulk removal done by a 1/2" bit with the corners not cut all the way through with the 3/16" bit. Been bashing my head into the wall (figuratively) over breaking the bit. Will have to wait on the next one to arrive before I can get my template perfected and get some routes cut on the guitar.


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## KR250 (Sep 20, 2021)

Doh, been there done that with those thin bits. Gotta buy two or more at a time and label them with a reminder to go slow and shallow.


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## Taylor (Sep 20, 2021)

KR250 said:


> Doh, been there done that with those thin bits. Gotta buy two or more at a time and label them with a reminder to go slow and shallow.



For sure. I really like how tight I can get the corners with the 3/16", I think it looks much cleaner and more "sharp" so to speak, so I'm definitely going to stick with it.


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## ECGuitars (Sep 22, 2021)

Should start using a router with a brass collet and use a straight 1/4 bit. Can get perfect corners on tight radiuses covered pickups. Just have to make new templates to adjust for the offset of the collar.


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## Taylor (Sep 23, 2021)

ECGuitars said:


> Should start using a router with a brass collet and use a straight 1/4 bit. Can get perfect corners on tight radiuses covered pickups. Just have to make new templates to adjust for the offset of the collar.



Will have to try those out one of these days.


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## Taylor (Sep 26, 2021)

Some wood porn for you all. Found a nice piece of curly koa in the "waste" bin at Woodcraft. They were selling pieces by weight and I think this came out to roughly $45. It's about 1 3/8" thick, 30" long, and 9.5" wide. Will make a lovely top if I can manage to resaw it.







Working on a neck-through build for my Muse shape. Flame maple and walnut neck, African Mahogany body, and possibly that piece of Koa for the top.





Also waiting on some micro mesh pads to get this fretboard even glassier.


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## Taylor (Sep 26, 2021)

Don't like to spam my thread but the micro mesh set showed up and these little pads shine fretboards up nice! The only "problem" was that glossiness of the board revealed some tool marks that I missed. Just means I'll have to bring those spots back up through the grits. 1000 grit will probably zip those spots quick.



You can see I got a little dent in the left corner of the fretboard. Will need to see if I can ease it out with some steam. You can also see some errant file marks toward the right edge of the board.




Will need to devise some better storage and workspace areas. Getting little dents and dings accumulating. I haven't done any final sanding on the body or neck yet but I'd like to have a dedicated storage are that's not my cluttered workbench. Working in a crowded garage right now so space is at a premium


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## Taylor (Oct 1, 2021)

Glad I nabbed that piece of koa. Managed to get it resawn, but it's going to take some work to get it cleaned up. I threw some mineral spirits on it so you can see the figuring. It's going to make a pretty nice top I think.




Got the tool marks off the fretboard and got it up to the 12000 grit pad. Promptly masked it off after so hopefully no dents or dings or scratches.




At the moment am working on electronics cavities. After that I need to sharpen up the bevels, inlay the logo into the headstock, and do the pickup cavities. Then I can do my final sanding and get some Tru Oil on her.


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## Taylor (Oct 5, 2021)

So you know that feeling you get sometimes where things are going really well and so you get this anxiety that something big is going to go wrong? Well I don't have that anymore... Because I fucked up. 

The bridge pickup route came out nice. Had to squeeze the controls close to it to be able to fit the cavity on the back. Will have to change the design in some way to fix it. 





Annnnnnd for the fuck up. bearing on the router bit I'm guessing jumped up on TOP of the template somehow and I didn't notice for a while as you can see (Me big dumb-dumb).



For the fix, had to route some straight lines to be able to glue in some offcuts.







With some denatured alcohol splashed on the fix. Definitely visible up close, but I tried to match the grain as close as possible. Basically invisible from more than two feet away. Maybe less. Very unhappy with myself right now. Mistakes happen I know, but still.


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## ECGuitars (Oct 5, 2021)

Pretty fuckin top notch repair, good job


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## Taylor (Oct 5, 2021)

ECGuitars said:


> Pretty fuckin top notch repair, good job



Thanks. Definitely going to make the switch to brass bushings now hahaha


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## neun Arme (Oct 6, 2021)

Definitely repaired like a pro, dude.


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## KR250 (Oct 6, 2021)

Wow, that save is epic! Can't even tell.


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## pondman (Oct 7, 2021)

Taylor said:


> So you know that feeling you get sometimes where things are going really well and so you get this anxiety that something big is going to go wrong? Well I don't have that anymore... Because I fucked up.
> 
> The bridge pickup route came out nice. Had to squeeze the controls close to it to be able to fit the cavity on the back. Will have to change the design in some way to fix it.
> 
> ...


Great save.


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## Taylor (Oct 15, 2021)

Got the first couple coats of Tru Oil on, which were more for finding any overlooked scratch marks. Drilled for the hipshot bridge, which went about as well as I could for not having a drill press. Decided to inlay a backplate for the ferrules because the string-thru holes, being hand drilled, were a little off. Got a little chip out from drilling for the ferrules, but it's being fixed. Also, will have to re-drill one, as it wandered...


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## Taylor (Oct 15, 2021)

Was going to edit the previous post, but I missed the time window. Anyway, here's some more pics:


Really dig how the multi-laminate scarf joint turned out


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## Taylor (Nov 26, 2021)

A little update on something different. I've had this old Rhoads stripped and primed for over two years now with multiple failed swirl attempts. I finally got tired of it sitting around in pieces and have decided to do a regular paint scheme. Some modifications were made, such as rounding off the square heel, and ebonizing the rosewood fretboard. The body will have the same fluorescent orange with the bevels painted black. As you might see from the pics, I am brushing on paint from those little testors model paint jars. Actually came out decently level. Had some problems with the black on the edges of the headstock so I'll have to do some touching up but other than that it's going well.


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## Taylor (Dec 10, 2021)

Borrowed a Cricut and made a vinyl replacement logo, which I think came out really well.


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