# KxK 7DC Semihollow Build (setup pics added)



## technomancer (Jun 9, 2014)

This build has shifted a couple of times. It was originally going to be a six string and a different model, but is coming together now 

7DC semihollow, palisander (Madagascar rosewood) neck through, Brazilian rosewood fretboard and headstock cap, MOP offset blocks and KxK logo, flame maple top, mahogany wings. Benedetto B7 pickups.







This was originally going to have a one piece koa top, but unfortunately this came up in the koa while carving. 






Since neither Rob or I wanted to have a huge knot in the top of the guitar, we switched over to a piece of maple I already had at the shop for the shop. We're still talking about finish, but it will likely either end up Sandstorm Dragons Breath or Tungsten metallic with natural back and sides depending on how the top looks when it's ready for finish.

Oh and almost forgot, hybrid hardware










Almost ready for paint 









Couple wet shots after some subtle grain enhancement









Rob was ready to sand it back and make some changes, but I told him to leave it the way it is as I like how it came out  He also said it's looking much redder in the pics that it is in person. Can't wait to see what it looks like in person 














Getting setup done... soon


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## Erick Kroenen (Jun 9, 2014)

oh another beautiful KxK, nice!


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## fenderbender4 (Jun 9, 2014)

Wow. Fantastic looking guitar. Soundclips when it's completed please!


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## Churchie777 (Jun 10, 2014)

Awesome man! this makes me excited for my 7DC semi! love the specs and that neck will be insane


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## Hollowway (Jun 10, 2014)

Nice! I thought maybe the semihollow aspect of my scale 8 was holding up the show, but it looks like Rob is pretty comfortable with those. I may have to kill you if you get yourse before mine, though.


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## HighGain510 (Jun 10, 2014)

Truly a shame that the Koa had a knot under the surface, but glad both you and Rob decided to scrap it and go with maple once you found it. Looks like you picked a sweet piece of maple, can't wait to see it with some finish on it!  The hybrid hardware looks hot on the Sperzels! \m/


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## thrsher (Jun 10, 2014)

Godly


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## Jlang (Jun 10, 2014)

This is gonna be sooooo awesome! I think the sandstorm DB would make this thing glow.


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## technomancer (Jun 11, 2014)

Churchie777 said:


> Awesome man! this makes me excited for my 7DC semi! love the specs and that neck will be insane



Ah cool, glad to hear you're getting one. What are your specs?



Hollowway said:


> Nice! I thought maybe the semihollow aspect of my scale 8 was holding up the show, but it looks like Rob is pretty comfortable with those. I may have to kill you if you get yourse before mine, though.



This order is from before the 8 string runs, so simmer down there  



HighGain510 said:


> Truly a shame that the Koa had a knot under the surface, but glad both you and Rob decided to scrap it and go with maple once you found it. Looks like you picked a sweet piece of maple, can't wait to see it with some finish on it!  The hybrid hardware looks hot on the Sperzels! \m/



Yeah that was not a happy moment... fortunately Rob is a class act and didn't just build it anyways and then offer me a slight discount or claim it added character. Still amazed there are guys that do that crap.

The maple is something I had at the shop for another build. It was going to have another top inlaid into it, so I just picked something that should give a nice look as basically binding. The figure is definitely nicer in the piece than I thought it would be.

I'm very happy with how the hardware is came out. The gold lock wheels on the Sperzels were something Rob suggested that I hadn't thought about when I was spec'ing the hardware.



Jlang said:


> This is gonna be sooooo awesome! I think the sandstorm DB would make this thing glow.



Yeah we were talking about doing a grain enhance and seeing what it looks like and going from there. If the figure looks good it will likely be Sandstorm DB, if not it will probably get a solid Tungsten top. I think either one should be killer 



Erick Kroenen said:


> oh another beautiful KxK, nice!



Thanks 



fenderbender4 said:


> Wow. Fantastic looking guitar. Soundclips when it's completed please!



I'll see what I can do. I'm curious to see how the Benedetto pickups work out in this guitar.



thrsher said:


> Godly


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## Churchie777 (Jun 11, 2014)

mine was a instock he was gonna do and gave a heads up if i wanted it he'll also chuck a piezo in it (been talking for a while for that kinda build) so i got to pick from 2 tops (chose flame/curly maple), pick the board which i matched the bobbins (birdseye maple) he already had black limba neck and wings planned, just gotta decide stain


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## technomancer (Jun 11, 2014)

Churchie777 said:


> mine was a instock he was gonna do and gave a heads up if i wanted it he'll also chuck a piezo in it (been talking for a while for that kinda build) so i got to pick from 2 tops (chose flame/curly maple), pick the board which i matched the bobbins (birdseye maple) he already had black limba neck and wings planned, just gotta decide stain



That should be awesome


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## technomancer (Jun 13, 2014)

She's almost ready for paint


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## Hollowway (Jun 13, 2014)

Do you have any samples of the colors you're considering? Post 'em if you do. I'd like to see those.


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## thrsher (Jun 13, 2014)

i hope one day i can order a semi hollow dc 7 baritone and by hope i mean when KxK is taking orders, i will order one


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## technomancer (Jun 13, 2014)

Hollowway said:


> Do you have any samples of the colors you're considering? Post 'em if you do. I'd like to see those.



Tungsten Grey
the darker color... it's a bitch to photograph, my Mustang is the same color and it varies depending on lighting from a silver to a metallic grey and sometimes has purple highlights






Sandstorm
the darker bottom color would be the upper part of the Dragon's Breath with the center / bottom in the more golden color around the pickups






So basically if the top takes stain well etc etc it will be sandstorm, otherwise a silvertop


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## Hollowway (Jun 14, 2014)

Holy crap, I thought that was YOUR Ford GT until I read it more closely!


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## technomancer (Jun 14, 2014)

Hollowway said:


> Holy crap, I thought that was YOUR Ford GT until I read it more closely!



I wish


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## Churchie777 (Jun 14, 2014)

Man im loving the look of that neck


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## JSanta (Jun 14, 2014)

I think you're really going to dig those Bendetto pickups in this guitar. Tune that low string down to A and you're going to have some really authentic jazz tones. Looking forward to seeing it done.


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## technomancer (Jun 14, 2014)

Churchie777 said:


> Man im loving the look of that neck



Yeah the piece of wood looked awesome, can't wait to see it once it's been oiled 



JSanta said:


> I think you're really going to dig those Bendetto pickups in this guitar. Tune that low string down to A and you're going to have some really authentic jazz tones. Looking forward to seeing it done.



I'm looking forward to trying them out. My suspicion at this point is that the neck will probably stay and the bridge will get swapped for something else. We'll see when it gets here


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## Churchie777 (Jun 14, 2014)

Really hoping you go with the dragon breath stain id love to see how Rob goes with the trickier than normal stains before i pull the trigger on the one i have in mind


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## JSanta (Jun 14, 2014)

technomancer said:


> I'm looking forward to trying them out. My suspicion at this point is that the neck will probably stay and the bridge will get swapped for something else. We'll see when it gets here



If it were my guitar I would get a Kent Armstrong 14 pole for the bridge if the Benedetto didn't seem to work out. Either way, fantastic instrument


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## OmegaSlayer (Jun 15, 2014)

No updates?


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## technomancer (Jun 15, 2014)

OmegaSlayer said:


> No updates?



I think Rob is getting some stain and doing some testing currently


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## JohnIce (Jun 15, 2014)

Speaking of Tungsten, just so you know that word is borrowed from swedish and means "Heavy Rock". 

Looks amazing!


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## OmegaSlayer (Jun 15, 2014)

technomancer said:


> I think Rob is getting some stain and doing some testing currently



Do you have pics or a layout of the acoustic chamber?


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## technomancer (Jun 15, 2014)

OmegaSlayer said:


> Do you have pics or a layout of the acoustic chamber?



Not that I can share, but basically the entire left side and the bottom are hollow, the inside of the top is carved, and the right side is hollow with the electronics cavity separate from the rest of the chambering.


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## Churchie777 (Jun 24, 2014)

What brain fart please remove Techno...sorry


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## absolutorigin (Jun 25, 2014)

Man, Sandstorm Dragon's Breath sounds awesome!


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## MAJ Meadows SF (Jun 26, 2014)

Whatever you decide for a color, it will be a total win. Both are solid choices. I'm all for the sandstorm DB though!


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## technomancer (Jun 27, 2014)

absolutorigin said:


> Man, Sandstorm Dragon's Breath sounds awesome!





MAJ Meadows SF said:


> Whatever you decide for a color, it will be a total win. Both are solid choices. I'm all for the sandstorm DB though!



We're definitely giving the Sandstorm Dragon's Breath a shot... the question will be how it comes out on that top. I think Rob is wrapping up the prototype for this and should be starting staining this one sometime next week.


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## technomancer (Jul 5, 2014)

Couple wet shots after some subtle grain enhancement


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## blckrnblckt (Jul 6, 2014)

I iust learned of kxk recently, but they look great


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## Churchie777 (Jul 6, 2014)

Do you have visuals of the revised F hole you did with rob?, ive finally picked my stain also but keen too see how he goes with this tricky sorta stain


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## technomancer (Jul 6, 2014)

Churchie777 said:


> Do you have visuals of the revised F hole you did with rob?, ive finally picked my stain also but keen too see how he goes with this tricky sorta stain



Not sure what you mean by visuals? It's the f-hole that's on my guitar. The changes were basically in the size and angle of the f-hole on the body of the guitar. The original was larger and at a different angle. Minor adjustments, but IMHO I like the revised better


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## Pikka Bird (Jul 6, 2014)

technomancer said:


> Minor adjustments, but IMHO I like the revised better



Agreed. The older one was a bit too overpowering to my eye. This one is just classy. Amazing how such a minor change can make a quite large impact to how I perceive the overall balance of the whole guitar.


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## technomancer (Jul 21, 2014)

Rob was ready to sand it back and make some changes, but I told him to leave it the way it is as I like how it came out  He also said it's looking much redder in the pics that it is in person. Can't wait to see what it looks like in person


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## MAJ Meadows SF (Jul 21, 2014)

DAMN!


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## SpaceDock (Jul 21, 2014)

Seriously


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## Churchie777 (Jul 21, 2014)

dude! that came out awesone


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## thrsher (Jul 22, 2014)

too sexy


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## Orzech (Jul 22, 2014)

Looks amazing!


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## Danukenator (Jul 22, 2014)

That's amazing man! I was on the verge of selling my KxK. Got home, played it and reconsidered. Perfect fretwork, an amazing set up, beautiful finish work and tone for days.

Rob is an amazing builder and I'm SUPER jealous of a semi hollow KxK!


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## technomancer (Aug 6, 2014)

Getting setup done... soon


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## HighGain510 (Aug 6, 2014)

technomancer said:


> Getting setup done... soon



 That looks mighty tasty!


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## Aris_T (Aug 6, 2014)

I can't even write something in proper english to express the awesomeness of this build!


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## MAJ Meadows SF (Aug 6, 2014)

This is just pure modern class. It looks like it's begging to be played!


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## Churchie777 (Aug 6, 2014)

Yeah thats gorgeous the gold with the rosewood is awesome


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## ElysianGuitars (Aug 6, 2014)

That finish is amazing looking.


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## technomancer (Aug 7, 2014)

Thanks guys! I am REALLY happy with how this is turning out


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## MaxAidingAres (Aug 9, 2014)

Are those (seymour duncan) Benedetto B7 pickups. If so could you possibly do an in depth review of them when you get the guitar like how they work with different styles?


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## technomancer (Aug 9, 2014)

MaxAidingAres said:


> Are those (seymour duncan) Benedetto B7 pickups. If so could you possibly do an in depth review of them when you get the guitar like how they work with different styles?



Yep those are B7s. I'm really curious to try them and will definitely include my thoughts on them in the NGD thread.


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