# Nephilim - 8 string multiscale guitar



## Necromagnon (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi there,

I've talk a little about it in my presentation, so I decided to present you my new project. I've already built an 8 string based on Schecter C/ESP Horizon shape, a little modified to fit my taste. It sounds good but it was my first so it's still very perfectable. I built then a 5 string multiscale bass I use with my band.

I will start my new 8 string very soon. I called it "Nephilim", like in the sumerian mythology.

Here's a simulation I've made. It's not complete (there's no frets on this, the pickups are not the correct size, the ABM single string bridge also, etc.), but it gives a good idea.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us
(the image is quite big, so I put the thumbnail)

For the specifications:
multiscale: 700 - 663,5 mm (approx 27,5 - 26 inch), 5th fret perpendicular
body: ash
top: ebony veneer
neck: ash/wenge and some black/white veneer
fingerboard: indian rosewood
headstock: ebony veneer
bridge: ABM single string bridge
tuning machine: Hipshot locking
pickups: 2 SP Custom custom made
electronics: 1 volume with push/pull to select pickup

I wanted a very simple, very "light" design guitar, but efficient. Something that looks heavy, but not as violent as bc rich or something like that (I really at those kind of guitar that try to say "hehe! I'm eviler than you're!" ). So no inlay, lesser electronics, etc.

I'll post details of the guitar building process here.


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## HighPotency (Nov 29, 2011)

Damn I bet this will be sick...

My only concern is,with the guitar being multiscale and having a reverse headstock, there's a lot of distance between the bridge and tuner for the 8th string... Are you sure it will reach?


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## hereticemir (Nov 29, 2011)

cool keep us updated want pic


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## Necromagnon (Nov 29, 2011)

HighPotency said:


> Damn I bet this will be sick...
> 
> My only concern is,with the guitar being multiscale and having a reverse headstock, there's a lot of distance between the bridge and tuner for the 8th string... Are you sure it will reach?


Yes, the lenght of the string needed will be huge... But as I generally use bass string for low F#, I'm sure it will fit. But 8 string guitars strings sets, I'm not sure. Do you know approximately the lenght? I've never use one of those sets...

And thanks both of you for the compliments. I will keep this post updated as soon as possible every time.


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## Murdstone (Nov 29, 2011)

Are you keeping it fretless, or is that just for ease of the mockup?


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## Necromagnon (Nov 29, 2011)

Murdstone said:


> Are you keeping it fretless, or is that just for ease of the mockup?


No no, the frets are just not represented. To long to do and to boring... 
I already play very bad with fretted guitar, so with a multiscale fretless... I just can't imagine how horrible it could sound!


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## Sepultorture (Nov 29, 2011)

if this gets made it will be the sickest multi i have ever seen


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## Necromagnon (Nov 29, 2011)

Sepultorture said:


> if this gets made it will be the sickest multi i have ever seen


Thanks!
I'll try to make this as similar as the simulation. I really don't know how it will look... We'll see! 

I'm waiting for SP Custom to start checking the specs of the custom pickups. This week end, I resaw my ash lumber and place my order at Hipshot... My bank will hate me but it's for a good purpose.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Nov 29, 2011)

I think the band will hate you more for ordering the abm saddles 

Looks badass btw!


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## Purelojik (Nov 29, 2011)

dude honestly call kurt at rondo music and ask him if he has any spare single bridges. i got a bunch off him a few months ago for like 5 bucks each. so i bought up whatever he had at the moment. their pretty solid and wont set you back like ABM. ABM is like 35 bucks for ONE as i remember plus shipping your looking at more. 

Also that headstock is killer.


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## Necromagnon (Nov 30, 2011)

Purelojik said:


> dude honestly call kurt at rondo music and ask him if he has any spare single bridges. i got a bunch off him a few months ago for like 5 bucks each. so i bought up whatever he had at the moment. their pretty solid and wont set you back like ABM. ABM is like 35 bucks for ONE as i remember plus shipping your looking at more.


I'll check that. But I have the ABM for 15 (around 20$) here at thomann, with a very low shipping cost, and I will group this with other thing (jack plug, potentiometers, etc.). The matter is, now, when you order in the US from France, you are so fucked up with the custom fees that it's not very interesting to order in the US...
For the price, you can add approx 30% of the price + shipping cost just in taxes. You add around 20 for "file fees" (understand one guy that take a calculator and push one button)... So I only buy what I could not find here in Europe, or if it gives me 50% off of the price here.

But I will check the badass bridge. Maybe in UK or somewhere else in Europe, I can find this.


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## Purelojik (Dec 1, 2011)

Necromagnon said:


> I'll check that. But I have the ABM for 15 (around 20$) here at thomann, with a very low shipping cost, and I will group this with other thing (jack plug, potentiometers, etc.). The matter is, now, when you order in the US from France, you are so fucked up with the custom fees that it's not very interesting to order in the US...
> For the price, you can add approx 30% of the price + shipping cost just in taxes. You add around 20 for "file fees" (understand one guy that take a calculator and push one button)... So I only buy what I could not find here in Europe, or if it gives me 50% off of the price here.
> 
> But I will check the badass bridge. Maybe in UK or somewhere else in Europe, I can find this.



oh man i forgot to look at your location! sorry dude. yea shipping might narrow the savings a bit i guess. but doesnt hurt to shoot him a call or email! good luck dude!


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## Necromagnon (Dec 1, 2011)

Purelojik said:


> oh man i forgot to look at your location! sorry dude. yea shipping might narrow the savings a bit i guess. but doesnt hurt to shoot him a call or email! good luck dude!


Yep, I will mail him.
If the cost is low, we can sometimes cut through custom taxes... And then, the saving is huge.


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## Necromagnon (Jan 16, 2012)

Found my topic!

So, I'm sorry I didn't post a lot on this topic, and for good reason: I didn't work that much on my projects.... Not to say approximately not.

But, if I post, it's because it's gonna move now. I started with headstock templates. I hate to make templates, but this time, with some new tools, it works just very fine! Here's a little pic of this evening's work:





Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Sorry for the very bad quality, but I only have my old cell phone to take pics.
From left to right: a Schecter like headstock for a 7 string I'm building for a friend; a Jackson like headstock for a baritone 6 str I'm building for another friend, and the Nephilim's headstock.
There's also on the picture the only tools I used: spokeshave, scraper, japanese microsaw, sand paper.

Next work will be body templates, and I'll start also with neck work at the same time.


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## Trem (Jan 16, 2012)

Looks awesome. You may want to redesign the bottom horn out of the way a little bit for better access and maybe so you don't rip your hand apart when sliding up in abandon, .


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## Necromagnon (Jan 16, 2012)

Trem said:


> Looks awesome. You may want to redesign the bottom horn out of the way a little bit for better access and maybe so you don't rip your hand apart when sliding up in abandon, .


I think about that, and then, I realise that if I build an 8 str, it's for the 3 low strings, no more... In fact, I'd better built a 3 string, I think...


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## jarnozz (Jan 16, 2012)

that is one hell of a Guitar. hope you'll find long enough strings for that beast!
enjoy your build and keep posting your progress!


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## jaretthale78 (Jan 16, 2012)

classy


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## Necromagnon (Jan 31, 2012)

Hello there,

Not so much work done. I just receive my templates. They've been laser cut around here, and it's perfect. I know how I'll do for my templates now!
Here's a little pic of the templates of the 3 guitars I'm building at the same time (and a lefty PRS is missing also on the picture...).






This week end, I'll work on the body I think. And maybe glue the neck... Don't know...


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## bluevoodoo (Jan 31, 2012)

Looks cool and the specs are killer for a multiscale 8! One thing came into my mind at the first glance though, isn't the neck & headstock too massive for this body size? Judging upon the pic it seems like neck-heavy for me. Can't wait to see pics of the building process


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## Necromagnon (Jan 31, 2012)

bluevoodoo said:


> Looks cool and the specs are killer for a multiscale 8! One thing came into my mind at the first glance though, isn't the neck & headstock too massive for this body size? Judging upon the pic it seems like neck-heavy for me. Can't wait to see pics of the building process


Yes, the body is really small, but it doesn't appear that much on the simulation and drawings.
Now that I have the template in my hand, it seems quite small. But I think it'll be ok. And about weight, as the electronic cavity is really small, body will be near full wood.

I'll have to try to see if it works. 

And thanks!


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## AnarchyDivine88 (Mar 6, 2012)

Dude, if this ends up looking anything remotely like that image you made than it's gonna be amazing! Can't wait until it's done. It's off to a good start.



Necromagnon said:


> No no, the frets are just not represented. To long to do and to boring...
> I already play very bad with fretted guitar, so with a multiscale fretless... I just can't imagine how horrible it could sound!



Yeah that would be crazy haha. At first I was like "Wow He must be a really accurate player!"


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## Necromagnon (Mar 6, 2012)

AnarchyDivine88 said:


> Yeah that would be crazy haha. At first I was like "Wow He must be a really accurate player!"


Accurate in falseness. 

Thanks for the kind words. As the weather is nice those times, I try to work as much as possible on those guitars, but I can only work on week end, so it's very long... :/


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## HighPotency (Mar 6, 2012)

Looks pretty sick so far.

Your pre-angled body blank gives me some interesting thoughts, too.

*goes to meditate*


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## BlackMastodon (Mar 6, 2012)

Excited to see some progress on these, and that pre-angled body construction is a very interesting idea! Hopefully it all works out!


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## Necromagnon (Mar 6, 2012)

I hope too! 

But I did invented anything: it's the method use for centuries on violin harmony top tu save wood (as carved violin tops are very very important and thick), instead of using a piece of 15 -and even more- thick piece of master grade spruce or other, luthiers preangled the joint so that you save a lot of wood. Approximately, with regular perpendicular joint, there's (I don't remember exactly) a loss of 60/70% of wood... What a waste! 

Anyway, thanks for the kind words, guys!


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## VBCheeseGrater (Mar 6, 2012)

very cool mock-up - So how will the frets work on that with the multiscale setup? I would guess they would be in a parallax type shape (angled at either end of the neck, straighter in the middle) based on your image and intonation theory, or am i wrong there? Seems like it would be a b*tch to play bar chords!

Edit - nevermind just googled it and saw the fanned frets as i imagined. would definitely take some getting used to on chords.


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## Necromagnon (Mar 6, 2012)

vbshredder said:


> Edit - nevermind just googled it and saw the fanned frets as i imagined. would definitely take some getting used to on chords.


Yes, it doesn't make it easier, but it's not that hard.
I made my 5 str bass like that, and I still can place open chords and power chords (yes, not the hardest...) without breaking my fingers out. 

But that's why I choose to have the fifth fret perpendicular to the axe: it make the first frets not so much angled. And for the higher frets, angled is not a matter. In fact, I found this very helpful when you play arpegios or you shred hardly, as you can have a greater gap between notes without having to use tapping or to break your arm to seek the 24th fret or something like that. 

Anyway, I don't lead/shred so...


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## Levi79 (Mar 6, 2012)

Stoked to see how this turns out man! Looks really cool!


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## Necromagnon (Mar 12, 2012)

Some progress here; Not that much, but it worths some pics.
And I'm very sorry for the thumbnails. New version of imageshack is really shitty... :/

First step: gluing the neck

















I've glued both neck of the Nephilim and the Soloist I'm building in the mean time. There're the same multiply necks.

And some pics of plans and stuff of the 4 project going along side by side:




A Music Man JP like 7 trings:












The Nephilim:









A PRS lefty (the plan is not lefty, I know):

















A Soloist Chris Broderick like 6 strings:













The ziricote fingerboard for the Soloist: purely gorgeous!




And the walnut crotch veneer the will look badass on the Nephilime and Soloist!





It's all for the moment. I will work for the next week mostly on the PRS and the MM.

Keep you in touch.


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## vansinn (Mar 12, 2012)

Lovely stuff!
I like your approach to the arched body. So many guitars are merely a flat plank of wood cut into some shape.
No offence meant towards ordinary guitars, but I just love dearing curves and lines 

I think bass strings should work fine with this scale.
I'm using Ernie Ball extra long scale bass strings or my 35" bass, and there's quite a lot of string to cut off after the tuners.

How will the Nephilim be tuned?
On my 26.5" Schecter Riot 8, I use a 075 bass string tuned to A1.
This string should be enough for reaching F1# at 27.5".
The good thing is that it'll just (quite tightly) pass through an ordinary tuner without modifications to either tuner or string.


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## Necromagnon (Mar 12, 2012)

Thanks man!

I got the same feeling about flat plank of wood. I just can't see flat top guitars anymore. And there' so much things to do with just slight chamfer, little arched body, or anything.

For string lenght, I just tried a few days ago the D'Addario 8 string set, and it works really fine. The scale is long enough to get through the body of my first 8 string, and go to the tuner with a 28.625" scale so I really think there'll be no problem with 27.5".

For the tuning, I don't know... As far as know, at this time, I've only tried standard tuning on 8 string, and it works fine. But maybe I'll try some open tunings... Don't know. 

And I forget, on the previous post, to give the credits to my friend who took the pics. It's the guitarist of the 3 of my bands, and also the future owner of the Soloist.


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## ElRay (Mar 13, 2012)

Great start. 

I added the *member built* tag.

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

Ray


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## Necromagnon (Mar 13, 2012)

Hi Ray!

Thanks for the tag, I've looked for it at the beginning but didn't find it. 

And yes, I'll post in the galery when they will be completed.


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## Necromagnon (Apr 11, 2012)

Not so much work done here, I focused my time on the MusicMan and lefty PRS because of very close deadlines.
But I took a little time to build myself an device to use my router undertable. It's very usefull, and much more stable than just routing with bedplate on the body of the guitar, specially when routing horns.

Anyway, here's two pictures to illustrate how it works. It's very very simple.












I've bought 2 new CMT bits to use with it, don't when it'll arrived, but hope soon!


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## Necromagnon (May 9, 2012)

Cheers guys!

Some progress here while it's long week end month (every week end are 4 days long... )
I mainly worked on the Petrucci like guitar.





The neck. Maple/Wenge neck never goes wrong... Damn!
The alder body of the Petrucci:










And I worked on the Nephilim, just shaped out the fcking archbody! 
I'd just a piece that broke out, ash is very brittle... But it works great anyway.


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## Pezshreds (May 19, 2013)

I'm keen to see this finished!
Subbed ^_^


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## muffinbutton (May 20, 2013)

With all the advice you give me and everyone else on here, I don't think I've seen one of your builds before. Looks great dude!


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## Necromagnon (May 20, 2013)

Thanks guys!



muffinbutton said:


> With all the advice you give me and everyone else on here, I don't think I've seen one of your builds before. Looks great dude!


The reason is simple: I can't build except on week end because I've no room nor tools at my apartment in Grenoble. So I need to wait every week for the 2 blessed days. Also, I'm in Prague since early January, so it's hard for me to work on my builds... :/
But prepare to see some progress next week (hopefully  ).


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## Necromagnon (May 20, 2013)

Forgoy to mention: if you want to see the Petrucci like I've build (some pics of it in this thread) in action, go check the video clip of the band:


The guitar I've build is the red one.


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## UnderTheSign (May 20, 2013)

Necromagnon said:


> I hope too!
> 
> But I did invented anything: it's the method use for centuries on violin harmony top tu save wood (as carved violin tops are very very important and thick), instead of using a piece of 15 -and even more- thick piece of master grade spruce or other, luthiers preangled the joint so that you save a lot of wood. Approximately, with regular perpendicular joint, there's (I don't remember exactly) a loss of 60/70% of wood... What a waste!
> 
> Anyway, thanks for the kind words, guys!


It's a very smart technique, Sam Maloof used it as well to pre-shape the seats of his chairs. Saved you wood and time


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## Necromagnon (May 20, 2013)

Yes. It's also similar to snare and other percussion stuff building, or like barrel and every round and hollow construction (also rosettes for acoustic guitars).

Thanks anyway.


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## jahosy (May 20, 2013)

Necromagnon said:


>



Loving this  

Similar to Phil Collen's Jackson Archtop Soloist, with arched top & back.





Can't wait to see these finished.


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## Necromagnon (May 20, 2013)

Yes, that's the same idea here. Both top and back will be roud like this. I'll see, but maybe I'll chamfer the back like blackmachines, I still don't know... It will be done depending on the mood of the day.


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