# New double cutaway build



## ugly_guitar_guy (Jul 28, 2012)

I've started in on my 2nd guitar build, creating a unique double cutaway that will become my "standard" model that I'll eventually make more of. This particular one will come from this stack of future firewood:







Body: African Mahogany with Curly Redwood cap
Neck: Walnut, Purple Heart, Maple with Ebony fretboard.

I began by getting the neck blank started. I sliced the purple heart down the middle and planed both pieces to about 3/16. This is my first time working with this stuff and I like it a lot. It adds a nice bit of natural color to the guitar.






After cutting a strip off of my maple plank, and cutting my walnut plank to match (about 1.7 inches thick) I got them ready to glue up. (None of these pieces are heavily figured, but there's some light flaming in the purple heart and maple that should show nicely when the finish goes on.)






All glued up and nowhere to go, I wait. 

I'm going to attempt a hybrid neck joint on this guitar, where the end of the neck will run under the neck pickup like a set neck, but it will be bolted on using the t-nut compression technique that I used in my challenge build. 

I'm kinda making this up as I go, so I hope it all comes together!


----------



## Levi79 (Jul 28, 2012)

Man. We need pics of the redwood wet. Looks fucking awesome! We have the same planer. Lovely little machine.


----------



## Captain Butterscotch (Jul 28, 2012)

Levi79 said:


> Man. We need pics of the redwood wet. Looks fucking awesome! We have the same planer. Lovely little machine.



This.

This thread is gonna be cool.


----------



## Danukenator (Jul 29, 2012)

Best of luck on the build!

I agree with Levi, re-saw that sucker and throw some naptha/water on it. The dry grain looks amazing already.


----------



## Vostre Roy (Jul 29, 2012)

Knowing how cool your Tele turned out, I'll follow this build without any hesitation. Have fun mate!


----------



## ejendres (Jul 29, 2012)

What are the specs on the guitar? Scale etc


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Jul 29, 2012)

Hey guys, here's the only pic that I have of the redwood with some mineral spirits splashed on it the day I got it. The flame dances like crazy, and the pic doesn't do it any justice! It's gonna be a sweet book match.








ejendres said:


> What are the specs on the guitar? Scale etc



Actually, nothing terribly crazy with the specs. It's going to be a 6 string, 25.5" scale. It's going to have a nearly ibanez thin neck, and 23 and a half frets. Humbucker bridge, P90 neck. It will be a semi-hollow with an F-hole, but it wont be your grandpappy's semi-hollow!  I'm creating a hybrid, high compression neck joint that will bolt in under the neck pickup. I honestly am making it up as I go along, so we'll see how it turns out.

Today, the neck was unclamped and planed down nice and smooth. It's SUPER fat (1.5" thick) to allow for my neck joint idea.






I made a couple measurements on the blank and sat the Ebony fretboard on it. I think the maple binding is going to look pretty sweet against that ebony.






Then, time to glue up the body back. Titebond is my friend.






Once again clamped up, and now I'm trying to figure out how I can resaw that redwood (It's too big for my shopsmith bandsaw). I might try a local cabinet shop and see if they can help. I also need some more walnut for the headstock, so now I'm on a hunt.






Oh, and I realized that I'm going to have to plane off nearly 3/4 of an inch off the mahogany blank. Should have resawed it first. It's kind of a waste...


----------



## Levi79 (Jul 30, 2012)

That top!
This build is going to be awesome!


----------



## Vicious7 (Jul 30, 2012)

Hooray for free artistic license guitar build!!! Can't wait to see it as it's updated.

23 and a half frets??!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Jul 30, 2012)

Vicious7 said:


> Hooray for free artistic license guitar build!!! Can't wait to see it as it's updated.
> 
> 23 and a half frets??!



Yup, slanted end of fretboard to accommodate for the slanted P90 neck pickup.

I loved the Lace Alumatones so much in my 7 string build I think I'm going to use those again in this one.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Aug 6, 2012)

Not a ton to update, I had to spend some time last week getting tools fixed and dialed in (it seems like there's always something not working quite right).

So, since I only have one guitar build under my belt I figured why the heck not make a semi-hollow? And while I'm at it, lets add a back contour to really throw in more possibility for problems? I like to learn the hard way...

So I drew drew out my cavities. 






And figured out where the contour was going to go. It's not a huge strat-sized contour, but certainly enough to make it a little more comfortable.






Some rasping and power sanding gave me just what I was looking for.






Then it was drill press time.






You can call me The Dentist for all these cavities I'm digging out!






After cleaning things up with the router and starting on carving the inside of the contour that was about all I had time for.






It turns out you kinda have to do things a little backwards with a semi-hollow that has a contoured back . That's really messing with my head a bit, but I'll get it, as well as just trying to remember everything that needs to be done before closing it all up. I'm just looking forward to getting that redwood top cut and glued at this point.

Crap, I need to work on that neck too...


----------



## bob123 (Aug 6, 2012)

I will never work with redwood again. It disgusts me how terrific it looks, but how shitty of a wood it is to work with. 

Fair warning, its VERY brittle, likes to move, and dont clamp it down too hard, or you will be crying in the morning 


Good luck with the rest of the build, I love your wood choices!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Aug 6, 2012)

bob123 said:


> I will never work with redwood again. It disgusts me how terrific it looks, but how shitty of a wood it is to work with.
> 
> Fair warning, its VERY brittle, likes to move, and dont clamp it down too hard, or you will be crying in the morning
> 
> ...



That's great to know, thanks. I'm planning on putting a 1/2" thick top on this guitar so hopefully it'll help with the stability a bit, but I'll be sure to be more careful now. Only need about 100psi to make titebond happy...


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Aug 13, 2012)

Well, just a bit more progress made over the last week.

I finished up the inside contour, stained it black, and later sealed it with gunstock oil to protect the cavities from humidity changes (something I learned from someone elses build).






(Yeah, I realize the middle cavity wont ever see the light of day after the top is glued, but it felt wrong to not let it match the rest of the stained cavities.) 

Now, resawing that redwood into a bookmatched top turned out to be quite an endeavor. I couldn't go back to the college that I did my koa top at because the shop teacher hadn't responded to me, so I tried a local cabinet shop to see if they could help but their carpenter was out so they told me I'd need to wait a week (yeah right), and the Ganahl across the street from me wanted to charge me $20 and wait 3 days to get it back (screw that!), so the last option was to do it myself.

I didn't take pics but what I ended up doing was I set up my table saw with a 9/16 gap between the blade and the fence and gradually ran the blade as deep as I could get it all the way around the wood creating about a 2 1/2" groove all the way around. Then I just muscled the rest of the cut with a hand saw. That sucked. I need a bigger bandsaw...

BUT, after a few minutes with the planer, I ended up with this lovely sight:






While that was busy drying I decided to test my binding skills (or complete lack thereof, newb...) on a scrap of mahogany I had lying around. I'm going to be binding this in maple with a black strip, so I measured, set up my stew mac router bit and proper bearing, and went to town. After sitting for a couple hours this is what I had. No too shabby for my first attempt. Now I'm really anxious to get the body done!






After looking around I realized the neck had been completely neglected thusfar, so with a few calculations I made some cuts to get my blank started. I decided to go with a thin and fast 1 5/8" nut width so this thing should feel screaming fast for all that monster shredding. :mrgreen:






THEN, after the top was dried I cut out the shape on the bandsaw. There is some gorgeous figure in that top that I CAN'T WAIT to see finished! 






I didn't get a shot of it, but after this I cut out the "f hole" (or V holes in this case I guess...) And glued the top to the body. As is, it sits at 3.6 lbs. 

Once I get the top flush routed tonight I'll get you guys a fully body shot.


----------



## PureImagination (Aug 13, 2012)

This is an awesome thread.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Aug 27, 2012)

Howdy errebuddy, got another build update for ya! Between a wife, 2 jobs, 2-3 bands playing/recording, and daily workouts, I find it very difficult to make time for building, which really sucks because I love it so much now! 

Anyway, let's get caught up, shall we? 

My "shop" (a term used very loosely to describe my 25 square feet of space) got a new addition!






I picked up this fella at an estate sale, brand new in the box, for $100  I love craigslist... Now I can get my super thin veneers to proper thickness.

A couple weeks back I stained a scrap of redwood black, sanded it back, and have been slowly building up the clear coat (poly), and I believe this will be how I finish the guitar (maybe with a burst at the edges):






I took my neck plank, cut a piece of walnut for the headstock, and glued up the scarf joint:






Once that dried and was cut and sanded down, it was time for wings. Truly, I have no idea what I'm doing with this headstock. I'm kinda making it up as I go. Could I have glued a big paddle? Maybe, but what's the fun in that?






Glued up...






...and scraped/sanded:






Then it was time for a band saw makeover.






That's a little more like it. 






On the ross, I worked on planing the back down and getting the volute prepped. Why you ask? 






Because of veneers! The first layer to get glued on the back is a purple heart veneer which will be a thin stripe that shows around the edges:






A walnut backplate will go on later today after that's dried for 24 hours. This will be the faceplate veneer to get it done up and lookin pretty:






I had time to kill while that was drying, so I tackled my fret slots (I forgot to take pictures of cutting my fretboard to size, but you know, it's just cutting a fretboard to size. Use your imagination):






I have to say, this Stew Mac fret saw is AMAZING! Go get one. Now. Never ever use a harbor freight saw ever again. Ever. In guitar building you can find a lot of workarounds, but it really is amazing what having the right tool for the right job can do for making life a whole lot easier on you. I was done in less than 15 minutes, which beats the nearly hour it took me to do before:






The slots are PERFECT. No rough edges, no wonky corners. Just perfection. It cut through ebony like butter. I can't wait to do more...

After that, I wanted to see what the binding was gonna look like, so I broke some out and set it next to the fretboard. 






I really want to glue it, but I need to do a lot more work first on the fretboard... More to come...


----------



## BlackMastodon (Aug 27, 2012)

When i saw that headstock glued up I thought to myself "Ok, guess this build can't be perfect and this guy is human, looks kinda weird with the walnut showing around the neck pieces and ooooooh fuck he's veneering it. Goddamnit" This guitar is shaping up to be absolutely perfect.


----------



## littlemurph7976 (Aug 27, 2012)

This looks awesome! Really digging the design of the whole thing, the body shape and headstock shape look like they'll go together really nicely. And also that top is amazing.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Aug 28, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words guys. I'm enjoying the hell out of this build, especially since I'm doing so many things I've never done before. It's keeping me on my toes!


----------



## quoenusz (Aug 29, 2012)

this is going to be awesome!!!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Aug 31, 2012)

Hacking away a little bit at a time!

My focus has been mostly on the neck lately. With any luck I'll get the neck pocket routed tomorrow.

So, in this build I've learned that veneers are a pain in the ass. More gluing:







And after gluing and cleaning up the edges of the back and front plates (and a quick wipe down with alcohol), we nearly have a completed headstock!






I do love the way that this wood sandwich looks (redwood/maple cap, walnut center, purple heart layer, walnut back plate). Need to clean that glue off...






BUT... we're not done yet....

Suddenly.... binding channels!






Binding router bit was too big to get into the inside of the hook, so I'm going to have to chisel that by hand. I'm sure that's going to go REALLY well...


----------



## BlackMastodon (Aug 31, 2012)

Looks fantastic man. Good luck with the chisel.  Hope it goes well.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Sep 4, 2012)

Still slow progress. The truss rod took way too much time this time around. Last time I used a Stew Mac Truss rod that wasn't terribly difficult to install. This time I used truss rod that I got from Ebay seller hildrethja and it required a little more slot tweaking to get it to fit.

Starting point (using shopsmith fence as my router guide):






Not quite deep enough:






Ok, got it (with a little free-hand routing around the head of the rod to get it to fit snug):






I also tried a different approach to the keyhole, setting up my shopsmith table at an 18 degree angle to the truss rod slot, and drilling straight in, instead of just continuing the router channel after the nut. 






Just a hair off (ok, like a mm or so). Still have perfect access, and much less obtrusive than the huge slot I did last time. I'll do better next time.

Then, I learned how to bleach my binding. It was too reddish compared to the maple on the headstock, so I put it in the tub and (CAREFULLY!) sponged some bleach on the wood and let it sit for about 15 min. The results speak for themselves once the binding was rinsed and left to dry (bleached on the left, original on the right):






Then, I got to work on binding the headstock. Holy crap this stuff is not easy to work with, and for my first time EVER binding a guitar it is a formidable challenge. Especially since I made it harder on myself than it had to be with 2 ply binding (black abs stripe sandwiched in there). I'm looking forward to the nice, easy curves of the body, and the straight gluing of the binding on the neck.






Tonight is gig night. Got a local metal show to play, so I'll have to wait for tomorrow to finish up the headstock. Almost done though. Almost done...


----------



## nutsock (Sep 4, 2012)

This is shaping up nicely.cant wait to see it finished! Great work!


----------



## scherzo1928 (Sep 4, 2012)

Looks like this will be a very nice axe when finished.

Hope it all goes well with the wood binding. Just thinking about binding another body makes me feel down.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Sep 10, 2012)

Ok, first off, I'm sorry for the large photos. Photobucket isn't allowing me to resize photos right now and it's becoming quite a pain in the butt.

This weekend I got my neck pocket finished and headstock completed.

First, the neck pocket. I made a standard 3/4" mdf template:






Then lined up my original template to get the proper neck pocket curve routed:






Drill out the meat:






And after a couple minuted with the template and router, voila, neck pocket with a 1.5 degree angle:






I know it's a good fit because i can hold the guitar up with no bolts. This pocket is wicked tight:






Being as antsy as I am to see this guitar come together, I taped on the fretboard and neck binding, to see how it's all going to look together:






Ladies and djentlemen, I'm in love with this guitar. 

After that, I took it apart, and routed my body binding channel with my stewmac binding bit set. Man, I really do love using the right tools for the right job.






Then first layer of binding was glued. Next will be more curly maple:






I had a small amount of time to spend on the headstock, so I sanded my binding flush, and cleaned it up with some alcohol. A couple small fixes and I'll call it done!






More to come after I get the body binding done.


----------



## Vostre Roy (Sep 10, 2012)

Man, you aren't making honor to your nickname. This guitar is nothing near to be ugly


----------



## blaaargh (Sep 10, 2012)

Looks awesome dude! Pics from a couple days ago are down for me though (the last post in the first page)


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Sep 11, 2012)

blaaargh said:


> Looks awesome dude! Pics from a couple days ago are down for me though (the last post in the first page)



Yeah, I'm having some major photobucket issues right now and they're barely responding to my inquiries. Hopefully should have things right soon.


----------



## Levi79 (Sep 11, 2012)

Seriously incredible work man. I love it a lot.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Sep 17, 2012)

This can't resize photos yet in photobucket, so sorry for the huge files. They finally responded that they're working on the issues.

Another week, and a handful of updates on this beast!

I'm learning wood binding is a slow job for a guitar. I started off by pre-bending my binding to make the gluing easier, and to give the maple time to dry before gluing it on:






Sockets come in real handy when needing to push the binding into those curves:






After a few days of working about 30-40 min at a time, I got the whole guitar glued up and ready for trimming:






A few minutes on the ROSS and the binding was nice and flush: 










But that step-top is unacceptable. I used a couple different tools to test bringing the edge down to the binding. This is my first carved top guitar so I'm kinda learning as I go here.






I tried a few different methods, but ultimately went back to my hoof rasp and files for the best control and a contour to the edges.

Now, if there's one thing I've grown to love, it's carving wood. It's an amazing process. You can really hear the wood speak to you as you move from section to section. It tells you where it wants to go, and all you have to do is listen. I wasn't 100% sure how my carving (aka rasping/filing) was going to turn out, but I jumped in with both feet, and I love how this turned out.

Here's the angle I decided on for the lower horn. From the top straight down it almost looks like a chisel:






After about 2 hours of following the edges and bringing the step down to the binding, I ended up with this. Certainly a little rough, but it's finally finding it's own personality!:






A couple more minutes with the palm sander to smooth it out to 100 grit, and I rubbed on some more mineral spirits to see the binding layers.














I'm in Redwood heaven. 

I'm still waiting on some parts to show up to continue working on the neck, and I need to get that done so that I can glue the fretboard on before I can think of proper bridge and pickup placement. Maybe I'll get the neck bolts done next. We'll see what inspires me tonight.


----------



## BlackMastodon (Sep 17, 2012)

I finally have an excuse to use this gif:






That top really comes to life when you hit it with mineral spirits! This is looking amazing man, great job on the binding!


----------



## bigswifty (Sep 17, 2012)




----------



## Pete27 (Sep 17, 2012)

immense work dude. so good!


----------



## Birdman (Sep 17, 2012)

great man !!! love that top.


----------



## Dan Halen (Sep 18, 2012)

Cant wait till bthis is done. threads like this give me so many good ideas!!!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Sep 18, 2012)

Thanks guys! 

I'm actually making a second 6 string right now that will be a flamed maple top, and after that I'm gonna dive into a fanned 7. Maybe walnut burl. We'll see...


----------



## Omzig (Sep 18, 2012)

Love that top almost looks like ripping water,great build sofar!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 2, 2012)

Well, because of some hardware shipping delays, and playing guess and check with my neck bolt system, it took a lot longer than I expected to finally get the neck bolted on, but here it is. 

I don't like neck plates so i went with recessed ferrules. I had to find the right black bolts to fit into the T-nuts on the opposite side of the neck, but finally got the correct ones. Some measuring, drawing, and a quick drill with the forstner bit:






And now we're good to go:






I love this kind of neck joint. It's incredibly sturdy. I feel like I could bludgeon someone with this thing and still play a show afterwards:






Oh, and the other reason it's taken so long to post more updates is that I've been trying to get the second double cutaway caught up:










A bit more work to be done obviously, but I should be in the finishing stage in about 2-3 weeks if time permits. For now, it's back to the shop cause I got lots more to do!


----------



## scherzo1928 (Nov 2, 2012)

HOLY

SHIT

How did I not see this thread before...

DAMN!


----------



## skeels (Nov 2, 2012)

Wow.







Wow man.

Wow.




I like your build philosophy.

It's like the guitar tells you how it wants to be built.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 6, 2012)

Black ABS binding this weekend. 







I didn't think I'd like plastic binding but it's actually very nice to work with, and using acetone it bonds to the wood without the need for adhesive. Plus I think it's going to give a good contrast against the maple during finishing.

With any luck, tonight I'll get the rest of the binding scraped flush, and that top carved.


----------



## OfArtAndArsenal (Nov 6, 2012)

ugly_guitar_guy said:


>



Hooooooooooooly crap that is a gorgeous piece of wood. I've been really interested in redwood lately and this just finalized it.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 7, 2012)

OfArtAndArsenal said:


> Hooooooooooooly crap that is a gorgeous piece of wood. I've been really interested in redwood lately and this just finalized it.



I'm loving redwood now. I'd like to find some nice burled redwood to work with. That stuff looks amazing, but curly redwood just looks like flowing water to me.

Carved the maple guitar top last night. First, draw out the lines in pencil. Then hack away with the rasp, scraper, and finger plane:










Pretty soon it's done and needing to be sanded:









Mineral spirits makes all the difference:






My first really good look at the whole guitar:






I'm debating on the neck binding right now. Part of me wants to stick with the black ABS, but part of me wants to go with a thin strip of purple heart to add some character since I decided to do purple heart in the headstock veneer. What do you guys think?


----------



## Devyn Eclipse Nav (Nov 7, 2012)

I'd say go with the purpleheart, that'd look awesome.


----------



## teleofseven (Nov 7, 2012)

singlecuts... mmmeeeeeeehhhh. other than that, i thought porn wasn't allowed on this site.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 7, 2012)

teleofseven said:


> singlecuts... mmmeeeeeeehhhh. other than that, i thought porn wasn't allowed on this site.



You'd consider this a single cut? Curious...

Typically, a Strat (arguably the most famous double cut of all) has an upper cut that meets at about the 17th fret. Mine meets at the 19th fret, and has a deeper cutaway to reach the 24th fret effortlessly. So that being said, this to me, is a double cutaway, not a single cut. Maybe you like it more now? 

I'm leaning very far towards purple heart now. Btw, the maple will be stained...


----------



## Spaceman_Spiff (Nov 7, 2012)

Holy. Poop.

That is looking insane man....well done indeed.


----------



## teleofseven (Nov 7, 2012)

ugly_guitar_guy said:


> You'd consider this a single cut? Curious...
> 
> Typically, a Strat (arguably the most famous double cut of all) has an upper cut that meets at about the 17th fret. Mine meets at the 19th fret, and has a deeper cutaway to reach the 24th fret effortlessly. So that being said, this to me, is a double cutaway, not a single cut. Maybe you like it more now?
> 
> I'm leaning very far towards purple heart now. Btw, the maple will be stained...



man. i'm having the worst case of brainfarts today. ofcourse i meant doublecuts

i should've just stayed in bed the whooole day.


----------



## DTSH (Nov 7, 2012)

Looking great so far! CAn't wait to see the finished products.


----------



## OfArtAndArsenal (Nov 8, 2012)

Jeez. These are looking great man. Keep it up!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 12, 2012)

Alright, so purple heart neck binding it is.

This scrap that i had from the neck blank will need to be planed to proper size:






But first, slot the fretboard. My ghetto slotting rig works nicely with a Stew mac fret saw:






Noice:






Still needs a truss rod though. That's better:






Let's prep for glue. And the binding has been planed to fretboard height, and about 1/8" thick. The rest will be trimmed after gluing:






Spooge.






Clamp the berjeebus out of it (and bloody hell make sure your center line doesn't shift!):






Then route the binding channel (oh, and I drilled the keyhole for the truss rod too. Very unobtrusive):










Then glue and tape. I'm not gonna lie, I may have glued myself to the purple heart at one point. Thank God for acetone...






Tonight, trim the PH, and neck bolts.


----------



## Blue1970Cutlass (Nov 13, 2012)

Both amazing!

Personally diggin' the 1st one more, but both are just excellent!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 13, 2012)

Blue1970Cutlass said:


> Both amazing!
> 
> Personally diggin' the 1st one more, but both are just excellent!



Thanks! I should have the fretboard for #1 ready to glue this weekend to get caught up. Had to do some surgery on it first... 

Last night was all about binding and trimming. I cleaned up the neck after removing all the tape and left over glue, and used my scraper to get the purple heart thinned down to the maple width:










(Note: I gotta make a small saw to clean the glue out of those slots that it bled into.)

Next up, binding the headstock. Routed the channel:






Used acetone to melt the binding into the wood, and taped it up:






Doesn't take long to dry, and it's ready to be scraped:










A couple minutes with the scraper and sanding block and we're nearly ready for the touch up step tomorrow:






All in all, I like the purple heart binding more than I thought i would. When the body is finished I think it will add an awesome contrast to all the black. 






Almost ready to carve and radius that neck now...


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 19, 2012)

Quickie and not super eventful update, but an update none the less.

The headstock for the maple top guitar got tuner holes:






Planet Waves auto trim tuners. I like these quite a bit, although they are a bit heavy:






Also, abalone fret dots on this one. Just enough room at the 24th fret. I'm not a fan of center dots, but this is what the customer prefers:






Some overall progress made. Rounded all guitars to a 3/16" back edge roundover:






Then used the Forstner bit and opened up the control cavities:






Used my template to route them to shape. Have to make a deeper template for the control cover recess, so that will need to wait:






Then took my rasp to the mahogany back of the redwood guitar and got the angle started:






Once I get the neck carved I'll completely smooth this transition, but for now it will stay rough:






Sanded the redwood body to 220 and cleaned with alcohol to prepare for staining:






First, I clear coat the binding so that the stain going on the redwood does not penetrate the maple:






This popped all those beautiful curls I love so much! I spent a good part of the weekend working with different stain and clear-coat combinations on scrap to get the finish I'm going for. Tonight, the redwood top will get it's first contrast stain!


----------



## yamasaki760 (Nov 19, 2012)

AMAZING!!!!!!


----------



## Watty (Nov 19, 2012)

That top shot!!!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 20, 2012)

Time for contrast stain. I use Trans-tint black dye mixed to the proper opacity to darken the deeper grains. When staining your wood always wet the wood first with warm water to allow the stain to flow evenly and not be splotchy. 






Very quickly we are done. The binding is still it's natural maple color, and the redwood has taken all the dye that it wants to. 






I s#!% you not, when I move the top it looks like flowing water. I'm almost inclined to leave it as is, but I don't want to be hasty. This is coming out so much better than I ever imagined. 

Tonight, we sand it back, and make come decisions about phase 2...


----------



## BlackMastodon (Nov 20, 2012)

Holy shit! That is some great advice with the warm water and the clear on the binding, too.


----------



## Overtone (Nov 20, 2012)

You know how I feel about this build?


----------



## TIBrent (Nov 21, 2012)

Frickin subscribed to this build! WOW!! AMAZING WORK & I can't wait for more
-Brent


----------



## skisgaar (Nov 21, 2012)

My god. That quilt :O


----------



## Konfyouzd (Nov 21, 2012)

Wow... That's nuts


----------



## OfArtAndArsenal (Nov 21, 2012)

MOAR!!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 21, 2012)

Last night, sanded back the stain on #1 to let the contrast show through, and cleaned with alcohol.







While I really like the tiger stripe effect that this is giving me, it's a little too orangey for what I want, so tonight will be another thin coat of stain to darken the whole top up a little bit.

Then, #2 got it's contrast stain. I've been thinking charcoal burst, and this pretty much solidified that for me. Tonight I''ll sand it back and restain as well. 






I have a 4 day weekend this weekend, so I have big plans to get a lot of work done. Will be back with plenty of updates for you djents. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 26, 2012)

Happy Cyber Monday everybody. I hope you're all spending those hard earned dollars from your keyboard today.

Anyway, progress from the weekend!

The redwood guitar got another coat of contrast stain, and came out exactly what I wanted. It looks like dark tiger stripes in person with just hints of an orange-y red showing through:






The clear on that is going to make it look amazing.

Then it was time to get the neck for #2 shaped. Started with a compound fretboard radius; 16-20":






It's not hard to do with radius blocks, you just have to make sure you don't get a dip in the middle of the fretboard, and keep all the lines straight:






(That pic gives a weird optical illusion because of the right side of the end being angled towards the camera).

Then, carving. I do my rough shaping with a hoof rasp, then move on to a smaller file, then the Ridgid sander.






After about an hour:






I seem to be liking a flat D-shape these days. My Sterling JP has a very flat D-shape neck on it, so I was trying to capture that feel, even though this neck is slightly slimmer. Thickness is 19mm at the nut, 20mm at the 12th fret.






The heel transition will be smoothed out after it's glued. As it is now, it's completely effortless to get full fretboard access.






Before gluing the neck in, I want to route the pickup cavities. Before routing the pickup cavities I need to seal the top so that I don't screw up the stain. So I began with drilling the counter-sunk holes for the controls, and spraying a couple coats of sanding sealer. 






This will be set aside now for a couple days while I make progress with #1 to get it caught up to the same point as this one because it's a little too far behind. There's still too much sawdust being made in the shop to try to do finish work yet!


----------



## Vostre Roy (Nov 27, 2012)

Well damn, it keeps getting better and better.

Why again are you called "ugly_guitar_guy"?


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 27, 2012)

Vostre Roy said:


> Why again are you called "ugly_guitar_guy"?



Because I used to think the ESP F- series was the greatest guitar ever designed. 

And I love ugly, pointy, guitars.


----------



## Dan Halen (Nov 27, 2012)

Vostre Roy said:


> Well damn, it keeps getting better and better.
> 
> Why again are you called "ugly_guitar_guy"?



Maybe its not his guitars. maybe HES the Ugly one. no one really knows.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Nov 27, 2012)

Dan Halen said:


> Maybe its not his guitars. maybe HES the Ugly one. no one really knows.



Well now that you mention it, my Mom IS my biggest fan...


----------



## ThePhilosopher (Nov 27, 2012)

Sexy guitars are sexy.


----------



## jarnozz (Nov 28, 2012)

Really digging the shape of the guitar! neat work at the neck as well! this is pure win xD


----------



## immortalx (Nov 28, 2012)

You've got some insane skills and those axes are sexy as hell


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Feb 11, 2013)

Hey guys!

So, these builds are still alive and well, just slow going unfortunately. The pace should be much faster though now, since I got laid off and all. 

So here's where we are...

The maple DC got some pickups routes, and the neck glued in:











Then naturally bridge placement came next, and a mock up with the pickups:








Shortly thereafter the back of the neck was filed to a nice flush contour:






And the headstock was stained to match the body:






That guitar is in the sealing stage of finishing now.

The redwood guitar top got sealed first so that the pickup routing templates didn't screw up the soft redwood:






Followed soon after by pickup routing and bridge placement:
















Then it was time for neck shaping, and I have to say I love the smell of cutting walnut more than nearly anything else I work with. 











Both guitar necks have a slight D shape with 19.5mm thickness at the nut and 21.5mm at the 12th fret.

Now that both guitars are in the sealer phase, they both got blackened brass tone blocks installed for really increasing the sustain of the beast.






Tomorrow, the redwood guitar will get a slight burst on the edges. More to come soon.


----------



## Dan Halen (Feb 11, 2013)

This is quite nice. wish I had the money to buy the equipment and wood you got. there would be so many of these threads hahah.


----------



## MrMcSick (Feb 12, 2013)

Good god, this thread is redonkulus!!!!! Amazing.


----------



## BlackMastodon (Feb 12, 2013)

Looking great! Can't wait to see/hear them finished.


----------



## ugly_guitar_guy (Feb 15, 2013)

BURST!!

I had been messing with the idea for a few days now and finally got a tinted lacquer combination that I was happy with. Preval sprayer in hand, I sprayed away, and got the edge fade I was hoping for. Not too dark, and slightly transparent so that it just gives the top a little more depth. 












I may sand some back and fix a few parts, but overall, me likey.


----------



## CD1221 (Feb 16, 2013)

Awesome work here, just bloody awesome.


----------



## AwDeOh (Feb 16, 2013)

This guitar is crap. I think you should do yourself a favor and just give it to me to dispose of.

With Seymour Duncan Customs.


----------



## pondman (Feb 16, 2013)

Wow I missed this one 
Amazing and precise work


----------

