# Deegatron - 3rd build Multiscale



## Deegatron (Jun 29, 2013)

Heya Guy's,
My first post on Sevenstring.org. 3rd Build. long time lurker... figured this build was metal enough to justify starting a thread here.
Specs:
25.5"-24.75" multiscale
Magnet cavity covers
SS jumbo frets
1-5/8" nut width
custom birdseye maple / aluminum bridge with graphtech saddles.
Tung oil finish
Padouk neck
Birdseye maple fretboard - black MOP dots... if I can find someone that'll ship em acroos the border... 
Basswood body - dyed black
Curly red western cedar drop top - got a SCREAMING deal on ebay. couldn't say no...
Pickup - undecided... I've got an old beat up pickup out of an old aria pro that i'll be using for mockup.... im leaning towards a crunch lab in the bridge and no neck pickup.
Volume / tone / switch for coil split
Superstrat ish body style...
Bolt on style neck. I used six 6 mm bolts with inserts on my last build and will likely do so on this build. they make normal screws look like play toys... and im all about over doing it... im a little worried they'll pull right thru the basswood so I've got a plan to hide some maple in there....
3x3 headstock

I'll admit im a terribly slow builder but im already a ways in and i'll post updates as soon as they happen.
currently the body and drop top are jointed and glued. Just finished building a thicknessing jig for the router so I can clean up the basswood and get it down to about 1.5" thick.
See below for pictures of current progress....



That's the top with some mineral spirits on it. should pop like mad once it's finished.









Angled pickup baseplate...
both the pickup baseplate and bridge plate were drawn in CAD printed, glued to the aluminum, drilled by hand, cut out with a hack saw and filed to the lines. took some time but actually came out nice...



This is the bridge in process



Nearly done, just needs the maple back to hold the screws... Im waiting on a drill press before I finish this but I cant seem to find a nice one on kijiji... don't really wanna pay full price for a new one...


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## OrsusMetal (Jun 30, 2013)

Awesome! Looking forward to this!


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## Deegatron (Jul 1, 2013)

Got nearly a full day in the garage today.
Finished thicknessing the basswood for the body.
My thicknessing jig for the router... built it yesterday for $30 bux. crude but highly effective.... but slow... very slow....



From there I cut out the basswood and cedar to aprox 1/8 oversided with the jigsaw and a coping saw for the cedar... I was afraid the jigsaw would tear it up... the coping saw did enough of that as is... 










Super happy with my joints this time around...



started with a plane and finished with a bard with sandpaper on it... you can hardly see the joints which is a big step up from my last 2 tries...

After that I built a fret slotting jig... its large enough that i'll be able to angle the fingerboard to get the fan im looking for without any issues.. last 2 builds I used preslotted fretboards.. not sure about this but it's a little too late to back out now...


Just a side note on cedar....
I love how that stuff smells when you cut it.... I deffinatly intend on using more of it if I can... it seems pretty soft... but I think I can live with that for the smell alone....


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## FruitCakeRonin (Jul 1, 2013)

Thats a pretty, interesting top. Also don't think I've seen a 6 string multiscale before.

question, are you using a router to clean up the body shape, or do you just sand after cutting with the jigsaw ?


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## ElRay (Jul 1, 2013)

Nice 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 it done.

I'd definitely like to see more details on your bridge as you continue.

Ray


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## Deegatron (Jul 1, 2013)

Game plan was to clean it up with a router.... but Im a little afraid the cedar will not co-operate.... Will have to do a few test pieces to see if the cedar tears out with a router or not... if it does i'll have to sand it... which may be a very time consuming affair.... I suppose it's a good day to buy a ROSS....


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## Deegatron (Jul 6, 2013)

Yesterday was NEW TOOL DAY!!!!
Picked up a stand up drill press from kijiji for $130... screaming deal I think.....






seemed to run nice and true and was in great shape....
got it home... and things aren't going soo well....
Chuck had some mega runout... so today was "fix the crap you bought yesterday day"
bought a new chuck and matching arber or whatever it's called... swapped in the new chuck.... swing and a miss... still has some solid runout... just not acceptable.... so I tore the whole thing down... the bottom bearing appears to be a little loose... Im not sure if it's enough to cause the runout but i'll have to replace the bearings and see how she spins... everything else on the drill press is working like a charm so im not real upset I had to spend $20 on a new chuck (which I likely needed anyways) and another $20 or so on bearings... Im just praying to the gods of metal that nothing is bent.... I work for a company that has a machine shop... but i'd rather not have to go around there asking for favors to straiten my drill press spindle.... I suppose i'll find out shortly... I've got a mini press at home that I built in shop class at nait... perhaps that will be the answer.... 

While I was in the west end picking up the new chuck, I also stopped by lee valley and picked up one of their "template sanders" thinking i'll use that to finish the OD on the body so I don't have to worry about tearout... I will report back on how well it worked.... it should also work for making templates if I can take the bearing off the bottom.....


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## Deegatron (Aug 5, 2013)

Sorry for the lack of updates. Danm drill press turned out to be more of a project than I had planned.
reguardless it's done and usable now. also had to repair a new sander I bought from craptastical tire. I would have returned it but of course I lost the recept.. either way that's up and running as well... enough excuses. updates.....
I built a jig for gluing the top to the body.... didn't have enough clamps and needed the mdf for templates anyways.... so it really cost me about $15 bux for all the bolts and i'll reuse the bolts to glue on the fretboard.... so epic win....






Once I was done I cut one piece of the clamping jig into a template and tried to robosand the body to the template... epic fail.... it took WAY too long, didn't get quite to the line and just overall didn't work.... wound up routing to the template... which worked out quite well but gave me some router burn in some area's.... wish I had a router table... but no biggie, I'll build one for my next build.
Left with this....






Im not really happy with my bridge design... it's just not producting a professional result like I was hoping for....

Im trying to find some aluminum T-bar to do something similar to agile multiscale bridge but no-one local sells danm aluminum t-bar... it's kinda frustrating....
whatever... is what it is...


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## Deegatron (Aug 8, 2013)

Couple small updates. as mentioned... im a slower builder compared to most of the guys on here....
Slotted the fretboard.
Was rather worried as im not able to print out a full size template due to paper size on my printer... got around it by taping 2 pieces of paper together and then entering it into the computer as a "custom paper size" then I was able to print a full length template in 1 print so I didn't have to worry about aligning 2 pages after everything was printed... worked like a mother freaking charm....
here is the result.



it looks like shit... but that's just the paper getting ripped up from the sawing process... the slots are all exactly where they need to be (hopefully)
fretboard is currently oversized.. it wll be glued to a correctly sized neck black and then routed to correct size...

It's actually a lighter fan than I was really expecting... 3/4" really isn't a lot over 25.5".... reguardless.... I wanted this one to be a light fan to make sure I liked it... next one i'll do 26 to 24 or something and get real crazy... 

From there I recessed the holes for the volume and tone knobs...



I used a 3/4" spade bit... will have to remind myself to buy a fostner for this... as the spade chewed up the top a tiny bit around some of the edges... bad plan... live and learn I suppose... it's not too bad.. can prolly sand it out or fill it during finishing...
the knob in there is just a stand in... it will be chrome once everything is complete... 
After that was the cavity...



done in about 5 passes on the router... there is a lot of extra space in there... I may put a battery for an active system in there or I may add in a small switch for series/parralell or coil spit or something... or it's always nice to have a little extra room in the cavity.... chicks dig extra room in the cavity... 

Next on the list
-print out a template for the neck and start cutting out a neck template... then start the compound scarf joint.
-print out a template for the belly contour and carve that shiznit.
make some templates for the rear cavity cover and cavity cover recess and fit them together... then see if it've got any leftover paduok for the cavity cover... I think I've got a piece just big enough left over from #2.. if not, no worries... Windsor plywood is a short drive away....
-learn kung fu... challenge Keanu Reeves to a ninja showdown to the death. two will enter... one will leave... thunder dome.. thunder dome... thunder dome.....


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## Deegatron (Aug 10, 2013)

Just a small update today.
wasted most of the day helping my broheim build a deck and then dealing with a wireless connectivity issue. danm printer is wireless and wouldn't connect to our network so I couldn't print out any templates. I almost threw the danm thing out the window.... yeah, awesome sauce.

Anyways, cut the compound scarf today.
surprisingly much easier than I had anticipated.
Process started with my 9" Ryobi band saw. danm things a beast. love it.
it's noisy... and shakes sometimes when it's on... but im pretty sure it would cut through indestructium without complaining.
set the table to a few degree's off center and make the cut.






cut was then cleaned up with my trusty hand plane. the band saw cut was nowhere near where it needed to be. it's impossible to figure out the angles just right... 
Next I cleaned it up further with some 120 grit and made sure it was 100% flat. if your work with the plane is good this only takes a minute.



Surprisingly my plane work was acceptable and it only took me a minute or two.



And there she is. complete and ready for action.

I cant seem to make a decision on the pickups I wanna put in this beast. Im calling her the TS-1 by the way. TS stands for Taint Shredder....
anyways, im looking to tune her to something like drop A or A std.... perhaps rock some Djent, a little fear factory, and perhaps some in this moment. 
anyone with pickup recommendations.. please chime in.... I should be able to modify just about any pickup to fit the fan so im not worried about that.... One of my side projects is building a pickup winder... might try my hand at that... who am I kidding... I've already got enough on my plate. I'll buy pickups for this one....


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## skeels (Aug 11, 2013)

skeels likes this


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## Hollowway (Aug 11, 2013)

I love padauk. I just wish it were more color stable. But mm-MM it looks good fresh like that!


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## Deegatron (Aug 23, 2013)

Hollowway, im actually a huge fan of the color change on padauk. it's like a patina on old shit... only it happens within months... take a nice piece of padauk... let it change color.. then go back and sand 1/2 of it to compare the color... I always like the aged look more... but that's just me...

Anyways, 2 days in the garage.... not a lot of progress tho...
completed my template for the truss rod and neck blank... just waiting on the neck glue up... im fearing this a little as the compound angle is going to make things slip and slide like crazy... decided to take care of other things today...

Also knocked out the belly contour... but neglected to get any good photo's cuz when im in the zone... I ....ing forget to take pictures danmit....
here she is before starting...



I'll get some finished photo's of that up soon...

here I am thicknessing some padauk for the cavity cover...



This trusty thicknessing jig has proven to be a billion times more usefull than I originally hoped it could be... no more uneven wavy stock for me... thicknessed right and nice and flat every time....

cavity cover was then cut out on the band saw and sanded to size...
once again no photo's cuz im a tool.....
then I started on the cavity cover recess template...




and routed




always test on scrap...



wasn't 100% happy with the fit... still needs a little bit of adjustment here or there... but should be a nice snug fit once im done....

lastly I got a photo of the scarf joint lamination I was planning to use but it came out really blurry and pure shit... it's just the end of the fretboard blank glued to the scarf side of the neck blank anyways, so it's not all that special... On my last build I bought a bass guitar fretboard blank and used the excess In the scarf joint... looks perdy...


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## Deegatron (Aug 25, 2013)

More progress today. this build just keeps marching on... im rather enjoying it. haven't had a single fubar yet.... knock on wood...
Tunes for the day were Monuments Gnosis downloaded off Itunez.

on to the updates.
started by drilling the input jack. I was considering using a electrosocket style jack for this build but decided to go with the trusty flush mount style.
this is always a really tense moment for me. never had a drill press before... it was a billion times easier to get shit strait.
This picture also shows the completed belly contour... done with rasp's and finished off with some sanding...



started with a 3/4" bit to countersink the input jack... followed up with a 1/2" bit thru



I coulda used a 2nd set of hands getting everything aligned but I made due... just took longer....
After I drilled it I was worried that the input jack mounting nut wouldn't fit as it was rather close to the floor of the control cavity... but everything worked out...




Next task was the dreaded compound angle scarf joint glue up.....




Used every single clamp I had.... had to be sure shit wasn't gonna move around on me....
This picture shows a good view of the scarf joint lamination.
as mentioned previously it's the cutoff from the fretboard. nice chunk of birdseye maple... should make for a nice feature once the neck is carved... 



so far im pretty happy with it... we'll see once it's outta the clamps.

While the glue was drying there I continued work on the back cavity cover template and finally got it to the point where I was happy with it....
took 3 tries on scrap to get it just right....




nice and tight...



right now no magnets are required to keep it in there... its just held in by friction... actually requires some doing to get it outta there... the last one shrunk a little after a few weeks of being cut... so if that doesn't happen i'll just have to sand the edges so it's not quite soo tight... no big deal...

Next up on the order of operations.
flatten scarf joint.
Rout truss rod slot.
drill truss rod access hole..
rout neck blank to size
make neck pocket template.
rout neck pocket....


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## skeels (Aug 25, 2013)

Really like your cavity cover template jig system thing.

Why do I like curvy covers?


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## Deegatron (Aug 25, 2013)

skeels said:


> Really like your cavity cover template jig system thing.
> 
> Why do I like curvy covers?



Can't really say its my thing... Everything here I've seen somewhere else on the interweb before I did it... But yes it worked out really well... Only needed some minor tweaks to be ready to rock... 
The curvy cover is a little more work but I definitely think it adds something to the overall ascetics of the instrument... Cuz you know it's not just a plane Jane cavity under there... Someone has taken the time to layout the components and really make things work... Maximize the usable space...


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## Deegatron (Aug 26, 2013)

Deegatron said:


> More progress today. this build just keeps marching on... im rather enjoying it. haven't had a single fubar yet.... knock on wood...


 
Oh my god... i spoke too soon.... fubar ahoy....
cut the neck blank too short... yeah... what's that, measure once, cut twice... yeah... my bad...
the blank is too short to cut my headstock.... so it's either cut out the scarf joint and glue in a new peice... or scrap that neck blank and restart from scratch.....
im tempted to restart from scratch... i've always wanted to do one of them ibanez style laminated necks... but never really had the tools for it... i think i could pull it off now with the tools i've got... paduok maple paduok maple paduok... and it'd be balls easier to cut the headstock from a single peice rather than doing a compound angle scarf joint....
imna head to windsor plywood and see what they've got in stock....
I usually like to buy wood at the start of a project so it has time to acclimatize to my garage... but as long as i buy it local i should be okay....
 feeling like a total douche right now.... how in gods name did i manage this?!?!?!?!


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## MikeK (Aug 26, 2013)

Damn, that sucks! Might as well finish this neck off at some point and use it for another build down the road if its long enough. Everything else looks to be going good man.


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## Deegatron (Aug 26, 2013)

bought a big chunk of paduok today...
gonna try to salvage this neck...
I just need to cut off the old scarf joint, clean it up, and glue a new piece on... we'll see how that goes....
If I cut just ahead of the maple lamination I should be able to keep that... 
worst case scenario... im out a couple bux for the extra paduok and I need to buy more neck material.... no biggie....


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## charlessalvacion (Aug 27, 2013)

nice thread!


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## CD1221 (Aug 27, 2013)

Bummer about the mishap, but i am loving is build. Nice jiggery action.


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## Deegatron (Aug 27, 2013)

CD1221 said:


> Bummer about the mishap, but i am loving is build. Nice jiggery action.


 
It's one of them "Oppertunities to learn" that really suck at the time but will likely pay off down the road... im not overly upset about it. life goes on and it's more than fixable.

My first 2 builds had very few jig's/templates... and let me tell you... i'll build this way all day long vs my old way. I used to think guy's were retarted for making body templates and routing the body shape... just cut her out and sand to the line.... well... making a template... it's faster in the long run... easier... you get a better result.... and you've got a template for the next time you build a similar instrument... it's a no brainer.... wish i'd known that from build 1. but i guess that's why you dont see alota guy's selling their first build for $100,000.....


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## Deegatron (Sep 3, 2013)

So, the build marches on.
Got distracted by a buddy. retrofitted 2 Ibanez guitars with Neutrik locking jacks. what a gong show that was. not as easy as you would think. danm things require a 24mm hole (where the F can you buy a metric bit in that size... nowhere let me tell you...) plus a flat mouting surface... wound up being more than I bargained for. would not be terrible on a new build (before paint and without the existing hole to deal with)... but a retrofit is ruff.... Either way, put some $$ in the jar for tools and such so I really cant complain all that much and my friend was quite gratefull. he's been having issues with his cord coming out of his jack on a regular basis during shows (he moshes more than most people in the pit.) I can tell ya this... it wont be falling out again.. the neutrik jack is deffinatly locking... not sure how I feel about them.. they have a little bit of play but still seem to be quiet and very well constructed... i'll report back when my buddy has run them thru their paces....



for anyone looking to get into building. Start doing setups and small repairs for your friends... charge yourself out dirt cheep.... it pays for some of the tools and makes the hobby a little more affordable. the best projects to take on are the worst case scenario guitars. (I started out by refretting an old aria pro with fretwork so bad it was unplayable. I only charged him for the fretwire plus about $20 I think.... came out alright and was DEFINATLY better than when it came to me so buddy was very happy. I learned alot and it didn't cost me jack shit... win win)

anyways, back to the build at hand.
Paduok is cheep. my time is not. therefore I overcompensated....
bought a giant piece... i'll use the cutoffs for other things... nothing seems to get wasted in my shop... which im rather proud of.. there are always jigs to build and accents to be made....

the too short piece was cut off as close to the maple as possible.




from there it was a little work with the plane and then some scraping and then some sanding with a wood block to get her ready to glue again....




From there... it was time to glue... a short dry run and then spread the goop and go for it...




At this point in time im basically stuck on the body. the order of operations suggest I should get the neck mounted before I continue with cutting the pickups or mount the bridge... So for now im stuck on the critical path of getting the neck completed. Which is okay... because I still haven't figured out how in the hell im going to do the bridge by the way... i'll figure it out... thinking about asking a local machine shop to do something similar to the Agile single string bridges for me... not sure what else to do...


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## Suitable (Sep 4, 2013)

Nice clean work!  Im keen as to hear how this cedar turns out, Im with you on the smell though it is bloody soft. What finish are you planning on using?


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## Deegatron (Sep 5, 2013)

Suitable said:


> Nice clean work!  Im keen as to hear how this cedar turns out, Im with you on the smell though it is bloody soft. What finish are you planning on using?


 
I've got some black dye that I might use to highlight the grain... but i'll have to test on scrap first and see how it looks... im really liking it natural tho so it'll likely stay that way... maybe just dye the basswood...
either way top coat will be a tung oil polmurized finish. I dont really beleive a thick hard finish will add any protection for bumps anyways. with the soft wood underneath a hard finish will just crack where as the oil finish has a chance to dent with the wood and has the added advantage of being easy to repair if it comes down to that.
plus it really pops the grain on most woods so that's a big plus for the cedar.


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## pondman (Sep 5, 2013)

Loving this one , looks fantastic


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## Deegatron (Sep 6, 2013)

and, I just shat the bed again...
buggered up a template that I spent prettywell all day on... and then some....
but... it's just a template... and reality is... theres a better way to rout the truss rod anyways... or at least a better jig to be built... truss rod jig 2.0 I suppose....
still kinda pissed tho....


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## Just A Box (Sep 7, 2013)

Well, I'm having a hard time typing I'm laughing so hard... I had a legit question for you, which would've come after a few compliments on your work (well deserved, I might add). But, when I ran through what I was going to say, I couldn't imagine that "Man, I love that cavity you've got there, looks real tight" would have been taken the way I intended it...

SO, I had to share that, as there's no reason to be the only one having a good laugh at myself.

But, the work on this guitar is very clean looking and, as I'm attempting a multiscale build for the Home Depot Challenge, I thought I'd hit you up with a problem I'm having that you don't seem to be having: how do you get your printed templates to come out full size? Using Fretfind2, I printed a 25.5-26.25 fingerboard full size using Photoshop, and it still comes out a shade short. What do you use?


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## XxJoshxX (Sep 7, 2013)

Just A Box said:


> I thought I'd hit you up with a problem I'm having that you don't seem to be having: how do you get your printed templates to come out full size? Using Fretfind2, I printed a 25.5-26.25 fingerboard full size using Photoshop, and it still comes out a shade short. What do you use?



Just use Adobe reader X and save Fretfind 2d as a pdf


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## Just A Box (Sep 7, 2013)

XxJoshxX said:


> Just use Adobe reader X and save Fretfind 2d as a pdf



Really? I'll give it a whirl. I figured Adobe Photoshop would essentially allow me more control if the print size was an issue, but I'll try it. Thanks muchly.

Edit: Worked mint! Thanks. Go figure... A $100 piece of software can't print correctly what a free reader can.


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## Deegatron (Sep 7, 2013)

Thanks for the complement on the tight cavity... te he he...
Im actually a little jealous of anyone participating in the build challenge this year... I've been dying to participate but it came up too suddenly and I wasn't able to drop my current build to start another one....the wife would throttle me something fierce... next year tho... oooooo next year it's go time.... 

I actually use Rhino (it's similar to AutoCAD.) it prints exactly 1:1 for me as long as I print from the program directly to a printer. if I save to a file and then print from another computer it comes out a little big or a little small... are you printing strait from the fretfind program???
the biggest problem I had is finding paper big enough to print the whole thing to.... my printer only handles 8.5" wide... had to tape a few pcs of paper together to make a 8.5 x 30" sheet and print it that way....
Sorry im not much help... 
The one advantage of drawing the fret scales out by hand is I find it's a huge help to me to be able to draw everything up at once and see how everything fits together before I start a build but im artistically challenged (my background is engineering so anything non structural takes me a while to wrap my head around)

anyways, I've got lots of big updates today... spent the whole day in the garage slaving away..... managed to salvage my neck template.... some small repairs and it was good to go....

Started by flattening the top of the board I glued on.



used my trusty thicknessing jig. I've never used a tool so much in my life... it's insane... there is nothing this jig will not do.... im pretty sure it would make mean burrito's if I asked it to. like strait from mexico from the not touristy area's beautifull burrito'e goodness....

Next step was routing the truss rod channel. 
Here's the jig I made... absolutely without a doubt not happy with it... next time i'll do it differently for sure... but lesson learned... move on...



while routing the first pass on the truss rod the danm bit slipped in the chuck... I didn't notice... I would up routing some of the channel too deep in the first pass... twas kinda rough.... wound up routing everything to that level and then thicknessing the top so the channel was the proper depth... pissed me off something fierce... but I made it thru it.
the jig required that the first pass be super heavy and I think the vibration was what knocked the bit loose... either way, next time i'll build a completely different jig so it's not a problem.....

Moving on...



here's a layout with the truss rod. worked out exactly as I wanted in the end... still kinda pissed off at the bit tho... but that's life....

next job was to thickness the headstock to the proper thickness before cutting it out. I did it before so I had somewhere to clamp it down...



whamo.. thicknessing jig... again.... im willing to bet once im done here i'll have used this jig more than all of my other tools combined.... soo cheap... soo awesome....

all this routing that I've been doing is not without cost... the red dust goes EVERYWHERE... it's unbelievable....



im constantly vacuuming after every operation... I need a dust collection system.... 

anyways, here's the headstock thicknessed and ready to be cut out...
I traced the shape onto the rear of the headstock and cut it out on the bandsaw and then routed it to shape with a template... didn't take any pictures cuz I was working the router... when I get funds for a full time photographer i'll get ya some good pics... ha ha ha....




anyways, headstock was cut out... and the transition was done with a rasp....



I bought one of them razor rasps from lee valley... I rather enjoy it... it seems to remove material quickly and still leave a nice finish with less tearing than I was getting with a regular rasp....

end of the day I couldn't resist some mock ups....






the fretboard still has the template glued onto the top so I can line it up when I glue it to the neck... it's a really nice board of birdseye maple undere there tho... should look pretty stunning once I get her glued down and I can take the template off....

That's all for today... I should get about 1/2 day in the garage tomorrow...


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## Deegatron (Sep 8, 2013)

Last glue joint of the build... I think... unless I scew something up... which is actually rather possible... but anyways, off we go today....

I would have glued on the fretboard yesterday but I was all out of silicone.... every time I do a build I have to buy a new container of this stuff... I can never find the old one... wouldn't matter it'd prolly be toast anyways....
a couple dabs and we're off to the races....




I rout the tross rod slot as short as possible. that means the truss rod has to go in like this...



once she's in place I can loosen the truss rod and she slides right into place.

next is drill the placement pins. I use the ones from LMII... they work fine... kinda pain to line up once you've got glue on there and yer rushing against time to get everything clamp'd properly... but is what it is...
anyways, here she is all glued up... im super stoked to get it outa the clamps and sand the danm template off of it to see how the fretboard looks... should be epic....




the LMII glue seems to dry at the speed of light... it's hard to keep up with... im confident I could pull the neck out of the clamps after 20 mins and it'd be good to go... i'll prolly leave it for at least 4 hours just to be sure....


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## Levi79 (Sep 8, 2013)

Looks great man! Awesome to see other dudes building guitars not too far from me!


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## Deegatron (Sep 8, 2013)

I was able to sneek in just a little more time in the garage before the family came over for dinner....
zeee maple... idz more beautifull than I imagined.....






couldn't help but post this... im freaking out about how fantastic this is turning out....
im doing black MOP dots at the 12th and 24th frets only... should look absolutely EPIC!!!


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## Deegatron (Sep 16, 2013)

so, disaster strikes again.
I drill my tuner holes from both sides. i drill a smaller hole up top and then a larger hole from the bottom... either way, the bit grabbed and yanked itself thru..... now i understand why no one else does their tuner holes like this... took a small chunk out of the front of the headstock... I wasnt planning on doing a faceplate on this one... but it's kinda a must have item now... lesson learned.... drill the larger of the two holes first...  
Had to put the neck down and leave the garage immediatly before i lost my %[email protected]^%#% nuggets... such is life i suppose... lesson learned...

I'll post some pics of the damage later this week when im mentally capible of looking at everything again....


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## Pikka Bird (Sep 17, 2013)

^That sucks hard, man... Here, accept some sympathy.

Out of curiosity, though- what is the point of drilling from both sides?


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## Deegatron (Sep 17, 2013)

Yeah, im not gonna lie, still having issues hauling my ass into the garage right now...
this stew mac tool is overpriced but the details explain why i do what i do rather well.... they list the reason as "it protects the laquour but i do it for tuning stability and general fit and finish.....
It probably isnt even an issue if they tuner is tightened properly... 
STEWMAC.COM : 1-step Peghole Drill Bit
Suddenly the stew mac tool seems rather reasnably priced...


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## Deegatron (Sep 17, 2013)

Despite my shame... the build marches on....



Drilled some holes! went much better this time. I used a different drill bit and put a depth stop on it. drill stop really wasn't required... it didn't grab at all... now im not sure what to blame.. doesn't matter... move along... be more prepared for next time....

here it is... my shame...




after a little super glue and sawdust we end up with this...



im not overly extatic about the fix... but im thinking once they'res some finish on top it should be acceptable... where you look at it closely and your like... is that a weird grain pattern or..... wont be 100% invisible.... next time i'll try wood glue and sawdust... the superglue was really hard to work with.......


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## CD1221 (Sep 19, 2013)

Can you do a veneer? Maybe a veneer using an offcut of the same timber?


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## Deegatron (Sep 19, 2013)

CD1221 said:


> Can you do a veneer? Maybe a veneer using an offcut of the same timber?


 
I have a couple pieces of cedar that would be big enough for a head plate... That very likely could be in the near future... the more I think about it the more im thinking that's the way it needs to be done...


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## Pikka Bird (Sep 20, 2013)

^Matching headstocks are all the rage, don't be sad that fate forced you to go that route.


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## Deegatron (Sep 20, 2013)

Alrighty, so it looks like the general consenus is "quit your whining and put a danm headstock plate on it."
Message received.

In other news, I finally made a decision on the pickup.
Gonna be a single Dimarzio X2N in the bridge position. nothing in the neck position.
controls will be 1 volume and 1 spin a split. (i never use the tone knob anyways)
should be excessivly metal.

Still working on the bridge... i think i've got a plan that should work... will explore it some this weekend....


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## DistinguishedPapyrus (Sep 21, 2013)

Deegatron said:


> while routing the first pass on the truss rod the danm bit slipped in the chuck... I didn't notice... I would up routing some of the channel too deep in the first pass... twas kinda rough.... wound up routing everything to that level and then thicknessing the top so the channel was the proper depth... pissed me off something fierce... but I made it thru it.
> the jig required that the first pass be super heavy and I think the vibration was what knocked the bit loose... either way, next time i'll build a completely different jig so it's not a problem.....



^ EXACT same thing happened to me a while back, however I didnt have enough stock to shave it down like that. I wound up splitting the neck down the middle and gluing in a laminate to build back the material of the truss rod slot and re-cut it with a circular saw first, and finished it with the router.


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## Deegatron (Sep 21, 2013)

DistinguishedPapyrus said:


> ^ EXACT same thing happened to me a while back, however I didnt have enough stock to shave it down like that. I wound up splitting the neck down the middle and gluing in a laminate to build back the material of the truss rod slot and re-cut it with a circular saw first, and finished it with the router.


 
AHhhhhh.... I'm glad I'm not the only person that's had problems here....
watching all the other build theads it feels like a lot of guy's either cover up and don't post their mistakes... or they make none... makes it all more frustrating.....


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## Deegatron (Sep 22, 2013)

Progress has been slow....
been jumping between projects and haven't really finished anything.
Did manage to do the inlays and get the fretboard radiusd to 16".
Put a layer of tung oil on the fretboard and got ready to hammer some frets.... cut out the frets and realized that 4' worth of fretwire is exactly 4" too short to complete this guitar.... the only other comparable fretwire I have is stainless steel... I have no intrest in mixing the two... looks like I'll be waiting for a while before I can fret.... that's aiet... hopefully I can get the bridge figured out so I know how deep to rout the neck pocket. Im going to metal supermarkets tomorrow after work to try to find something that will work... 
For your viewing pleasure... the inlays and radius'd fretboard.



http://s137.photobucket.com/user/deegatron_01/media/IMG_06351.jpg.html


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## Levi79 (Sep 24, 2013)

Looking beastly! Bummer about that fretwire though man.


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## Just A Box (Sep 25, 2013)

I know it's not perfect, but man... that's some nice looking work you're doing there. I making my first multiscale neck now, and am definitly inspired by this build.


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## Deegatron (Sep 25, 2013)

thanks for the kind words guy's.
No build ever goes as smoothly as you hope it will. 
Im using new tools with new tecniques (for me)
Im actually surprised there hasnt been more carnage yet... 
Next one will be flawless right?? hahaha... yeah... not likely...


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## schwiz (Sep 25, 2013)

Deegatron said:


> thanks for the kind words guy's.
> No build ever goes as smoothly as you hope it will.
> Im using new tools with new tecniques (for me)
> Im actually surprised there hasnt been more carnage yet...
> Next one will be flawless right?? hahaha... yeah... not likely...



I'm learning this the hard way as well


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## Deegatron (Sep 26, 2013)

Alright, it's about time I had a proper update in this thread.
and it's an epic update to boot....
This... has been a long time coming...
I've been racking my brain for weeks tying to figure out what to do about my bridge... the maple/almunum bridge was a total bust... 
this takes a bunch of heat off... now I can enjoy the rest of the build....
right now it's just a proof of concept... I got the spacing just a fewt thou too tight and nothing lines up like it should... but i'll fix that on the actual bridge so im not real upset about that... im just glad everything worked as planned...
started with a piece of aluminum u channel ( I couldn't find any L channel with the right dimensions and this piece was in the cheep bin at metal supermarkets... paid like $4 for enough to do 5 or 6 bridges. booya...)



long story short... get out the hack saw... cut it into an l channel...



Drill a hole thru a chunk of maple and then cut the proper angle...



do the same in the rear with a chunk of paduok (cuz I had it in the scrap bin



and you wind up with this....



and there you have it... I just need to cut the profile... drill the mounting holes and the string thru holes and it'd be done... if the spacing wasn't off... no biggie.. i'll make another one...






The depth on the recess in the back isn't perfectly consistent... but I think I found a way to make it better about 1/2 way thru... so the next bridge will be better....


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## jahosy (Sep 26, 2013)

^ Great stuff!


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## Youne (Oct 1, 2013)

Deegatron said:


> here it is... my shame...


 To avoid these kind of scratch, you can put under you head stock another piece of wood. It's the lack of material that cause your problem. Your drill push the wood fibers and if there's nothing under it cracks !!

Hope your repair is good! Nice choice of wood, specially for the neck. You xill have really nice maple parabola when it will be shaped !


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## Deegatron (Oct 1, 2013)

Youne said:


> To avoid these kind of scratch, you can put under you head stock another piece of wood. It's the lack of material that cause your problem. Your drill push the wood fibers and if there's nothing under it cracks !!
> 
> Hope your repair is good! Nice choice of wood, specially for the neck. You xill have really nice maple parabola when it will be shaped !


 
Heya Youne,
My intent was not to drill all the way through. I was trying to create a stepped diameter hole so the tuners would fit nice and snug everywhere... 
the bit grabbed the material and sucked itself through violently and then sucked the headstock up the drill bit... that's where the damage happened.... I changed the bit and didn't have any troubles on the other 5 holes. If I was intending to drill all the way through I absolutely would have had a scrap piece of wood behind the headstock but.. well yeah.... shit happens...  the scrap wood would not have helped on this one anyways due to the way the damage was created.


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## Youne (Oct 1, 2013)

Deegatron said:


> Heya Youne,
> My intent was not to drill all the way through. I was trying to create a stepped diameter hole so the tuners would fit nice


AH ok! sorry dude, I didn't catch it 
If it can reassure tou, I've done severals shity crap on my 3rd project too... Wood it's an alivve material, but nothing impossible you can always fixe it !


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## Deegatron (Oct 5, 2013)

and now... presented for your viewing pleasure... a long overdue update...
I've been waiting weeks for side dots and fretwire to show up.
Finally got some packages in the mail. I'd pay for express shipment... but the cost to Canada plus the customs is just absolutely insane... it's just hard to justify.

Reguardless. black mop side dots. fun fun fun...








and lastly I put some frets in there. hammered in... I almost bought one of them pressing cauls but due to the angle the radius changes on each fret... so I figured it'd be better to hammer them for a multiscale....











I have to say my best fret job yet....
I took ALOT of time to make sure the fretboard surface was 1000% level and it really paid off. I always keep a piece of paper around when I do a fret job. once your sure the fret is seated run the corner of the paper where the fret meets the board. try to slide the paper under the fret. if it goes under... the fret is not seated. I only had 2 frets that weren't 100% seated.. a few taps with the hammer fixed that immediately.

Did I ever mention that I HATE filing fret ends... I just... well... I hate it soo much... there's gotta be a better way to do this...


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## Merge (Oct 6, 2013)

Excellent work!!


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## skinnyjimmy (Oct 6, 2013)

Look top quality mate... really making me wanna get the tools out and buy some wood.. get myself an 8 string build on the go..


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## Deegatron (Oct 9, 2013)

**NEAR MISS REPORT**
Cause of near incident: bearing on my router bit done gone seized up and shiznit
Severity of incident: none. I done get by on the skin of mah teeth not break nuttin.
Possible severity of incident: FATALITY. if I ....ed up the body at this point in the game.... i'd jump off a bridge.

checked it before I started routing that pass... worked just fine... checked it after the pass and it was seized as shit.. would barely turn.
got lucky.. real real lucky....

And now for your viewing pleasure.... more photo's...



this is how I did the neck pocket template...



first blood... it's officially a project now. grabbing one router bit and another one sliced me... THERE IS NO SAFETY IN A SHOP... ANYWHERE!!!



TEMPLATE FINISHED WITH PICKUP ROUT...



ALWAYS TEST ON SCRAP... ALWAYS... YUP....



MOMENT OF TRUTH... took me like 10 mins to build up the courage to cut into the body... routers are a fickle bunch... if you let your guard down.. they'll bend you over the table and well.... do things... bad things... that you likely will not appreciate...



made it thru with only a small gear failure but no fubars....



the unofficial test.. neck pocket is tight enough to hold the weight of the body with ease...



hole for the wire drilled and everything laid out... looking good...



that is all.


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## Levi79 (Oct 10, 2013)

Looking great man! I gotta play this beast when it's finished!


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## Deegatron (Oct 13, 2013)

small update today...
went at the neck with a spoke shave and my new razor file...
wound up looking like this...






Once again, sorry for the shitty camera phone pictures... once she's done i'll get some pro photo's done.
The maple accent in the neck worked out wonderfully. this is not a asymmetrical neck. the scarf joint is angled to allow for the angled nut and this is how it turned out once carved... 
both of the transitions need some work.. but I'm very happy with the shape. Will need some fine tuning but for now this is pretty ideal.
normally neck carving is difficult for me... I need templates and a lot of dicking around to get it right... but this time was much smoother... just kinda... went at it... rather enjoyed it....

On a personal note... kinda kicking myself a little... really should have drilled the holes for the threaded inserts BEFORE I radius'd the fret board and fretted it... now I've got a rounded base for the neck to sit on while I try to drill strait holes into the neck... not ideal by any means.... luckily I've got a bit of a system down for that.... so im hoping i'll be okay....

drove about an hour on Saturday to the west end of Edmonton. Lee valley is the only place im aware of that sells 15mm forstner bits (required for a tight fit on the ferrules Im using). of course they were sold out... so they're going to send me one... delays delays delays... that's alright... plenty to be done before I NEED to have that bit.


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## Carnage (Oct 14, 2013)

Really enjoying this thread, looking great so far


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## chrisxrome (Oct 14, 2013)

Figuring on both the fingerboard and top is incredible! Nice work.


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## Deegatron (Oct 14, 2013)

YARG!
More updates.
well.. update... spent the evening on the next bridge prototype. looks good. 






needs some trimming and some final polishing and she'll be ready to rock out with her socks out....


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## CD1221 (Oct 15, 2013)

looking good, that neck is awesome. major props for home-brew bridge.


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## Deegatron (Oct 15, 2013)

oooooooooooooooooo.... GET SOME!!!!!



Bridge is almost done. I need to round some edges and polish her up but I couldn't resist some mockups.






more updates soon.


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## BlackMastodon (Oct 15, 2013)

Bridge turned out awesome! Really excited to see it completely finished and this thing put together.


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## Neilzord (Oct 16, 2013)

Well done that man! Looking fantastic!!! 

Seeing all these really makes me want to give it a go! First.. I need to get a big shed sorted haha


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## Deegatron (Dec 31, 2013)

Hey Guy's, sorry for dropping off the face of the planet for 2 months. winter hit hard. my garage is unheated and im in Canada. it's painfull and ill advised to do any wood working in -20 deg C.
Garage heater is now installed so work may once again continue.
on to the photo's... not a lot done so far... new toy tho....



mock my 2x4 leg's all you want... that officially saved me $200... yeah, that's right.. they wanted $200 more for the kit with the metal legs... I think not!!! My 2x4 leg's are solid... and cost me a whopping $10....







actual progress on the guitar is rather weak.. I drilled for the bridge screws, drilled the string through holes and drilled for the ferrules in the rear. that's really about it. but it's slowly creeping along... more soon.


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## Prophetable (Dec 31, 2013)

I really like the stripe for the joint in the back of the neck. I'm looking forward to the completion of this guitar very much.


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## Deegatron (Jan 3, 2014)

I cant decide if I like the scarf joint accent or not. its a really nice feature on the back of the neck and it's not something that you'll ever find on a production guitar.... but something just seems... off.... perhaps it's just too thick and needs to be more subtle... on the next one I think im going to try a thinner accent and see if that does it a little better for me.

once again weak progress today. im fighting with getting the magnets for the cavity cover glued in. I drilled the hole for one of the magnets a smidgen too deep by accident so I need to layer the CA gel to build it up a little. im hoping this round will stick and i'll be able to move on.


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## Prophetable (Jan 3, 2014)

Well, if you don't like it you can go ahead and finish it up and ship it to me.


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## Deegatron (Jan 3, 2014)

Prophetable said:


> Well, if you don't like it you can go ahead and finish it up and ship it to me.



ah crap that cracked me up.
well played sir.


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## OmegaSlayer (Jan 4, 2014)

Baptized in blood...GOOD!!! 
Awesome project so far!


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## JoeGuitar717 (Jan 4, 2014)

Nice work on the bridge. Very cool indeed.


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## Deegatron (Jan 4, 2014)

Small update.
Finally was able to get the last magnet to stick today...
all that's left now is to fill the cavities with thin superglue to really hold the magnets in there good...



This time around the magnets were significantly more trouble than last time... not sure what I did differently. either way the end result is stellar. it would be physically impossible to shake the cavity cover loose... I actually have a hard time pulling the cavity cover off as the magnets are very strong.


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## Deegatron (Jan 19, 2014)

The build marches on.
I put everything together... and things are looking up... put strings on her.. but unfortunately I wasn't able to get everything up to tension... basswood is soo soft that I was afraid the straings would pull right through the body... and unfortunately once I put the string ferrules in... they aint coming out... but I was able to cut the nut... I finally used the half pencil method... WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL OF MY LIFE!?!?!?! I didn't realize what I was missing... it's a billion times easier than what I was doing previously.... never again will I do a nut without a half pencil.... lesson learned... every method that you read about on the internet is awesome!!! haha... just kidding.... but if your having issues with stuff... check how other people on the internet do it... they just might be onto something....

moving on... I dyed the basswood black... it was much much easier than I thought it was going to be... 1 application and it was all done... I used a brush and just kept moving the dye around as much as possible while it dried and that gave me a reasonably even dye job... 



I also applied the copper cavity shielding... I've done this on all of my builds and I find it really helps keep noise/hum/unwanted feedback to a minimum.... the difference is substantial... it also simplifies your wiring as you don't have to run ground wires to most items..

then the top got 2 sealer coats of tung oil sealer and 1 coat of tung oil high gloss...




the next week or so will be spent building up high gloss coats on the body... after that i'll put a couple matt coats on the neck... couple days to completely dry and she'll be ready for action...


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## stevexc (Jan 22, 2014)

Awesome looking build, fellow Edmontonian!


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## XxJoshxX (Jan 22, 2014)

That cedar looks great. Which eBay seller did you get it from?


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## Deegatron (Jan 28, 2014)

And I present... the mostly completed... TS-1 (Taint Shredder - One)













First thoughts on the multi scale...
Meh.... the lower strings have enough tension and the higher strings seem a little sweeter... I guess... I think it's the strings crapping on my parade.... im not happy with the ernie ball cobalts at all... they're dull and lifeless and the plain G string is just... horrible....


I also found bar chords/ power chords anywhere near the first fret difficult at first... I seem to be adapting a little and they're much less awkard now... other than that I really don't feel a HUGE difference... next time i'll make the perpendicular fret closer to the nut... I think I did the 10th fret as the perp this time....

I was worried about the intonation as I had to place the bridge a smidgen further back than the ideal position... turned out to be a godsend... it intonated perfectly where it was with very little effort...

im not real happy with the finish but the wife put her foot down after almost 2 weeks of heating the garage.... time to call it good enough for now... I may refinish some parts in the spring.. but that is what it is... for now it plays... and it does play quite nice....
I like the X2N. it seems clear on the low B. (it's tuned to B std by the way...) a nice mid bite and the presence is nice without being harsh...
I'll have to take it over to my buddies and rock it thru his marshall stack for a while to get a real feel for it....

my fretting is much better on this guitar than my previous 2 combined... I have not done a fret level and crown... and the action is about as low as I would have hoped to get tuned to B. im actually rather proud of that....

What im really proud of on this build...
slotting the fretboard turned out great.
the maple fretboard looks stellar
my fretting is several orders of magnitude better than previous attempts
angled scarf joint went off without a hitch
the DIY bridge worked out great and functions exactly as intended.
the dyed basswood looks BAD ASS in places that it turned out...
control cavity turned out great and my wiring is very clean...


things im not real proud of/ should fix in the future
I sanded thru in a couple places and the finish is not totally flat in other places...
the neck feels rather fat... even though it's not... I think I need to work on the neck profile a little...
I got lucky as hell with the bridge placement... and the bass saddles sit higher than the treble saddles even though the action is about the same... im guessing I sanded the fretboard radius a little uneven towards the treble side...
the recessed knobs were a dud... holes were too small and the knobs rub.. esily fixed but still a pain in the ass...
I forgot to ground the bridge (hangs head in shame)


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