7 String Black Limba Star Guitar Build

[JSil13]

Got the other facets carved in. This one definitely feels much better than my last few. Not as beefy and more of a C shape than a D shape. There is a bit of a V feeling, but I’m going to sand that out to a more typical C. I still need to do the heel and the headstock transitions, but I’m happy with it so far.

 

[JSil13]

Carved the transitions in. I might tweak the heel a little bit, but I'm really happy with how this neck feels overall.

Then I started prepping the 7 string neck for carving. The mistake I kept making before was doing the facets and carving before I got the neck to thickness. That's why I ended up getting D shaped necks all the time. I missed a step on the "Let's Build a Neck" thread on TDPRI repeatedly. So to get these one to thickness I used a spindle sander. I should have bought the spindle/belt sander combo. So it isn't perfectly flat, but most of it will be getting carved off anyway, and I didn't go to full thickness.

 

[JSil13]

Tuners for the 6 string came in while I was at work. I love these tuners. Hate the buttons, but the tuners work great, have a decent ratio, and I think the open gears look cool. First time in chrome though.

 

[JSil13]

Doing a few mockups to see which fretboard wood to go with with the walnut top. The first two are my favorites. The neck itself will be the same curly maple that I used on both the 6 and 7 string star necks.

Roasted birdseye


Bocote


Curly Maple


Birdseye

 

[JimF]

My vote is for the curly maple fretboard, but I like contrast between neck & body. Face it, you're not going to go wrong with any of those, they're all gorgeous!

 

[Shawn]

Nice work so far, really cool. Also, that walnut top is amazing.

 

[JSil13]

My vote is for the curly maple fretboard, but I like contrast between neck & body. Face it, you're not going to go wrong with any of those, they're all gorgeous!

I'm kind of leaning towards the bocote. Plus it smells like pickles when you cut it. It does almost match the walnut but with a different grain. I'm still not even sure what I'm planning on building with it. The black limba blank is Explorer sized so I want to make use of the size. Thoughts I've had are a Flying V, Firebird, Destroyer, or an Explorer. The walnut may not be big enough for a full size Explorer or Destroyer, but I could shrink it down to fit.

Nice work so far, really cool. Also, that walnut top is amazing.

Thanks man. Still a learning experience for me, but each build is getting better.

 

[JSil13]

Didn't take many progress pictures, but here are the first facets on the 7 string neck.

And here is where it's at now. I still need to work on the heel transition, but it feels pretty good. Today's carving soundtrack was provided by Mgla.

 

[JimF]

Nice! I love Mgla too. Also check out Groza if you don't know them, and fancy a slightly more melancholic version of that sound. Slightly.
I'd never considered carving the facets in before shaping the neck profile. It's a good way to make it more uniform.
Ever considered doing an Endurneck type profile?

 

[JSil13]

Nice! I love Mgla too. Also check out Groza if you don't know them, and fancy a slightly more melancholic version of that sound. Slightly.
I'd never considered carving the facets in before shaping the neck profile. It's a good way to make it more uniform.
Ever considered doing an Endurneck type profile?

I have only heard of the Endurneck. There is a Strandberg dealer nearby though, so I should go check them out sometime.

As for the facet carving method, it's something I picked up from TDPRI originally but have seen all over the place since. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of shaping profiles.

The whole thread is a great source of knowledge, but this is where the facets come into play.

Let's make a neck!

I decided to try something different and went to the edge sander to sand the taper in there. It's a matter of holding it straight and not going beyond the pencil lines. I used to do this with a router and a couple shims on the neck to get an angle. I also bandsawed it off. Then I realized...

www.tdpri.com

 

[JSil13]

Nice! I love Mgla too. Also check out Groza if you don't know them, and fancy a slightly more melancholic version of that sound. Slightly.
I'd never considered carving the facets in before shaping the neck profile. It's a good way to make it more uniform.
Ever considered doing an Endurneck type profile?

Also listened to an album from Groza. Was pretty cool. Added a few songs to my winter playlist. Lately I've been kind of obsessed with that Black Braid album. I also just discovered Wayfarer which is like if the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack had some black metal thrown in.

 

[JimF]

Thanks for reminding me about Black Braid! I loved the singles but haven't checked the album yet! Will check out Wayfarer too

 

[JSil13]

Finally got around to carving the heel contour on the 7 string neck.

 

[JSil13]

I spent the past few days making leather strops for my coworkers for Christmas. We can use them after we sharpen our work knives on water stones. Both are roasted maple and birdseye maple. One has a black limba handle and the other bocote/purpleheart. I have to resand them again after I glued the leather on which also means I need to redo the Tru-oil, but they came out pretty nice.


I also made them some hats sewing patches of bands they like on there. Made some for myself too.

 

[JSil13]

Got the frets leveled and started working on the crowning. It's tedious work, but I just throw on an audio book or music and get to it. I'll finish up the crowning tomorrow and may move on to polishing. I also still need to carve the heel contour on the 6 string neck, but I need to reshape the heel on the body first. The neck plate was a totally different shape than the one I used to shape the body.