avengers63

With a number of projects coming to a close pretty soon, I need to clear this one off my plate as well. I did some work on the pickguard shape tonight. I think I have a handle on where I want to go with it. While fiddling around with it, I couldn't figure out how to manage the pickups without having a big rectangular block of stupid in the middle of the whole thing. Whatever was tried worked against the curves & angles of both the body and the boomerang pattern. Then it hit me - make pup rings from the p/g material. DUH!!! That solved everything. The pup rings can be exactly where they need to be for functionality, but because we're so used to seeing them, they don't interfere visually with the rest of the p/g. Anyone have anything to add? Please... speak up. I'm still very open to suggestions.

Is there a tutorial somewhere on how to make one? Without the torch would be best.

That's an awesome idea, but... I don't have any bending equipment, and I'm not going to buy any. If I did, I'd just make a straight semi-acoustic and get it over with. I really hate to poop all over such a good idea. I hope someone else sees it and runs with it.

If the body were of a heavier wood, I don't think there'd be an issue. Even still, do you really think a heavy-wood neck would imbalance a tele that much? I'm not completely sold that it would.

I seriously doubt that there are any structural or weight-related issues with using ipe. From what I understand, ipe is extremely dense & stiff, so I'm sure that it'd be perfectly suitable for a neck. That being said, I have no idea whatsoever about it's tonal qualities.

Ironic that one of yours has a burl top. Mine will have one too. Your body sides look thicker than what I'm thinking of. Also, everything from the bridge to the bottom will be gone. Both of those will help with the weight issues. I have my mind made up on the walnut, so other lighter woods aren't even up for discussion.

Yea, I know it's really difficult to judge, but I'm asking anyway. I'm planning a really special project for later this year. It'll be a walnut body, VERY heavily chambered. I'm looking at about a 2" thick body with a 1/4"-3/8" laminate top. With the exception of the center block, I'm going to hollow out the rest of the body to the 1/4"-3/8" thickness. From previous threads, I'm confident that it'll be thick enough to be structurally sound. The body shape I'm going for will be very similar to an ES-175, but with a rounded horn. The widest part of the body will be about 14". How heavy would you estimate this to come in at? As long as it'd be no heavier than a regular LP, I'd be fine.

Whichever you choose, be prepared for that paduk to turn brown over time. Be sure to factor that into your color scheme and thought process. Were it me, I'd go with a 1-piece maple neck and the walnut body. With it being a T-Deluxe, you'll have the opportunity to have just about everything under the P/G hollowed out. It could almost be like a chambered body. Just food for thought.

Model 343 Build Thread Really - it's in there somewhere. This guitar started as a LPjr body I put up for sale on eBay in August 2008. I had the idea to leave it un-routed and offer free routing services to anyone, hoping to leave the bidding open to lefties as well. I think that may have discouraged some bidders because it sold for $40, which barely covered the cost of materials and eBay fees. The buyer was indeed a leftie. Through contact with him, he ended up contracting me to complete the whole guitar for him. He sent me the parts, including the neck, and I did everything else for him. We never negotiated a price, but I wasn't doing it for the money anyway. I wanted to make the guitar and see the project through to the end. As the build went along, I found out that Blaise, the purchaser, was a firefighter. Perfect name, huh. He was a firefighter in New York City... in 2001... in September... Yes, he was involved in the rescue mission of the Twin Towers. Suddenly, this became very personal for me. I didn't have anyone I knew or am related to involved in 9/11, but I have the utmost respect for the men who dove headlong into that mess trying to help anyone they could. The whole build slowed down for me. I was determined NOT to screw up an aspect of this thing. Well, the best laid plans and all that. But I did give my absolute best effort in every aspect of the build. There were 343 firefighters who died that day. I tried my best to find some way to get the number 343 inlaid into it somewhere in brass lettering, but it was cost prohibitive. The numbers would have run +/- $20 each. I didn't trust myself enough on my (then) newly-acquired scroll saw to make the numbers from longhi or yellowheart, so the idea went by the wayside. In the end, the best I can do is to name it 343 in their honor. So that's the story. Here's the guitar. The body is longhi & bloodwood. The neck is mohogany with a bloodwood fretboard, brass frets, bloodwood headstock cap, and abalone inlays. The hardware is all gold, with a Gotoh wraparound bridge/tailpiece combo. The pickups are a mismatched set - the neck is a Dean, the bridge is an Epiphone. The control cavity cover is bloodwood. The neck pups never came with height screws, and the holes in the brackets are not the standard size, so it currently has none. Please try and overlook that when voting. This is one of the few things that were beyond my control. Also, I would not have chosen a mis-matched pair of pups, but again, it simply wasn't my choice. back left back right down the back down the front down the left side down the right side front left side front right side up from the bottom

q-parts http://www.qparts.com/

These are a pair of boards - bloodwood & longhi. They got turned into this. It'll be making an appearance in GOTM after this weekend.

You'll not get an answer - killemall dropped off of the board a few months ago.

hehehehehehe NotYou is jealous of my wood. I used to get that a lot in the locker room. My wife swears I act like I'm 12 most of the time. I can't figure out why.

If you don't think you got what you should have, then you definately should get ahold of the seller and see what they'll do. If it's filler/paste, they're clearly putting out a sub-par product. That being said, ant replacement you get from them is likely to have the same neck pocket issues. They're probably making them on a CNC machine, so the next body will be exactly like this one, minus the filler. Assuming that's the case, your best bet would probably be to either widen the pocket or narrow the heel. Personally, I'd widen the pocket. Set up some stop blocks and take off a teeny bit with the router. If it's not enough, take off a teeny bit more. Creep up on the exact width you need, with MAYBE 1/16" of play. This would leave you just barely enough room to make sure it's exactly lined up with the bridge & pups before drilling for the screws.

Here's a cool spalt I call "Mr Happy Face". Cuz, you know... I don't get out much.

I picked up a pair of DiMarzios (separate auctions) for about $80 with shipping. I landed a pair of cherry DeArmonds for $90 shipped. So yea - the deals are there to be had if you're patient.

The original plan was in November. That kinda fell apart. In all honesty, one should be this month sometime.

And that's why I don't pay too much attention to Harmony Central. The output of this pickup is better than my beloved X2N.... A strat-blade-bucker hotter than an X2N? Not bloody likely! I guess I'm pretty jaded. Anytime I see a product with ONE review and it's all 10's, it looks like a rep from the company rying to sell it through the reviews. Then I see something crazy like that quote and it helps solidify my suspicions.

Wait intil it's dry. Seriously, the finish needs to be buffed out to whatever grade you want it before the hardware is put on. Before it's buffed out, it needs to be dry and cured. There are waaaaay too many variables to be able to give an answer as to how long that takes. The type of finish, how many coats, time between coats, temperature, and humidity are some of the major variables. A good rule of thumb is two fold: touch & smell. If you can dent the finish with your fingernail, it's not ready. If you put your nose right up to the finish and you can still smell the solvent, it's not ready. Even after both of these items are met, it's still a good idea to wait another week, just to be sure.

When you're on a budget, it's really hard to pass up the inexpensive items that have had pretty decent reviews. A set of 3 Artec for $50-$60 vs. $50 each for the BL's can be a consideration. I'm not helping anymore, am I?

That's what we're all here for. FWIW: The GFS pups are made by a Chinese company called Artec. There are a lot of eBay sellers that sell the exact same pups as GFS, and at a lot better price. A lot of folks here have used them and said they sounded pretty good. I have two sets waiting to go into two different builds, but I haven't put them in yet so I can't personally testify. That being said, I'm 100% confident that BL's pups are dramatically better than Artec's.

A really wide piece of chechen I used for the first body I sold.

WAY COOL!!! A dedicated thread for wood porn! Here's some nice canarywood I bookmatched for use on the small table I'm making. One is glued up & planed down, the other is still waiting.

I saw that too. That type of lunacy is for folks who actually LIKE doing the wiring.