avengers63

You go ahead and have all the fun you want. I like this one a LOT better than the last one. The rockers are perfect. The swoopy thing on the bottom isn't right for this shape though. There needs to be a spot for the jack as well. (I forgot to put it on when I took the pic.) But overall, I think this one might be really close.

I'd just about give a nut to be able to bind the whole guitar in chrome. Automotive chroming came up empty, and true countertop chrome edging is not a realistic possibility for me. If you have another option, it's time to pony up!

anderekel: That is certainly better than my general idea. Not quite there, but a dang site closer than what i had. Pete: That's a really neat take on it. I like that the shape is the exact same but arranged differently. That means there's only ONE template to make. The double-boomerang looks kinda off, though. FWIW: I LOVE the idea of the rocker switches. I think I'll end up going that route than the 3-pos I currently have. From what I've been able to see from the Gretsch site, the pups are not surface mounts at all. They're either suspended with rings or in cavities but screwed right into the wood like a no-ring humbucker. The pups themselves are pretty tall, too, so there clearly needs to be a cavity of some sort. Suspending them on a p/g doesn't create any issues that I'm aware of. punger07: Great link. I wouldn't mind getting ahold of a couple of those Teiscos or the Airlines.

Sure do. I don't remember the brand, but it's in a yellow can clearly marked "Sanding Sealer". IIRC, it's <$10/quart, and it'll last you a looooooong time. Actually, except for the actual grain filler & +600 grit wetsand paper, I've bought ALL of my finnishing supplies at the box stores. Double-sided carpet tape is pretty strong and a whole lot cheaper than the stuff from Stew-Mac. Likewise the poly, lacquer, router/dremel bits, glue, C/A, etc., etc., etc.

Switching over to small rockers might not be a bad idea. I'm not sure about the chicken heads, though. If the body were full sized I'd be all for it, but space might not allow for two big knobs like that.

Regardless of which form of grainfiller you use, if it's done right you won't need to worry about wenge dust getting into the pores of the maple because they'll be filled up. In my experience, using sanding sealer doesn't produce an appreciable ammount of wood dust. You don't need to sand all the way through the sealer (although it doesn't hurt anything if you do), but you do need to come close to it. When I've done it, I took a random orbit sander and went over the whole thing until there were NO shiny bits left anywhere. The sealer isn't very thick after only one coat, so this was plenty of sanding to wither just barely sand through ot just barely NOT sand through. After that it was a thorough wipe down with mineral spirits and come back in an hour to lay another coat. When I did some zebrawood (VERY open grained), it only took me 3 or 4 coats to get it smooth as glass. You WILL want to mask off the fretboard regardless of which method you use. The last thing you want is anything slopping over onto some wood that'll never see a finish. That'd really monkey up the looks of everything.

The two items are a 3-position switch and a concentric knob. I'm going to top route the guitar, but I haven't done so yet because the p/g & control placement isn't final. The main reason for a p/g in the first place is to break up the pattern of the formica. Mimicking the boomerang motif is one of the directions I was interested in going. Under the bridge? I'm not sure about that one. If the boomerang started on the lower left and ended on the lower right, that might work. Again, it needs to encompass both pups.

FWIW: This is kinda what I had in mind, but with rounded corners, beveled edges, and done a lot better. This was done in about 10 minutes with paint.net. The p/g material is 3-ply w/b/w. If someone could come up with something that would reflect the shaped in the formica, that'd be perfect.

Alright y'all, I need a little help. I need to design a pickguard for this turd, but I absolutely SUCK at the retro-themed design. I need something that's clearly 50's era inspired that will hold all of the electronics. I forgot to put a jack on the top, but these two pictures are the approximate placement of everything. I'm OK with the switch going in either place. PLEASE... take these pics and lay out a basic p/g shape for me. No suggestion is unwanted. I'm very open to anything you might come up with, including multi-piece guards, so long as it stays in the correct theme and will hold everything.

If you use grainfiller, make sure it's either clear or has some black dye in it or something similar. With wenge being so dark, it'd most likely look really bad if the grain was filled with a lighter shade. I've had good luck grainfilling with sanding sealer. Lay it on, come back tomorrow and sand it back. Repeat until the wood is smooth & the pores are filled. As a bonus, it's clear AND cheaper than traditional grainfiller.

I decided to sand it back and start over. The green got real blotchy and just didn't look good. So I took some 120 grit and went to town on it this afternoon and something pretty cool appeared. The black is still in the deepest parts of the grain, but it's highlighted with green. It shows up just a little bit in these pics, but it's really evident in person. This is why we need to be fluid in our designs and plans. Neat things like this happen totally on accident. I'm going to clean up the sanding and leave it like it is. There are some places with some green left that really should be sanded "clean". It'll be a matter of sitting down with some sandpaper and meticulously going at it by hand. I think in front of the evening football game tonight sounds like the perfect time. After that - lacquer. Then again, the shellac made for a really nice finish on the Avenger prototype. Maybe I can lay it really thick and buff it out to a mirror finish.

While it was all put together I strapped it on. It IS pretty comfortable. I haven't wired it up yet, so I still can't say what it'll sound like. I was having some issues with the green stain today. It was really blotchy. I'm afraid I may have sanded through the conditioner/washcost. I may have to sand it all the way down and start from scratch.

I started sanding back the black stain before I took some pics, so the front was half sanded at this stage. That black stain is really unforgiving of all the minor scratches and less-than-perfect sanded areas. That just means more between-stain sanding I guess. It actually looks pretty good as-is. In a little bit, I'll do the green stain. I'll have some pics up when it's all on & rubbed in real good.

When I was making my 1st PRS body, I make a 1" thick one from construction-grade pine to learn carving on. I currently make all my templates deom 3/4" construction pine. Yea... after jointing them, they're glued, then planed to size. I actually do that for every body I do, unless it's wider than the 13" planer I use. Why wouldn't you do that if you were making a guitar from pine, or any wood for that matter. Acutally, I'm a little shocked that you asked that question.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Fry. I appreciate the support. Maybe I'll start looking into top bracing and see what I can come up with. I'm still thinking a hollowed out solid-body with an acoustic/braced top. Nothing can happen until next year anyway - there's way too much to work on right now that needs finishing up to start up something new.

There's a tutorial about doing a carved top on the main page. It applies regardless of the body shape.

This would all be run into a normal electric guitar amp. Originally, I wasn't going to shy away from it entirely. I was willing to attempt to brace the top if need be, but not the back & sides. After discussion, it became apparent that I don't have the knowledge to do that, so it needed to be abandoned. I'm getting off on the discussion as well. It all came about during idle conversation at work with another player. Through the talk with him, the inspiration hit me. Oh no. No way. If, and that's a big if, I go through with this, it'd be for me and me alone.

My original theory is to see how close you can get a solid-body to react & sound like an acoustic. In my mind, if you can get a middle-of-the-road acoustic sound from a hollowed-out solid-body, then the rest can be shaped up with the EQ. This is the type of "acoustic pup system" I've had in mind. Not necessarily this system, but this type of system - the side mounted acoustic preamp box. http://www.fishman.com/products/details.asp?id=91 I already have the Boss Acoustic Simulator pedal. It actuallt works VERY well. Via technology, I CAN make my electric sound like an acoustic. That's not what I'm thinking about. What's going on in my mind is: A chambered solid body with a mellow pup in the neck sounds really sweet. We already have the hollow chamber, so let's see what we can do with it. If a sound hole was introduced, how much of a true acoustic quality would it have? This leads into thinning the top, putting in an acoustic preamp, etc. The thought of useing a piezo-TOM is 100% not the way I'd go with this one. That's immitating an acoustic tone. I'm thinking that with a hollowed out body, there will be some there already, so let's see what we can to to enhance it without going full on semi-. Where I'm at right now: I know virutally nothing about bracing. Geo pointed out this reality. Honestly, while I'd like to learn about it, I'm not in that place right now, so if it involves bracing, it's gotta go. I still like the idea of the acoustic preamp though. With that ni mind, let's make some more design assumptions: 1) 2 1/2" - 3" thick solid body that has been hollowed out with 1/4" - 3/8" back & sides. 2) 1/4" top w/ soundhole 3) acoustic preamp system, neck pup With these in mind, what would be the anticipated result and/or pitfalls?

That's not a bad idea at all. To help with the clearance issue, the pup could be basically hanging in the soundhole at the end of the neck. BUT... what would that do to the feedback issue?

Excellent information Fry. Thank you very much. Either an on/on toggle switch or a blend pot. I suppose the absolute bottom line of what I'm trying to find out is how close you can get a solid-body, or chambered as it bay me, to sound like an acoustic without going semi- like a 335. Functionally, the end hope is twofold. 1) If it sounds nice enough, one could switch from electric to acoustic immediately. 2) This would, or at least should end up being a really sweet, mellow sounding guitar. Let's make some design assumptions: 1) 2" - 2 1/2" hollowed out mahogany or sapele body with the back & sides 1/4" - 3/8" thick 2) solid block extending from the neck pocket for the meck pup - a mini hb or a jazz hb of some type 3) 1/8" spruce top with an acoustic soundhole in the center 4) no block under the bridge, or at maximum a small block attached to the top - no direct contact with the back 5) acoustic pup system Questions: 1) What is the structural function of bracing on the top? 2) Does the top need bracing? If so, how thick can you go before you don't need it but still have it thin enough to vibrate? 3) What type of bridge do you use for this type of hybrid and how is it attached?

1) Don't have any. 2) No experience with it. 3) Not spending any more money on stuff like that right now. It's not a bad idea though.

Had to be the wenge. I've worked with PH a few times and never noticed a smell. I can't testify about th ewenge, but I seem to remember reading a post here about it smelling awful.

We thought the one on the right was the winner too. FWIW: The middle had no black stain at all, the right & left both did. The left was sanded back more than the right. TEST FIT And for those who might be interested, here's how I did the input jack. From the last progress report, you can see that the hole didn't fit the contour. I'd still rather it not have happened, but it worked out OK in the end. I gotta say this - I'm getting better at this. Everything lined up perfectly the first time. I'm quite pleased. Now I disassemble and start the staining process. Tonight is the conditioner/wash coat. Tomorrow is the black. MAYBE Wednesday will be the green, but maybe not. We're having the family over for Thanksgiving, so I'll most likely be doing a lot of cleanup. I've kinda destroyed the basement and it needs to be clean for everyone to come over on Thursday.

SO... I can have 3/8"-1/2" sides & back, and it wouldn't effect the overall sound because the acoustic part is driven by the vibrations of the top. The sides/back of an acoustic are braced because of the thickness (or lack thereof) of the wood. Therefore I can have an 1/8" top and not have to worry about bracing, right? The only caveat is that I cannot have a block under the bridge because it'd dampen the vibrations. If I have thicker back & sides and a thin top WITHOUT a block under the bridge, what does that do in regards to the security of the bridge? Say there's a screwed-on tailpiece. Would there be enough transfer of energy? What about an archtop style? I couldn't see there being enough wood to securely hold a TOM, so whatever is used, it might have to be secured somehow other than posts/bushings.

ResoAD: Benedetto's opinion should probably be taken without question. However, we're not looking at a true semi-acoustic, like a 335-ish, or an archtop, like a... well... archtop. We're talking about a solid-body that has been hogged almost completely hollow with a sound hole and both an electric & acoustic pup. MICK: IIRC, those longhorns were a Dano product. If so, those were a wood frame with a melamie top & back. I'd equate those more closely with a semi- than a hollow solid-body. GEO/MICK: Please explain exactly what you mean by "downward pressure of the bridge". GEO: The intent wouldn't be to have it loud acoustically. Because of the construction, that'd be impossible. I'm wondering about acoustic tone rather than volume. If THAT was OK, then perhaps the pup system would be OK too. I'm picturing a fancy rosette and all of the binding/decoration that an acoustic would have, and then a mini-humbucker in the neck. To emphasize the look, maybe only a 20-fret f/b and a shallow acoustic-like cutaway. Maybe a florentine cutaway.