GUITAR BUILD #2 IN PROGRESS....

scott spencer

Member
Messages
953
Location
Rochester, NY
My oldest son recently asked if I'd build him a solid body electric guitar.... my 2nd guitar project. We agreed on a unique slightly goth shape, green curly maple front, and a black back made from ash. A purchased unfinished Les Paul style neck is on order, which will likely be painted black. The head stock will be shaped to compliment the body...maybe some color compliments too. It'll be trimmed with gold and black hardware. The pickups will be a GFS Fatbody single neck, Wilkinson single mid, and a double humbucker from an OLP John Petrucci Signature guitar. We're still deciding on a wiring scheme, but it'll likely be a simple 5-way switch, tone, and volume pots.

So far I've traced out a template shape that I'd acually build for him (first few way more radical), cut the front and back blanks from the template, and have shaped the front using a combination of router bits and hand chisels. Lots of sanding too! I've also cut a chamber for the electronics in the back, and have fashioned a cover. The back will likely be painted black, but since the first step in popping the grain on the maple was to stain it black, I stained the back at the same time...no harm done, and if the paint ever chips, it'll reveal black stained ash. The next step was to sand off the black stain, leaving just the darkened grain on the maple. Kelly green was then added to stain the front. I was ready to give the Transtint dyes from Woodcraft a shot, but rather than make the 28 mile round trip and spend $18 per 2 oz bottle, I decided to experiment with the RIT fabric dyes from local stores...$3 each, and so far the results have been really good.

The template:
jgitter010-1.jpg


The roughed out body routed using a pattern bit on the template:
jgitter.jpg


The front side of the back piece with the chamber for switches hogged out:
jgitter009.jpg


The back stained black, with chamber cover (back will get black lacquer):
jgitter008.jpg


The maple front after receiving black stain, then sanded:
jgitter004.jpg


The maple front stained green:
jgitter013.jpg
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Here are some files pics of the neck. It'll get black lacquer and a shape to compliment the body:

pgn-122b-na-1.jpg
pgn-122b-na-2.jpg


More to come!
 
:headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang:

Looks awesome.!

Built myself a couple of guitars, and I need to build a couple more...

Love the dye job!
 
Updates as of 8/17/10

Here's where things stand as of noon today. All the parts and hardware are in.

Here's the top with the natural maple revealed on the sides. There's one coat of spar varnish to protect the stained surface, plus help prevent fading.
scotttemp038.jpg


The back now has black paint. While rounding over the edges, we liked the look of the natural ash revealed as well, so we've decided to keep it....got some sanding ahead.
scotttemp030.jpg


Here's the top and back together next to the unfinished Eden neck. The maple and ash should take on a more golden color as we clear coat it. The neck will get black paint.
scotttemp040.jpg


Since all the parts are here, we couldn't resist a sneak preview of how it'll look. The unfinished neck is just sitting there, as are the pickup covers and knobs. These pics give the illusion that we're much further along than we are, but we're encouraged by the look so far.
scotttemp036.jpg
scotttemp037.jpg
scotttemp032.jpg
scotttemp034.jpg


Still to come...some sanding of the back, many more clear coats (lacquer), cut outs for the pickups and input jack, more clear coats, fine sanding, shaping the neck, painting the neck, more clear coats, very fine sanding, drilling holes for the tuning pegs, final clear coat, wiring everything, setting the neck, polishing, stringing it, and sound check! (I probably forgot something too...):rofl:
 
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It's two woods in 3 colors with five layers. Curly maple top stained green, with natural maple sides revealed...ash back painted black with the natural ash revealed on the corner. So the sequence is: green top, natural maple, black stripe, natural ash, black back. (it could be argued that there are 4 colors, but the ash and maple should end up a pretty similar color.)

so am i seeing this right it has 3 layers of wood in the body part??the green maple and thena black core then a black with white edged back?

Edit to comments above....the back is now completely black. The novelty of the two toned back idea was short lived...it was too sloppy to live with. Now it's green with natural maple sides, and the back is back to black :D ....3 colors, 3 layers. Pic updates coming soon.
 
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What an awesome project Scott, looks great! A Les Paul has been on my to-do list for many years, looks like it just got a higher priority. I had one years ago and sold it, regretted it ever since.

:lurk:
 
Updates for 8-18-10

As mentioned above in a reply to Larry, we changed the two-toned back to all black last night. It was just too sloppy and detracted.

Here's the painted back, and the top with a couple of clear coats sitting on the back. Overall we like this look better:
scotttemp001.jpg
scotttemp002.jpg
scotttemp003.jpg


Today I added a curly maple veneer to the front side of the neck headstock to match the front of the guitar.

Here's the neck with the veneer in place:
scotttemp004.jpg


After receiving black dye:
scotttemp005.jpg


After sanding the black away, the green dye goes on:
scotttemp006.jpg


Back to work tomorrow to find out if I'm still employed...
rolleyes.gif
 
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August 20th Update

Here’s today’s update:



Adding the shop-made curly maple veneer to the front of the plain maple headstock was a little tricky because it’s attached to an existing neck. My plan to rout down the face to accommodate the thickness of the veneer didn’t pan out as planned because the radius on the fretboard made it rock. Instead, I ended up using the flat edge and back of the “paddle blank” as a reference and sliced the cutout on the band saw. Once the veneer was in place and glued, I cut the shape with the BS as much as I could, then sanded to final shape with my OSS. The headstock is now shaping up fairly nicely. The back of the neck will get black paint, then I’ll reveal the natural curly maple edge on the headstock like the front of the body. Next I’ll drill the holes for tuners, give it more clear coats, and some fine sanding, etc.
JordanGuitar004.jpg

JordanGuitar003.jpg



I’m at what I consider the high risk stage…after hours of planning, cutting, shaping, staining, and sanding, I’m now cutting holes in the front of the guitar. It’s easy to inflict a few battle scars, and it generally just stresses me out a little.
JordanGuitar002.jpg

JordanGuitar001.jpg

JordanGuitar006.jpg



The guitar is coming along pretty nicely and faster than I planned, but I’ve been going at it pretty hard the last couple of days. The shop’s a mess, I’m tired, stressed, and need to back away for a while before I really goof something up! (it definitely happens!) Time to mow the lawn, take a nap, tidy up and the shop, and hit the shower. Better to rejuvenate and come back to this later…after all…this is for fun, right?
 
Coming along nicely, Scott. :thumb: What kind of clear coat are you using? (If you mentioned it earlier, I missed it.) It's a bit orange-peely now, but it should look awesome once it's blocked and polished. :clap:
 
The first coat was spar varnish with UV protection to help keep the dye from fading. Final clear coats are Rustoleum spray on lacquer...definitely got some rubbing to do on it. Wonder if another brand of lacquer might have left a better finish...it's not too late if anyone has suggestions.
 
Scott, pretty much any of the rattle-can lacquers I've used leave some orange peel texture, especially if I try to apply pretty wet coats. I've gotten to where I don't worry about it, and just plan on wet sanding it flat when I'm done. In some cases, I'll wet sand a time or two on the intermediate coats as I'm building the thickness, and also do it again after the final coats. It's a fair amount of work, but man, the results are worth it. :D
 
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