The First is done

I forgot about blogging. The guitar is finished, and I have some professional studio pictures to show off. I never took any pictures of the spray finishing, so nothing to share there. Once the guitar was sprayed, I did the fret dressing. I use an assortment of tools to level out the tops of the frets , so that all of them are perfectly in line with each other. Once that is done, I crow each fret back into a rounded shape, then sand and buff each one of them out. When I was done with that, I buffed the guitar out to a high shine, and did the final assembly. The electronics took a lot of planning. I built the guitar to hold a 3 was Telecaster style switch. However, I went one better. I used the 4 way mod switch. I have the extra position that puts both pickups in series with each other. I can't think of anyone else who has done this combination. Each pickup has a coil tap, and the tone pot does a phase reversal.

So now the guitar is done. Following is some of the pictures I had done. I am selling the guitar for $3850. It has been described by others, as being a rival of a PRS Private stock, as far as the quality and playability. The first two pictures are a before and after of what the frets look like, wen being dressed.

10 Days Till Deadline

I gave myself a deadline of Thanksgiving on the first guitar. I was making 4, but as I stated earlier, I am focusing on one, until it is done. The others will have to wait. Since I live in an apartment, I'm far more productive this way.

I had a logo made. I went out and took a picture of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge in downtown, then had a friend convert it into a silhouette for me. I had this laser cut into a piece of wood, and also engraved onto the pick up covers.









here is a picture of the control cavity. Inside, I lined the walls with copper foil. It has an adhesive backing. The copper foil helps to isolate the electronics from radio interference. With out it, you may end up having a little hum when the guitar is plugged into an amp.




With the body having been sprayed, i started to put the finish on the neck. I decided to use gun stock oil. In the picture is a side view of the peghead. The oil will not be that shiny when it has cured. It's the same thing that Eddie VanHallen has done to his guitar necks.

Neck joint and test run on new finish.

I have completed all the routing, and as you can see in the picture, my neck joint came out perfectly. No gaps anywhere. the other pictures are of a test run I did with the water based finish I am planning on using. It dried nice and ward, and is very transparent.

Headplate

I have the back headplate glued on. It is layered black white black. The idea came from working on some old banjos.

Fitting the neck

I have decided to focus on one guitar, and finish it off. Right now, I have the body roughly carved out, and the neck fitting the neck joint. I have not glued the neck in yet. I need to have it completely carved out, and the headplates for the back of the peghead done first. Those steps will be posted soon.

Back at it.

After too long off, I am getting back into my building. Here are some pictures.

Pickup winder modification

Here are some pictures of the modifications I made to my winder. I drilled some holes through the arm on the wonder, so I could attach bobbins to the arm with bolts. The result is far more stable. You can see how the wire lays evenly on the wound coil, and how i am able to achieve a more even build.