Through-body neck guitar from scratch...

[olrocknroller]

We are nearing the point where much scraping, sanding, and not much visible progress happens, so this will likely be the last post for a while on this topic. Basically, all that remains is wiring, and finishing. I want to use a slightly red stain on the tops of the body wings to bring out the cherry colors, so some more experimentation will be required Photos # 58 to end were added today... Enjoy!

http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/olrocknroller/2011%20Project%20Guitars/

[Sarah93003]

Looking goooood! This is going to be a very cool guitar!

[olrocknroller]

I have been asked to document the construction of this guitar...

It will be a triple-humbucker with fully selectable splits for all three PUPs. I have selected cherry for the top-wood on the body, rosewood for the fretboard, and maple for the neck and back of the body. Hardware will be a modified Bigsby tremolo, Schaller roller bridge, zero fret, and brass string-guide. Tuners will be Steinberger 40:1 ratio straight-pull. I added a snap-on shell of stainless steel to the Bigsby's fulcrum roller...this increases the radius by 1/16" giving the tremolo more scope for changing the note. This amount of increase in the radius works fine with the stock spring.

I've got a sock-full of pictures, and don't want to founder the website, so here's my Photobucket link...the pictures are numbered, and when you open them, there is a short description for each photo. http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/olrocknroller/

PLEASE NOTE: My methods may not be "right" but they are well-suited to the tools I have, so please don't think I'm trying to tell anyone how to do this. I learn more from each project, but am still far from being one of the artists who build the beautiful guitars on this website. If something appeals to you to use in your own shop, great, I'm glad to share...it's how we all learn! I have learned a bundle from this website, and only hope that I can contribute something back...

I have completed the initial finishing, and have assembled the guitar for final evaluation. It strung up nicely, and the neck did not move one bit...still perfectly straight. I think this one could live easily with heavy gauge strings. It plays beautifully with tens, and I think that's what I will put on it when I do the final assembly. The neck still feels a little "chunky" on the sides, so I will take more off, and re-finish the neck. It doesn't look too bad now, but will have a nice glow about it when I finish doing the oil rubbing...



I have re-organized things a little better in Photobucket, and have created a new album for 2011 projects It is located at: http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc372/olrocknroller/2011%20Project%20Guitars/ Also will be adding more photos... I am slowly learning how to drive all these internet-related applications...