Teak, Maple build progress pics

[dnic]

Hey rover, I mentioned above that this neck feels like silk. Well after the fret and nut work and set up I took it to a rehearsal tonight and it plays like silk to the max. Played for about three hours and no palm drag at all. I love it. I'm already planning a oil wax neck on the next unit. A very great product.

I put the guitar in the neck jig. Adjusted the fret board as flat as possible. It was strung to pitch. Then I set the dial indicators at zero and took the strings off. My camera was out with the wife so I don't have the set up process on film.
But I have some along the way.


To simulate the neck under string tension I pull down with the red strap at the nut and push the peg head up with the turn buckle.

you can work both adjusters together and bring the dials back to zero. Then you level the frets and when the guitar is restrung the neck is dead flat.

The above right shot shows the board I used to level with. Just ran both edges thru the jointer and stuck 220 on one side and 320 on the other. Same thing with the radius block, not pictured. The frets are crowned at this point. If you look close you can see a bit of black marker on the crown.


On the left the rough cut nut way to tall but sanded to 1000 grit on the ends and face where I can't get with it in place. On the right the nut slotted to depth.


Left, another shot of the nut slots to depth. This is a good example of how not to leave it. Right, This is finish sized, shaped, and sanded to 1000 grit. No polish. I didn't want the nut to outshine the body. I tried really hard to get a good close up but the camera won't focus that close. But you can see the wound strings are proud of the nut while the nons are just flush with the top. No rattles and no muting.

Well I hit post instead of preview and it's late so I'll pick this up later.

Later, dane

[irishrover]

its great stuff dane. i bought a $1500.00 aria classical and the first thing i did when i got it home was take the sandpaper to the glossy neck and oil wax it lol.

[dnic]

Rover, my one and only acoustic is an Aria. It was my first guitar, a steel string and in May I will have had it for 30 years. I love that guitar. My wife bough it for me on my 23rd b-day.

d

[irishrover]

mines about the nicest classical ive played. 3 peice neck. mahog,carbon graphite mahog. no crappy scarf or add on heal. dovetailed neck. no crappy spanish heel thats gonna bust lose in a few years. solid cedar top,rosewood back,sides and bridge.

[dnic]

Sounds like a sweety rover.

A look at the white pearl inlay. Cut with a laser.





Notice the strings don't line up with the the pick up pole pieces or the fat E with the neck. The bridge spacing is not the same as the the pole pieces. The pup is taped because I'm going to file new slots in the bridge.


After moving the E A D G strings over fractionally. Much better pole alignment. You may notice the fat E is still not as close to the edge as the high E but that is by design. I hate playing a guitar that I can easily push the E over the top. I still need to deepen the slots a little so I can file the center marks off the saddles and soften their corners a bit.

dane

[dnic]

Drum roll please. The finished product. OK Knowels let me have it.


For your consideration. What do you think?


A little out of focus. I decided early in the project that natural wood tones vary and that's OK. But I do wish the body to neck shades were a tad closer.


A couple glamor shots.

About the PG color. I'm not convinced the black really does anything for the overall look. I have some white,b,w but I'm afraid that will look washed out. I'll live with it for a while and see what happens.

Well it's been fun. See you on the next one, maybe.

dane

[GuitarAttack Forum]

Dane -- Great guitar! It looks great.

Concerning the pickguard, maybe you should make one from flame maple. A contrasting stain might be interesting.

My opinion,
John

[Deleted]

I was thinking the same thing as John....
Real cool guitar!

[dnic]

Thanks guys. That is the response I've been expecting from knowles.
It's an interesting idea. Especially with the contrasting color. When first running design possibility's through my mind The reason I decided on the pick guard was twofold. First ease of assembly, being able to prewire everything with out hanging over the guitar and also on all my non pick guard guitars I can see the little scratches in the lacquer. I know it's gonna happen but it bugs me. And the reasons I settled on the plastic PG were I thought it lent a retro kind of feel to the instrument and also Fender's been getting away with it over their natural body's for years.

Wish I could upload some sound samples I'm very pleased with the results.

dane

[cknowles]

Ok Dane, you asked for it.

You already know my preference for a wood pickguard so I won't bore you with that one.

I'm just going to concentrate on the shape...



You seem to have lines running in a few different directions.
If they were more parallel the design would tie in a bit better.

I kind of like the way Fender pickguards follow the lower horn.



Or a bit more thinline shape...

[dnic]

Chris, thank you for being candid. My design process involved a conscious effort not to look like a Fender. Plus I thought the less wood covered the better. But I do like the look of your photo shopped full horn PG. I like it alot. Hate the thin line. I've considered trying my shape in white but I haven't settled on anything yet. I agree that the lines should have been parallel and I laid it out that way but function ruled and I flared it a bit to get a little more spread on the pots. I guess live and learn.

Thanks for taking the time to play with the images that's pretty cool.

dane

[cknowles]

Hey you're welcome, remember that is just MY opinion, and you know what that's worth! LOL.

If I had had more time I was planning on taking a sample of the grain from the back of your guitar and mapping it as a texture onto your pick guard shape. I think it would really rock.

Chris

[dnic]

I mentioned the one last thing needed to be totally complete was the bridge saddles and I just got back to it.

I'm not sure if it will show clearly but what I've done here is moved the string slots over to better fit the neck and pole pieces. Then lowered the slots farther into the saddles so that I could file down the original centered slots. Then shaped, sanded and buffed the saddles. The end result are saddles without sharp or picky edges with string slots that line up with the things that matter not some arbitrary string spacing from Gotoh.

dane

[cknowles]

Cool, I've been thinking of doing that for a Raven SG that I got last fall. The string slots just aren't quite right.

[debeneto]

all jokes aside.... how much do you want for it? that thing is sweat