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Custom electric guitar project
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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A couple more pics
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Hrychu View Drop Down
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Eco-ebony fretboard? By that I mean, the kind of ebony that's not pure black color-wise. From what I've heard it is actually the type that's more commonly found in nature! But human furniture snobs have a preference for the classy black ebony. :P
“On the day of my creation, I fell in love with education. And overcoming all frustration, a teacher I became.”
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerinski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 01 2024 at 07:23
Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

Eco-ebony fretboard? By that I mean, the kind of ebony that's not pure black color-wise. From what I've heard it is actually the type that's more commonly found in nature! But human furniture snobs have a preference for the classy black ebony. :P

Yes, actually I don't know the precise sourcing of this ebony fretboard, the luthier had this piece and showed it to me and asked me if I liked it and I said yes, it's more original and special than the typical black fretboard Smile
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Frets N Worries View Drop Down
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Points: 4202 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Frets N Worries Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 01 2024 at 16:25
^That neck is looking beautiful! 

What are you thinking in terms of pickups?


Edit: I just went back and checked. I've got a set of EMG DG20's in my Partscaster. Which are 3 SA's with some special tone knobs. (They sounds gorgeous, a SPC Presence for Mid-Range and an EXG for Treble and Bass). It's like my guitar teacher once told me "I have yet to hear somebody get a bad tone out of a set of EMGs"




Edited by Frets N Worries - January 01 2024 at 16:45
The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time...
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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I've never played EMGs so it was a rather blind decision, but their reputation and also the recommendation of the luthier convinced me to have a go for them, I don't think I will regret it Smile
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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The neck shape and body contours are basically finished. Next step is leveling the fretboard. The bridge, nut and tuners have been mounted so that strings will be installed to provide the proper tension to the neck, then the guitar will be blocked, strings removed and the leveling and sanding will be done with the proper neck angle as if the strings were mounted.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerinski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 06 2024 at 15:36
Some more pics of the progress. Fretboard has been levelled, side dot markers have been installed. Now frets are being installed and next step will be fret levelling.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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And some more
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JD View Drop Down
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I gotta say Gerard, I've been following this build all along and it looks magnificent. I grew up in a woodworking house. My dad was a professional draftsman and master wood worker. Mostly furniture and home reno type stuff. I'm a fair wood worker but I really admire the talent you display here.
How many guitars have you built?

(edit)
Wacko

I just went back to the beginning of the thread and started reading everything. Suddenly noticed you weren't building it by your own hands. Oops. Nevertheless, a beautiful looking piece of wood.


Edited by JD - February 06 2024 at 16:12
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Originally posted by JD JD wrote:

I just went back to the beginning of the thread and started reading everything. Suddenly noticed you weren't building it by your own hands. Oops. Nevertheless, a beautiful looking piece of wood.

LOL LOL LOL

I consider myself a handy man, I have worked with wood and metal and I'm very meticulous and perfectionist, but I did not dare to attempt the build myself, and thank god that I didn't. 
I didn't have any experience building guitars and by following up the work of the luthier I realise that it's a real art. You need quite a lot of knowledge, expertise, practice, access to sourcing good raw materials, besides having the space and all the tools required. You can do a lot with your own hands with limited tools, but proper luthier-specific tools save you a lot of work and allow much more precision. 
And some things you just can't do them in the same way, for the fretboard for example he used a CNC machine and you get a precision which is very difficult to get by hand.

Plus, it's a lot of money. The risk of making some mistake and messing the whole thing up was too high.

But I'm still happy I can say that I did the design and decided all the specs, and apparently I did it quite well, the luthier congratulated me for my choices and he did not have to change practically anything from my original design and specs.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerinski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 26 2024 at 14:07
Ready for paint. Now I have a dilemma, initially I had thought about painting it in opaque light grey (all the hardware is black), but I now realise that it's nice to see the construction of the instrument, the neck-through, the laminated 3-piece neck, the wood has a nice enough grain... if I paint it opaque this will be lost which is a pity, the guitar will look as if it could as well be made of plastic...
But if I want to paint it translucid, light grey is not an option because of the orange-brown tone of the mahogany. I am limited to warm colours such as red, orange, brown... or either leave it with a natural wood finish.
I need to think about it and make my mind up quickly...
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Grumpyprogfan View Drop Down
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Points: 11629 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Grumpyprogfan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 26 2024 at 14:19
Beautiful guitar. I vote red for the color.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerinski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2024 at 06:39
Originally posted by Grumpyprogfan Grumpyprogfan wrote:

Beautiful guitar. I vote red for the color.

Thanks. Red would surely look nice, but I have already a translucent red one, an Aria Pro-II, even if I rarely play it nowadays. We will see...
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JD View Drop Down
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I was leaning BROWN. It will beautifully pull the grain out and give it a magnificent classy look.
Thank you for supporting independently produced music
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerinski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2024 at 10:12
Originally posted by JD JD wrote:

I was leaning BROWN. It will beautifully pull the grain out and give it a magnificent classy look.
Thanks JD, I'm sure it would look beautiful, but it's so different from what I initially had in mind that I need some time to reset my mind about it. And I wanted some contrast with all the hardware, which I already have and it's all black. Perhaps some brown which is not too dark... 
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Hrychu View Drop Down
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Points: 5364 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hrychu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2024 at 10:52
Just looking at a guitar with a FR bridge makes me feel the pain of restringing/tuning it up! xD
“On the day of my creation, I fell in love with education. And overcoming all frustration, a teacher I became.”
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Frets N Worries View Drop Down
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Points: 4202 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Frets N Worries Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2024 at 11:59
Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

Just looking at a guitar with a FR bridge makes me feel the pain of restringing/tuning it up! xD

I've got a 12 string... those things take up nearly a whole afternoon to re-string and tune up again 


Edited by Frets N Worries - February 27 2024 at 11:59
The Wheel of Time Turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time...
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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In normal conditions you manage by changing one string at a time, one string and tune it, then change another string and tune it, and so on, so the whole setup remains stable and you don't have to touch the bridge (unless you are changing strings gauges or something).  But indeed the very first time you string the instrument or if for whatever reasons all of the strings have been removed, then it can indeed be a pain in the @ss...

I've never had a 12-string but I can believe they must be a pain too...
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JD View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

Originally posted by JD JD wrote:

I was leaning BROWN. It will beautifully pull the grain out and give it a magnificent classy look.
Thanks JD, I'm sure it would look beautiful, but it's so different from what I initially had in mind that I need some time to reset my mind about it. And I wanted some contrast with all the hardware, which I already have and it's all black. Perhaps some brown which is not too dark... 
Absolutely. A gentle Mission Oak type stain that enriches the grain, covered by a clear urethane finish is what I was thinking.
Thank you for supporting independently produced music
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gerinski Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 17 2024 at 11:58
Well the guitar spent quite much longer than I expected at the paintshop due to some problems with the varnish supplier, finally I decided to leave it in a natural wooden finish, just varnished.
Now installing all the hardware and electronics, it's getting close to finished!
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