Custom electric guitar project - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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...

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.”
— Ernest Vong

I was leaning BROWN. It will beautifully pull the grain out and give it a magnificent classy look.

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Beautiful guitar. I vote red for the color.

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.

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.

And some more

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.

^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...

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.”
— Ernest Vong

Thanks! Yes, so far I'm pleased with the progress, I look forward to seeing it finished and playing it too. In the coming weeks I need to start practicing again, it's more than 5 years that I have not played so I will be very rusty. This guitar is being made precisely as a tool for helping me regaining the motivation to play again.