Carving up the wookiee. Tigerwood is strange. It acts like figured maple when you hit it with a blade sometimes and others it is like rosewood. After roughing in with the sanding disk in the 3/8" drill I ended up doing a combination of hand scrapers and hand sanding to finish.
Joining a top for the 8 string. Another prototype another 3A top. "Wing Man Theory". You really should never use a blade on figured maple so I am preparing the edge sans jointer.
Lots of clamps. Maple loves to leave glue lines so the joint has to fit perfect before gluing and the pressure has to be even and firm. Since maple is harder than say mahogany it requires more pressure to get a seamless joint.
Do to recent tone "voodoo" findings I have decided that mojo is as important as materials. So I am attempting to channel the mojo. I am starting with a one piece flat sawn 2A figured piece of maple. I am going to add a 2A piece of birdseye for the fretbaord and head plate. I know what you are...
Why did I not make the headstock wide enough to begin with? The other zebrawood neck gets a fretboard. I used epoxy on this one for the fretboard, and the top, headplate, and the neck joint. Other one is using titebond for all the joints. Since the two guitars are twins I can give a report on...
Single string bridges from Hipshot. Finished up the pickguard for a friend. Vintage tortoise. Diablo HB, 2 Diablo Single Coils (P90 style). Volume and Tone are moved to give a bit more room. I love the smell of nitrocellulose celluloid in the morning.
Remove the plate and route. I use the dremel with a .25" bit to make the corners tight. A cutoff of MDF with 100 grit paper stuck to it to clean up anything mucky.
This is going to happen. I am setting the depth on the router by putting the template on the face and moving the bit to the depth of the plate. Then we bolt the bridge plate in place and set the template.
Black ABM bridge. I really like these bridges. I wish I could get them in 7 string without a special order. Locking steel saddles on a steel plate. Solid as a rock. And I can recess it into the body until only the saddles stick up. Ergonomic bliss.
Sperzels in. Staggered tuners in a tapered headstock makes me happy. I am not sure how I feel about them anymore. I have gotten used to the heavy brass bodied Hipshot lockers and for some reason the Sperzel feels less solid to me. I also hate the pin. Unless I need space on the headstock...