Abasi Headless Build

[DeanGordonGuitars]

Ill give you this arguement, Ive repaired so many guitars with truss rod issues but I have built over 40 guitars WITH spoke rods and I welcome you to look at the miriad of custom shops Charvel,Jackson,Tao,Mansons,ErnieBall,Fender etc that now use the spoke wheel. Not only are they much easier to access and adjust but I feel they actually have a more stable adjustment from the heel providing the stiffness in the neck from the heel out to the nut where It should be, You see things like "SkiJumps" on guitars because of the nut to heel adjustment. - Dean

 

[cip 123]

Ill give you this arguement, Ive repaired so many guitars with truss rod issues but I have built over 40 guitars WITH spoke rods and I welcome you to look at the miriad of custom shops Charvel,Jackson,Tao,Mansons,ErnieBall,Fender etc that now use the spoke wheel. Not only are they much easier to access and adjust but I feel they actually have a more stable adjustment from the heel providing the stiffness in the neck from the heel out to the nut where It should be, You see things like "SkiJumps" on guitars because of the nut to heel adjustment. - Dean

Thanks for checking out the build, love your designs.

I've not done much experimentation with them, it was mainly for the look on this guitar. I like the look on old superstrat style guitars mainly. Beat up hot rod fender types.

 

[DeanGordonGuitars]

Thanks for checking out the build, love your designs.

I've not done much experimentation with them, it was mainly for the look on this guitar. I like the look on old superstrat style guitars mainly. Beat up hot rod fender types.

I dig that, just saying in my experience the spoke is a far better option. Especially on angled headstocks too since you dont need to rout the access channel it allows more rigidity in the headstock where it angles.

 

[cip 123]

Little update, as I carve back at the limba, I just see more and more ripples of flame. So this could look real slick once it's finished!

 

[cip 123]

Carving chisels arrived so I could start dialling in that neck heel, really happy with the flame that's showed up all over the neck, just makes it that much sweet.

A proper radius block should show up neck week, then I can have the fretboard finished ready for frets, and start seeing this thing over the finish line.

BE273156-8D5F-4CE6-B264-075A5F50ACC0

• cip 123
• May 29, 2020

181D3C3C-B20B-4D12-8345-C113876519D8

• cip 123
• May 29, 2020

 

[BigViolin]

Nice, really looking forward to seeing this one!

 

[dmlinger]

Really cool build! Curious...why didn't you model and cut the neck profile and transitions on CNC?

 

[cip 123]

Really cool build! Curious...why didn't you model and cut the neck profile and transitions on CNC?

I did a couple tests, I'm still getting use to the CNC and I found it hard to get the profile correct. I think I'll mainly be using the CNC for bodies and fretboards. No real reason basically, it's just been easier right now with what I'm doing.

I do enjoy the carving side of things, so don't mind sitting for a few hours with some carving knives and a rasp.

 

[cip 123]

1ECFDC8E-2C7E-4DB6-9100-6B6B044437D4

• cip 123
• Jul 20, 2020

702B3521-AFAF-4055-B485-54E241E1955E

• cip 123
• Jul 20, 2020

Fixed the neck angle/height, that I screwed up, with an ebony veneer about to glue it in place.


Should I carve it back even further after? Unsure as the access is okay as it is but dunno if it’ll look better carved back even more.

 

[Solodini]

Will you get annoyed at it if you don't?

 

[cip 123]

Will you get annoyed at it if you don't?

AC3CD040-1A5A-48B4-8224-1CDD767FF157

• cip 123
• Jul 21, 2020

It did end up annoying me

 

[Solodini]

You did a cracking job of amending it. Kudos.

 

[cip 123]

351B4D8F-1FFA-4583-9475-BD0CEA50001A

• cip 123
• Aug 11, 2020

It's not finished but it's strung up and I'll probably focus on other projects for a while. Getting it strung up I can finally see all the problem areas of this being a guitar. Which is good this was always just a learning experince.

In terms of design, the body is super comfortable. I pictured it with my Schecter just to show how small it is overall. The Schecter is 27", the Abasi is 27.5" on the bass.

The frets need a lot of attention, and the fretboard edges definitely need rolled. The bridge could actually do with being lowered, which is not something I really wanna deal with right now. The "headstock" or at least me using the single piece head piece isn't sitting with me very well, you can see I had to angle the strings in a bit for the spacing.

I also committed a Jackson custom shop level mistake and put the 12th fret inlay on the 13th fret...

All in all it's "okay", as a learning piece I've learned an absolute boat load. As a concept for an Abasi headless I think it's super cool, I think the actual Abasi headstock looks killer over all, but the compactness of the design is definitely something I enjoy.

There's currently a thunder storm here so I'll get some photos tomorrow, and probably post an NGD thread cause I've already played Bleed on it so it's officially a guitar I guess

 

[Omzig]

Super work,i do love and extended single cut,first 2 things i built were 6 and 4 string SC basses, the extra wood right in your chest really does help you feel the notes....humm i can now see a future 7 string SC build,as i recall i did one way back when i built the 7 MS stranburger thing about 6 years or more back...time to dig out that backup HDD.

Are you going to preplace the one piece retainer with single units? (which imo are a total PITA)

Again super work i hope you can get it fully tweaked out to your liking.

 

[cip 123]

Super work,i do love and extended single cut,first 2 things i built were 6 and 4 string SC basses, the extra wood right in your chest really does help you feel the notes....humm i can now see a future 7 string SC build,as i recall i did one way back when i built the 7 MS stranburger thing about 6 years or more back...time to dig out that backup HDD.

Are you going to preplace the one piece retainer with single units? (which imo are a total PITA)

Again super work i hope you can get it fully tweaked out to your liking.

It is a great design, I do like the single cut aspect, 1 thing I am proud of is the rear belly cut, which is super deep and brings it right in close to your chest.

I have my own headless design (which is where the neck came from), and I might make a single cut version of it.

I doubt I'll replace the single piece unit, I'll get the nut cut properly and the strings should sit a bit better. This will definitely be something I tweak in my own time outside of other builds. Lot's to still learn from by tweaking it, I think the overall carving and hand shaping were my strong points on this build, the frets and details are where I need more experience.

Thanks for following the build, already started on a 7 string Talman for the next build!

 

[Zhysick]

I have to say the neck joint is just fucking fantastic. You should be proud you fucked up the height/angle first because with the ebony there is just one of the most beautiful neck joints I have ever seen if not the most.

Sad to hear there are some things to improve, if you need someone to give love to her I offer myself for adoption. I wouldn't mind paying the expenses for shipping to the canary islands, even thou, if you want to come here I offer you a pint, well, two...


PS: I'm trying...

 

[cip 123]

I have to say the neck joint is just fucking fantastic. You should be proud you fucked up the height/angle first because with the ebony there is just one of the most beautiful neck joints I have ever seen if not the most.

Sad to hear there are some things to improve, if you need someone to give love to her I offer myself for adoption. I wouldn't mind paying the expenses for shipping to the canary islands, even thou, if you want to come here I offer you a pint, well, two...


PS: I'm trying...

Haha thanks very much, the portions I did hand carve on the body, the tummy cut and the neck joint, I enjoyed very much and I’d probably say they’re some
Of the strong areas. I’m a bit behind on some other bodies so I might be able to get the bridge lowered sooner rather than later.


I couldn’t ever send this thing away, as many problems as it has it’s still the first build so I’ll probably keep it forever!

 

[cip 123]

Found some time to fix the action problem, and started oiling it stuff takes a while to soak in so I'll get the hardware back on sometime this month hopefully

 

[Solodini]

Oooft. Even better than before!

 

[Zhysick]

Shiny under the scottish sun... that's a big statement! It's not easy to make something shine under that sun...

Never been to Scotland, but lived in Ireland and have been in England a few times so I guess it has to be very similar and in any case a bit worse because... more to the north)