Carillion Polaris Multiscale 7 Build Thread

[Lorcan Ward]

I got in contact with Chris Delia last year after seeing some of his guitars on FB just to say I really liked his work and ended up talking a lot about guitars and throwing around ideas for a build. I was already knee deep in builds at the time and like a lot of people I was wary of "new" luthiers" so I said I had to try his work first before committing to a build. Chris lives near Feline Guitars so I flew over to England with my Koa Ibanez to drop it off for a SS refret and check out the Carillion Guitars workshop. Chris put all my doubts to rest since his guitars were top notch and he is extremely knowledgable in guitar building, not to mention a really cool guy. He has quite an extensive wood stash so we spent a few hours picking out pieces and going over every millimetre of the guitar making sure everything was the way I wanted.

After getting my Daemoness I know exactly what I want in a guitar nowadays but that means going custom. This build is very similar just with a few differences like the neck woods swapped, oil finish, slightly smaller fan for B standard tuning etc

So here is the beginnings of my Carillion Polaris Multiscale 7 string.

I looked through about 20 Quilt Maple top, it was a very hard choice but I picked this one out because of the curving figure around the arm rest.

Flamed Black Limba Body

Clamped up

5 piece neck: Honduras Rosewood with flame maple inserts

I opted for the new REAVER headstock as soon as I saw the prototype, I've grown to like 4 over 3 headstocks more than inline.

A set of Lundgren "The Ones", Alnico V pickups wound to about 15k and slanted at 14 degrees. They are the same set as in my Daemoness but with black allen screws for minor adjustments. This is my third set now.

 

[mphsc]

Gonna be killer.

 

[TamanShud]

Subbed cos this is gonna turn out tops! What kinda stain/finish are you going for?

 

[zan2568]

Looks awesome already! What scale are you going with?

 

[BlackMastodon]

Subbed cos this is gonna turn out tops! What kinda stain/finish are you going for?

Was just about to ask this, too. Great wood choices on this build.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Subbed cos this is gonna turn out tops! What kinda stain/finish are you going for?

Not 100% sure yet but I looked through lots of NAMM pics over the weekend to get some ideas. I'd like to go with some kind of blue stain but I might experiment with a red stain.

Looks awesome already! What scale are you going with?

25.5 - 26.25, its a .75" fan so slightly smaller than my Daemoness but still offering the same tonal and tension benefits.

 

[frahmans]

Not 100% sure yet but I looked through lots of NAMM pics over the weekend to get some ideas. I'd like to go with some kind of blue stain but I might experiment with a red stain.



25.5 - 26.25, its a .75" fan so slightly smaller than my Daemoness but still offering the same tonal and tension benefits.

cool build. question. with a 0.75 fan, how did you calculate that the slant of the pickups had to be 14 degrees? I'd really like to know so I can move on from using soapbar pickups for my fanned guitars.

 

[rockskate4x]

cool build. question. with a 0.75 fan, how did you calculate that the slant of the pickups had to be 14 degrees? I'd really like to know so I can move on from using soapbar pickups for my fanned guitars.

the slant of the pickups is determined by many other factors like the string width at the nut and the bridge and the perpendicular location on the fretboard. http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/ Is where you need to go to work this out.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

cool build. question. with a 0.75 fan, how did you calculate that the slant of the pickups had to be 14 degrees? I'd really like to know so I can move on from using soapbar pickups for my fanned guitars.

I think Lundgren only offer 14 and 20 degrees for their slanted humbuckers. 14 will mean the pickup will be closest to the lowest bass saddle and gradually getting further away as it goes down the strings, instead of it being the opposite on most multi scales. So its overcompensating when compared to a straight humbucker on a straight scale which will give some tonal improvements across the strings.

 

[StevenC]

You should get a pink/purple stain.

Like a darker version of Strandberg #60.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Neck pocket and arm contour cut.

Second from the left, some crazy looking guitars in this batch. I was originally going to go for an African Blackwood fretboard again but the supplier I got mine off for my Daemoness wasn't replying so I had a look through about 50+ boards and settled on ebony. Chris then went through his stock looking for a really tight grain black board. I went for ivoroid binding to have more contrast between the rosewood neck and ebony board. Otherwise I'd go for the ebony binding with a thin maple strip.

 

[feraledge]

Some nice looking work. I really dig that guitar on the left... errr, I mean the 8 in line headstock.
I shouldn't look at build threads while having a build under way, I keep thinking twice about not getting a PME board.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

its gonna look epic!

 

[superash]

holy smokes.

chris is going in hard with these.

every update i see from carillion is making me jelly as f.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Neck profile is being carved. I tried out a few of his guitars with his D profile and settled on a slightly flatter back so its going to be similar to the Ultra Prestige profile on my old Rg1527 but a small bit thicker. Neck profiles are something thats never really given me trouble unless they're vintage Cs or super thin wizard necks.

The quilt maple backplate has been glued on too. It and the front plate has a black veneer strip to separate the two.

 

[Gango79]

What a headstock!! Love it!!!!! Great choice Locarn!!

 

[Heroooh]

Did you opt for inlays?

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Yep. I have a lot of trouble playing on the higher frets without inlays. It must be the way I hold my guitar at an angle. I drew up a shield type inlay mockup and sent a picture on to Chris. Looking forward to seeing what he does.

 

[Bearitone]

Tell me more about the "The One" pickups.
How do they compare to the M8?
What do you like about them?

 

[Lorcan Ward]

There was actually a bit of a mistake with the pickup specs so they were sent back to Lundgren for a magnet swap and now they're back again in Carillion HQ. Everything was sorted super quick. Now I've got the first M17(MOneSeven) set, a combination of "The One" and M7 which should be very interesting.

Tell me more about the "The One" pickups.
How do they compare to the M8?
What do you like about them?

I've never played any other Lundgrens so I can't say how they compare but the Ones are my favourite 7 string pickup. Very good for rhythm and leads which is hard to get right. They are Alnico V wound to about 15K, Very modern sounding, full across the board with no noticeable scoops or spikes, bridge is tight on the low B with a bouncy attack.

Its hard to describe pickups, they're something you need to try in person to feel how they respond to your playing and how notes sound across the board/strings. Personally I really like them.