My 4th Build - Singlecut Neck-Thru 6-String, Mahogany, Flame Maple, Ebony

[StarbardGuitar]

Hey guys,

I just completed my 3rd build (which was my first customer build) and now have the money to fund my next personal build. With each build I've been trying to step it up a notch and try something else I haven't done yet. If you're interested, these are the builds I've done so far, or you can just skip down to the bottom where I talk about the plans for the next build.

My first build was a simple bolt on 4-string bass.

My 2nd build was a 7-string guitar, and I tried some new things like binding, staining a nice quilt maple top, and used a 26.25" scale so I made all the templates myself this time, whereas the first build I used jazz bass templates for the neck and other aspects.

The third build I just completed, like I said was for a customer (I'm not a commercial builder or anything, I just built the bass for a friend). I had trouble with getting good results with finishes in the past so I really pushed myself with this build and was pleased with the results.

So anyway! Here are the specs of this build I will be starting soon.

The drawing:

-5 piece mahogany/wenge neck
-mahogany body wings
-flame maple top
-ebony FB, 22 frets
-binding on the body, fingerboard and headstock
-bridge humbucker, neck single coil
-2 volumes, 1 tone, 3-way toggle
-ToM style bridge
-25.5" scale

There may be more I'm forgetting but here's the idea. The body is based off of a Schecter Tempest. I have really been into the body shape of the Tempest's lately, so I got some measurements of one and drew my own version. The only real difference is that mine's a singlecut. I also have really been into the tone of a single-coil neck pickup lately, so I decided this build will probably have a single-coil in the neck.

As for what is going to be new to me on this build: I've never done a neck-thru, I've never bound a fingerboard before, I've never done a scarf-joint before, and I would also like to experiment with more difficult inlay on this build rather than dots, though I'm not sure what I will do yet.

I'll be ordering all the wood & parts in the next few days, so I should be back within a couple weeks with some updates!

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Also, this is the general idea I will be going for with the finish.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Parts and wood have been arriving over the past couple days, I believe the only thing I'm still waiting for is the mahogany for the neck and body wings.

Some wood porn for you guys, this is the top I'll be using.

Stewmac parts along with other random parts from ebay, the flame maple top wood, the wenge for the laminated neck, and the macassar ebony fretboard.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

The mahogany arrived today!

All of the wood together:

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Here's a better picture of the design, the first one was in bad lighting and hard to see.

Today I cut the templates for the body wings and the headstock. I won't be able to start with the actual woodwork for a couple days, because I don't have tools like a table saw or band saw which I will need for the neck. One of my dad's friends who lives less than maybe half a mile from my house happens to have an awesome wood shop and is always super kind enough to help me when I need help. I will have to give him a visit when I get the chance so I can get this build started!

 

[dankarghh]

Mann where did you get that maple. I'm so jealous of all you dudes top wood. Keen to see this come together.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Mann where did you get that maple. I'm so jealous of all you dudes top wood. Keen to see this come together.

I got the top wood from LMII, it was the premium figured drop top and was around $135 if I remember right. It is a bit expensive, but I was having a hard time finding flame maple in the right dimensions for this build elsewhere and I've always had good luck with LMII wood (since you don't always get to see what you're buying before-hand when buying wood online...)

 

[asher]

The top on that bass came out awesome dude, nice!

Cool looking design going here

 

[StarbardGuitar]

The top on that bass came out awesome dude, nice!

Cool looking design going here

Thank you!

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Did some work over at my friend's shop and got the neck blank glued up. 5 piece - Mahogany | Wenge | Mahogany | Wenge | Mahogany

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Unclamped and cleaned up on the planer.

Made a jig for sanding scarf joints, though for next time I will definitely make a base for a router. That way I can get it close with the router then clean it up with the sand paper. Just sanding takes a lot of time.

The jig works well. I'm using a 10 degree headstock angle.

Cut the neck taper and glued the joint up.

 

[Pikka Bird]

Coming along nicely... I gotta say that I preferred the look of the headstock in the first sketch. The template version is almost identical to the 3+3 Framus headstock which I think is a little uninspiring.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Coming along nicely... I gotta say that I preferred the look of the headstock in the first sketch. The template version is almost identical to the 3+3 Framus headstock which I think is a little uninspiring.

Hmm, well it definitely wasn't inspired by a Framus because I've never really looked at a Framus headstock before lol. Honestly what happened was I drew up my body shape first, and I knew I wanted a 3+3 tuner layout, but I didn't like the headstock shape the Tempest's have because it doesn't fit the body shape in my opinion. So I just sketched ideas until I found something I like which is the headstock shape you see on the sketch and the template. Also, the template and sketch are completely identical as I used the sketch when making the template. I think when this guitar is finished you'll see that it is definitely different than the Framus headstock and I think it'll fit the guitar very nicely.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

More neck work - cut the route for the truss rod, glued a veneer on the headstock, thicknessed & cut the headstock shape out.

Don't mind the awful looking truss rod access route on the headstock. I wasn't thinking and routed that before gluing on the veneer so it needs cleaning up. I also wish I had thought about it more and realized that it didn't need to go so far down the headstock. I'll just make a bigger cover, but that's something I'll remember for next time...

Also routed for the headstock binding and got that glued up. I use acetone to melt the binding instead of gluing it.

I also go a little crazy with the binding tape, but the less gaps I have to fill later the better. I hope to scrape the binding flush and glue up the fretboard tonight.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Cleaned the binding up a little bit.

And now the fretboard is being glued & clamped up.

 

[Taylor]

Looking good!

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Looking good!

Thank you!

Unclamped, cleaned up the fingerboard edge, routed for binding and got the binding in place. It still needs to be scraped flush so it looks a little funny in the picture.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Scraped the binding flush with the fingerboard, routed the body end of the neck down to thickness.

And I've got the body wings glued & clamped up.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

It's starting to look like a guitar now.

 

[StarbardGuitar]

Small update...

Routed some of the electronics cavities and the wire channels. I started sanding in preparation for gluing up the top, and I was surprised at how much lighter the mahogany gets when sanded. You can see the color before sanding in the low spots near the neck/body joint.

I wanted to get the top glued on tonight but my top pieces have a bit of a cup in them and I need to sort that out first. At this point, the pieces are thin enough that they would flex flat under clamping pressure, but then the seem where the two top pieces join is very bad. It's hard to joint the pieces properly when they're so cupped.