My (Very Ambitious) First Build, Complete Picstory! Instant Gratification FTW!

[Totem_37]

So before I get to the pics, here’s a bit of backstory. Ever since getting a co-op placement at a local music store (Cosmo Music in Richmond Hill) doing guitar repair in the 11th grade, I have wanted to build my own guitar. Many moons later, I began full-time employment at Long & McQuade where I met Allen Hunter (Dendroaspis on here) of AVH guitar repair (back then he was the tech guru at the North York store) and he told me about the local luthier Tony Karol of Karol Guitars in Mississauga (Karol Custom Guitars) who takes on students. So I enrolled with Tony and in October of 2009 I started building my very first guitar. I broke my ankle in early 2010 (beerbogganing at Christie Pitts Park in Toronto) which sidelined the project for a few months, but almost two years after beginning it has finally been finished (minus a few minor tweaks to be detailed at the end of this post) and I’m very happy with the final result. Anyways, here are the specs:

Woods:
Curly Maple/Purple Heart neck log
Korina body wings (my nod to Ted McCarty and the 1958 explorers)
African Blackwood fingerboard, truss rod cover, and body tip
Spalted Maple top and headstock veneer

Electronics:
Lundgren M8, Q-Tuner BL-5 Pickups
Vol/Tone Concentric controls for each pickup
Sprague .47 orange drop caps

Measurements:
28.44” scale length (it’s a Martin acoustic with a couple frets added on towards the nut end, hence the strange number)
Weight: really fucking heavy
Size: really fucking big
Awesomeness: Really fucking awesome

Other:
Graphtech nut (soon to be replaced with a bone nut)
Gotoh 21:1 Delta locking tuners
Schaller straploks
Bridge Pickup ring handmade by Dendroaspis a hell of a long time ago, and was originally on his 2228 once upon a time
Tuned half step down using Ernie Ball Coated/Titanium/RPS/whatever 9-46 + 59 + 74

Pic Time!!!

Truss Rod + Carbon Fibre Rods

Black Lab too lazy to get out of the way of wood shavings...

20 pic/post limit means next post will be up in a few...

 

[Totem_37]

If I remember correctly, there were upwards of 20 clamps on the body here. It weighed well over 50 kilos with all that.

I had short hair when this project started...

Part three coming up...

 

[Totem_37]

I had to pour so much CA glue onto that spalted maple to solidify it, the fumes burned out my nosehairs... (notice the lengthening hair...)

This is the file I used to get the rough shape for the neck. It's intended purpose is to file horse hooves. Seriously.

Size comparison between my build and my RG2228

Part four coming up...

 

[geofreesun]

well done sir! pure gorgeous!

 

[Totem_37]

A black lab sitting on a chocolate lab's head. Sweet.

I had to build my string retainer bar from scratch aluminum since I didn't know where I could source it from. I'm going to be powder-coating it black in a week or two. Darren, if you're reading this, I'd love to know where you got those custom made bars you used for Misha's javelin.

Started applying tung oil to the neck

French Polishing the cavity covers

Part five coming atcha...

 

[JamesM]

First build?! You fuckin liar!

 

[Totem_37]

The guy who built this case for me exclaimed upon pickup:
"Alternating purple and orange panels? This is the ugliest fucking case I've ever built in my life"
"Ya, well if anyone tries to walk off with it, I'll know!"

There is my case sitting next to the RG2228. Gives you an idea of the sheer massiveness of the thing. Hence the wheels.

My ERG family pic! (On authentic 1977 Star Wars bedsheet, courtesy of my gf... awesome!)

Well there it is folks, if anyone has any questions, I'd love to answer them. If you want to see more pics (these are just a select few), let me know what you want to see and I'll see if I've got one.

There are still a couple things left to do, first I want to replace the graphtech nut with a bone nut and secondly, I need to work on the neck shape some more. When carving the neck, I was very worried about tuning stability (despite carbon reinforecement rods, opposing maple grains, extended scale, locking tuners, etc) so I didn't make it quite as thin as I would have liked. However I have had it strung up for a couple weeks now and I still haven't even activated he truss rod... it's just sitting at zero. So I think it's safe to say that I can take some wood away and make it a little more comfortable. That's the great part about the tung oil neck finish, I can always just slap some more on!

 

[Sebastian]

That looks amazing! Great looking wood, really cool inlay.
wow... just wow!

 

[tybro7]

thats is F***ING AMAZING MAN!!!!! WOW!!!

 

[adrock]

nice!!

 

[Curt]

Holy shit, dude!

That is probably the sickest 8 string i've ever seen! I wish I had the kind of knowledge and tools to do this with.

 

[Totem_37]

That looks amazing! Great looking wood, really cool inlay.
wow... just wow!

Thanks dude! The inlay is actually a design I made in the eleventh grade, which I got tattooed on me a couple years ago. I really love it, so it ended up on the guitar.

thats is F***ING AMAZING MAN!!!!! WOW!!!

Thanks man! Much appreciated!

Holy shit, dude!

That is probably the sickest 8 string i've ever seen! I wish I had the kind of knowledge and tools to do this with.

Thanks man! Just do some snooping around to see if there are any local luthiers in your area. A lot of them don't make enough money to live off their instruments by themselves, so some will take on students. There is no way I would have been able to accomplish this without all the help I got from Tony Karol, and access to his awesome workshop

 

[JosephAOI]

That is insane! Man, you've got me majorly GAS-ing for my guitar that i'm gonna start on soon! Make another!!!

 

[Empryrean]

thats really amazing work there man! I needa find a local lutheir stat!

 

[SD83]

Epic guitar is epic... impressive work in all parts. The case however... weird color choice.

 

[Fred]

Absolutely incredible work man, there are so few things on that guitar that I'd choose myself, and yet it's still immensely appealing - great stuff! One of the things I definitely would choose is that stunning spalt - love it when you get an almost cartoonish figure like that.

 

[Hollowway]

Good God that's amazing! I've seen a lot of builds on here, but you hit that one out of the park.

 

[Razzy]

That thing is drop dead gorgeous, dude. Can you post pics of the backside? All the pics of the back you've posted are before it was complete. I'd like to see what your cavity covers and neck joint and everything look like.

 

[CrushingAnvil]

Large guitar is large.

 

[ROAR]

Holy.
Fucking.
Shit...