NGD - Custom Burl Poplar, Black Limba, and Macassar Ebony

[KR250]

I finally finished a custom build after about 6 months of slowly working away at. It's my 3rd custom (technically 2.5), and made some great strides and improvements over my previous builds, but still some flaws. Mainly in the finish. It plays fantastic and I'm just starting to use it for recording, so I'm super happy with this guitar and looking forward to improving on the next one. I'm able to get the action really low on this, it's almost better than my E2 ESP.

Here's the specs:

Style: 7 string bolt-on neck w/machine screws
Scale: 27"
Bridge: Hipshot Hard Tail
Tuners: Hipshot open tuners - 4 bass/3 treble
Pickups: EMG 57-7/66-7
Electronics: 1 toggle, 1 volume
Body: Black Limba 1 piece
Top: Burl Poplar 3/8" thick
Neck: Figured Macassar Ebony - 20.5mm 1st fret - 21.5 at 12th fret
Fret board: Macassar Ebony w/Luminlay - 16" radius
Head Stock: Custom 4x3 with Burl Poplar laminate
Nut: Black Tusq XL
Frets: 24 Medium Jumbo Stainless (51100)
Truss Rod: Spoke wheel at neck pocket
Finish: Tru-Oil

Here's the build thread:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=307819

Hard time with lighting, so this is what I have:

 

[Dawn of the Shred]

Congrats man!

 

[zeropoint]

Man, almost looks like a winged skull right under the bridge.

 

[JohnTanner]

beautiful man great job!

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

Man, almost looks like a winged skull right under the bridge.

noticed that too.

congrats on a cool looking axe

 

[beavis2306]

That looks amazing. Very nice wood choices as far as visuals.

 

[pott]

Dat neck!! Great to see builders in Seattle man

 

[KR250]

Thanks for the comments. I'll try and post some sound clips soon. Recording a new song with this axe and loving it. I planned out the top wood as best I could to show the cool burl around the hardware. It's not quite my perfect axe, but really really close. I spent about $850 total on it, plus some odd 100 hours of labor, lol. Next build is already in progress and should be a bit cleaner using the same concept. I'm still a newbie at building, but this guitar has been really encouraging. Also my first experience playing the 57/66 combo, really has a nice mid range growl to it with a defined low end.

 

[EchelonXIII]

Oh man, burl and limba. My favorite combination. I am LOVING the top on this.

 

[JimF]

Wow! that is an amazing axe! Loving the headstock shape too!

 

[bostjan]

Amazing!

 

[Wolfhorsky]

I like everything about that guitar, but dat headstock is too odd for me. Anyway, very cool axe.

 

[prlgmnr]

Is this weird? I don't know if this is weird, but... I want to touch your neck.

OK, it's weird, but I stand by it.

 

[pettymusic]

Happy NGD! Really beautiful piece of art there!!

 

[Mraz]

That neck :3

 

[odibrom]

It looks amazing, BUT, since it was a home build, WHERE'S THE FRONTAL SHOT?

Wood figure is spot on.

The only downs in my opinion is the headstock being too long and not having offset dots, but if you dig it cool, right? Congrats.

 

[KR250]

It looks amazing, BUT, since it was a home build, WHERE'S THE FRONTAL SHOT?

You mean like guitar standing up, shot of the front, full frame? I can grab some more pictures. I can do better with some proper lighting.

The only downs in my opinion is the headstock being too long and not having offset dots, but if you dig it cool, right? Congrats.

Yeah, the head stock is a bit weird. It looks better in person, but I also left a lot of space between tuners (which I like) but does make it very long. The curves also make it a PITA to line up the string spacing AND have the tuners at similar extensions with the pegs. Next build will be a little more mainstream.

I'm also considering swapping out the solderless EMG toggle switch for one that is all black, the chrome kinda looks out of place to me. I have an aversion to anything too shiny, other than the frets

Thanks for the comments.

 

[odibrom]

Yeah, I was talking about that full frame standing (or laying) shot, so we can see the body/headstock balance and proportions.

The other issues you speak of, are IMO peanuts...

Besides, it looks like a great build. once again, congrats!...

 

[KR250]

Ok, here's my attempt at a full frontal. Kinda just missed the right lighting, and sorry for the doggy scratched up deck back drop.

A couple more close ups of the finish and fretwork.

You can also see where I messed up and had to shim the pickup over. The poles are actually aligned after I "fixed it". Definitely some amateur hour on that part. A couple minutes in the sun sure charged up the luminlay though, I could see them glowing in a lit room for a little bit.

 

[timbryant99]

That is beautiful. I love the Macassar neck. Do you find it to be neck heavy at all?