So I fell into the trap that is hobby guitar building last year and did a pretty simple first build that turned out well enough to encourage me to do another one, trying to up the difficulty a bit.
How it started:
How it turned out (yes it is the same sofa obviously):
Here are the specs:
- Roasted swamp ash body
- Flamed maple cap and Angelus stains
- Rosewood neck
- Pale moon ebony fretboard
- 25.5" scale, 24 frets
- Jescar 57110 frets
- Schaller Hannes bridge
- Planet Waves autotrim tuners
- "The Discoverer" set from Gorilla Pickups
- Ibanez 5 way switch (Neck series, neck parallel, neck + bridge, inner coils only, bridge series)
- Volume pot only (250k) make from the same blank as the neck cause why not
- Neck shape is kinda modern C to Dish, 19mm 1st fret to 21mm 12th fret
- Osmo hardwax oil finish on everything
Long story short: I like the "blackmachine" type body shape, I wanted to try a Hannes, I wanted a 3+3 headstock that I designed on my own (only to realize it's really close to some headstocks that are out that after cutting it but hey that's what "inspiration" is like right) so I went to work. I also wanted to try my hand at stains and a burst so... a purple burst time!
I have to say that the result is beyond my expectations. Happy to say I made some progress from the total noob I was for my first build and even if I made some mistakes, the guitar turned out head and shoulders above the first build. I am also very pleased with the aspect of the guitar as it turned out to be exactly the look I had in mind at the start. The neck is exactly how I wanted it, and the combination of rosewood with hardwax oil is a dream. The Hannes is a great bridge, very comfortable. The pickups that I got from Gorilla Pickups (on a recommendation from @odibrom thanks again!) are a dream. The bridge is my favorite thing ever and just what I wanted -full but not overbearing, extremely dynamic and tight, with a broad response without any dominant frequency-. The neck is more subdued but the kind of thing you can use in every situation. From jazz chords to blazing solos (not that I do any anyway). With my wiring, I have a tendency to use the inner coils in parallel a lot for cleans, it's great. I currently have the lowest action I have ever had on a guitar with an almost straight neck (1.6mm low E, 1.1mm high e) and I am not even having fret buzz or fret outs with bends of 2 tones, it's nuts. And I have a heavy hand. I might raise it a tad for clarity but we'll see.
Now obviously, since it's only my second build and I still have a limited idea what I am doing, there are some flaws. Cosmetically, I had to plug a mistake on the back due to a drill bit falling on it. Some of the binding isn't perfect, I had troubles with the masking tape. A couple of spots under the frets are not perfectly filled with CA glue and saw dust so you see there is a mini gap. More worryingly, I had issues setting up the action on the bridge as the screws simply didn't want to go in all the way and since I was close to the limit, I had to file a bit of the thread off to be able to screw them in fully. Worked a charm tho so crisis avoided, I really didn't want to shim. That's about it though so nothing terrible.
All in all, very happy, so I am bragging. Fuck yeah.
Some more finished pictures:
Couple of in progress shots:
How it started:
How it turned out (yes it is the same sofa obviously):
Here are the specs:
- Roasted swamp ash body
- Flamed maple cap and Angelus stains
- Rosewood neck
- Pale moon ebony fretboard
- 25.5" scale, 24 frets
- Jescar 57110 frets
- Schaller Hannes bridge
- Planet Waves autotrim tuners
- "The Discoverer" set from Gorilla Pickups
- Ibanez 5 way switch (Neck series, neck parallel, neck + bridge, inner coils only, bridge series)
- Volume pot only (250k) make from the same blank as the neck cause why not
- Neck shape is kinda modern C to Dish, 19mm 1st fret to 21mm 12th fret
- Osmo hardwax oil finish on everything
Long story short: I like the "blackmachine" type body shape, I wanted to try a Hannes, I wanted a 3+3 headstock that I designed on my own (only to realize it's really close to some headstocks that are out that after cutting it but hey that's what "inspiration" is like right) so I went to work. I also wanted to try my hand at stains and a burst so... a purple burst time!
I have to say that the result is beyond my expectations. Happy to say I made some progress from the total noob I was for my first build and even if I made some mistakes, the guitar turned out head and shoulders above the first build. I am also very pleased with the aspect of the guitar as it turned out to be exactly the look I had in mind at the start. The neck is exactly how I wanted it, and the combination of rosewood with hardwax oil is a dream. The Hannes is a great bridge, very comfortable. The pickups that I got from Gorilla Pickups (on a recommendation from @odibrom thanks again!) are a dream. The bridge is my favorite thing ever and just what I wanted -full but not overbearing, extremely dynamic and tight, with a broad response without any dominant frequency-. The neck is more subdued but the kind of thing you can use in every situation. From jazz chords to blazing solos (not that I do any anyway). With my wiring, I have a tendency to use the inner coils in parallel a lot for cleans, it's great. I currently have the lowest action I have ever had on a guitar with an almost straight neck (1.6mm low E, 1.1mm high e) and I am not even having fret buzz or fret outs with bends of 2 tones, it's nuts. And I have a heavy hand. I might raise it a tad for clarity but we'll see.
Now obviously, since it's only my second build and I still have a limited idea what I am doing, there are some flaws. Cosmetically, I had to plug a mistake on the back due to a drill bit falling on it. Some of the binding isn't perfect, I had troubles with the masking tape. A couple of spots under the frets are not perfectly filled with CA glue and saw dust so you see there is a mini gap. More worryingly, I had issues setting up the action on the bridge as the screws simply didn't want to go in all the way and since I was close to the limit, I had to file a bit of the thread off to be able to screw them in fully. Worked a charm tho so crisis avoided, I really didn't want to shim. That's about it though so nothing terrible.
All in all, very happy, so I am bragging. Fuck yeah.
Some more finished pictures:
Couple of in progress shots:
