The past weeks, I have been toying with different f-hole designs and by collaborating with my wife, I arrived at something eventually. I wanted a play on my logo (which is featured all over this site, with the ‘.’ and ‘*’. I started with flowing designs that started with a dot and moved via a wave to the star. But this didn’t really balance out and by shifting the order, the relative sizes worked out better. The decreasing size holes was originally also following a wave shape, like the stem of a flower (credit the wife). Then, to make it more “masculine” I put them on a straight line. I had a helper line going through them when I was drawing and as it turned out, it looked better with the helper line than without it… So, here it is: I also routed recesses for the bridges today. They go from 1 mm in the middle, to 1.5 and 2 mm deep. This will allow me to have a similar height of the saddles although the actual string heights from the surface differs. Additionally, having the base plates recessed gives an exclusive...
Learn MoreHere is an update on the progress of my demo guitar: The body has been bound and the binding scraped flush. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the look of this guitar – I think it will look beautiful. Latest idea is to stain back ebony black. I will consider this for a little longer before going ahead. I tried out the string locks for the first time. Since there is no material in the middle of the neck due to my truss rod experiment, I had to create a small mounting plate for the string locks to sit on. In the above image, I also cut off the fretboard and the total length of the neck. Prior to that, I had planed, crowned and polished the frets. I also fixed the chip out. It will require a little more polish, but will get to that later. The body after binding. As said in the previous post, I am going on Monday to leave the new batch of tuners/bridges for finishing. They will be either tumbled or blasted and then finished in regular black or shiny black. I have some more turn-out samples that I have not even seen yet, so have to make a decision...
Learn MoreI have recived a few samples of new finishes back. I am only keeping this open until 6 am CET Monday morning, since that is when I go to drop the pieces off. Note that I will be keeping a batch unfinished to allow for custom orders. Please help me by voting for the finish you prefer (from left to right): [poll...
Learn MoreOver the past few days, I have been working on the neck. I don’t think I have told anyone but Rick, but it’s going to be a Trapezoidal Neck Profile. Above, it has been shaped roughly with a rasp. Some base oil finish (Watco Danish Oil) applied, and fretted. Unfortunately, I had a huge chip-out of the fretboard. But considering the number of unknowns on this build (Semi-Hollow, Trapezoidal Neck Profile, Fanned Frets, Carbon Truss) I will not worry too much about it. It will not affect the playability, but doesn’t become the nice show-off instrument I had planned. Weight: 475 grams. Compared to Ibanez Allan Holdsworth neck (maple/ebony) 575 grams and Squire Strat (maple/rosewood) 625 grams. I also routed the channel for the binding in the body, and had planned to fit it today. I had ordered the wrong kind though, so need to wait until the new one...
Learn MoreWith less than a month to the Uppsala International Guitar Festival and several steps remaining on the build, I will not have a lot of time for finishing. The process I have used before with great success takes several weeks and goes like this: Sand down to 320 or 400 grit paper. Use cold-pressed raw (boiled dries faster but can turn yellow over time) linseed oil, mixed with turpentine (Canada balsam) in a 1:1 relationship. Apply generously to the surface with a non-shedding rag and allow to be absorbed (rags can self-ignite! Put in a completely air-tight bag in between applications and before disposing) and keep doing this until the wood refuses to absorb any more. Wipe off excess and leave to dry. You may be able to apply up to 10 applications in one session before it can’t absorb any more. Repeat until even the first application of a coat refuses to absorb. (Each cycle will take longer and longer to dry. It can take over a week towards the end.) Now, take wet sanding paper 400 grit to 600 grit and rub in the oil mixture. This will force the wood to absorb a little more. Repeat to 1200 grit paper. Leave to dry for a long...
Learn MoreI cut the fretboard to size and and radiused it...
Learn More