The Whisky Special Update: It's A Done Deal!

Like all of my guitars, this one ended up very different than I had planned. Originally, I wanted to build a solid, all Canarywood guitar. Unfortunately, the sheer weight of the body required a rethink. As a result, I ended up carving out the body. Then I added a few Mahogany accents and some sound holes. The result, I feel, is my best effort to date. Of course, like all of my other guitars, this one will go up for sale soon. If you're interested, $800 + shipping will put it in your hands.

Update: The Whisky Special Guitar Build

I love Canarywood. Not only is it wonderful to work with, but the tone and resonance it possess is nothing short of outstanding. In fact, I find it more consistent than the Honduran Mahogany that is available these days. The only disadvantage with this species as far as electric guitar building is concerned is its weight. Because of its heft, most luthiers who use it make necks with it rather than solid electric guitar bodies. However, that didn't stop me from making the Whisky Special's body out of a thick slab of the stuff.

After I'd glued together a two piece, 1-5/8" thick blank, I realized the body was going to weigh in at close to 8lbs! Therefore, I made the decision to hollow out the body. The following photographs show my progress so far.

From the back of the body, I drilled out a cavity, which
surrounds a central core where the neck, pickups and
bridge will be mounted.

Next, I sliced off two 1/4" thick sheets from some scrap
and glued them together to form a bookmatched back.

Then, I glued the bookmatched sheet to the body.

After the glue had dried a few hours, I trimmed away the
excess with my bandsaw. The next step, will be to
sand the sides nice and smooth.

Why I Like Canarywood Guitars

This Canarywood body blank shows the beauty of the wood's colorful grain.
Add to that the incredible resonance it possesses, and you can see
why I like this wood so much. It's only disadvantage is weight as
it is about the same as Honduran Mahogany.

A Nice Canarywood Neck

I picked up a nice mostly quartersawn slab of Canarywood the other day and decided to make a 25.5" scale neck. This one will be used on a new design I'm building, which I will detail later. I like Canarywood, because not only is it easy to work with and relatively cheap, but also because its tone and resonance is amazing. It's a little brighter than Mahogany, but way more consistent and reliable. I also like the grain color.

My Latest Electric Guitar Neck

Along with several other electric guitar builds that I have in progress, I'm starting a new one, which will be called the Highline Neolux. I'm almost finished with making the neck and I thought I share some photos of the work up to this point:

The fretboard is Morado and the marker dots are Maple.

I carved the volute as far forward as possible
to keep it from interfering with the fretting hand.

The neck itself is made from Canarywood and will be
a bolt-on design with a minimal heel.

Dig the truss rod adjustment access hole.

I love the color and grain of Canarywood, not to mention
its amazing tonal properties.