Four New Necks

While the water-based lacquer is curing on my other guitar projects, I took the time to start on four new necks. Here are some photos of my progress so far:

That's one long flamed Maple neck blank!

Marking the necks with a template.

Cutting out a neck.

One of four rough necks.

Four rough necks.

3/8" tuner holes.

Routing a truss rod slot.

Finished truss rod slot.

Carving and blending the neck's contour.

The Next Round Of Guitar Builds

I've sold out my current batch of Envirocaster guitars, so it's time to get cranking on the next round. The plan is to build 4 guitars at the same time and hopefully have them ready for sale mid summer. This will be tough to do as my freelance graphics business has me jumping and to top it off, I am training for an Ironman triathlon that will take place on June 24th in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.

The process began today with the fretboards. After cutting the blanks from a slab of Flamed Maple, I carved the radius (12") for each, cut the fret slots, trimmed the boards to shape and drilled the marker holes.

In the next day or so, I hope to pick up a 1/4" Walnut dowel to be used for the markers and some Alder for the body blanks. Building 4 guitars at the same time will be a challenge, but I should be able to do it without any problems. Stay tuned!

Houston, We Have A Problem

While making a neck for one of my latest guitar builds, I discovered a knot in the middle of the back contour. For obvious reasons, I can't use it. However, I don't plan to trash it just yet. I have an idea for something special, which I will detail in a future post. In the meantime, I made another neck today.

I drilled out the surface of the knot and tried to fill it in. You can't feel it, but you can definitely see it.

This is the new neck. To get to this point from a flamed Maple blank took about 3 hours. All I have left to do is attach the fretboard and do the final sanding and shaping.

Cutting Out An Envirocaster DC Body

Today, I made a couple of Envirocaster bodies. Here are some photos of how one came to life:

I used a template made for me by Ronny at guitarbuildingtemplates.com.

The body is Alder with a flamed Maple top.

I used a Wagner Safety Planer to thin the body from 2" down to 1-3/4" thick.

To round over the edges, I used a 3/4" round over bit in my router.

Tomorrow, I will rout the control cavity and drill the jack and wiring holes.

Thinking Of A Guitar For Myself

I've sold just about every guitar I have ever made. All I have left is an acoustic and a Strat. Over the past couple of years, I have been saving up some wood for an over-the-top build for my own personal guitar. Flamed Maple, a one piece slab of Honduran Mahogany and check out this fretboard:

Lacewood

eGuitar Plan's Daily Diary 12/16/11

Both Envirocaster necks are ready for fretting. Here are some photos of what I did today:

Drilling holes for the side marker dots.

I used extra thick CA glue to hold the plastic rod.

Sticking in a rod.

Snipping it flush.

After sanding the snipped rods flush.

The first of three or four coats of tung oil. I don't plan on adding marker dots to the top of the fret board since I want the flamed Maple to really stand out by itself.

Staining a Highline Legato

This one has a nice yet subtle flamed Maple top.

That's a one piece Honduran Mahogany body!

A New Guitar On The Workbench

It hasn't got a name yet, but it'll hardly anonymous. This guitar features a Honduran Mahogany neck and body with flame Maple caps. The neck has a pair of carbon fiber strips to resist twisting and warping. Set-in construction is being used for the neck to body joint and by recessing a tune-o-matic bridge, I'll be able to keep the neck straight.

Popping the Flame

I'm in the process of building another new Highline guitar design. You can follow the progress on my tumbler blog. At any rate, I wanted to share a photo I just took of the body after applying a wash of oil based stain. What looked like plain white Maple really came to life. As I walk around the body, the flame Maple's figure shifts. It's an optical illusion called chatoyancy and it creates a 3D like surface. Very cool.

Word From The Shop

This past weekend was another busy one here at Highline Handmade Electric Guitars. It started with the procurement of some very nice figured Maple. I scored a 8" wide, 1" thick, 112" long board loaded with intense flame figure from end-to-end and all the way through. I cut the board down to five 20" long boards, which I will re-saw into bookmatched drop tops. I also have a 12" piece that I'll use for headstock caps. I guess I'll be making at least 5 guitars this year for sure.

I also did quite a bit of work on the Highline Single Cut. In this photo, I've glued and clamped on the headstock cap, which was made from the same piece of spalted Maple as the body cap. I used 11 clamps!

Electric Guitar Building Update

Now that the Christmas holiday is behind me, I'm back to building my guitars. The Highline Legato is currently resting a few days so the lacquer top coat can cure before I wet sand and buff it out. Hopefully this coming weekend, I'll be able to polish the neck and body so I can put the two together. In the meantime, I've started work on another Highline electric guitar design which will be a single cut with a set-in neck. Here's a shot of the work so far:

There's no substitute for a sweet piece of Honduran Mahogany when it comes to making a guitar neck!

Tomorrow, I'll be getting a 2-1/4" thick, 35" long, 7" wide slab of Honduran Mahogany for the body. My plan is to plane down the thickness and add a figured Maple top, but that will depend on how the grain looks on the Mahogany after I cut the slab in half and glue the two pieces together. If the grain fails to inspire me, I'll start shopping for a nice bookmatched set of flamed Maple boards. Stay tuned!