New Wood Day (and a new build begins)

HaMMerHeD · #1 09-26-2011, 02:12 PM

I got a delicious piece of curly maple from Oregon Wild Wood today.

Here is OWW's photo:

And here's the real thing, in the flesh..wood...whatever:

It's about 5/8" thick. It's going to be the top of a baritone guitar project. Any interest in seeing that here?

mikeyswood · #2 09-26-2011, 02:16 PM

If you're building it - we want to see it!

stepswork4me · #3 09-26-2011, 02:18 PM

The OWW photo is coming through loud and clear but yours is all red and x like.

HaMMerHeD · #4 09-26-2011, 02:19 PM

Yeah, sorry. Photobucket is being a...dog...today.

Here's the design:

It's a 27.5" scale, 7-string baritone guitar, to be tuned B2-E4. The body will be a 9-piece design. Each wing will be a laminate of Maple/Purplheart/Maple. The core of each wing will be a purpleheart, surrounded by curly maple. There will be a body core laminate of Ebony/Maple/Ebony down the middle.

The neck will be primarily purpleheart, with a 3/4" maple lamination down the middle. The fretboard will be LMI's "Select" grade madagascar ebony, with 24 stainless frets and a 20" radius. There will be a single layer curly maple veneer covering the headstock.

It is a birthday gift for a friend. Myself, his family, and some other friends are chipping in for it.

It's going to have a DiMarzio Crunchlab 7 bridge pickup and a DiMarzio Liquifire 7 neck pickup. These are John Petrucci's signature pickups. Control-wise, it'll be passive volume, tone, pickup blend, and an EMG PA2 boost switch.

This will be my second build. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew, but I have made the acquaintence of a local millworks owner. We talked about some projects, and he seemed really excited to see what I can come up with, and offered use of some of his shop tools. He has some truly amazing stuff, and I'm definitely going to take him up on some of his equipment. He has a 2-ton press that he uses to make hardwood plywood, but looks like it'd be perfect for gluing up body laminations. He also has a really nice 27" planer and a 12" jointer. I am hopeful that I can turn out something nice with access to his tools, and his help.

roberthabraken · #5 09-26-2011, 03:08 PM

Wow, very nice! I like your design, it's perfectly balanced and original. Subscribed!

HaMMerHeD · #6 09-26-2011, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberthabraken

Wow, very nice! I like your design, it's perfectly balanced and original. Subscribed!

Thanks Rob. The design is based on my recently completed first build, but the guy wanted the Alembic omega tail. My first mockup pretty much just copied the omega as he asked, but I wasn't happy with it. I went back and tweaked it to add some asymmetry and balance, and we both love it a lot more now.

Also, here's the back wood:

It hasn't arrived yet. I expect the rest of the wood to arrive within a week or so.

HaMMerHeD · #7 09-27-2011, 04:05 PM

So...this body needs a 28" radius on the top and back. I'm thinking of something like LedBelli's fingerboard radiusing jig.

Any other ideas?

Beauchene Implements · #8 09-27-2011, 04:09 PM

I like the Alembic riff in the tail. Headstock and body are harmonious. Very cool design.

timbob1986 · #9 09-27-2011, 05:35 PM

This is a sweet looking build, subbed.

Musiclogic · #10 09-27-2011, 05:44 PM

A 56" radius, even on a body across 13.5". That arc is slight. Definitely like the top wood.

mikeyswood · #11 09-27-2011, 06:23 PM

You may want to work on the treble side of your omega. It looks off.

HaMMerHeD · #12 09-27-2011, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Musiclogic

A 56" radius, even on a body across 13.5". That arc is slight. Definitely like the top wood.

Looks like the the software shows diameter, not radius. It's a 28" radius.

Here's what a cross-section at the widest point should look roughly like.

The radius is soft, but noticeable. There is a 4-1/8" flat spot on the top for the bridge and pickups to mount. It's also flat on the back for the battery box. There are still some technical issues to work out...electronics cavity for example.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyswood

You may want to work on the treble side of your omega. It looks off.

Yeah. It doesn't slope away from the center like the bass side tail does. I'm still tweaking that bit. It's a bit fiddly, like a fjord.

Musiclogic · #13 09-27-2011, 10:55 PM

LOL...much better, nice edit

should look good

HaMMerHeD · #14 09-29-2011, 12:42 PM

It was new wood day again today!

Purpleheart and Maple.

HaMMerHeD · #15 10-01-2011, 08:58 AM

I'm going to try my first inlay with this build. It's nothing too complicated. I hate the look of standard dots and block inlays, and I think fret dots clutter up an otherwise orderly fretboard. So I'm just going to do this:

...at the 12th fret.

If LMI's fretwire dimensions are to be believed, it leaves me about 0.19" between the inlay and the fret.

HaMMerHeD · #16 10-02-2011, 05:25 PM

The purpleheart, it seems, will not be usable for this project. It was relatively flat when I got it, but after a short time, it has cupped to the point that there is about 1/4" of bowing across the width of the board.

I don't have any way to tell how dry the boards are, but unless they relax within the next couple of weeks, I won't be able to use them on this build. I've spoken to the guitarist about it, and we settled on Wenge as a replacement if the purpleheart remains unusable.

mikeyswood · #17 10-02-2011, 07:33 PM

Sticker and weight the wood so it will be flat.

HaMMerHeD · #18 10-02-2011, 07:42 PM

Sorry, Mikey. I'm an idiot. I know what stickering is...at least I think..Stacking the wood with spacers so that airflow is even across all boards.

But I'm not sure what you mean by "weight the wood"...

mikeyswood · #19 10-02-2011, 07:48 PM

Stack it with straight pieces in between the boards and then add weight on top to keep them flat.

HaMMerHeD · #20 10-02-2011, 08:01 PM

Gotcha. Thanks. I'll see what I can manage.