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Building a guitar with what I've learned here. Walnut/Maple/Ash/Eastern Red Cedar
- Thread starter lbridenstine
- Start date
I made this up today to get a better idea of how the whole thing will look.
I probably won't be able to do any work on it for a week or so, but the first few things I'm planning on doing are gluing up the neck, routing the control cavity, shaping the cavity cover, and gluing the back piece of walnut onto the bottom wing. After that, I'll get started on the truss rod route and fretboard.
I'm kind of looking forward to how easy these dot inlays should be compared to the block inlays I did on my bass. I just hope I like how it looks.
I probably won't be able to do any work on it for a week or so, but the first few things I'm planning on doing are gluing up the neck, routing the control cavity, shaping the cavity cover, and gluing the back piece of walnut onto the bottom wing. After that, I'll get started on the truss rod route and fretboard.
I'm kind of looking forward to how easy these dot inlays should be compared to the block inlays I did on my bass. I just hope I like how it looks.
Or this?
I'm torn. I like both. The only difference is the center laminate in the neck. Which do you guys prefer? I have plenty of both maple and walnut, so I could do either one.
I'm really leaning towards maple right now. I just thought it might be too much with the maple fretboard too.
I'm torn. I like both. The only difference is the center laminate in the neck. Which do you guys prefer? I have plenty of both maple and walnut, so I could do either one.
I'm really leaning towards maple right now. I just thought it might be too much with the maple fretboard too.
Don't do the second one because then the design of my next project will almost look like a stolen idea. 
Seriously, though, both looks equally good.
The first one may look better as you are doing a maple fretboard.
Are you planning on dong both dot markers and side markers (visible from the front) like that? Looks a bit busy with both.
Seriously, though, both looks equally good.
The first one may look better as you are doing a maple fretboard.Are you planning on dong both dot markers and side markers (visible from the front) like that? Looks a bit busy with both.
Don't do the second one because then the design of my next project will almost look like a stolen idea.
Seriously, though, both looks equally good.
Are you planning on dong both dot markers and side markers (visible from the front) like that? Looks a bit busy with both.
Yeah, I was planning to, but it does look busy, so I'm not sure. I'm considering maybe doing the side markers on the neck before I put the fretboard on, so not on the fretboard... I have no idea if that would look good or not though. Also, walnut or red cedar for side markers?
The upper horn looks WAY too short to me...
That combined with the heavy neck will lead to neck-dive problems.
Everything else looks great.
That combined with the heavy neck will lead to neck-dive problems.
Everything else looks great.
I actually just didn't draw the frets anywhere near where they're supposed to be, so it looks off. I traced my Jackson guitar on paper, then reshaped it and I'm pretty sure I actually extended the horn from where the other one was.
That's not a scaled drawing. Its just a sketch to mock up the colour schemes. right ?
I'm not sure yet. I think on my Jackson it goes to the 14th or 15th, so this one I'm guessing would be around 13 or in that area.
The one that is at 14 or 15 has no neck dive problems at all. Also, I'm hoping this guitar will be lighter than that one, that one is heavy.
I think I've heard that the neck dive problem is more of an issue with basses than guitars, correct?
Guitars can also be neck heavy, it depends on upper horn strap location and tuning gears. As mentioned before anything below the 14th fret is risky.
I still haven't really decided which wood pattern to choose for the neck.
Here are the options I'm thinking of:
1- go with the maple in the middle of the neck and order a rosewood fretboard blank online. Walnut dot inlays probably wouldn't show up, so maybe don't do inlays, and just do maple side marker strips.
2- same as above, but with black mother of pearl inlays, I'm sure they would look pretty subtle on rosewood, but maybe in a good way
3- walnut in the middle for the body section and maple in the middle for the neck/headstock and do the maple fretboard with walnut inlays
4- original concept (walnut in the middle for the whole thing)
I just made a bass with a maple fretboard and I kind of feel like I might be better off trying rosewood on this guitar, but I'm not entirely sure one way or the other. The things about maple that I didn't like: 1) I had to keep resanding it because it got dulled from other sawdust and fret dust getting in the wood, 2) the plastic tipped hammer I used to hammer frets in left dents all over the fretboard and from what I've read, it seems like maple is softer than rosewood, so maybe I wouldn't have that problem with rosewood?
Here are the options I'm thinking of:
1- go with the maple in the middle of the neck and order a rosewood fretboard blank online. Walnut dot inlays probably wouldn't show up, so maybe don't do inlays, and just do maple side marker strips.
2- same as above, but with black mother of pearl inlays, I'm sure they would look pretty subtle on rosewood, but maybe in a good way
3- walnut in the middle for the body section and maple in the middle for the neck/headstock and do the maple fretboard with walnut inlays
4- original concept (walnut in the middle for the whole thing)
I just made a bass with a maple fretboard and I kind of feel like I might be better off trying rosewood on this guitar, but I'm not entirely sure one way or the other. The things about maple that I didn't like: 1) I had to keep resanding it because it got dulled from other sawdust and fret dust getting in the wood, 2) the plastic tipped hammer I used to hammer frets in left dents all over the fretboard and from what I've read, it seems like maple is softer than rosewood, so maybe I wouldn't have that problem with rosewood?
New thought. Still not drawn to scale. Trust me, the upper horn is long for a guitar.
I really think I'm going to buy an Indian Rosewood fretboard blank from LMII to use for this. I wish I could see them and pick a specific one out, but I don't think I can find any around here to actually see in person.
So, as you can see I'm thinking I'll just use the walnut dot inlays on the 12th and 24th frets and do maple side markers for the rest. I have a feeling this could look really good if I get a fretboard with a nice pattern and if the walnut shows up at all over it, I might not end up using the walnut though since there's a good chance it won't.
I'm still not settled on whether to use maple or walnut in the middle of the neck, but I'll just lay out the pieces of wood when I have them cut out and see how it looks and decide that way.
I'm hoping to actually get started on the neck this weekend and start putting up some actual build photos. I still have some work to do with finishing up my bass and my band has some shows, so this build might go a bit slower than I'd like.
