first build: neck thru seven string guitar

with a few encouraging words from fellow TBers and friends around, i have decided to post my build thread. as a warning to all, i have very, very few progress shots, and none in the work area due to being fourteen and not being allowed to use the camera much. i can give a good detailed description of the build though.

Instrument Specs:
Neck: paduak one piece carved neck, my specialty headstock, which i9 call this because it isn't fender style, and it isn't angled, scarf or otherwise.
FB: Indian rosewood, 25.5 inch scale
Truss: stew-mac non-adjustable
Body: hard maple wings

First, lets start off with a design, and the reasoning for it:

i shopped that off of the pic of the body because i drew the original on the body. how i arrived on this design was i took out every guitar i own (bc rich mocking bird, dean cadillac, strat, tele, etc.) and found what i liked and didn't like about them. i then drew it onto the body wings and center section.

The Wood:
what i got for this project was one peice of 50x6x2 paduak, and two pieces of 19x5x2 maple. i ordered them from curious woods because larry was on vacation at the time. i got the Indian rosewood board from stew-mac, and with the wood, the board and the truss all together, i spent 62 dollars (a parts build would've been 300+ by now!)

The Hardware: i am intending on getting a Seymour Duncan distortion seven humbucker, putting it in the bridge, and wiring ifor coil-tapping. i plan to run it to a push pull knob, and then straight to the jack. i am getting hipshot individual tuners in a 4+3 configuration . it will also be receiving a fixed strat style bridge with seven individual saddles.

Stats:
weight: currently? 10 pounds
length: 40 inches
width: 12 inches
depth: 2 inches
string spacing at nridge: 10.8
string spacing at nut: 7.8

Ok, time for the build:

Thing one: bassic shape
what i started with was this:
http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii34/l337r3nn/?action=view&current=IMG_0146.jpg
what i ended up with is this:
http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii34/l337r3nn/?action=view&current=IMG_0164.jpg
though how i got there is really kind of funny. the first cuts i made to the maple were done with a hacksaw, and anyone who has worked maple is already laughing. in desaperation (and a sling) i went to my neighbor who works in a shop, and he sadi he would take it in and band saw it.
One Week later: he comes to me, hands me two blocks of maple and says to me: "come back in a week, you can use my jig saw"
apparently it broke the bandsaw blade! my neighbor now thinks i am hercuuleain for cutting it with a hacksaw.
the next step i did was basic shaping of the headstock, which i will post images of in a later update. from there i shaped the neck and heel, which look like this currently:



at this point, i have glued up and shaped both sides, and am finishing, will post when i have pics. thank you for viewing, suggestions and constructive criticism welcome!

 

i assume you mean the neck and heel pics? i could probably get those working. i wonder what went wrong with them...



oh, forgot one tidbit y'all might need for your own builds...

RASPS ARE NOT FOR SHAPING NECKS!!!!!!!!
it took me over a week to get the basic shaping down, and more than that to get out what look like teeth marks it left behind. but it means that you can do it without any fancy tools.