Thunderbird Build

[ps10black]

Hi

I thought I would show some pics of a build I am currently working on its a Dinky Thunderbird

Body, Ash with a quilted maple Cap inlayed with a Mother of Pearl Kanji Symbol for Heaven

Neck laminated from Flame maple and plain maple with Jarrah stringers, Ebony board with flame maple binding, reinforced with Carbon fibre and a dual action TR and Quilted head plate

It will be finnished in a PRS style with natural scraped binding still deciding on Colour but I have Gold hardware.

It going to have a Hipsot A style Bridge Gotoh tuners, but I am still undecided on Pickups

Heres the original drawing, and the breakup of the parts that I sent of to be have CNC Templates made, which I then use on My Pin router in My shop

Lee

 

[bassteban]

Don't take this as being a smart-arse- I'm genuinely curious(LOVE T-Birds); what constitutes *dinky*?

 

[ps10black]

aaaaah it has a slightly scaled down body "Dinky"

Lee

 

[bassteban]

I see(lying- I couldn't tell from looking ). Nice looking plans so far, and thanks for the concept of CNC'd templates. I have access to an EXTREMELY nice CNC machine, and may get my feet wet via templates. Please post prog pics.

 

[TBird1958]

I'll suggest some Lull pickups - Vintage Thunderbird tone and available in gold.

 

[ps10black]

aaaah you found it !

when will we design the Nasty T Bird?

Lee

 

[ps10black]

Here are the templates that where created on the CNC from My Adobe Illustrator Drawings,

If you look you will see small locator holes, these are 3mm pins That I use to line everything up with when I am Gluing etc, they stop everything sliding around and they also locate the timber to the templates when I am machining on the Pin Router

There is a small rectangular template that I use to shorten the neck pocket route for the top plate of figured maple so that the Long neck tenon sneaks in underneath and allows me to have an uninterupted quilted maple top

Lee

 

[ps10black]

oh and a cup cake!

For our Nasty Queen, its always good to have a Cupcake on hand when creating things of Beauty!

Lee

 

[ps10black]

Hi Veronica

I had a quick look on Mr Lulls site but I didnt see much re his pickups,

Lee

 

[ps10black]

HHhhhmmmmmmm No Cup cake love amongst bass players?

Lee

 

[garmenteros]

Like everything but the headstock, why go for 2 and 2 instead of typical 4 inline? If the lulls are out of your budget try some bartolinis... they have them in thunderbird shape...

 

[ps10black]

aaaah good question why go for 2 + 2 well mainly cause it isnt a copy of a T bird per se it more my take on a Tbird if you look at the body shape its very different it has more rake and is around 7% smaller and As much as I love Firebirds and Thunderbirds ( I own A 64 Firebird I in Frost Blue) I have never bonded with the Banjo tuners or oversized headstock, But I love the Uber Cool Body shape.

But this build is more Like a Jackson and PRS illegitimate lovechild

Not to mention a litte thing called Trademark infringement!

what is the pricing on the Lulls I cant seem to find much on them?

Lee

 

[ctmullins]

Absolutely love the body! And the 2 + 2 tuners!

And the cupcake! "'Twas brillig..."

 

[TBird1958]

Hi Veronica

I had a quick look on Mr Lulls site but I didnt see much re his pickups,

Lee

Hey Lee,

You'll want to send Mike's office mgr Paul Schuster an email about the pups, they do sell them.

 

[ps10black]

after I have My templates made, I rough machine My timber to size and I use My template to drill the locating holes into the body blank I then rough cut it on the bandsaw to within a few millimetres.

Then I attach the template to the body using the locating pins and double sided tape and I use the pin router to machine the body to final dimensions,

I generally us a 12.7mm (half inch) Spiral down cut or a compression bit so as not to have any tear out when machining int the grain or across the grain, and then I use a smaller 6.35mm )quarter inch for any tight corners.

Heres some pics of the body after machining on the pin router

You can use a router to achieve the same results its just a little trickier as you have to be carefull of not rocking the router as you rote the perimiter

You can see the locating pin in the pic above

And machining the top as well

The raised centre was created by using the pin router as a planer and sliding it along a fence to create the step down on the body, I also angled the body slightly to get that sexy fall away the T birds have. this will also create a really beautiful natural binding edge on the body as it will gradually change heights as it runs around the body when viewed from the sides

Lee

 

[Nocturnal]

Looking good so far!!!

 

[garmenteros]

Looking good so far!!!

+1

 

[ctmullins]

Any progress? I must confess that your design has inspired me to plan a T-Bird build of my own, so I'm excited to see how yours progresses!

 

[ps10black]

aaarrgh sorry I am having issues with photobucket My connection is to slow to upload pics, but all should be well soon.

Keep your eye on Luthiers corner in MLP I have a firebird build about to start there as well from Left overs that I have found laying around My Shop,

It going to be an exercise is seeing how fast I can make a guitar as its one f the few occassions I actually have everything on Hand and I am not waiting on shipment of parts

Lee

 

[LowGrowl]

ohhhhhh exciting! I'll suscribe...

BTW I made one myself with way less tools but with a lot of love...

It seems you know exactly what you are doing, anyway the buid thread is This

Ray