Winter Build Off 2026 - 18 Years in the Making

[Bonkersville]

Hi all,

As I said in some post here I'm planning a return in luthiery. And been planning for a while. Life just seems to get in the way.

Anyways here it is: my entry in the Unfinished Business category. This is my first build thread here and first build off ever. Although I don't those existed back in the day.

This build started about 18 years ago. I believe I have some pictures I could use to date the origins but I think that's accurate enough for now. I know it was around october 2009 I hammered the frets in. And it has been lying dormant since, waiting for the right time to reveal itself.

Please don't expect rapid progress or daily updates. I'd be genuinely surprised If I actually finished this on time. But I can try.

 

[Bonkersville]

For me this guitar building thing has always been mostly about the design of the instrument. I dug this from the farthest corner of the basement a couple of months ago to show my son. Who politely said "cool" or "nice" or something and went off with his business.

Anyways I still quite like the design and believe this deserves to be finished. I need to do some measurements and a bit of planning since I have no idea where the original notes are. Not lost but maybe in a location that I'm not completely aware of.

The specs are about as follows: The neck is khaya with wenge stringers, headstock veneer and fingerboard. The neck woods were leftover pieces from previous builds. The neck will be glued in. I can't remember the scale but maybe around 25" or 635 mm. The nut with is around 43-44 mm.

The body is mostly hollowed out. The back and mid section are aspen that was used as painter's scaffolding in the nineties. The top is spruce from a log stump used as base for splitting firewood.

The binding is white celluloid and the inlays are made from raw abalone pieces collected on the shores of New Zealand. Not by me though...

The pickups are taken out from a yamaha whose model escapes me. I bought them cheap. Someone has not done a great job with the metal cover. I will remove the cover and try to make wooden ones.

I will need to do some measurements and see what bridge this was designed for. Propably a TOM style. I might have been looking at a Schaller STM.

But honestly, it could almost as well be an F-spaced thing. We'll see.

 

[Bonkersville]

Here's a few pictures:

 

[Bonkersville]

The most unique part of this is the wedge shaped body. The lower bout is thicker and the top is angled towards the player. I remember wondering how I should angle the neck and settled on half way between the top and the back. I'll see how it works out.

You might get an idea of the angular cross section in these pics:

 

[Bonkersville]

Although this is already looking like a guitar there's still a lot to do and to figure out. Especially considering I can't put that many hours in per week.

I like the look of wenge with white binding. I plan to make it a theme and use it for pickup rings and covers, the truss rod cover, and maybe a bridge plate and tailpiece as well. And knobs. And...

But first I need to measure some stuff. And plan some. And purchase some. And then maybe, maybe actually build some.

 

[13ghosts]

This is a really cool build so far! Can't wait to see more

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I like it so far. I could picture that either with a natural finish or some crazy metalflake paint job. It could look great either way.

 

[Dark Horse]

Good looking guitar… nice design !

 

[Reedt2000]

It looks great! I'd rock that

 

[2groggy]

Hi all,

As I said in some post here I'm planning a return in luthiery. And been planning for a while. Life just seems to get in the way.

Anyways here it is: my entry in the Unfinished Business category. This is my first build thread here and first build off ever. Although I don't those existed back in the day.
View attachment 7408940

This build started about 18 years ago. I believe I have some pictures I could use to date the origins but I think that's accurate enough for now. I know it was around october 2009 I hammered the frets in. And it has been lying dormant since, waiting for the right time to reveal itself.

Please don't expect rapid progress or daily updates. I'd be genuinely surprised If I actually finished this on time. But I can try.

wow, you win, cancel the rest of the build-off

 

[mambo4]

love the binding everywhere, adds so much class.

 

[postalflunkie]

Had me at the twelfth fret inlay

 

[Crawforde]

Nice!
Don’t call it delayed, just well seasoned.

 

[VoodooJazz]

This is really lovely. I hope you get to finish it soon.
And as stated above, I really like the binding elements and the 12th fret inlay. This is already looking really nice.

Has kind of an Artinger vibe, too!

 

[Bonkersville]

I like it so far. I could picture that either with a natural finish or some crazy metalflake paint job. It could look great either way.

Thanks. The neck will propably get an oil based varnish finish. Natural. I like Liberon's finishing oil. The top might get the same treatment but I'm keen to try a bit of french polishing. Maybe a slight amber tint could work.

The back is likely to get a grey see through(ish) finish. Osmo perhaps. The aspen is not particularly pretty and the glue seams are a bit too visible for my taste. Especially on the end grain. And there are traces of natural greying from the woods previous life as scaffolding.

The original plan was to do a hard poly or lacquer on the body. But the years have softened me and my taste for finishes.

 

[EliasA]

Looks kind of like a single-cutaway version of these unique designs: Alex M Guitars (scroll down for pictures)

 

[Mark Knapp]

Or a 70's Gretsch Super Chet.

 

[logdrum]

love the binding everywhere, adds so much class.

Yep. F-Hole and Headstock binding definitely puts it over the top

 

[Bonkersville]

Thanks for all the interest and comments. I did a bit of measuring and a little cad as well. The scale is indeed 635 mm or 25". The nut width is 43.5mm and the fretboard is 54.5mm at the 22nd fret. That puts me nicely in the TOM spacing.

I didn't check the neck angle for the bridge height yet. I know there's some angle. But measuring will tell how high the bridge will stand.

The radius is propably 12" or 300 mm. Better check that too.

 

[Bonkersville]

More measurements. I carefully set the guitar on a table and tried to get the neck to stay as close to the final position I could. I then used a straight edge and a calibrated measuring block to determine the bridge height. Like this:

The block is a piece of 3/4 mdf that measured 19,3 mm thick. It met the bottom of the straight edge about 15 mm front of the theoretical bridge position. The height of the 22nd fret was about 12,5 mm. Again, after a bit of cad time the results look like this:

I didn't actually measure the distance from the bridge to the tail. I will. But it seems I have enough bridge height for some kind of a wenge bridge plate and for a properly functioning trapeze tail piece as well. Great! Although now I have to find a way to make it all fit nicely so it pleases the eye. At least mine.