Guitar Tops Joined and Cut

OK, so here we have the guitar tops glued together. The glue line is still very evident where it seeped out while drying. I glued the tops last week and had meant to get some pictures and post them, but I did not have my camera and I never had time to go back over to the shop until today. I took the tape off (learned how to use tape instead of clamps when gluing thin pieces of wood like this) today and drew the outlines of the guitars.

Next, I started cutting away and taking pictures. The band saw seems to be doing much better on these guitars than on the previous one or I am just getting more used to it. The thinner stuff cuts easier anyway, but even the body back pieces cut nicely. I tried to stay just outside the marker line to give me enough material to rout away with the templates and template bits. Some places I did better than others, but I did make sure not to cut too much out.

Here are some close ups of the Telecaster style guitars. The one on the left has more of a wavy pattern with some of the figure almost exactly following the shape of the guitar (at the top on both sides and along the bottom, there is one curl that goes across and then starts to go up with the sides) and the other is more of a fine pinstripe pattern. They both look pretty cool, but are very different. They are both considered to be 4A grade maple (out of a possible 5A). Some day, I will have to try some 5A or Master Grade, but for now, I just enjoy working with this as it has much more figure than my previous experience.

Here are the two Les Paul style tops. Both of these have a more pinstriped pattern. One the figure runs down toward the center and the other the figure is almost flat, but runs up slightly toward the center. They both have some spots that are not really well figured, but look like they will appear to be pretty deep once the finish is applied.

I was hoping to get to routing along the edges with the template router bit, but I spent too much time talking to my in laws and family and did not get that far as I had some other running around to do. Once I get that done, I will need to smooth out and sand the innards of the two chambered bodies and glue the tops onto the backs of all four guitars. Well, that's all I have for today. Hope everyone has a great Father's Day weekend (I know mine will be exceptionally fun as I have to work both Saturday and Sunday). Let me know what you think.

Thanks for checkin' up,

Aaron

OK A-RON...I GET THE PICTURE!!!!!!!

Here are the Pictures of Cory with his new Rugged Cross Guitar!
He is especially fond of the custom made skull tuning knobs!
The Skeleton hands were an ingenious touch of character.
Note the Fish on the fret board!

Thanks for the Great Guitar !

I LOVE IT!!

Cory

Catch up Post

OK, sorry for the long delay in posts. I did finish the Black Skeleton Strat guitar and it has been delivered to the customer and to her son for his 16th birthday. I have been told that he loved it and stayed up most of the night playing around with it. I have been promised that I would get some pictures of him to post on the blog, but so far have not recieved any (Lorri, if you are reading this, you know what you need to do!). Because of the first guitar, I have been asked to build three more and have had interest from several other people.

Currently, I am working on two Les Pauls and two Telecasters. One Les Paul and one of the Telecasters are going to be made of ash with maple tops and are going to be chambered (similar to semi-hollowbody). They will both have maple necks and a single coil/humbucker pickup combination. The Les Paul will have a humbucker sized P-90 at the neck and a standard humbucker with a coil tap at the bridge. The Telecaster will have a standard single coil at the neck and a "stacked" humbucker at the bridge with a coil split to retain the original look. The other telecaster will have a "Nashville" pickup configuration with three single coil pickups. I am putting a tremolo on this guitar (I am attempting to use the standard "ash-tray" style bridge with the bridge part cut off to use for the bridge pickup).

These three guitars will all have gold hardware. The second Les Paul does not have a customer yet, so I may just try selling it on e-bay or something, but it will have the standard electronics package (I may add coil splitting) and chrome hardware. Well, so far, I have recieved the wood for all these guitars and have started cutting on the bodies. I have routed out the chambers for the two chambered guitars. I still need to go around the bodies with the flush trim router bit and finish routing out the electronics cavities for all of them. Here are some pictures of the wood and what I have done so far with it.

The first four pictures show the maple tops. I have not decided which tops will go on which guitars yet, but here they are. The next four pictures are of of the body blanks, two ash, one alder, and one mahogany. The last four are of the body blanks with the body shape outlined in.

Here, the chambering process is begining and then the bodies cut out. First is the Telecaster and then the Les Paul.

Here are the two chambered bodies and then the two solid bodies. The Telecasters are on the left and the Les Pauls are on the right.

The first picture is of the two Telecasters and the second is of the two Les Pauls.


Well, that's all I have for now. Sorry some of the pictures are sideways, I will try to fix that as time allows. I will also post pictures of Cory and his guitar once I get some (or Lorri can post them herself). Let me know what you think. I sure am having fun doing this. I just wish I didn't have that other job to get in the way! Well, I guess the other job pays the bills and allows me to do this, so I should not complain too much. Well, thanks for looking. I'll add more soon (I hope).

Aaron