Just a few things

Project update: Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on my guitar prototype as I’ve moved back down to Savannah for the Fall semester of my senior year at SCAD. However, luckily I’ve had some free time this quarter so far to work on it so here’s where I’m at: Neck Carving, a pretty terrifying process as its the first time I’ve done it, however, I’ve found that as long as I keep my spoke shave nice and sharp it takes off just the right amount of material from the neck. Also, I received the custom electronics I had made for the prototype. (Big thanks to Mitch at Emerson Custom Guitars for making me a one-off custom wiring harness to my exact specifications.) I’ll post a picture of the elctronics soon, this guitar is gonna be amazing when its done.

Project Update: The rest of today’s inlay work, so happy with how it came out, especially considering this was my first ever attempt at inlay work.

Project Update: More exciting progress on my guitar prototype today. I finished the 12th fret fleur de lis inlay. I was pretty terrified about this part of the project as I’ve never done any kind of inlay before, but because I chose to wait til I had the right tools, and took my time, I’m amazed at how well it turned out. Process is explained in enlarged picture captions.

Project Update: Today I made some more progress on the prototype. I routed the humbucker cavities and used a small round-over bit on the router table to ease the edge on the back of the guitar (I hate sharp edges on guitars, they are uncomfortable against your body and are dent/chip magnets).

Project Update: Today I installed the truss rod, and finalized the carving of the curly maple top. I still can’t believe I found the maple for the top in the junk pile at the lumber yard, it book-matched wonderfully and the figure in the grain is absolutely gorgeous.

Project Update: Really happy with how the prototype is coming along now. Today I sanded the excess wood of the edges of the newly glued on curly maple cap, and began the process of carving. This part is pretty scary as I’ve never carved top before, but its coming along slowly and I’m really happy with how its beginning to look. Also pictured are the shop mutts, my dogs Ziggy (left) and Zoey (right).

Project Update: More exciting progress today. The beautiful curly maple top is rough cut and shaped, and glued to the guitar. As you can see in the photos I used just about every clamp I have in my shop to assure the top is securely and evenly glued. I really need to invest in a good set of large C clamps for this process.

Project Update: Today I routed the control cavities, I decided to make an asymmetrical opening (as opposed to the traditional circular opening) for the pickup selector switch cavity as I felt it balanced better with the shape of the main control cavity. Also today, because the mahogany body wings were slightly thicker than the ash/walnut neck-through, the top of the prototype needed to be leveled. To do this I set up my drill press as a sort of pin router, and slowly and carefully leveled the top