Wave guitar build project

Megii

Thought I'd put in a few more pics of various stuff - haven't really got going but just did a little work on the neck in the last couple of days - 3 of the bolt holes in the heel needed filling as in the wrong position for the new body. That was accomplished with tooth picks and wood glue:

Small stuff I know, but somehow I enjoy this sort of thing.

 

Megii

Also I gave the neck a very light sand with 600 grit, really just to clean up the wood surface - it is the unfinished type of neck that was especially popular for a while back in the '90s.

 

Megii

Some parts that arrived in the last couple of days - black pearl material from which I'll make the control cavity and truss rod cover, also black chrome locking tuners and a black-finished 5-way from Axesrus. And when I saw it for sale on this forum, I just had to get the Seymour Duncan "Lil' 59" pickup to use in the neck slot (thank you rpr!).

Megii

Just been doing a little more work on things, today I drilled the 5 bridge fixing holes and fitted the bridge plate:

That last shot a bit blurred - sorry!, but it does show the string-thru holes correctly lined up with the bridge plate fitted. I need the bridge fitted in order to get the neck aligned and then the positions I need to drill for the neck bolts marked in the correct places - more on that later. In general, my plan is to basically assemble all the parts as they will be on the final guitar, in order to get any fixings holes that need doing drilled in exactly the right places. Then will take it all to bits again, and get the body finishing done.

I've had a change of mind re the finish for the body - I'm now going to use one of the Wudtone kits - the clear, uncoloured one, with a satin top coat, no tinting at all. I'm doing this because I want to keep the swamp ash body looking as light-coloured as possible. I like the way the light, sandy ash looks contrasting against the black chrome hardware I'm using. Tru Oil is great stuff, but does tend to darken ash somewhat, and gives a bit of a honey-ish warm tinge - very nice but not what I'm after with this build.

 

Megii

I've also sanded the old finish (and Starfield logo!) off the front of the headstock, finishing with 600 and then 1000 grit to get a nice smooth finish:

The machine heads are temporarily fitted, a) to see what they look like lol, and b) because I will be fitting a couple of plain strings in the outside E string positions to guide me in the neck aligning - but more on that tomorrow I hope.

 

WezV

Megii said:

 I like the way the light, sandy ash looks contrasting against the black chrome hardware I'm using. Tru Oil is great stuff, but does tend to darken ash somewhat, and gives a bit of a honey-ish warm tinge - very nice but not what I'm after with this build.

 

You can't keep that raw wood look.   any finish (even completely clear and UV resistant lacquer) you apply will darken and yellow it compared to the unfinished surface.

Megii

WezV said:

Megii said:

 I like the way the light, sandy ash looks contrasting against the black chrome hardware I'm using. Tru Oil is great stuff, but does tend to darken ash somewhat, and gives a bit of a honey-ish warm tinge - very nice but not what I'm after with this build.

 

You can't keep that raw wood look.   any finish (even completely clear and UV resistant lacquer) you apply will darken and yellow it compared to the unfinished surface.

Well, fair enough - I'll see what the end result is, but I think it will at least be closer to the natural wood than I'd get with Tru Oil (having used Tru Oil for two previous swamp ash guitars I built). I suppose if it brings out the grain a bit, and "wets" the wood a bit appearance-wise, that would be a good thing.

WezV

it should be paler than the tru-oil, but it will still be closer to that look than the way it looks now

Megii

Well, at least a bit lighter then - I can live with that, and cheers for giving me a better idea of what to expect Wez!

Megii

Been doing a few bits over the last few days so thought it was time to update the thread with a few pics -

This is a shot with the unfinished "wave guitar" body, next to my Tru Oil finished strat. Both bodies are swamp ash from www.guitarbuild.co.uk - so this does show the difference in colour the finish brings. Will be interesting to see what difference using clear Wudtone makes with this build:

My setup for getting the neck alignment right - the neck is held gently in place with a G-clamp plus some bits of cork and wood to spread the load and prevent damage to the neck or body. Plain strings fitted in the E string positions which allow me to know when the neck is sitting in the right place:

The alignment is about spot on here:

Marking through the bolt holes onto the neck heel to show where I need to drill, using a small Phillips screwdriver which happens to be the right size:

 

Megii

The neck heel now nicely marked for drilling (one of the old holes was already in the correct place, so no need to do anything with that one):

The Wudtone kit arrived also (won't be used for a while, but at least I have it ready to go for when I get to that stage):

 

Megii

I spent quite a bit of time on Thursday making a cover for the control cavity, from a sheet of black pearloid material I got from Axesrus:

A fair bit of careful filing to get a nice fit in the recess on the body:

Drilling holes for the mounting screws:

 

Megii

The fitted cover - I was thinking black pearloid might have been a bit too bling of me, but now I'm pleased I went with this - nothing wrong with a bit of bling here and there!

 

Megii

Yesterday was getting the neck fixing completed:

A 3 kg dumbbell holding the neck to keep it from moving while drilling:

Drilling the new fixing holes - I used a small diameter bit first for accuracy, and then enlarged to the correct diameter:

New holes drilled:

Fitting the neck:

Megii

The neck is attached to the body! - it feels suddenly like I have a guitar, rather than a pile of parts.

Megii

Yesterday evening had time to get one more job done, which was fitting the pickup surrounds. You can see lightly ruled pencil lines which helped me get them positioned just right:

So that's where I am now - I will carry on with the dry assembly of the guitar, and a few more jobs to do with the neck. Then it will all be taken apart again, and I can finish the body.

Having assembled the neck to the body, I can tell this is going to be a very light weight guitar - www.guitarbuild.co.uk have chosen me a very nice bit of wood I think. Tapping with my knuckles, and it seems really alive and resonant too, so things are looking good.

GuitarMonkey

Looking good!

I'd be tempted to cut the angle at the end of the headstock the other way to match the forward-reaching bass horn.

Megii

GuitarMonkey said:

Looking good!

I'd be tempted to cut the angle at the end of the headstock the other way to match the forward-reaching bass horn.

Cheers GM! I do see what you mean about the headstock, that sort of idea is tempting in a way, but I think I'm going to leave it alone - it still looks good and seems to work with the body shape, and I don't mind if it's not quite matching in with the body in any obvious way. Plus I know maple is a hell of a hard wood, and I've only got hand tools to work with, so I'd probably end up bodging the job and wearing myself out in the process!

Megii

Ok, time for me to bring things with the project up to date again!

One job was filling some of the old screw holes on the headstock, since the original machines had bit fitted at somewhat wonky angles. I just used bits of cocktail stick plus a little woodglue, and sanded smooth. Then drilled new holes for the mounting holes in the right places, and fitted the machine heads to check things were correct. I'm using a set of the Schaller style locking machines that Axesrus and other places sell, I've had them before on another guitar, and found them to be excellent.

 

 

Jalapeno

All looking lovely !