My first attempt at making a guitar has started

axisus

Update: I have now sprayed and aged the body and neck. I have to say that I am very pleased with both. Assembling the bits of the guitar now (just placing together), I have to say that it looks amazing - so close to my original picture but better as it is all tangible. This project, despite mistakes and errors looks like it far exceeds my expectations. My only real reservation is that the Bigsby is somewhat mellow and reserved in use. Never tried one before so I didn't have any real expectation, but I have to say that I prefer a Strat type trem in terms of what you can get out of it. I made what I consider to be a big error of judgement as well, or more a case of missing the obvious. Might reveal that at some point. I'l upload pix later.

axisus

Body sprayed black, Chi-Rho image added, imitation 'wear & tear' added to body (or should that be subtracted?)

Shielded the scratchplate. Painted the cavities with shielding paint.

The neck looked too pristine, so I have done a bit of ageing. I created a solution with wire wool and vinegar, left for about a week to get ready. painted on, then left for an hour or two. This darkened the wood quite a lot. I sanded it back a bit then applied a few coats of tru-oil. The colour is lovely!

This is the headstock, once again, with an aged look. I created the deal artwork in Adobe illustrator software and printed on to transfer paper. White on black was tricky, but it seemed to work well when finished. The serial number is my birthday!

WezV

Stunning finish there

GuitarMonkey

The white decal paper has worked a treat too.

axisus

WezV said:

Stunning finish there

You are too kind Sir!

axisus

GuitarMonkey said:

The white decal paper has worked a treat too.

Yeah, it took some work though. You get a white edge where you trim to, so I painted around that using a fine paint brush, having sprayed some paint into a container. Likewise, the black that I created in the artwork didn't match the spray too well. Not a disaster, but a bit more 'showy' than I wanted, so once again, paintbrush out and I went around everything about 1mm from the edge of the lettering. A few coats of lacquer later and it doesn't show much at all. Once over with tinted lacquer to yellow the text a bit.

axisus

Done! (a few weeks ago actually) here's the finished article:

I decided to stick the other final pictures in a new guitar thread rather than just tack onto the build:

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/67315/new-self-build-guitar-day

axisus

I should add: Many thanks to Mark Bailey and his online guitar build course, which was more than invaluable!

Mark_Bailey

WOW! Great job axisus! I am glad that my course helped you with the build...
The guitar looks really classy - you have a great eye for design.
Interesting to see how you have learned along the way - and respect for using your own initiative to achieve what you wanted...that is what it is all about. Thanks for the credit - and for sharing the process with us. Here is a link to the course for anyone else who might be interested in taking a look.

Andyjr1515

That's a really great looking guitar, @axisus There are a lot of features that catch the eye. Very well executed all round. How does it sound?

axisus

Andyjr1515 said:

That's a really great looking guitar, @axisus There are a lot of features that catch the eye. Very well executed all round. How does it sound?

Well I'm not the best guitarist in the world, but the guitar itself sounds great! I may stick a wee video up at some point - discreetly so not too many people see it!

Andyjr1515

axisus said:

Andyjr1515 said:

That's a really great looking guitar, @axisus There are a lot of features that catch the eye. Very well executed all round. How does it sound?

Well I'm not the best guitarist in the world, but the guitar itself sounds great! I may stick a wee video up at some point - discreetly so not too many people see it!

Naaaah - big and bold is what we want!