Hi friends and family,
Here are some pictures of a new Six-String Guitar build I’m working on alongside the Precision Bass that is almost finished and waiting on parts.
This is an Offset Body design, like a Vintage Fender Starcaster I bought from Alpine-Oregon who make guitar bodies using a CNC machine and sell them unsanded and unfinished for an excellent price. The buyer has to do all the heavy lifting (sanding staining).
The body is Oregon Red Alder and the top is Oregon Black Walnut. As you can see, both woods show excellent grain. There’s something special about Oregon trees. And . . . Oh yes . . . The woods are sustainable. They pride themselves on their environment protection in Oregon.
The neck is a previously acquired Cherry Wood with Ovangkol Fretboard neck that should pair up with the Alder/Walnut body for a unique tone. I recently rolled the ends of the frets for a smooth playing experience. A treatment only high-end guitars receive. I intend for this to sell as a high-end guitar.
I started off working on the body by sanding all the rough edges. Then I used a new to me technique of rubbing watered-down Tru-Oil into the grain with sandpaper while wet-sanding to make the grain ‘pop’. The object is that the particles from sanding mixes with the Tru-Oil and settles into the open pores of the raised grain caused by wet-sanding, at the same time as filling it with the Tru-Oil as a Grain Filler. It worked wonderfully!
Now, I’m in the process of Staining the Body. It will have an American Dark Walnut color on the back and sides. The front will be what I’m calling a ‘Walnut-Burst’; American Dark Walnut on the edges, fading to a Golden Fruitwood (reddish) into a Medium Wheat (Amber) in the middle. I plan to make it a High-Gloss finish using various Buffing Wheels. I don’t have a dedicated Buffing Machine but have some cool Buffing Wheels that attach to a Drill and work just fine. I used that technique on the Violin Build and like the results. I won’t start buffing until the Stains have had a chance to ‘cure‘. Probably a couple of weeks.
The hardware will be Black. I plan on using a Hipshot Hard-tail Bridge with Graph-Tech Piezo Bridge-Pieces and use Locking Tuners. I probably will mount the black O-Ring Knobs I have used on other Builds. I have some black, Metal Pickup Rings on order that I plan to Customize with a laminate of Black Limba and thin Plastic. I have to actually fashion a large Pickup Ring to hold the Humbucker-size Pickups in the oversized pickup routs that were meant for oversized Starcaster Pickups. So. I will use a Wood/Plastic/Wood Laminate to make the Pickup Rings . . . Not so simple but, it should be well worth it and look cool!
Oh! The Electronics!!! I already have a prewired harness with two Cream Colored Seymour-Duncan P-Rails Pickups. The Tone Controls are Push/Pull for switching the various pickup combinations. There will be a Three-Way Pickup Selector Switch and a Graph Tech Mid/Dark Volume/Switch Knob for the Graph Tech Acousti-phonic System. Yeah! I really like to have Acoustic Tone capabilities in my guitars! It really adds to the versatility of the guitar. And, with a Semi-Hollow Guitar it will sound astounding . . .
So . . . Here’s some Pictures. Starting with the raw, unsanded body, moving to the almost finished Staining process.
I hope you enjoy this build process almost as much as i do . . .
Love to all,
David T
p.s. Comments are very much appreciated.You can write comments below each story.
