Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Guys,
I'm finished with my fourth build and I want to say thanks for all of the generous advice, tips, and encouragement! I built this guitar for my uncle in N.C. Most of the walnut came from some chunks his daddy cut for gunstocks many years ago. I had this walnut for at least 30 years.
I designed this guitar to be as simple as I could so I could concentrate on joinery.
The top and back maple were made from one matched set. I used vintage amber transtint on the top and back and no dye on the headstock. My neck angle came out a tad steep and thus the raised bridge and pickups. My tools were: 9-inch bandsaw, thickness planer, drill press, hand saw, and various hand tools. I estimate I spent about 100 hours on the build.
Thanks again for sharing your talents.
Dan

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Nice!
I really like the color of the woods!

Thanks Alan!
I shipped it to my uncle. He received it Thursday at took it out to Silvermont N.C. that night and said he blew them away with it.
Dan

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VERY cool guitar!! How about some more details? What kind of pickups did you use? How is it wired? What process did you use for the finish?

Thanks Miramadar,
I used inexpensive Guitar Fetish overwound pickups - I think they sound great. I don't use tone knobs. I wired the taps of both humbuckers to a push-pull volume pot to switch them to single-coils. I originally finished the guitar with wipe on poly, but when I started level sanding, I could see clouds in it, so I sanded it all off and applied Deft spray can lacquer, about 4 cans.
I masked the walnut and applied water-based transtint dark amber dye to the maple. I sanded most of it off, and applied another coat. Then I buffed it with steel wool to lighten it up here and there. I only applied dye to the headstock under the tuner keys.
I drilled the tuner holes and then used a cove bit in my drill press to cut counterbores so the tuner washer and nut would be inset.
I had a large bookmatched set of maple panels and was able to use it for both the back and front. I was suprised that the guitar has perfect balance, if yoiu rest the cutout on your leg and let go, it stays in place.
Thanks,
Dan

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I like the wood combo as well. And I like the design. Reminds me of some of the old cheapo electrics of my youth(not a knock, by the way). Some of them had some really cool shapes. If they'd been built with an attention to quality, Fender and Gibson might have had to work a little harder. Too bad.
Cool looking build!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.