If at first you don't succceed...

AustrianJohn

lysander said:

Lovely and original looking !
I dig it, although personally I would have done without the single pickup cover, or with a rectangular shaped one.
Are you packing your workshop because it gets too cold ?

Yes, it will soon be at the point where fingers and fluids don't work properly anymore. I suppose I'll have to time playing guitar instead of building them!

How would you mount the pickups without pickup rings? I suppose I could have mounted the pickups in the top before I glued it on, but that makes replacement a bit tricky.

Andyjr1515

They look great together

lysander

AustrianJohn said:

lysander said:

Lovely and original looking !
I dig it, although personally I would have done without the single pickup cover, or with a rectangular shaped one.
Are you packing your workshop because it gets too cold ?

Yes, it will soon be at the point where fingers and fluids don't work properly anymore. I suppose I'll have to time playing guitar instead of building them!

How would you mount the pickups without pickup rings? I suppose I could have mounted the pickups in the top before I glued it on, but that makes replacement a bit tricky.

I think I would have tried direct mounting it to the body by using long screws and some rubber bushings, telecaster style.
I'm yet to do a build from scratch though so could be talking out my arse. Yours are definitely inspiring.

xKempGuitars

 AustrianJohn said:

A few more coats of Briwax and lots more polishing and it looks pretty.



The neck joint is unusual - it's a bolt in rather than bolt on, with a slab of neck sliding in under the top. I was concerned about getting the neck angle right (i.e. flat), but it's pretty good without any setup. I'll give it a few days then tweak it. It's certainly my best neck to date, not that that was a difficult competition to win.

The pickups are a Bare Knuckle Irish Tour and an Oil City P90 courtesy of @TheGuitarWeasel. The single coil is upside down because...well, just because. The P90 is nice and throaty, while the middle position has a thin, sort-of-Peter-Green-out-of-phase-tone - an unexpected bonus. Perhaps because the single coil is upside down, perhaps not. Anyway, I'll pretend I designed it that way.

When I started building guitars my standard electrics was 2 volume, 2 tone, umpteen way switch and everything push/push. Now I go for 1 volume, no tone and a three way selector, which makes for easier wiring.



Here's a gratuitous picture of my two 2017 non-kit builds. Head-stock shape and dot positions of my latest build were stolen from inspired by @KempGuitars.



In closing this thread I have to say that none of this would have been possible without the awesome @Mark_Bailey on-line guitar design and build courses, and lots of advice and encouragement from you guys. Thank you.

The snow is coming, so I'll pack up my workshop and start dreaming about my 2018 builds.

Hi John, Looking good... nice headstock there on the left Love the Zebrano, I should use more of that on my natural builds. You have quite a dark piece on that build, I like that. I was messing around with a scrap of Zebrano since I last used some and it looks great with a Mahogany stain - similar to how yours looks now

Rabs

That's really cool.. Great job... I also like your inlay marker design... 

AustrianJohn

KempGuitars said:

Hi John, Looking good... nice headstock there on the left Love the Zebrano, I should use more of that on my natural builds. You have quite a dark piece on that build, I like that. I was messing around with a scrap of Zebrano since I last used some and it looks great with a Mahogany stain - similar to how yours looks now

Hi Mark,

On page one of this thread you can see the zebrano before oil and wax. Originally it was light coloured, but it darkened very quickly with applications of Tru Oil, much more so than other woods like korina. I didn't use any stain, just 3 coats each of Tru Oil and Briwax. The end result is lovely and warm.

AustrianJohn

I've spent the evening playing this guitar using the @TheGuitarWeasel P90 through a @ThorpyFX Gunshot. Deliciously dirty!

xKempGuitars

AustrianJohn said:

KempGuitars said:

Hi John, Looking good... nice headstock there on the left Love the Zebrano, I should use more of that on my natural builds. You have quite a dark piece on that build, I like that. I was messing around with a scrap of Zebrano since I last used some and it looks great with a Mahogany stain - similar to how yours looks now

Hi Mark,

On page one of this thread you can see the zebrano before oil and wax. Originally it was light coloured, but it darkened very quickly with applications of Tru Oil, much more so than other woods like korina. I didn't use any stain, just 3 coats each of Tru Oil and Briwax. The end result is lovely and warm.

Oh yeah, it does darken down. Zebrano can also vary in colour, etc from piece to piece. Here's the finished top I used - not as dark as your top (I also used Tru-Oil on this)...