Wave guitar build project

Megii

Just to see what the hardware looks like:

 

Megii

The control cavity, with the jack socket detail working perfectly as planned:

Megii

The neck bolt ferrules are perfect flush fit as well, very pleased with how this has come out:

Megii

The neck bolt placement also echoes the machine head arrangement - I admit this is accidental, but I really like the look now I see it:

Megii

Overall, I would like to really thank Phil at www.guitarbuild.co.uk for doing a wonderful job at translating my design into reality and taking so much trouble (a lot of emails exchanged in the last few weeks). I can't find any flaws in the craftsmanship, or the wood itself - a really beautiful looking slab of sculpted swamp ash. It's really light and resonant too - rings when I tap on it, all bodes very well. A long way to go now to do this justice and produce a lovely guitar. I'll start tomorrow lol.

John_P

Wow -  that looks fantastic!    Great work!

Megii

John_P said:

Wow -  that looks fantastic!    Great work!

Thank you John, I can really only take credit for the design, which I admit I am a bit proud of. Phil at Guitarbuild deserves credit for doing such a great job of skillfully turning my plans into reality. But it is a great outcome, not long ago I just had a neck with an awkward to use 25" scale length, now it is turning into a gorgeous guitar!

DiscoStu

Megii said:

 

Tasty tasty very very tasty!

Megii

DiscoStu said:

Tasty tasty very very tasty!

Thanks Stu! I'm glad you like the black chrome hardware - I nearly went with gold lol, but I think that would have been wrong on this guitar, the black looks sharp I reckon.

DiscoStu

Fuck no. Gold hardware is wrong wrong wrong!

Megii

DiscoStu said:

Fuck no. Gold hardware is wrong wrong wrong!

I'd better not show you my strat or tele then...   But I do think it would have been very wrong for this build, so a lucky escape there!

DiscoStu

I just can't stand gold hardware. No specific reason for it, I just do.

The problem with that statement is that there is some gold on my Stonebridge acoustic. 

Megii

DiscoStu said:

I just can't stand gold hardware. No specific reason for it, I just do.

The problem with that statement is that there is some gold on my Stonebridge acoustic. 

I think it can easily look like it's trying too hard, or a bit bling - not in a good way. But (just my own view) I think on the right guitar, if well-judged, it can work. I bet it looks fine on your Stonebridge - kudos for that btw, those are really lovely acoustics.

JookyChap

That looks lovely - great design and like you say kudos to GB for taking the time and turning it into something that cool...

So, finish then - discuss

Megii

JookyChap said:

That looks lovely - great design and like you say kudos to GB for taking the time and turning it into something that cool...

So, finish then - discuss

Thanks Jooky! The short discussion is for me to say "Tru Oil".  I will apply many thin layers, with use of 0000 wire wool and/or 1200 grit wet and dry sandpaper every so often, until I get a nice gloss sheen going. Probably with no grain-filling so as to leave a bit of texture to the surface - not everyone's cup of tea I know, but I like this personally. Hope you approve! What would be your preferred method with ash and a natural finish?

JookyChap

Megii said:

JookyChap said:

That looks lovely - great design and like you say kudos to GB for taking the time and turning it into something that cool...

So, finish then - discuss

Thanks Jooky! The short discussion is for me to say "Tru Oil".  I will apply many thin layers, with use of 0000 wire wool and/or 1200 grit wet and dry sandpaper every so often, until I get a nice gloss sheen going. Probably with no grain-filling so as to leave a bit of texture to the surface - not everyone's cup of tea I know, but I like this personally. Hope you approve! What would be your preferred method with ash and a natural finish?

Tru-oil is fine by me.. I like that or just a simple stain and hard wax oil on ash as it always feels criminal to cover it with copper and throw acid at it because it is Evil, EVIL I tell you

A lot of people are going for these Wudtone kits too, though I've not tried one myself, but the results look pretty impressive. Might be worth a shufty

dchwhite

Looks like a cool project

As an (possibly the only, to be fair) Starfield nerd, what happened to the old body?

Jalapeno

Looks great !

Megii

dchwhite said:

Looks like a cool project

As an (possibly the only, to be fair) Starfield nerd, what happened to the old body?

Thanks for liking the project dch - I still have the old body - hmm, I can hardly bear to tell you though, not my proudest guitar modding moment, but here's the sad tale: The Starfield Altair which donated the neck for this project looked like this:

It was a Japanese-made one from 1993, best I could find out. I bought in second hand from Mansons in Plymouth (not sure if they still have a branch there) either late '93 or '94 - I was looking for something strat-ish at the time for under £300, and this seemed the best option (there were no classic-vibe Squiers or the like back then I recall). I never found it quite satisfactory as a strat-type guitar, and in that pic I've changed the pickups to a Lace Blue in the neck, an old '80's SD classic strat stack in the middle, and alnico magnet Artec rails type in the bridge. That was a great pickup combination for me, and is basically what will be used in this new build too. The guitar did have flaws I have to say - the bass strings in particular sounded a bit dead and lacking in sustain, no matter what I tried - I think the body wood on this one was maybe not the best somehow. When I bought the guitar the scratchplate was badly aligned, and I had to fill and re-drill all the mounting holes to fix that. More recently I decided, unwisely, to try to strip the finish and was going to do a stained natural wood, oil-finished kind of thing - there were a few ugly dings on it at this point. The old finish proved very hard to remove - quite thick, I believe it is polyester, and the stuff is totally impervious to paint strippers, and very hard to remove with a heat gun (and gives off really noxious fumes if you try). Probably I needed some sort of heavy duty sanding gear, but I just ended up damaging the old finish, and what wood I did expose did not look like a good bet for a natural finish - quite a few strips glued together, with a couple of thin veneers of some soft-ish wood over the front and back (I guess to help with getting a smooth factory finish). So I was then left feeling really bad - I'd effectively wreaked the guitar, and it just sat sadly in bits on a shelf for a couple of years. The neck is nice though - I would say the best bit of the old Starfield, so a couple of months ago I contacted Guitarbuild to see about the possibility of getting a new body made for it, which I would design. And the results you can see! I do still feel bad about the demise of the Starfield though, I know these are becoming quite highly thought of lately, but at least I have done something positive with the neck. And I think it's fair to say that the new body is superior to the old one - lovely resonant one-piece swamp ash, very nicely made as you can see. But I still must apologise to fans of Starfield guitars out there, sorry... 

Megii

Jalapeno said:

Looks great !

Cheers for the thumbs up! Came out pretty well I think...