Wave guitar build project

Megii

monquixote said:

Superb work. 

My hat is off to you. 

Cheers monq! Thanks for taking an interest in the build.

rpr

Great thread, very nice guitar at the end of it. Glad the lil 59 is working for you. 

Think I'll call out to @TTony , in case he missed out on the finished guitar.

What's your next build?

:P

Megii

rpr said:

Great thread, very nice guitar at the end of it. Glad the lil 59 is working for you. 

Think I'll call out to @TTony , in case he missed out on the finished guitar.

What's your next build?

:P

Cheers rpr! The lil 59 is an interesting pickup - I really like it a lot, I must say it's somehow a bit more "modern" sounding than a PAF type humbucker - kind of clean and maybe more fusion-ish if that makes sense, which is actually fitting in very well with the general vibe of this guitar. Combines in a nice, and interesting way, with the middle SD strat stack pickup too. Cheers again for being there at the right time for me to buy that one, it's made a real difference to how good the final guitar is.

 

The next build - that's an ominous question, but really I have to stop acquiring guitars for the moment. This is the 3rd one I've built now, following a strat and tele (all using www.guitarbuild.co.uk swamp ash bodies), and I have 10 guitars in total, which is way more than I actually need lol. Yep, afraid this is probably the last build for me, but it's been a lot of fun. I do have a few pickup mods to existing guitars in the pipeline though, so that will keep me occupied.

Lixarto

Excellent work

Megii

Lixarto said:

Excellent work

Cheers Lixarto! Thanks for following the thread.

dchwhite

Very nice - most inspirational

RocknRollDave

When's the Bigsby going on...?

*slaps self to save anyone else the bother*


Anyway...sound clips/ vids? Coming soon, right?

Great work, suitably impressed here in RocknRollTowers (admittedly a place where swapping a set of pickups without burning the house down is marked by a day's national holiday in celebration)

Rocker

Well done my friend.  You built a lovely, interestingly shaped, exceptionally well finished guitar.  It was good of you to document your work as you did.  I, for one, followed your posts with great interest.  So enjoy your guitar and well may you play.

Megii

Thanks so much chaps! Running the build blog actually seems to help me with the whole thing, and thinking clearly about the steps involved. And I do appreciate your interest and encouragement, cheers!   I've just realised the wave cut-away on the base will make fitting a Bigsby a bit difficult - shame that!

steamabacus

Great guitar and a really interesting thread.

I agree that ebony backplate and truss rod cover would be perfect.

ThePrettyDamned

Really enjoyed following this. Looks absolutely stunning!

It's modern, but it wouldn't look out of place in a vintage guitar shop. Very cool! Does it play like...

... Wait for it...

Buttah?

TTony

rpr said:

Think I'll call out to @TTony , in case he missed out on the finished guitar.

Thanks @rpr - I had missed the updates on the build, and I'd have missed this if you hadn't given me the call!

 

 

Megii said:

Just to add my 2p .. not that you need it!

 

Firstly, I think the shape "works".  It looks good.  It looks like a proper design, rather than just someone trying to design something different purely for the sake of it being different.  So, big tick from me.

 

Secondly, it looks like a proper luthier build guitar, not a "hobbyist" job.  I don't mean to be rude to the hobby builders (I'm one myself), but there aren't many that have the quality look of your work.  I could quite easily imagine your guitar hanging on a wall in a top-end shop with a £2k+ price tag on it. 

 

My only criticism - and it's purely aesthetic and obviously only my own opinion! - is that I don't like the look of the p'ups, with all of them being different.  It breaks up the otherwise harmonised look of the design.  Silly, and I know that p'ups should be chosen for functionality rather than appearance, but that's the only thing that I'd say was less-than-perfect.

 

Really impressive work.  Thanks for sharing here. 

=D>

Megii

steamabacus said:

Great guitar and a really interesting thread.

I agree that ebony backplate and truss rod cover would be perfect.

Thanks! I'm glad if the thread proved an interesting read, that was my hope! It seems I can order a suitable bit of ebony for the covers for less than a tenner on evilbay, so that's an easy detail to sort out. Sometimes it's hard to know what's going to be right without trying something first.

ddlooping

Excellent work and result, Megii.

Megii

ThePrettyDamned said:

Really enjoyed following this. Looks absolutely stunning!

It's modern, but it wouldn't look out of place in a vintage guitar shop. Very cool! Does it play like...

... Wait for it...

Buttah?

Thanks for those comments TPD - I guess if I've managed to achieve something modern but with something of a classic vibe, that's really great. I can say I'm very happy with the way the design has turned out, and the guitar does feel well-balanced in use, and very comfortable to use, ergonomic even. Although it's deceptively wide across the lower bout (just over 14 inches) and I will have a bit of a job finding a suitable nice hard case for it maybe. Should be fun searching though!

Does it play like buttah lol - the old clichés are the best! Erm, yes, kind of similar to Lurpak...

:-S

Megii

TTony said:

rpr said:

Think I'll call out to @TTony , in case he missed out on the finished guitar.

Thanks @rpr - I had missed the updates on the build, and I'd have missed this if you hadn't given me the call!

 

 

Megii said:

Just to add my 2p .. not that you need it!

 

Firstly, I think the shape "works".  It looks good.  It looks like a proper design, rather than just someone trying to design something different purely for the sake of it being different.  So, big tick from me.

 

Secondly, it looks like a proper luthier build guitar, not a "hobbyist" job.  I don't mean to be rude to the hobby builders (I'm one myself), but there aren't many that have the quality look of your work.  I could quite easily imagine your guitar hanging on a wall in a top-end shop with a £2k+ price tag on it. 

 

My only criticism - and it's purely aesthetic and obviously only my own opinion! - is that I don't like the look of the p'ups, with all of them being different.  It breaks up the otherwise harmonised look of the design.  Silly, and I know that p'ups should be chosen for functionality rather than appearance, but that's the only thing that I'd say was less-than-perfect.

 

Really impressive work.  Thanks for sharing here. 

=D>

Thank TTony! I really do appreciate your comments on the design - I did spend several weeks developing and refining the design for the body (as Phil from Guitarbuild can attest, he was very patient and helpful with all that). The guitar doesn't look like it, but some of my early inspirations were things like the Ovation Breadwinner, and also a lot of the "ergo-guitar" modern designs. Somehow though, I didn't quite want that big bout under the right arm, so ended up evening up the shape, but keeping a cut-away on the base. And then the wave idea came in, after which it was a case of making multiple adjustments until I thought I had a shape which was pretty enough. I too am very much a hobby builder, I lack any serious luthier skills - if I've managed to build something which gives the impression of being in that kind of high-end league that's wonderful, and probably down to me knowing what my limitations are, and getting more capable people such as Guitarbuild to do the bits that were beyond me. I don't mind your criticism at all - I can see what you're saying, but I did want this kind of pickup combination, so that's just the way it has to be. I'd say it still looks reasonably consistent with the existing pickups in fact. But cheers again!

Megii

ddlooping said:

Excellent work and result, Megii.

Cheers!

Megii

Forgot to say (how could I? sorry guys) but a big thanks also to Wudtone for providing the perfect finish product for this one - a choice that definitely improved the results on this build.

Lixarto

Just my €0.02: I like the unmatched pick-ups, it adds an air of purposefulness

Megii

Lixarto said:

Just my €0.02: I like the unmatched pick-ups, it adds an air of purposefulness

Yes, I guess that is the other side of the coin - the pickups that are there, are there for a reason - perhaps that does come across. Having played through an amp for a while now, I'm happy to say it is a pickup combination that seems well-matched, and works together well.