Dusting off my first build

guitargeek62

Many moons ago I had the pleasure of taking a visit to Neil Morgan's workshop in deepest-darkest Wales and learning the basics of woodworking and lutheiry. From then on, I proceded to churn out a number of bodies, many of which ended up in the hands of Jooky, DrBob and Stickyfiddle, amongst others. Unfortunately due to a combination of factors, not least which being the loss of access to a workshop, I've not touched a router in many years now.

Anyway, I've had a bit of a gear clearout after my recent PRS purchase, and I'm not back down to just the PRS, Chibson Trini Lopez (still going strong, but beginning to need a fret dress!), and this one. It's spent the last seven or so years in a gigbag in an attic, and has been thoroughly neglected for no real reason. I'd like to put it back in action finally, and this time keep it that way. 









Currently, my thoughts are:

• Re-shape the headstock - I made it slightly too small to begin with, and many tuners would struggle to fit on there. I also basically lifted the PRS Santana design, but later came up with a nicer shape (via Wez V)  that ended up on another DC Jr that got fixed* by @TTony. To do this I expect I'll need to add wings to the edges, flatten off the end and glue on a new section, and then sort out a new (ebony?) headplate to hide it all from the front. I'll likely enlarge the tuner holes too to take a set of locking hipshots now as they've become my go-to option. For the back I'm thinking of using a stinger anyway, so that would cover any repairs/work.
• Complete the control cavity - unbelievably, I never got around to doing this! It's an easy job too, just need to make a couple of templates, recess the cavities, and make the covers.
• New ebony fingerboard - In hindsight I wish I'd done this from the off, I like rosewood, but I think ebony would suit the finish I'm going for better. Still, this is probably the one change I'm least set on, and a hell of a lot of work for minimal benefit.
• Doghair-burst finish - the neck and body have had a tru-oil finish in the past, but that was removed a long time ago and shouldn't be a problem now... I think. Either way, I'll probably leave this to the experts and speak to Lamf68 again. I'd like the neck to have a double-stained charcoal finish ala certain PRS guitars, with blackburst at the heel to compliment the stinger.
• Brass/gold hardware - pretty set on this, I'm looking at a PRS style trem for comfort and playability, but in raw brass.  
• Pickups/electronics tbc - no idea right now, it's been so long since I had it strung up that I can barely remember how it sounded last time around. Originally I had an SD Alternative 8 in the bridge, and a P-Rail in the neck - hence the extra hole for a mini-toggle. It had a bit of a hot-rodded strat vibe going on tonally from what I recall.

In many ways it would be easier, and possibly cheaper, to start from scratch, but this was my first build and it seems a shame to do so. I still don't have a workshop, but should be able to do most of this here... somehow! I'm keen to see what other people think though and check if any other ideas take my fancy!


*TTony ended up buying a second attempt at this shape from me and was able to salvage it from the piss-poor attempt at getting the neck angle right I'd done! Clearly I'd spent too long trying to emulate Gibson's QC...

Winny_Pooh

P90 or single in the neck? Like a GS1.5

Headstock and neck looks great. Can you not make it work as is?

paulnb57

Watching with interest, I agree the headstock shape looks great, can you source tuners that will fit?

guitargeek62

Might be able to - it had locking klusons on there originally, but one of them (maybe two?) just overhung the edge of the headstock. It’s barely noticeable, but I’d know it’s there.

@Winny_Pooh - it’s got a humbucker route hiding under the pickguard, I’ll likely stick with a neck P90 of sorts.

TTony

That looks like some nice timbers Si.  If they sound as good as they look, then it's certainly going to be worth spending some time sorting it out and getting it all playable.

Are you sure that the headstock needs enlarging?    The design that I use on my own builds is a lot narrower than yours, and I get decent straight-through strings too;

guitargeek62 said:

*TTony ended up buying a second attempt at this shape from me and was able to salvage it from the piss-poor attempt at getting the neck angle right I'd done! Clearly I'd spent too long trying to emulate Gibson's QC...

This is the headstock from *that* guitar;


It was an interesting rescue ...

Firstly I removed about 5mm from the top of the body, to remove the roundover that you'd put on it.  Then hollowed it (it was a chunk piece of mahogany) and then made a wedge shaped cap so that it was about 10mm thicker at the bridge than it was at the neck join.  That offset the problem with the neck angle.

Here you can see the effect of the wedge.  The ledge part is a consistent thickness around the outside of the body and across the top end - ie the neck join area.  but the inner - higher - area is about 10mm higher across the middle section.



It's a lot less obvious when blended in with some carving


Still on of my favourites!




Are you still City based?

guitargeek62

^ that looks bloody fantastic Tony, so pleased that you were able to do something good with it! I really do love that headstock, and the hydrogen & ring inlays - Wez did a grand job on them.

I’ve not measured the current one up against anything yet, but will certainly try it before committing to any major work! As I say, I’m hoping to use Hipshots on there, and they’ve got quite a different footprint to the Klusons. 

Yep, still working in South Quay - same place for almost 8 years now!

guitargeek62

@TTony - Your one's just reminded me that I should have built this for a wraparound too... probably a bit too late to rectify that easily though! 

paulnb57

@guitargeek62 whats a stinger?, tried googling.....

TTony

guitargeek62 said:

Your one's just reminded me that I should have built this for a wraparound too... probably a bit too late to rectify that easily though! 

If you've not got easy access to a workshop and all the tools, I'd suggest keeping this one  as simple as possible.

Use tuners that will fit the headstock, rather than worrying about whether they're your ideal perfect #1 choice.  Forget the wraparound,  and stick with the trem design.  And certainly forget about swapping the fingerboard over.

Complete it, so it's playable.  Play it.  Then think about how you'd like to evolve it next time around, and get yourself some workshop time somewhere to build another.

And another.

And another.

And ...

guitargeek62

paulnb57 said:

@guitargeek62 whats a stinger?, tried googling.....

It's just a way of painting the back of the headstock. Certain older Gibsons used to use it - usually archtops I think, but I quite like the look when it's done properly:

guitargeek62

TTony said:

guitargeek62 said:

Your one's just reminded me that I should have built this for a wraparound too... probably a bit too late to rectify that easily though! 

If you've not got easy access to a workshop and all the tools, I'd suggest keeping this one  as simple as possible.

Use tuners that will fit the headstock, rather than worrying about whether they're your ideal perfect #1 choice.  Forget the wraparound,  and stick with the trem design.  And certainly forget about swapping the fingerboard over.

Complete it, so it's playable.  Play it.  Then think about how you'd like to evolve it next time around, and get yourself some workshop time somewhere to build another.

And another.

And another.

And ...

Haha, too right! I'm quite happy to use a trem on this too, it gives me an excuse for another hardtail at some point anyway. And yes, in all likelihood I'll be picking the most straight-forward options to finish this off.

We're looking to move back to the south-west in 2021, and space for a workshop is pretty high on the list - although it might need to be a shared motorbike & guitar workshop now!