Finished Pics! SG-style in Yew

Andyjr1515

OK - I'll admit that I'm excited about this one.

Does anyone remember this SG-influenced neck-through build I did a few years back for one of our band members, Pete? : 



And those with REALLY long memories, anyone remember this own-design I built for myself in Yew?



Well, both guitars are still in use.  

Pete & I are still playing (or were until the recent lockdown!) - him lead and me vocals & sax.


And at one of the places we regularly play, another player - Matt - has started making pickups.  And for his first attempt at humbuckers I offered the Yew guitar above as the test bed.  So Matt has been playing it for the past few weeks.


Matt has drooled over Pete's SG for some time.  But he was also a bit bowled over by how good Yew looks once it's been carved and varnished.


So the new project is an SG-style guitar made for Matt....made with a Yew top.


And I just happen to have a book-matched set that has been languishing in my shed for years




And I'm excited because - although you have to be very careful routing and sanding Yew because it is pretty poisonous  - I found it a nice wood to work with...and this is going to look FABULOUS


And, let's face it, I'm not going anywhere else over the next few weeks...

Roland

Andyjr1515 said:

... you have to be very careful routing and sanding Yew because it is pretty poisonous  - I found it a nice wood to work with...and this is going to look FABULOUS


And, let's face it, I'm not going anywhere else over the next few weeks...

I love yew. The colours and grain structure are beautiful. In my log pile there are a couple of logs suitable for turning, but nothing that I can get a body blank from.

IIRC yew is the most poisonous wood growing naturally in the UK. It’s listed as “Toxic”. I’ve been using a positive pressure mask and latex gloves. 

BigMonka

This is going to be another Andy stunner - looking forward to seeing it progress

paulnb57

This is going to be another stunner! Watching this one!

PeteC

That original SG is stunning !   Bring it on , and good luck with the build.  

Andyjr1515

Thanks, folks!    

I think today is my last one on Tom's African bass until I get the hardware that he has ordered from the US (and which, I suspect, may be some time coming) so tomorrow I will be gathering together the timbers.

The plan is to maximise the number of pieces of timber I already have lying around and other stuff I already have at hand.

The guitar will be a through neck with the same basic construction as Pete's red one:



I'll make it thinner than Pete's which will make the neck heel even more unobtrusive that this one.  
The control chamber cover will be matching Sapele in a recess for flush fitting with magnets.  

Matt will be making his own humbuckers for it and I'll be using as much hardware out of my 'bits box' as I can.




  

YellowLedBetterMan

You do make some great SGs Andy. I suspect this one will be fantastic also.

Andyjr1515

Got the timbers out today.

 As I had hoped, I have: the Yew; the Sapele for the back wings; a lovely piece of quarter-sawn David Dyke mahogany for the neck.  I’m pretty sure I also have a piece of bubinga somewhere that I can use for the centre splice on the neck. And I’ve also found all the original templates from Pete’s build!

 Assuming David Dyke is open, I will order a length of ebony for the fretboard and headstock face-plate on Monday – but that won’t hold up the start of the build.

I’ll also have a broddle in my bits boxes over the next couple of days.  I’m almost certain I have a tune-o-matic roller bridge somewhere and I may even have some locking tuners.  I’ll see.

monquixote

Looks superb.

Can I suggest you call the project "Operation Yewtree"

Andyjr1515

monquixote said:

Looks superb.

Can I suggest you call the project "Operation Yewtree"

Excellent name for the project!

Talking of which, if you ever wondered how they bookmatch….  (Assistant in bulk DIY store,"It's tree wood, sir.  You can cut it, sand it, glue it drill it - just like plastic")





Well - I broddled around in my bits box and the number of things I've bought and never used invested in over the past few years is a bit eye-watering.


Certainly, these will do fine on the build - and even with a choice of roller ToM bridges! :



And I even found a full set of chrome locking tuners!  Except, I then realised they were 6-a-side and not 3+3.  Never mind - I'll probably go for Axesrus's splendid lightweight ones.  

Roland

Andyjr1515 said:

Yum

Teyeplayer

Andyjr1515 said:

Talking of which, if you ever wondered how they bookmatch….  (Assistant in bulk DIY store,"It's tree wood, sir.  You can cut it, sand it, glue it drill it - just like plastic")

Well - I broddled around in my bits box and the number of things I've bought and never used invested in over the past few years is a bit eye-watering.


Certainly, these will do fine on the build - and even with a choice of roller ToM bridges! :



And I even found a full set of chrome locking tuners!  Except, I then realised they were 6-a-side and not 3+3.  Never mind - I'll probably go for Axesrus's splendid lightweight ones.  

Surely the ownership of a roller TOM can only mean one thing: bigsby!?!?

Andyjr1515

Teyeplayer said:

Surely the ownership of a roller TOM can only mean one thing: bigsby!?!?

Well, I have fitted one in the past (sorry to those who are upset by such things) - but it wasn't one of these two ToM's.  That one had piezo saddles...

I think one of the ToMs I've found was on my TheFretboard Challenge (2015??) entry where we took a Gear4Music kit to 'do something with it'.  

I chose the Jazzmaster-ish kit which came with their take on the JM tremolo - and actually worked ridiculously well, especially considering the complete kit was less than £100 - but it did need rollers to help it along


So I think one of them is from that.  No idea why the other one...and I then found YET ANOTHER ONE!!!  Clearly brain cells failing fast, rapidly followed by liquidity

pintspiller

It will look stunning.

Andyjr1515

pintspiller said:

It will look stunning.

Thanks   I have high hopes.  Just got to not c**k it up!

Andyjr1515

In between some domestic stuff, managed to start the thicknessing of the Yew and the Sapele.

While you clearly have to flatten the top, for bookmatched wood you need to minimise the wood removal from the bookmatched face - just a few mm and you already start losing the match - so most of the removal to get it to the correct thickness is off the backs.


And with Yew - there's no messing about.  Hat, goggles, respirator, gloves.  Every bit of a yew is poisonous except - I am told but do not take my word for it - the red fleshy bit of the berry (which is the bit that looks the most poisonous).  The seeds are especially poisonous.  And poisonous doesn't mean it make you sick.  This is meet your maker poisonous.  And so, with the tiny bits that throw off out the thicknesser, despite decent extraction, it's the full PPE approach.  As it is ingestion or inhalation that is the particular risk, same precautions will be done for any routing and sanding.

Does look nice, though:


And, for completeness, the Sapele:

TTony

Roland said:

Andyjr1515 said:

Yum

No, its Yew.

axisus

Great thread. That red SG looks awesome, anywhere I can see more pictures of it?

Roland

Andy, are you going to fill those holes, or cut to avoid them?

Andyjr1515

Roland said:

Andy, are you going to fill those holes, or cut to avoid them?

Hi @Roland ;
I'll check again with the template now I've cleaned it up, but this is still probably where I'll choose to place it:



Therefore I get the beauty of the figuring that the knots create, but in a place where the voids and splits are less problematic.  The dodgiest area for carving are the two horns and this way round puts the split-free wood where they are.

Any remaining voids will be filled once I've done the carve with epoxy mixed with sanding dust - dark brown if it's in a knot (which sometimes appear as you carve) or yew dust (carefully ) if it's in the main body.


I've learnt over the previous builds that voids and splits are no real big deal on a top, where you have the stability of the back wings to stop stuff actually falling off

Andyjr1515

axisus said:

Great thread. That red SG looks awesome, anywhere I can see more pictures of it?

Thanks!  There are a few more shots on my website here.  Click on the photo's for a zoomed shot:
http://www.ajrguitarmods.co.uk/sg%20tribute.htm 

There's a full build thread, I think, somewhere here, although it was in the free-Photobucket days so probably useless.  The method will be the same for this build, though.  So, if you can wait a couple of months...