Zemaitis / Bonabyrd / ??? type thing

MattNovak

Welp, I'm waiting on paint to dry and parts to arrive on the Firebird-ette. Boredom has set in and, rather than actually practice guitar, I thought I'd plan making a great big pile of sawdust with the hope a guitar emerges after a while.

I already have a lovely piece of walnut for a neck which is 2'' thick, plus some carbon for the 'truss', and 2 fingerboard blanks - one walnut, one figured ebony. I also have some planks of an unknown (as yet) wood which were found in our barn.... so basically there's a free guitar in there somewhere, right?

Here's the aesthetics I have created in my head:

Pinched waist Zemaitis LP style body
Reverse FB headstock as per my other builds (but will use a roundover bit to create a chamfer)
Tele bridge, no neck pickup
Vintage-y white (or shell pink even) with matching headstock. I may bind the body in tortoishell too.

I want to glue the neck from the back of the body, if that make sense... Then I can make a nice smooth heel transition.

Anyway, squint your eyes - this is the rough silhouette:

  

 

Funkfingers

MattNovak said:

Boredom has set in

B’dum, b’dum.

Next project - Starway replica! 

MattNovak

Well, wood is ordered - cherry for the neck and body, and birch ply for the top. Good enough for Gibson etc etc. 

MattNovak

^^ needless to say, I've changed direction on using the walnut and 'barn wood' - my bandsaw isn't up it. 

MattNovak

Waiting for wood and parts for my other build, so I drew up some rough outlines on 6mm MDF. Body shape is taken from my Zemaitis, but with a rounder horn (at present).

Really searching for inspiration for colour schemes and hardware choices, just when I thin I've settled on something anoth thought pops into my head! At least I have the luxury of time.  

MattNovak

I have wood.

Pfnar.

The cherry I ordered arrived today, looks good. There's some mild figuring and an interesting bit on the body too:





I also managed to ruin (I think - will look again tomorrow) a lovely bit of Ebony today - bollocks. I won't go into details but it involved a router, a thicknessing jig and a sustained loss of attention. Ah well. Here's a before pic:

MattNovak

There was a guitar body hiding in there! Managed to try and showcase the spalt (? is it spalt?).

Cherry is a bit lively when routing - there a few catches on the initial template pass but they'll get lost in the roundover.

Hopefully.



I also scarfed and glued the neck blank up. 

MattNovak

Colour scheme chosen, and hardware starting to arrive. I've gone for a left hand Tele bridge (just because) and a 50's junior burst style with mid brown stained back to show the grain. Oh, and it'll be 25'' (PRS) scale. 

MattNovak

I have discovered that achieving the colours above is relatively easy. However, spraying a convincing burst with a rattle can in a shed is an altogether trickier task. 



So, with the above in mind - lets do a relic 'black over 2TSB'! I will then erase the paint job above from my memory and pretend that this has been my plan all along. 

Should have some decent progress on both current builds over the next week as parts arrive.

TJT1979

Looking good! I was wondering if you could elaborate about not using the walnut? I have a bunch of small walnut boards which I am going to use for a 3-piece walnut neck. You said your saw wasn’t up to the job. Was it particularly big stock? Any other negatives about using walnut for a neck?

Cheers. 

MattNovak

TJT1979 said:

Looking good! I was wondering if you could elaborate about not using the walnut? I have a bunch of small walnut boards which I am going to use for a 3-piece walnut neck. You said your saw wasn’t up to the job. Was it particularly big stock? Any other negatives about using walnut for a neck?

Cheers. 

Hi - you shouldn't have a problem with sawing walnut, its not particularly tougher then most woods - its just my bandsaw is a cheap one with a 90mm max throat, and the stock I have is 100x100.... I got carried away ordering wood and forgot to check!

What build are you planning?

PeteC

How. Heavy is the cherry Matt ?   I am thinking of ordering some to try on a future build    Looking good btw and your choice of a 50s  junior burst will look great. 

MattNovak

Hey @PeteC - not noticeably heavier than say mahogany.... this is quite a thick blank and a petite body shape though, so it may be harder to judge 'freehand' so to speak. I'll chuck it on the bathroom scales later and let you know. 

Reid Timber was the supplier btw, I recommend him.

Maybe I need new router cutters, but I've had a bit of (thankfully salvageable) tear out on this - first build using cherry so not sure if thats typical or not? I'm sure others will chime in...

MattNovak

Also, I may have been too harsh on myself with the 50's burst. I tend towards impatience, so I may sand it back and try again. The left side of the burst is actually ok, it's my technique I need to finesse.

WezV

there are some vintage juniors out there that are not far off that 

MattNovak

WezV said:

there are some vintage juniors out there that are not far off that 

Which does afford me some comfort! I'm a fan of the minimum sunburst 'edge' look, which means spraying 'past' the guitar..... so yeah, I need to practice. I'll try adding a dusting of red too, I know that's not traditional but might help the fade a little.

What I'm trying to avoid is something like this:

WezV

I am still not great at spraying bursts, but I get good results by doing lighter tints and building it up 

PeteC

Interesting stuff.  I’m warming up to buying some spray kit -   Not wanting to hijack you’re excellent thread Matt but what do you use and what’s a good beginners spray set up ? 

WezV

I got a 24l starter kit from SGS compressors and a few cheap touchup guns.   It's far from the ideal set-up, but I get by for now

PeteC

You seem to get great results - just had a look at SgS.   So for about 150 quid you can get a semi decent spraying set up ?    Matt - just re read and now I see you mentioned using spray cans - apologies, I missed that.  

WezV

It's giving me more options than cans, and a smoother finish. In hindsight i  wouldn't have bothered with their spraying starter kit.  Just get the compressor, hose and a touch up gun or two.  I barely use the gun that came with it.  Ideally you want some filters and moisture traps in there too.

By the time you have done 4 guitars with spray cans you have  paid enough for a basic spraying set-up.