WezV DC Juniorish build

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Seems we have a lot of junior builds around here, but its been a while since my last one so why not.

As always, I will try to do things a bit different to Gibson's offerings.  

This one will be a laminated birdseye maple neck, with birdseye maple fretboard, likely a mahogany body

Its going to have a bridge and middle humbucker, so will need a different plate design and control layout too

but lets start with some wood


3 BE maple neck blanks, and a matching fretboard.  They all need cleaning up, but are already showing some really nice figure.

The plan is to get at least 2 necks with angled headstocks from this.  Either by gluing all 3 blanks together and cutting two laminated necks from the big block,  or cutting the rough profiles first  and seeing how  many I can fit on each blank.   I could get 3 scarfed necks, but its not my preference


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Comments

  • davrosdavros Frets: 1325
    Will be watching with interest, your builds are consistently amazing!
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  • PhilKingPhilKing Frets: 1473
    That's nice looking wood.  
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  • Subscribed 
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  • PeteCPeteC Frets: 409
    All ready to be “ schooled”.!!    This is is going to be great to watch come together.   
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    PeteC said:
    All ready to be “ schooled”.!!    This is is going to be great to watch come together.   
    why? I don't think there is much I can add on making juniors. ;)

    I also have plans for a new hollowbody soon - but I will be learning just as much when I show that one.  I'm hoping I can get a neck from this wood suitable for it :)
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  • PeteCPeteC Frets: 409
    WezV said:
    PeteC said:
    All ready to be “ schooled”.!!    This is is going to be great to watch come together.   
    why? I don't think there is much I can add on making juniors. ;)

    I also have plans for a new hollowbody soon - but I will be learning just as much when I show that one.  I'm hoping I can get a neck from this wood suitable for it :)
    ha !  Well I can make a pretty good junior and Tele now but I am pretty sure there will be some interesting stuff watching your build.   Really enjoyed seeing your last build Wes, so definitely looking forward to seeing how you do the hollow body too.  

    What method are you using to prepare your laminations for the neck blanks ? 



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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    I will shove them through the planer and finish up with a quick scrape

    I do have some concerns about tear out in the planer with BE maple, so they may get a spritz of water and very small passes if there is any issues on the first pass
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    It planed up well with small passes

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  • PeteCPeteC Frets: 409
    Yes very nice. Plenty of figure catching the light even in its raw state. 
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    Yeah  its looking good.

    Its probably worth me talking about grain direction as it affects BE maple quite a bit.

    The birdseyes appear strongest in flatsawn wood, perfect for fender style necks  but that isn't what we are making here.  The planks will look more like flame than birdseye when viewed on the quarter 

    You can see how that works on a typical fender.  Strong birsdeye on the fretboard face, strong on the back if the neck, but the figure stretches out to look like flame as the neck carve curves round

    Like this


    The back of my neck will look quite different as it will effectively be quartersawn once I have laminated the flat sawn planks together.   That will give a flamed look in the middle, with strong birsdeye at the edges.   But the addition of a seperate flatsawn fretboard will keep the normal birsdeye look from the front


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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    2 piece khaya body glued up.



    Very simple next to the neck, but I think that's going to work wellq
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  • PhilKingPhilKing Frets: 1473
    Looks very nice Wez.  I've never heard of Khaya, I had to look it up.  what's it like weight wise?
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    Its often called african mahogany, Gibson  may have even used it on some 50's guitars.

    Like all mahogany, modern stocks do tend to be a bit heavier, but this one is okay.... should balance well with the maple neck
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  • PhilKingPhilKing Frets: 1473
    Great.  I need to get to the post office, you're moving so fast.

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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    It sometimes happens ;)

    Got the neck balank all glued, planed and marked up



    Then I remembered  I want to get an arch top neck out this too, so changed one if my cutting lines



    Plenty of heel to play with for both styles of build now
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  • PhilKingPhilKing Frets: 1473
    It looks like you caught it in time.  My Dad always used to tell me "measure twice, cut once".  He was a joiner and had done his full apprenticeship with all hand tools mainly.  He's got Alzheimer's now and my mums been looking to sell off the contents of his old workshop, but the power tools are pretty old.  With me living in the States, they are no good for me (and would cost too much to get over here anyway).
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  • PeteCPeteC Frets: 409
    @Wez, the flamed centre lam, with BE laminations either side, reminds me of some of the rather nice Benedetto maple neck pics I've seen - is that the kind of look you're going for with this ? 

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  • GSPBASSESGSPBASSES Frets: 2335
    tFB Trader
    WezV said:
    Its often called african mahogany, Gibson  may have even used it on some 50's guitars.

    Like all mahogany, modern stocks do tend to be a bit heavier, but this one is okay.... should balance well with the maple neck
    DD has loads of khaya  mahogany in stock at the moment all very very light one-piece bodies, downside most of it is only 40 mm thick, that’s great for Les Paul standards.

    Your life will improve when you realise it’s better to be alone than chase people who do not really care about you. Saying YES to happiness means learning to say NO to things and people that stress you out.

    https://www.facebook.com/grahame.pollard.39/

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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    edited September 2020
    to be honest, even if I had missed it, I still would have had enough to make a stacked heel... but at least I have options this way.  you will have to let me know what she has to sell Phil 

    Benedetto does mainly build 3 piece necks in his book... although he cuts the lams separately before gluing together.  I do it this way to ensure i have my fretboard face planed and sorted first. 

    the one below is exactly what we should get here

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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16547
    GSPBASSES said:
    WezV said:
    Its often called african mahogany, Gibson  may have even used it on some 50's guitars.

    Like all mahogany, modern stocks do tend to be a bit heavier, but this one is okay.... should balance well with the maple neck
    DD has loads of khaya  mahogany in stock at the moment all very very light one-piece bodies, downside most of it is only 40 mm thick, that’s great for Les Paul standards.
    I think a super light body would potentially lead to a bit of neck dive with the heavier neck

    I will see what the weight of neck and body are like, and if they feel like they will balance well once i'm further along.  Currently I'm expecting the finished guitar to be well under 8lb, but I haven't weighed as many of these through the process
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