Okay... I haz “sparkles” my one and only floyd guitar...
Hate the body shape, with a passion!... but the neck is sublime... got the neck in the states 33years ago on a family holiday (Smuggled home in my sisters suitcase
) I love the neck... contrary to every other guitar I own (big chunky necks) this is wafer thin with a really flat radius... very straight, very low action, very fast to play... and it’s been on a few different shape bodies over the years...
current body is a cheapo cort thing I grabbed years ago... and to fit the neck I shaped tge
neck heel to suit...
Looking on the bay a couple of days ago I stumbled across this - for cheap money!!!!!
That could work... but the neck pocket/heel could be a ball ache!... sod it, it’s cheap enough to take a punt... so I hit buy on Tuesday and it arrived yesterday... screwdriver out and a quick mock-up later!...
Ooo... that looks better already!...
but here’s the issue with the shaped heel on the neck!...
Hmmmm... what to do?
fortunately in my box of bits I had an ally neck shim I made up from before I routed the recess for the floyd in the cort body... offered it up to see if this could all work...
Reckon it does so off to the farm I go!...
a few mins later and the heel is shaped to this...
That works!!!!! Filled the holes with some mahogany dowels and also carved the heel to be a bit less chunky...
neck bolted on and floyd dropped in place...
But... now the cutaway has been cut away it doesn’t look quite as aesthetically pleasing compared to the unmolested body!...
So will need to finesse the horn a bit more so it looks less like a gingerbread man....
will do that this morning and route for the floyd...
the question?....
what colour to paint the body?
Comments
I have built a couple of FB shapes, both hard tails, and one thing that has always bugged me is the 'Lumpiness' of the lower side, compared to the top edge.
It looks like your mod has exaggerated this a bit, to my eyes anyway.
See the difference in the waist, compared to the raised section?
The whole treble side seems a long way off centre, I would take the opportunity at this stage to try and correct that imbalance.
In my case, I think I used a bad drawing for my outline, which only made it worse, have a look online for some pics of a Kauer Banshee, I think they refined it a bit.
It might be a case of taking something like a quarter inch from the outline of the horn, all the way to the back, and I think when a pickguard is introduced the original shape makes more sense.
Are you routing for the floyd to pull up?, if so, don't. I think it looks much cleaner without a big pocket for the tuners, and the same effect can be done with neck angle.
Colour??, some sort of metallic, gold or light blue maybe?
See some pics of the guy from Rival Sons for inspiration.
Nice project mate.
Looks like a nice bit of wood, and will be interesting to see the final result, is it one piece with a maple cap?
Little bit of flame behind the trem maybe? hard to resist a bit of a burst maybe?
I wish I could find the pic I had of one I saw with a floyd, I think it was owned by somebody in a ZZtop tribute band, and the pic was in a guitar magazine, it was white though, which took the eye off the body shape.
You tried to mock up a pickguard yet-it might help with the shape, there is definitely something off with the symmetry in the original design, to my eye anyway.
Should be a great sounding thing, a mix of fender twangy resonance, mahogany SG mids and the toppyness of a bit of maple, rounded off with a rosewood neck.
Nice mix.
Nothing came of it, as I suspect what it really needs is the aid of a belt sander.
Just for a bit of inspiration
3rd time was using the correct size bit!!!
then set about making a template for the floyd recess...
Stuck some off cuts to a bit of mdf...
You can clear up in Monday
(formerly customkits)
me: Darren, anywhere open tomorrow that will sell grain filler?
darren: no
me: can I have the keys to the workshop?
darren: no!
me: I’ll break in like normal then!
darren: I’ve fitted an alarm.
me: liar
darren: and got a guard dog!...
me: but I need grain filler!.
darren: use egg white!
me: are you drunk?
darren: no, use egg white!
me: hahahaaha fuck off not falling for that, nearly had me there!...
darren: use egg white!.
google: egg white can be used as a clear grain filler.
me: wtf?....
so... two eggs later....
will repeat the process with 400!...
chickens! Who knew!...
hand router out and off we go.
but, some wet sanding later and it’s all flat so a nice base for the silver...
Don't s'pose you take commisions do you?
Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder
My trading feedback - I'm a good egg
slightly pissed off at the wonkyness of the wood... but it’s my guitar so I don’t care about a few inconsistencies... buggered if I’m stripping it now and sanding it all flat again anyway!... if it was for someone else it’d be flat to within an inch of it life!...
Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder
My trading feedback - I'm a good egg