7/8 ash and maple

[WarmothRules]

Just got parts for my next build. Ash body, maple quarter sawn neck with low wide frets, standard thin contour, 10-16 compound radius, earvana nut. I’m building this around my Vega trem. Great tremolo but I’d like it to be on a 24 fret guitar, that’s why I’m building this It’s a floating trem for a 6 screw vintage replacement. Had to get a cream pickguard since I’m tired of black pickguards. The pickup going in is a black dimarzio dominion. Just using odie’s oil dark for a finish on the body. I’ve never owned an ash guitar before.

 

[wormbot]

Great! I want to see the odies oil finish on it since it's what I'll use when I refinish mine next year

 

[WarmothRules]

Great! I want to see the odies oil finish on it since it's what I'll use when I refinish mine next year

I’m assembling it tomorrow. I did like 10 coast of odies oil dark on the neck and body. I should have grain filled and sanded because it’s pretty low gloss. I put on several coats of renaissance wax at the end and it did help but not much. It’s ok, I like a satin finish but it turned out very low gloss.

 

[wormbot]

From what I've read online, the finer you sand before Odie's oil, the glossier the sheen you'll get. My next finish will be

1. Tung-oil finish applied with sanding paper, from 320 to 1500
2. Last coat with Odie's oil, applied with 2000 grit pad

 

[WarmothRules]

There it is basically done. Just need to add the guitar nut buster, the string tree and I put the strap buttons on since this photo. Plays beyond amazing. It has the standard thin neck 10-16 compound radius and low wide frets. Feels practically identical to my USA peavey predator neck which is a good thing. It’s my favorite neck of all time. The difference here is the stretches are easier being Gibson scale. After work last night I started putting on the parts. Played it from 2-5am

 

[teleme01]

Is it heavy

 

[WarmothRules]

Is it heavy

It’s pretty light weight

 

[wormbot]

I'm loving that. I really love the look and feel of ash. Nice work there!

 

[WarmothRules]

I'm loving that. I really love the look and feel of ash. Nice work there!

It doesn’t look very fancy but it plays and sounds so good! I was actually planning a second 7/8 and this was my basic build to see how how the neck and fretwire size feels. Feels great but next time I’m going with wizard and jumbo wire. Going with a bubinga top on a poplar body. Still undecided on the neck wood but going with a wenge fretboard. All gold hardware and fretwire. Going with a reverse headstock next time I think and an angled bridge humbucker and the volume knob in the proper spot.

 

[WarmothRules]

Another pic of this beautiful guitar! Locking guitar nut buster and floating Vega trem. The only way to get a floating trem with adjustable saddles and locking the strings with an earvana nut all at the same time as far as I know.

 

[stratamania]

If you have that guitar nut buster thing, then what function is the string tree serving, if any?

 

[WarmothRules]

If you have that guitar nut buster thing, then what function is the string tree serving, if any?

The nut buster floats on the strings. I tried to use the nut buster without the string tree at first but have you noticed the slight design flaw with 7/8 warhead tuning peg placement? The low E string is angled toward the A string slightly between the nut and the tuning peg. I can see this in all pictures of the 7/8 warhead headstock. Since the string paths are correct on the nut buster but slightly off with the Warmoth 7/8 warhead the angle of the low E pushes the whole device toward the high E string since it just floats on the strings, it isn’t mounted on the headstock. It was pushing the high E and B strings out of their slots drastically. I don’t even think staggered tuners would work with a nut buster on a 7/8 warhead headstock because the downward angle wouldn’t be extreme enough. I’ve had this device on several other guitar and only had this problem on the 7/8 warhead. You can see the angle of the low E existing the nut buster in the picture. It should be straight. The nut buster is designed to work with 1 5/8 width to 1 11/16. The string tree is putting the normal downward pressure on the strings but the nut buster is putting a lot of side pressure on the string tree. Since the strings are locked by the nut buster it works perfectly fine as it should but behind the nut buster there is a lot of weird forces going on.

 

[Rick]

Never saw this before... why not use hipshot locking Tuners... you can even get them Staggered so no string tree.

 

[stratamania]

I cannot say this is something that I would want to try. But thanks for explaining the reasoning behind it.

 

[WarmothRules]

Never saw this before... why not use hipshot locking Tuners... you can even get them Staggered so no string tree.

I’ve had locking tuners. They just lock the string so you don’t have to wrap the tuning peg as much. They don’t really lock the strings to stay in tune for whammy usage.

 

[Rick]

It's a pretty guitar.

 

[WarmothRules]

I cannot say this is something that I would want to try. But thanks for explaining the reasoning behind it.

Your welcome and good eye because without explanation it would seem pointless.

 

[WarmothRules]

It's a pretty guitar.

Thanks. It’s a bit bland in a way but a serious player. I’m going to do a tele version with the same trem and locking nut buster but in gold hardware, bubinga top, roasted maple neck and Kingwood fretboard. That’s my plan for now. Also an angled bridge humbucker.

 

[Rick]

For the next one, what about a floyd rose thingy if locking tuners don't work for you?

 

[WarmothRules]

For the next one, what about a floyd rose thingy if locking tuners don't work for you?

I would love to use a normal old locking nut but they aren’t compatible with a Vega trem since the Vega trem doesn’t have fine tuners. I suppose I could use a floyd trem. Way cheaper than a Vega and a nut buster. Just have to shim saddles and what not.