7/8 S-Style in Black Cherry / Wenge Warhead

[syscokid]

This build is done. My photography skills, just like my guitar skills, suck! The build turned out pretty nice though, and I'm a happy boy! The guitar definitely has a feel of quality and is well set up. The whole fret-leveling-the-high-spots and smoothing-up-the-fret-ends that I entrusted a "Pro", was basically a fiasco! All better now.







Kluson Revolution F-Mount with staggered tuners:








For the tone cap, I tried a .047, .032, .022, .015, and .010. The .022 gave me what I was mainly looking for:

 

[syscokid]

I just realized that I never introduced the build specs...

7/8 S-Style Body
Construction: Solid
Core Wood: Swamp Ash
Control Cavity: Rear Rout
Neck Pickup Rout: Humbucker (Wood Mount)
Middle Pickup Rout: None
Bridge Pickup Rout: Humbucker (Wood Mount)
Controls: 1 Volume, 1 Tone, & Blade Switch
Jack Rout: 7/8" (22mm) Side Jack Hole
Bridge Rout Type: Hardtail
Bridge Rout: Schaller 475
Mounting Holes: Standard 4-Bolt
Body Contours: Forearm Contour, Tummy Cut, Custom Contoured Heel
Paint Category: Metallic
Top Color: Black Cherry
Back Color: Black Cherry
Satin or Gloss: Gloss

7/8 Warhead Neck
Construction: Modern
Shaft Wood: Wenge
Fretboard Wood: Ebony (Macassar)
Unique Choice: No, Warmoth can choose for me.
Nut Width: 1.650" (42mm) - Vintage Medium
Neck Back Profile: Wolfgang
Fretboard Radius: 10" - 16" Compound
Number of Frets: 24
Binding: None
Fret Size & Material: SS6105 - Narrow & Tall (Stainless)
Tuner Hole Size: Planet Waves (13/32")
Inlay Shape: Premium Dots
Inlay Material: Mother Of Pearl
Side Dots: Moon Glow Side Dots (3mm)
String Nut: Earvana Nut - White Corian
Mounting Holes: Standard 4-BoltNeck
Heel Shape: Strat® Shape

 

[dongle]

Love the wenge neck. Great job capturing the black cherry flake finish!

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Pure Class!

 

[Spud]

Just outstanding! Like a big sparkling glass of Dr.Pepper. Been looking at that Schaller bridge for a long time. How are you finding it?

 

[syscokid]

Been looking at that Schaller bridge for a long time. How are you finding it?

This is the second guitar that I’ve tried the Schaller 475 (or 3D-6). I like it a lot. The Schaller definitely has the feel and the looks of high quality. The top loading feature provides a very shallow string angle over those roller saddles and IMO, keeps the string tension on the slinkier side. The roller saddles rotate very smoothly with no slop. One has to be a bit careful when installing or removing the strings though. When the strings are sliding through the bridge, they can catch the rollers which will alter your preferred string spacing. Acoustically, both guitars sustain very well and the strings ring very clear and balanced. The whole profile of the bridge feels very comfortable under the hand when palm muting.

Sometimes I do wonder what a different flat top top-loading bridge with static saddles might bring to the party, but that would mean drilling new holes into that beautiful paint job. So, no way, José!

I forgot to mention earlier that the Schaller 475 also comes with a nicely designed shim plate about 1/8” thick for when it’s necessary to increase the overall height of the bridge:

 

[Spud]

Very nice. I have made a plate like that to raise a bridge out of brass stock. Thank you for the response! Continue rockin'

 

[rayi]

This build is done. My photography skills, just like my guitar skills, suck! The build turned out pretty nice though, and I'm a happy boy! The guitar definitely has a feel of quality and is well set up. The whole fret-leveling-the-high-spots and smoothing-up-the-fret-ends that I entrusted a "Pro", was basically a fiasco! All better now.

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Kluson Revolution F-Mount with staggered tuners:
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For the tone cap, I tried a .047, .032, .022, .015, and .010. The .022 gave me what I was mainly looking for:
View attachment 60706

Nice, clean wiring!

 

[WarmothRules]

Real nice wiring! Those schaller bridges are great!

 

[anthonyfury]

Superb!

 

[rauchman]

Beautifully done!

Also, very clean wiring. If there is one thing I don't do well, it's clean wiring. Nicely done!

 

[PFDarkside]

Love this guitar!

Black Cherry looks awesome and I’d really like to try a Wenge neck.

 

[syscokid]

Black Cherry looks awesome and I’d really like to try a Wenge neck.

It’s a jaw-dropper for sure! The wenge neck feels incredibly slick. I can’t honestly remember at what grit I finally sanded it to. It’s at least 800 grit though. I do remember just sitting and watching a TV program for about an hour while I was also sanding back and forth with the final grit. The choice of TV programming may or may not influence the final results, ha ha…

 

[ejphotos]

Stunning color!

 

[Hagwood]

It’s a jaw-dropper for sure! The wenge neck feels incredibly slick. I can’t honestly remember at what grit I finally sanded it to. It’s at least 800 grit though. I do remember just sitting and watching a TV program for about an hour while I was also sanding back and forth with the final grit. The choice of TV programming may or may not influence the final results, ha ha…

Absolutely love that neck ! I've narrowed down to Wenge or Roasted Flame Maple with Ebony for my build. Love the look of Wenge but was a little concerned as I have heard it feels a little more 'textured' than the maple due to the more open grain. After your sanding, how does it compare to maple ? I do like a very smooth sanded raw neck, with maybe just some Danish oil.

 

[syscokid]

Absolutely love that neck ! I've narrowed down to Wenge or Roasted Flame Maple with Ebony for my build. Love the look of Wenge but was a little concerned as I have heard it feels a little more 'textured' than the maple due to the more open grain. After your sanding, how does it compare to maple ? I do like a very smooth sanded raw neck, with maybe just some Danish oil.

Lucky for me, I also have a Fender Strat with a Warmoth roasted maple neck with a dark rosewood fretboard. The maple and the wenge neck are both raw and very finely sanded. I did coat the raw necks with Flintz gun wax though. I do not feel the ‘textured’ thing that you speak of. In fact, I feel that the wenge neck feels slightly smoother than the maple. But that could have been due to the final sanding grit and elbow grease. I wish I could remember what grit I finished up with on the wenge neck…

 

[Hagwood]

Lucky for me, I also have a Fender Strat with a Warmoth roasted maple neck with a dark rosewood fretboard. The maple and the wenge neck are both raw and very finely sanded. I did coat the raw necks with Flintz gun wax though. I do not feel the ‘textured’ thing that you speak of. In fact, I feel that the wenge neck feels slightly smoother than the maple. But that could have been due to the final sanding grit and elbow grease. I wish I could remember what grit I finished up with on the wenge neck…

That's great to hear, because I definitely love the look. I sand my Maple to 2000 and then apply Danish Oil and it's silky smooth. If it's close to that I'll be happy.

You sold me on it - thanks for the great info.

 

[anthonyfury]

You have done a pretty good job with the photographs of the Metallic Black Cherry. It is difficult to capture in a photograph how it actually looks in the real world.

X2 - appreciate this build and the “capture” of the color, it’s insanely good!