Build with northern lights-style finish

[docteurseb]

Parts were ordered couple months ago and I got the body and neck back from the finish shop earlier this week.
The finish is vaguely inspired from PRS' northern lights finish; I wasn't sure what to expect color-wise but I like the end result.

The body is a custom order from Warmoth: hollow swamp ash with flame maple top, routed for Wilkinson VS100N bridge. There's a battery box as may want to fit Clapton-style electronics in it.

The neck is Musikraft: ebony with curly maple, soft-V/Clapton profile. I spent a good chunk of time rolling the fingerboard edges/frets on that one.
I had very good experience with their figured maple necks in the past but this one, given the grade selected, is a little underwhelming (one side of the back isn't that highly figured).

Beauty shots attached, I'm planning to work on it this weekend.

 

[BigSteve22]

I don't know dude, that neck looks pretty spiffy from where I'm sitting, and the body looks spectacular! Really nice color too, keep them pix a'coming! 

 

[stratamania]

Looking forward to seeing some more pics too.

 

[AirCap]

That is REALLY NICE!

 

[docteurseb]

Body is almost done, I just need to install the pickup and their mounting rings.
I had a few issues drilling the jack plate holes but nothing that couldn't be fixed (and hidden with the plate installed).

Since the hardware will be Cosmo Black I wanted matching mounting rings but that's nowhere to be found in that color.
I found one metal plating shop that re-plate those metal rings, but at $75 a piece I think I may very much like the black metal rings

 

[fdesalvo]

That looks amazing!

 

[rgand]

I like it a lot. It's way more interesting than your normal "blue".

 

[musicispeace]

Fantastic! In my humble opinion.  :hello2:

 

[docteurseb]

Unexpectedly the Schaller staggered locking tuners I was planning to re-use, or even the Fender-branded Gotoh staggered locking tuners don't fit this neck.
The headstock is a little thicker than usual, and I only found out once the 2-pin holes for Schaller tuners were drilled...

I ordered a different set of Schaller locking tuners with slightly longer posts than mine which should fit if the reported post lengths are accurate.

 

[docteurseb]

The new tuners arrived, and fit!
That's a major relief as there weren't many options left for Ruthenium or Cosmo Black locking tuners.

I'm hoping to be done with it this week-end. At this point the only thing left to do is the nut, and wood-mounting the pickups.

 

[rgand]

:icon_thumright:

 

[Logrinn]

Beautiful. Love it!

 

[stratamania]

It is starting to look like a guitar. If you are wood mounting the pickups I think it will detract less than the pickup ring shown earlier.

 

[docteurseb]

Pickups are now wired, and all electronics work as expected the first time.

I haven't yet drilled the holes for mounting the pickups, I got some wood-mounting screws for Tele pickups.
Does anyone have any advice before proceeding ?

Should I wait to have the neck + strings installed for 'exact' placement, it's not like there is that much room to move the pickups around though.

 

[Cagey]

You're right - there's not a whole lotta movement available in tele pickup placement. But, if you want to be precise, what some guys do is just run a string around the two E tuners and anchor it down at the bridge. Or, you could just install the two E strings. Don't need to be tight, just straight.

 

[docteurseb]

Took a while but it's essentially done:

 

[rgand]

Came out good. Nice job on that finish.

 

[stratamania]

Nice one...  :icon_thumright:

 

[Logrinn]

Exquisite. :icon_thumright:
Remind me not to submit my guitar to Guitar of the Month when you’re submitting yours.  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[fdesalvo]

Exquisite. :icon_thumright:
Remind me not to submit my guitar to Guitar of the Month when you’re submitting yours.  :icon_jokercolor:

I thought we weren’t having GOM because we all agreed this should take it lol. I’m taking my ball and am going home!  :icon_biggrin: