Maple/Mahogany thinline Firebird; DONE!

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Almost done  - I've had a bunch of stuff going on at my house (a puppy, in-laws visiting, etc) and my workspace has been occupied for the past few weeks (and outside isn't an option due to the weather), only a few hours cumulatively to work on the guitar, since I have to move things around to even get started.  Neck pocket routed (professionally), heel contoured & sanded, bridge placement measured & holes drilled, string through holes drilled (badly - I need a drill press that can reach to the middle of a firebird body!), control cover routed & ready to be placed, and absolutely NO pics taken.  Sorry.

There's a chance it will be done, strung up & playable tonight, but most likely gonna happen this weekend.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Kids: "Trick-or-Tr-"
Me: "SHADDUP! CANTCHA SEE I'm putting together a geetar?"
Kids: "Can we at least have some candy?"
Me: "Yeah, whatever..."

Still a ton to do, mostly intonation, have to move the pickup about a mm to the treble side in it's hole, and then comes the Herculean task of the electronics (hot to hot, ground to ground!)

I've loved building my own body from the wood, and I've loved all the learning I've done, but this is a pain. If it's off to the point of being unplayable, I'm already calculating how I can most easily score a replacement body... from a professional.

 

[Updown]

Looking good (i)
:icon_scratch: But where's the volume control ? 
I would have stained the routes too.
Neck looks cool without inlays  :icon_thumright:
What jack plate is on it ? ....  It looks huge !!

You mean daddy  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

No volume control, no tone control, wiring straight to the jack.  The volume control will be on the floor or at the computer interface box.  The tone controls will be my fingers & amp controls.  I got the idea from here.  There was someone else who had the idea of putting a strat style jack on the side of the guitar - don't recall who - but that's where it is, on the side, just barely visible in the pic there, but I'll get some clearer shots once it's done (which should be this weekend!)

I didn't try to dye the rout - it's Maple, which doesn't dye well - but I might just paint it, now that you mention it...

 

[DangerousR6]

No volume control, no tone control, wiring straight to the jack.  The volume control will be on the floor or at the computer interface box.  The tone controls will be my fingers & amp controls.  I got the idea from here.  There was someone else who had the idea of putting a strat style jack on the side of the guitar - don't recall who - but that's where it is, on the side, just barely visible in the pic there, but I'll get some clearer shots once it's done (which should be this weekend!)

I didn't try to dye the rout - it's Maple, which doesn't dye well - but I might just paint it, now that you mention it...

I remember that one, mostly because of the grain, on that body... Nice concept tho... :rock-on:

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

More/better pics coming soon.... freakin' rain!

Lots of tweakin' left to do (insert meth joke here), but it's ready to play.  I haven't plugged in & wailed yet, but I did a quick test to make sure it's wired up right.  The next few days will see me finishing the intonating & set up, then grab a cheap black strap, put in the straploks, and it's a keeper.

The neck feels WONDERFUL. A more detailed impression to come...

 

[mgaut051]

Pure guts! I love it.
Ballsy to make such a large guitar so absolutely freaking simple. The only thing you coulda done more would have been an alnico II Strat single coil...

Bravo!

 

[Cagey]

I like it. Simplicity is a Good Thing.

 

[Steve_Karl]

Nice!

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Pure guts! I love it.

No, actually - it's hollowed out - in fact, there's just wires on the inside.  :icon_jokercolor:

The only thing you coulda done more would have been an alnico II Strat single coil...

Maybe, but the EMG rout is smaller*. And I wanted a humbucker for noise avoidance.  The pickup in question is a Carvin TB60 twinblade, which has been described by Carvinites as somewhere between a P-90 & an icepick.  :headbang1:

....which should balance well with my mostly fingerstyle playing and flatwounds tuned down a 4th. :guitaristgif:




* Well, it would be if I'd done it a little better.  There's a small gouge that is conveniently covered by the fingerboard.  I actually think I'll be posting a list of everything I did wrong at some point - it's quite a list.  :laughing7:

 

[DangerousR6]

:laughing7: