My new Velocity build

[Cagey]

Hehe! Yeah, well, it is as they say - there's no accounting for taste. Actually, I'm sorta surprised on this forum that for as much custom work as gets done, you rarely see anything that you wouldn't want to be seen with. Usually when you let people do whatever they want, you see some inner demons get released. But, I think this is a more mature (read: older) crowd than you find at some other places, so the demons have either already been purged or they're safely caged most of the time  :laughing7:

 

[PumpinIron]

Yes, you're probably right about the older crowd. I see things like those crosses and lighting bolts appealing to the "shredder" guys. Again, nothing wrong with it if it's your taste, but when I see those inlays on an otherwise gorgeous neck, I cringe.

But my intuition tells me that people who are choosing those inlays, probably aren't spending $800 or more on some exotic, custom neck.

 

[PumpinIron]

Well, good news and bad news:

The bad news is that Warmoth got back to me and they won't build me a solid Zebrawood neck. Not sure why that is (since I've seen it on other guitars), but it is what it is.

The good news is that I came up with a solution. I ordered a solid maple neck, figured Ziricote fretboard, and then had them add a Zebrawood headstock veneer to it that is painted honey burst in color.

That should give the appearance of a matching headstock and make me a happy camper!

 

[rgand]

I think the headstock veneer is a good way to go. Nice choice, there.

 

[PumpinIron]

I agree. I didn't even know they offered headstock veneers until a few hours ago. Pretty cool feature!

 

[Slackjaw]

Not to mention (and this is just my personal opinion) that some of those Warmoth neck inlays are just hideous. Crosses and lighting bolts.... ugh...

It would help if they weren't made out of "Mother of Toilet-Seat"... :/

 

[PumpinIron]

Turns out I don't even need a headstock veneer. This is my Photoshop mockup with a mahogany neck. Notice that the color fit he mahogany is pretty close to that of the body?

Well, I bit the bullet and ordered this custom neck. It's mahogany with a ziricote fretboard. It's got a boatneck profile and a 24-3/4" scale with no inlays and an ivory binding.

It should look almost exactly like the neck in the mockup attached.

Oh, and I got them to hand drill PRS style controls in the body. So there will be one tone, one volume, and a LP style toggle switch. But they'll be laid out neatly like they are on the PRS guitars. I don't care for the Strat control layout on these Velocity bodies, it looks so awkward being in one straight line (like it is on the Strats).

 

[Cagey]

That's gonna be super sweet!

 

[PumpinIron]

I'm sure the guys at Warmoth are annoyed with me for all my little tweaks here and there, but I'm glad I finally got it ironed out.

I didn't realize the mahogany that Warmoth seems to use is a much darker color.

The mahogany for instance on my PRS McCarty 594, it's a much lighter mahogany.

 

[Cagey]

Mahogany is one of those woods that changes color quite a bit when finished. For instance, here's a shot of some raw Mahogany with just a wipe of clear naphtha on it...

And here's a shot of a Mahogany body where I pulled the tannins up with some potasium dichromate...

No finish on there yet, but there's been some chemical reaction to the PD. Then, a clear-to-brown burst...

It's not as bad as it looks - the camera's "auto" aperature/shutter compensation was getting fooled by the very bright background, so the body is underexposed and looks darker than it is. Regardless, I did get a little too ambitious with the brown around the edges. Once you put a standard Strat pickguard on it, there's little evidence of a burst left. I don't have a shot of that.

Anyway, the point of all this is to show how much Mahogany can change without any tint/dye/pigment at all.

 

[PumpinIron]

Yeah, that is a huge difference in color. It appears that the Mahogany really absorbs the finish (or whatever you're putting on it) like a sponge, huh?

And that's why I decided the mahogany neck would work. With the clear gloss finish on it, it makes it much darker, almost to the same tone as the body itself. It may not be a dead on match, but then again, even a Zebrawood headstock veneer likely wouldn't have had a grain that matched the body perfectly either.

Especially given that the grain of the Zebrawood on this body isn't the most common.

 

[PumpinIron]

I finished shielding it today and installing the bridge. I need to get some springs for the P90 soap bars tomorrow so then I can install them and the wiring harness. Pretty much all I am waiting on now is my custom neck to be finished!

 

[Logrinn]

Wow!

 

[bagman67]

I've had good luck cutting out the appropriate shape from the packing foam the pickups usually come in, rather than using springs for P90's.  YMMV.

 

[PumpinIron]

I've had good luck cutting out the appropriate shape from the packing foam the pickups usually come in, rather than using springs for P90's.  YMMV.

Oh wow... I totally did not realize that was even an option. Now that I think about it though, that's brilliant.

When using the foam, do you find the pickup backs off (and rises up) when you start to unscrew it?

That was my thought for the springs, but if you think the foam will have the same effect, I'll just go that route.

 

[Fat Pete]

I've had good luck cutting out the appropriate shape from the packing foam the pickups usually come in, rather than using springs for P90's.  YMMV.

Oh wow... I totally did not realize that was even an option. Now that I think about it though, that's brilliant.

When using the foam, do you find the pickup backs off (and rises up) when you start to unscrew it?

That was my thought for the springs, but if you think the foam will have the same effect, I'll just go that route.

As long as the foam has some spring to it, it should be fine - and way easier to mount than with springs.

 

[PumpinIron]

I'll try the foam then. It has plenty of spring. The springs would have indeed been harder to mount.

 

[rgand]

Beautiful! One of the nicest zebrawood tops I've seen. Looks great with some hardware.

 

[BigSteve22]

Wow!

My thoughts exactly........  :headbang:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Wow!

My thoughts exactly........  :headbang:

I'm with you fellers. That is gorgeous!