Pau ferro/canary

[Fat Pete]

Been waiting for this for quite a while (chose the USPS option as it's 'easier' to receive here in the UK - 3 weeks to get here, partly thanks to Parcelforce screwing things up). Anyway...

Not the wildest piece of PF but certainly nice enough and feels incredible.

A very nice piece of canary, subtly grained, almost quartersawn and hiding some surprising colour variation - even some purple on the headstock.

Speaking of which, here's the surprise.

Lots of tuners, lots of opportunities to mess up the holes.

The rest can wait for a work in progress thread, but here's a little teaser - just so you can wonder what the hell I'm up to...

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Nice! That is an awesome looking neck.

But will that be a tremolo-equipped 12 string?

 

[mayfly]

Very cool!  I have a similar 12 string neck, and I really like it.

 

[Surf n Music]

Awesome! Your stoked for sure! Wishe I could hear it in person. Hell of a head stock.

 

[DangerousR6]

Pretty cool, I dig the idea of a 12 string with a trem, and the neck is  very nice. Just not diggin' the Gumby headstock.. :icon_thumright:

 

[Fat Pete]

...Just not diggin' the Gumby headstock.. :icon_thumright:

I can understand that, I'm not convinced myself TBH. I have about 30 different designs involving cutting bits off it - some which even look ok. Most likely it'll stay the shape it is though. For 2 reasons, 1: the reason it was designed like that - a big logo. My increasing egomania seems to demand that I put a big 'Wilkinson' on everything, and  2: my woodworking skills and a few hundred dollars worth of neck are probably not a great mix.

As for a 12-string trem? Not happening here...

 

[Cagey]

... my woodworking skills and a few hundred dollars worth of neck are probably not a great mix.

I know how you feel. I've been doing neck work for a long time and I'm pretty good at it, but I still get frightened by some necks, particularly Warmoth's. There's always that "you break it you bought it" thing in the back of my head. Some of them aren't so bad, but I've had a few here where the owner paid $600+, and that's some serious wood. Screw something like that up, and there's no degree of beating that will compensate.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

As for a 12-string trem? Not happening here...

Ok. What kind of bridge is that route for? I see a hole ...  ???

 

[croquet hoop]

I'm not too fond of the headstock shape, but the woods are gorgeous!

 

[Fat Pete]

Finally got this put together today. I didn't take enough photos for a work in progress thread but a little bit of background/explanation probably wouldn't go amiss so I'll do that here and post some pics of the completed guitar in the gallery very shortly.

I've always fancied an electric 12 but, well times are hard, so a budget-friendly project was on the cards. I wanted something that would play ok so didn't want to skimp on the neck, hence the Warmoth custom order for that part. Everything else is more cost-conscious.

The body was from an ebay seller in the UK. A 2-piece unfinished swamp ash body like this can be had for £35/$60US. I've had one of their bodies before, they're accurately machined and very good value.

For the 12-string mod, I made a block out of ash (2 pieces).

I managed to make it a fair interference fit. Only the 'arm side' of the block will be visible which is why it's only properly shaped on one side.

I had the idea of making this reversible so just used 2 big screws to hold it in - I don't think it's going anywhere. The 'in stock' pickup is old EMG 89 so I routed a battery compartment and recessed it. Feeling it would look better with a matching trem cover, I recessed that too so the spring cavity is now probably too shallow. So much for it being reversible.

Another idea, given the way the body is routed, was for just a control cover plate rather than a full scratchplate. On paper I have to say that the full scratchplate looked better but the pickup rout on the plate I actually bought didn't match up with the body rout so I thought I might as well try the control plate idea. Time will tell if I can live with it - it's not the worst thing about the guitar.

Wudtone 'surfer girl' finish. I think a more capable, patient person than myself could get good results with this. Mine has turned out to be a 10 foot finish.

That's about it apart from hardware etc. Gotoh bridge, no name locking tuners (Korean Jin-Ho like the standard range Wilkinson stuff). Trashy plastic logo to go with the droopy headstock.

It'll get a pro set-up soon but it's just sitting getting used to the idea of all those strings for now. Not over the moon with the wudtone but chances are I'll just play the thing and leave it as is. If we can't get on I'll just have to order a Warmoth body. How terrible would that be?

See the gallery for the finished article anon...

 

[stratamania]

I missed this thread earlier and the twelve string neck took me by surprise. Looks rather nice.

Did you have to fill the grain prior to the Wudtone finish ?

Using USPS I may try that next time. Any benefits duty wise or is it just being able to pick it up from the local PO if not in ?

 

[Fat Pete]

They insist that the wood should be completely untreated before applying the wudtone so grain filler or any kind of sealer is out. Probably fair as the stuff doesn't seem too keen on adhering to wood (this nearly went on the fire a few times).

Delivery is handled by Parcelforce for the UK leg of USPS deliveries here. They send you a bill for the VAT before delivery so you can pay online rather than UPS turning up on the doorstep demanding COD. And, yes you can collect from a PO if necessary.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks Pete, that's interesting to know. The COD part being easier via Parcel Force would work out better for me too I think.

Cheers,

 

[swarfrat]

Nice. I have an absolutely irrational love of 12 strings. I can only justify having a small handful of guitars at any given time. I buy 12's and end up selling them later on. Only to buy another.
That one sure is looking nice though

I think the strong case to be made 4 inches really mismatching hardware for the turners on octave strings chrome or gold. I think it would also be cool on the 12 to be able to process octaves separately. It doesn't need to be a true hex (dodecaphonic?) Just being able to route the octaves through separate processing would be way cool