Tell me about your maple neck-through guitars... - Page 2

moon · #16 04-17-2015, 09:55 AM

Could work but (I think) you'd have to take the strings off to change pickups. When I'm winding, I have to do that a lot to test a new pickup and then record some samples with different magnets (humbuckers). It's awkward and inevitably strings start to break when they've been on and off a few times. If I can just push pickups in from the back it would be a lot easier.

I wanted to grab the neck piece while it was available but it could be a while before I can get started. When you sit down to prepare a shopping list it all adds up: coping saw, spokeshave, rasps, chisels, nut files, fret levelling, crowning & dressing files, a small mountain of sandpaper, glue, sealer finish, stains...

I'm looking forward to (hopefully) learning how to do fret work though. I've also got an old hand-made Yamaha acoustic which could do with a refret.

moon · #17 04-28-2015, 08:17 AM

Finally decided on a Yamaha SG style. It's a lot harder to design a good guitar shape than I thought.

Now I just need to decide how to finish it. A bottle of Tung oil would be cheap and fairly easy. That would give something like this (the one on the right, obviously):

The other guitars are all drawn to scale - look at the size of that Firebird! Originally I thought about making one but in the end a guitar which you can't stand against a wall for a moment is just too impractical. Maybe one day when I'm rich and I've got servants to hold my guitars, and a plectrum butler.

(Actually I'm not the type of guy to have servants even if I was rich. )

I bought a piece of walnut to do the wings. I'd say "a nice piece of walnut" but I wouldn't know a nice piece from a lump of firewood. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it grew in a quiet corner of the forest where elves sang in the moonlight and some of the magic soaked into the wood. Not the bit where people pulled in to dump old fridges and garden waste where strange toxins soaked into the wood.

The picture in the illustration above shows the actual grain in my bit of walnut. The guitar looks OK but somehow a little plain.

What to do? Aniline dyes! Look what a difference some binding and a little bit of black dye rubbed around the edges makes (plus some brown dye to do the "sock"):

Apparently you can also bleach wood before dyeing and with a blank canvas you're not bound by the natural wood colour:

OK a very scruffily drawn sunburst but it could look absolutely gorgeous if done right:

So that's my shortlist. Because I'd be using dyes, some grain should still show through the more colourful options.

The sunburst would be toughest to pull off. For starters I'd have to bleach the walnut down close to the colour of the maple centre block and I don't know if you can do that. Then there are three colours which have to be blended seamlessly into each other.

I also love the liquid blues and greens but the Black Walnut Appreciation Society would probably take out a hit out on me for colouring over that beautiful natural wood.

The natural finish in the second photo would be a lot easier and it does look really good, at least in the mock-up.

Decisions, decisions...

clintj · #18 04-28-2015, 11:52 AM

A three part mix of equal amounts of satin poly, boiled linseed oil, and tung oil, then thoroughly hand rubbed into the wood is a gorgeous finish on walnut. It gets a deep luster and patina, and dries very thin.

moon · #19 04-28-2015, 12:14 PM

Thanks I'll look into that. Sounds like the kind of thing which would give a nice feel to the neck too.

Tung oil on its own takes several weeks to dry and with several thin coats going into the final finish, that could really add up! Some kind of faster-drying mixture would be a lot nicer to work with. What's your poly/linseed/tung mixture like?

Darwin · #20 04-28-2015, 01:15 PM

Moon, I would also recommend Birchwood Casey True Oil. It dries in a few hours and allows for applying 2 coats a day. Much quicker and easier to use that tung oil which dries slowly. I also add a water based dye to get the color that I wish. I really like it for finishing necks. The dyes can be viewed on Rockler Woodworking supply web site. -- Darwin

clintj · #21 04-28-2015, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moon

Thanks I'll look into that. Sounds like the kind of thing which would give a nice feel to the neck too.

Tung oil on its own takes several weeks to dry and with several thin coats going into the final finish, that could really add up! Some kind of faster-drying mixture would be a lot nicer to work with. What's your poly/linseed/tung mixture like?

You apply this stuff warm, rub it in vigorously, then wipe off repeatedly until the rag stays pretty much clean. It takes roughly a day between coats to dry, and the cure time is driven more by the polyurethane part. If you go to the Rockler site, they sell it premixed as a Maloof finish (after master furniture builder Sam Maloof). It looks almost like no finish is there when it's dry. Here's a couple of pics, one from the internet of a table and the other is a cherry dresser I built.

moon · #22 05-20-2015, 09:09 AM

I've decided on a high-gloss body finish so it looks like pure Tru-oil is the best option. I'll probably do a lighter, satin finish on the neck.

The walnut plank I've got is kiln-dried so it won't do it any harm to sit and acclimatise in my room for a month or two while I make detailed plans, read up about guitar-making and gather all the tools I'll need.

Managed to pick up a jigsaw and router for only £32 on ebay - but the router arrived with no handles! Luckily it's a standard M8 bolt thread so I can make some with a piece of spare walnut. In fact, it'll give me a chance to practice a hand rubbed black burst & tru oil finish. It'll be the classiest **** router you ever saw

I got a shock when I did my first scale drawings and the measurements wouldn't align with reference photos of some Gibson guitars. Turns out my neck-through piece is actually 25.5 scale not the 24.75 it was advertised as!!

Oh well. I'd decided to rout for a range of pickups anyway with removable control plates for different pickup loads (humbuckers, Tele single coils, P90s). This just changes the focus more towards singles. I'm OK with that.

wrathfuldeity · #23 05-20-2015, 11:41 AM

Late to the party, found a used stock Carvin DC135 maple neck through with ?alder wings, hardtail, string through, ebony board and ss frets...hb tapped hss super strat like. rather humble looking but, a great git, great resonance, clear, lots of sustain...will never be sold. Anyhow this git sounded really modern and thought about different pu's and tried different pots (no effect)...until I put in a big old 1950's piw 400v .01 tone cap and it went right in to vintage vibe. btw...i think there is probably a difference of whether the pu's are body mounted or on a pickguard.

this is the type of cap