My Second Guitar

cwguitars · #1 05-06-2010, 03:00 PM

Hello! This is my first post. I've been stalking this forum lately and have been inspired by a lot of amazing work that is done here. I recently built my first guitar and finished in January. It was a Adi/Bubinga that turned out to be a great sounding guitar, one of the best I've ever played. I got the fretboard, bridge, and neck pre-made, and sides bent, but did everything else myself.

My workshop consists of my IKEA coffee table in my living room, storage in my second bedroom, medium sanding and minor cutting in the basement hallway outside of my storage area in my apartment (my carpeted second bedroom if I was too lazy to go downstairs), and major cutting/sanding/planing at a local woodshop 30 min away. My best chisel was was my utility tool and the only router I had was a dremel tool. I think it turned out ok, but many things could have been way better (binding, inlay, radiusing- I had no radius dish

., finish and fine details). After investing in chisels, dishes, scroll saw, an actual router, block plane, and a few other tools, I'm on a new guitar for my wife, an Adi/ABW.

I'm hoping to keep pics coming to show progress and any words of wisdom, advice, or just random discussion would be enjoyable

Here is the first guitar:

Finished Guitar

My Label

My First Handmade Inlay

Premade Fretboard and Inlay

The bracing after hours with my utility tool. Chisels next time, lol!

cwguitars · #2 05-06-2010, 03:02 PM

Here are pics of my second guitar in progress:

3 piece ABW back

Adi top

ABW Neck Block

3 piece ABW neck

Radiusing on my coffee table. Mahogany tailblock, ABW neckblock, Ryan kerfing.

Progress will be slow but more pictures to come hopefully!

Wanderer · #3 05-06-2010, 05:49 PM

Great first post. Nice looking work on the first project.

cwguitars · #4 05-06-2010, 11:57 PM

Thanks! I'm hoping this next build will be much faster and better. Using the right tools for the right job has been making life so much easier. LOL!

naccoachbob · #5 05-07-2010, 09:26 AM

I've gone brain dead. What is ABW?
Tks

walkin_man · #6 05-07-2010, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naccoachbob

What is ABW?
Tks

African Blackwood

cwguitars · #7 05-08-2010, 12:53 AM

I'm making the neck out of African Blackwood, mainly for looks. But has anyone ever done this before? Some people say they've used EIR for the neck and has really good results. Maybe this is one step too far. I just know that ABW is far more stable that many other woods (which can't be bad for a neck), has low internal dampening, and it has the look I want. Thoughts?

cwguitars · #8 05-23-2010, 01:32 PM

Haven't posted in a while. Progress has been slow but it's going!!

The back's all set to go.

Same with the top. Ready to close it up!

cwguitars · #9 09-04-2010, 03:48 PM

Well, life got in the way and I've been working on and off on guitar #2. Finally finished so posting some pictures of the finished guitar. Turned out way better than the first and sounds awesome- much more balanced.

<- Me!

cwguitars · #10 09-04-2010, 03:49 PM

Let me know what you guys think!

cpabolting · #11 09-04-2010, 05:30 PM

Chris... very ambitious. You obviously have a talent for it. It is certainly within your hands to make something of it.

Chazmo · #12 09-04-2010, 06:35 PM

Chris, thanks for sharing your work! Great job(s)!

Acoustom · #13 09-04-2010, 06:38 PM

Hi Chris,
Beautiful guitar! I love the ABW for the neck it really looks cool. How come a separate strap jack on the end of the guitar? I'd love to hear how thiis one sounds. Good work! Blessings, Tom

cwguitars · #14 09-05-2010, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A027298

Hi Chris,
Beautiful guitar! I love the ABW for the neck it really looks cool. How come a separate strap jack on the end of the guitar? I'd love to hear how thiis one sounds. Good work! Blessings, Tom

CPA- Thank you for the encouragement! It means quite a bit from a guitar connoisseur as yourself. However, since we're expecting a new addition to the family, I'll have to lay down guitar building for a while and switch to toy chests and such

Tom-Thanks! The ABW neck was a bear. I know now why professionals use mahogany and maple. I couldn't use a chisel on it and it was so ridiculously dense that I had to shape the headstock and heel entirely with a spindle sander. I had to sand most of the rest as it was killing my spokeshave, lol! Man, it was a lot of work!

Interesting thing is it's by far the stiffest neck I've ever come across, and the guitar is probably the heaviest (along with the ABW neck block and b/s) I've held. It feels a little different in that you don't feel much vibration on your thumb on your fretting hand. Probably all the mass and stiffness keeping the energy at the soundboard, rather than losing it up the neck.

Well, on my first guitar, I had a pickup jack in the center and use that for my strap until it slipped off and cracked the top.

I ended up putting a Schaller strap lock on it haphazardly. So, for this one, I saw a design for this, I have a Schaller strap lock and a separate jack for the input. Along with ensuring there are no "whoops"es, this allows you to take off the strap with the guitar still plugged in also.

dekutree64 · #15 09-06-2010, 12:06 AM

Wow, she is a beauty! Quite daring to carve a neck from blackwood, you may be the first person to ever try that

Congrats on not giving up. Must have cost a pretty penny too.

How is the balance point on it? Is the weight of the blackwood back and sides enough to compensate for the neck at all, or do you have to hold it up with your left hand all the time? And does it try to tip forward out of your hands? That really bothered me on the couple McPhersons I've played. Neck heel was way too massive, plus the neck angle being more forward, made it always want to fall away from me.

One thing you could do is switch it to Gotoh stealth tuners. Tiny little things that weigh about half as much as regular tuners. They're a little ugly though, and fairly expensive. Try just taking out 3 of the tuners and holding it to see how it would feel. I'm going to be using some on an ultra-light build. Redwood top, claro walnut back/sides, Port Orford cedar neck (and headblock as it will be integral neck), spruce tailblock, Indian rosewood FB/bridge. Would be pretty funny to compare weight to yours when it's done

One more vote for some recordings. Such a unique guitar's sound must be heard by the world.

I can't wait until I get to building with the African blackwood set in my wood closet too. By far the best ringing wood in there, and gorgeous as well. I'm saving it for something special though, got a bunch of other builds lined up first.