Custom build: Adi/mahogany/zebrawood acoustic/electric

Shabby Chic · #1 11-11-2010, 08:35 AM

I love building one-off unique guitars, especially when the wood combinations seem odd at first but turn out really nicely. So I was thrilled when a songwriter commissioned a Frankenstein cross between an OM sized acoustic guitar and a telecaster made from Adirondack spruce, zebrawood, and mahogany with a Birdseye maple neck. I thought I would share the build and some of my methods here...

First up, the wood:

Sides are bent and glued up to form a rim. I build without a mold. The neckblock is massive as it will house a telecaster-style neck pocket:

Next the top is braced in a radiused dish and glued to the sides with this get up:

Linings are glued in and the guitar is voiced by carving down the braces and doing a lot of tapping. I am not looking for any particular notes, but I want a musical sounding top that can resonate in a wide variety of tones from the rim to the middle of the X. Here's the final bracing:

Neck is carved and slotted:

The back is glued on and bound. The mahogany and zebrawood surprisingly look pretty good together:

Next up I carve an armrest bevel. I get a lot of questions on how I do this. First I go in with chisels and rasps and carve out the bevel, then overlay it with a wood veneer. The veneer adds great strength to the bevel. Since the guitar is bound in maple, I use maple for the overlay. After the overlay is glued it is trimmed flush:

Next I route for the binding and purfling channels, being careful to stop the purfling channel right where the top meets the overlay. To route the purfling around the bevel, I use a free-form template (over a similarly shaped piece of leather to keep the top from getting scratched up):

The template is used like a french curve. I line it up as best I can to a small section of the bevel:

And use it as a guide for my little router. The bit rides along the template like so:

Shabby Chic · #2 11-11-2010, 08:47 AM

I can usually do an entire bevel in about 4-5 sections, and the result is a nice flowing line around the bevel:

The neck is fretted and pores in the zebrano and mahogany are filled:

Once the guitar is finished, the bridge is located and glued up via a vaccuum press and this handy bridge clamp:

The neck is sprayed front and back. So how to get rid of the lacquer sprayed on the frets? Why, a nail with a fret-shaped notch cut out of it does a great job:

The neck is attached and it's starting to look like a real guitar:

Electronics are fitted. Along with a telecaster neck pickup I chose a K&K Pure Western Mini soundboard transducer pickup. The tele pickup has an output that is a great match for the K&K's. The wiring is just like a tele's, with the middle position a mix of the two pickups.

A little setup and it's done!

kirkham13 · #3 11-11-2010, 09:42 AM

Brilliant... that is a nice look and skillfully done.. innovative!

bubbaprime · #4 11-11-2010, 11:39 AM

sound clips, sound clips, sound clips ... please!

patticake · #5 11-11-2010, 05:36 PM

that's a very interesting guitar, and i like the way you built it.

cpabolting · #6 11-11-2010, 06:03 PM

Excellent building. Love the uniqueness of it. Will be interested to see how it plays and sounds.

jperryrocks · #7 11-11-2010, 06:59 PM

That's pretty **** cool looking.

Love to play it and see how it sounds.

pgilmor · #8 11-11-2010, 09:25 PM

totally awesome!!! must...have...soundclips...

justonwo · #9 11-11-2010, 10:40 PM

Yeah, I really like that one. Great Tele vibe, great wood choices, and very unique style.

Shabby Chic · #10 11-15-2010, 09:51 AM

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately I have no sound clips of this one as its new owner was quite anxious to take delivery as soon as the strings had settled in...

bubbaprime · #11 11-15-2010, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shabby Chic

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately I have no sound clips of this one as its new owner was quite anxious to take delivery as soon as the strings had settled in...

...sadness

maybe next time?

gitnoob · #12 11-15-2010, 01:33 PM

Very nice!

I like how your braces fall short of the rim. Tucking braces into the kerfing never made much sense to me. Seems like the rim itself should provide plenty of structural support to that area of the top.

kamikazimunkey · #13 11-15-2010, 02:37 PM

That is an amazing idea. You also pulled the look off very well. I could see something like that looking horribly wrong in the hands of a poor luthier. Also, that zebra wood looks amazing after the finish is applied.

Shabby Chic · #14 11-15-2010, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gitnoob

Very nice!

I like how your braces fall short of the rim. Tucking braces into the kerfing never made much sense to me. Seems like the rim itself should provide plenty of structural support to that area of the top.

Keeping the braces short of the rim is all about bass response. If the top at the rim is free to vibrate the top can pump up and down better which moves more air and thus can produce more bass. Tucked braces hinder bass response and help showcase midrange and treble response IMO. If I wanted to build a midrangey barkey blues guitar this size those braces would be tucked right into the sides.

Shabby Chic · #15 11-15-2010, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamikazimunkey

That is an amazing idea. You also pulled the look off very well. I could see something like that looking horribly wrong in the hands of a poor luthier. Also, that zebra wood looks amazing after the finish is applied.

Thanks. The zebrawood also has a nice chatoyance and shimmer to it under lights that adds a lot that the pictures don't pick up. It's a very under appreciated wood IMO.