W4RP1G

Some of you may have seen this thread already. I recently finished my first electric build.

Specs:

Basswood Body w/ quilted maple cap
5-piece Maple/walnut "wizard" neck
Birdseye maple fretboard w/ 20" radius
Duncan Blackouts
Gotoh tuners
Guitar Jones Bridge(wtf?)
Graph-tech Tusq nut

Nitrocellulose Lacquer on the body
Satin Polyurethane on the fretboard
Tru-oil on the neck

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W4RP1G

It's hard to review a guitar that I built to my liking, but I'll try. The neck turned out great. Easily as thin as the Wizard neck on my RG770DX. It's pretty scary shaving it to that thickness because I was paranoid that I'd hit the truss rod. I wanted to try a flatter radius than 16", and I do like it. 20" will probably be the radius I use from now on for shredder guitars.

The guitar is a little lighter than my RG770DX. The chamfer I added to make resting the forearm more comfortable came out pretty great. I think I'll use it again. My only gripe with the body was a design oversight, the cut-away for the high-frets is a little too tight. It took some getting used to, but in the future I will make sure I have more room to breath when playing the high frets.

The Blackouts are beastly. I honestly didn't think I would like them because I wasn't too fond of my old guitar with EMGs, but they are great pickups. I've had them in a box for years, so I'm glad I was able to use them. They don't sound lifeless like my old 81/85s did. I swear it's not in my head.

Came out pretty good. And I only spent around $410 building it. The only are where I went cheap was the bridge, but if I would have bought a Gotoh bridge instead, it would have been about $430 total(but honestly, the Guitar Jones bridge feels pretty solid).

I'll be starting on my next build in a month, a fanned fret 7-string, so stay tuned!

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LP_CL

Looks very nice pig! Great job!!!

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jeleopard

Oh.










Shit.

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Ultima117

Dude, that is amazing! Now build me one!! (: ........seriously.

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T00DEEPBLUE

That's astounding for a first build.

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miio

That is one beautiful guitar, you sir are talented! I would buy one like that!

W4RP1G

Thanks guys!

It definitely turned out better than I thought it would be. I expected my first electric to barely be playable, but it plays, looks, and feels great. Previous wood working experience and a ridiculous amount of research helped me quite a bit.

But this was still a major learning experience, and there's no doubt that future builds will be better in many ways because of that.

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Charvel1995

I'm a sucker for Tele style bodies, and that finish is tight.

Damn son, HNGD

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MegadethFan18

That looks absolutely amazing. If I could make guitars like that they'd be all I played.

I've been making my own guitar body for a while (I don't have the tools for making a neck, but I may give it a bash in the future) and the painting phase has me stuck in development hell, Duke Nukem Forever development hell.

red.guitar

That is one sexy axe!

Congrats! That's a piece to be proud of for sure.

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HNGD!

Spaztikko

I only saw your first post and this and omg.


liek omg

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Mr Winters

Holy poop. I'm not a fan of the body shape but damn, the finish is gorgeous. Looks awesome.

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dash-rendar

Build me one like it? Same specs?! =D HNGD man and congrats on the first build!

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captivity

Thats a seriously nice telecaster.

bcolville

You have to love quilted maple...

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TunerAddict

Awesome job. I'm actually working on my first build right now.

dannyalcatraz

"He steps up to the plate..."

*CRACK*

"It's a home run!"

Nice work, there!

I design jewelry as another one of my hobbies, so i have to work woth color a lot. That is not my favorite color green, but when partnered with black and light sand/tan/wood tones like that, it is a truly stunning combo. (I once saw it used on a prototype car- best looking thing at the show except the models.)

I'd buy that. And your use of that combo on your #1 indicates that you probably have a good, strong color sense. I'm expecting future good things from you, sir!

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Zacky_Gates

I've been waiting for you to finish it and post more pictures on your original thread. It looks bad ass

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griffin888

Nice. The world needs more green guitars. You did a great job, looking forward to seeing your future builds!

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Axe Murderer

HOLY FAWK!!! Dude, that is NICE!! Question: how the heck do you not buzz or fret out with such low action? Thats insane!

W4RP1G

Geezus, thanks for all the positive feedback, everyone!


It's funny that you should say that, I colored it specifically to work with the maple fretboard and black hardware/binding. However, if I were to do it again I'd lighten the green up a bit because I suspect that it might work better with the black hardware if it were lighter.

But honestly, after the weeks I spent experimenting with stains, shooting lacquer, and sanding, I think my next build will be all natural wood with an oil finish. 3 days of finishing sounds very nice compared to 3+ weeks.


Thanks! I use D'Addario light top/heavy bottom 10-52s. I'm getting a bit too much buzz on the G string though, but I'm about go pick up some larger .18 wound strings to replace it, and I suspect that will help the situation.

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VVolverin3

what the shit...?!?!?


that's amazing! So very cool man, well done.

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nicolasrivera

Looks great! love the horn design!

dannyalcatraz

Then flip the script- instead of coloring the wood, use anodized guitar parts:

http://www.toone-townsend.com/colors.html

http://www.sperzel.com/Models_Colors.html

You get to use the same kinds of color combos, but without as much of a headache.

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Dave_Mc

+1

that looks "badass full stop/period", not merely "pretty good for a first attempt".

Awesome job there.

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woad_yurt

Damn, guy, that's beautiful. Really. Wow.

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.

Remove V1 & V6. Put the 12AX7 from V1 into V6 and leave V1 empty. Try the vibrato channel.

W4RP1G

Oh wow, that's definitely something to consider. Is this something anyone can do, or does it require expensive equipment? It's looking like I'll be making my own bridge on the next build, so I'm open to alternatives to painting.

Thanks Dave

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Mephaphil

That's so nice Mr. P1G. I'm just researching my first build and am preparing to strip and restore a squire strat I got for £30 as practice and if this is your first proper go, I've a lot to aspire to!

It looks awesome. Great job. :-)

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dannyalcatraz

Anodizing does require some special equipment, but I'm not sure how pricey or big it is. However, if you live in or near a major metropolitan area, I wouldn't be surprised to find someone who does anodizing of small lots.

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JustRooster

Warpig, you did us proud.

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dannyalcatraz

It looks like anodizing gear may be undergoing a bit of a downscaling revolution: http://www.caswellplating.com/elect...izing-kits.html

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W4RP1G

@ phil, rooster, woad_yurt Thanks you guys!

I figured I may as well throw in a pic of the guitar on the guitar stand I made during the spring:




Wow, $400 is still a bit steep. I think I'll look around for someone who might be able to do it locally. But I don't know if I'll do it for this bridge I'm building, I don't think aluminum is strong enough for this base plate, and i don't think titanium is cheap enough.

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Spaztikko

That stand man...

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dkunick

Beautiful build! Only constructive criticism I'd offer is it seems the string ferrules on the back aren't quite lined up but I'm a stickler for detail. FWIW, try out the EMG Het Set or 57/66 set on your next build...easy installation and IMO better than the Blackouts. I know there's always something better on the market but the new EMG offerings are amazing. Well done bro!

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W4RP1G

Yeah, that was one of those mistakes I learned from. Although, part of the issue with that was that I used the bridge holes as a template for drilling, and for some reason both E string holes were offset on the bridge itself. I didn't notice until it was too late. But that's not the only reason it's messed up, I should have made a template, it would have stopped the brad-point bit from wandering on me.

I'll definitely look into the those EMGs if I do another build with actives, but I'll actually be making my own pickups on the next build. Thanks for the suggestion, I'd never even heard of EMG 57/66s before.

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zilant

My thoughts precisely. That looks absolutely amazing

dkunick

Looking forward to it, happy building!

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Line 6 Flextone III
50s Valco Supro