I always enjoy looking a build threads and think there are a few others here that do as well, so I thought I would post my most recent. This is the seventh guitar I have built and so far, it's the best quality build I have done.
A good friend was always jonesing for a particular guitar I built a few years back which was inspired by the Washburn N4 Padauk model. I also took elements from the Suhr Modern that I liked and made my version as a hybrid of the two guitars. The build turned out great and for whatever reason, this guitar just is full of Mojo. I mostly play classic / hard rock and plugging this guitar into the EVH 5153 amp it great, you can easily get lost playing for hours. It is just a dream to play and actually raises your game. Playing is effortless!
Anyway, I ordered another Paduak body blank as a gift for my bud and worked with him to make his own version of this guitar. Here is the process captured.
As I said, stylistically I borrowed elements from the N4 & Suhr modern. In this build, we wanted to kick the lower back-end out more to create an asymmetrical look. This actually made the final guitar look a bit like the Jackson Chris Brodrick model as well.
Here is the final.
The neck was ordered from Musikraft. They always do a great job and this one is sick. Just another great playing neck. Premium BE Maple & Ebony. 24 Fret, reverse HS, #3 FR Nut, 12-16 radius, thin C back profile and super jumbo frets with Gotoh Tuners. I plan to start building my own necks one day, but not on this build. I this point, I there is just no way I could build a neck as good or for the price of the musikraft stuff.
The pick ups are Suhr Doug Aldrich with a 5 Way Switch for coil tapping. Borrowing another element from the Jackson Brodrick, I put the tone pot on a push pull. It is out of the circuit, until you pull it out, then it activates. This is the first time I have done this and surprisingly, it makes a difference, especially on cleans. The pickups are just slightly more full and bright with the tone pot out of the circuit. I will do this on future projects.
We wanted to have the jack plate on the lower side just under the strap pin, however, due to the shape of the body the jack plate would not sit properly so we borrowed another element for the Ibanez Jem and put in a swtichcraft flush mount jack at an angle just below the strap locks.
Installed a large Brass Block from Floyd Upgrades on the Original Floyd Rose and made some cover plates from the left over material.
Natural Finish is Tung Oil - 6 Coats hand rubbed. Neck has only a few very light coats of gun stock oil and bee's wax. Worked with 00000 Steel wool and is super fast.
Here are the two guitars side by side. Right side is my original build.
NGD - Good Times! My bud picking up the guitar for the first time. Overall, the guitar feels great to play and has the same tone as my original. Only down side is that Padauk is a heavy wood (like maple) so the guitar is heavy.
The guitar sustains forever! Notes hold for a long time then flow into very nice tube amp feedback. Pinched harmonics actually just keep going and do not end until you hit another note and deaden the tone yourself. The Suhr Aldrich pickups are great and I would highly recommend them to anyone. The guitar was only assembled this week, so I plan to have it professionally set up with the fret board leveled after a few months of breaking in and acclimatizing to it new home.
