Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, I guess it's time I finally man up and post pictures of my first electric, which I finished in April 2009. I've been intimidated by the talent around here and held off on posting pictures. But here she is:

Neck-through 6 string
Neck: Birdseye Maple flanked by Wenge, Birdseye Maple, Figured Walnut, more Birdseye Maple
Body sandwich: Figured Walnut (top), Obeche (core), Afromosia (back)
Fretboard: Macassar Ebony
Inlay: my own design, in Abalone (and 3 days of grueling cutting/fitting)
Tuners: Grover locking Rotomatics
Nut: Bone
Bridge/Tailpiece: TonePros
Pickups: hand-wound StewMac kit humbuckers, coil splittable with the mini toggles
Knobs, pickup rings, toggle switch: Wenge
Finish: Nitro

http://img821.imageshack.us/g/img05680.jpg/

Nice job, Gabby!
Original shape, fabulous woods in there.
Did you wind the pick-ups?
Those inlays can take a lot of time.
Yay!

Wow! Quite an undertaking for your first and it turned out beautiful. I really like your wood selections. I've really been digging those maple walnut neck throughs lately and thinking about building one myself. Love the design too. Did you have access to a spray booth or did you use aerosel?

Very cool Gabby. You should be quite proud of that! It's totally unique and looks very well executed. I especially like the way the little horns at the base of the body pick up the neckthrough layer....that looks very spiff.

How does it play?

Congratulations! Now reward yourself by going out on a wood buying spree!

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Thanks guys!

Alan: yup, wound the pickups myself. Something like 22,000 winds between all the bobbins. I'd definitely call them scatter-wound, and not so much by intention.

Mitch: Fortunately yes, all spraying was done in a well-ventilated booth. No buffing machine though. All sanding/final polish was by hand. Might not be able to tell from the pictures, but it really could've benefited from a good buffing wheel and some real compound.

Here's why: viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=28074

Stuart: It actually doesn't play well at all at the moment, but only because of my own neglect. It desperately needs a refret (first fret is substantially lower than the others and completely out of tune) and the action is terrible. All completely fixable issues, but my current build and now spine surgery have caused me to neglect it. Plus, whenever I actually want to play guitar, I have a really nice PRS which doesn't need work to sound/play great.

Check.

Tried to post the pics here for you but that didn't work.

Mike

Gabby, why the hesitation? Looks like pretty good craftsmanship from what I can tell! Nice git!

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

Looks great!!!! I wish my build was near as complete as yours. Its a great accomplishment and don't let it not get done!