Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi Everyone. I just found this forum, and figured a good way to introduce myself is posting a new build thread.

I've always wanted an old Aria Pro Urchin U-100, but they are so rare that I gave up and decided to build one and put my own spin on it. Since I've always loved the vintage BC Rich look with stringers, that's the way I decided to go.

Here's an original:


Mine is going to have a 5 piece maple and walnut neck, walnut and padauk stringers, and sycamore body wings. The orignals had a full pre-amp circuit similar to the vintage BC Rich guitars. Mine will have an on-board boost activated by a toggle switch, but otherwise will have conventional VVT controls.

Here's the 5 piece neck in progress. It's curly maple with walnut strips.

I've always liked volutes, and since I'm not using a scarf joint, the extra strength is important.


Here's the neck with the fretboard shim in place, and the body wings ready to cut.


Headstock sketched out


Wings glued on and rough cut


That's it for now. I'm currently waiting for the truss rod to come in, but I'll post more pics as I progress.

Well done!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Very cool!

Welcome & keep posting.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Thanks guys! I don't have a lot of experience, in fact this is the first thru-neck I've ever attempted, but It's seems to be going well so far.

Holy switches, Batman!

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David Morris

No but ya gotta be able to party like Rick Derringer.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I've always found the recessed bridge an interesting way to get around not having a neck pitch. Looks good.

Looks really cool, Paul!
I'll be interested to see how you route the wires.
I guess you would drill holes through the side of the neck extension to your pickups and drill matching holes through the side of one of the wings?

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Yes the original has no neck angle, but mine has a 2.5 degree pitch to it.

I was originally planning on routing a channel in the walnut stringer that would go from the pickup cavities to the control cavity, but truth be told, I kinda forgot about it. I'll just use my super long 16" x 1/4" drill bit.

Where's the "Like" button?

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David Morris

I've never had to do that...

...as far as you know,

It looks really nice.

Where is the other strap button? Looks like it might hang forward like a Gibson SG.

Mostly I'm curious what all those knobs and switches do.

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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

I found a pic of the back of it.


The strap knob placement actually makes sense, because I had to relocate the strap knob on one of my Lados to improve the balance, and I ended up putting it in approximately the same location. As for all the knobs and switches, I'm not 100% sure, but I know it has a full complement of phase switches, coil splitters, and on-board pre-amp, and a rotary vari-tone knob.

Probably similar to this set up.

I finally got my truss rods in, so I built a simple little jig for routing the truss rod channel.

It's about as foolproof as you can get. It attaches with 3 screws to the neck. 2 of the screws are in the excess neck material that will be cut away, the other screw goes in the neck just beyond the end of the truss rod, and the hole will be covered by the fretboard. It takes literally less than 5 minutes to route the channel.



You can see the screw hole here.


The other 2, and a real nice truss rod access hole.


Truss rod test fit. This is a Martin style truss rod. It takes up a little more room than the traditional style, but it's much stronger and is self contained, so it can not damage the neck. I just need to epoxy it in place, and then I need to start work on the fretboard. I think it's going to be pretty slow going from here.


Some of you may notice the missing bass side wing. I had noticed a hairline gap at the glue joint, and thought I might have to cut off the wing, re-joint it, and re-glue. However, I used a couple of clamps, and a fulcrum underneath the body to flex the joint, and it actually gave way. Luckily, there was no splintering of the wood. I'm not sure why the joint was bad. Perhaps it was too cold in the garage when I glued it, or maybe I didn't use enough glue. I'm not sure at this point, but all the other joints are strong. I'll probably re-glue it tomorrow and keep my fingers crossed.

One nice thing about having the center a little thicker. Don't ask me why I know either. LOL

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Some more accomplished. 12th fret inlay is done. Fret board is radiused, cut to size and glued on. neck is carved almost down to it's final profile.