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Built this for a friend to his personal specifications. This is my 12th build and my best playing guitar yet.

Thought I would share a series of construction shots as well as a few of the final result.

Gorgeous! I love it.

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Beautiful. What is the finish?


Posted using something.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

James, that's a great looking guitar and I love the color. My personal preference would have been for filled, level pores on the body, but that's not meant as a criticism. Have you weighed it? I suspect it's heavier than a 335, but lighter than a Les Paul. I'm not knocking weight, either, I'm just curious. Did you carve out the inside of the top on either side of the center block? It appears you might have. I've always liked this general style of guitar--more so than smaller solid bodies. I think your instrument is very, very nice overall. Makes me want to pick it up and try it out!
Patrick

Thanks for the feedback. The grain was left unfilled and I used StewMac colortone dye diluted with water. I then applied a mere 8 coats of tru oil. The lack of grain filling and extensive finish coats was due to the amount of money I charged my friend/customer and he was just fine with having a natural wood feel and open pores. I have done 10 nitro finishes and this was my first tru oil finish. So it was good to try something else. It's a thin finished guitar but I feel confident it will last a long time.

James,
That is a great looking axe!
The binding really makes the color pop.
I dig the unfilled grain and the finish.
Forgive my ignorance, but what material did you use for the neck and body?
Dan

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The body and top are ash.

The neck is cherry and the fretboard is Pau Ferro.

24.9" scale length with 24 frets.

Nice build. I like the no-frills look of it much more than I would have anticipated. One question: What's the story with the three dowels under the neck pocket? Nothing wrong with it, but it's driving me crazy trying to figure out if you used screws for positioning/clamping and then filled the holes later or just used dowels for positioning (since I see clamps were used during the glue up.) Very curious to know what they're there for. Both possibilities sound like solid ideas.

Again, congrats on a great looking build!

Thank you sir! The three wooden plugs cover 3 inlaid bolts. The neck joints that I do are most similar to PRS style set necks and there is indeed tightbond in there which is probably more than enough for strength. I then go the extra mile and put 3 bolts into the heel - inlaid nicely under wooden plugs. Just trying to give absolute maximum strength. I think that it also helps to set my neck joints apart from the rest.

Very nice work indeed .

Beautiful work. I've started a similar project using Tasmanian Blackwood and am planning on using a red dye too but will finish with hard shellac.

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That's lovely work! Now I wanna build one of those!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Great job. Couple of questions. What do you think of not extending the solid centre all the way through. Ie stop short below level of stop piece. More carving and lighter vs acoustics?
Noticed the lead socket not on front as per original. Conscious choice? Gibson moved socket in other ES models after feedback from outside 335 players. Thoughts?

Man that is sweet. It screams to be played.

Really nice project! What is the neck angle?

Is there any carve to the top or back of this guitar? It all looks flat to me.
It's lovely, whichever way it is.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thank you. Great work. Very inspiring.

VERY nice work , inspiring to be sure!