Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Just made this little jigga today. Works quite nicely. http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p541/searlsguitars/workshop/IMG_3206small.jpg First pass I tried holding it by hand and the neck blank vibrated around a bit in the jig Second attempt I clamped it with a quick grip. This clamp moved slightly....

Heres an old pic of the paint room - its about 3m x 4m and usually has the guitars hanging from a beam I made, however this pic I'd moved the heat lamps over a bench so I could manipulate some marbilizer on a horizontal surface http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p541/searlsguitars/workshop/309172_1...

I just took a few snap shots of my workshop. What I forgot to take pics of was the front area of the shed which is paint mixing area, paint storage room and then the paint room. (You can see these in the laster pics seperated from the rest of the workshop by walls covered in plastic sheet.) Lets sta...

Welcome! I'm new here myself.

You'll definitely have to posts some pics of your builds! Maybe also a build thread!

Awesome...

I myself play a lot of neo classical, metal :shock: Is that like Beethoven on Steroids? You kids of today, I don't know :lol: :wink: Back in my day it was either just metal or it wasn't :mrgreen: Mind you, as the first to be coined with the term 'Heavy Metal', most of Page's riff were blues derived...

Hi demonx, A good photo report! You showed in detail the construction process. Everything is wonderful! I have questions ... I know sound of Fender or Les Paul, and know the music for what it can be used ... But what is the sound of your guitar? What it for timbre? For what music, can use this guit...

Hints and tips - Building a neckthru you really need to plan everything around the bridge. Know what bridge you're using BEFORE you cut anything, as the engly you build into the neck is all worked out back to the bridge position and height. When building an electric guitar - pickups are the most imp...

I only build electric guitars. Hardware I like to use: Bareknuckle Pickups - made in the UK go into most of my builds. They are as diverse as you can imagine from the purest of clean tones to the most aggressive metal pickups. They are the best at everything they do. They are at the top of the price...

Clear coat update. I sanded the last lot of clear back to 600 grit, then airhosed and prepsolled the entire thing before shooting another few layers of clear yesterday. Theres a lot more peel than I normally get. I'm experimenting with some new European clear that I'm still getting used to. It spray...

Plexiglass day. I had the router set up from copying/combining some new templates, so at the same time I ran off a couple cavity covers in transparent black 4mm perspex. When I assemble the guitar and peel off the rear paper from the cover, you'll be able to see the electronics through the perspex i...

Four coats of clear. I'll let this hang for a week before block sanding back, then I'll spray another couple coats of clear.

Second coat of clear, the timber is just soaking it all up, looks like it may take four coats at this stage:

Today: Hole drilling: http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p541/searlsguitars/023/IMG_3048small.jpg http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p541/searlsguitars/023/IMG_3049small.jpg Hand and random orbital finish sanding through a variety of grits: http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p541/searlsguitars/02...

Same unit I've got - think it cost be about $700 after freight. Definitely a handy machine

Knob recessing and cavity control steps. Most people like to do all routing before they carve a guitar - but I like to do routing towards the end of the build as this way I can freehand carve whatever I feel like at the time, rather than carving around my routes. Then I simply route according to my ...

I'm am member on a few different forums and I find myself that I favour certain sections reguarly and don't visit others at all, then once in a blue moon i stumble across these "foriegn" sections I rarely visit and strike gold - read/learn or just discover something I should have seen long time befo...

I'm definitely shopping at the wrong supermarket!

Nice looking blackwood

Todays mission was to fix up all the floyd route and carve the top. Flap disk - freehand lines to guide me where to carve. I really need to make a template for that! http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p541/searlsguitars/023/IMG_2973small.jpg After sanding back with random orbital and 40 grit: http:...

It's amazing how adding just two more strings can add width to things, looks like you could land a jet fighter on that fingerboard You're not wrong. I'm building an 8 string electric at the moment with a 27" scale, everything is oversized! To give you an idea I think the neck is about the width if ...

Beautiful work - the guitar looks amazing!

Your six on a side shape is very close to the Jackson reversed shape, I can see what you mean - however the lines are quite different as are the angles. Even look at how theirs kicks up in a straight line and mine is a smooth curve to the tip of the headstock It's diffrent enough that I dont feel l...

I took some snap pics today of old guitars I had laying around to do a pictorial about the evolution of my headstock shapes over the years. My reverse pointy: http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p541/searlsguitars/headstockevolution.jpg a) Started off about a decade ago as a blatent ASM copy - I NEV...

I probably should have stated (like I did in my intro post) : Hi, my name is Allan, I'm a hobby builder from Ballarat victoria. I build solid body electric guitars in my spare time! If a moderator/admin can cut/paste that into my original post that would be great, seems I can't edit it for some reas...

The blade that you replaced looks like a 1/2" one, interesting you'd use a wide blade, I always found the 1/4" better for the tighter radius's of the cutaways The blade I bought was the 1/4", the 1/2" one I replaced was the original one that came on the saw, I'd been using it year in year out just ...