Robert(original) custom neck through

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:27 pm

Youse guys might remember me posting this a little while ago...

I absolutely love it, and with a few minor traces I plan on having a copy of it. After rob's neck thru build thread I was impressed with the skills, then he did the batch of cheap bodies and everything looked good enough to see rob as the bvious choice when asking someone to make something a bit unusual.

Being a one-off itself, I had no chance of getting a tracing of the original, and drew it up freehand to scale (took a long time) and posted it over to rob. Here's a pic of the template after rob copied the tracing (check out the super short scale neck)...

The body shape is pretty close and the pickguard a little different but that doesn't matter at all. It's going to be fairly similar but I'm not after an accurate as possible copy.

Here are a few of the specs I'm going for...

- Neck thru mahogany with mahogany body.
- Dark as possible fretboard with no inlays (rob got an awesome piece of wood beginning with 'z')
- Vintage size small frets
- Paisely pickguard like the original (found it available online), cut for HH
- White pickguard cut for SS (duo-sonic style)
- Jack on the side like a tele
- Hipshot hardtail bridge (same as the original
- Sperzel locking tuners

There are a load more specs for smaller details (nut width, stuff like that) but those are the basics off the top of my head.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:35 pm

Monster pic post

► Show Spoiler

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:38 pm

Superb look forward to seeing this come to fruition. Are you going to paint it white like the original?
Any thoughts on what pups you're going to put in?

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:42 pm

The back of the neck is looking awesome. The neck shaping pics are fairly recent and I imagine the body 'wings' are going on fairly soon so the next batch of pics will make abit of a jump in terms of visual progress.

I haven't seen any of rob's work in person (might see something at doogfest, not sure if anyone is bringing anything) but the hand-maded quality and workmanship speaks for itself. I feel pretty lucky being in a position of waiting for a custom built guitar that is being made with a lot of care and hard work. I'm fairly certain I'm going to love the new amp, and my pedalboard is not too shabby at the moment, but this will certainly be the standout piece in my gear setup even if just for the unique factor.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:46 pm

lamp wrote:Superb look forward to seeing this come to fruition. Are you going to paint it white like the original?
Any thoughts on what pups you're going to put in?

Yeah I'm thinking i'll go for that very pale silver look. Black could work too but I think the original has it right.

As far as pickups go, I picked up a set of GFS strat pickups, I'll try them out and if they aren't for me I'll put them on here or on ebay and get a different set. If they are the right ones for me, i'll put the extra pickup up here for cheap anyway. For the buckers I have a few options. I've got a Duncan Distortion (had one previously and liked it) which I think will go really well with the mahogany, and a few JB pickups. I'll probably go for a duncan Jazz in the neck and see how it sounds. I'm going to have a few spare pickups nce it's done but it'll cover the cost of paint when I sell them I guess. Whatever happens, white robroes all round.

I also have a blue lace sensor, might pick up (ho ho) another and try them out in it.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:59 pm

Sweet - it's looking like a cool project.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:02 pm

I'll probably go for fake ivory knobs like that, but in this shape....

Post by **Mike** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:49 pm

Really interesting project, and proper brave. Nice to see people really departing from Classic lines.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:42 pm

oh wow, i didn't figure you would start this thread yet.
the neck is still clamped on the table, still working the shape and rolling the edges. pretty much looks the same, cept a bit smoother.
i've got the headstock traced out so here before too long im going to cut that and drill the tuner holes.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:58 pm

Yeah I was planning on waiting til it was painted and doing a huge post about it, but I was looking over the pics and that one of the neck just looks too good not share.

Just to be clear, I know I made a comment about the body wood perhaps being glued on, but I don't to add any time pressure at all. Keep goig entirely at your own pace.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:05 pm

once the neck is shaped about 90 percent of the way it will go alot faster, its just that this part takes up alot of the "build time"

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:39 pm

neck-thuru do the difference

not only the sustain

but self construction is monster thing , impressive at end

James · Post by **James** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:29 pm

So excited.

James · Post by **James** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:06 pm

I'm not sure if I mentioned the headstock. I've gone for a Yamaha SGV samurai style, did a quick freehand sketch to go with the more accurate body tracing and gave rob a bit of free reign with it.

The pic is a bit behind current progress, but it's the most recent I've seen and looks like it's going to turn out to be lovely.

James · Post by **James** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 4:35 pm

Appreciate the mahogany goodness, shortscale. APPRECIATE!!

Post by **Hurb** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:06 pm

Looking pretty awesome james. robert is a mastaaaaa!

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:13 am

looks pretty stunning

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:23 am

i like this design, but i'm not sure how i feel about the paisley.

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:28 am

i think paisly or any sort of floral guard guitar is manland as FUCK!
if i saw some guy with a paisly guard i would expect that man to be carrying a gun.
not really.
i dig it.

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 4:48 am

maybe a blue paisley would look cooler: