A client brought in an over 2" thick body slab that was glued in a pancake style; the front was mango and the back was sapele (african mahogany) and resembled a Gibson RD body shape.
He also needed a neck for it.
The Process:
Aside from the body having sharp corners and chunks of glue squeeze-out, the body was also way too thick.
Unfortunately it was too wide to fit through the 13" planer, so I removed all the material that I could possibly get with the 60-grit belt sander.
After a lot of sanding, I got the body down to 1-3/4" but it still felt too thick, so I added bevels on the front and back.
With the bevels done, it seemed much better, so I moved on to finishing the body, and started on the neck.
I made a pretty standard 22-fret, tele-neck-pocket-style tele neck, with the Manitou 3+3 scarf-jointed headstock, out of some decently flamed stock that we had on the billet rack.
Back of the neck, where some flaming is visible towards the heel.
This is getting hollow circle inlays, and the board is laid out in preparation.
Using different sized forstner bits, holes were drilled in the center between designated frets.
Plugs were made out of the cutoff pieces from the neck billet.
Then the plugs were glued into place.
Some fine mylar flakes were added into the void around the plugs.
The mylar looks like bright glitter, but this is really toned down once the super glue is mixed in – giving it a very subtle, dark sparkle.
Medium viscosity CA glue is added over the mylar flakes, and left overnight to dry.
While the inlays are drying, I get started on carving the neck.
The heel is marked out, then carved after the neck is roughed in, then the entire back of neck is sanded to 220-grit.
After the inlays are sanded flush and the fretboard is radiused to 12" (to match the tunematic bridge), the rest of the neck is sanded to 220-grit, and the first coat of oil is applied.
Back of the neck after 2 coats of oil.
Next up is the Crystallac finish.
Decided to try doing a vertical logo with this one.
The flaming is much more pronounced with each coat of finish added to the neck.
While the neck getting finished, the body is level-sanded and polished.
The electronics and bridge anchors are then installed.
Five days later, the neck is then polished out, then fretted.
Then the nut and rest of the guitar is assembled.
Here’s the final product.
Sounds awesome with a Dimarzio Super Distortion pickup, and plays like butter.
The overall weight is still on the heavy side, but the tone is worth the weight.
Since the body was so thick, I was able to omit the neck plate, opting instead for neck ferrules.
Usually the neck-mounting screws have to be trimmed down, but due to the body thickness they were perfect as is.
