Jimothey

I've had an idea that I'm not sure on and need people's opinions......... Would it be too much if I veneered the tops of the pickups or would it be better to leave them black?? 🤔

I personally can't see the problem with the headstock maybe shave a little bit off?? But if Fleabag is happy then that's all that matters!! 😁

After a few stupidly busy weeks at work I finally got some time to do some more! I've done the matching headstock now and got a few coats of wipe in satin poly........... Control cavity is all routed out just got to make the cover and the electrics have arrived so I'll fit them in the next few days then its finishing time!!........ I'm considering getting some block inlay decals for the neck which I think will finish it off nicely 😀

If it wasn't leopard print I think I would take a punt on it!! 😁 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F401709822901

I kind of echo what most others have said I like most genre's of music except one that I can't stomach and that's jazz free form/trad whichever flavour it comes in! I just can't listen to it I have certain bands that I listen to every week RATM, Iron Maiden, Phrophets of Rage, Green Day, The Black Crowes, Audioslave, Mumford and Sons, RHCP, AC/DC, The Pogues, (early) Guns N Roses and The Ravens Age etc so it's a quite diverse pool but if I like something then I like it!!

I thought that it might be heavy so it's going to be chambered so hopefully that with keep the weight down a bit I'm going to construct the body with a 25mm ply core with 6mm front and back the 25mm core will be chambered like this..............

After following @Christine's Thunderbird build it has swayed me (as I was never really a fan of them) to make my own...... It's going to be a Fenderbird but I haven't decided whether it's going to be 4 or 5 string as yet?? As I've been told they suffer from neck dive would a 4 string would be better to keep the weight of the headstock down or would the difference in weight be negligible??......... If I decide to go down the 4 string route I would string it BEAD anyway I know this isn't going to be a popular choice but I'm going to make the body out of chambered plywood (I tried one of my friends homemade ply bodied bitsa Telecaster and his American deluxe Telecaster and couldn't tell the difference in the sound if anything the ply bodied Tele had better sustain so that got me thinking??) it's going to be painted and I'm leaning towards Yellow with black hardware and pickguard something a bit like this? With a maple/maple block neck........... I don't really like the 3 point bridges tha t are normally on them so I'm thinking about a tun-o-matic bridge instead and I might go active with active/passive push/pull bypass like on my Quincy, 5 string and 6 string build

Finally managed to do a bit more on this! I've now got the first coat of black stain on the back and sides.............

Looks more like a pear to me!! 😁

I was thinking the same thing! 😁

I dont think that's Zebrano it looks more like Macassar Ebony to me and I really like the Maple fretboard contrasting with the body, I much prefer that pairing than a light wood body with a darkwood fretboard........ But agree there are nicer streamers about for that kind of money 😀

I just really like the intricate colouring of the rug on it aswell very good attention to detail!! 😁

I couldn't resist doing a quick mockup..... 😀

Here's my test piece of veneer for the different colours......... 😀

The veneer is all glued (apart from one little bit) up and dried overnight so I started trimming and sanding it back today.......... 😀 I'm in two minds whether to stain the Sapele black I don't know if it will be too much of a contrast or whether to use the tinted Danish oil I used on one of my other builds?? The top will be just normal Danish oil....... 😀

Well there's no going back now!! I've resized the neck it's now officially a 4 string........ I'll start reshaping the neck tomorrow and I'm going to order the truss rod tonight then it's decision time re the fretboard?? I'm toying with the idea of staining the top either dark grey or orange but I'm just waiting for my stains to arrive so I can give it a try and see which one I prefer?? I'm leaning more towards orange but I'm a bit worried it will look a bit too much like a tiger??............... 😀

I got the cavities all capped off, arm carve and routed out for the neck and pickups........... And the veneer is rough cut, I had a go at steaming and bending the veneer over the chamfer but to no avail it just split!! so I think it's going to now be cut to the top not wrapped over........ 😀

After thinking long and hard about the work that would be involved in sorting the neck out to make it a 5 string and weighing up the fact that there is lots of things that could go catastrophically wrong I've decided to keep it as a 4 string and probably will wait and build a 5 string at a later date............ I've still got to rout the edges of the neck a little bit so I can make it have a 38mm nut and a 63mm heel (as it's 43mm nut and 70mm heel at present) which will be a lot easier than trying to glue strips on etc.......... I'm going to be experimenting with the finish this week as I've got a few ideas in mind 😀

I've just bought a block and binded Jazz neck from Amazon for my bitsa P and its surprisingly good quality the frets are all nice and level and the ends have been filed so no sharp edges and it only cost £35 the only thing is the colour is a bit darker than I expected but I can live with it......... Here's the link if your interested in having a look https://www.amazon.co.uk/string-Style-Replacement-Canada-Maple/dp/B078HR2ZWZ 😀

Here's my bitsa P nothing special but I like it! Even more now it's got flats on it!

Started the weight reduction today its already considerably lighter than it was! It's now roughly the same weight as the original body, By the time I've routed the pickups, neck pocket and finished the control cavity I think it will be kinda the weight I was aiming for......... Just got some cleaning up of the sides and do the rebate then I'm ready to start capping it off................ 😀

The veneer turned up yesterday so here's how the top will look Only problem is that where the nice figuring is will be covered by the bridge and pickups! I might have to do a bit of jiggery pokerey to get it looking good!?!....... 😀

I reckon this will be the amount I will need to chamber out, the bottom chamber I'll cover with 6mm ply so I can just use that for my controls......... But before I do that I need to thin the body down a bit!!...........

That's where I got the idea from! I knew I had seen it done but couldn't remember where I'd seen it!! Yeah that's exactly what I had in mind and if I combine that with thinning the body down a bit that hopefully will take the weight down considerably... ........ 😀

I was thinking of possibly doing a chamber from the top and glue in a cover plate out of 4mm ply then veneer over the top?.....