Myrtlewood "Equator" Build by Chad McCormack

[Chad McCormack]

Hello all.

Some firsts for me with this build:

1. Building with Myrtlewood (Lightweight, a bit soft, a bit funky smelling)

1. Using Roadhouse pickups (TERRIFIC! Hand-wound to order by a super fellow out in Portland, OR)

1. Tinting the EM 600 finish with TT Honey Amber (Thanks for the suggestion, Mark Swanson!)

1. 25.5" scale length (vs. the 25" scale length used on my first 4 Equator builds)

oh, and...

... 1. Fixing a catastrophic error with a graft/inlay (One of those I-Can't-Believe-I-Just-Did-That moments)

[Chad McCormack]

Specs:

Myrtlewood (Oregon) semi-hollow body with curly claro walnut "Equator" binding, f-holes trimmed with walnut veneer
3-piece curly maple set neck with walnut veneer between plys
24-fret, 25.5" scale rosewood fingerboard with maple/rosewood binding, MoP side markers and double at #12
3-ply (walnut, maple, walnut) headstock face overlay, single ply walnut rear overlay
Hand-turned Myrtle control knobs
Curly claro walnut graft with w/b/w/rosewood binding between pickup routs
Hand-made 4-ply Abbott House Guitars logo truss rod plate

Roadhouse TripleCrown humbucker pickups with nickel covers in black metal mounting rings
Master Volume and Tone controls with CTS pots
3-way selector switch, mini-toggle for neck position coil cut
1/4" output jack in a chrome oval plate

Gotoh stop tailpiece and tune-o-matic bridge in chrome
Grover midsize Rotomatic tuners in chrome
Bone nut
2-way truss rod by Allied Lutherie

Thanks for looking!

[Mark Swanson]

That's great! And I am glad that the tint worked out, too. Good work

[Jason Rodgers]

Good stuff! This is your "clamshell" design, yeah? I think you've got something going on here. The wood choices are particularly yummy on this unit.

Think you could shift the neck out and get a couple more frets clear of the body? It looks like that would work and keep everything in good functional and aesthetic relations.

[David King]

Where does the name "equator" come from? I've seen it in other contexts but not been clear on it.

[Peter Wilcox]

I think it's because of the walnut binding in an equatorial fashion around the body - not real clear from the pics.

[Jason Rodgers]

So, do tell! What happened that you needed the fancy cover-up plate between the pickups? I think it's just screaming for a third pickup!

[John Catto]

So, do tell! What happened that you needed the fancy cover-up plate between the pickups? I think it's just screaming for a third pickup!

I believe that's the neck tenon

[John Catto]

ah, just realised it's an inlay. Well looks great! I really like the fact that the centre of gravity is quite far back on this. To me that's a really desirable design trait for a guitar making the neck sit "closer" to you.

[Jason Rodgers]

I really like the fact that the centre of gravity is quite far back on this. To me that's a really desirable design trait for a guitar making the neck sit "closer" to you.

Ha! And here I am telling him to stick it out further! Guess we all have our aesthetic and functional points of view.

[Pete Halliday]

Chad--nice as always! What's been your experience with the EM6000? I have used on of their competitors in both a water-based lacquer and water-based spar varnish and have had nothing but trouble in getting it to spray decently. Way too much pebbly orange peel leading to sand-throughs when having to level so much. Further, I have a couple guitars that were finished and polished out to a nice gloss and a year and a half later they could be called matte at best. The only gloss remaining is under the bridge (Tele-style in this case).

[Chad McCormack]

Good stuff! This is your "clamshell" design, yeah? I think you've got something going on here. The wood choices are particularly yummy on this unit.

Think you could shift the neck out and get a couple more frets clear of the body? It looks like that would work and keep everything in good functional and aesthetic relations.

Thanks, Jason. I certainly could have moved the whole string assembly "out" from the guitar body by about the distance spanning the last 2 frets. I prefer to have the tune-o-matic bridge more or less in line with the cusps on the f-holes, and with the 25.5" scale it resulted in the bridge location being just a bit lower (towards the lower bout) than that preference.

[Chad McCormack]

I think it's because of the walnut binding in an equatorial fashion around the body - not real clear from the pics.

Peter is right. Here's the scoop on that, only from a different guitar:

1. The two body halves are prepared as mirror images of one another:

2. After glue up, I true up the sides relative to one another and then use a 1/4" tall rabbetting bit with a ball bearing that leaves 1/16" of cutter exposed to prepare the inlay channel:

3. I prepare 1/4" wide binding to be 1/16" thick, then steam bend it to install all the way 'round the "equator:" I start/stop at the lower bout strap button position and somewhere in the neck pocket region (which gets routed away anyway):

4. And finally flush-trim it on the router table, followed by my front and back round-overs:

[Chad McCormack]

Chad--nice as always! What's been your experience with the EM6000? I have used on of their competitors in both a water-based lacquer and water-based spar varnish and have had nothing but trouble in getting it to spray decently. Way too much pebbly orange peel leading to sand-throughs when having to level so much. Further, I have a couple guitars that were finished and polished out to a nice gloss and a year and a half later they could be called matte at best. The only gloss remaining is under the bridge (Tele-style in this case).

Hi again, Pete! Thanks for the kind words. Personally, I really like the EM6000. I've only other sprayed one other waterborne finish, and that was a gloss Minwax Polycrylic for an early guitar that I just kept for myself. With that guitar, the finish actually gummed up in my hands on the neck on a hot/muggy/sweaty day, and the gloss-goes-matte issue that you describe definitely happened after a few years. I used the EM6000 for the first time on a guitar I built for my brother more than 2 years ago, and his finish looks and feels just like the day I delivered the guitar to him. That guitar sees a lot of use, too.

For me, I really have no choice but to use a waterborne product, since my little basement shop is on the other side of a wall adjoining a finished family room section of my basement, and I have a young family at home. I'm really happy to have discovered the EM6000, as it is a non-hazard to use, a breeze to clean up after, and the cured finish seems to remain as-is over time. And as for the application goes, I'm also very pleased with it. The manufacturer, Target Coatings, claims 100% burn-in coat-to-coat, which in theory would eliminates those witness lines that you'd likely get when level sanding through a section of orange peel. I don't know that the 100% claim is really accurate, but I'm pleased with the results I tend to get with the stuff. When held up in just the right light, I can sometimes see that topographical map sort of effect with the sand-through of the high spots, but buffing and polishing pretty much takes care of it. Try as I might, I can't ever seem to lay down a perfectly orange-peel free coat with my setup at home, but I am plenty happy with my end result after level sanding through the grits, hand-buffing and polishing.

[Chad McCormack]

So, do tell! What happened that you needed the fancy cover-up plate between the pickups? I think it's just screaming for a third pickup!

Hi Jason. I cracked the top while "tapping" the bridge bushings in. After a few choice words, a thrown mallet and a day or two to cool down, I purchased a little (3" x 16" x 3/16") piece of nice curly claro walnut from my local Woodcraft and one piece of w/b/w/rosewood binding from StewMac to fashion a little something to lay in there. From now on, I'm pushing those bushings in with my drill press. Again, it was certainly an I-can't-believe-I-just-did-that kind of moment. Not one I'm proud of, but one that I've certainly learned from. Oh, and no 3rd pickup

[David King]

Chad thanks for the great explanation. It must be a "guitar" thing because a bass builder would just stuff a slab of curly maple in there, end-grain and all.

[Bob Francis]

Chad thanks for the great explanation. It must be a "guitar" thing because a bass builder would just stuff a slab of curly maple in there, end-grain and all.

YES

[Peter Wilcox]

Chad thanks for the great explanation. It must be a "guitar" thing because a bass builder would just stuff a slab of curly maple in there, end-grain and all.

But what a waste of a nice potential top. Thanks for the explanation of your method, Chad - something for me to steal in the future. Very nice guitar.

[Jason Rodgers]

Nice series of construction pics for the "equator. " I'm remembering similar shots from your first couple posts with this design. Gonna have to go look those up.

[Jason Rodgers]

Yep, went back and looked at Equator 004, and that one pretty much does it for me: delicious walnut, and the neck/fingerboard in just the right location relative to the body. Of course, we're talking subtle details here. You do good work, and this is a sexy machine.