New Build, Ebony Topped Semi-Hollow Tele-ish shaped thing.

[Dan Hehnke]

I'm having fun with this one. I found this awesome piece of striped ebony locally here in Portland (obviously now grown locally), just big enough for a bookmatched tele top. This one's got a Honduran mahogany body, heavily chambered, and a birdseye neck and fingerboard, with a mystery hardwood lamination for stability.

I have been wanting to do a rope binding for a while. I decided to do it a really slow and tedious way, piece by piece, as I didn't want to deal with trying to bend a rope binding. I think it will look really cool when done.

Bad pics for now, but I'll put some better ones up when it's closer to finished, and finished. It's going to get dual P90s (I'll enlarge the neck route, I thought I was going strat sized there), with a strat style bridge and jack plate, vol, tone, and 4 way switch.

Cheers.

[Gordon Bellerose]

Nice! Pretty piece of wood.

[Steve Sawyer]

Love the binding. Would like to hear more about your technique.

[Aaron Helt]

Love it!

[Freeman Keller]

Tele's aren't supposed to look that nice

[Christ Kacoyannakis]

Beautiful. Lovely ebony!

[Randolph Rhett]

Beautiful guitar. But I have to disagree with the binding. I feel it is too busy and fights with the stripes in the top wood.

[Dan Hehnke]

Thanks for the comments folks.

Steve, I don't have much of a technique. I basically just set up my bandsaw with the table at about 35 degrees, and marked lines every 3/8", and run a 1/4" thick piece of wood through for about an inch, then cut straight across perpendicular to make my angled oversized pieces, half of them maple, half walnut. I then have enough thickness so that I can sand the angle if necessary along the tighter curves to that each piece mates to the next. I have a bunch of extra protruding, but then sand flush on top, then spindle sander to bring the sides flush. It's stupid time intensive...haha. But it alleviates the stress of bending a crazy piece of rope binding that might break at any moment.

I know it's not for everyone, but in person I think it really brings out the wood and frames it, vs being too busy. It's also one of those things that could look cool onstage from a distance. I've noticed more lately how some guitars look good sitting there, and some guitars look good and unique on a stage, and it's not always the same ones.

D

[Steve Sawyer]

Beautiful guitar. But I have to disagree with the binding. I feel it is too busy and fights with the stripes in the top wood.

I dunno - my initial reaction was "you're right", but after letting my eyes rest on it a bit more, I find I really like it. It SHOULD be "too busy", but the figure on the ebony isn't really all that high-contrast. The lightest shades aren't much lighter than medium brown, and the color transitions are rather soft. Rather than "fight", I think the top & binding contrast nicely.

[Steve Sawyer]

Dan - that definitely IS a technique!! Different than I was thinking of doing it. Thanks!!

[Dan Hehnke]

Arg, in my first post I meant "not grown locally", instead of "now". I can't see where to edit.

[Dan Hehnke]

Thanks Steve. It is getting the job done, slowly, so I guess it is a technique! Haha. Any brighter ideas are very welcome.

[Dan Hehnke]

Here's an update, with soundhole routed, and more of the binding done. I spent about 4 more hours yesterday just on the binding, and it's finally almost done.

[Dan Hehnke]

It's finished up! I'm loving the resonance of this wood combo, and it hardly took any setup to get the action and intonation nearly dead on. Sometimes those things just seem to come together.

[Dan Hehnke]

Here's a few more. Thanks for looking.

[Bob Francis]

Nice job Dan!

[Dan Hehnke]

Thanks Bob!

[Gordon Bellerose]

What did you use to finish it?
It looks a bit like a satin finish, or maybe just in the picture?

Looks good by the way!

[Dan Hehnke]

Gordon:

Good old Tru-Oil. Depending on the light it can look semi-gloss or satin. With the varied Portland sun/cloud light I had to wait for the right time to snap some pics so that it wasn't too reflective, or too dull.

[Steve Sawyer]

Man, that is one pretty guitar!!

BTW, Dan, I thought of your technique for the rope binding the other day when Lee Valley's new catalog hit my front door. They have some spiffy new gizmos for adjustable-angle shooting boards that might be perfect for that kind of work. I'm so glad this wasn't done by Woodpecker's as it would cost $300 and be one of their one-time-tools. The Lee Valley item isn't cheap, but if you do a lot of fitting to odd angles, it might be just the thing. It's their Veritas Shooting Board Fence, item 05P5485. It went onto my wish-list for when the LOML asks me what I want for Christmas!