MIMF

Been a busy boy, especially since it's been raining constantly down here in the south. Got my Flying V close to the finish line.
It's quite similar in construction to the bass I built recently. I installed the hardware so I could string it up and see if it was good to go before I start applying tung oil finish ( Yes, Ace Hardware not true tung oil I know).

I almost had a heart attack as I was stringing it up. I was plucking the high E and fretting it, and it seemed I was off a fret at the octave, 13 instead of 12! OH CRAP! Panicking I grabbed my fret scale ruler, (thinking I'm gonna have to redo this fretboard), Yep it's right, measured the bridge to the nut, yep. Slap my forehead, the nut was moving. Hadn't glued it down yet. Whew! Clamped it in place. There that's better.

Specs:
Wood came from The Wood Yard in Griffin Georgia. Great wood and good prices.
Body: Figured Maple top with Mahogany body
Neck: 7 piece neck thru, Maple w/ slight flame and Purpleheart laminates.
Rosewood Fretboard w/ Purpleheart dot inlays. (Used a plug cutter)
Graph Tec Gibson Nut
Tuners, bridge, and Gold Hardware from Guitarfetish.com and Guitarnuts.net.
Alpha 500K Pots and Switch from StewMac

More Pix:








Brothers In Arms

I love flying Vs, and I love this build! The purpleheart compliments the maple very nicely. It doesn't look like there is a neck angle from the pictures. My 1981 Gibson doesn't have a neck angle, either, but the neck sits higher on the body to accommodate the bridge and pickup rings.

If you find yourself breaking a lot of strings, I would suggest switching out the Tune-O-Matic bridge with a roller bridge. The break angle on the V tailpieces is really high, especially for the 3rd and 4th strings. I was breaking both of these quite a bit on my black limba V I built a few years ago. The roller bridge solved the problem overnight. This may be moot with the countersunk bridge, though.

Again, very nice!

Thanks, Ben.
There's no neck angle on it. Perfectly straight, and yep I had to countersink the bridge. Only reason I used a tune-o-matic was I wanted to
use the V tailpiece, which I had bought a while back. Can't wait to finish it. And rock on!

Applying oil finish. The flame is looking awesome. Applying a coat every night as I'm working 7 - 12's in a row, so it all works out.

Switched gears on the finish. The Ace Tung oil wasn't working out too well. Wouldn't apply smooth with bumps all over it. Sanded it back a bit w/ 200 and 400 grits and will finish it out with Tru Oil. Going on a lot smoother.

It's Alive! Plays pretty good. Built neck closer to Les Paul specs so it's a bit to get used to. I'm a bass player at heart anyway.

Electronics. Love those lil magnets.






Now I've gone and done it. I'm committed to building 2 guitars for grandkids and one for my daughter by Christmas. Busy, busy, busy!

That's a very nice guitar Jim!
Keep us updated with your other builds.

That is one cool guitar! Beautiful wood & workmanship! Gongratulations!

beautiful!!!!! very well layed out

Thank you all. My next builds will be for two of my grandkids who are taking guitar lessons and my youngest daughter here at home. Gonna keep them simple.

Jim Outman wrote:Thank you all. My next builds will be for two of my grandkids who are taking guitar lessons and my youngest daughter here at home. Gonna keep them simple.

Uhhh RIGHT!

And we're off on the next builds. 3 of them. Busted ass and got 3 bodies started from rough cut mahogany, all cut, thickness sanded and joined, rough shaped on the bandsaw, and the backs resawn to rout cavities. I had bought this wood with neck thru basses and guitars in mind, but due to prompting from my daughter, we're going to try our hand at swirling. I have a 55 gal clean drum to dip with and have located Majic Marble paints. Good homeschool project for Daddy and Doodlebug.
Plan

Bodies:

A clean workbench, Oh My!

Resaw the back to rout cavity and chambers.

Power tools and wood:

Neck woods

Side workbench and mess

Looks good, thanks for the nice pics. I will be interested in the swirling.
But I see a big bottle of titebond 2 on the shelf! get rid of that stuff for guitars and use regular titebond 1.

I don't want to hi-jack this thread into a glue discussion,but it's my understanding that titebond 1 dries harder or more brittle than titebond 2, making it better for accoustic instruments. Titebond 2 is also a problem to take apart for future repairs. With a laminated neck,neck through build,electric instrument ,wouldn't the superiority of T-1 be kind of a moot point? I have only built a couple of mandolins, a dulcimer, a cookie tin banjo,and put one guitar fetish les paul together,so view this as a question and not an opinion. I do have some experience building recurves and longbows with smooth on epoxy,and baking them in an oven,and I have been toying with the idea of using that recipe on a neck through guitar.
I should have mentioned right off the bat that ,that is a beautiful guitar,but I'm easily sidetracked.

very nice work,

I'm intrigued by the miniature les paul on your workbench!

On the Titebond, I bought what HD had at the moment. It works.
The Les Paul was an early attempt. It has some problems I may address later on. It was a learning thang!