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A few minutes playing it mindlessly while evaluating the feel and balance confirms for me that the strap button needs to be that far forward. This shape just doesn't have much ass to it. I do think now that it may be beneficial to remove a narrow band where the upper horn turns into the waist (as marqueemoon suggested). Since I already have a body template, I'll probably just make that change while I'm shaping the body.

Here's a few screenshots of my pickup position tool. I wanted to see what an HH rear routed version would look like. I have some extra walnut on hand, and was thinking of building a rock/metal version alongside the main build using some high gain pickups, black hardware, and an oil finish.

I keep thinking this guitar would look perfect with a Peavey headstock (pinstripe optional):



That pickup position tool is incredible by the way.

mbene085 wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 08, 2022 10:15 am

I keep thinking this guitar would look perfect with a Peavey headstock (pinstripe optional):

I think you're right. That Peavey is a great match and I've always liked the way it looks. I'll look into that.

That pickup position tool is incredible by the way.

Thanks! I am operating under the theory that this will help me to replicate tonal responses across scale lengths, or to experiment with new locations or combinations. A close look shows these humbuckers in the same relative locations on this 25" scale model, as they are on a 24.75" SG, with the thought that (if there even is a difference) a rock/metal player would find these positions familiar.

Really love the grey one you've put together - stylish and versatile! For the pickup tool, are the lines marking the center of the pickup or an edge? It seems like centered?

lastactionhero12765 wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:04 pm

Really love the grey one you've put together - stylish and versatile! For the pickup tool, are the lines marking the center of the pickup or an edge? It seems like centered?

Thanks!

The markings are for the center of the pickup. Then my pickups are blocks with their center point as the base point and I can reposition things at will.

Dude, that tool is AMAZING.

All the wood is selected.



The body is going to be nice and light. The alder blank is a fair bit wider and longer than a typical blank at the moment, but if it were the normal size, the weight would be just under 8 lbs. If this were a prepared blank, I would have paid a premium for this weight.
I glued up another blank from the same piece of alder for my Yamaha SG2 copy, so I'll enjoy some of this light alder too. My extra walnut is only 1-3/8” thick, so it would need a top. That's a pretty low priority build though.

The neck will be maple with a head access truss rod. The fretboard is from lmii. It's "Royal Blackwood", which is torrefied purpleheart. I am using a board on another neck build at the moment and I think it'll work really nice here as well. I think it'll look awesome polished up and oiled. I bought two boards and will plan to build a second neck for the other eventual body at the same time.

Lastly, just wanted to show what the Peavey headstock would look like on this body. I'm not sure about this combo now, but it has me thinking of some combos of the original headstock and the Peavey that might be cool.

Nice! I really like the fingerboard.

Also not a giant fan of the Peavey headstock with this body - I think something between that and the Novo shape might work.

Very cool build though!

This is gonna be amazing

Progress shots
I still have a little more routing and the contouring to do. The weight is already under 3.5 lbs though!


The neck is in progress as well, here it is with the new pickguard template.


Thinking about the second body, I have an ash blank that is really too heavy (14+ lbs) for any regular design. It's either make a thinline body or a small body. There should be enough good weather left to do a quick finish. I'm thinking paint on unfilled ash and a satin topcoat. Maybe a fun neon color? HH pickups, or maybe even just a single HB.

When I was a wannabe young rockstar, this was the time of installing microswitches everywhere, phase-splitters, push-pull pots and brass nuts etc.

I wish then that somebody had given me the Esquire or LP Jr. I now own and said, "Everything you need to get good with is in your fingers. The rest is all fairy dust."

I must have wasted so much time putzing about with the options of sound instead of actually creating music!

So, I tactfully suggest, the fewer pickup choices, the better.

Sanding on the stoop on a sunny Sunday smorning. Still need to drill for the bridge and string ferrules and fine tune the heel shape. The weight is around 3lb2oz currently.

Looking good, and that's a great weight.

Sorry the Peavey headstock didn't pan out. Was rooting for that one. Have you figured out what you want to do instead?

I did a lot of sketching directly on the headstock, pulling different shapes from the body template and trying a bunch of stuff. Here's where I ended up, it's kind of like a lite version of a Yamaha SG2/3, I may still shave a little more off the bottom. We'll see.


I also have the neck carve pretty much done. I narrowed the nut to 40mm and am aiming for a thinner version of a modern C shape.


I like to do a 50s "Tadeo Gomez" style carve that goes up the headstock, those are the little details that make a hand carved neck special.