My Second Project Guitar
Features
Novax Fanned Fret neck
ABM Headless Bridge System
Floyd Rose Locking Nut
Chambered alder body
Bill Lawrence L-500 neck pickup
Carvin M22SD bridge pickup
Stewart McDonald abalone topped knobs
Volume and tone pots lift to swtich to single coil mode
Tung oil finish on body and neck
Incredibly low weight due to lack of headstock and chambering
Sound Clips
1 Soundclip of the pickupsThis clip is the neck-both-bridge in humbucking mode, then again in coil tap mode. Finally the bridge pickup with some gain. Recorded with my PAIA Mid Side Stereo Mic and my Mesa F-50.
2 Demo Song This demonstrates one of the sounds the F-50 does well.
The Story
The idea for this experiment came from my interest in three guitars: the Steinberger headless guitar, the Carvin Fatboy/H2, and the Novax Expression. I wondered what it might be like to combine features of all three of these guitars in to one.
I started with a Carvin alder body blank, and sliced it in two pieces, as you would open a book. I routed out the chambers and glued it back together.
Many thanks to Mr. Hunt, an expert wood worker who guided me and helped repair a few of my mistakes.
What I Would Do Differently
If I make another guitar like this, here are a few things I will do differently:
-try to buy two pieces of wood instead of slicing one down the middle. Nobody has a bandsaw with a 14” throat, and using a table saw / handsaw is a bit of work
-mount the neck before cutting out the finger access for the bridge tuners. I had to mount the neck slightly crooked in the pocket since the finger acces was slightly off
-get an extra long drill bit to drill the pickup wire channels. The short bit I used caused the drill to mar the finish a little.
-cut out the main body shape with a bandsaw instead of routing it. My routing seems to be error prone and I usually endup slipping and routing a little hole somewhere.
-route out various sized holes instead of one big chamber. I like the chambered sound but I think as it is it may be tuned a little low. When playing a low E or A, you can really feel the guitar vibrate.