2018 Guitar's Workshop: Ep. 2 - Blood & Satinwood

courtney2018 · #1 06-20-2009, 01:09 AM

Hello folks. I've been away a little while. I was on the unfortunate receiving end of a layoff. So I've been pretty busy interviewing and looking for jobs. Quite the bummer. Seeing as I've got more free time on my hands I've been messing around with building more guitar bodies. I've actually finished one up completely which I haven't posted any pics of yet. I'm saving it all for tomorrow. Just have to do a finish sanding on it and it's a done deal. Looks really awesome though. I'll share some teaser pics in another thread tonight.

Here is the start of my next project. It's going to have Bloodwood and Brazilian Satinwood. Bloodwood is a dark red wood that is very heavy and very tight grain structure. Satinwood is a bit lighter and has a yellow color. Very vibrant actually. Pretty! It's gluing up right now.

Below are a couple of pics. Not very good but you get the idea. They're gluing. Anyways, I think this body is going to be a 7 string. I'm thinking of doing a humbucker and two singles with the neck single coil angled. It'll look like a 560 only it'll be a 7 string version. I don't recall Ibanez ever doing that before for a 7 string, so maybe this will be a first.

It will be built around a regular Ibanez 7 string AANJ neck. I'm also contemplating putting in the old style JEM handle. I call it the rootbeer handle. It's just a long slot instead of the monkey grip. What are you're thoughts on that?

I was thinking of making this a trem guitar. But I could be arm-twisted into making a solid tail. What do you think?

The body is going to alternating strips of bloodwood and satinwood on the front and back. I haven't decided yet what width each strip will be or what color will be in the middle. The middle strip will be wide. I'm thinking that the next strip out will be thin followed by a wider strip. I don't have alot of wood to work with so I don't know how many strips I'll be able to get in. Tomorrow I'll cut it and decide what gets the middle strip - the bloodwood or the satinwood, then re-glue. I'll let that sit overnight and do the same thing on Sunday.

So, what are your thoughts on this?

**jim777** · #2 06-20-2009, 01:15 AM

You have exquisite taste in wood Courtney

good Luck with the job hunting, but the money is in necks, not bodies

.

courtney2018 · #3 06-20-2009, 01:26 AM

Thanks!

I know about the necks. I'm trying to get situated so I can get a small CNC machine to do necks. I'm really bugging to get one. I've got a headstock design already. I'm just chomping at the bit to do it. But right now I can't justify flopping out $10k. If I get a job soon the I just might be doing it.

Plus, there's lots more stuff I can do with it besides just necks to help it pay for itself. I'm hoping that sometime this year I'll be picking one up.

courtney2018 · #4 06-26-2009, 01:07 PM

Getting some progress on this one. The figured eucalyptus body is all glued up and ready to get cut on. I'm going to do these two projects at the same time.

I need to make another cut on each side, glue it up again, and I believe this one will be ready. If I have enough wood I might do another cut in the middle so that there will be a thin red strip there. The pic below is what the front is going to look like. Either way, it's turning out very nice.

The pic makes the wood look dindgy and dirty. That's just the glue. Once I get the front and back planed it'll be a nice vibrant red and yellow. The yellow is so bright and rich when it's cut. Really looks beautiful.

Should be able to cut the body shape out for this one and the figured eucalyptus body this weekend (tomorrow). Also working on a few more project for a customer so these two will be a bit slow in progress, but should be close to finishing up in a couple of weeks.

courtney2018 · #5 07-02-2009, 08:30 PM

Here's alittle bit of progress. Not much, but alittle. It's been raining like crazy for the past few days. This one and the figured eucalyptus body are ready to cut. Can't wait.

Enjoy the pics.

courtney2018 · #6 07-03-2009, 08:43 PM

Ran out of time today, but I did get it planed. You can really see the vibrance in the yellow Satinwood and the red in the Bloodwood. Looks really awesome in person.

So it's ready to go. I should have some time tomorrow to cut this one out and get the sides sanded down before the 4th of July festivities kick off.

This is going to be the front I believe.

courtney2018 · #7 07-06-2009, 01:04 AM

Here we go! Managed to get it cut out and the sides sanded today. Tomorrow going to be routing out this one and the Eucalyptus body as well.

In the pics below, the yellow Satinwood isn't as vibrant as it should be because there's Bloodwood sawdust inbetween the grains.

Enjoy the pics!

Agent540 · #8 07-06-2009, 12:37 PM

original and brilliant idea ! congrats, I love it !

courtney2018 · #9 07-06-2009, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agent540

original and brilliant idea ! congrats, I love it !

Thanks!

I laid out how I'm going to do this one. It's really hard to see the lines on the front, but they're there. You should be able to get an idea of what it's going to look like.

There's an old style JEM handle in there too. You don't see that much anymore so thought I'd throw that in. Remember, this is a 7 string. Probably the only 7 string made for Ibanez that has this wood with the old handle. This thing should look pretty cool when it's all finished.

6fingers · #10 07-06-2009, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by courtney2018

Oh man this looks like my living room floor!
I don't like this kinda finish.
Sorry.

nato101010 · #11 07-06-2009, 10:47 PM

You're probably one of my favorite and most inventive luthiers right now. You should team up with Alan at Out Of This Swirled, he's got some neat ideas going on. Like the 3D neon swirl with f-holes. That'd be one amazing guitar if you did...lol. I can't wait to see this done, and I hope you get a CNC soon. Your neck ideas i can't wait for!

courtney2018 · #12 07-07-2009, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6fingers

Oh man this looks like my living room floor!
I don't like this kinda finish.
Sorry.

No problem. Keep in mind that the brownish colored wood is actually a deep red. It's Bloodwood. Pretty dense too. The Satinwood is lighter so it should make for a really great sounding guitar...if you don't mind the color scheme. Of course, the color scheme is exactly opposite on the back.

I don't know, I thought it would be pretty cool looking. Kinda looks like a devil with the red horns.

courtney2018 · #13 07-07-2009, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nato101010

You're probably one of my favorite and most inventive luthiers right now. You should team up with Alan at Out Of This Swirled, he's got some neat ideas going on. Like the 3D neon swirl with f-holes. That'd be one amazing guitar if you did...lol. I can't wait to see this done, and I hope you get a CNC soon. Your neck ideas i can't wait for!

Thanks!

Not sure what else Alan does, but obviously he does swirls. Unfortunately he would be my competition in that regard as I do swirls as well. I saw that swirl with the f-holes faded in. That looked pretty cool. Hadn't seen that one before.

Yea, I'm working on getting a CNC. Talked to a bank today that does leases for the CNC manufacturer I'm looking at. Might get some decent news tomorrow on what kind of rate I might get and all. If it works out I'll do it.

The boyfriend and I have come up with some different ideas on making necks. I've got this one idea where you don't really need any bolts to hold it in place, but there would be one. Don't know how well it'll work. Have to do one and see how it works.

He's got an idea that will eliminate the need for a truss rod altogether, which sounds stellar! It's going to be high on the list for what to do first if I get a CNC machine.

I also have some pretty cool inlay ideas. Stuff that I'm pretty sure nobody has ever seen on a guitar. I'm going to showcase some inlay stuff on the figured Eucalyptus body. I'm hoping that it drops some jaws.