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Nice
Is Koa heavy?

Sort of getting clost to finishing this 12 string, its been a nightmare with stupid shit getting messed up and making me redo things multiple times and I just want it done.
Also there must be some new regulations that went into place on the 1st because I can't buy lacquer spray cans through the mail anymore.

I can relate... I have real hate/love/hate thing with finishing... I think that's why i change finish types every 2 or so projects... This time I'm going with Tried & True polymerized linseed oil & beeswax

I'd say koa is in the weight ballpark of brazilian mahogany.. Maby a bit lighter but harder or stiffer? I really love the finished product.. This will be the 3rd thing ive done with koa... Hate working it... Stuff tears out if you look at it wrong...

Wow that thing is beautiful repoman

This 7 string project has been the worst for me interns of finding out I just don't have the exact router or drill bit I need I', stalled yesterday because turns out the 1/2" neck inserts I got actauly measure at 19/32" So I either had to get different inserts or another drill bit.. I ordered the bit.
also it started to rain... yeah I know I like in washington.. but it had "stopped raining" for a half hour giving me a window to do a little routing.. [I don't like roughing or sanding inside my little work shed [which atm is halfway suspended over a foot deep pond that happening in my yard during winter...

that is a beautiful piece of wood

ooo my, didn't even see this thread before I posted about my feeble attempt at bass modding...

that 12string looks absolutely fabulous repoman!!

this used to be a black SSS Strat



now it has been HSS for a long time
and might be more appropriate in the hack job thread

but it was my first electric and I love it

since I would have to fix the nut anyway
I'm thinking about converting it to a baritone

Ok, so this XII nightmare is almost done, needs frets and some hardware. I have no idea if it will even work and if the aluminum rod can take the tension of 12 strings, I was thinking about putting a Nashville tuning on it if it doesn't which I've never seen on 12 strings before which might be pretty cool sounding.
This Spazial sort of coming along, fretboard, some routing, painting needs to be done, I'm trying to recreate the Wandre vibrato system and I'm not smart enough to figure out spring rates so I built this test rig to figure out which spring to use.



I had assumed that the spring in the vibrato was an extension spring so I tried a bunch of different ones using that but the string tension would pull all the springs I bought too far, then I found an actual picture of the guts of the vibrato:



I guessed most parts of it right except that it uses a compression spring instead of an extension. I had a bigsby spring in my parts bin and stuck it in there and it almost works but not quite, it is still a bit too weak, I've reordered some new springs for testing that now, but I'm toying with the idea of having a compression spring on one side and an extension spring on the other, I wonder if you could make a really really awesome feeling vibrato system with a push/pull system like that setup. I'm guessing if I could have really long compression and extension springs perfectly balanced with the pull of the string tension, you could slow the oscillation when doing that Steve Vai thing of flicking the wang bar, which could give you a really slow mechanical oscillating vibrato on the guitar, but I'm guessing the springs would have to be very long to do that.


I just put those thunderbird pickups in the Spazial like how Harvester Guitars uses them a lot, pretty good off shelf visual rep of the Davoli 'bikini' pickups but I still need to learn CAD/CAM so I can build some sort of closer representation of the originals which have this cool trapezoidal shape and embossing. I'm also trying to figure out what the guts of them look like, I've read they are sort of like Fender XII pickups under a cover, I kind of want to build some Jazzmaster style pickups under a cover like that since JM pickups are my favorites. This pic seems to show 3 wires? If anyone has ever seen a pic of the guts pls tell me! There is a company in Germany that actually still produces the Bikini Davolis, but they are just stupidly priced at $400 usd PER pickup.

A consequence of not having any work to do has resulted in me picking up a job I should have finished years ago.

I used to build guitars as part of my business but overreaching myself got me in a right mess mentally and I had to give that part of things up for my health.

This is a build for a good friend and one time bandmate. It was meant to be finished in time for his 50th birthday and when I started I had a couple of years to get it done, he's 57 this year . . .

I've done little bits every now and again, and today I cut out and routed the neck. Hopefully I'll cut the fret slots tomorrow and do some more to it next week (my daughter's here from Friday to Sunday so I can't do anything then).

As long as nothing goes dramatically wrong I'm hoping I can get a lot closer to finishing than I was this morning

That looks great Paul!


and that thing is coming along amazing repoman, sounds like a lot of work!!!¬

What a difference sanding makes?

Here is the 7 strang sanded [320 grit] and ready for oil [doing a tung oil finish on this one] and here is the re-cut headstock

Finally finished this project, although I more or less gave up on it and started slamming it together just to be rid of it from my workspace.
Came out ok, sounds really pretty. Somewhat difficult to play because it gets really busy near the nut, I think the string spacing is too far at 0.100" , I would reduce that to 0.070" if I ever build another 12 String.
The scratch built bridge I made for it works ok, the radius seems to match the fretboard well. It's heavy but not crazy heavy at 8.6 lbs.

Non the less GREAT WORK!

You do have to be careful though about spacing courses on multi-course instruments. So if you make them closer together at the nut you might want to think about widening the spacing at the bridge to prevent string clanging and buzzing. When I built my 12 string bass last year I had to re-groove the octave string saddles because the factory spacing had them too close together to sound cleanly.

Here is the 7 string bass @ tung oil finish coat #2

Awesome, that wood looks really good with the stain/finish on it. What kind of wood is it? Does Tung Oil build up to a finish like lacquer or does it always seep into the wood?