@ FrankenWashie Hey, I was wondering how much it would cost me to get you to make a custom body for a spare Ibanez 24-Fret RG 270 neck that I've got here?, here's a pic of the neck:
Attachment 33170
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@ FrankenWashie Hey, I was wondering how much it would cost me to get you to make a custom body for a spare Ibanez 24-Fret RG 270 neck that I've got here?, here's a pic of the neck:
Attachment 33170
TBH Doc, that's going to depend entirely on what you want to do with it.
What body timber would you want? DO you want a single blank body or can you live with two piece/multi piece?
Do you want an RG Body shape or something a bit different?
Will you be looking for hard tail or FR/ST type trem routs? if Hard tail, Through body or top load?
Direct mount PUP positions or Swimming pool + Scratch plate?
Would you want to have the raw body to finish yourself, or would you want it finished?
The more involved it is, the more its going to cost in time, which is the biggest killer.
For an African Mahogany 2 piece body, to a standard -ish RG shape, hard tail, unfinished (Sanding sealer coated) probably about $200 ish?
I'm happy to discuss further if it sounds reasonable.
You'll certainly need to be able to do a Floyd Rose rout.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Well, I'm perfectly happy with it being made from two, or multiple pieces of wood, seeing as the neck is already routed and drilled to accept a Floyd Rose locking-nut and I am planning on ordering a new Floyd Rose trem for it, then it needs to be routed to accept a standard Original Floyd Rose bridge, also planning on installing two full-sized humbuckers (mounted in plastic rings which are mounted on the body) with a three-way pickup selector switch (Neck, Neck + Bridge, Bridge), and a master volume and tone configuration, I can finish the body myself so the wood doesn't have to be anything real special or have a good looking grain to it, maybe some plain Maple or Alder, I know Ibanez normally use Basswood, I was thinking of finishing the body in an opaque metallic blue paint anyway, and yeah standard RG shape.
If direct-mounting of the pickups would work-out cheaper, then I'd be happy to go that route.
I'm happy to pay at least Au$200.00 for a custom body, to buy one on eBay would easily cost me three or four times as much.
So summing-up:
* Two or more pieces of wood.
* Wood doesn't have to be anything real special, or exotic, maybe plain Maple or Alder or whichever you think is most appropriate (neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard).
* Two full-sized Humbuckers (1 Neck and 1 Bridge), can be either direct-mounted or mounted via plastic pickup rings.
* Controls 3-way Toggle switch, 1 Master Volume, 1 Master Tone, and 1 output jack.
* Body Routed for a Floyd Rose original trem bridge.
* I'm going to be finishing the body in an opaque paint from a spray can so wood grain isn't so important.
I'm also open to any suggestions too, but the main idea is to get the neck up and running as a full and functional guitar.
And can you wait at least 2 years for it? ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Yeah, I'm not in too much of a hurry, since I can order all the hardware while I'm waiting anyway.
The addition of the bandsaw to the lab has brought this down to 18 months. That’s a 25% reduction in processing time!Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
FYI Doc, in cleaning up today I found I have a set of templates for a standard RG shape.
I have some African mahogany and QLD maple at the moment, I also have a big chunk of Victorian ash.
I can get Euro beech at a reasonable price, but that stuff is pretty weighty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Oh awesome, which wood would you recommend going with then?, do you want me to send the neck to you in the post so you can take direct measurements of the neck heel so you can get the dimensions for the neck pocket?
Now that I've been thinking about it a bit more, I'd like to go with direct-mounting the two humbucking pickups to the body, it seems to me like that's going to need the least amount of routing of the top of the body to be done.:eek:
I’ve used the African mahogany in the Something Stirs build, it’s a reasonable weight, the QLD maple is a bit lighter.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrNomis_44
I’ve got to put a couple of blanks together from each and do a weight comparison.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
African Mahogany sounds like an interesting choice, my BC Rich Warlock has a Mahogany body and I like the tone I get from it, the Warlock also has a Maple Neck with a Rosewood fingerboard.
I'm going with one of these Floyd Rose Original trem bridges from Stewmac:
https://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...lo_System.html
That's cool Doc, I'll check my templates against the FR specs to be sure things are on point, I can replicate and adjust to suit.
I'll drop you a PM when the blanks are all ready and we can make some decisions from there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Cheers mate, much appreciated!!!
So this started happening.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a548b3885f.jpg
I sorted templates and roughed out the bodies on the bandsaw (I love having a bandsaw!) so just waiting on some CA to treat the template edges and harden them up before I rout the profiles.
I’m going to run the Qld Maple body first, to get a feel for how the GIGANTIC 2” long follow bit goes. Assuming all runs well, and I don’t create any reattachment work for Igor, we’ll bash out the mahogany body.
I’ve got some laser cut master templates in progress for the Floyd. The templates I’ve got seem rather loose compared to FR original specs, so I don’t want to use them, especially on Doc’s Mahogany body.
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Great stuff. I've been amazed at how useful having a band saw (even a small one) is. Really speeds things up. You look to have almost exactly the same table router setup as me, I haven't bothered with the table extensions though. Good luck and safe routing.
$60.00 at the BGSFOS, couldn’t pass it up. I’m contemplating inlaying it into my workbench.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
That’s my eventual plan as well. At the moment it’s bolted to an old school desk so I can drag it out side for making sawdust.
One down, one to go.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3177d490aa.jpg
For the record, 2” long router bits are rather intimidating. Thankfully all digits remain in original configuration
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"That thucks" says a bored Igor.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
ozito router table for the win!
If anyone is curious as to what pushing your luck on a router cut looks like. It looks like this.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...893a856387.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5255ef8d15.jpg
Many, MANY bad words, at very high volume. Ruined blank. Time to start over.
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Yep, I've been there as you know. I'd take a cut out of where the tear out is to make it a shape you can glue a piece into and hide with a solid colour finish.
Maybe take off that whole elbow cut section and replace it with a contrasting piece to make it a feature? Something really light/dark in colour contrasting with the 'hog could be interesting. And... ouch :(
Ouch, was that because you were trying to take the whole side in one pass with the 2" bit? Or something else went awry...
It's only a flesh wound...
Can't you reshape the body a bit, make it a dinkier body rather than the full fat version?
Definitely an opportunity here.
Yes I’m putting it aside for now and contemplate what else I can do with it. I’ve enough mahogany to prep another blank so I’ll get that done and see where we go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Woltz
It will have to be something of that nature, there’s a slew of little digs all the way along the rear bout.Quote:
Originally Posted by WeirdBits
The bit is new and does it quite well on the full body cut, what’s happened here is I’ve run about 10mm too far along the bout, and run the blade rotation into the end grain. That caused a huge grab which spun the body and caused the rest of the damage.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakersdozen
It will be something of that nature Simon, this one was for Doc, and the brief was an standard RG body, so we’ll have to start again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
My only RG weights a ton. I'd be happy with some weight relief!
Interestingly, the Mahongany blank was pretty weighty in comparison to the Qld Maple one. It still is despite the rather unorthodox weight relief effort.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Yep! done that one before FW on a maple headstock. ....lots of sanding...lots
The dude with the rippling neck muscles.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
cheers Mark.
Ouch, bugger. It's nanoseconds between 'This is going well' and 'oh $^&@'. At least it was only the blank that got injured. You'll be able to do something with it down the track.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain
Yes. It really is. And it was all going SO very well to that point.
So in the cold sober light of today, I took another look at the damages.
It’s ugly, no getting around it, it’s ugly.
But assessing what to do was a bit taxing. I have plenty of suitable Mahogany off cuts to patch, but the patch job would need to be either a series of little ones, or a wide swathe across the rear, for which I didn’t have a big enough off cut with the right grain orientation.
I elected to reshape the body. I drew some inspiration from one of our past GOTM winners as well as some contemporary styling from Archetype Guitars in NZ.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0f7214287a.jpg
The lower restyle was to remove the ding caused by the body hitting the floor.
I took a JM style line to the rear of the upper bout and down to just below the centerline to get rid of the major dings.
I’m still tossing up how to reshape the upper half and the lower horn, but at least there is a way forward that is not junking it or trying to work a patch job.
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I like the restyle. A lot more like an S-series Ibanez, which I much prefer to the RG.
More pleasing to my eye too
I’ve always had a fondness for the RGs, but they are rather planky. I don’t think I’ve ever played an actual s series. I do have a JS140 which is all rounded curves and profiles. I think this is going to end up curved facets and carved angles, that seems to be what it’s saying to me at present. But before I get to far ahead of myself I’ll need to get the control cavity sorted and the other major routs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Edit: And I should probably build a neck at some point.
If it were me, I'd now probably round the horn points off a bit more, or maybe just the lower one. Just a bit.
Funnily enough, I spent about a half hour trying to sketch out that very concept. As you can see it’s still a work in progress.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
That'd be my take on it as well. I like the reshape so far.
I'll cast another vote that way. I've never been a fan of the extreme pointy horns on Ibanezes (or pointy guitars in general).Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
+1 for softening the pointy bits although I actually like the slab back end for what it’s worth