Non-PBG Mockingbird. From Scratch.

[B'Lark]

looking great B'Lark. I'd look at routing the neck pocket soon, so you will need to sort out the neck heel first to take measurements. You may need a large neck pocket template as there's not much meat of the body to rest it on. Good luck !

Yea the neck pocket is on the agenda to be done soon, probably as soon as the body is all done. We do have a template for it done up already. Should be large enough, I suspect Matt will have made a comment if it wasn't big enough haha

[wokkaboy]

sounds good B'Lark as long as the template sits on both horns should be ok.
What is your avatar pic of ? Always confuses me

[B'Lark]

Ah yes, that. It's a cosplay I wore to PAX a few years back. It's based off King Jeremiah from Dark Souls (http://darksouls.wdfiles.com/local--...well-large.jpg) but on holidays (hence the Leis around it )

[B'Lark]

Wahoo we're getting super close to done on this build. Today we finished up most of the neck. Pretty much all that's left for it is popping tuners on, adding the side dots and a fret dress.



First up was inlays. Opted for Black Lipped Mussel (as nice as Pāua is these stood out compared to the dark red a little better). There was a really nice variety of colour in the pieces, and I tried to arrange them a little bit by how light and dark they were. Lighter near the centre of the fretboard, darker towards the outside.







Look at this one. So nice.

[B'Lark]

Then it was fretting time!!





And we're so close!! I'm super excited at how well it's come together.

Next week we'll finally be able to do the neck pocket and sort out the bridge (we wanted to wait to make sure we routed the neck pocket the right depth) because my bridge finally arrived!!



So yea, next week the body will be almost done too. Still have to wait on the pickups, and will leave the pickup routs until then, but will get as close to done as we can over the next couple of weeks. At that stage I will probably be starting on another build, which should be relatively quick and simple (but still super exciting for me personally at least :P )

[Dedman]

man you gotta be happy with that!

[B'Lark]

AL-FREAKING-RIGHT!! I'ma give this a quick bump to the top of this part of the forum because it's been approximately 15 years since I've updated on what the hecking heck is happening with this build.

So in the last episode, I said that I was waiting on pickups for the build. And, well... I still am... The company I am getting them from has been... less than punctual with meeting their estimates. On top of that, the guy who I'd actually been talking to has kind of disappeared (even to the main man at the company...) so I'd not been able to get in touch to chase that up.

But alas! I sent a message over Paypal, got an almost immediate response back, and my pickups should be in the mail to me by the end of the week!! Huzzah!!

So with that, I'll be heading in next week to sort do the neck pocket routing, and probably the electronics cavity, as well as finish filing of the frets, and HOPEFULLY have everything finished in a few weeks.

I'm kinda sad I missed out on the Non-PBG GOTY comp, but I'm gettin' in there this year and y'all gonna have to fight me for that win

[G-Axe]

This build is immense! Glad to hear it's still moving along. I love that you've embraced the "scratch build means I do whatever the f*** I want" ethos, it's going to be a genuinely unique instrument.

[Simon Barden]

Just caught up with this. I really like Mockingbirds (it's the only BC Rich shape I have liked since I first saw them in the late '70s). Lots of nice variations. My only wish is that you'd used a figured maple top, then you could have titled your thread 'To Quilt a Mockingbird'.

I'll get my coat...

[B'Lark]

This build is immense! Glad to hear it's still moving along. I love that you've embraced the "scratch build means I do whatever the f*** I want" ethos, it's going to be a genuinely unique instrument.

Haha, yea, really did end up being like that. I did start of thinking a bit more standard (because when I was considering taking up classes it was more for the sake of learning to build a guitar from scratch, rather than having something crazy in mind) but then after talking to my teacher and realising that I could do basically whatever I wanted, I thought "well screw it, I don't really have any restrictions on this, let's go all the way with it!" and just started adding extra words on to the description of the guitar

Just caught up with this. I really like Mockingbirds (it's the only BC Rich shape I have liked since I first saw them in the late '70s). Lots of nice variations. My only wish is that you'd used a figured maple top, then you could have titled your thread 'To Quilt a Mockingbird'.

I'll get my coat...

I'm a bit like that with BC too. It's not so much that I don't like any of the others at all, just that most of them are too metal for me (and my feelings towards those sort of guitars fluctuate very heavily). But the Mockingbird has a nice blend of pointy/modern and smooth/traditional, imo.

Man I'd be stealing that title from you if I was using quilted maple haha!