The Deluxester Prototype - Sonic's foray into repeatable scratch builds

[Sonic Mountain]

Finally some decent spraying weather this morning. Bit the bullet and went with satin. It's not quite what I was planning, but I'm not at all unhappy with the result. Its the same finish as the Steampunker and that is lovely to hold and play. It also seems to cure more quickly so a good chance I can start putting it together on Sunday.

[Sonic Mountain]

Finally some decent spraying weather this morning. Bit the bullet and went with satin. It's not quite what I was planning, but I'm not at all unhappy with the result. Its the same finish as the Steampunker and that is lovely to hold and play. It also seems to cure more quickly so a good chance I can start putting it together on Sunday.

Double post to get it on the new page...

[Sonic Mountain]

Well... some progress. Why is it when paint is drying there is nothing else to do, but as soon as I want to do assembly I have to drive kids all over the countryside for sport/work all day long? Wasted the whole morning in Brisbane and its stupidly hot in the shed but I got this far.



The good news - it tunes, intones fine and I can tell that with a little more fiddling it will setup really nicely. It actually plays pretty OK as is. So that's a big relief.

The bad - the string through ferules aren't the ones I thought I had bough, so I'm not super happy with how that's being done at the moment. Will go into that in another post later.

The strings are ever so slightly running more towards the bass side of the neck. It doesn' t affect functionality as I made the neck a little wider than necessary anyway because I have a habit of bending the strings past the fret board edge.But once you see it you can't unsee it.

Also, and this is the biggest issue, it doesn't look right. The proportions aren't quite right and I strongly feel the bout needs to be a lot bigger.

So I'm in too minds (And kinda a bad mood so not doing anything else until I calm down) but I think I want to build a new body.

Its slightly sickening feeling considering the bulk time I've invested in this one, but I'm not sure I can live with it how it is.

What are peoples thoughts? Am I just over tired and over heated or does it look a bit weird?

I think I can use everything including the pickguard again, I'm happy with that area.

[Adamc]

I'm not seeing the proportions being that bad Sonic. I really think it looks sleek and balanced the way it is. If you go back to your illustrations I think you've pretty much got it nailed. At the end of the day, you're the one that has to be happy with it, but I'd give it a day and come back with fresh eyes before you go beserk on a new body.


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[FrankenWashie]

Leave it sit, put the little niggles out of your head. Pick it up, plug it in and play it. Don’t decide on stuff about rework until you’ve gotten to grips with it and see what it can do.

in terms of the aesthetic, I like the body shape, I’m not sure I would mess with it too far.

[Sonic Mountain]

Thanks guys. I've calmed down a bit now. Plus I loosened the strings, slightly loosened the neck screws and there was enough slop in the pocket to move it a little and get them running perfectly true. It's only a little thing, but it was annoying me.

I just have to accept that the first time doing it completely from scratch isn't going to be perfect. I also changed things on the fly. The bridge here is about 2 1/2 cm further back than the original design and it's making it look a little short past the bridge. The mockups earlier in this thread have been properly adjusted, so hopefully Prototype V2 will be more what I see in my head.

I've also learnt that I should have drilled the truss rod access hole at a very slight angle, which would allow a slightly thicker headstock. It's fine funcionaly, but it doesn't look quite right. I'm going to fashion some kind of string retainer bar to pull them down a bit past the nut.

The entire point was to learn a whole bunch of skills so I need to focus on what's gone right. I've just been playing it and it feels really good in my hands and in terms of how I play, it really works well. Contrasted to yesterday at band practice I was playing my Hagstrom, which I do love, but it has the switch in the same place as a Les Paul and I constantly hit it while playing. It both hurts and changes the sound dramatically mid song.

Anyway. Many lessons learnt for version 2. I'll keep going with this but I'm keen to have it done and move on now.

[king casey]

Once it's in playing orientation, it looks O.K. to me.


cheers, Mark.

[blinddrew]

Have to say that i really like the shape and proportions. It's original without being ridiculous and pays a homage to a couple of classics without being a knock off. I also think the headstock shape perfectly suits the body - something you don't always get even from the major manufacturers.
If you really don't like it I'll let you pop it in the post to me, as a favour...

[Simon Barden]

It's possibly a little bland looking at the moment, but you haven't got all the hardware on.

I'd also think about moving the bridge pickup back slightly so it's nearer the bridge (or moving the bridge further forwards). The pickup is currently at least an extra coil position away from the saddle than it would be on a say a Les Paul or a Firebird.

Some neck dot markers would also make it a bit more interesting for me.

But I'm still liking the overall shape. Add the rest of the hardware and then see what it looks like.

[wazkelly]

Just need to have a few more of those yummy kiwi beers and then come back to it.

There are basically 3 main important elements with all guitars....How does it play? How does it sound? How does it look? and I have deliberately listed them in that order as our impressions are sometimes clouded by appearance rather than functionality.

If it looked great and played like a pig that would have been a wasted effort.

To me it looks OK and has bit of Firebird look about it.