The Battering Ram

[kbit]

You gonna run 2 jazz pickups and 2 ric pickups? volume for each and master tone?
Intrigued in how this will turn out.

If this goes as planned, it'll be two humbucking jazzies (Nordstrand split Js) and two humbucking Rics (I found 'em, just can't recall the guy's name). Yup, volume for each and one master tone. Maybe a three way switch to go Jazz-only/Ric-only/all on.

That three way switch is a cool idea. If you can swing it, do it

[jrmy]

You gonna run 2 jazz pickups and 2 ric pickups? volume for each and master tone?
Intrigued in how this will turn out.

If this goes as planned, it'll be two humbucking jazzies (Nordstrand split Js) and two humbucking Rics (I found 'em, just can't recall the guy's name). Yup, volume for each and one master tone. Maybe a three way switch to go Jazz-only/Ric-only/all on.

That three way switch is a cool idea. If you can swing it, do it

I think it should be swingable!

Gettin' jazzed up for this... initial cuts going down this week!

[Haki]

As for pickguards, I was thinking either etched metal or black pearl tort. Dunno... trying to find that line between kickass and gaudy...

Just hit up LaoWiz for the guard.

[AxAxSxS]

As for pickguards, I was thinking either etched metal or black pearl tort. Dunno... trying to find that line between kickass and gaudy...

Just hit up LaoWiz for the guard.

Hell yeah, etched metal guard and dark wood tones and this will be a beaut! Nice shape, classic lines.

[Iommic Pope]

As for pickguards, I was thinking either etched metal or black pearl tort. Dunno... trying to find that line between kickass and gaudy...

Just hit up LaoWiz for the guard.

Hell yeah, etched metal guard and dark wood tones and this will be a beaut! Nice shape, classic lines.

Holy shit.
Best idea ever.
I want a baritone VI version.
Pronto!!!

[jrmy]

As for pickguards, I was thinking either etched metal or black pearl tort. Dunno... trying to find that line between kickass and gaudy...

Just hit up LaoWiz for the guard.

That's been the plan for the start if I was gonna go with metal! I can't get anything past you guys.

It'll be quite a beast, methinks.

[Mudfuzz]

Way cool! Thought about Ric-o-sounding it? Then you could have one output be Jazz and the other be Ric!

[jrmy]

Way cool! Thought about Ric-o-sounding it? Then you could have one output be Jazz and the other be Ric!

That's a cool idea, but I never used my Ric-o-sound on my Ric, so it would probably be wasted on this one. But I might revive it on the actual Ric!

[Bon Hoga]

Love the body.

[jrmy]

Progress! Today Decibill, myself and our friend Otto cut out the body & the neck pocket and sanded the edges. Still gotta contour the body and obvs a whole ton more, but it felt like the first real step! When I got home, I checked the neck (which I had forgotten to bring to the workshop) fit in the pocket. It looked great to me - I compared it against my regular Jazz, and the neck depth looked spot-on.

Will post some pics this weekend

[ChetMagongalo]

man that body design is REALLY cool, it'd be a shame if you didn't use it

[Decibill]

man that body design is REALLY cool, it'd be a shame if you didn't use it

Oh, it will be used...!!

[jrmy]

Some photo documentation!!!!

Thankfully, since I have next to zero woodworking experience outside of high school shop class (I think I made a key hanger...), Otto and Decibill achieved a very fine balance between giving me guidance on stuff I could do myself and taking over to handle things that could easily a) chop my fingers off, or b) ruin the whole thing. Of course, I only have photos of them working (since I was taking pictures), so you'll just have to take my word for the fact that I did do some of each of these (except the drum sander - I did rock the belt sander, though).

First up, Otto lined up my body design to the area he traced for the body pocket. Then we double-checked the centerline, glued the design onto the blank with spray adhesive, and routed out the pocket (after double-checking the standard pocket depth for Jazz necks).

bodyroutedpocket.jpg (91.77 KiB) Viewed 1333 times

Then we cut the body out on the bandsaw - this is Otto starting it off, but Decibill and myself each took a turn.

Bandsaw-Otto.jpg (124.3 KiB) Viewed 1333 times

After getting the basic body shape cut out, we did the big convex curves on the belt sander and the concave curves on the drum sander. Then there was a lot of hand-sanding to smooth it all out.

Drumsander-Decibill.jpg (145.07 KiB) Viewed 1333 times

This is actually mid-process - I think I'd done the belt sanding, but we hadn't done the drum or hand sanding yet. Still, it looked cool on the shop floor.

bodycut.jpg (137.14 KiB) Viewed 1333 times

And finally, here's a crappy cell phone photo of it on my floor with the neck laid in. I'm not gonna show the headstock design, since it's not quite done yet, but it's getting there. I'm a little on the fence about the fretboard color - it feels a little bright orangey for my current thoughts on the body color scheme, but I'm not gonna get too hung up on that just yet. Note: the paper is coming up a little around the edges, so it looks like the body curves are weirdly dinged up, but I assure you they're not.

bassneck.jpg (72.02 KiB) Viewed 1333 times

Next up: finalizing the headstock design and figuring out the contouring!

[backwardsvoyager]

BONARZ

coming along very nicely!

i wanna guitar in that shape now. I wonder if Rickenbacker would sue if a company started making these.

[gunslinger_burrito]

Looks rad, so far!

I'm very jealous that you know someone with a shop..... I'm so tired of working on guitars with ghetto-ass home tools.