Author Archives: atcguitars

I’ve had the pickups I’m using in this guitar for 5 or 6 years. They were in my very first build which was just a body I made, put on to a Warmoth neck. It was a nice guitar and sounded awesome. But I always thought the pickups were too good for a first buildContinue reading “To create is to destroy…”

Before painting, I get some coats of primer down. This helps to smooth the surface, and enables the paint to adhere better. Once dry, it’ll get a light sand, which is especially important in any places where the paint has raised the wood grain. Then I’ll put on another coat of the primer. I’ve justContinue reading “Spraying…”

As this is a smaller piece of wood than I would usually work with, I mentioned I was trying some new and different things with this build. I’ve made the playing area flat, arched from the first contour to the edge. I’m trying to keep the playing surface flat and low and then letting itContinue reading “The Experiment”

I wanted a carved top with this one, but with everything set low. So the angle on the neck is quite slight – 1.5 degrees. The top slopes away quite sharply at the edges for now, but will end up being a more gentle carve eventually. Onto gluing it all together! It’s quite a coldContinue reading “The Carved Top”

At each stage in the process, there’s a lot of trying things out and seeing what works before actually committing. Checking out different combinations of hardware is always worth the time. I usually start with an idea, but this is when it starts coming together and I see if it’s likely to look how I’veContinue reading “Planning”

The Northern Silky Oak turned up for the neck, I ended up deciding on it over the original plan of Maple. This came from Maleny up on the Sunshine Coast, a place I know quite well. Nice bit of wood, these came from David Linton at Australian Guitar Timbers. I like working with Australian timbers,Continue reading “Neck”

This one’s going to have 24 frets. And it’s slightly on the wider side to match with the bridge. First setting out the frets, and then radiusing it to get the right shape. It comes up really nicely, the casuarina. It’s a nice rich red colour.

I’m putting a Baby Grand bridge on this little guy, and have made a new neck template to go with it. The fret spacing will differ from the usual Gibson set up to suit it. Just mocking it up for now to see how it’s going to look. The Silky Oak is really nice woodContinue reading “Planning The Neck”

I always think I want a break between building guitars but as soon as I finish one, I can’t stop my brain running off with ideas for the next and before long I’m back in the workshop. I’ve had a piece of Southern Silky Oak hanging around that’s too small to really use for aContinue reading “Onto the next build…”