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 build hybrid so after building a few more (mostly all complete builds now) they found a new home. Really looking forward to seeing how they sound in this guitar because I think they’re going to look pretty good…

The gold and black vibe is working for me and I’m happy with how the carve is looking under all that shiny gold.

They say to create is to destroy, and there are many points where I have to sand it all back and spray again in order to inch closer to the final version.

Got a few coats of Nitro on this afternoon, with good weather predicted for tomorrow. We’re getting to the end of the build updates for this one now, final photos to come next, so watch this space!

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 just decided to do a red stain on the back, so no primer there, as I want the wood grain to show through.

It’s getting close to getting the gold paint on the front, and gluing the neck on. The Super Glue can sometimes bleed when gluing the binding, which can prevent the stain from taking properly. If this happens, I can mix some stain into the Nitro when spraying the edges to hopefully improve it.

Then finally, the neck is ready to join the party…

And once the primer is dry, we can start getting the colour sprayed on the front! Gold for this one. Starting to get an idea of how it’s going to look, pretty happy with the colour choice.

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 it all fall away to the edge. Looking forward to getting some paint on it, wondering how and if it will all marry together okay. Bit of an experiment so we’ll see how it pulls up. I think it looks quite unique…

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 cold day here in Sydney (6 degrees!) so I’m expecting it to take some time to set. They say patience is a virtue….

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’ve visualised it will.

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, but this is going to be my first build with all Australian wood!

Doesn’t take long to get into where it needs to be. Truss rod and carbon rods are in. And always with a cup of tea nearby. Gotta stay hydrated.

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.

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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 wood to work with, I always enjoy using it.

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 a custom build, but I wanted to have some fun and try something different.

So this is where I’m starting from:

Body:                 Southern Silky Oak
Cap:                   Queensland Kauri
Neck:                 Queensland Maple
Fret Board:       Casuarina Lace Wood

The body shape will be governed by the piece of wood. Might not be everyone’s thing, but you can’t always please em all. Going to try and push some boundaries and see what happens. Welcome along for the ride.