My Warpig7 fanned fret build

[Oli]

A little update: I've finally got the rest of the essential tools that i need, so the fretboard has now been radiused, and is awaiting fret slotting and fretting itself :) I've also got the hide glue too, so i'll have the body fixed soon, perhaps on sunday.

I've picked up some more woods for future projects, mainly fretboards aside from a piece of Wenge which I hope to split between 4 necks. Some pictures of the fretboards:


left to right: Leopardwood, Macassar Ebony, Cocobolo


A closeup of the Leopardwood, after a wipe with some spirit- the righthand edge is quite nice, a little snaking going on there :) It's far from finished, but with a little sanding and tlc, the colour comes out more and a little extra clarity pokes through.


Closeup of the Macassar Ebony, which will be used on the next guitar.

The Leopardwood i may use on a bass, perhaps a fretless. The Cocobolo i think may go onto a 6 string guitar, but i think it'll have to be paired to an appropriate body :)

[WezV]

i love macassser ebony but find the dust really irritating.  I wanted to do some solid necks from the stuff but it would probably kill me.

Nice stuff anyway and i hope for your sake you dont have the reaction i did!!

[Oli]

i love macassser ebony but find the dust really irritating.  I wanted to do some solid necks from the stuff but it would probably kill me.

Nice stuff anyway and i hope for your sake you dont have the reaction i did!!

Yea, same with the Cocobolo- will be making sure I don a respirator, goggles and overalls for those two items. The piece of Macassar is long enough for me to get a fretboard and a headstock veneer from, so that might be quite cool to do, especially as the grain would match perfectly :)

[opprobrium_9]

Those are $%&#ing huge chunks of wood!!  Must have cost a pretty penny!

[Oli]

Goddamn  :shock:
Just finished radiusing the fretboard and went to have a few practise cuts (on scr@p) with the fret saw i bought.... and the blade isn't straight! The rib on the back is straight, but the blade isn't- so it wont cut fret slots straight :( So i can cut the slots until at least Tuesday when I go back to Dykes to get it sorted. Hopefully i'll remember to get some abalone dots and white rod for the inlays too!

[Oli]

Fretboard slotted! The fret dots aren't drilled yet, just there to show where they'll go, but i'll probably install them tomorrow.


 The slotting went pretty smoothly, but there were a couple of chip-outs on the treble side, but i'll get that sorted :)

And i need to build myself a nice workbench when i get the space.... does my back in working from the current bench and the workmates!

[izy]

lookin very nice so far, luvin ze inlay design, simple yet original!
keep coming with the pics! i luv looking at guitar builds (especially ones with a natural finish, and yes natural finishes ARE my weakness!)

the one thing i will say is the frets look "slanted" rather than fanned, but my knowlede of fan fret guitars is limited (to about zero) so that may not matter, but hey, looking awesome, and that neck is sexy!

[WezV]

looks excellent so far, definately looking crazier than my first attempt at fanned frets - which i should be finished with in a few weeks

the one thing i will say is the frets look "slanted" rather than fanned,

oli's scale lengths are fanning out from the bridge which makes it look that way.

the two important decisions for playability of a fanned fret instrument are 'what are the scale lengths of the two outside strings' and 'where are you going to fan from'.

I decided on mine to fan from the 7th fret so its almost normal in the middle of the neck but fans out in either direction.  That meant i spent over £100 on individual string bridges for it to accomodate for the fan at the bridge.  Oli can use whatever bridge he wants the way he has done it.

[maverickf1jockey]

He also has the bonus of vastly improved upper fret access on the lower strings.

[Oli]

Cheers guys :)

izy: As Wes said, mine fans out from the bridge unlike his, which fans from the 7th fret (the 7th fret being perpendicular to the centre of the fretboard, mine having the bridge perpendicular). The differing point at which the frets fan from will alter the playability. I'm planning on experimenting with other fanned fret designs, to find the optimum fan for overall comfort :)



That's the bridge i'm using... next time i think i'll probably buy the same bridge, but build a separate baseplate for the saddles, so the bridge can be fanned as well :)

[noodleplugerine]

Looking superb!

[izy]

thank guys, i know it was fanned, what i meant was it dosn't fan the other way (so its like \ | / as opposed to | / ) and i was just wondering whether that effects the intended purpose of having a fan-fretted guitar, but nethermind, ignore my weird ways, its lookin very nice, and i'm lookin forward to the finished result.

although i would like to see you play tears in the rain on that   :lol:

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

I need to see the final results of this stuff.
i´m highly interested
pretty good thing
Q:)
JP

[Oli]

Well, i guess that with the nearing completion of Wes' fanned build (which is looking great by the way, good job!), its about time for an update for mine :)

The damage has now been fixed- it's not perfect, but it'll definitely do for a first build! a little more sanding is needed, but the whole body needs a good sanding too, so I haven't got to really concentrate on it. The pickup cavity has been routed and chiseled out- if i were to critique it, i'd say 'adequate'- i need to sort out my oilstones so i can sharpen my chisels properly, and i need to create a proper 7 string pickup cavity template to make it perfect next time.

I've also drilled the pickup wire channel which was a right beast; as i'm not having any controls on this guitar, the pickup goes straight to the output jack- this means there are no cavities than I could drill through to. So I had to drill a hole from the output jack to the pickup cavity in one go ( it wasn't possible to drill from the pickup cavity itself, aside from a little connecting channel). It was a right mission, but i got it done without too much hassle :) Then came the bridge grounding wire, which should have been a simple 1.5" hole to connect through to the pickup output channel... only whilst this was happening, the drill bit snapped, right inside the body :roll: Had to drill a hole at a different angle as there's no way to get the half of the drill bit out of the body... fortunately the hole will still be hidden under the bridge, and i'm sure the bit won't rattle around- it's in tight!

A picture shows where the guitar is at currently:
(see attatchment)

Things left to do:
Fret the neck
Cut and shape the nut
Drill tuner holes
Finish final heel shaping
Drill straplock holes
Sand the body to finish standard
Apply oil finish

Due to just starting my degree, it may be a few weeks until she's all done, but the end is in sight now :)

[opprobrium_9]

the drill bit snapped, right inside the body :roll: Had to drill a hole at a different angle as there's no way to get the half of the drill bit out of the body... fortunately the hole will still be hidden under the bridge, and i'm sure the bit won't rattle around- it's in tight!

Aw man, that sucks.  At least now you can truly call your guitar a METAL guitar  :twisted:

A picture shows where the guitar is at currently:
http://www.doom-metal.com/oli/output_channel.jpg

It says i am forbidden to view it...because i don't have an account?  I used to have an account on Doom-Metal.com, but it has been a long time, a loooong time.  Could you redirect it somewhere else please?  I am very anxious to see it, as i am sure all the other members are.

Due to just starting my degree, it may be a few weeks until she's all done, but the end is in sight now :)

what is your field of study?  (im sure you have said this before, however, i have forgotten)