Wenge & Walnut Explorer style

[scottp]

Every time I see your work I am amazed!
So Beautiful!
You are the King of Explorers!!

 

[Planta Fantasma]

I just got the head plates on these Walnut explorer builds. It took a while to find a suitable piece of Ebony for one of them.
Along w/ the carbon fiber rods in the necks, I also laminate a layer of carbon fiber in between the neck wood & head veneer for added strength.

One of the guitars has black veneer & one has red. On the one w/ black veneer I didn't care about the carbon fiber plate showing in the headstock.
It matched the black veneer on the body & worked out nicely.

On the second guitar, I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the red veneer w/ a black plate, so I routed away a pocket for a slightly undersized carbon fiber plate to be epoxied in. Still red around the edge. This also worked out nicely.

My father always joked about the 7-P's of failure. "Piss poor planning prevents prior proper performance!" he'd exclaim!

Tonight I'll fret the boards & get the fiber optics in for back lighting of the moonglow side markers. More pics soon!

Cheers!

 

[Dave Merrill]

I just got the head plates on these Walnut explorer builds. It took a while to find a suitable piece of Ebony for one of them.
Along w/ the carbon fiber rods in the necks, I also laminate a layer of carbon fiber in between the neck wood & head veneer for added strength.

One of the guitars has black veneer & one has red. On the one w/ black veneer I didn't care about the carbon fiber plate showing in the headstock.
It matched the black veneer on the body & worked out nicely.

On the second guitar, I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the red veneer w/ a black plate, so I routed away a pocket for a slightly undersized carbon fiber plate to be epoxied in. Still red around the edge. This also worked out nicely.

My father always joked about the 7-P's of failure. "Piss poor planning prevents prior proper performance!" he'd exclaim!

Tonight I'll fret the boards & get the fiber optics in for back lighting of the moonglow side markers. More pics soon!

Cheers!

Wow!

 

[Planta Fantasma]

The sun was kind enough to show itself this evening for about an hour. It's been raining for days here in Northern California.........

I got the truss rods installed, fretboards fretted, fiber optics ran & the boards glued overnight.

There's another picture of the backlit Moonglow. It's lit w/ a simple white LED flashlight for the pic. When I get to hooking everything up I'll use a green LED in one & an R/G/B in the other that follows pickup switching as requested.

Cheers!

 

[Planta Fantasma]

I just made a set of Ebony pickup rings to fit Fishman Fluence humbuckers going in one of the Explorers.
Ebony/carbon fiber/ebony lamination will exponentially extend the life of these rings.

Next step is copper shielding paint, serial #'s & final sandout for both guitars.

Cheers!

 

[Gregmang]

The sun was kind enough to show itself this evening for about an hour. It's been raining for days here in Northern California.........

I got the truss rods installed, fretboards fretted, fiber optics ran & the boards glued overnight.

There's another picture of the backlit Moonglow. It's lit w/ a simple white LED flashlight for the pic. When I get to hooking everything up I'll use a green LED in one & an R/G/B in the other that follows pickup switching as requested.

Cheers!

Very cool !

 

[skolacki]

Nice touch!

 

[Brian Dean-O]

Amazing work and beautiful guitars!

 

[GitGuy513]

Really nice work!

 

[Planta Fantasma]

Finished up w/ the the first of two Walnut & Wenge Explorer style guitars last night. I'm very pleased w/ the final build. Everything went smooth......

First off I'd like to say how great these Fishman pickups are. I used their Fluence Modern set. Ceramic in the bridge & Alnico in the neck.
This guitar only has a three way switch, volume & tone, but w/ Push/Pull pots it opens up an amazing array of tonal flexibility.
Volume P/P cuts coils & Tone P/P switches voicings. Voicing 1 is a Modern focus & Voicing 2 is a vintage character. Then single coils of either voicing. 12 voicings in total.
Wiring flexibility is very nice. There seem to be at least 4 switchable options for each pickup. Voice 1, Voice 2, single coil & gain boost.

I also used their USB rechargeable battery system to run the Fluence pickups & LED for the fiber optic side markers.

Knobeez makes these awesome rubber knobs that fit flush to the guitar body. So when I pull them up, there's only a .175" gap under the knob. They're also sized right so they fit tight enough for push/pull pots & they won't accidentally rotate on splined shafts.
Excellent all the way around.

Build specs:
1.725" nut width
2.200" fretboard cutoff width
.750" thickness between 1st fret & nut
.850" thickness @ 12th fret
20" fretboard radius
Body thickness 1.725"
Final weight on this build is 8 lbs 10.5 oz

Cheers!

 

[Dave Merrill]

Shoot, you've done it again, spectacular!

Shut up and take my money!
Wait. Don't have any.
But you get the point, would if I could.

 

[GitGuy513]

Outstanding!! That Wenge grain is almost other worldly. Really like the LED Fiber Optic side markers and layout.

 

[State of Epicicity]

Oh this one is awesome with those cool grains. The components are great too: the tuners look so modern and sleek on that headstock, and the Knobeez are very cool too. I had to look up that company, and I think it's awesome that those things are just solid rubber. The placement of the control panel is ideal on this thing, totally out of the way until you need it!

 

[Planta Fantasma]

Oh this one is awesome with those cool grains. The components are great too: the tuners look so modern and sleek on that headstock, and the Knobeez are very cool too. I had to look up that company, and I think it's awesome that those things are just solid rubber. The placement of the control panel is ideal on this thing, totally out of the way until you need it!

Knobeez has been around for probably 40 years. At one point they disappeared for a decade or longer. I'm pretty sure a family member revitalized the business.
I can make my own hat knobs, but they don't have the grip even if they're knurled. The rubber grip of Knobeez is simply excellent for push/pull knobs. I'd recommend trying a set. They're around $15 & are actually made in America.

I just read this at the bottom of their webpage: - NEW dual potentiometer Knobeez are in the works and will be available soon!

 

[State of Epicicity]

NEW dual potentiometer Knobeez are in the works and will be available soon!

That's completely awesome since that's my go to mod for any guitar!