late 70's Flying V rebuild

[NY Chief]

You won't be second guessing yourself later,

Yeah, right. If that was the case NONE of us would be here on this forum!!!!

[NY Chief]

You won't be second guessing yourself later,

Yeah, right. If that was the case NONE of us would be here on this forum!!!!

Gotta say I didn't think that was going amywhere looking at the first pic. Awesome job! I say try a stain first, see how it looks. If it's not up to snuff then paint. Or paint it twice like Fender did in the old days!

[Lefty Lou]

You won't be second guessing yourself later,

Yeah, right. If that was the case NONE of us would be here on this forum!!!!

Gotta say I didn't think that was going amywhere looking at the first pic. Awesome job! I say try a stain first, see how it looks. If it's not up to snuff then paint. Or paint it twice like Fender did in the old days!

Zachary!!!!!!!!

[awangotango]

got some walnut binding in, now to final sand and paint. Think i'll rout for controls and drill for tunomatic afterwards

[vanhalen5150]

I would drill and install the 2 holes for the stop piece/bushings first. The bridge can go on later.

[awangotango]

walnut binding done. covers the gap created by the original top's edge roundover. It's solid wood that was shaped to size/fit. in other words,it's not bent. The radius is very tight and not suitable for bent wood in any case.

[awangotango]

first coat of primer.

[awangotango]

here's some pics of the mahogany I used, and am using to build another V from scratch. The board on the far left is modern plantation grown genuine honduran mahogany, the rest is 'original' growth. Check out that color, which is not from exposure to UV light, it's the color of the wood and goes completely through the boards. Tight growth rings show how slow the tree grew because it was in a natural forest, that was not designed so each tree got ample light and water. A natural forest can be quite crowded and so each tree fights for it's nutrients, growing slower and with a denser heartwood. It's superior in every way, including stability. I recently bought some pricey genuine modern mahogany to make an end table for my wife and it's the wide ring, colorless variety. It's also what all these modern mahogany guitars are made of, in addition to high use of the african mahogany which is ok sounding, denser and not a true mahogany but all things considered, a better tone wood than modern plantation genuine honduran imo. I've also made a few gits' with black limba. It's a brighter snappier tone. A little harsh and thin for my tastes but a good wood when considering modern alternatives. Alot of the black limba is natural growth from africa from what I can tell because the growth rings are not super wide, which is a tell tale sign of plantation grown woods in my experience. Painting a guitar also changes things a bit. All this is more obvious if one plays with a low output pickup and through a vintage low/medium gain no master amp imo. crank the output and gain and you might as well use just about any guitar since it's the pickup that really matters in that case. just my two cebts from 35 years playing and 20 building.

regarding first growth trees/ ken fischer and celestion cone pulp: http://digital.premierguitar.com/premie ... io=76#pg79" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[vanhalen5150]

Looks good. Why did you use the walnut if your going to paint it?

[awangotango]

it's what i had sitting next to my bench. I don't think it matters what i used. I could have used any wood, plastic or bondo perhaps. but wood is best even though it involved a fair amount of woodworking. have to make templates for each of the 5 curved sections (two on the front, two on the back corners and one in the back middle), and then shape a piece of wood's inside radius, using that template to fit the rabbet I created on the body, then glue it in. After drying, come back and flush trim the outer edge of the pieces to be flush to body's edge.

[vanhalen5150]

Ok. I can tell by the work you've used a router before and know how to make templates.

[awangotango]

yes, for a living. I don't have many skillz. git playing, using a router, and spotting political bullshit are about it

[Tone Slinger]

Gotta love these

[Tone Slinger]

One thing about this refurbishing that is confusing me is the laminate that was glued to the top (face) of the guitar. A '70's era V like this, has a different neck pitch than the '67 types. Putting more wood on top seems like it would make the action WAY high by the time you put the tunomatic bridge back on, since the neck pitch and bridge height work togather.

[Lefty Lou]

regarding first growth trees/ ken fischer and celestion cone pulp: http://digital.premierguitar.com/premie ... io=76#pg79" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I remember talking on the phone to Ken on several conversations when I was younger. You couldn't have met a nicer guy than Ken, he was a very giving person and loved what he was best at, and loved to share with others.

After reading the short article in Premier Guitar, I wonder what Ken would have thought of using hemp fiber in the reissue Celestion Blue speakers. Tone Tubby used to have some information on their website that gave the why's and wherefore's of how hemp is a better product than paper when it comes to speakers and reproducing sound. I vaguely remember that hemp cones are supposed to have nominal to zero "cone cry", but that's about all I can remember.