Thread: Tim's first build

Hi everyone. I've finally gotten all the parts together for my first build and will finally have the free time to start! So with that it is time to start a build thread

A bit of background first. I decided to build a guitar after I bought my brother a Les Paul in the USA (bought myself a Martin ) and battled to find one of equivilent quality in stores for myself. It lead me to question how these guitar thingys were made and lead me to places like here and Project Guitar. Didn't take much to convince me to have a go myself.

Now I have very little woodworking experience. I am half way through building my first project, a bookcase for my fiance, and have been collecting the tools and having a play. I did, however, grow up on a farm and have plenty of experience making stuff and using tools. I think the main difference between that experience and luthiery is that this will require a level of precision and skill that is more detailed than that which can be finessed with an axe and a judicious placement of force.

So onto the stats for this build:
Body - Tassie Blackwood
Neck - Tassie Myrtle
Fret board - Ebony
Scale - 25" (preslotted)
Frets - Jumbo
Hardware - Chrome
Bridge - Hipshot fixed string thru body
Tuners - Gotoh
Pickups - JB/Jazz combo
Wiring - three way selector with coil splits from push/pull
Truss rod - Gotoh two-way
Nut - Earvana compensated

I can thoroughly recommend the three suppliers I have used thus far:
Australian Tonewoods - Tim was great to deal with.
Australian Luthier Supplies - Sent me the wrong "push/pull" (wanted push/push) but made up for it with extra fret wire.
Guitar Parts Depot - Cheapest source I've seen for Earvana and Hipshot.



Please note my Japanese workboots, my second favourite boots after my Blundies.