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Posted by: Sensible Jones May 10 2012, 11:40 AM

As I'm doing some rewiring and decorating around my place it just happens that I had to collect all the Guitars that are here in one place, so here they are:-
[attachment=27407:Collection.jpg]
The front one is my new build. 42mm one piece mahogany body, quarter-sawn one piece maple neck, original 80's Schaller trem. Not sure what pick-up to put in it yet, or whether to rout it for HSS or HSH set up.

Posted by: Ben Higgins May 10 2012, 01:02 PM

Lookin' good, SJ !

HSS or HSH.. now that's a desicion !!

Posted by: Yash May 10 2012, 02:10 PM

Nice Ibanez there, Sir

Posted by: Sensible Jones May 10 2012, 02:25 PM

Thanks Ben!
it is a quandry indeed!!
I have a nice matched set of Seymour Duncans in Black and Red, SH 10 Neck and a SH 6 Bridgde and a spare DiMarzio Evlution Single Coil BUT also in my box of spares is an HSS Set from a Levinson Blade and an HSS Set from a late 80's Jackson Soloist.
Or the Ibanez P/Ups from my RG 350?
Or do I just leave it as a single HB and install a late 70's overwound DiMarzio that I have??
Decisions, decisions!!!



Thank very much. It's an RG 350 DX with a Seymour Duncan jazz in the Neck, a JB Jr in the Bridge and a DiMarzio Evolution in the middle!

Posted by: Ben Higgins May 10 2012, 03:17 PM

Well the last option will leave you with a hot rodded beast but you may miss the tonal warmth of the neck pickup, as I do occasionally. That Seymour Dunc option would be tempting for me

Posted by: Sensible Jones May 10 2012, 03:39 PM

Yeah, I'm tempted to go that way and maybe leave the Evo out of the middle to start with. It can always be added later if I want to!

Posted by: Fran May 10 2012, 05:12 PM

Nice family there Jones

Posted by: maharzan May 10 2012, 05:35 PM

wow so many...

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi May 10 2012, 09:13 PM

Amazing! You have many guitars there!

Posted by: carminemarotta May 10 2012, 09:21 PM

What a nice collection you have.

Looking at your photo I was wondering, why do we buy so many guitars? I play just as hobby and no more than one hour a day and, nevertheless, have 5 guitars. And already thinking abouth the 6th....

Carmine

Posted by: Sinisa Cekic May 10 2012, 09:33 PM

Ooh ,my man ,great pile !!!

Posted by: Sensible Jones May 11 2012, 05:13 PM

Thanks Fran!



This is only part of my whole collection!!!



I know what you mean!! All these do get played regularly though! I have more Guitars in storage which don't really get used but i keep them as memories from days gone by!



Thanks mate! Although I know you have a bit of a collection yourself!!


As I've mentioned, this is only a part of the whole collection. Notice that there's no Gibson style guitars here? All my Gibson and Gibson-esque guitars are either in storage or being loaned to people. Also in storage are some guitars from the 80's, some Deans, a Jackson, a Charvel, a couple of Charvettes, Washburns and some early Ibanez's! On top of that I have Basses and various other stringed instruments!!

Posted by: llibach May 11 2012, 05:23 PM

Nice. I'm thinking of a project lately too. With the neck you mention a quarter sawn piece of maple, I read that this is more usually used on acoustics and that a slab sawn piece is for electrics, I'm only asking because I've never done a build before and want to gather as much info as i can before starting. Also I wondered what the main difference is between the two?

Posted by: Sensible Jones May 11 2012, 06:06 PM

The diffence between Slab and Quarter Sawn is that Quarter sawn is a bit more stable, due to the way that it's cut from the Tree Trunk.
Quarter sawn is quite a bit more expensive though as there's a lot more waste from the cutting process.
Here's a fairly in-depth explanation:-

Plain sawing

Plain sawn lumber is the most common form of lumber for one main reason, production efficiency! The fact is that it is much faster to plain saw lumber and it creates less waste. With money being the driving force behind everything in this world, the name of the game is to get the most out of your raw materials in the fastest possible time.

When the log is rolled onto the carriage it is positioned and secured for cutting to begin. A slab is cut off first, then the boards are cut one after another until just before the pith (aka heart) is reached. The log is then rolled so that the opposite face is positioned for the next series of cuts. Sometimes the logs are sawed completely into boards, but most of the time there will be a piece of "blocking" left from the center, this is called "boxing the heart." After the log is sawed down to the specific blocking thickness, it is then rolled 90 degrees and more boards are sawed. (For a numbered cut sequence see figure 1)

The board will show a terrific grain pattern when plain sawn. The annual rings of growth will be anywhere from almost parallel with the face of the board to about 60-70 degrees perpendicular to the face. (see bottom of figure 1)

This is the simplest, fastest, and most efficient way to saw a log into boards. I have cut 18" diameter logs this way in 45 seconds, for the time the log hits the carriage to the time I unload the blocking. If I am sawing 6" cants for our bull-edger, I can zip the log down to size in 15-30 seconds.





Quarter Sawn Lumber

Quarter sawn lumber is perhaps most famous from Oak. The ray flecks that are revealed when quarter sawn, are a prize for many furniture craftsmen (and craftswomen). Besides Oak there are a handful of other species that display a unique appearance when quarter sawn. These unique features are usually only displayed on a quarter sawn board.

But in a production environment, beauty is cast aside for more yield from a log and more production in less time. This is the main reason why you pay more money for quarter sawn lumber. If it takes longer to saw a log and produce less board footage while creating more waste the company will have to charge more money to make up what they lost production. The secondary reason for higher prices are because craftsmen like us will pay more for this lumber, so that we can take advantage of it's character and better properties.

"There is more than one way to skin a cat." as the saying goes. Well, there is more than one way to quarter saw a log also. I will just quickly explain one technique, because all the details of sawing logs to lumber can fill a book or two.

This is the most common way of quarter sawing that I have seen. The first step of this method is to quarter the log (see figure 2). Then each individual quartered section is placed on the carriage in a position so that the annual rings of growth are as close to 90 degrees perpendicular to the face of the boards as possible.

The grain on the face of a quarter sawn board will be tight, straight, parallel lines running the length of the board. And if the rings are very close to 90 degrees from the face, then the famous ray flecks of Quartered Oak, we be proudly display along the face of the board.

One other technique involves re-adjusting the quartered section after each board is sawn. This way they are taking a board then a small wedge shaped slab, then another board and so on. This way the rings are always 90 degrees to the face. But there is a tremendous amount of waste created.



Which Should I use?

Well this really depends on your taste and on your project and maybe even your budget.

If you are buying your lumber kiln dried, then you will have less to worry about. But if you are buying green or air dried, then your main concern should be on stability. The quarter sawn boards will generally have less movement (shrinkage) when drying. The way the cells are aligned will cause the quarter sawn board to shrink a little bit in width and very little in thickness. Quarter sawn boards are also much less prone to warping.

Plain sawn boards have grain in multiple directions, this will cause un-even drying and in turn cause the board to warp (cup, twist, and bow). The shrinkage rate is also much more pronounced in plain sawn boards. Due to the grain's orientation in the board, the board will shrink considerably in thickness as well as width.

If you are buying kin dried lumber then you should be some what safe; the boards have done the majority of their movement and all you have to worry about is what they will due when they absorb moisture from their environment and swell. Again, the quartered lumber will mainly swell in width, and the plain sawn lumber will swell in width and thickness and possibly even warp.

Besides the stability, (and sometimes ray fleck that is displayed), another great feature of quarter sawn lumber is if you have to glue up boards for a larger sized panel the grain is easily matched to look seamless.

But with proper precautions taken during assembly (using joinery that will allow slight seasonal movement of the wood), you can use either quarter sawn or plain sawn lumber in your project and have a beautiful piece of furniture that will last for generations.

Hope that helps you out a bit!!

Posted by: llibach May 11 2012, 09:29 PM

Yeah man, this helps. Guess I'll be using slab sawn till I get the hang of it. Did you shape and fret the neck yourself?
It'll be a while before I start the project got to re-arrange the garage to do the work first.
Bought myself a woodworking machine with a table router, saw, press drill, sander and planer last week for a bargain price but it's sitting in the practice space till I make room in the Garage
If it's ok I'll be picking your brains when the time comes for some tips

Posted by: Alex Feather May 12 2012, 07:20 AM

That's pretty cool Nice collection! ! I got to the point once when I had 35 guitars myself

Posted by: Sensible Jones May 14 2012, 01:28 PM

No worries at all, pick away as and when you want to. I'll help in any way I can.
I didn't shape this one as it came from a friend who had started it for another project and then changed his mind on the design. So he gave me this one sort of half finished. I installed the frets, locking nut tuners etc and then did the polishing. I have built necks from scratch though.



Thanks Alex! I know exactly what you mean!