homebrew - cocobolo electric guitar - the "Zero-T"

[Runn3r]

hi folks

just finished a recent homebrew electric while the weather had a good spell over here in the west (it has been raining on and off over the last few months)

i call it the "Zero-T"

flat fretboard surface radius
no external finish anywhere on guitar
no truss rod in guitar neck
noiseless pickups - no hum

weight 9lbs

cocobolo top/back/sides/little plates
cocobolo neck (1 piece with little heel plate glued, and little ears for headstock)
poplar solid core (no weight relief anywhere)
brass tremolo bridge

[Nick]

Nice job Runner. Love the coco neck, looks swish...No truss rod a, hows the neck holding up to string tension?

[Runn3r]

thanks nick!

neck is straight and has not deviated from the straight under 9's at the moment ..will go to 10's when i break the strings heh

already made 2 other necks (using kingwood and tulipwood) without truss rod and for a few months already they also show no deviation from the straight under 10's

thus i expect the same from cocobolo

[Cam]

why not put a truss rod in, especially on a one piece neck.

They are only 20 or so dollars including shipping and they'll save you a whole lot of hard work and drama later on. It's also an idea so that you will know for certain that your neck won't bow.

[Runn3r]

several reasons for why i am doing no truss rod necks

1. weight (metal is much heavier than wood) and when using already heavy exotic woods it CAN be a problem

the neck on this guitar actually weighs LESS than a maple neck i have which has a truss rod

2. redundant - i am choosing the strongest and most atmospherically inert (as much as wood goes) of woods for neck material

i view truss rod as redundant espc in the context of me playing with strings of maximum gauge 10's

3. tone - there is an appreciable difference imo directly attributable to the presence of the truss rod right down the spine of the neck

i did a cocobolo neck with a truss rod earlier in the year and compared to this one, there is a significant aural difference

4. simplicity of production... yeah i know it dunt take much more but it is still an additional step to the building process

this guitar is me cutting down the 'building/industrialising' processes as much as possible

[kiwigeo]

Nice looking build.

If weight is an issue then why not run a couple of CF rods down the neck?

I still have reservations on the wisdom of not having some sort of reinforcement in the neck. Will be interesting to revisit this instrument in a few years time.

Cheers Martin

[Runn3r]

cheers Martin

i was thinking about cf rods for a while but thought ...nah...heh

in the name of simplicity and directness

yeah...i ...too would be interested in the durability of the neck under constant string tension (max gauge 10's) over many years

this and the other 2 necks i made this way is part of this 'experimentation' re:truss rod or no truss rod...

in any case...weight was not the only issue ...

[Hesh1956]

Hi runner - very cool guitar!!! Do you have a first name M8 so that we can address you respectfully?

Two things caught my eye here. The first is not using a truss rod. I understand why you didn't but what are you going to do if say 10 years down the road the forward or back bow of the neck develops to a point where the action suffers. This guitar is SO very cool and pretty that I would hate to see it out of commission for lack of the ability to manipulate the neck.

You also mentioned that there is no finish on it. Is this just buffed to the gloss that I see? Coco is a wood that is known to be a sensitizer for many folks and hopefully you or whom ever owns this guitar won't have a problem with coco in direst contact with their skin.

The weight is more in the Les Paul area so how is the sustain?

Very cool guitar - I like it!

[Runn3r]

thanks hesh!

my 1st name is Michael

if worse comes to worse ....and things prove irrevocably beyond salvage ...i make a new neck ....and bolt it on

but i dunt expect it to be so ...well at least not for a few years ...heh

and yes...the cocobolo was sanded to 1200 cos tht the highest grit bunnings goes to

then i put on this pastey polishing thing which is meant to enable me to buff it to the equivalence of using even higher grits sandpaper

not sure if it did wht it said it would do but one thing it did was darken the cocobolo a little and i only did this for the body

the neck was merely sanded to 1200 ..burnished with other side of sandpaper and rubbed with cloth

this was a pic i took during the build of the fingerboard surface ...sanded to 1200 grit


it really is a most remarkable wood imo

yes..the weight is definitely LP territory (though i reckon i can knock off a pound or 2 using a lighter weight bridge and thinner backs and sides of dalbergia)...sustain is excellent but tht was expected ...

however the fullness of sound is where i am most pleased with it

having no truss rod, imo, made the sound produced bigger in amplitude and fuller (espc in the low/mid freqs) across the spectrum

as for sensitive/allergic reactions...i have suffered no ill effects from building this guitar or playing it since finishing it

all i can say about tht is hopefully those who are allergic to it in any way...find out before getting affected by it ...accidentally

like peanuts ...for some folks...

[Kim]

Hi Michael,

Great looking axe and i love the coco but be careful as there are many builders who have worked with it in the past and had no ill effect 1st maybe 2nd maybe 3rd time or even more and then it hits without warning like a train right in the respiratory tract. It appears to be residual, the more you are exposed, the more you are likely to become sensitized so wear a mask when working it and clean up real well after yourself. As for finish the wax looks good but it may be worth your while looking into TruOil available from gunsmiths. Same deal, you rub out to very fine grit as you have done here and then apply build coats of TruOil, it will build and give a really classy finish. Not only that but it will seal away the coco from direct contact with a players skin.

Cheers

Kim

[Runn3r]

thanks for tht Kim

i did take precautions by wearing long sleeved pullovers when working the coco ...as well as to keep warm heh

i also tried to minimise sanding ...espc in thicknessing ...by deploying the safety planer a lot (i really like tht lil gadget!)

as for truoil or anything else...i dunno

i think i want to leave it and let the air do the finishing for me...i am expecting a lovely patina to develop over time....