J.F. Custom Signature Model in Multi-scale

[J.F. Custom]

Hi All.

Well it was a pretty uneventful year 2009 luthiery wise for me. Relocating your family and workshop 2000 odd kilometers can do that to you - especially when there is no workshop waiting at the other end.

Nevertheless, I managed to get one build under my belt and finally have something to contribute to the gallery of other beauties. It was not your regular player commission - instead, it was commissioned by Australian Wood Review magazine for the story on how to build one... Will be published this year and took more effort than I originally anticipated or realized I was getting myself in to. But it was a heap of fun. I'll put some of the processes involved up if anyone is interested?? and when I am 'allowed' to. It was a challenging project in some respects, with new processes and design considerations. Of course, it fought the whole way as expected in unexpected ways.

My seven string multi-scale electric. Body of American Ash with highly figured 5 piece steam bent ring gidgee cap. What a mouthful! Flamed rock maple veining between cap pieces. Rock maple and Qld Walnut tapered laminated neck. Ring gidgee headstock caps and control cavity cover. Raindrop gidgee fretboard and truss cover. Stainless steel fretwire, Gotoh machine heads and custom hand made humbuckers matching the offset scale lengths. Also a custom handmade bridge with Graph Tech String saver saddles. Truss cover and control cover are magnetic - hence the lack of screws. 635mm - 685mm scale lengths on this one.

Sorry about the plethora of poor photos - I just can't seem to get the settings right on this camera. It's always too bright, too dark, too washed, too colourful... Damn thing... These will have to do until I can do a better job.

Thanks for looking.

Jeremy.

[Kim]

Very outstanding effort Jeremy, she is beautiful and holds much innovation and craftsmanship. Really, what a freak'in cracker, the look, the fan frets, the style, the whole bloody package is just beautiful and what a fabulous way to overcome the limited supply of such beautifully figured wood.

Well done mate, did i mention clever, clever, clever.


Kim

[Hesh1956]

Super cool looking guitar Jeremy - very well done M8!!!

[Lillian]

Absolutely gorgeous. I love it.

You will post a copy of the article after they publish it won't you?

[Dennis Leahy]

Jeremy,

If this is the work you can accomplish in a year with a major move, then I'm excited to see what you "knock out" in 2010. Gorgeous guitar! Gorgeous from headstock to tail! Congratulations, and yes, the images belong in a magazine.

Dennis

[Allen]

Wow....just stunning work there Jeremy. Can you tell us about the tuning on the 7 strings and the scale lengths, or does that have to wait as well?

[Mark McLean]

Simply sensational Jeremy. The artistry in the top is inspiring. I want to hear all about it, especially the droptop, when you are allowed to. Nothing wrong with the photos either.
Mark

[J.F. Custom]

Kim wrote:
...Really, what a freak'in cracker... Kim

Thanks Kim! One of the best compliments I've ever had.

And thanks everyone for the comments, I'm glad you like it. Luthiery stuff is just sooo inspiring ya' know? I have too many ideas and projects I want to do next... Hopefully I'll live a while longer yet and get the time to.

Lillian, I'll certainly post what I can, when I can. If they will give me a PDF of the finished article, I'll put it up. It may be several PDF's though. It is erm, interesting to say the least to write a 'how to' article for a magazine... There is a reason that most guitar how to manuals are 200 odd pages long. Don't expect a lot from it is all.

Allen, no issue with that. It's 635mm scale or ~25" treble to 685mm or ~27" extended bass scale. I just felt the extended range of the 7th bass string dictated the scale increase there to really give it some genuine bass boost and warmth. It really is a very full sounding guitar with richer, deeper basses than usual. I have tuned it in the basic seven string style of low B, E, A, D, G, B, E.

Mark, thanks mate. The top probably fought the hardest of all - partially my own fault too though. I could have done this purely by inlay but decided I wanted the pieces to be built up separately first creating a whole plate. The maple veining is tapered from about 1mm to 2.5mm one end to the other and steam bent to fit between each piece. I'll give more details when possible and on that note, I guess I should check what is and isn't ok... I hate secrecy. Oh, and thanks but the photos could be a lot better IMO

Cheers again,

Jeremy.

[Nick]

More class than arse there Jeremy, infact it's all class. Love your choice & use of the different timbers, it all comes together to bloody well! Are they Wilkinson saddles mounted to a custom base plate or did you come up with the whole thing? Who made/wound your pickups?
Would love to see some process pics too, lips are smacking in anticipation & you are so right about guitars being inspirational. I've got that many plans floating around in my swede & I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to build them all Shocked then you go and post pictures like this and it just adds to my dilema (mind you I've already copied one of your idea's ).
The more I look, the more I see! Just noticed that beautiful binding transition at the twelth fret Take a bow you talented bastard!

[John Steele]

Hello Jeremy;
I know the moving thing all too well. You look like you found something pretty cool amid the boxes!
Really like the look. That gidgee sure looks nice, any other pics of the FB?
J
ps
Sorry, I can't help myself... nice ash.

[Runn3r]

super classy guitar Jeremy!

espc the flamey gidgee and the way you pieced the top together....much artistry there

[ozziebluesman]

Beautiful work Jeremy. Your guitar design is lutherie innovation at it's best. I wish I had your imagination and flair. The woods are absolutely exquisite! Thanks for posting the pictures.

Cheers

Alan

[Bob Connor]

Very tasty piece of work there Jeremy. The Gidgee is superb.

Any chance of a recording of it?

[kiwigeo]

Elegant eye catching gat Jeremy. Very nice work.

[sebastiaan56]

Gives me a woodie! As a subscriber to the mag I look forward to the full colour glossy spread. I hope they do a centrefold.

[AnthonyT]

J.F. Custom wrote:

Well it was a pretty uneventful year 2009 luthiery wise for me. Relocating your family and workshop 2000 odd kilometers can do that to you - especially when there is no workshop waiting at the other end.

Hi Jeremy,



Oh my god, that is one amazing guitar. I have to say I dont recall seeing a nicer electric guitar! I recon you should move your family more often if thats going to be the end result.

Take a bow!

Cheers
Anthony

[DarwinStrings]

Beautiful Jeremy, you would have trouble missing that one on a wall full of 100 guitars.

Jim

[Clancy]

An absolute standout mate. Is it staying with you

PS
I love gigdee.
I love ringed gidgee.
Now I love raindrop gidgee & I've never heard of it before.

[Taffy Evans]

Well not much left to say about this work of art. It is a crafted work of art that has come together very, very well and I like every aspect of it. I'd say more but it's all been said for me. Well done.

[J.F. Custom]

Wow. Thanks everyone.

To pick up on a few questions amongst the comments -

Nick - Yes mate. Graph Tech Wilkinson String Savers mounted to a custom designed (for this guitar) solid brass base that was black chrome plated. The pickups were cnc'd out and wound by a friend of mine, also a fellow luthier. Unfortunately, he doesn't do it as a business yet - just his own stuff and obviously we have our arrangements... Glad you noticed and liked the 12th fret inlay - I'm happy with that. The design flowed with the rest.

John - Yeah thanks a... hang on a minute... oh the timber! Right yeah that's not bad either. Very Happy I've added a couple more photos - one (still in sun) with some more detail of the fingerboard but I'm not sure if you meant the inlay or the timber itself or what?

Bob - Thanks for commenting. Some of the finest Gidgee I'd seen too. I'm hoping to get a recording but don't know how soon I can make it happen. I'll post one when possible though.

Jim - Only 100??? I'll have to try harder...

Craig - No not mine, but doesn't belong to anyone yet either. It will be up for sale once I decide to let it go... Which will have to be soon - need to start covering some expenses. Any takers? The raindrop gidgee is beautiful stuff - the photos don't do it justice also it tends to darken quite a bit under oil.

And thanks again to all who jumped on to comment - it's appreciated though I think you've exhausted your supply of superlatives. Ooooh, hang on, superlative...

Jeremy.

[Nick]

Everytime I look at that it just gets better .

[John Steele]

Yup, pretty damn spectacular. Didn't catch the binding and knot on the FB first time around. 5 piece top? How's that?
J

[J.F. Custom]

Sorry Nick, but you've been doing that to me for a while with that last build. I told you to at least give me a fighting chance and wait for my workshop to be complete... But no - you pressed ahead relentlessly Anyway, glad you like it

Ah yes John, five piece top indeed and I think I outsmarted myself here.

This was part of my initial inspiration and design vision, something different to the more common bookmatch - so I jumped on the computer and drew it up until I was happy with it. Then I thought I'd be "clever" and get the five pieces laser cut in acrylic so I'd only have to follow the pattern. This is where the problems first started. Upon having the pieces laser cut, I returned home with them only to find they were not the shapes I had drawn. Upon investigation, apparently the firm had converted my files supplied to that of their machine and in so doing, the curves had all changed. Thus meaning, they no longer fit together.

I toyed with the idea of piecing two different contrasting timbers together for the top such as the gidgee and some nice flame maple but decided this would be too over the top visually. So I settled on the more subtle use of the same species with separating veins. Of course, I then decided simple veneer would not do for veining and that each piece should "grow" from it's point of origin in thickness. Hence I cut each strip and sanded them on an adjustable sled until they started at about 1mm and grew to about 2.5-3mm. These were too thick to bend to all the contours by force and so I steam bent each one on the hot pipe to match the five shapes.

All this put together meant that the original templates were well out and as such, it would have been just as easy to draw the shapes on the timber and rough cut them out. An expensive lesson I can tell you... Each piece needed to be hand fit and finished by the way of a spindle sander. Then I glued them together one at a time using cork backing and push pins until I had the whole top complete as one cap.

I hope that clarifies it and will put some pics up when I can.

Jeremy.

[John Steele]

I never would have thought it fought you so much looking at it. FWIW I think you pulled it out for sure. We should all be so fortunate. Sorry aboot the ash comment. Stems back from when the wife and I were on the porch having a glass and watching the sun fall. Betty, neighbor; just a nice woman, came by with this amazing ash bowl she bought. It was 16-18" dia. She said she thought I could appreciate it, working with wood and all. To which I said :
" Betty you have one fine peice of ash there" My wife blew her wine out and I went beet red once I realized. Betty acted like it went past her or...?
Anyway, had to be there I guess.
Nice work Jeremy.

[Dominic]

Man, this is stunning. You have really raised the bar. Wow.
Dom