The Eagle Guitar

Fish-Eagle

So the time has come to show you what I have been bussy with... Hope you all enjoy!
I will start off with the Idea:
The whole thing started when I decided I want to get myself a new electric guitar and then somewhere the whole idea of building my own came to a realisation. After spending hours on the net checking out what is out there I decided on doing something totally unique and so the idea of building a guitar with the body looking like an eagle that has just caught its prey came to me. After spending hours looking for something to go on I found this...

From there a lot of research and finally I could start! Firstly made a template of the Eagle and got that on to the wood, then cut out a part of that before starting to router all the holes in the right places.

Then I continued to cut out the Body…

Ok so at this stage I would apreciate some feedback before posting some more pics ?

AlanRatcliffe

A very ambitious project - I'm going to be following it closely.

Do you intend carving the detail (feathers, etc.) or painting it?

Fish-Eagle

Thank you! The idea is to get the best of both worlds so there is some carving and then to get the finer detail painted on...

domhatch

oooooooooh! another build thread! awesome. we'd all be watching like hawks, except i think we'll be keeping an eagle eye on your project, rather. ok. sorry. last one.

looks great so far. i think it'd be cool to have as much texture in the wood as possible before getting to the painting stage. just my opinion... good luck!
dh

Fish-Eagle

Thank you very much for the feedback so far!! Now lets add some more beef (or is that fish) to this post.

Next up was the neck, Got my self a blank peg head maple neck from our friends in the USA, Stewmac that looked like this before I started

So I really like the way Ibanez shape their peg heads so this is what I did.

Also love the Idea of the locknut so added that too.

Next was the tuners...

And just to get a feel for what this was going to look like I did a pre fit of the neck...

Then for those of you that was wondering what hardware was going in to the bird...

Hope you guys enjoy!!

Neon-Gecko

I reckon the Ibby headstock ties in rather nicely with the shape of the body, good choice there...

I'll be keeping an eagle-eye, urm... I mean I'll be following this build closely ?

AlanRatcliffe

I also like the headstock.

One thing though - lock nuts work best with bridges that have fine tuners and a string retainer bar on a flat headstock. Otherwise you are going to have to unlock every time you want to tune and there's a good chance that locking the strings will pull the guitar sharp.

Fish-Eagle

also like the headstock.

One thing though - lock nuts work best with bridges that have fine tuners and a string retainer bar on a flat headstock. Otherwise you are going to have to unlock every time you want to tune and there's a good chance that locking the strings will pull the guitar sharp.

I see a string retainer bar in my future... sorry for the bad pick on the bridge but it is actually a roller bridge with fine tuners... erm I think, here is a photo

Thanks for the advice!!

AlanRatcliffe

Fish Eagle wrote it is actually a roller bridge with fine tuners... erm I think, here is a photo

Looks like a nice roller bridge, but that's intonation adjustment rather than fine tuning. Only the double-locking trems (Floyd Rose, Kahler) and the Gibson TP6 tailpiece have fine-tuning AFAIK.

Fish-Eagle

Looks like a nice roller bridge, but that's intonation adjustment rather than fine tuning. Only the double-locking trems (Floyd Rose, Kahler) and the Gibson TP6 tailpiece have fine-tuning AFAIK.

Aha, here comes the learning curve!! So will installing the string retainer help me at all? With out having the fine tuners? Or would you suggest that I remove the top locking nuts and then just use it as a normal nut?

AlanRatcliffe

You can go one of two ways - either change the Bigsby for another bridge tailpiece, or replace the locking nut with a standard one.

I favour going for the nut. A graph Tech Black Tusq nut and a set of locking tuners are more than enough to stay in tune with a vibrato bridge. If your tuners are staggered (Sperzel, Schaller), you can do away with string trees/retainer bars completely too, further helping with the tuning.

Fish-Eagle

You can go one of two ways - either change the Bigsby for another bridge tailpiece, or replace the locking nut with a standard one.

I favour going for the nut. A graph Tech Black Tusq nut and a set of locking tuners are more than enough to stay in tune with a vibrato bridge. If your tuners are staggered (Sperzel, Schaller), you can do away with string trees/retainer bars completely too, further helping with the tuning.

Dang, should have hooked up with the Forum a long time ago!! Seems like I might have to make a few adjustments ? Thanks for all the help so far!!

I reckon the Ibby headstock ties in rather nicely with the shape of the body, good choice there...

I'll be keeping an eagle-eye, urm... I mean I'll be following this build closely Tongue

Neon I'm counting on it!!! ?

DonovanB

Funny how if we came across this guitar after completion we might have mocked it.

But now we all see it and the work that goes into it we'll see it more as a piece of work or art. Good job so far man. Keen to see it finished.

I wonder if there's a build thread for the wangcaster?

aja

Donovan Banks wrote I wonder if there's a build thread for the wangcaster?

There is. It was the inspiration for the film titled "the ring"

After reading the thread, you die... ???

...or go blind

Fish-Eagle

Right, lets continue this post then...

Next up was to start the carving process...

Also put in the holes for the roller bridge...

Made the electronics cavity...

And also the hole for the Jack and Jack Plate...

So for today that is it, tune in again tomorrow ?

aja

Looks good! Looking forward to see how you will tackle the details ?

Fish-Eagle

Here is the next part of this project...

Now it came down to carving the Eagle onto the wood....

Ok, so that is it for now... will post the last ones next week ?

Zulublues

WOW ! ! Give that man a Bell's ! ! ( or is that inapproprate, given the Fish Eagle motif !)

What are you using for the carving? Dremel or chisels? What ever, you have some skills there. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Fish-Eagle

WOW ! ! Give that man a Bell's ! ! ( or is that inapproprate, given the Fish Eagle motif !)

What are you using for the carving? Dremel or chisels? What ever, you have some skills there. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Well, I prefer Jameson but a Bell's will do ?

I actually used both (Dremel and Chisels) And just so you know I actually never did this before... so was pretty amazed with the results ?

Norman86

Im impressed so far!! ?
Keep it up ?