Ok, so thanks for those who've had a look at the blog, but here I'll post the build with pics.
So my father, who knows nothing about guitars, built (and consequently designed his own take on a Ultimate Flying V shape) the body, and I did the rest. The neck I bought from Craig at Cannon Custom Guitars. He had it made elsewhere again. Really sublime neck and fretwork.
The body:
Chessboard design - Teak and Yellow Wood (reclaimed pieces my father had lying around, or ripped from old furniture bits and pieces)
Back - Imbuia (workshop bits he had)
Edge Trim: Spider Gum (my dad picked it up from the garden refuse dump in Lambert's Bay. It seemed to have been part of a construction work surface. After planing this beautiful wood emerged)
Neck - Maple with Rosewood Fretboard and Mother of Pearl Square inlays
Parts:
Mighty Mite Machine Heads
Reclaimed Tele bridge from The Gear Junkie. I cut it in half to get rid of the single coil cavity.
Mighty Mite Straplocks
Mighty Mite Nut (for now just a plastic one. Eyeing a Graphtec or the like)
Tonerider Generator Coil-Tap Humbucker (actually a Neck one)
Coil Tap pot (250k) from Gear Junkie and a second hand pot button from The Gear Junkie.
Warrior leather guitar strap from Cash Crusaders.
Goal - make a guitar. Tone / Design / ETc - We'll see when we get there. I decided on a single humbucker & pot configuration to keep the wiring simple for me, and routing etc. to a minimum for my father.
Process - email, phone and Skype. My father is in Lambert's Bay on the West Coast. I sent him a plan from eguitarplans.com plans to get a feel for layout, and the neck via the Post Office. Later on I sent the electronics so he can shape the cavities etc.
Ok - pic heavy post, here goes:
The raw materials.
Prepping and planing, sanding, making larger planks.
The plan I sent as a template was more of a SG/Strat curved body, but my father was afraid that he wouldn't be doing the curves justice, especially with trimming it in another wood, he Googled (he is new to google too!) a couple of bodies and saw a Randy Rhoads Ultimate V.... He liked the lines and the fact that it would fit nicely on the wood he prepped. Also he took the design and made it's own. Something more akin to a half-N now.
Cutting Neck inlay:
Cutting holes
Pawn to B2
Important to note is that my father has no knowledge of guitars, he doesn't play (he plays organ), and has never built or in any way really worked on a guitar. Solid body, hollow body, all that was far from his mind. He designed the workings of the guitar as he went along. At this point I still thought it would be a solid body guitar...
After this pic came in the mail, I was a bit more...ok....? And then....
Aaaahhhhh.....
I would later be very grateful for this sort-of hollow body design, as I forgot to ask my dad to route a hole to the front of the body from the electronics cavity, for a ground wire to the bridge. Luckily, I simply had to drill a hole into the body and fiddle the wire through.
Then my dad trimmed the sides with the recalimed spider gum, and Woodoc'd the body (also probably not a guitar build standard practise).
My dad then fitted the neck, and true to a cabinetmaker's way, was not satisfied with bolting it only, but also glued it in place. At least that is kinda like a real V.
At this point my dad delivered the guitar to me. I'm terrible at electronics and soldering. Just ask the guys at The Gear Junkie. I however decided that I would get this one to work all by myself with some help from professors at The University of Youtube. Here is the wiring diagram I found on Google.
The cavity for the pick-up was made to fit so snug, screws are almost unnecessary to keep it in place. Also, the cavities came with their own imbuia lids.
Top-side, laying out the bridge. A Tele one cut in half, remember? Fitting Machine heads, etc.
After setting it up to the best of my ability, wiring it up about three times, I had a guitar that actually plays very nicely! The folks at Bothners at N1-City insisted I bring it in for them to give a gooi. I think it's on their Facebook somewhere, with Devon and Jeanre playing.
Herewith some final pics and notes:
Working name for the guitar is the "Flying Kasparov" - Flying Half-N was just a beginning title. Had decals designed and waiting for them to come back, so I'll fit those then.
Sound?
Quite bright (no tone pot), similar to a Tele with humbucker at bridge setting, and on coil-split very similar to a Strat. Beautiful effortless sustain.
Through a Boss OD-1 + DD-3 Digital Delay it has a gorgeous overdrive tone. Absolutely stunning.
Extremely playable. The action is nice and low, and it is a sublime neck, with a flat radios. Because of the design, reaching up all the way to the highest frets. Impossible to sit and play. Very heavy, much like a Les Paul. I seriously love playing it. Acoustically it has a beautiful ringing tone (hollowish body). I understand this is called the primary tone?
Very very chuffed with this. I'm so proud of my father, and this is definitely something of an heirloom for me now.
Now... what to do with that other neck sitting around in the workshop?
