Carved Olive Top Guitar Finally Done

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Dan Hehnke
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Carved Olive Top Guitar Finally Done

Post by Dan Hehnke »

I never want to move again when I'm right at the final sanding stage!

Delayed about 1 year, haha.

It's finally done. I added one modification - I made a custom ebony bar that runs across the front two screw holes on the trem assembly. It makes it function more like a Bigsby, and increases the string angle over the bridge. The resulting sound and sustain are really much better, more than I could have hoped. The tension pulling up on the wood part I think helps really couple the trem assembly to the body wood. I plan to smooth the grooves where the strings run, and then polish with wax to improve the string slide across it, but it works fine right now for mild tremelo, and doesn't effect tuning any more than most vintage style trem units.

Final switching: 5-way. Mini switch 1 cuts bridge and neck to single coil. Mini 2 reverses phase of middle pickup. Mini 3 cuts entire signal.

I'm really happy with it now, the sounds are all really good, and useful. I even like the middle pickup alone, which I often don't.

Thanks for looking!
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Randolph Rhett
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Re: Carved Olive Top Guitar Finally Done

Post by Randolph Rhett »

Very nice! I've heard that olive will make a good fingerboard, if you can live with the non-standard coloring. Never seen a whole guitar made out of it. Is it very heavy? I can't tell from the photos, but I think I see the olive as a cap on some darker wood. Or is it solid olive? If solid olive, is it chambered?
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Dan Hehnke
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Re: Carved Olive Top Guitar Finally Done

Post by Dan Hehnke »

Thanks!

Sorry, I realized I didn't even attach a photo of the back. Will do that later on.

Yeah I bet olive would be a good fingerboard! The weight of this piece seemed similar to maple. I loved the way it worked, it's really hard, but somehow sands very easily and works well. Now I want to try it for a fingerboard!

It is a chambered body, khaya I believe it was called from LMI? It was a mahogany alternative that seems more sustainable. I liked the weight of it, and it also sanded and worked very well. I'd use it again. The olive top is about 1/2" thick, carved down to about 1/8" at the edges.

Neck is curly cherry from a source I've used for a while because I love it so much. I don't see any reason to use anything else for my builds, it's stable, works well and looks nice.
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Beate Ritzert
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Re: Carved Olive Top Guitar Finally Done

Post by Beate Ritzert »

A really nice guitar.
I like the looks of that wood, and i'm actually going to use it as a fingerboard in one of my projects. Olive wood is, btw, pretty expensive...
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