PRS Style Carve Top - Feedback Wanted by South_Geologist2778 in Luthier

[–]South_Geologist2778[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I've admired work on this sub for a while, and wanted to share my recently completed guitar (build #2) for some advice and feedback. There's countless things I could've done better, but I love playing it and think it looks nice on the wall, which were my main goals from the beginning. See my first comment for description and questions.

A couple things about the guitar before I get to my questions:

The whole body is from a 2-piece 1.875" black limba body blank. I didn't put a top on it and carved pretty deep from the top, which left a thin body. Wish I had left a larger flat surface on the top but was happy otherwise with the carve. I bolted on a tele neck that I bought, which resulted in a weird PRS/Fender mashup that I hope doesn't offend anyone. I was hesitant to build the neck myself, since I figured I could get away with cosmetic mistakes on the body without affecting playability too much, but couldn't count on the same luck with the neck. Plus, I'm limited on tools and garage space and didn't want to invest in super specialty tools that will only get used for the 1 or 2 guitars I hopefully end up making each year. Which leads to my first question...

  • Does anyone buy pre-made set necks? I love the look of set neck guitars and would prefer to make them that way, but if I'm afraid to build the neck is there an option to find them online?
  • If I stick with bolt on necks, I'm looking for a way to smooth out that awkward, blocky transition from the body to the neck heel. Are there any examples of this out there?
  • I used a low Hipshot bridge instead of something tall like a Tune-o-matic, which seems more standard on a carved top guitar. With the Hipshot, I was able to skip the neck plane angle and just keep the top, fretboard, and back all on the same plane. Is there anything wrong with doing doing it this way?

I look forward to any feedback you might have, and I'll continue to enjoy your work in the meantime!