OffsetGuitars.com

CROSS_guitars wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 27, 2019 6:37 pm

Wow, wow, wow!

did you find a proper string tree?

Surprisingly, yes. I was buying a few bits and pieces from Guitar Parts Factory and saw it there.

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PROJECT COMPLETE

Well I can finally call this project “finished”! My aim was to get it wrapped up before the end of 2019, and i just made it - by 2 days! (Yes, i’m slow getting these pics posted).

Actually, the whole project came together surprisingly smoothly, having been inspired by chancing upon pictures of an authentic Charcoal Frost XII (see page 1 of this thread) on an April afternoon.

In terms of playability and sound, this guitar has surpassed my expectations. It has a beautiful sweet, singing timbre both acoustically (surprisingly loud) or amplified. The Novak pickups are, of course, excellent.

Due to the way the bridge is configured, I had to string it ‘Rickenbacker style’ for the octave pairs, as the saddles don’t allow for correct intonation the other way (when strung lefty). Not a big deal.

The only thing i might consider changing one day is the bridge. There is nothing wrong with the Gotoh at all, but it would be beautiful to eventually have an authentic XII bridge. That said, I can’t see myself paying the ridiculous prices they occasionally turn up for online, so it may never happen. That’s fine.


Here are the specs, for those interested in detail...

- Body: 2-piece alder, 1.5” thick (Cross Guitars).

- Neck: maple (Musikraft), 25.5” scale, C profile (0.83” - 0.92”).

- Fretboard: Brazilian Walnut 7.25” radius, 1 11/16” nut, 6105 frets, pearloid dots, white binding. (purchased during the CITES era, so Rosewood was not an option).

- Paint: Charcoal Frost Metallic on the body and headstock face, tinted gloss nitro on the neck (done by local Sydney guy).

- Pickups: bridge Novak “XII-Fat”, neck Novak “XII-V” (switch options: neck, neck/bridge parallel, neck/bridge series, bridge)

- Hardware: Faction control plate and bridge surround, Gotoh bridge, parchment 3-ply pickguard (Cross Guitars), CTS 250k pots, Switchcraft jack, Alpha 4-position 2-pole rotary switch, 3D-printed rear string plate (Cross Guitars), Fender ‘F’ neckplate (stamped by Ron Kirn), Fender ‘Villager’ string tree, Kluson ‘double line’ tuners, bone nut, Fender vol/tone knobs, Bakelite selector switch (from Cross), replica decal (shhh!).

- Strings: Curt Mangan stainless steel flatwound (hex core), gauge 10 10, 13 13, 09 17, 12 26w, 16 36w, 24w 46w. [I’m contemplating swapping the low E octave to a 24 round wound, or maybe a 22 plain, to give a touch more twang on that pair].


Big thanks to the man at Cross Guitars, for helping me get this off the ground and making such an awesome body at a very reasonable price. On that note, i didn’t keep tally of exact costs, but estimate it came in around AU $2000-2500 (US $1400-1800). Not cheap, but no corners were cut. Worth every cent.

Some pictures of the completed build....

Ohhh man, that makes me feel funny I would rock the hell out of that!! Nice to see to epic lefties around here lately. Amazing work Cross!!!

I'm very proud to be involved with this build.
Looks amazing!

This is spectacular.

The charcoal finish is magnificent and the craftsmanship is top notch, I would play that thing beyond decency

This is just frikkin' outstanding! Elegant and classy.

we see a lot of great work on this forum, but this is right up at the top. that is just gorgeous -

Thanks guys! I love it too

It’s funny how some projects just come together with that x-factor. I’ve assembled plenty of guitars now - as i know many of you have too - and always use high quality gear. The result is usually a very good guitar, but a select few of them become awesome guitars. Quality parts and craftsmanship are obviously critical, but i think there is also a bit of luck involved in getting something that stands out.

It’s a pity that i live on the other side of the world to most of you, otherwise i’d happily loan this to my fellow OSG lefties!

Ok, ok, it’s clear i’m still in the honeymoon period so i’ll shut up now . (Hopefully the guitar gods wont punish me by warping the shit out of the neck or something like that )

Cheers!
J.

Would love to see more pics. Full body shots, not cropped out.

I struggled to get decent shots of the whole thing - the colour contrast was playing havoc and (the main reason) i’m a shit photographer.

I’ll try again on the weekend for ya

J.

That looks outstanding! Well done!

This is so perfect. I love this. Everyone involved really knocked it out of the park. I love my XII build, I know you will love yours. You got flats on that hog?

Looks amazing.
Do you make full templates for the cavity routing or do you do it by some other method?

repoman wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 20, 2020 1:35 pm

Looks amazing.
Do you make full templates for the cavity routing or do you do it by some other method?

The body template that was bought from Faction guitars comes with the cavity routing.

This is absolutely stunning! Excellent guitar!!!