Stupidly Large F-Hole - Julius' project completed! Pics on P7!

[Embenny]

This looks incredible. The only thing I might have done differently is angle the BTB lipstick to keep the synmmetry with the other pickups, but maybe it'll look less out of place once the bridge adds back a second visual element at 90 degrees to the strings.

[mackerelmint]

That big "F" is for "fun". What a great design. It's gonna be great to see it finished.

[Rgand]

It's hard for someone to come up with a fresh look. This one is that, in spades.

[rexter]

that's insane ! I want one so bad !!!!
That with P90s or humbucker...!!!
Dude, how much for it ?
(If Jon reads this, he knows that he will end up with some gold to spray )

Looks like he couldn't resist

[2fLAz]

I couldn't you're right but maybe no gold isn't it ?

[Deed_Poll]

Haha dude I can't wait! This one was a blast. I wonder whether you can get a Fernandez sustainer in P90 form factor for the third pickup cavity... With a push button on the pickguard to activate it

[HH1978]

Well, I'm a bit late to the party, but geez ! What a fantastic design!

[epizootics]

Pretty darn cool, and even cooler in real life! I half expect this guitar to show up somewhere in here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y4WhR3W2Nc

[jeff m.]

Textured red 'Naughahyde', like on some Hofner/Klira guitars..with a contrasting 'mother-of-toilet seat' back !..and a raised gold metalflake seam around the sides..

(sorry..just woke up..waiting for the coffee to kick in..).

[Con-Tiki!]

Pickguard cut, it's mockup time!

i can't belive how pretty this design is. it's impossible to come up with something new that doesn't look wacky or like it was pulled from something else.
the only comparison i can think of, are the Airline designs that appeared in the 60's. Like they were working with different rules.
badass.

[Deed_Poll]

Stupidly Large F-Hole - ROUND TWO!!!





So this is my second crack at the whip on this... I returned to the Jupiter today with aim to incorporate some of the features of my Juniorbird design (the chamfered corners, arm contour and Ricky-style ramp to get some more angle out of the vibrato whilst maintaining stock JM distance)

The Juniorbird:







This one is on my workbench right now, for Jason's Sci-fi guitar project (ShadowEclipse)



Let me know what you think of the f-hole. I've gone a little further off the script on this one, maybe too far (probably too far haha!)

Any and all comment appreciated! Cheers

Dan

[antisymmetric]

I think you've nailed it with this one. Form & function - the ramp just looks like a natural extension of the edge chamfers, and those chamfers take a bit of the visual mass out of the body, they tighten up the design a bit. (there would be a better design language to describe what I'm trying to say here)
New "finessed" F-hole is still reassuringly stupidly large.
I'd be proud to have come up with this.

[Rgand]

Knockout in Round Two! Looks great! I like the ramp for the bridge to give better break angle over the saddles. The F-hole is another major plus. Do we get to see this one take shape?

[Shadoweclipse13]

Dan, round two looks fucking incredible!! I LOVE the mashup of the attributes from the Juniorbird into the Jupiter!!!! I'll just say it: with the f-hole and the JM vibrato on your custom plate, it needs goldfoils

[Deed_Poll]

Cheers, guys! I think I have a bit of work to do finessing the f-hole thicknesses in different places, but it's fairly minor stuff.

Antisymmetric, cheers dude! And I would say very clearly put I know exactly what you mean about the ramp and the overall visual mass of the body. It's an intricate design for sure (I wouldn't describe it as minimalist!) but I think the f-hole and arm contour brings a balance to it, whereas in solid body form especially with behind-the-bridge vibrato there was this big strip of nothing down the bass side (hence the original stupidly large f-hole, haha!).

I was just sanding And looking over J's Juniorbird body and was really pleased with two main features - number one was the ramp, which I've always liked on Ricks and is just generally a good idea to get more angle out of the vibrato. The lines of it also line up with the edges of the pickups and bring some of the linear Firebird style shelf to the design.

Number two was the contours of the Juniorbird. The way it works is that on top, it works pretty much like my Fender styles (very smooth graduated slope, almost invisible and melts into the top surface) only with an edge chamfer instead of the roundover. On the back, I took the exact edge curve mapped out by the arm contour and offset it to the back of the body so that the depth / thickness of the edge stays constant through the transition from arm to belly cut, and instead of doing it like a Fender I actually extended the chamfer to incorporate the belly cut. This front/back assymetry brought out some different shapes in each, and the Juniorbird turned out to be the most ergonomic and comfortable of my designs so far for the way I hold a guitar - maybe partly because it's nice and big, and the way it sits and where the curves are just fit my body geometry.

Rgand, thanks buddy and yes! Soon I hope. Thinlines with both co tours is something I've been wanting to get on the road for a while now. They will probably be a 3-piece back and 2-piece top, arranged in a kind of brick formation when viewed from the end grain. I can probably do 2-piece / 2-piece as well. The difference here compared to the thinlines I've done so far is in basically using a clamshell construction, splitting the top and back exactly half and half instead of having a main core and a thinner top (or back). I'm in talks with my wood people about getting some 1" thick stock of torrefied maple to make these bodies with. It would mean I could also make Thinline Strat, Jaguar and Jazzmaster bodies as well, with all the contours but yes, when I get the new wood stock in I will try it first on this design I think.

Cheers J! Ooh goldfoils might be a real possibility with this design... It definitely has some retro Japanese flavour to it!

Thanks for your comments and encouragement everyone!

Dan