Cross Guitars - projects and restorations

[sal paradise]

Forgot to mention- this is a thing of beauty. It’s like if PRS made a Tele, but didn’t make it ugly.

Anyways, such an awesome looking guitar from top to bottom. And I love the aggressive branding too

[CROSS_guitars]

Thanks for the kind words.

My 3D printed XII string trees arrived today! printed in aluminium. The detail is spot on!
They're obviously not glossy chrome but they still look cool!

[Shadoweclipse13]

That's a great shape! I wouldn't ask you to change it, if that was the guitar that I was buying from you!!

Thanks heaps! It's so hard to come up with headstock designs that look good.

This is a 24" scale neck and BIG headstocks usually look cool on short scales.

I get that! I frequently see a new design guitar that I like, but the head shapes frequently turn me off too.

[CROSS_guitars]

Cutting the fret slots by hand is kinda stressful.
Had to make sure every fret slot was cut precisely. I think it's accurate.
The depth cutting gauge on the saw helped heaps and meant I could cut the slot at the same radius as the board.
Same with the nut. I fitted it with a curved bottom bone nut.

[sal paradise]

Cutting the fret slots by hand is kinda stressful.
Had to make sure every fret slot was cut precisely. I think it's accurate.
The depth cutting gauge on the saw helped heaps and meant I could cut the slot at the same radius as the board.
Same with the nut. I fitted it with a curved bottom bone nut.

Wow! how long has each stage taken you?

I know nothing about this- could you do the fret slots with a mitre saw? Or did you do it by hand out of choice? Looks amazing, either way.

[CROSS_guitars]

I couldn't use a mitre saw because the fret slot channels had to be cut at the same radius as the fretboard.

And I couldn't cut the frets before gluing the board on because with all the radius cutting, I didn't want to compromise the strength of the fretboard.

I never really keep track of how long any of my builds take. I'm usually at the mercy of waiting for parts to arrive, which can take ages.

[CROSS_guitars]

25.5" scale "Bilinda-Stang"
I've lost track of how many of these I have made now.

This one is made from Empress/Paulownia. Light af. I swore I'd never use it again but the guy I'm building it for wanted
something super light weight.

The pickguard is Acrylic clear. It's nice stuff. A lot more scratch resistant than regular pickguard material.

[Shadoweclipse13]

This one is made from Empress/Paulownia. Light af. I swore I'd never use it again but the guy I'm building it for wanted something super light weight.

Why's that? Is the species hard to work with?

[CROSS_guitars]

This one is made from Empress/Paulownia. Light af. I swore I'd never use it again but the guy I'm building it for wanted something super light weight.

Why's that? Is the species hard to work with?

The opposite, actually. It's real easy on any cutting bits.

It's just crappy timber, imo. I think balsa wood would be just as good.
Dents very easily and is too light, I reckon.

[Shadoweclipse13]

This one is made from Empress/Paulownia. Light af. I swore I'd never use it again but the guy I'm building it for wanted something super light weight.

Why's that? Is the species hard to work with?

The opposite, actually. It's real easy on any cutting bits.

It's just crappy timber, imo. I think balsa wood would be just as good.
Dents very easily and is too light, I reckon.

Oh damn! Haha. How does it sound as a guitar body wood?

[CROSS_guitars]

Why's that? Is the species hard to work with?

The opposite, actually. It's real easy on any cutting bits.

It's just crappy timber, imo. I think balsa wood would be just as good.
Dents very easily and is too light, I reckon.

Oh damn! Haha. How does it sound as a guitar body wood?

I guess in terms of unplugged resonance, it's quite nice. Sharp and chimey. Kinda like a hollow body.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Interesting. Well, that makes sense if you compared it to balsa. A lot of air that can move and vibrate I do love the design though. It looks great!!!

[CROSS_guitars]

Thanks!
A couple more updated pics.
I cracked the pickguard drilling the extra holes. So, I'm going to have to cut another one





Then I need to find a drill bit long enough to drill a hole between the pickup cavities.

[CROSS_guitars]

Just reposting this here since it got washed out by other posts.

I'm about to attempt to repair this Ibanez bass headstock.
I'll use splines and all that.
The only problem I have is that the headstock has been repaired before, then broken again in the same spot.
So there is some kind of glue residue there. I can't use titebond. I need something stronger.
Does anyone have any idea what the best glue to use for this would be?
Or is there some way of melting off the existing glue using Acetone or something?

[CROSS_guitars]

This neck is coming along pretty well.