# First Complete Build - Potvin Cadillac



## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

I finally finished my first complete build from hunks of wood to a guitar. Really enjoyed the process - its was two or three years ago that I got the wood working bug so I figured this would be great project to hone my skills. I had to justify adding another guitar to my collection though (I have 5 now but they are all quite different) - this is going to be my slide guitar. That way I can set it up with the string gauge and action I like.

Some of the specs;
- Claro walnut body, about 37mm thick.
- Hades roasted maple neck with Hipshot open back tuners. Its quite thick at 24mm throughout in a fat D shape - Gotoh tailpiece and Schaller roller bridge
- Seymour Duncan '59 pickups + bourns electronics

The good
- my fav was that I cut the fret slots bang square with no miter box
- the guitar is actually quite light (I did not weigh it)
- very low action at the moment (around 1.3mm at the 12th fret)
- lots of fun to do, took me about 6 months!
- used mainly hand tools except for a router to do the body and neck shapes
- severely biased but I love the tone and playing the guitar

The bad
- the truss rod was a major pain the ass. Trying to drill in from the headstock to meet up with the truss rod cavity was a pain. You'll notice I have a truss rod cover as its got a bit ugly in there. Also do your calculations with a dual truss/open piece to see how deep you will have to run in in order to access the rod. Also the allparts truss head is thicker that than the rod so it makes installation in quirky. In hindsight I would have done a two piece neck.
- my finish (livos which is a glorified Tru oil) was a bit odd. There are some swirl scratches down underneath the layers. I am not sure how they got there or why susbsequent layers of the tru oil did not take them out?

Got the bug though - thanks to Mike at Potvin Guitar for making the template for me and Nextgen guitars for getting all the parts for me.

I did record a couple of songs with the guitar....Struttin' Earl and Jazzy Jeff. I posted the link in the music section.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

Nice job! Beautiful piece of wood too!


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## Araz (Nov 12, 2015)

Good job! Many things to love on this guitar. The wood is beautiful. I also really like the wooden pickup rings and the minimalist headstock.


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Looks awesome!


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

absolutely wonderful!
great job!!!


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## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

Wow, that's really different...in a good way.


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## Taylor (Oct 31, 2014)

LOVE your choice of timbers and your pickup rings. Also digging that neck joint. Great work!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I'm loving the look of that guitar, nice job!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I dunno. For me, the pickup rings are a bit like a polka dot tie with a plaid sport jacket..too much. The rings on their own would look lovely with a less broadly patterned, or perhaps more finely-grained, wood, say mahogany or ash. But for me, the "milky way galaxy" grain on that otherwise stunning body is just too complicated a backdrop for the visual complexity of the mounting rings. T'wer mine, I'd just use plain creme mounting rings and show off the wooden rings on something with a more solid colour top.

But that's me, and I'm not the one playing it or buying it. Tastes aside, a fine piece of work. You should be proud, and I hope you get many years of strumming pleasure. 

Those frets look pretty doggone jumbo. What are the specs on them?


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

mhammer said:


> I dunno. For me, the pickup rings are a bit like a polka dot tie with a plaid sport jacket..too much. The rings on their own would look lovely with a less broadly patterned, or perhaps more finely-grained, wood, say mahogany or ash. But for me, the "milky way galaxy" grain on that otherwise stunning body is just too complicated a backdrop for the visual complexity of the mounting rings. T'wer mine, I'd just use plain creme mounting rings and show off the wooden rings on something with a more solid colour top.
> 
> But that's me, and I'm not the one playing it or buying it. Tastes aside, a fine piece of work. You should be proud, and I hope you get many years of strumming pleasure.
> 
> Those frets look pretty doggone jumbo. What are the specs on them?



I have to agree. There is something to be said for a contrast. Or even just black. 


And yes those rings Would work on another with the contrast in mind too. 

Still a fine guitar. Well done.


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## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

Hey all - thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it! 

sambonee and mhammer - I know where you guys are coming from. My problem is is that I have never met a piece of wood that I don't like :0) I'll be walking around KJP and grabbing pieces of wood just because they are pretty. Then I try to work it into whatever it is I am building...haha. I was actually going to go with the just a straight Wenge pickup ring but I had this nice spalted piece of maple that I was to try to use. I initially tried to use the spalted piece only but the wood is not too strong (I think I broke about 4 rings). I finally glued the maple onto a wenge base just to hold it. I did have to change the neck type as it was way too different than the rest of the build (I think original neck was some type of SA mahogany - very pretty but looked really weird). The volume and tone knobs I at least toned down with just a nice chunk of ebony 

Last but not least - the last thing I learned from the build - don't use dark fret dots on a moderately dark neck......if the light is bad its very hard to see your position on the neck


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Macki said:


> Hey all - thanks for the compliments, I appreciate it!
> 
> sambonee and mhammer - I know where you guys are coming from. My problem is is that I have never met a piece of wood that I don't like :0) I'll be walking around KJP and grabbing pieces of wood just because they are pretty. Then I try to work it into whatever it is I am building...haha. I was actually going to go with the just a straight Wenge pickup ring but I had this nice spalted piece of maple that I was to try to use. I initially tried to use the spalted piece only but the wood is not too strong (I think I broke about 4 rings). I finally glued the maple onto a wenge base just to hold it. I did have to change the neck type as it was way too different than the rest of the build (I think original neck was some type of SA mahogany - very pretty but looked really weird). The volume and tone knobs I at least toned down with just a nice chunk of ebony
> 
> Last but not least - the last thing I learned from the build - don't use dark fret dots on a moderately dark neck......if the light is bad its very hard to see your position on the neck


And I know exactly where _you're_ coming from. As a fellow Ottawan, walking into KJP is an exercise in willpower, like being at the buffet table on a cruise, or going with a friend to the LCBO after/before an AA meeting. Some folks live their fantasies in online games, some in movies, others at resorts. My fantasy is being able to find the time and money and skills and tools and space to do something with every single hunk of wood in there.


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## Mike Potvin (Apr 30, 2009)

Looks and sounds great Dave! You've stumbled across the reason my non-angled headstock models all have the truss rod adjustment at the heel


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Overall, a really good job. I think it looks beautiful and very good choices on hardware.


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## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

Yup those are jumbo sized frets


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## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

Forgot to mention that I did a "parallel" output on the volume pot - tied the wiper to the output so you don't get any series resistance inline to the signal. I have done that one a few guitars now - quite like it.


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## oheare (Jun 18, 2012)

You know, I never *got* that body shape.

Until now -- looks great!


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