Peavey Wolfgang project - Long term thread

**GoKart Mozart** · 01.29.19, 07:06 AM

Thought I'd share some pics of a "build" that began last summer. I purchased this Peavey Wolfgang partially finished body blank from an individual on Facebook who was helping clean out the old Peavey Plant #2 in Meridian. I believe Hartley sold or gave the old building and all of the leftover materials to a church; they ended up with about half a dozen of these partially finished bodies and I requested one with a tune-o-matic bridge (I'm not to keen on Floyds these days).

I thought it would be a fun project to take on especially since most of the difficult work was already done, such as the neck pocket routing, top carve, bridge route, etc. This one is interesting in that instead of basswood the body is a BIG one-piece chunk of mahogany. Must've been some kind of test case. It also sports a really nice piece of maple on the top.

Rear view of the mahogany back.

Over the weekend I figured it was time to at least start on it, so I took it over to my Dad's place. He's dabbled in just about every form of carpentry/woodworking that I can think of in my 36 years, and needless to say his shop is much betterequipped than mine.

First step was freeing the body from the blank, which was an easy job with the bandsaw. After that, we cleaned up the bottom edge of the body using a router with a flush trim bit.

**GoKart Mozart** · 01.29.19, 07:13 AM

The body was pretty thick to begin with, more in the Les Paul territory than Wolfgang. After testing some scrap pieces with a 1/4" roundover bit, I decided to go with a more aggressive 1/2" roundover on the back. I was really pleased how this turned out; definitely different than what you usually see.

I was going to do a slight roundover on the top but the arch on the top makes it difficult since it throws off the router baseplate. I looked into other ways but I ended up just knocking down the sharp edge with some 120/180 grit paper. I think it'll be just fine.
This is before sanding it. Notice how sharp the edge is:

Off to a decent start!

Also, while I was taking down the edge I did a little sanding on the top then rubbed a little water on it. It’ll look good eventually:

You'll notice that I didn't mess with the heel yet. I'm going to wait until I get the neck so that I can properly match everything up. I contacted Scott Fletcher a while back about getting one made for it eventually. Since the body is mahogany, my logical thought it to do the neck mahogany as well and turn this into a Les Paul slayer. I've read before that some people think mahogany bolt on necks aren't stable but Scott tells me its fine. John Suhr builds plenty of bolt on guitars out of mahogany also (ala the Pete Thorn model).

There's a few other odd things I can do before I'm ready for the neck. I need to get some extra long drill bits to drill the holes from the switch cavity to the pickup cavities, and also connect the pickup cavities to the rear control cavity. Pot holes need to be drilled also. I'd REALLY like to countersink the pot holes like PRS does but I'll have to do some measuring and soul searching to see if I'm brave enough to attempt that!

**Jedi McFly** · 01.29.19, 07:46 AM

I saw these for sale in that Facebook group! Super cool that you nabbed one, and your progress so far is great.

So, mahogany neck, rosewood board? What finish? What pickups? I'm so looking forward to seeing this finished.

**GoKart Mozart** · 01.29.19, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Jedi McFly

I saw these for sale in that Facebook group! Super cool that you nabbed one, and your progress so far is great.

So, mahogany neck, rosewood board? What finish? What pickups? I'm so looking forward to seeing this finished.

Yep, I'm thinking mahogany neck and rosewood board. Pickups will probably be something lower in output, like the DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary. I've got one of those in the neck position of a Strat and it sounds really good.

As far as finish, I want something that makes the guitar look like wood instead of something dipped in shiny plastic. My dad makes custom bowls/vases with his wood lathe and he's got this concoction of stuff that looks great on those. I can't remember what all is in it but it's mostly tung oil and beeswax. Haven't decided if I want to stain the top or not; I think it would look nice without color but then again I'd LOVE to have a top color like this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtEFQEUg...on_share_sheet

**Jedi McFly** · 01.29.19, 08:18 AM

I did a birchwood-casey gunstock oil and wax finish on this mahogany body. I did probably 6 or 7 coats of oil and then finished it off with the wax. It came out great and has aged really well (it's about 6 years old now). A little stain to bring out that grain and then your dad's concoction would be awesome.

**GoKart Mozart** · 01.29.19, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by Jedi McFly

I did a birchwood-casey gunstock oil and wax finish on this mahogany body. I did probably 6 or 7 coats of oil and then finished it off with the wax. It came out great and has aged really well (it's about 6 years old now). A little stain to bring out that grain and then your dad's concoction would be awesome.

Nice!! I've one the Tru Oil on actual gun stocks before and have been pleased with the results.
BTW, where did you get the neck for that build? Love the spoke truss rod wheel at the heel; ALL guitars should be built that way!

**Jedi McFly** · 01.29.19, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by GoKart Mozart

BTW, where did you get the neck for that build? Love the spoke truss rod wheel at the heel; ALL guitars should be built that way!

Yes! Spoke truss rod adjust at the heel or the Gotoh side adjust that Warmoth uses should be standard. They're so convenient.

That guitar was built by Best Guitar Parts with wood that I supplied them from a mahogany tree that stood at my wife's childhood home. The only wood I didn't supply was the rosewood fretboard. Best Guitar Parts is now known as Sound Guitar Works, and it was actually Scott Fletcher who recommended I use them. I've never purchased anything from Scott, but I've only heard rave reviews, so I'm sure the neck he's building you will be great.

**KS 5150** · 01.29.19, 09:14 AM

As another pickup thought, I just got an older Les Paul Classic, where the previous owner had installed Seymour Duncan '59s. I was going to maybe swap out at least the neck, but they sound amazing in that guitar. Just another inexpensive option, as my guitar is also mahogany/maple.

**GoKart Mozart** · 03.02.19, 03:26 PM

Not much progress to report. I started looking around for bridge hardware a couple of weeks back. I knew that the actual tailpiece and tune-o-matic were made by Gotoh but I couldn't find the smaller tune-o-matic bushings/posts ANYWHERE. Since the bridge is recessed it requires a smaller post without the big thumbwheel like you'd see on a Les Paul. Even tried contacting Peavey parts a few times but no luck. Well, who saved the day? None other than Mr. Jim DeCola himself (he was the original Wolfgang desginer when he was at Peavey, now head luthier at Gibson). I got in touch with him and he sold me a full set of hardware that he had.

Since Scott's tied up right now, I've decided to go with Musikraft on the neck. I contacted them and asked if they could do a mahogany version even though it wasn't listed for that model on their website. They said no problem and it'll only be a $30 upcharge. I did some measuring on a production Wolfgang to compare to this body; the neck pocket on the project body is right at 1/8" deeper, so I'll have to see if Musikraft can accommodate that slight tweak.

One thing I'm a little concerned about is the weight of the body. I put it on the scale the other day and it's over 7.5 lbs!! If I had known it was going to be this hefty, I probably would've removed about 1/2" from the body while it was still in the square block.

Which reminds me...bought this 97-ish beaut on Reverb a few weeks back as an impulse buy. Figured I could use one for measurements and such, plus a got a great deal (that was my justification anyway!)

**turnbuckle** · 03.03.19, 01:58 PM

Dang, I actually thought the extra thickness was kinda cool, but if you're wanting to lighten it up, it's not too late.
A 16" planer would be a real nice machine to have access to, in which case you would make a platen for the body to sit in face down, with a few support blocks affixed in strategic locations, to support the face contours and prevent it from rocking front to back, or side to side, and then run it through the planer and shave the back down. A few spots of hot melt glue on the blocks should secure the body to the platen well enough to get the whole thing through the planer.
This would be the time to do it, before you get too far on the rest of it.

**GoKart Mozart** · 03.04.19, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by turnbuckle

Dang, I actually thought the extra thickness was kinda cool, but if you're wanting to lighten it up, it's not too late.
A 16" planer would be a real nice machine to have access to, in which case you would make a platen for the body to sit in face down, with a few support blocks affixed in strategic locations, to support the face contours and prevent it from rocking front to back, or side to side, and then run it through the planer and shave the back down. A few spots of hot melt glue on the blocks should secure the body to the platen well enough to get the whole thing through the planer.
This would be the time to do it, before you get too far on the rest of it.

I do have access to a planer but I couldn’t really think of a good way to hold the body face down without it rocking. Thanks for the idea on the support blocks...never thought about gluing them. I think I’m just going to let it ride though and go with the full thickness.

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**edhalen** · 04.22.19, 03:02 PM

Cool project GM!! Looking forward to the results!

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**GoKart Mozart** · 08.27.19, 08:37 AM

Progress on the project has been slow going, mostly due to laziness on my part. Last week I decided to pick back up and went ahead and ordered the neck from Musikraft, so I'm hoping it'll be here in about a month. This weekend I got back to work on some miscellaneous things on the back of the body.

First up was to carve out a belly contour. I'm a big fan of the belly cuts on all electric guitars and the extra thickness of this body kind of demands it. I did some research (mostly on the Telecaster TDPRI forum) and I read a wide range of methods on how to carve this ranging from band saws to using angle grinders and belt sanders. Since this was my first attempt, I ordered a Japanese Shinto rasp and did it by hand. This is a really neat tool and can really remove a lot of wood while still giving you control over it.

Notice the accumulation of shavings:

I was trying to blend the edge roundover into the belly carve; turned out pretty good!

Next I borrowed my dad's rabbet router bits to do the main cavity ledge; this was made using a 3/8" rabbet bit. I'm going to have to clean this up slightly because you'll notice that there was a bit of a "ledge" sticking out in the cavity; the bearing on the bit followed that shape perfectly and transferred it to the rabbet cut. haha. I couldn't do the toggle switch rabbet because it needs to be much smaller than 3/8" else it'll run out into the body edge, so I ordered some larger bit bearings to reduce the size of the rabbet cut. I'm planning on making cavity covers out of some type of hardwood eventually (rosewood/ebony/maple).

And finally, the neck heel. I probably spent most of my time the past few nights on this area. Due to the extra thickness of the body, it's not going to be a 100% accurate as the production Wolfgang body but I did go ahead and do the 1/4" ledge cutaway on the edge of the heel. I actually did that cut using with my Dremel using the cutting guide as a base to rest against the body and a #196 bit. I clamped a piece of wood to the body as a makeshift fence for the cutting guide to run against; it turned out REALLY good. Then I did a similar roundover on the edge of the heel and blended it all together using 80 grit sandpaper and a few files. It's kind of hard to see but I also tried to add a slight roundover on the ledge that lines up with the roundovers coming from the horns on the body.

That's it for now. Before I can attach the neck and string it up, I'll need to track down some neck ferrules & screws as well as tuners. I'm also going to have to make a 1/8" shim for the neck pocket due to the extra depth.

**GoKart Mozart** · 09.01.19, 05:35 PM

The router bearing set came in; ended up using the 7/8" one for the rabbet cut on the toggle cavity and it was the perfect size.

I had been wanting to recess the knobs on top in the PRS fashion. Did a lot of reading on this over the past few months and stumbled on across one of a guy's build on the TDPRI page where he showed his method of using a clove bit. I'm pretty happy with the results.

**GoKart Mozart** · 09.14.19, 12:13 PM

Not much progress. However, I did get notification that my neck from Musikraft is finished and on the way so I'll at least have some pics of it by mid-week.

This morning I drilled all of the wiring holes & channels. I think that on the production bodies the wiring channel between the switch cavity and pickup cavities would've been cut on the CNC machine, but not sure what the story is on this body not having them. I bought a 12" drill bit (1/4" size) to do most of the holes. Had to break out the extra small bits to do the ground wire hole from the tailpiece route (that was a pain!).

This shows the angle that I had to drill the hole for the toggle switch wire:

For the main channel I started with a pilot hole from the neck pocket; I measured it so that when I followed it with the 1/4" bit, it would be slightly below the bottom of the pickup cavity and make a channel for the wires to run through:

After continuing drilling into the bridge pickup cavity, I just used my Dremel to make a channel to connect it to the hole going into the main control cavity.

Thought this was interesting; there's only a 1/16" sliver of maple covering the bottom of the bridge pickup cavity.