guitar project, prototype #1

i've been tinkering with this on and off for almost 2 years, but finally the first one is all together and making noise.
this one is a 2-piece alder body with 5 coats of poly finish (color is called Espresso)
it has a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. the neck also has a light poly finish.
3-ply hand-made pickguard, a little rough around the edges but it works. (still has the clear protective layer on it in these pics)
the slide switches are on/off, and the pickups are connected in series.
volume and tone pots
i used pickups from an old japanese guitar body i picked up on ebay several years ago. single coil pickups with metal casing, read about 3k each.
it sounds great!

    

Nice one Mike

Looks very sixties surf guitar. Plenty of twang for Dick Dale inspired bass string solos?

Hoax

Why not move the neck pup closer to the "24th" fret?

the pickups i used on this are larger than today's typical single coils, and there is a large baseplate on the bottom the pickup. 
in addition, i think the lower cutout should be not so far down the neck. the bottom of the curve should be more in line with the end of the fretboard. 
because it is so far down, where the pickup should be located is too close the edge of the body 

both of these factors forced the pickup toward the bridge

being a prototype, there are a few things i wish were different….
but, i have 3 more bodies like this one to play with. and i have some other details to work in also, like arm bevel on the front and tummy cut on the back. then on to version 2.
the first one i just wanted to get together and make some noise, to find out what i most needed to alter and improve to make a playable guitar. the placement of the lower cutout is the first most obvious change that it needs.

i have several other 60's Japanese POS guitars with great pickups. 
next body i fit out will have 2 sweeeet single coils, also not like today's standard size. 
with just two pickups i will move both closer together and toward the middle of the neck and bridge, to get a little more twangy sound.

Really like it Mike!