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Ibanez Rg/Jem - Spalted Top/Teak Bottom


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Hi All,

About 10 years ago i was on this site when i was about 16. trying to make my own guitar, it turned out alright considering my age.

But the one thing i learned about that little project was Templates, Granted it wasnt bad when i free-handed the Routing for the pickup's/Neck etc etc.

I want to make a Ibanez Jem/RG, Just the body and without the neck, Just for now, But i was Just wondering a few things,

whats the best way to make templates? as they are quite expensive.

also i just want to start with the Body first, see how i go from there..
and if that succeeds, ill give the neck a go.



And this is Actually What im Aiming for: http://lepsky.ru/assets/images/SERIAL_GUITARS/2976.jpg
Splated Top Rg design without the Pickguard.

I Already have a Maple Splated Top, Ordered off ebay 2 days ago, its about 6mm Thick. http://i59.tinypic.com/6iwa60.png

So far i have Printed out the Guitar Plans for the Body to be cut: http://i60.tinypic.com/1zyv9n7.jpg
Here is the Original i just found on google images: http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s101/Variant1/jem777_blueprint.jpg





Ill Be posting my Progress Thru-out the Whole Project



Cheer's Lads! .....Keith :D

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Honestly, I always made them myself.

If I was after a copy of something in a store and not making my own design, I'd go up to my local guitar store with a few sheets of large construction paper ($1.00 at CVS) and a pencil.

I would pre-draw a centerline down the middle in pen before I got there.

If I took 5 sheets with me, all 5 would have centerlines drawn beforehand.

I'd always ask someone if it was OK, then I'd pull down whatever I was after and trace it out right there on the ground in the store.

Then at home I'd cut out the outline w/ a brand new utility knife blade.

Then trace that onto whatever wood I was using for my template.

Then you can figure out the rest.

It takes some patience to make a really good master template, but make one good one and you can make a hundred copies.

Once the master was made, I'd make a copy of it and store it away because you can, on occasion, route into your template, it's just easy to have an already made spare ready to go from the fresh master.

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Thanks for the response Lads,

I took both yer' advice and came up with a solution.

Got a square of MDF wood off a mate who is in college at the moment who is a studying carpentry.
1/2" in thickness.

Basically i was trying to get the plans onto the MDF wood with as little effort as possible.
I wanted to initially go around the plans i had printed out on transfer paper.

so i was at home there this evening and was looking up ways to transfer laser-jet printed paper to wood.
and this old genius pops up on the tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwxKE63QkMI

I had no idea what he was saying, but in the description i seen the word ACETONE,
which is basically glorified nail polish remover.

of course i ran into my girlfriend and asked her had she got some,...Sweet just bagged me some ACETONE.

and here is the results: http://imgur.com/a/CVx38



But the guitar is back to front! well i mean all I'm using it for is the neck pocket, and the pickups. the bridge will be decided at a later stage. Should That be a issue looks fairly symmetrical to me.

But anywho, I'm just after buying a second hand router yesterday for 50Euro
here it is:


http://www.trade-point.co.uk/power-tools/jcb-2100w-1/4-1/2-router-prt210j2/607576_TP.prd

the guy who sold it to me only used it a handful of times and looks in great nick, also comes with a box of bits.



Cheers ....Keith

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You probably don't need to rely on the dimensions and locations of the pickup and neck pocket routes direct off the templates.

You'd get better results cutting the neck pocket to match the neck you intend to fit to the guitar. Unless you have the exact neck to fit the template you're likely to end up with a neck pocket that doesn't fit the neck.

The pickups are better routed once you have the neck pocket established. This allows for any repositioning you need to do to accommodate your actual neck placement, and any errors in location of the centreline of the body relative to the neck centreline. Same goes for whatever bridge you decide to install.

That leaves the body outline of your template. Being back-to-front on the MDF makes no difference - just cut/sand your MDF to shape and flip it over.

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The Acetone trick works WAYYY better than when I tried it. Great! I even tried a purposely made product (yup, you can sell me almost anything...) and it didn't work av good as it dig for you

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Just bear in mind that nail polish remover - whilst being mostly acetone - also contains moisturisers, perfumes, colour and a distinct air of femininity.

Any one of those could cause more problems than it solves. Generally you get away with it, however I would gravitate towards neat acetone.

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