using cad to get measurements and template

[simon1138]

hello

i have librecad which i am trying to learn how to use. i want to build a clone of a murph which is a 60s style of guitar. i have a picture of one and i thought that i would import it onto the cad software and then try to get a scale of it. that way i could print it out to scale. that is what i thought i could do. i know that printing a guitar template would take a number of sheets of paper because of the size of the guitar but can this be done. can i use an image and scale it up?

i have tried but find it tricky. as i understand it the dimensions are shown as pixels so 1 unit = 1 pixel. i imported the image and drew a rectangle from the bottom of the nut to the edge of the bridge. this is what i understand to be the scale length of the guitar. the scale i am after is 24 and 3/4 inches. i wanted to get the dimensions of the rectangle and then set that to 24 and 3/4 inches. it said the dimensions of the rectangle from end to end were 512 pixels approx. i then did a calculation of 512 / 24.75 to get 20.68. so if i am correct then 1 inch = 20.68 pixels? and this would help me scale in some way?

is there an easier way? anyone used librecad or know of an easier cad software?

thanks

simon

[curtisa]

That's pretty much the only way you can do it, and you've done it correctly.

You can use the scaling factor you've established (20.68) to scale up the image and start tracing around the edge of the guitar body, plus adding in any useful information (a centre line, a mark for the intonation point at the bridge etc).

When you're ready to print you'll need to ensure that you print at 1 drawing unit = 1 inch on paper to maintain correct scaling on paper.