Spidy Project

[monkey69962000]

ok. Now what would make it better. Forget comfort. What design would make it look better

[Curtis P]

how about take the design you drew, and spend a LONG time working on it, look at spiderman himself, look at pictures of spiders on the net and in books, then go from that, when I drew up my custom 7 string V, i spent 4 hours on it, 20 peices of paper (4 taped together) and then just drew, added stuff, took out stuff, and then finally, about 2 half ohurs later I had the design I wanted, then i spent half an hour on the neck pocket and pickup placements and control placment

So, maybe try that, spend a night or 2 at it, drawing it up FULL SIZE and then holding it, heck, make it out of plywood and hold it and sit down with it, mock up a neck (out of plywood again) and screw it on, of course you wont play it, but once you get that, it will act as a template

Curtis

another thing, when you go to cut it out on a bandsaw, make relief cuts, lots of them, and, if I were you, i would make about 3 or 4 mockups out of plywood or MDF to get a feel for the bandsaw and how to cut it out, then your less likely to make mistakes

and, yea i know, I aint done yet, but still, its good stuff!!!!

the spot for your neck pocket, it looks like it will be weak (yea, already mentioned) so i would make it like a V, have it slope down and a bit thicker, where the bridge will go, too weak as well,

how you going to have an electronic cavity? its going to be almost impossible to have it in a leg, it will weaken it too much, cant have it in the body, bridge will go there and it will weaken the bridge placment spot even more

so, what I am really trying to say is, PLAN PLAN PLAN!! get a couple of mock ups going out of plywood or MDF, make sure you mock up a neck too, so you can get a sense of how it will look, playability, comfort, so on so forth

Curtis

Edited August 5, 2004 by Curtis P

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

i think you should take the pic below, and modify it to where it will be durrable (not that comfortable) and make it atleast playable to where it would ACTUALLY WORK and not break, and place the pickups, etc. Then post it and look at feedback, and if the peeps are giving crap reasons to change it, dont listen to them ,but if they are giving real reasons that you understand listen to them. Modify it more (it'll take a while). see what you think (make plywood templates out of it also). if you dont like it, modify it more, etc. repeat repeat repeat! do it until you are satisfied with the looks.

[monkey69962000]

HAHAHA. You should read your post silvertone. You just defied yourself.

Then post it and look at feedback, and if the peeps are giving crap reasons to change it, dont listen to them

Well i want to do the symbol of spiderman on his front of the costume. Well thanks curtis. Um i spent 4 hours on the design already. At least. Well i make a mockup on foam board from yesterdays model.the knobs will be right where the leg is most thickest, right near the part where it connects to the body. I think im going to rienforce the body very much. I still am planning too. So dont worry. Im making the legs mor thicker on the body. That will give more support.

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

but im telling u why i think i dont like the way it looks,, im not just saying "it looks ugly, change it" so im not defying myself, lol, but i get where ur coming from, lol

[Curtis P]

actually, you should make a mock up out of plywood that you wont use, with a neck on it, and purposley drop it from a good height, see what happens, if a leg breaks, then plan some more

Curtis

[LGM Guitars]

I'll throw in my 2 cents here.

First of all, let me start by saying cool for doing something different, I don't like the design personally, but that's just my personal taste.

Now, onto some of the fundamentals.

I think you'd be surprised at how comfortable it will still be with the legs being more spiderish than what you've drawn.

Second: cutting the legs with a bandsaw won't be easy, but it won't be difficult either, I see no reason why it's not doable.

Third: The body will be plenty strong for the string tension, it might be narrow where the head of the spider is, but keep in mind it will still be over 1.5" thick front to back and that the tension is pulling straight on the joint. Remember the Alvarez Dana scoop? It had less wood there, no carbon reinforcement and a scallop in the horn, it was perfectly stable, I had one for quite a few years and had no problems with it. Wood is stronger than you give it credit for.

Fourth: Adding epoxy to the body without a fiberglass cloth or carbon weave will do absolutely nothing to strengthen the legs. Remember, Epoxy is nothing more than a resin, same thing as a 2 part paint. All it does is harden. It is the cloth, mat, or whatever material you saturate with the epoxy that adds the strength.

The legs might be a weak point, but lets face it, no guitar is designed to be dropped, they'll still be stronger than the side of an acoustic guitar if they take an impact.

So basically, there are a few things to consider, but I think it's a doable project, I would consider making the body out of maple or at the very least Alder, I wouldn't use a lighter less dense wood like basswood, but I think it's doable, the ONLY thing I wouldnt' want to see is when you try to paint in between all those legs, THAT will be a pain in the butt

[LGM Guitars]

actually, you should make a mock up out of plywood that you wont use, with a neck on it, and purposley drop it from a good height, see what happens, if a leg breaks, then plan some more

Curtis

This is a waste in time and material, a Plywood mockup made to the same thickness as the actual guitar body will be much much stronger than a solid wood piece. You have multidirectional grain with a strong pressed and steamed glue joint which has now saturated all the grain yielding a very strong and stable wood.

Remember, they don't make plywood because it's cheaper to do, conversly, plywood will almost ALWAYS be more expensive than the same thickness of the same type of solid wood. They make plywood for it's strength and stability.

[monkey69962000]

now how about that

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

you should make the middle a little thinner to make it look like a spider more, read LGM's post.

[ShreddyKrueger]

top pickup rout looks off center. also, you might want to go down a little with the rout too. Another suggestion, make the top of the neck pocket flat so you can use traditional neck plate.

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

Another suggestion, make the top of the neck pocket flat so you can use traditional neck plate.

you can still use a curved neck pocket as long as its big enough to fir a rectangle neck plate on it

[monkey69962000]

LGM out of all the people here i respect your opinion the most, thank you for your help. And also confidence. Now you say

I think you'd be surprised at how comfortable it will still be with the legs being more spiderish than what you've drawn

Now what legs are you talking about. Like the square design. Then i like your style in art so:

First of all, let me start by saying cool for doing something different, I don't like the design personally, but that's just my personal taste.

how would you do the legs. I want some comfort and playable, so it also has to do with the quote above. So what would you design the guitar like. Dont have to make a CAD just a discription. I am now thinking on a completely new guitar for the project and would like to know what would you design for a spidy guitar

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

Now what legs are you talking about.

i think he means making the joints of the legs go in to the center more, like to more (a lot more) of a point

[Curtis P]

actually, you should make a mock up out of plywood that you wont use, with a neck on it, and purposley drop it from a good height, see what happens,  if a leg breaks, then plan some more

Curtis

This is a waste in time and material, a Plywood mockup made to the same thickness as the actual guitar body will be much much stronger than a solid wood piece. You have multidirectional grain with a strong pressed and steamed glue joint which has now saturated all the grain yielding a very strong and stable wood.

Remember, they don't make plywood because it's cheaper to do, conversly, plywood will almost ALWAYS be more expensive than the same thickness of the same type of solid wood. They make plywood for it's strength and stability.

actually, i meant just regular 1/4 inch plywood, for all of the mockups, if that can handle a drop from, lets say 5 feet with out a leg or something snapping, or crakcing, then in my opinon, it should be fine, as long as you actually dont drop the finished product on purpose

Curtis

[monkey69962000]

like this

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

if plywood is stronger and more durable, how come most guitars made using plywood are looked down upon? im just wondering cuz i got ap lywood bass on my hands that im refinishing and everybodies like "plywood sucks"

[ShreddyKrueger]

like this

that's what i was thinking. it would also be cool if the edges were beveled.

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

yeah thats exactly what i meant, now redraw and add the final touches and make the drawing neater, and i liked the idea of having the control cavity in the leg rather than the body, also, try making the legs with more edges and less curved, cuz spiders have that "edge" u know? but yeah, ur making progress for the better! ph yea, and how bout making the legs a bit thinner?

[ShreddyKrueger]

and how bout making the legs a bit thinner?

good idea

[monkey69962000]

thinner is more likely to break

well is there a way to make it stronger LGM said not with carbon or epoxy. Please tell me

Im starting right now

[truerussian558]

you could use carbon rods (like the kind used for neck stiffeneing just cut hem up shorter), and place it in the legs.

[monkey69962000]

Got it

now i took the very first design since it had more of an indent and then made more edges. I think the head should be round but i changed it to edged. What ya think

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

check this out:

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

Got it

now i took the very first design since it had more of an indent and then made more edges. I think the head should be round but i changed it to edged. What ya think

wait, screw my idea thats even better, but how are you gonna take care of the controls? but i agree the headstock should be round and also, where is the output jack gonna be