General First Guitar

[amikkola]

Im looking to build a guitar to contrast my Ibanez 320 Dx...

where to start?

Im kind of looking for a fuller, more acoustic-ish sound, as opposed to a heavy metal guitar...

im working on a buget (i got a great deal on my Ibanez, only 370$) and was wondering what type of guitar i could make for a similar or lesser buget... (150-210L for all you Brits)...

What's the best kind of wood, designe, and parts to use?

[asm]

well, if you dont have the tools/have access to them then the price can sneak up on your VERY quickly.

having to buy tools is expensive, even if you went the route of hand plane over planer your still looking at 100$ for a good hand plane. and hand router over a router table setup is about 75$ rather than 200$. so even if you buy cheap tools its still alot.

if you pay someone to do it, its expensive too. i just got some boards joined cause i didnt have a joiner. it took him 2 hrs. so thats about 80$US.

JUST for the bookmatch top and back joined up.

i think you should think if you want to actually build one cause you would like making it and it intrest you, or if you just want a cheaper kick around guitar.

cause your first one isnt going to be be cheap, by far. and ibanez can stamp those things out way faster and cheaper than you can even dream about doing.

now, on to your question. if you still want to make one.

when you say acoustic-ish sound, first thing comes to mind is a hollowbody like a prs.

id steal the hollowbody prs carvetop plans, but just make it chambered rather than a hollowbody. thus saving you extreme amouts of work/stress. then slap a hidden piezo system on it, so it will have some real nice mellow tones to it, but not be all jazzy sounding. id also go with a softer back, like mahogany or black limba, and depends on what kind of finish you want to put on it, but im a sucker for redwood even if its not the best tonal wood.

i think that would be pretty cool result.