Cloud Posted November 6, 2004 Report Share Posted November 6, 2004 I decided that I wanted to jump in and make my own guitar. At first I decided about a month or so ago I was going to make a custom X shaped guitar but the design had alot of problems when it came to the neck(fitting my fat fingers to the lower frets). I ended up buying a piece of mahogany and getting it for dirt cheap. I decided to make a ESP style guitar which look exactly like the Les paul only instead of fixed bridge I am using a floyd rose tremolo(I seen a few of the ESP's with them). I was wondering how thick the ESP's are,and if someone had some profile shots are cad drawings of either guitar. I already freehand ed my own design based on the Les paul dimensions, and I just want to see how far I am off. I really didn't think the stew-mac plans were worth it and also I was impatient. The body right now is 2" thick and I am contemplating leaving it as is and sanding it into shape(the carved top), or adding a piece of mahogany to the bottom for the extra thickness and so I can route the routes without worrying how to do it. Any heads up you guys can give me since this is my first guitar project, but probably not my last ( I have a friend who wants me to make him a custom guitar if he likes how mine comes out and so far its looking really nice). Oh and lastly how do you recommend to finish the body in a solid color? I had some deft sanding sealer that I was going to use to build up the surface with after filling in any small imperfections with some wood filler. Then I was just going to use lacquer based auto primer, followed by dupli-color gloss black paint, and then add many coats of clear on top of that. Thanks for your help in advance with this project and I will be posting some more pictures today after I route out the electronics bay, and a bay for the springs on the tremolo to go. Maybe even cut some of the aluminum plates as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 (edited) Ok heres some of the pics of the progress so far. As you can see its influenced by the les paul, but not really close since I did freehand the design myself. Also the top curvature was just something I wanted to try and I did it with a pneumatic dual action sander and 60 grit disks. The guitar claimed a one victim so far. My poor 1/4 router bit snapped when I was routing out the electronics bay lucky me it stayed in the wood instead of shooting out at mach 1. Mind you this is my first guitar so I know its no where near being great, but I have learned alot and any future projects should turn out much better. The neck isn't the best since its just a bolt on Carlo rebelli 24 3/4 scale 3x3 neck. The fingerboard is roosewood, but I am not 100% sure what the neck is made of. This will be a temporary neck until I find some nice size pieces of ebony,bloodwood, and some nice bright white colored maple(I want a big thick piece of bloodwood to run right down the ceter with a white maple on either side and then the ebony on either side of that). For pickups I should have an EMG-85 coming in the mail, and I am looking to find a emg-81 for the bridge. As you can see I went with the tremolo style floyd rose bridge which seems to be one of those hate or love pieces of hardware. If I really don't like how it turns out I will fill in the holes with scrape mahogany and go for a TOM bridge. I also got some of the cover plates for the bridge, switch cavity, and the jack plate, but they all still need drilled and touched up. Thanks for looking and please add any suggestions as you feel needed. Here are the guitar pictures to date. I will update as I get more of it done. Edited November 10, 2004 by Cloud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damo Posted November 10, 2004 Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 Thats kind of a weird shape? Doesn't look very smooth, and it could just be the angle of the photo but the neck doesn't look straight? Other than that I praise you for actually building one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 The pictures don't quite to it justive plus I have some more sanding to do before its ready for me to shot on some sealer. The neck is straight to the bridge if anything the body its quite as symetrical. It could alo be the camera angles cause I took the pics holding the camera at odd positions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryL Posted November 10, 2004 Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 Now this is just my opinion mind you, and you know about those, But if it were me I'd take some more material off the upper bout, where the neck attaches, around the toggle cavity. It looks quite large. You're actually building a great guitar, it just needs a few details ironed out, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 (edited) Ya to be honest I been thinking about it more and more. It does seem a little largish to me as well. I am going to get a piece of 1/16 aluminum for a pickguard that will hide the imperfections in the wood I discovered and also will add to a theme I am going for. After the bridge I am going to have the metal strip come to a lionheart griever (such as in this picturehttp://www.fantasysquare.com/store/images/...laces_Small.jpg . It may seem really dumb to you guys but I have this idea of an FF8 lionheart theme. The guitar will be made high gloss black base coat, and then along the edge of the contours I plan to paint it dark blue moing to lighter blue, and finally fading into white which fades into the black(somethign like on this sword from FF8 http://www.ffsverige.nu/ff8/vapen/bilder/lion_heart.gif. This may be even tackier yet but I was going to put some leds along the neck while I have it apart to change the inlays to a cleaner white material or possible use arcrylic for the inlays and haze them then add leds behind them on a switch. I may be getting a little ambitious, but I am taking my time and drawing up my sketches as I go. Thanks for the input so far because it helps me see flaws that I might be to proud to miss. Basically you guys are helping me proof read the paragraph. *edit* sry the links I provided in this post don't work and its late so I will find some new ones tomorrow for you guys. I am also going to sketch out the layout onto a template and color it in to test out the look. Edited November 10, 2004 by Cloud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardlyneeded Posted November 10, 2004 Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 Your links are fine you just need to take out the following bracket you're got on both URLs. I'm interested to see if this turns out in reality like you envision it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 (edited) Ok I fixed the links now, and I see they aren't duds after all. Anyhow I thinking I can get something similar in the paints finish, but I want to use a UV auto paint that is thin enough to shoot through my airbrush. The problem is where do I get small samples of auto UV airbrush paint in similar colors without buying pints, quarts, or gallons of the stuff (want to use an airbrush because of the greater amount of control you have with it over a spray can. I already have worked with the duplicolor black paint I am going to use for the base coat, and I have achieved a really nice gloss finish on curves and such on prepainted metal so I am thinking that the paint will also work really well for this application as well. I just remembered I might know someone who has a computerized paint mixing machine so I might give him a call and see what he can do for me. All I need is maybe 8oz of the black or so, 6oz of white, and maybe 2-3oz of the two blue tones or three I will use to get that fade (any distributors give out small free samples lol). Edit- I seen some Createx automotive airbrush paints for 5 bucks a bottle that are labled Fluorescent paints. I am just wondering if these would infact fluoresce under exposure to black light. Edited November 10, 2004 by Cloud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryL Posted November 10, 2004 Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 Don't quote me on this but I believe that the florescent colors are just that bright florescent but Do Not glow under black light. But Just in case ask that question in the finishing and inlays forum and see if there's someone there that can direct you on those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 Thanks I will have to try that once I get her wired up and see how she sounds and such. One thing I did see is house of kolor has Kosmic glo powder additive, but at 30-40 dollars for 4oz of the stuff I just can't justify it since thats about what I paid for the 20"x16 slab of mahogany with a extra piece 8"x 19" the guy included with it(by the way I got the wood off an ebay distributor who was offered great services). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2004 Tradegy has struck. The neck I was going to use was damaged in the process of removing the fretboard. Even when heating the glue the wood was really dry and it cracked very easily so I am now in the market for a new neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerryL Posted November 11, 2004 Report Share Posted November 11, 2004 Don't sweat it Cloud, It's your first guitar, We all have the learning experience and know what NOT to do next time. I've built a few necks but alot of bodies and it just adds to the learning. In My Opinion, the body is the easy part and the neck is the hardest part. Start again and keep in mind the parts of building that tripped you up, and keep on learning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www Posted November 11, 2004 Report Share Posted November 11, 2004 Just a hint! It looked like you were sanding against the grain in some spots. I noticed this in a close up of one of your pics. Try to sand with the grain at all times. It will help you when you are trying to put your finish on. Any sanding across the grain will show up badly when finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2004 Thanks for the tip on the sanding. Ya I was using a power sander to shave the wood down, but I haven't done the final sanding yet until I finish with the layout work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud Posted November 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2004 because I am short on money and I had lots of scrap mahogany I am attempting to make my own neck. I am making it in two pieces. The main stock, and the headstock and I will join them together. Its not the best situation, but the longest piece of mahogany I had was about 20" long so I had to do it this way. The fretboard from the old neck wasn't damaged so I was able to salvage her. I might upoad some pictures of the neck in progress after I get some more of the general shape down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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