Daniel Sorbera Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 (edited) ok here goes, im starting my first project. A semi holobody (my own body and headstock design). It will me a 23" scale and have mahogany back 1/4" figured maple top, Flamed maple neck, and rosewood fingerboard. It's gonna be finished in green, The back will be real dark (almost black) green, the maple top will be a nice green burst fading to black around the edges, The neck will be lightly stained green and shoot with satin clear. It Will be wired with 4 single coils placed next to each other so it looks like it auccually has 2 humbuckers, It will have a switch to switch from single coils or turn the singel coils into humbuckers! (basicly a coil split but with a single coil sound that no split humbucker can match) Its gonna just have 1 volume, 1 tone, 1 3 way to choose pickups, and a 2 way to select beteween humbucker and single coil. Its gonna have this Peizo loaded bridge recessed into the body so you dont need a neck angle. It's gonna be a string through that looks like the Godin LG It's also gonna have these tuners (in black) Also since its gonna have a 1/4" maple top, i'm gonna do nautraul binding like this What yall think? I got a question, If im making it semihollow (and i am ) Do I leave a peice of solid wood all the way down the body? Or do I stop the soild peice right after the bridge and make everything under the bridge(the lower bout) hollow also? All hardware will be black. Edited December 10, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 I believe you can do it either way (as far as center block goes). I remember reading along time ago that the center block helps in avoiding feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 (edited) I got a question, If im making it semihollow (and i am ) Do I leave a peice of solid wood all the way down the body? Or do I stop the soild peice right after the bridge and make everything under the bridge(the lower bout) hollow also? Have a look here, a great picture of an inner body route -comes from the telemodders site I like the Grovers, that's what I put on mine --but have a look at the Gotoh vintage style lockers, they're really nice looking, just a bit pricier. Edited December 10, 2004 by idch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 Here's another version, and a much cleaner version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 ya idch thats exatly what mines gonna look like (hopefully cleaner ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 What yall think? You definitely gave yourself a hell of a lot of work for a first project. Working with figured maple, semi-hollow bodies and sunbursts are not exactly recommended for beginners. But hey, if there's a will there's a way. My first build also has a sunburst but I had to redo it at least 8 to 10 times. Not easy at all when you don't know what you're doing. Even after getting all the books and videos on the subject I still had to redo it several times before it was good enough, meaning its still not Perfect in my mind but only good enough. Just be extemely patient with your project and don't rush it. I'm now into my 12th (and last) month on my first build. Give yourself LOTS of time for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 (edited) thanks alot phil, Ya i've been doing wood working for a LONG time and have been playing guitar for a long time also, so I figured why not combine the 2? ya as long as I take it slow I think it will be fine. I already have a template exatly like the one drak posted. This weekend i'm going to go and buy the mahogany and start on the body. Due to a lack of funds I will be working on the body a time before I get enough to buy the neck and hardware, and top (sigh) This might take a long time. I'm looking at about a year or two if i'm lucky. O and also I have tons of time in the paint booth doing model cars. So I know how to paint good so doing a burst shouldent be too much of a problem... Also the "sunburst" will be more like the Tom anderson burst where Its not very much of a burst, More green than anything... Edited December 10, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 ya idch thats exatly what mines gonna look like (hopefully cleaner ) Oh, that was a before photo, I should have specified that. He's since cleaned up the route...it's going to be a great-looking guitar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 ya I think it's really cool that it's routed from the rear and not the top. If I ever do a swamp ash guitar ill do it like that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2004 (edited) YES earlier to day I went and bought some wood... I got a 1 peice mahogany body ($116 ) cocobolo neck($40 ) And bocote fingerboard (10 ) O I absalutly love these woods. When you tap on the cocobolo it just sings, It rings for along time and it sounds wonderful. I tried alot of woods in teh store, tapping on them but that cocobolo just rang so clear and sounded SOOOOOO good. I still have yet to buy the 1/4" maple top but as you can see I dont have much money right now considering I was going in thinking I would spend no more than $50 Pics To Come!! I'm going to take pics along the way and document everything I do(who knows mabye this will turn into a tutorial(hopefully a tutorial on how to do it the RIGHT way ) Edited December 11, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2004 (edited) ok I just drew up these step by step instructions 1. draw the template on the mahogany from the template. 2. Rough cut the body 1/8” away from the line 3. double stick tape the template onto the mahogany 4. rout around the template with a 2”flush cut bit with a ball baring. 5. sand the body until smooth and desired curves are met 6. find where the bridge pickup will be 7. rout out some of the center block so the wires can go from the pickup cavity to the main body cavity 8. take the top and make sure it is flat 9. rough shape the top 10. drill all control holes and f-hole into top 11. make sure the top is thin enough where the controls are to let them pass through the top 12. glue the top onto the body 13. using the body as a template rout around the top 14. make sure the neck is flat and strait 15. trace the template onto the neck 16. rout out the truss rod channel 17. cut 1/8” away from the line 18. double stick the neck template onto the cocobolo 19. rout around the neck template 20. sand the neck to desired dimensions 21. make sure the fingerboard is flat and strait 22. re saw fingerboard to 1/16” thicker than you need 23. sand fingerboard until smooth 24. insert the truss rod with a little silicon bathtub sealant on each end(DO NOT glue the truss rod in place) 25. put a piece of tape just covering the truss rod channel 26. get all clamps ready 27. spread glue all over top of neck 28. pull off piece of tape 29. position fingerboard over neck and clamp in place, let glue dry 30. using the neck as a template, rout the fingerboard to the same size as the neck 31. drill the tuner holes 32. saw the headstock to the desired thickness 33. sand the headstock until all contours look good and the thickness is correct 34. slot the fingerboard 35. start roughing out the neck contour 36. than once you have the back of the neck contoured, sand the back of the neck with 120 grit sand paper until smooth 37. radius the fingerboard and sand to finial thickness 38. measure and put a mark where you want the bridge 39. clamp two boards up against the neck legenth wise 40. position the neck so that you have the right distance from your bridge and it is STRAIT down the center line 41. now clamp the two boards to the body 42. cut a piece of wood so it just fits in the open space between the boards 43. push this new piece of wood up against the neck 44. now clamp it in place 45. take off the two neck clamps 46. slide the neck out 47. rout out your neck pocket 48. finish it up with chisels 49. mark the pickup positions and rout 50. mark the positions of the pickup cover screws and drill 51. drill down from on top of the neck pocket so you can pass the wires from the neck pickup to the bridge pickup and from there into the body cavity 52. use a ¼” round over bit in the router and go over the entire body 53. mark where you want your neck bolts on your body 54. drill your body for the neck bolts 55. position the neck in the neck pocket 56. now put the drill bit through the body and HAND turn it to get a little mark on the neck where you need to drill 57. take off the neck 58. mark the depth you need with tape on the drill bit 59. mark your bridge position 60. see exactly how far down you need to recess the bridge so you don’t need any neck angle 61. recess under your bridge using a round router bit 62. drill your bridge post holes 63. drill the string through body holes 64. cut the slots on coming out of the string through body holes 65. drill holes for jack 66. finish your fingerboard and neck 67. install nut and tuners 68. finish body 69. assemble all electronics and hardware 70. bolt neck to body 71. cut the nut slots 72. string up 73. PLAY THE SNOT OUT OF IT Will this work? Do you have any other ideas? O heres a pic of the wood I bought Trust me it looks WAY better in real life More to come!! Edited December 11, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted December 12, 2004 Report Share Posted December 12, 2004 nice cocobolo not too fond of the mahog though, but hey, maybe its just my computer screen!!! Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Cavanaugh Posted December 12, 2004 Report Share Posted December 12, 2004 Please tell me who ever did that has\will clean up their routing job with a drum sander or something! No offense, but ugh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2004 (edited) ya curtis its just the really bad pic, I just shot it in really bad lighting on a bad setting on my camera. It really is a nice peice, I will take more so you can really see the grain on all the peices as the pics I have are a disgrace. But man o man is that mahogany HEAVY, I'm glad I got a heavy one(good for sustain). It is real hondurous mahogany. The board they cut my peice off of cost $700 dollars(and was about 10' long). mine costed $120 with jointing to make it flat and strait(it had some bad cup and twist to it) Also in the pic it looks discolored but its not, It's a nice pink all the way across. More pics to come tommorow as I dont have acess to my camera at this momment... O and by the way that cocobolo is the most amazing peice of wood ever I really want to make the whole thing out of it but It would cost like $1000 dollars Seriously it sounds so good just taping on it that im inspired to make something ausome Edited December 12, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2004 ok I just had a new idea. I'm going to bind the bocote fingerboard in cocobolo. I'm gonna do it like this to make it easy on myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2004 argggg I just noticed that my fingerboard has a really nasty twist to it. So i'll only be able to get 1 fingerboard out of it(it's 1/2" thick) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2004 alrighty, In a few hours I will go and cut out the body! Pics to come Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2004 (edited) this sucks, I just went out to cut out the body and found that my blade on the bansaw is too thick, I cant make teh turns, so I just stoped Now I have to go and get a new bandsaw blade before I can continue... Luckally I diddnt screw up my $160 dollar peice of wood Edited December 13, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 (edited) I finally cut out and sanded the body. Here it is right after it went through my band saw... after band saw And here it is after it is sanded to the correct dimentions... after sanding The only problem I had was a little bit of tearout with the router tearout Anyone know how to fix this? What yall think of my body shape? I drew this up in pohto shop. Thats how I want it to look after i'm done. Just in case your wondering the "grass" looking things are the f-holes, and the name on the headstock is my last name. I am going to use seymour duncan Alnico II pro humbuckers with gold covers. The next step will be routing out the middle to make it a hollowbody. please help me with the tearout Edited December 14, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galaga_Mike Posted December 14, 2004 Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 Hey, From what I've seen on the forum, people fill tearouts with epoxy mixed with sawdust to match the color. Although just plain epoxy should work fine for this case since it looks like you're going to sunburst the top and I assume the sides will be black. I've never done this myself, so someone may want to verify this. I'm working on my first project (a semi-hollowbody, too) and so I've been following along. Great work! Keep it up! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay5 Posted December 14, 2004 Report Share Posted December 14, 2004 I really dig the body shape! The final design looks cool too. But tell me, did you really pay $160 for that wood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 (edited) well I paid $116 for it, It is (very high grade) real hondurous mahogany (one peice) It's very rare to get 1 peice bodies out of it. It's also bigger than normal, It is 15" by 21", It's gonna be a bigger than normal guitar. The planing and sanding costed $20 and after tax it came out to $160, So ya I did. WEll I was going to rout out the center today to make it hollow, BUT a cold front came in last night and it's 20 out Yesterday it was 72, This is the first cold day of the season. If i go out side my hands turn numb(and yo ucant work a router with numb hands ) Edited December 15, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDust_Junkie Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 Hey godin ! Good to see you here at PG ! I looked at your pic of the router tearout. It's hard to tell from the pic how deep the tear out is, but if it was me, since you have a unique design and aren't really locked into standard dimensions of a traditional shape, I would just do some more sanding and sand it out. The tear out doesn't look very deep to me and if you sanded the entire back end of the body, it seems to me you could remove that gouge without really changing your body design. I am kind of curious how the tear out occurred. It looks to me like you used a large laminate trim bit and tried to rout the entire body thickness in one pass. I have not had luck with this method either. I think you would do better using a pattern or template bit and make several passes around the body only cutting about 1/4" or so with each pass. I may be wrong about how you did this, but the way the tearout looks, it looks to me like that is what you did. In any case, I think Mike's suggestion would be the easiest way to deal with it. Make a filler putty with epoxy and sawdust as the dark edges of the sunburst should mask it well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Sorbera Posted December 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 (edited) hey fender, Sorry I should have specified, the tearout is about 1/2 a millimeter deep (so barley there, the pic makes it look HUGE) I probally will just sand it out. Also the placement, It is on the upper horn, right where the strap button would go. And when I routed it out I did a template follower bit from the top and a laminate trim bit from the table coming up from the bottom and did a little bit at a time. Edited December 15, 2004 by Godin SD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluespresence Posted December 15, 2004 Report Share Posted December 15, 2004 WOW!! I love the photoshop pic. It gives a real nice look at how this will turn out. Great work so far.....I'm jealous!! I was looking at it and thought "man, this really looks like a Godin" then I saw your user name and "Doh!" figured out why Keep at it. I'm anxious to see the finished product now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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