dansk Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 (edited) so on monday me and my friend went out looking for wood.. we got a really nice board of imbuya (native brazilian wood, nice figure, very dense) right now i'm working on the main template for the guitars (we are actually getting 2 bodies out of the board) and i'm trying to trace over a photo i got from the internet.. i got the body shape alright and then went and tried to scale it up according to the scale length the shape i'm tracing is that of a fender jaguar, so that's a 24-inch scale. i did the math and came up with a certain size for the body and printed it out. the problem is, looking at it, it looks weirdly large the template came out about 14, 75 inches wide (blue in the pic) by 20,5 inches long (red).. does anyone know the aproximate dimensions of a fender jaguar? i looked around the guitar shops but can't find one (such models are kinda hard to find in brazil) btw, the neck pocket is not accurate. we're buying a pre-made neck and taking measurements from it to get the pocket right thanks a lot... p.s.: we have the wood cut and clamped for gluing (each body will be 2-part).. i'll start a thread and post some pics as soon as we have the body blanks glued and planned... Edited February 2, 2005 by dansk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dugz Ink Posted February 2, 2005 Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 i'm trying to trace over a photo i got from the internet A lot depends on 1) the angle of the picture, and 2) the camera. If the angle isn't absolutely perfect (perpindicular) then it throws everything off. Most cameras cause what we call "keystoning"... which is most evident when you take a picture of a square building while standing perpindicular to it. The camera (or, more accurately, the type of lens that can be fitted to most camera bodies) will distort/distend the image. I would use pictures ONLY for reference. Of course, if it's YOUR guitar, you can make the dimensions whatever YOU want... so don't feel like you absolutely have to use the exact same dimensions that have been used 8 Gazzillion times in the past. D~s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansk Posted February 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2005 thanks for the help man yeah, i understand all the stuff about camera angle and whatnot, i used to work a lot with graphics and such.. the photo i used was pretty much perfect as far as angle goes... i'm not actually concerned with the shape of the template i drew - it does seem pretty accurate for me. what i want to know is whether or not i scaled it to a larger size than it should have been, because it looks large, even while being within the proportion and shape of the design here's the photo i used as a base for the template: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Balls Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 You could maybe try referencing it against other pics of the same model, like these on Warmoth.com http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/bodies/vinta...seaction=jaguar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saber Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 I think you've miscalculated. According to the photo, the scale length of that guitar is 1.5 times the body length. So if the scale length is 24", then the body length should be 16", not 20.5". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 There's a free cad of a Fender Jaguar at http://www.guitarbuild.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansk Posted February 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 yeah, thanks man, i downloaded the cad yesterday from that site, as well as the software they have listed there, but it froze my computer... i'll try again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 if you can get your hands on an engineers three sided ruler your problems are over. there are six different scales on those rulers and you just find the one that comes closest to measuring the neck scale properly and that's the one that you use to measure the body. did that make sense the way i said it? if the neck scale is 25 1/2" lay the rule down and rotate it until you find the side of the rule that shows closest to 25 1/2" and then use that scale to measure the rest of the body. good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tirapop Posted February 4, 2005 Report Share Posted February 4, 2005 A drafting trick that uses an engineers scale (like unclej mentioned) and a triangle: Draw a line down the center of the neck. With a triangle, make a line perpendicular to the centerline at the nut. Place the scale so that the tick mark at zero is where the centerline crosses the bridge. Keeping that mark there, pivot the scale so the tick mark at 24 crosses the perpendicular from the nut. Take a pencil and draw a line along the edge of the scale. Extend the line so that it's the length of the guitar. Draw lines from body features (like the red lines in your pic) perpendicular to the neck centerline and long enough to intersect that diagonal scale line. If you put the scale back on the diagonal line you can read the true dimensions for those features where they intersect the diagonal. For the blue lines, make lines parallel to the neck centerline. Draw a second diagonal line perpendicular to the first diagonal scale line. You can use the scale to read the true dimensions where those blue lines intersect the second diagonal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javacody Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 tirapop and unclej, I smell tutorial here with pics. That would be awesome, as I'm willing to bet this question comes up very frequently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 the easiest way to do it is take the picture into autocad and find a measurement you know such as the nut width or the scale length from there scale the picture up and trace, perfect drawing to scale without all that engineering bs, hooray for architects, sorry lil inside joke ne ways gluck MzI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meegs666 Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 i really think you guys should outline this in a tut. or at least have this thread pinned. javacody is most definitly right that this comes up a lot in some form or another. all those times guys ask for cads(im guilty of that), if they had access to this info it would really help them a lot and maybe even solve some of the clutter on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibreakemineedtobuildem Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 (edited) I go to Fender.com and they have direct over head shots.Then I print it out as a 4 page poster print.Take a last fret or Pu spacing measurement to get it right.It only took me three tries to get a strat within a half a MM. Before I print I crop so most of the neck is gone leaving only the part that fills the neck pocket. Edited February 6, 2005 by ibreakemineedtobuildem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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