ripsrv Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 hey guys i really want to learn how to do all this cool stuff i see on here. i am young but eager to learn and i htink the best way is to just do it. at first i was going to build a guitar from my own design but that adds a whole nother level of difficulty. i i thought of doing the begginer route and slap two peices of alder into a strat, but i already have a strat. what abotu a prs? is the carved top look hard to achive? i dont know what i should do but i think an exsiting design copy would be best. any thoughts? btw i already have 2000 american strat{auqua marine} 69 fender mustang{white} 87 les paul{white} 90's custom built strat{white lefty} i dont mind a nother one but maybe branching out would be good. thanks for any also for tools, i will be useing a dremel, sander, files, claps, glue, and a jig saw. is there anything else that is cheep and would make the job easier? thanks abunch for any suggestions and ill be sure to keep you posted on the project the craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddiewarlock Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 better use a kit guitar, there are PRS and Les Paul kits available from Grizzly.com, good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker_Fly Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 is it possible to use the PRS kit they have and somehow change it from a hard tail to some sort of tremolo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigabyte Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 (edited) Ripsrv, check out my thread... It's not much of a tutorial but I guess it could serve as one if needed... It's a PRS style body: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=11848 I did most of the top with an orbit sander and the rest with a dremel. I di go into some details about how I did the top so read up. This is only my second guitar. I had no pryer (sp?) wood-working knowledge before I started making guitars other than sharpening a stick and calling it knife when I was about 7 (ha-ha). Just test you ideas and techniques on scrap before moving on to the real piece. Anyway, if I could do it then you can do it. People will probably tell you it's one of the harder body styles to make, maybe because of the arch top; I don't know... but with a little cheap orbit sander it couldn't be any easier (unless you have a CNC machine around to copy bodies for you all day...) You might want to look into getting a cheap donor guitar so you can steal the neck, bridge, etc... That stuff gets pretty expensive when you buy each piece individually....... Plus when you're using a donor guitar you have some reference for the distance of the bottom of the neck to the bridge.... Edited February 6, 2005 by Gigabyte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 The grizzly PRS style comes with a FR. http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=h6086& Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker_Fly Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 The grizzly PRS style comes with a FR. http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=h6086& ← Yeah i saw that one, I dont like the shape of the body on the bottom though.... hmm i might check it out some more.. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 gigabyte... i saw that thread and that si what made me think about doing a prs. the guitar kits on grizzly are already done basically it is more assembeling it than acually creating it. i think i can handel a bit more than just boltin up the parts/wireing and painting. i was looking more along the lines of coping a guitar. using templetes and patterns and what not to make my own from nothing. i was looking for a guitar recamendation that people have done with ease again and again here. i dont know if a strat is more difficult that a lp for example. just need some direction and advice. thanks alot for your replies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 What's so difficult about doing your own design? Take the basic specs you want, lay them out on some graph paper or a CAD file, and then just draw an outline that is pleasing to the eye! What I did for my shape was took my two favorite kinds of basses, a G&L and a J-bass, traced the outlines (lined up at the bridge mark), and created a shape between the two that I found visually pleasing. I erased the J-Bass and G&L lines, and then tweaked the shape some more until I was satisfied. It's not that hard, and once you have a guitar unlike any other guitar on earth, you feel decidedly proud of yourself. Try it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 i am assuming it would be alot harder than copying a guitar becuase you first need to come up with a design. then you have. than work out all the kinks. then find out what hardware and all that stuff will be sued and moddify it to work in your aplication.. then when you put it together you have to just hope eveyhting works. if i copy a guitar i know it will all work providing i do it right. you can always miss measure or overlook somthing in your own diesign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
!!METAL MATT!! Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 i am assuming it would be alot harder than copying a guitar becuase you first need to come up with a design. then you have. than work out all the kinks. then find out what hardware and all that stuff will be sued and moddify it to work in your aplication.. then when you put it together you have to just hope eveyhting works. if i copy a guitar i know it will all work providing i do it right. you can always miss measure or overlook somthing in your own diesign. ← Well then why not just do a simple design like a flying-V the line's are easy enough for someone that's just starting and you can say you designed it your self You can have the same problems with any copied design that you could have doing your own!! !!METAL MATT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 i am assuming it would be alot harder than copying a guitar becuase you first need to come up with a design. then you have. than work out all the kinks. then find out what hardware and all that stuff will be sued and moddify it to work in your aplication.. then when you put it together you have to just hope eveyhting works. if i copy a guitar i know it will all work providing i do it right. you can always miss measure or overlook somthing in your own diesign. ← Well then why not just do a simple design like a flying-V the line's are easy enough for someone that's just starting and you can say you designed it your self You can have the same problems with any copied design that you could have doing your own!! !!METAL MATT!! ← I find a strat way easier than a V, V needs lots of details that a strat doesn't. If you want to go the easy way got to http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/products.htm they have templates already made for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 metal matt i never thought abotu a v that would be pretty narly. i could make a pretty bad ass mahagony strat copy too tho. maiden thatnks for that website its got some cool helpers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tirapop Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 i am assuming it would be alot harder than copying a guitar becuase you first need to come up with a design. then you have. than work out all the kinks. then find out what hardware and all that stuff will be sued and moddify it to work in your aplication.. then when you put it together you have to just hope eveyhting works. if i copy a guitar i know it will all work providing i do it right. you can always miss measure or overlook somthing in your own diesign. ← It's as hard or as easy as you want to make it. Hardware-wise keep it simple: a bolt-on 25.5" neck, no angle on the neck pocket, a toploading hardtail bridge. You can buy a neck, buy just a slotted fingerboard, or make the whole thing. You can buy templates for routing a Fender neck pocket. Pickups? You could canibalize a prewired pickguard or buy a bunch of parts and wire just what you want, just how you want it. You can find wiring diagrams for just about anything on the web. For the body, simplest would be a big rectangle like the Gretsch Bo Diddley. Obviously a flat body is easier than a carved top. You can always go back and carve/contour the body, later. If your guitar isn't a direct copy of another guitar you get a lot of latitude on the proportions. Think about how you're going to cut and sand the body as you're drawing the outline of the body. That scoop in the tail of the guitar you sketched is probably more trouble than it's worth. Go nuts. Part of why you're doing this is for the learning experience. You'll probably get more out of it by designing and building your own body than you would copying an existing body or buying templates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 gigabyte... i saw that thread and that si what made me think about doing a prs. the guitar kits on grizzly are already done basically it is more assembeling it than acually creating it. i think i can handel a bit more than just boltin up the parts/wireing and painting. i was looking more along the lines of coping a guitar. using templetes and patterns and what not to make my own from nothing. i was looking for a guitar recamendation that people have done with ease again and again here. i dont know if a strat is more difficult that a lp for example. just need some direction and advice. thanks alot for your replies i am assuming it would be alot harder than copying a guitar becuase you first need to come up with a design. then you have. than work out all the kinks. then find out what hardware and all that stuff will be sued and moddify it to work in your aplication.. then when you put it together you have to just hope eveyhting works. if i copy a guitar i know it will all work providing i do it right. you can always miss measure or overlook somthing in your own diesign. I suggest getting a good book on solid body guitar building, or go for a kit. With the tools you have (based on what you listed) and based on your messages, I think you may become frustrated quickly unless you read up on the more significant points involved in building. You mention that you don't know if an LP is more difficult than a Strat. They each have their own challenges, but I would say in my mind the LP is far more difficult. I would say a PRS is going to be a challenge also. You may see LP's being built here again and again and it may be easy for some (but most who build them have tools and understand the process, maybe making it appear easy). I think you will find out even a Strat body will be tuff without a router (Dremel is great but really is under powered for body routing). If you want to carve a body, some people use router and sanders, or you can buy shaping tools and scrapers. I guess what I am saying is you need to go do some research. Keep in mind that you may be able to acomplish some of the tasks with limited tools, but the difficulty will increase. A good book for reference will really help you out, and maybe after you have that understanding a custom design won't seem so tuff after all. Best of luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 sweet, thanks abunch for the info and replies guys. i am really leaningtoward a v of built to my own specs. i think the simple body style would be a good way to learn. ill pic a scale lenght and buy a used neck for now and then whe i have the kinks out of it i will build a new neck for it. i thougt about a neck threw for a while but that will prabably be harder right? and if i mess up the neck i pretty much have to junk the guitar then. if i set the bridge in place for lets say a 25.5 scale and strap a strat neck to it...my new neck doesnt have to be exactly the same legth and all does it? im a little confuse on how the whole scale thing works. i get that it is for intunational purpose and the nut-12th fret must be the same length and the bridge-12th fret. how do you calculate that for a home built neck right offf the bat? do you jsut wait till all the parts are done and then place the bridge in a nessacasry location? thanks agin for all of your help. oh yeah i went to borders to find a book but couldnt find anything about building them anyone have an idea of were to get a good book? thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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