willliam_q Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 here are pics of my new guitar. I had never worked with wood before in my life, so it's not bad considering. This is completely scratch built using only a router, electric sander, surform, drill and obviously sanding by hand. The paint all came out of tins and cost me a wee fortune! specs are: bolt on maple neck and fretboard rio grande tallboy neck and middle position pickups rio grande muy Grande bridge 2 piece ash body rest are cheapo parts! colour is metallic black I have named this prototype 0 because it was just a prototype to see if i could make a guitar. I have learned a lot from it. I have learned NEVER to use polyurethane lacquer!!, it's too brittle and the different layers don't blend together so when u sand it down it looks quite bad. The body is very big. I ordered a lump of ash from england, but didn't have the tools to thickness it. The neck is too wide and thick and I know now to buy a decent straight edge ruler for the next one, cause the ruler I had was tellin me the frets weren't level, when in fact they were. I also took the nut down a little too low, so I have the neck at a big angle at the mo to try to prevent the strings buzzing at the top. When I made the body I forgot that I was routing the neck pocket for a 22 fret neck, not a 21 fret. So when I stuck the neck in it fitted snug but the scale length was out. I had to make the neck pocket deeper which means that at the back of the neck where the neck meets the body there is a small gap . I also didn't sand the body good enough so when i sprayed the grain came through. This took a lot of sanding at the lacquer to get out, but it's far from perfect, especially the back. my description of this guitar makes it sound like a botch job, but it is in tune the whole way up the fret board and sounds really good when plugged up. I am proud of the neck itself. If it was a little thinner it would be perfect for my playing style. Also I have not finished the neck (as in lacquered it) and it feels real smooth to glide up and down. I am confident that the next guitar will be a masterpiece!! My photo gallery 1st guitar pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 I have learned NEVER to use polyurethane lacquer!!, you haven't learned enough..polyeurethane and laquer are 2 completely different types of paint both work well,with lots of use on great guitars to back that up...you just have to learn how to apply it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted February 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 (edited) it said polyurethane lacquer on the tin, that's all i knew about it. i wans't building it for the finish n e way, like i said, just a prototype to see wat i could do. Oh i forgot, i dunno if this makes a difference but it said to spray at 20 degrees C. I was sprayin in an old tin shed at 5 degrees how would that effect the paint, i haven't really looked at sprayin before cause I sprayed in ibanez that i had and it came out fine, tho it would have been sprayed at almost 20 degrees in the summer. also i didn't use the polyurethane stuff on the ibanez, i can't remember wat i used it was a while back. Edited February 7, 2005 by willliam_q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 oops.wait a minute.i read laquer and thought "nitro" damn brain going out on me i think. i don't actually know off the top of my head if poly is technically a laquer. so you had problems with poly?most people find spray can poly to be easy to use.but yes,cold makes a difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_ed Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Hi William, Welcome to the insanity of building your own guitar. I saw that you have learned many lessons. Believe it or not, that is a good thing. And every guitar you build will teach you something new. I have built about 9 guitars, and I am always learning something. Take care and take more pix, Guitar Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 Sounds like you had a few challenges along the way, but got it to sound good and tune up. Great Job!!!!It also sounds like you enjoyed the process. We all make mistakes along the way but as long as we learn from them the next projects will keep improving. So whats the next project gonna be? and take lots of pictures along the way. Fryguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted February 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 Well, like i said this was just a prototype, but the next one is already in the planning stages and some parts have been bought, basically same concept, strat shaped guitar, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Hope to do a more interesting paint job, like a sunburst, which will be sprayed in a warmer environment use same pickups from this first one as it'll probly be consigned to the scrap heap. generally better quality parts and build quality after that I'll make myself a tube amplifier and les paul copy. I have it all planned out all depends on time tho, cause i have to concentrate on studies for the time being, ( i'm final year uni) after that I'll be making as many as I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Just a note, the grain pop up because you didn't fill it. Ash needs to be filled, not because you didn't sand well. Next time try using a grain filler or epoxy. A lot of us use epoxy better and on ash if you are using a transparent color, use black epoxy to show off the grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeR Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Hi man, That looks really cool! Congrats on such a fine 1st guitar! Luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted February 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 thanks for the feedback, i've learnt alot. An update: The guitar has bedded in well and I now seem to prefer it over my ibanez. Probably cause it sounds so much better than it. I can get me stevie Ray tones as well as some good heavy rock stuff, I used to hate this guitar, now I love it!!! I'll try to get some sound clips soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willliam_q Posted August 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2005 Hi guys, another update almost 1 year on!!!! I finally sat down to wire the strat up properly. I haven't used a fender style pickup selector switch on this guitar so hadn't wired it up right at all. I decided to finally correct the problem and got the multi meter out. It is now wired up in the same configuration as all standard strats. Because it's now correctly wired I am now getting much more sound, it is absolutely beautiful!!!! I've said that I was disappointed with the way this guitar turned out, but while I had the strings off I decided to work at the neck to see if I could make it better. I put a shim in the neck heel because the neck was sitting too low in the body. It's amazing the transformation!!! I have been able to properly intonate the guitar and the feel from playing is so much better. Because the neck now sits higher in the body I am able to properly adjust the pickup height to get the sound I want from them. I only wish I could have been bothered to make these changes earlier. I can't wait to start another guitar, now that I know I can make a neck that feels good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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