Startin My First

[1nf1d3l]

i -WANT- to do a guitar like this, but its a v, and itd waste a loooot of wood...

but i drew this one up, and its pretty cool lookin i think..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/1nf1d3l/style-2.jpg

aaand this one... which is a bit more complicated that the last two

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/1nf1d3l/style-1.jpg

but ive got my alder and mahogony all together now.

should i glue toe top on now, or wait till after i cut the basic shape outta the alder?

[Marzocchi705]

The one at the top is the best looking one, IMO. It is a waste of a lot of wood but just think you have a lot of wood to practice finishing on, always a good thing. You could make a nice Alder/mahogany door stop if your really worried about waste of wood...

[Executioner606]

Either do the one on top or the one in the first link. They both rock.

[skibum5545]

I say do the second one, but make the back side point shorter; it'll look better that way. Also, and SG-esque edge contouring, and do a satin transparent finish. Top it off with chrome hardware (including pickup rings!) and a mahogany set neck with ebony fingerboard and sterling silver tribal inlays.

Go!

[MasterMinds]

i would do the V - but what are those things hanging off it?

The rest of the wood won't go to waste - remember you can make other parts of your guitar out of wood man.

You can make pickup covers from wood, you can make stained wood inlays, you could make wood knobs, etc...

lot's of uses to practice other things, even if you don't want them for this guitar - but another one!

[1nf1d3l]

oh btw - im buying neck, im nooooowhere near confident enough to build my own ..

set neck would be VERY cool though, but would it be more expesive or not?

its gonna be a single pickup at the bridge, and probably a TOM... what are the non trem ones that ibanez uses on their rg series? i like those looks wise and they sound nice.

im thinkin about doin maybe... 25 or 25 1/2 scale, maybe even a baritone, but ill decide that when i buy the neck.

probably going to use a bill lawrence l-500 if i can get one, or a carvin m22t or m22sd. toss a kill switch and MAYBE a volume on it.

should i be daring and go 7 string? or keep it simple and stay at 6... id LOVE a 7 string, but that would take some rethinking of the parts and the design..

and for paint, i want to do either a really dark solid or transparent purple( the mahogany might look nice with that, idk), or transparent black.

and itll probably be 24 frets, even though i dont use those extra three all that much

ill probably top it off with some contouring for whichever route i go, but im still undecided as to which model i want to build.. i love the rhoads-dime mix, but it IS a waste of wood for my first time i think.. but, i DO love the design.. and it would look badass onstage, but the wavey pointy one (i had a name but i cant recall it ) is preeeetty cool itself

[PatientZero]

I'm really not a fan of V guitars, but for some reason, I like this one. One of the things that you can do to keep from wasting wood is to chop it up a bit. You have a lot of areas of blank wood, so instead of cutting the body out of the blank, chop up the blank into smaller pieces. then layout the wood in the general shape of the guitar. Creative clamping and gluing, but very doable. I hope that was clear, if not I'll try to sketch it out later.

[1nf1d3l]

I'm really not a fan of V guitars, but for some reason, I like this one. One of the things that you can do to keep from wasting wood is to chop it up a bit.  You have a lot of areas of blank wood, so instead of cutting the body out of the blank, chop up the blank into smaller pieces. then layout the wood in the general shape of the guitar. Creative clamping and gluing, but very doable. I hope that was clear, if not I'll try to sketch it out later.

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that would hurt the structural intergity of the guitar though im afraid.. these guitars arent going to be sitting in padding.. ill be usin them, and to hack apart the wood and have the grains going in different directions, to me that would be bad.. and since i plan to do a transparent finish, itd look crappy too. i thought of doin that, but i think im gonna wait with the v. i want that one to be peeerfect, and my first project isnt going to be perfect. so i believe ill do the second one.

nothings certain yet though my good men, i probably wont start the cutting for at least a week, since i have to do it at my grandpas, and i have school, and am busy already tommorow

BTW: about the top, glue it first, then cut? or cut then glue and trim?

[Slabbefusk]

The first one reminds me of a Hamer Scarab, I think you should make one.

[Bigtommyb]

I like the V its like V meets explorer - its Very cool. i say go for that 1.

BigT

[Digideus]

I like the V design, but im a sucker for Vs anyway! Personally, I would have got a longer piece of wood and used the top edge of the v as the top of the wood. For one you waste less wood and make less cuts.

Secondly, I have a thoery about gluing two bits of wood together where the bridge and pickups are going. is going. I woulds rather glue on a wing to a solid body than join two bits of wood in the centre just for my own piece of mind. I dont like the idea of having a join line dead centre where all the routing is going. Especially if I was doing a figured top as well, then I would want to stagger the join lines in the woods. Probably just placebo effect but to me it seems like a more stable way to do it.

keep us posted

[drinkchoglit]

i like the first one the best, it remids me of a dean ml only poiniter. the second one looks really cool too

[guitman32]

Metal design--the first one I mean. Go for that one. I saw 24 frets, 25.5 scale, black...

I have 3 Bill Lawrence pups coming my way - two L-500XL and one L-500R - cant wait to get them installed...

[skibum5545]

I'd betcha a set neck is very possible. Give the boys at Soulmate Guitars a call; they might be able to help you out.

[1nf1d3l]

I'd betcha a set neck is very possible. Give the boys at Soulmate Guitars a call; they might be able to help you out.

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!! those are the dudes doing matts impalers neck!! hmm.. ill toss an email their way, check the prices, MAYBE ill do that 7string... hmmm.. .. we shall see.

and i see that my ml/rr design is well liked ... im just not sure i want to play with my beloved tribute design and risk f'ing it up...

[Marzocchi705]

Do the v and make a few lap-steels out os the off cuts... or make a boul, or make a MINI V out of it, that would be cool a mando-v.

[1nf1d3l]

i still think im gonna do the second design, and for my second project, ill do my RR/ML, and ill try to make that the PERFECT guitar to me!

[1nf1d3l]

ive decided on teh "wavy" design. but the question remains.. 7 strings... or 6? if i do 7, ill probably grab me the carvin 7 string buckers and do a hipshot bridge. still the purple, seethru purple, or seethru black finish though..

anyone have any recomandations for scale? i kinda wanted to do a baritone, but the necks are hard to come by, and if i do a sevenstringer, itll almost have to be. 27" too much?

and im going to eventually need to get ahold of a killswitch. would i have to use a special switch, and is the wiring sceme crazy or no.. i have a little electronic knowledge, but id guess you hook it up like you would to the volume pot, and then if i DID add a volume, run it to that and then to the output?\

and could i cut the "leader" design (to follow when im drawing it on the wood) on cardboard or something? or would i need a harder material?

im sooo anxious to get her started!! with my gramps moved into his new house now, i oughta be able to get her cut out this weekend, maybe even draw the router plans onto her

now wheres matt..? i need that crazy metalheads input!! lol

[Marzocchi705]

You dont need to have baritone length for a 7-stringer. Id go with 25.5in.

[1nf1d3l]

You dont need to have baritone length for a 7-stringer. Id go with 25.5in.

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.. what would i need if i did seven strings and dropped it 3 (or two and a half, depending on how you look at it lol) steps so that.. the first 6 would be B standard and the 7th string is.. wait.. what WOULD the 7th string be if i did that.. ?

?-b-e-a-d-g-b

[ThePlague]

F#

for that i agree that 27" would probably be a good idea. 25.5" would still work, but it depends on how much tension you like and what size strings you'll use.

[1nf1d3l]

F#

for that i agree that 27" would probably be a good idea.  25.5" would still work, but it depends on how much tension you like and what size strings you'll use.

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id use probably 13 - 65 if i could. but i use that(13-56 without that 7th string) in drop B, so id probably do 15-70 for this.. to keep the tension a tad loose

and in drop tuning that would be... Fb/E# right?

wow.. thats really low..... 7 string it is i think.. id love to have that extra string.. whoooooweeee

Edited April 7, 2005 by 1nf1d3l

[ThePlague]

in drop tuning it'd be E. Fb = E. i'd definately go with a 70. i use 11-70 on my 7 string tuned b-e-a-d-g-b-e.

[1nf1d3l]

in drop tuning it'd be E.  Fb = E.  i'd definately go with a 70.  i use 11-70 on my 7 string tuned b-e-a-d-g-b-e.

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sweet. wow.. ill be a whole step down with my 7th string if i do that.. !!! ok

any other suggestions since im totally doin a 7 stringer now?

[MasterMinds]

You dont need to have baritone length for a 7-stringer. Id go with 25.5in.

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.. what would i need if i did seven strings and dropped it 3 (or two and a half, depending on how you look at it lol) steps so that.. the first 6 would be B standard and the 7th string is.. wait.. what WOULD the 7th string be if i did that.. ?

?-b-e-a-d-g-b

←

The standard guitar tuning cycle is this:

E a d g b E a d g b E a d g b

It's a cycle of 5 pitches in order. Since a guitar is six strings, it repeats the first chosen note once. So, if you want a seven string, you'd get the following, low to high - in standard tuning

B E A D G B E

Basically normal with one lower cycle on low string. If you're tunining the entire thing so each string is one less, then you want to go for the lowest seven strings of an 8 string guitar in standard tuning.

G B E A D G B

That'd be your seven string tuning dropped a full string in the standard tuning.

But, you have a second option. Instead of going with standard tuning of a guitar, dropped one full string with a low seventh - you could go with the guitars standard INTERVALS, not the actual pitch tunes.

The intervals are, of course:

Perfect 4th - Perfect 4th - Perfect 4th - Major Third - Perfect 4th

Or, if you don't know what that means.

up 5 notes - up 5 notes - up 5 notes - up 4 notes - up 5 notes

So you could go that route, starting from any point. I think both are your options - and you might experiment with them. One will give you standard power chord shapes, the other might provide you better chord forms, and more familiar lead lines.

PS: Sorry if one of the notes/intervals in this is wrong I am doing this off top of my head.