xtjdx Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 Hello everyone! I'm new here (obviously) and new to guitar building. I have been perusing this site for the past few days and must say that every single resource I've found has been invaluable for knowledge. All of this has inspired me to do what I have been wanting to do for years: build a unique guitar that plays and sounds great! I have basically no woodworking skill, so it will be a very tedious task, but I'm saving up so that if there are large mistakes made, it won't break the bank. I'm probably going to start in 2-3 months. Just wanted to say thanks for this awesome site and for being a collective inspiration to a 19 year old guitarist who was losing faith in the music scene. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 man, your nickname is even harder to pronounce than mine... I started out a few months back with no woodworking experience at all. Now I've got just a little. Here are three things I learned: 1. You need the right tools. Power tools. Unless you're really meticulous and detail-oriented, definitely power tools. 2. Take your time, plan out your moves, measure well, be patient, don't work when rushed, don't try to do five things in one day. There's no hurry. 3. Build a practice guitar before attempting your dream guitar. Use lower-grade wood or whatever, but don't expect your first guitar to be perfect. And anyway, once you start, you'll start planning out the next three guitars, because this is tons of fun and highly addictive. Oh yeah, one more mini-rule. Don't forget to play your other guitars once in a while too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 3. Build a practice guitar before attempting your dream guitar. Use lower-grade wood or whatever, but don't expect your first guitar to be perfect. And anyway, once you start, you'll start planning out the next three guitars, because this is tons of fun and highly addictive. ← I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I'd temporarily set aside my current project if I could afford to finance a simpler project to complete first. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimRayden Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 Oh yeah, one more mini-rule. Don't forget to play your other guitars once in a while too. You can say that again. After getting into guitar and guitar amp building, I've been pretty passive at playing. But I'm starting to recover from the big pause. Once in a while you find yourself staring at your guitar and thinking of what else to tune or rebuild, or dreaming of your next projects to turn out perfect. That's the time you've got to tell yourself you have to play more. ---------- Jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa_Shank Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 I've really been meaning to begin my first project for a while now but I keep thinking about my zero woodwork experience (apart from high school stuff but that was years ago now). The closest to real wood work I've been recently was cutting an RG mdf template and I *attempted* a 9 string neck, looking at it now it's more like an 8 string neck, I think I tried to mark out the fanned frets w/mutliple scale of 22.75-25.5" or something, I can't remember now I know what I'd like to build though, so that's not a problem. I guess I should just pull my finger out my ass and get to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mledbetter Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 I've really been meaning to begin my first project for a while now but I keep thinking about my zero woodwork experience (apart from high school stuff but that was years ago now). The closest to real wood work I've been recently was cutting an RG mdf template and I *attempted* a 9 string neck, looking at it now it's more like an 8 string neck, I think I tried to mark out the fanned frets w/mutliple scale of 22.75-25.5" or something, I can't remember now I know what I'd like to build though, so that's not a problem. I guess I should just pull my finger out my ass and get to it. ← Sweet.. a fanned. You're talking 8 string guitar right? That will be an interesting project. I've got a buddy taht plays Dingwall basses. I like them a lot. Not sure I could handle it on a guitar but it just depends on your style. That'll be neat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneMonkey Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 3. Build a practice guitar before attempting your dream guitar. Use lower-grade wood or whatever, but don't expect your first guitar to be perfect. And anyway, once you start, you'll start planning out the next three guitars, because this is tons of fun and highly addictive. Oh yeah, one more mini-rule. Don't forget to play your other guitars once in a while too. ← Ahh, that's where it all went wrong. I was half way through my first build, got stuck in the absence of some tools, so I chopped up the only working guitar that I had. Now that it's nearly finished, I've started work on my brothers so I've 3 project and no working guitars Actually, I haven't done any work on any for ages - been doing a minimum of 10 hour days at work for the last few months and I just want to sit down and mong out when I get home. But the weather's picking up which normally goes hand in hand with my work rate, so there's hope yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unusual71 Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 another great tip i've learnt, wait till you have good funds to start, im always sitting with nothing to do because im broke or have to spend money on other things, plus its nice to order as much as you can at once so you can plan things out perfectly...good luck and remember, pictures, pictures, pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa_Shank Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 Sweet.. a fanned. You're talking 8 string guitar right? That will be an interesting project. I've got a buddy taht plays Dingwall basses. I like them a lot. Not sure I could handle it on a guitar but it just depends on your style. That'll be neat. ← an 8 for a project of my own? nope, I've already got a 9 almost made for me, and I'll probably be seeing about a 8 from him aswell later on but a 7 or a 6 is more realistic for me I think, I wouldn't mind building an 8 at some point though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 (edited) good luck and remember, pictures, pictures, pictures! Yeah, and when you do post them.....descrease size a bit. It's falling of the side of my screen. Also think bottom of Ibanez headstock is too curved. And fanned frets, right?.....Ambitious project. Edited April 8, 2005 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa_Shank Posted April 8, 2005 Report Share Posted April 8, 2005 Yeah, and when you do post them.....descrease size a bit. It's falling of the side of my screen. Also think bottom of Ibanez headstock is too curved. And fanned frets, right?.....Ambitious project. ← you're right it is a bit too curved, hmm, if I were to make an 8 and got a hold of some individual bridges I would probably attempt a multiple scale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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