Sydney, Australia Year 12 Design Tech

[Chalig]

Hey, my name is Charlie G,

I am a year 12 student (16yo) in Sydney, Australia.

For my Design & Technology major project I am designing a guitar.

The basic idea behind the project is to design and construct a guitar that will be able to go wherever I go. The guitar has a 24-Fret through-body neck with maple wings in a shape that resembles a Gibson Flying-V with out the end pointy bits. The guitar also has metal sides that fold out to form these end pointy bits. The guitar has a tremolo bridge and a standard Strat electronics set up. It also has the electronics of a small amplifier (minus the speaker) in the guitar along with a 9-volt battery compartment so that I can plug headphones straight into the body of the guitar. This means that I can play the guitar anywhere at any time.

Some existing designs that have influenced this include:

- The Gibson Flying-V.

- The Yamaha Silent Guitar.

- Various Travel Guitars.

I have completed the following designing:

- Initial sketches.

- Final drawings.

- Cad Diagrams.

- And as a result have ended up with this design (ON MSN SPACE - Black/White Guitar Diagram)

So far I have purchased:

- A 2nd hand Strat-style guitar which somebody made, and did a shoddy job of. I bought this from a pawn shop in Hornsby.

- 24-Fret through-body neck from StewMac.

- A piece of maple wood.

At this point in time I have undertaken the following construction:

- Deconstructed the 2nd hand Strat-style guitar, taking out the electronics which I suspect was a pre-wired pickguard and the bridge.

- Cut the maple sides to suit my design. (To be the wings to the neck).

I am stuck as I do not have any of the profession equipment/routing templates and I have a couple of problems, including:

- How to undertake the routing as I do not have any templates, and I am also installing amplifier parts and a 9-v batter compartment? ON MSN SPACE- there is a picture of a guitar with a built in amp, this example is sort of what i want to do, just without the speaker.

- How do incorporate these amplifier and 9-volt battery? I need to have a headphone jack as well as the output jack (the output jack is not the Strat 1, but the one that would be on, say, a Les Paul. there is a small wiring diagram of this on MSN SPACE

- What glue should I use and where should I get it from? Eg. Epoxy.

- I am rapidly approaching my budget and I still have to buy sum stuff. Any ideas

- How can I go about finishing, as I want to air brush it, but I don’t have the professional kits, or any paint? I was wondering if somebody could help me out there.

Is there anybody in Sydney, Australia (I live in Wahroonga, near Hornsby) that would be willing to give me a hand? Any help/ideas/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Charlie. (I will update this post when I transfer the photos off my camera.)

Edited June 8, 2005 by Chalig

[psw]

G'day mate...sorry I'm in Melbourne but, despite the lack of replies so far you have come to the right place...due to time differences you'll find people active here 24/7!!! Welcome aboard...and another V...some people hear will be really pleased (sorry in joke, there are some real V officanardo's )

First off...get some pics and drawings together...

I'm not sure exactly what you're quite wanting to make...is it a normal V with collapsable wings for transport?

A through neck...you're keen.

I guess you need to do this by the end of the year but, I'd be considering making something up using the strat neck etc first before you jump off into the deep end with a big full first build...it might even suffice for the finished project if you run out of time for some reason...

Anyway...draw a plan...or even some rough sketches of the design and add it to this topic and I'll keep an eye on it. BTW: there are some SH parts for sale in the auction section...tuners, bridges, etc...mutronboy the seller's a nice guy...there might be something of interest that he's getting rid of...

best of luck

psw

[Chalig]

G'day mate...sorry I'm in Melbourne but, despite the lack of replies so far you have come to the right place...due to time differences you'll find people active here 24/7!!! Welcome aboard...and another V...some people hear will be really pleased (sorry in joke, there are some real V officanardo's )

First off...get some pics and drawings together...

I'm not sure exactly what you're quite wanting to make...is it a normal V with collapsable wings for transport?

A through neck...you're keen.

Anyway...draw a plan...or even some rough sketches of the design and add it to this topic and I'll keep an eye on it. BTW: there are some SH parts for sale in the auction section...tuners, bridges, etc...mutronboy the seller's a nice guy...there might be something of interest that he's getting rid of...

best of luck

psw

←

hey, i have heaps of sketches, n it is fully designed, i just don't have the expertise, such as soldering or finishing, equiptment, such as airbrush, and partly some of the knowledge lol, i have been researching this all of this year and last,

also i don't know how to post some of my sketches on here as they are too big to put on a website, (1MB). how do i change the size of the file. i want to put the pics on photobucket or whatever.

k thanks

charlie G

[GuitarGuy]

How do i change the size of the file. i want to put the pics on photobucket or whatever.

k thanks

charlie G

←

Download the trial of photoshop I believe it has the "save for web" feature still intact

With that you can change the size and quality of the picture.

correct me if im wrong.

Edited June 10, 2005 by GuitarGuy

[psw]

Yeah...you must have some editing program...resize to about 500 and reduce the quality (dpi) if necessary...you don't want anything too large or it wont show up too well on here anyway. Photobucket will automatically try to resize anyway but it's better to keep the images small or we wont be able to see it all on one screen.

Also...there is a rule on picture posting...one per post...so dont try posting everything all at once...just try and illustrate your points and questions...ok.

It sound's like you may be biting off a little more than you can chew though...airbrushing...it can take years to learn that kind of skill. As it's a design project...invest your energy in the design and getting a good looking working prototype...you can always take it apart later and do the fancy stuff!!!...In my experience it's the concept and realization that they're looking at, not necessarily the finish

Now...get to work on some pics so we can better see what it is you are trying to build!

pete

[psw]

Ahrghhh...you have the same thread going over here!!!!

Carlig....In Progress and Finished Work!!!!!

Makes it a little tricky if you have multiple treads going as we don't know what the other's have replied too...

I understand though that it might have taken a while to get a reply...next time, get some pics first and a snazzy title like "bizzar folding V project" and people will be all over it...just a tip...you might try something like this to keep the thread together once you've started or have some more concrete plans...we're here to help, but your request is general, not specific so I suspect people really don't have a lot to say on your subject....

psw