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I was playing my LP yesterday and my Daughter came out (after digging in her closet) with her "Shredder" I had bought it for her when she was 5. (shes 13 now) Its a cheapie like 75.00 jc penny junk. I had forgot about it even existing, any way It looks like a toy, a single humbucker, and front jack, and its small but when I plugged it in it was so comfortable and sounded ...so so. after measuring its not as small as it looks So I might build one. the body is small the neck is standard 22 fret 1 3/4 top and 2 /14 bottom. (rough measurments) BUT before I do, can a body this size be made to sound real good? it Measures 16" tall 11 1/4" and wide 1 3/8" thick. a cross between a strat and a PRS cut style. Overall its 38" long. I would like to get you guys advice on wood types and pick ups that would give it a sweet deep tone at this small size.

Thanks

James

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i actually got my hands on a small guitar and some yard sale, but i pretty much have to rebuild it, it is in horrible shape. I think the neck is maple? fretboard is ebony. Im not sure about the body. I plan to but some dimarzio blues humbuckers in there, i dont know if that will work, but thats my plan for my small guitar

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I think I'm going to plane 1/4 off the body and put a tiger maple top on it.... maybe the head too, Paint it dark Green with a light gold metalflake clear over the green {auto paint} and green dye the maple.... no binding just rounded, use new gold hardware and some gold epi lp pickups, there cheap but sound pretty good. at least they do in my epi, Will clothes dye work or do I need to get blue and yellow from stewmac and mix it?

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NO...STEP AWAY FROM THE RIT!  Trust me on this one!  :D

Stewmac doe have Green as well as various other sellers.

Brian

What about the Car paint? Im talking the real thing not spray bombs..... I do a little motorcycle painting on the side and have some left over...

Silver, gold, and light gold (chryselr Champaign). all pearl with tiny metal flake and translucent ... unless you spray 4-5 coats, Got plain basic Black also.

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NO...STEP AWAY FROM THE RIT!  Trust me on this one!   :D

Stewmac doe have Green as well as various other sellers.

Brian

What about the Car paint? Im talking the real thing not spray bombs..... I do a little motorcycle painting on the side and have some left over...

Silver, gold, and light gold (chryselr Champaign). all pearl with tiny metal flake and translucent ... unless you spray 4-5 coats, Got plain basic Black also.

Sure! Actually pretty common, the Champaign you mentioned I believe was used by our host to match his new car.

See topic http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=8664

aanjhf2.jpg

Do lots of searching on the site. There is tons of good info within.

Welcome aboard member 4100! :D

Edited by Gorecki
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hey, talking about small guitars, is it too bad making a body 1" thick? It would save me lots of wood and time... and weight! Thanx in advance!

It's certainly possible, you'll have to be more attentive to things like pickup depth, bridge studs...etc and the overall sound of the guitar may differ from some.

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hey, talking about small guitars, is it too bad making a body 1" thick? It would save me lots of wood and time... and weight! Thanx in advance!

It's certainly possible, you'll have to be more attentive to things like pickup depth, bridge studs...etc and the overall sound of the guitar may differ from some.

And through neck would be best ..... Maybe the only way. look out for pot and switch mountig depth before you buy them... Hmmm... Mahogony. neck, Maple wings, might be nice. Taper the edges so it looks eve thinner. I may just try that myself.....after I get a couple builds under my belt.

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I have an 87' Les Paul Custom Lite that I need to take photos and get measurements for you guys. It's thin and light, has coil tap, all from factory. They didn't make them for very long, but it's thin and still has that fat LP sound to it. I'll take some measurements in the next couple of days, with pictures, if you guys would want something like that.

Matt Vinson

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thanx for the info! hmm, neck-through can be good, but i prefer the set in... yes, i have a way to put a set in on a 1" body... c ya!

If you dont mind my asking, How will you keep it from flexing with a 1/4" thick mounting space..pad..slab (or whatever the routed bottom is called)?

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Today, I got a book matched set of figured maple 1/4" thick. It's just big enough to do the front of the little guitar. I'm going with green as the color (my daughters favorite) and it is red now. I thought about just painting over the red after the standard prep work. Im using auto paint so the red can serve as the basic primer/ sealer, the top will be stained and clear coated the rest sprayed with emerald green pearl metallic. My question is how much should I plane off the body to put the top on it? the whole 1/4" or less to allow for sanding? Or maybe more to allow for finishing thickness?

Thanks!

James

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I'd say strip the paint off just the top, then take your 1/4" off. Glue up your maple halves before you glue them to the body.

Sounds like a good plan to me!

We just got a couple big thunder boomers, so I'm going to start saturday sometime. Im going to take some pics. I'll keep everyone updated.

Thanks

James

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Just out of curiosity, how are you planning on planing off that 1/4"? Do you have a thickness planer wide enough to accept the whole body? Better yet, do you have a thickness sander? My thickness planer is quite old(still works very well though). It's open on one side so if you have a board twice the width of the planer, you just run it through, flip it around, and run it through again. So, hypothetically, I guess I could probably put a whole blank through it.

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Just out of curiosity, how are you planning on planing off that 1/4"? Do you have a thickness planer wide enough to accept the whole body? Better yet, do you have a thickness sander? My thickness planer is quite old(still works very well though). It's open on one side so if you have a board twice the width of the planer, you just run it through, flip it around, and run it through again. So, hypothetically, I guess I could probably put a whole blank through it.

I have a 12" delta planer, about a year old. This being a little smaller size guitar it will fit. a standard strat ar a LP wouldnt work though..... If it turns out good I may buy or possibly build a bigger one. The build may be a sander if I find info on how to actually make one of descent quality.

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