Hugo Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hi, I would like to build a Telecaster-like semi-hollow body for my Ibanez neck. Here’s the plan: I use a bookmatched set of black limba for the bottom section, in which I mill 3 cavities; one left, one right and one ‘behind the bridge’. I cover this lot with a bookmatched set of maple, cut to a slightly curved top and two F-holes. It will have a Strat-like pickup arrangement. Yes, a lot of work, since I only have hand tools… I purchased the wood at a ‘tone-wood’ shop, but before I start cutting, I have some q’s. 1) I found this example (Warmoth): Why did they make all the little chambers, should I do so as well or is my 3 chamber idea valid? 2) Is there a drawing available (.dxf, .dwg) somewhere of a telecaster outline and bridge placement? 3) Is there a digital drawing (.dxf, .dwg) available somewhere of the Ibanez neck cavity? Any other helpfull hints are welcome, too, of course. Cheers, Hugo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 That body is routed for weight --takes the wood out, but doesn't let the air circulate much, so it still sounds like a solid body more or less. A semihollow will have much more than that routed out, just a couple of large chambers to let the air move around more. Different sound. All depends on what you're going for. Don't trust a drawing for your neck cavity --use the neck itself to determine the exact dimensions of the cavity (if you look around, you'll find some good info on that -- what I did, was clamp the neck in place on the body, using a laser sight to make sure it was exactly centered. Then I clamped some aluminum square beams along side the neck. Placed a piece of the beam the same width of the heel of the neck where the end of the neck will be. Take away the neck and you've got the guide rails you need to route the pocket --use a template bearing bit, that really helps. And I can't emphasize how helpful a laser sight is. Mine cost me 10 euros or so. Your neck is going to determine the bridge placement too--measure it accurately and hit up the StewMac Fret Scale Calculator --it'll also give you the proper placement for the bridge. Now that you know the distance, use the laser again --this time you're going to sight along the E string saddles to their nut slots --the laser beams become your 'strings' , and it's really easy to get your bridge lined up properly. Like I said, if you look around you'll find a thread giving more info on this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 (edited) Aha, that makes sense. I want the semi-hollow body sound, weight is not the issue, so large chambers there will be. I think I will purchase a router... Can you show me the laser thingy? I'm afraid my English runs out, here, to understand what you mean. Cheers, Hugo Edited February 9, 2006 by Hugo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 Another option that makes for less tear on your router and tends to go easier/faster, is to use a saw to cut out blocks from inside the body, all the way through. Then put a cap on both the top and the bottom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hmmm... Well, I might do that, if I can slice a 3mm plate of the base block, with which to close the back. I hope I can saw that with a bandsaw at a local carpenter. Hugo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hmmm... Well, I might do that, if I can slice a 3mm plate of the base block, with which to close the back. I hope I can saw that with a bandsaw at a local carpenter. Hugo No no, don't do that. He's talking about having a real cap for the back. Slicing off the back would be way more difficult than routing. I don't see the big deal with using the router anyway...but over here you can get pretty decent straight bits for not much ( about 10 euros for a 12 mm bit), so I don't worry to much about wear. You could also use a forstner bit on your drill first--but they actually cost me more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted February 9, 2006 Report Share Posted February 9, 2006 Id just rout it all out, it wont be that bad on your router, what H/P do you have? I have a 3/4 hp model, its a bit under powered but it can cope with alot of wood, id you go slow and take shalow passes it will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hmmm... Well, I might do that, if I can slice a 3mm plate of the base block, with which to close the back. I hope I can saw that with a bandsaw at a local carpenter. Hugo No no, don't do that. He's talking about having a real cap for the back. Slicing off the back would be way more difficult than routing. I don't see the big deal with using the router anyway...but over here you can get pretty decent straight bits for not much ( about 10 euros for a 12 mm bit), so I don't worry to much about wear. You could also use a forstner bit on your drill first--but they actually cost me more! Where the heck are you shopping for router bits and/or forstners? A decent straight router bit costs between 8 and 12 bucks, but so does a decent forstner (cf routerbits.com). Thing is, the forstner is much, much, much faster when it comes to hogging out wood, and your drill press makes it low-impact. Routing out an entire guitar body, taking MAX 1/4" at a time (half the diameter of the bit in depth, although I'd probably take less if I wanted the bit to last me; my router bits go a long way before a resharpen or a burn-up/toss out) is slow, annoying, noisy work. My drill press is almost quiet, and does it quickly, and router cleanup (which is now faster because you can take a bigger 'bite' than half the diameter since you're mostly just trimming edges) takes minutes instead of the better part of an hour; 12mm bit is SMALL if you're chambering. I tried that once, got bored part the way through, got a forstner bit. Also, if you've got a well-set up large bandsaw, slicing off the back, chambering, putting it back on will leave you with a nicely invisible chambered body. I'd still hollow it with forstner bits and the like, bit it's a nifty way to make a thinline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 hugo..my last project was pretty much what you're planning. tele-like shape, walnut back and zebrawood cap. i left a 4" solid strip in the middle down to just past where the bridge would go and routed to within about 3/8" of the sides on both sides of the center strip and below the bridge and to a depth that left about a quarter of an inch of wood for the back. 4" gave me plenty of room for pups and plenty of strength for the neck and bridge. it's a great sounding guitar and i hope your's turns out as well. as for bridge placement that is determined by the scale of your neck so you need to route your neck pocket first and then establish it. don't know about a pic of the neck pocket. sorry. as for hints..don't try to take out all of the wood in the chamebers in one pass..or even two for that matter. take out about a half inch first to establish the outline of your cavities then use a top bearing bit to remove the rest of the stock lowering it a half to three quarters of an inch at a time. much easier on your router and your bit. good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugo Posted February 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 (edited) OK, a new idea. Not that I could'nt do the routing, but I just thought this would be nice: It's a solid core, with a canal routed into it to connect the two large chambers. The sidewalls would be steamformed. Pros, cons, other comments, everything (constructive) is welcome! Cheers, Hugo Edited February 12, 2006 by Hugo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Here's the thread Mickguard was talking about. LINK I started using laser levels after having a brainstorm one day when I was trying to find something that was a perfect straightedge for aligning a bridge. I had one in the shop and ironically never thought about using it for guitar building, but I found it worked great and it won't lie to you. If you use it during all stages of your build, you'll be assured that everything will work out great when you get ready to setup your guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Here's the thread Mickguard was talking about. LINK I started using laser levels after having a brainstorm one day when I was trying to find something that was a perfect straightedge for aligning a bridge. I had one in the shop and ironically never thought about using it for guitar building, but I found it worked great and it won't lie to you. If you use it during all stages of your build, you'll be assured that everything will work out great when you get ready to setup your guitar. about once a month a couple of guys will come into my store trying to sell a bunch of junk at tremendous discounts...nothing i've ever wanted or needed until last week. the first thing that they pulled out of their satchel was a 5" long lazer level. suggested retail was $29.95 and they were willing to let it go for just $4.95. i bought it and checked it against a straight edge and a 4' level and it's very accurate. i'm looking forward to using it on my next guitar project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buildsem Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 My custom is actually a very similar shape to that one, with a more pronounced upper horn and a les paul shaped rear bout. It is a neckthrough. The top is routed for a sound chamber much like in the picture, with a little bit of meat left towards the backside but otherwise almost exactly like that. It is a routed wing with a cap. The bottom side, though not having a sound chamber per se, has a very large rear routed control cavity (which all control cavities change the tone), which currently has a plastic cover, but will be switched to wood, because of the prior comment. The guitar also has a 2Tek bridge. Though the rear does not have the "through" channel, there is more wood removed in a similar place to your picture (though further back because of the Les Paul style rear bout) for a dual battery cavity, which definitely changed the sound to the point where it was backfilled for a tight fit with the battery compartment. I left plenty of room behind the bridge cavity however. I would NOT remove wood right behind the bridge though.. most people (I remember an old EVH interview about him butchering an Explorer type if I recall), will agree that this is a negative for the tone, and sustain. I am from the school that believes that the unplugged acoustic tone of an electric guitar contributes greatly to its plugged in sound, and that it's not all pickups and electronics. The semi hollow design sounds great. It is very loud acoustically, and is so tonally "efficient" that I am leaning towards a piezo system to really let you hear how great it sounds (I use APC pickups for my normal pickups which I swear by). Now some other stuff I was told about 10 years ago when I was building it by the guys at Tom Anderson, PRS and by John Suhr. Larger deeper cavities will contribute to your bass response, shallower to mids and treble. You also may not want SO much free space in your design as it may make the guitar sound a bit "dead". that much nonmoving air does change the sound (and this will of course be different if you decide to F-hole it, I did not). As for weight, my guitar is a maple neckthrough with a 1/4"+ maple cap and mahogany wings. It's a bit larger than most guitars as I described, so it's still quite weighty.. however I can't imagine how heavy it would be without the wood that was removed. I have had my guitar played by many professionals and they all are very impressed with the sound and tonality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 here's my thread where I learned how to do a nice semi-hollow body. It's about how to make a semi-hollow while still keeping it structurally sound. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=19011 Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buildsem Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 here's my thread where I learned how to do a nice semi-hollow body. It's about how to make a semi-hollow while still keeping it structurally sound. http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=19011 Chris The information in that link structurally is along the lines of what I've been told (and tested). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tirapop Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 OK, a new idea. Not that I could'nt do the routing, but I just thought this would be nice: It's a solid core, with a canal routed into it to connect the two large chambers. The sidewalls would be steamformed. Pros, cons, other comments, everything (constructive) is welcome! Cheers, Hugo Have you seen this page? Similar idea of bent sides, cap, and center block. With the built up thickness of the sides he has, he might've been better off just routing out the chambers. I think your plan is better. To give you an idea of how minimal you can go, check out the Formicaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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