LaFeeVerte Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 I want to attempt to build my first neck through guitar.. I'd be using a neck from StewMac - http://www.stewmac.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?a..._Necks&sku=3181 I would be creating this guitar in either an SG or Mosrite style.. or possibly both if I attempt one and it goes fine. I would be using mahogoney w/ a veneer top. My main areas of concern are: getting the correct angle for using a tune o' matic bridge... how thick to cut the body... proper placement &alignment of pickup/bridge routing.. proper placement of tuner holes.. and just any general tips you might have. What I would almost kill for (and definietly would PAY someone for) are some nice templates/detailed blue prints, ect... and if anyone had such, they could contact me at MyBluePeriod@msn.com Thanks in advance.. s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tekhna Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 I would also like a few tips on angling the neck for tun o matics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingoftheHunted Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Best thing to do is to get yourself a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's book "Make Your Own Electric Guitar", as he actually makes a nech-thru 8-string bass as one of his examples, and the techniques remain the same for a guitar. Second best thing to do is listen to what I have to say . Draw a flat line on a piece of paper. This is the front face of the body. At one end of the line mark where the bridge is. Then measure where the end of the fingerboard and the end of the body are relative to the bridge. Draw how high the bridge will be onto the paper, and subtract from this height the height of the fingerboard. Then connect these two together, and just carry on the line past the mark where the end of the body is. The angle is now shown. (see Melvyn's book for a diagram). General tips: get Melvyn's book!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 For designes head on over to guitarbuild.com and sign up (it's free) then head over to the download section and get turbo cad 2 and there's a design for an SG u can download and print off (with some help) I'm looking at it right now, it shows u everything, even how to cut the body at an angle to the bridge!GuitarBuild.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted August 28, 2003 Report Share Posted August 28, 2003 Thanks, Derek... Dang, I forgot about that link... actually was the first site I found when I started my search for guitar building information.. then of course this was the second place I found.. lol... But I had forgotten that they have actual blueprints on guitars.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaFeeVerte Posted August 29, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 For designes head on over to guitarbuild.com and sign up (it's free) then head over to the download section and get turbo cad 2 and there's a design for an SG u can download and print off (with some help) I'm looking at it right now, it shows u everything, even how to cut the body at an angle to the bridge!GuitarBuild.com Okay.. I downloaded the CAD program.. but.. after the downloaded file goes through the unpacking.. nothing happens. I even redownloaded it - and nothing. am I doing something wrong, maybe? I'm actually quite excited about toying with a CAD program again. In high school I took 2 solid years 2 periods a day of engineering classes.. so, it'll be fun to play around again. In high school though, we had AutoCAD though.. and I believe that's the best/easiest to use, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarfrenzy Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 Yeah I had the same problem with the other program myself.. just said Illegal Operation when I started up. Download the Turbo Cad 2D.. that works.. and if you print this stuff off look for alot of fun pasting 16 pages together into one piece.. Derek suggested that I take it to a print shop and they can do it on one sheet for 4 dollars... Not bad considering that it will be way more accurate.. I'm gonna try today to get the Les Paul Jr. design printed up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted August 29, 2003 Report Share Posted August 29, 2003 that's odd, i had no problems with turbo cad 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibanez_man Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 One Question! Is it posible to make a neck thru guitar without a trus rod....it realy looks hard to make your self so i was thinkig maybe i could make it without a trus rod... If it is posible do I have tu use some other kind of wood?(Witch one) Sorry for my bad english! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaFeeVerte Posted August 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Yeah I had the same problem with the other program myself.. just said Illegal Operation when I started up. Download the Turbo Cad 2D.. that works.. and if you print this stuff off look for alot of fun pasting 16 pages together into one piece.. Derek suggested that I take it to a print shop and they can do it on one sheet for 4 dollars... Not bad considering that it will be way more accurate.. I'm gonna try today to get the Les Paul Jr. design printed up... I got it to work, just had to restart my computer. I can see how they angled the neck and such.. but only one problem.. They used the wrong paper size.. and didn't include good measurement. :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibanez_man Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 One Question! Is it posible to make a neck thru guitar without a trus rod....it realy looks hard to make your self so i was thinkig maybe i could make it without a trus rod... If it is posible do I have tu use some other kind of wood?(Witch one) Sorry for my bad english! C'mon people I realy Need some one to ansver my question...i'm thinking of makeing a rg like guitar with ibanes reverse headstock...but if this trus rod is realy needed on a neck thru guitar i'm afraid that i will have to cancel the holle thing!!! Please help me....Please!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckguitarist Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 One Question! Is it posible to make a neck thru guitar without a trus rod....it realy looks hard to make your self so i was thinkig maybe i could make it without a trus rod... If it is posible do I have tu use some other kind of wood?(Witch one) Sorry for my bad english! C'mon people I realy Need some one to ansver my question...i'm thinking of makeing a rg like guitar with ibanes reverse headstock...but if this trus rod is realy needed on a neck thru guitar i'm afraid that i will have to cancel the holle thing!!! Please help me....Please!!!! Hmmmm...sounds like you want to make your own truss rod... Why not just buy one from stewmac, put it in, then take it to a guitar shop and get them to adjust it for you? If you are still freaked out by the idea of truss rods my only other thought would be those carbon re-inforcement rods from stewmac... Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 you really need a truss rod.if routing a truss rod is too hard then so would be the whole neck making process. the problem is that you need a small amount of neck relief for the guitar to play properly.that's what a truss rod does.it counteracts the pull of the strings but when adjusted properly it leaves a slight bow in the neck. buy a neck if you don't feel competent to do it yourself.nothing wrong with doing it that way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 i'm supprised more people didn't jump on this.. ok.. why don't u want to use a truss rod? it can be done, virgier uses a laminated maple/carbon/maple neck. But that's prettypricey. If u can get ur hands on some ebony and laminate that thru the whole neck thru it should be ok depending on how wide a stripe u use, but ebony is EXTREMELY expensive, bubinga, padouk, Palisander Rosewood, purple heart, bloodwood, wenge, and zircote are all excellent hard woods that are at least half as expensive as ebony to make the neck thru out of if u don't want to have a truss rod, however, they are going to weigh a bit more, and i would recomend having a 3 or more peice laminante neck. I read up on these woods here http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/neckwoods.htm ur best (and cheapest) bet would probably be bubinga, purple heart, and bloodwood and i'd use 5 half inch wide boards and lamitate it together.... so get 2 purple heart peices, 2 peices of bloodwood and one peice of bubinga all 1/2"x2"x 40" and glue them together. Out of that peice of laminated wood u can get ur neck thru and at least 2 fingerboard blanks if u cut it right. If u need me to explain that a bit more clearly just ask. Derek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 1, 2003 Report Share Posted September 1, 2003 yes but isn't that more work than just installing a truss rod?and it leaves no way to adjust neck relief or to compensate if in 5 years the constant string load becomes too much.personally i would just read up on truss rods.it's not that big of a deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 i agree with you wes, u can do what i sujested but i'm not going to garrantee u'll be happy with the results, especially in the long run.. rods aren't that hard to install, as long as u have a router and the right bits. The fact that it's neck thru changes pretty much nothing other then u won't have a heel blocking ur hand from free access to the upper frets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibanez_man Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 yes but isn't that more work than just installing a truss rod?and it leaves no way to adjust neck relief or to compensate if in 5 years the constant string load becomes too much.personally i would just read up on truss rods.it's not that big of a deal. Wel u have to realise that i live in Croatia...Probably the best thing would be to buy a new ibanez neck(with reverse headstock...ofcourse) but I think that the neck would cost me more then the hole thing...my dad is in denmark at the time on buisnis a nd he knovs some people that are in "the wood busines":-) and i told him to buy some Mahagony for the body...but i didnt say witch wood for the neck... My dad is pretty handy with wood but i think that this trus rod will be the most dificoult thing to do...to find too!!! I have allready downloaded all the tutorials on building a neck and body from projectguitar.com but i would realy like to se some more pictures...cause those tutorials are made for those who made guitars before(in my opinion) but for a complete starter,like me, they are not enough!!!:-( I think that i'll need some more basic tutorial with tons of pictures... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 stewmac.com might ship overseas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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