NickCormier Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Hey all.. I had an idea for a project guitar in the future.. that would be easy to do, AND would be super cool! Find a 2hum neckthru guitar, any shape (lets say a strat shape) then just sand, strip all paint, and cut off the sides, and glue on two new blank boards for any shape I want, then sand/repaint and it should be back to normal, correct? Since the old body most likely was just 2 blanks glued to the middle board anyways, wouldn't that make sense if you want to make a custom shape guitar? Of course that would also give you a chance to get a better paintjob on, and you don't have to do all the routing of the floyd/pickups and take a chance messing up intonation.. Think that would work? spend like $200 on a cheap neckthru like Agile, then $100 on blanks and then just get some good paint.. I might try it heh Would this totally mess up the sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Yes, this will work --in fact, that's how I "built" my first project, the Bocaster-- I reshaped the sides of a cheapo telecaster body. It was a great way to get into building, since I didn't have to worry about neck pockets and pickup cavities (and I had no tools at the time). I'm not sure why'd you have to spend $100 on wood though, it should cost you a lot less than that. (In the case of the Bocaster, I cut off the bouts, reshaped them and glued them back on!). The main issue would be matching the width of the new wing wood to the old body. You're going to have to do a solid finish (or add a cap or veneer), and the finish is probably going to be the most expensive part. I wouldn't worry about changes in tone--that's overrated, and besides, if you're starting with a cheapo guitar, you can only go up, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 I wouldn't worry about changes in tone--that's overrated, and besides, if you're starting with a cheapo guitar, you can only go up, right? What's happening to Project Guitar Lately People gone off quilted maple, making cigar box guitars, now voodoo "tone" is a secondary issue!!! Seriously, that's exactly what you should do...infact, that would make a good alternate GOTM project... Here's another approach... This is my sustainer guitar and the one I play most often now. It's a ply covered body made of some kind of laminated 2x1's (2x4's must have been the deluxe model). I did have to replace the bridge, but this was very cheap. Under that scratch plate it is practically hollow and has all kinds of fancy switching and stuff in there...Also an F-hole that goes right through! Later, I decided to make it into a sustainer test bed guitar and routed another cavity behind the jack socket, added a couple of knobs and even had a peizo in there for a bit... So...POS...or unique tone monster!!! Let's say sustain is not an issue but it has quite a good sound, very straty and I had no qualms about doing all these mods. I bought it for less than $100 (paid too much) from a pawn shop guy that had gone out of business. Everyday I'd go to (shift) work and this thing would be there at 4am in the morning in the window...then one day it was gone! So I rang the guy up, he came around and I bought it out of the boot of his car!!! I made some fantastic guitars as a kid like this...I remember a semiacoustic flying V in metalic red (don't have to bend the sides right ) and a few others...all great stuff. At least this way, when you regret what you have done, just scrap the body, cut off the wings and do it again...the ultimate recycle!!! enjoy... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Irizarry Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 That idea has crossed my mind as well. I own a little Hohner/Steinberger broom which is basically a rectangle and I thought this could be a good way to run through some different ideas without having to worry about all the "hard stuff" such as intonation. But as Mickguard points out, the tricky part is getting the thicknesses to match up. I thought this would be an easy enough thing with my little Hohner but it turns out that it subtly changes thickness from the center to the edge. I didn't realize this until recently when I took it apart to take some measurements of various elements. That said, you may want to stick with a slab style body to ease making matching wings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Irizarry Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Ok. I think I found us an "answer"! Behold RKS Guitars! Essentially, the creator has taken a blank, carved out wings and a central cavity and then dropped a pod in the middle which contains the neck, bridge, humbuckers etc. We could take this idea and use it to just focus on the wings. Get a blank. Cut out the shape. Carve out a cavity in the center. Drop the neck/bridge,pickup unit (pod) in the middle. Bolt it together. I see a couple of advantages here. First and foremost, it works as a test bed for new shapes! You don't have to worry about fitting the wings to the existing pod. You're basically just centering your pod in the cavity and bolting it together. To prevent stripping of the attachment points, I would use machine screws with threaded inserts. Second, I think it actually looks kind of cool as a guitar regardless of its test bed possibilities. This actually would work rather well with my Hohner. Its a neck thru design made out of maple - essentially a rectangle - what is known affectionately among the steinberger crowd as the "broom". Basically its the original Steinberger design. So what does everyone think? I'm really pyched about the possibilities! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Well, the RKS is really a design statement...those wings were't designed as replacements, it's part of a total statement...I beleive they are very expensive too! But yes, If you have a "broom", you could stick different shapes to the back of it to detirmine a shape and design that works for you. I have heard of (and maybe even seen a patent somewhere) of a core guitar with slot in wings. There have even been buitars with slot in pickup configurations... The RKS has some interesting ideas though. The split design allows for the controls to be side mounted off the surface on thumb wheels and there is an interesting carve between the pickups to give more pick room as you get with a tunomatic, with a flat bridge style. I used to admire the minimalism of headless guitars, but nowadays I can see the sense in the headstock. A fair amount of mass at the head really aids in the vibration of strings it would seem. There are weights you can add to the head...fathead is it?...and I have certainly noticed that a change from cheap, light opent machineheads to solid diecast tuners can have a dramatic effect on some guitars. At the present time, there is a lot of "post-modern" design concepts that in time may be found suspect in comparison to more classic concepts that go beyond the ideas of making statements...2c... pete However...hijack aside...yes, cut up that guitar NickCormier!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egdeltar Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Hahaha.. Wow. This is a bit interesting to see. Those RKS guitars have a new endorsing artist, one of the guitarists from the band Greyscale. Greyscale used to rehearse right down the hall from my old studio. Good to see those guys are doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Irizarry Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Well, the RKS is really a design statement...those wings were't designed as replacements, it's part of a total statement...I beleive they are very expensive too! But yes, If you have a "broom", you could stick different shapes to the back of it to detirmine a shape and design that works for you. I have heard of (and maybe even seen a patent somewhere) of a core guitar with slot in wings. There have even been buitars with slot in pickup configurations... The RKS has some interesting ideas though. The split design allows for the controls to be side mounted off the surface on thumb wheels and there is an interesting carve between the pickups to give more pick room as you get with a tunomatic, with a flat bridge style. I used to admire the minimalism of headless guitars, but nowadays I can see the sense in the headstock. A fair amount of mass at the head really aids in the vibration of strings it would seem. There are weights you can add to the head...fathead is it?...and I have certainly noticed that a change from cheap, light opent machineheads to solid diecast tuners can have a dramatic effect on some guitars. At the present time, there is a lot of "post-modern" design concepts that in time may be found suspect in comparison to more classic concepts that go beyond the ideas of making statements...2c... pete However...hijack aside...yes, cut up that guitar NickCormier!!! Just doing a little thinking outside of the box. Personally, I can see some benefit for prototyping but maybe that's beyond the scope of what most of us have the time and/or money to do. (Dang reality!) And, I agree that there is something to the classic concepts and that we need to question why they've stuck around. That said, the world was flat for many years and then some guy came along and challenged it. Personally, I tend toward a more conservative approach thinking in terms of evolution rather than revolution. However, I thought the RKS design concept was a natural progression from the idea of starting with a core section of a guitar and adding wings to it. Just hoping to add to the body of thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 my first project was a bc rich bich i sawed off the wings and glued on new ones it turned out pretty well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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