slaytanic Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Ok so I have a guitar body, Washburn, and it had a pick gaurd on it, and since it was my first guitar from way back, I have since played solid bodies and want to refinsh this one by filling in the cavity with a chunk of wood and routing it for dual humbuckers, routing the knobs throught the back as opposed to the front like they were, then slapping a piece of veneer over the top and giving it some paint. This is also my first attempt at doing this, so Im bound to have problems along the way. I have successfully sanded the entire body with a finishing sander, that took a while. now IM ready to cut out a piece of mohogany to place inside the cavity, then sand flush with the rest of the guitar. Now since Im at this step, my question is. Is there a easy way to do this, without screwing up the body? It seems pretty simple other than getting it perfectly flat like the body which I know will take endless hours of sanding. I want to have mohogany in the cavity to give it a brighter sound. Thinking about routing out the body more to allow for a bigger pice to fit in the entire body. Is there a certain type of glue I should use, or would regular wood glue work? IS this something common that people do, by filling in these cavities. I know its alot of work, but Im not really worried about that, I am just having fun with it. Any advice on how to not screw this up would be much appreciated. Thanks. Heres a pic of the raw guitar body so you see what Im doing. This had a veneer top on it, I have since removed it and sanded completely down to just raw wood. I dont have a recent picture on me of other than this one. My camera cord when capoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 It can be done but with a lot of work. That body looks like a nice piece of ash. Just sand all that color away and grain fill in black with a nice transparent coat. With a nice pickguard it will be awsome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Any particular reason you want to fill the cavity? There's a tutorial on the main PG site that might be helpful, if you insist, and serious, in terms of getting the wood flat? Learn to tune and use a handplane. Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes inclulding final sanding. Takes a bit of learning, but handplanes are great tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Sounds to me like you really want another guitar entirely...why not just start from scratch with a fresh body block? That'd end up being less work than what you're proposing and you'll end up with a nicer guitar. I highly doubt adding a block of mahogany--or any wood-- will do much to 'brighten' the sound or change it at all for that matter. The biggest difference will come from changing the single coils to humbuckers. It would make more sense to look for a block of ash though, and if you get lucky, you'll be able to match the grain a bit to where it won't show too much. But as long as you'll have to route out this body to match the block of wood anyway, I'd just start a new build... For this guitar, I'm with Maiden, grain fill in black and transparent finish. No point in covering up the ash with a veneer. Get a new pickguard --something nice n' fancy if you like--cut for humbuckers. Seriously, the lack of wood is not a big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytanic Posted February 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 well, when I was sanding I went into the veneer top. So I had to take it off. Looks like ash. Not sure the actual wood the guitar itself is made of. I really cant start a new body right now as my local lumber yard doesnt have any good woods to choose from. Mostly Pine and Oak. But yea I want to fill the cavity and put a piece of redwood veneer over the top to cover it up. It used to have a pickguard on it and it got warped. I really just wasnt to stray away from that again, besides having no pickguard is more atractive to me. I like to see more wood than plastic. Anyway heres what the body looks like now completely sanded and a pic of the veneer Im going to put over it. Tell me what you think about this idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 thats some crazy looking wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pr3Va1L Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Is that redwood? It looks really great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytanic Posted February 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Is that redwood? It looks really great! yea its redwood, really nice lloking stuff. Just debating on how Im gonna make it stand out when I go to paint it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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