How To Start The Body

[Fast Young & Just Plain Good]

im new and havent made anythign yet but i was reading one of the toutrials and was confused on how he put the pieces of wood together. he said they were both 24x8x2 and one of the pictures its looked like he glued the 2 pieces of wood together and made it just one big 24x16x2 and i just didnt understand how that would work. so if any of you vetrans could help and new guy out thatd be great.

rock on

Ben

[pariah223]

u should post a link to the tutorial so we can see what you see. Anyways, yes, they are glued together to make one big piece. It is much easier and cheaper to find a pice of wood 8 inches wide then it is to get one 16 wide and if you get a good seam, then depending on the wood and the grain, you can hardly tell it was joined... and if you are going to paint it you wont see it at all. If you do not have any woodworking skill though i recommend before you get into guitar making you do alot of reading and practice using tools because there isnt any step of making a guitar that is easy or that can be done good without knoweldge of the tools you are using.

[Mattia]

1) Take pieces of wood. Probably have two halves, you can 'flip match' (saw a piece 48"x8"x2" in half, rotate one piece 180 degrees. Keep the same surface facing up in both pieces):

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics4/stratele05.jpg

2) Joint the edges that will be glued (that means perfectly square, flat, and straight) Line up two pieces to be jointed. Make sure there's no gap anywhere:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics4/stratele03.jpg

3) Apply glue to one of the halves, like so:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics4/stratele08.jpg

4) Clamp firmly, like so:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics4/stratele09.jpg

Note the even squeezout all the way around. Not too much. Just enough.

5) Clean up sqeezeout after glue is dry (you can unclamp in about 30 minutes-2 hours, don't stress the joint for at least 24), and voila, body blank:

Seriously, it's dead simple. Flat, glued surfaces, nothing special. And to be blunt, if this is causing headscratching, it indicates - to me - deep unfamiliarity with woodworking in general, and guitarbuilding specifically. Buy Melvyn Hiscock's 'Make Your Own Electric Guitar', read it cover to cover, twice, and you'll have a good understanding of how to build guitars, and you'll find it much easier to get the most out of various online tutorials available.

[WezV]

A lot of carpenters and cabinet makers i speak to cant quite believe that its that simple, they usually tell me i should be reinforcing it with biscuits or dowels. It aint neccisary.

[pariah223]

I dont see how they cant beleive it is that simple. If you have a good flat surface at the join, the seam will be stronger then the grain of the wood. And yes, melvyn's book is excellent. It is very informative but if you get it, like mattia said, read it cover to cover, dont just go to the part your focused on. because i have noticed that with every step or process in building a guitar.. .there are multiple factors that determine its process and outcome. Also, to start, you might be better off building a kit, or modding an already built guitar. My first attempt at guitar making was actually me building a new neck because the headstock snapped off mine.. I got addicted and now im on my third instrument from scratch. Start small because you will be very discouraged if you set your goals too high.

[WezV]

Most of them rely on the biscuit jointer too much!!

A couple of months ago I was adding some new pickups for a guitar my cousin built, when i was routing for the larger pickups i found the biscuits he had used and routed stright through them, they looked quite untidy compared to a normal butt join but he couldnt believe i did it without them. I always say 'the join being stronger than wood' stuff but i guess they have to justify the money they spent on their biscuit jointers

Fast Young & Just Plain Good said:

its looked like he glued the 2 pieces of wood together and made it just one big 24x16x2 and i just didnt understand how that would work

It does work and it is that simple, dont be bothered about reinforcing the join