Firefox2551 Posted May 26, 2006 Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 (edited) Hey guys! I was at my construction job the other day and they had these pieces of scrap wood so I took few of the larger ones. The inventory list goes..... 8 boards 24" X 8" X 1 3/4" 8 Boards 16" X 8" X 1 3/4" The wood is Hemlock I belive. I figure the longer pieces are big enough to glue together for body blank style pieces. then the others I'll just use for practicing routing or the bidge, trem cavity, picups routs etc. The long skinny pieces I could use for practice gluing neck laminates and heel carving as I'll be building neck throughs. A few of them are bowed pretty bad so I'll only use the straight ones and lotsa clamps. I don't need them super straight and true anyway because they aren't for a real neck. Please keep in mind I will not actually be using any of these pieces as finished bodies or anything, this is just some scrap so I can get some routing, body shaping, gluing, sanding, and heel carving under my belt before I scrw up some nice mahogany body blank. Now that I have the pieces I'm not really sure what to do, I don't have any templates or anything either. Can somebody take me through the process as if I was actually building a body from these peices? Thanks guys! Edited May 26, 2006 by Firefox2551 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted May 26, 2006 Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 Give it a tap, and a heft. Heavy? Light? Tap nicely? Just because it's not a traditional wood doesn't mean it can't make a nice guitar. Basically, joint two boards, so you can glue them up for a body blank. Make a template out of MDF, ply, whatever you want. Mark the centerline. Saw it out, template-route to the edge and then...oh, screw it. Go buy Melvyn Hiscock's book 'Make Your Own Electric Guitar', take a look at various tutorials (GuitarFrenzy's strat one should be useful, as well as ones on the main site), and get started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox2551 Posted May 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 He he, thanks! I've been meaning to get the book, now I have an excuse What exactly do i do to "tap" it? Smack it with a hammer? Hit it with my hand? What am I listening for? Its very heavy stuff, flatsawn, its usually used for building barns. so I have no idea if its dry enough. but I doubt they'd use it in construction if its liable to bow (big no no in barns) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgmorg Posted May 26, 2006 Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 Barns are built all the time with green wood, and if it is hemlock ( it does look like it ) and it is heavy, then it is probably not dry. Hemlock is a pretty light wood, and fairly soft, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox2551 Posted May 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2006 I'll weigh one piece when I get a chance, like I said I wasn't really planning on using it so its no biggie either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsguitar Posted May 27, 2006 Report Share Posted May 27, 2006 Hi Firefox2551 What's up. Looks like you got yourself some green wood to play with. Which is a great idea for learning alot of the steps you will be doing in the future on the real thing. I can gaurantee you that that wood is green, I have bought kiln dried studs made out of hem. and they were still twisting in the wind. Not really sure on thier deffinition of kiln dried but it will make for some great practice anyway. Do you have a jointer or a hand held planer? this would be your best bet for a good glue joint. Have fun Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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