New Guitar Project Question

[ALMod]

Hey Now,

I recently purchased the guitar that I thought I always wanted, unfortunately, the one I own is turning out to be a dog. I have encountered a ton of problems with it since it's arrival and even though the warranty will cover it all, it is still a pain in the butt.

What I want to do is make a personal version of this guitar but I have limited woodworking skills & tools.

What would be the best way for me to go about making a template of the guitar body and starting construction on it?

All help is appreciated,

[RAI6]

Poster board, a pencil, and a ruler.

Start with that.......

[Xanthus]

The most common method after the cardboard template is to transfer it onto 1/4" MDF/plywood/somesuch, cut that out, and go from there onto the wood.

I know you said you wanted to create your own design, else I would have directed you to http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/

Of course, you can go there and check them out, basically what you would want to do would be to make the template of your own vision like they've done, knob placement, neck pocket, bridge/humbucker/routing, as much info as you can fit onto one piece.

Most everything I've learned here has been through the search function, which I would definitely suggest to use liberally, as well as the tutorials on the main website. And, of course, Hiscock's book wouldn't help, either the posters here swear by it

Good luck!

[Mickguard]

What would be the best way for me to go about making a template of the guitar body and starting construction on it?

Depends on what kind of shape the body has to stay in, and whether it's a setneck or neck through.

If it's a bolt-on, it's easy -- you'll need a router and a template bit (or a follower bit, easier to find). You can use the existing body to prepare all your templates --use mdf, it's much easier to work with. But any piece of scrap will pretty much do it. (You'll also want a respirator for the dust)

But running the router along the body will like mar the finish--you can probably come up with a way to protect that though--maybe find a shrink-wrap machine with good tough plastic --then run a strip of heavy duty tape around the areas that the router's bearing with run. If all goes well, you won't harm the body at all. But maybe you're planning to harvest the existing parts for your build? In that case, you have less to worry about.

Doing this with a set neck or a neck through will be more difficult, but just as possible --maybe a router table?

Most important thing, though, would be to practice up with the router before going for the real thing.

A lot of us here started out with no woodworking skills. The most difficult part of a build is getting your template set--once you have that, the rest of it is pretty easy. Most of the time, when you're making a template, it's no big deal if you screw up, since you just take another piece of MDF and try again...