ohm Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 I started posting about my idea to make a semi-hollow boby electric in the acustic/semi-hollow section, but I think it has progressed out of the realm of what that section is meant for so I figured I would start again here. So far I am in the planning and parts collection phase of the project. What I am going to do: I have this small parlor guitar, that sounds like crap, that I like the shape of, so I traced around the outside and gave it a cut out. I am intending on making the sides and back out of poplar, the sides well be a 1/2" thick ring that well be 1 1/2" tall, ie the thickness of 2-1" boards glued together. For the bottom I am going to use 3/8" poplar and for the top I well probably try to find some nice 1/4" think maple. The lower side ring well have a back bone, so to speak, that well go down the length of the guitar for support, the upper ring well stop about 3/4" past the end of the neck pocket. I think I have pretty much collected all the odd parts I well need, I have a neck, tunners, T-O-M bridge, neck plate, strap buttons and jack plate. I have not gotten the wood yet, as I am still about a month away or so from being able to start building and I have also not gotten the pickup yet either. I think what I well do is pop the Humbuckers out of my Saga PRS that I put together, basically to see which sounds best in the possision it well be in, as I am thinking on possisioning the pickup in the center of the sound hole which close to center between the bridge and neck. One quick question, the neck that I got has a heal that is only about 1/2" think and sinse I am going to use a tune o matic bridge should I cut the neck pocket at the top 1/2" deep and then slope it up to about 3/8" or some thing like that or should I go and just cut it the same depth all the way and shim it up at the bottom? Also would I be considered getting ahead of myself if I cut the head stock and drilled for the tunners before making the body, I do not think it should matter but I thought I would ask just in case there is some reason not to aside from being out of conventional order? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 ....... the sides well be a 1/2" thick ring that well be 1 1/2" tall, ie the thickness of 2-1" boards glued together. firstly, 2-1" glued together = 2" not 1 1/2" ...measure twice, cut once secondly, I'll be the first to say: draw it all out full size first If the drawing doesn't work then neither will the guitar. The angle of the neck is determined by the scale length & the height of the bridge, search the forums for info on how it is calculated. The headstock can be cut at almost any time as long as you are confident that it will be right. One of the deciding factors will be whether or not the strings are going to pull straight over the nut or fan out. If they are going straight then ideally you would know the scale length, bridge spacing & therefore where the strings will be heading once past the nut...again, draw full size! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doeringer Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 .....the sides well be a 1/2" thick ring that well be 1 1/2" tall, ie the thickness of 2-1" boards glued together. Unless he means two 4/4 boards (once surfaced are about 3/4inch) +1 draw it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 11+ on drawing it out full size. Sounds like you have the basic idea of a semi hollow worked out in your head. Your top and back thickness sound reasonable. The side thickness 1/2"-5/8" is pretty common. The TOM is usually about 1/2" proud of the body, and your neck angle needs to accomodate(of course you should measure your hardware and use that information). Shimming seems like a fix. It would be best to figure out your required neck andgle route the neck pocket accordingly(full size drawings are required). I am not sure what your intent is with a sound hole, but you may want to look close at your design and pickup mounting. Drawing this out is really your next step. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Yes I mean conventional, store bought, lumber as I do not have a planner to do my own which would definitly better. I have drawn the whole thing out, I am going with a 25.5" scale like a fender and a tune o matic bridge that puts the strings 5/8" above the top. So all I should need to do is find the elevation based on scale length, should not be hard, I think I well try to cut the pocket at a slope. The head stock on my neck is not leaned back so I am going to taper the head stock as it goes up so that the strings well not be at such a compound angle. The sound hole is basically there so that it is mildly acustic, basically to be different as I have already assembled a couple solid body kits and I have done enough wood working that I think I can pull it off reasonably well. I do not expect it to sound all that great but that is fine since the original that I am taking the body shape from sounds like a tin can itself and it might just sound better, probably not though On the inside I am going to have all the corners and edges rounded in an attempt to inprove sound as well. I well try to take a photo of my drawing and post it, can I just post it here or do I need to have an html for the pic, either way is fine for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 The sound hole is not a problem. Just don't expect too much acoustic sound from the guitar. Your guitar is going to be an electric. In order to get much acoustic sound from it you would need to make a body or box that is designed to actually produce more acoustic sound. Acoustics and even Archtops and Jazz boxes are designed very differently. A semi hollow is designed to be an electric that is effected a little by the bodys design, and not an acoustic instrument. You may also want to think about control of feedback when you are designing. It can be a factor depending on volume you want to play at, and how you treat the design. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Yeah I am wondering what kind of feedback I well get with the pickup in the hole but I figure I can easly remove it from the hole and cut a pickup hole next to the bridge if it produces to much feedback I just think it well have a nice tone being close to center between the neck and bridge. I figure having the thick sides and such well help absorb a bit of the excess vibrations and hopfully help with the feed back issue. That is the theory at least, I have been doing alot of reading about it and such Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 I have been looking at the EMG site and was wondering if anyone would have an idea if these pickups would work better then a standard pickup in my guitar, as in be less likely to have feedback issues and such. I am considering them because they are relitively inexpensive and there is a few places locally that have them. I was thinking on using one of the 81's or 85's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 Never mind, I have been doing some more reading and these sound like they are probably going to be a bit over powered for what I am going to do that and the local ones are the select models which are appearantly not as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 I think you will do better if you pickup a good book on the basics of guitar building to firm up your base understanding. It sounds like you may be getting distracted with small bits and elements(and are really vulnerable to advertising hype). Experimenting is cool, but you may be trying to grasp at too many straws. Please don't take that as anything other than a freindly suggestion. You need to get back on the straight track to building. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 Yeah, I have a book about building solid body guitars, read it cover to cover. I am going to mess around with my original idea and see how the ones in my PRS copy sound as an experiment and go from there. I was mainly looking at different options for now but well probably not get around to pickups for a while now, still have a few weeks of school before break and I do not have time to build stuff. Anyhow thanks for the advice. I am still rumaging around the forum for info and ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 (edited) Got around to taking a photo of the plan. Here it is a link to the page for the project. Project page Also took a photo of my design for the headstock, only shows half of it though, haven't copied to the other side yet. I have also revised the design a bit more, I have decided to get rid of the sound hole and run two humbuckers, I might still have a sound hole somewere, might even have them out the sides or bottom. Oh well still working on the design as I do more research Sorry about the size, I did not realize that they would come out as big. Oh well you can clearly see the design though. Edited November 22, 2006 by ohm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 errmm your gonig to need to re-size them its only one image per post and rest have to be links and i think that one images has to be about 600X500 im not 100% sure but its something like that. Looking good =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 Thanks for the info I might edit that post and just post a link to my webpage for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted November 22, 2006 Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 (edited) I know pritty much every one does that on there first post and my camera makes the images HUGE as well lol =) I like the other stuff on your site too. Nice pc mod you did there! Edited November 22, 2006 by travismoore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted November 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2006 Thanks, I had forgotten that the resilution of my web site is differnet from most forums, I had the same trouble with a Mazda Pickup forum. As you can see I have way to many hobbies I need to take more pics of things and up date the site some more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted December 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 I got the body halves glued together, for the back/sides, and sanded it down to get it ready to mount in the mill to do the routing, should make one hell of a pile of wood shaving. I have also gone and started making the tail piece out of some 1/16" aluminum, lots of filing and adjusting, I just had to be different I still need to clean it up a bit more and drill the mounting holes and string holes. Anyhow I well try and post more pics as I go, should be able to get alot done over the christmas break, hopefully all done . Crank up the tunes and work untill my eyes go numb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohm Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 (edited) Posted some more pics and such they are Here, I still need to figure out how to make the photos smaller and have lower resolution as they take up alot of space. Edited December 20, 2006 by ohm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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