chennik Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Hello Everyone, this is my first post to the Project Guitar forum, I found this site about a year ago when I first started getting into working on guitars and have found this site and the forum to be a tremendous help. So far, I’ve redone almost all things electronic, refinished guitars, replaced machine heads, refurbished tremolos and such, but I haven’t done much on the wood construction side of the house. I have done a kit assembly project, but so far nothing with actual woodworking aside from some neck pocket adjustments and shaping headstocks. Right now my woodworking experience has been limited to construction and building things like picture frames or the occasional simple shelf or cabinet. Now I’ve reached a point where I want to go to the next step and build a solidbody from scratch, after contemplating the idea for years. I’ve done a lot of homework and read a few books, including Melyvn Hiscock’s, and I’ve already got the ideas for not only the first, but a few follow on projects as well. The first one I’d like to build is a neck through superstrat style, but before I start, I wanted to ask the advice of some of the forum members. I’m currently serving in Iraq and won’t be able to start the project (aside from planning) until I return home, which is still almost a year away. However, here I do have access to a reasonable workshop, a decent supply of tools, and most importantly, down time in between missions. As far as wood goes, we have tons of pieces of fir and pine leftover from construction projects that is of decent quality, plus some hardwoods left over from old furniture. My question is this, do you think it would be beneficial for me to build a practice “mockup” guitar out of this leftover wood so that when I return home I will already be somewhat familiar with the wood construction? Or would this be a waste of time? I know that working with these woods will obviously be different than what I plan on using for the real guitar (maple and cherry), but I'd rather have a little first hand experience before I start working on the real deal. Also, since I really want to do a neck through design, I feel like I should get some practice in since it seems to be a little bit more difficult construction than the bolt on's that I'm used to. Does this sound like a worthwhile idea, or are there any other ideas that I can use to get some practice in? I would like to hear anyone's ideas. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 I don't think it'd be a waste at all to build a "practice" guitar. I've learned tons getting my hands dirty with the first one (which is in progress). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiKro Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Hello Everyone, this is my first post to the Project Guitar forum, I found this site about a year ago when I first started getting into working on guitars and have found this site and the forum to be a tremendous help. So far, I’ve redone almost all things electronic, refinished guitars, replaced machine heads, refurbished tremolos and such, but I haven’t done much on the wood construction side of the house. I have done a kit assembly project, but so far nothing with actual woodworking aside from some neck pocket adjustments and shaping headstocks. Right now my woodworking experience has been limited to construction and building things like picture frames or the occasional simple shelf or cabinet. Now I’ve reached a point where I want to go to the next step and build a solidbody from scratch, after contemplating the idea for years. I’ve done a lot of homework and read a few books, including Melyvn Hiscock’s, and I’ve already got the ideas for not only the first, but a few follow on projects as well. The first one I’d like to build is a neck through superstrat style, but before I start, I wanted to ask the advice of some of the forum members. I’m currently serving in Iraq and won’t be able to start the project (aside from planning) until I return home, which is still almost a year away. However, here I do have access to a reasonable workshop, a decent supply of tools, and most importantly, down time in between missions. As far as wood goes, we have tons of pieces of fir and pine leftover from construction projects that is of decent quality, plus some hardwoods left over from old furniture. My question is this, do you think it would be beneficial for me to build a practice “mockup” guitar out of this leftover wood so that when I return home I will already be somewhat familiar with the wood construction? Or would this be a waste of time? I know that working with these woods will obviously be different than what I plan on using for the real guitar (maple and cherry), but I'd rather have a little first hand experience before I start working on the real deal. Also, since I really want to do a neck through design, I feel like I should get some practice in since it seems to be a little bit more difficult construction than the bolt on's that I'm used to. Does this sound like a worthwhile idea, or are there any other ideas that I can use to get some practice in? I would like to hear anyone's ideas. Thank you. First off, God Bless you and everyone there with you. Thank you for serving our Nation.. Now as far as your project goes. I see no problem with your mockup. In fact you may find that with detail to wood selection you may build a very playable piece to boot. Good luck, stay low and be aware. Please keep us posted on the work and your health. Sincerely, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherokee6 Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Ditto. Make differnt types of necks with the pine: try a strat type with a different wood fingerboard, a strat "all maple" type and a Gibson style with an angled head. Try different neck contours. If you can make a neck with some inlay or binding. You can take strips of wood and stain them for that purpose. I'm still a beginner at actual construction as I've only done refurbishing and small repairs. I plan on doing pine mockups prior to practising on the nice (and more expensive) stuff. I have an ebook I acquired which I'd be glad to send you if you wish. I can also send a pdf of a strat and a tele. Send me your e-mail address and they'll go right out. God Bless and keep your head down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyb Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Ditto. Make differnt types of necks with the pine: try a strat type with a different wood fingerboard, a strat "all maple" type and a Gibson style with an angled head. Try different neck contours. If you can make a neck with some inlay or binding. You can take strips of wood and stain them for that purpose. I'm still a beginner at actual construction as I've only done refurbishing an small repairs. I plan on doing pine mockups prior to practising on the nice (and more expensive) stuff. I have an ebook I acquired whcih I'd be glad to send you if you wish. I can also send a pdf of a strat and a tele. Send me your e-mail address and they'll go right out. God Bless and keep your head down. Would you be willing to share the strat PDF? I have an LPDC and a Jaguar that I could shoot your way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherokee6 Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Anytime, they're available to everyone. Just drop me your email address thru the site and I'll fire you one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydrogeoman Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 First of all, thank you for your service to our country and know you and your fellow soldiers are not forgotten in our prayers here in the cushiness of home. I am another supporter of doing prototypes before jumping into the "real" wood. Although I have not done any complete mockups using pine or similar inexpensive woods, I made a practice neck out of pine doing the neck shaping a partial fret job to get the feel for it. I usually practice on scrap for each particular aspect of the construction I am preparing to do before I dive in on the real thing. It has worked out so far. It sounds like you already have a lot of experience with guitars and this is a great place to obtain a wealth of info, so it will mainly be a matter of getting some of the woodworking practice under your belt. I hope the year goes fast for you and finds you safely back home. Cheers, Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToneMonkey Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Alright mate, It sounds like you've been going down the right route and I think a practice guitar would be a good idea. I cocked up some nice wood on my first build and if I could do it again, I'd definately use cheap wood for my first one. Welcome to the boards and keep your head down. Make sure you get home to build the guitar that you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibnaz5150 Posted January 5, 2007 Report Share Posted January 5, 2007 Defintely practice on scrap!!! Do it till your comfortable with what your trying to achieve. More repatition will only polish your skills and give more confidence. Like yourself I built many warmoth's and after 5 years of that it was time to make my own. I'm cheating a bit where I bought some templates....ibanez in this case. I'm doing my 1st body at the moment and still running into pitfalls and it's to be expected. I don't think I'll get into necks just yet....lack of speciallized tools and mostly experience in construction.....afterall it is a critical piece of the guitar. If I could reccommned another book...."Building electric guitars" by Martin Koch. For me much more informative than Melvyn Hiscocks book Happy building :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chennik Posted January 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 I appreciate the advice, based on what you all have said, I think I am going to do several practice runs first. Even though my goal is to build a neck through guitar, I'm going to take Cherokee6's advice and do a few neck projects (bolt on style first) to get the feel for it. I'm probably going to try my hand at building a body as well for the same reasons, then move up to eventually building a complete neck through mockup. MiKrO also got me thinking about that one... I was just going to do the one single mockup, but if I do a few practice necks/bodies/and maybe practice something akin to attaching the body wings and doing the heel carving, I might as well make the mockup something worth holding on to and try to make it playable a little later on. I saw a post on here from Melvyn Hiscock using Douglas Fir for a neck, which is what alot of the lumber here is, if I can find a decent piece, then it might be worth trying to make a playable instrument from it. I just got back from a mission to another base, and when I was there, I had a small find. Across the street from the chow hall was a bunch of busted furniture going in the trash. I managed to get a nice bed post that's about 3" square by 36" long, I think it's beechwood which I have no idea what it would be like as a neck but should be easy enough to carve for practice. As far as the rest of the project goes, I really don't have any good fretboard or fretting and hardware stuff to work with here. I'm going to do some practice with making a fretboard out of some generic scrap of hardwood(again from busted furniture), but I think I'm going to do the mockup leaving some things blank until I get back to the states and then finish it then, doing the routes for pickups, truss rod, holes for the the machine heads, bridge, and the fretboard and fretting. The only router I have here is an amazingly low quality one that somebody bought off the local market years ago and has been passing it from unit to unit here, so I probably will refrain from doing any precision work with that one. I guess this will work out being a good way to get rid of some of the excess parts I have lying around too, old stock pickups that I upgraded and so forth. Does anyone know if this beechwood bedpost would be worth saving for the full blown mockup or its it just worth practicing my carving skills? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibnaz5150 Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Any practice on scrap in not a waste in my book....better on scrap than on your actual piece. Neck construction can be pretty involved. Besides the specialty tools alone to do it well can run some bucks. For those reasons and lack of experience I'm personally holding off for now.I do know a few thousandths of an inch off your fretboard slots can be disaster! However LMI and stewmac sells them pre slotted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Welcome to PG and a Hugh Thank You (to quote Brian...) for serving our country Mockups-great idea, but you already know this by now. If you can find some nails lying around, cut the heads off, bend 'em over and epoxy them into little channels for frets. Make enough practice instruments, and you could start your own air band! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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