dteney Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 Hi, I'm new to this forum; I'm from Belgium and I'm designing what will be my first home-made guitar. I've some experience with wood working and I have access to many tools, so I'm pretty confident The goal: A light and compact guitar (to travel with), with a correct sound unplugged (just to be able to play it unplugged in a room), and a warm "round" sound plugged (towards the sound of an archtop, I'm a fan of blues and jazz). The idea for now: I'm going to get a full-maple telecaster neck, so I'll only work on the body. I have in my stock a nice block of wenge and a planck in ashwood. I was thinking about a hollowed body in wenge, 0.8" thick, and a thin ash top (0.15") with two f-holes. I'll put a single pickup, a humbucker at the neck, but I don't know yet which one. The thin body won't be a problem concerning strength I think, since wenge's quite hard, nor for the electronics, since I'll put mini-potmeters on the side. The neck would be bolted to a metal plate itself bolted to the body, so thickness isn't a problem either for that. I would now need some advice, especially concerning the choice of woods. I've seen several wenge basses, but never a guitar body ! Do you have any idea how this design could sound ? I've also difficultied to guess how "loud" it could sound unplugged... Does a thin top make a better sound than a thicker one ? Thanks a lot in advance ! The current plan (note the small thin body): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian d Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Loving the shape, and I think it would be an awesome build. Wenge probably isn't your best choice if you're looking for light weight. Don't expect too much in the way of unplugged volume with a thin body and hardwood top. To really get an acoustic sound, you need a light top that can vibrate. Good luck with it, I'd like to see that guitar come to life. Cheers, Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dteney Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Okay thanks for the answer. Does anybody have suggestions for the pickup ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Only way to get a real acoustic tone is, well, to make yourself an acoustic guitar. Any electric is playable unplugged, in a quiet room, but that's what pocket PODs and the like were designed for. Otherwise, it's always a compromise. Even a lighter, resonant top doesn't mean it'll sound nicer. Pickup: get something low output, humbucker, neck position. A Duncan '59 or Jazz, maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The royal consort Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 (edited) On the pickup side of things if you have the money to spend Bareknuckle pickups have some great options. The Stormy Monday if you want warm round and clean The Mule if you are looking for somthing that can 'push' the front end of and amp slightly. They're brilliant but they do cost some... Edited August 16, 2007 by The royal consort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dteney Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 (edited) Wow ! I didn't know those Bareknuckle pickups, but the Stormy Monday has exactly the tone I am looking for ! Unfortunately, such a high price might well double the cost of my project... Do you have any idea of a similar pickup from a cheaper manufacturer ? Sound sample of the Stormy Monday BTW, I've started to work physically the project, surfacing, cutting and gluing the wood. I'll try to post regular updates and pictures if there are people interested here. Edited August 16, 2007 by dteney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyManAndy Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 (edited) If your looking for cheaper pickup options, Tonerider makes a similar style of pickup that may interest you: http://tonerider.com/hb_ac4.shtml If you are interested, shoot an e-mail over to Ralph, he'll take care of ya. CMA Edited August 16, 2007 by CrazyManAndy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prs man Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 (edited) I like the body shape and the neck pickup I love is the Duncan 59 or jazz. Edited August 16, 2007 by prs man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 I believe the: (1) ideas / issues you expressed about what the guitar would be used for and (2) the types of woods you intend to use are (3) -Completely- at odds with each other. Either be open to the idea of using a completely different wood set, or give up the 'light, portable, acoustic-oriented' guitar philosophy, because you won't get there with what you intend to use, not even close IMO. I don't know what woods you have at your disposal in Belgium, but you need to change either No.1 or No.2 to arrive at a more compatable solution that you'll be happy with. Relax, build, experiment, enjoy, and then listen to what that guitar has to say, 'cause it will have something to say that you didn't put in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 If you are looking for a good acoustic instrument. Stop the design process, and get a book on archtops(maybe Bendetto's). Read it and study how the guitar functionally works, and look at why the woods that are traditionally used are picked(there are very specific functions you are trying to achive, and acoustic responce has little to nothing to do with how electrics work.). After you have those concepts down(at least a firm understanding), then look at proven designs that cross the line between acoustic and electric. You will have to evaluate compramises and function, and you have no way to do this without a good foundation. Your choice of wood may or may not suit your needs depending on the design and function. Your current pick for a top wood is not a particularly efficient wood in terms of strength to density. That would be a challenging wood to work with on a full on acoustic instrument. If your final design choice moves farther away from acoustic output and moves more to the semi hollow(335-ish) electric design, maybe it will not be as big of an issue. Your choice for back and sides is six to one half dozen to the other, although Wenge can be very challenging to work with(especially if you carve plates for an acoustic instrument). Take all this for what it is worth, until you read and understand the functions first. Then evaluate based on your findings. I think what Drak is saying makes sense. You need to have more understanding of function, that is step #1. Your expectations should be tempered, or brought into a more realistic light with a good basic understanding of function. Peace,Rich P.S. Did I mention FUNCTION enough in my responce , I hope so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dteney Posted August 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 Thanks for the input guys. One of the goals was also to build that guitar without spending too much money, so using the wood I had on hand was nearly inevitable... I'm warned for the acoustic side of the guitar; and anyway it was intended to be mainly an electric guitar. Concerning the choice of woods, using hard strong woods looked a good idea to me, since the body was going to be thin and hollow; I guess I'm not wrong on the "mechanical" side at least And it's a bit the same for the weight goal, I know wenge is dense, but there won't be a lot of it in the guitar ! Anyway thanks for the comments. I've presented my project on other forums, but it looks like amateur electric guitar builders usually don't know very well how the guitar functionally works... Some Tonerider pickups sound cool, but I'd still be happy to have other suggestions ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 Thanks for the input guys. One of the goals was also to build that guitar without spending too much money, so using the wood I had on hand was nearly inevitable... I'm warned for the acoustic side of the guitar; and anyway it was intended to be mainly an electric guitar. Concerning the choice of woods, using hard strong woods looked a good idea to me, since the body was going to be thin and hollow; I guess I'm not wrong on the "mechanical" side at least And it's a bit the same for the weight goal, I know wenge is dense, but there won't be a lot of it in the guitar ! Anyway thanks for the comments. I've presented my project on other forums, but it looks like amateur electric guitar builders usually don't know very well how the guitar functionally works... Some Tonerider pickups sound cool, but I'd still be happy to have other suggestions ! If your not worried about the acoustic side, you can take a lot more liberties with design. That is probably a good approch. An interesting thing about the mechanical side of things. An acoustic guitar will usually have more string tension, because a light gauge set of strings would be 12's, 13's are med. Electrics are way over built structurally(which doesn't hurt a thing because the body does not have to produce sound). An acoustic of course uses spruce/cedar(strong for their density, but not as strong as most solid body woods) soundboards in the .140-.090 range, but small braces are added to boost the strength enough to not collapse under all that string tension. Acoustic backs that are made from denser stiffer woods are generally thinner(in the .090"-.075" range), but again braces are placed to assist with strength but add little weight. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dteney Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Thanks again for the advice on the pickup; I finally ordered a Tonerider Alnico IV. I'm waiting for some other hardware, then I'll continue working on the project, and I'll put some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dteney Posted August 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2007 I worked on the top this week, it is nearly finished. I took some pictures at the different steps of the construction, I guess it might interest some of you. My english vocabulary in woodworking is very limited, so I don't give a lot of comments, anyway the pictures speak by themselves, I think The complete computer model: Gluing planks together: The neck, found on ebay: MDF template: Copy of the contour lines with carbon paper: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dteney Posted August 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2007 (edited) Below the table: Top of the table: Any comments welcome, of course Edited August 31, 2007 by dteney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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