Dudz Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 (edited) I decided to make something out of cheap stuff and parts I have lying around to build a guitar before building a good sg out of expensive wood. My plans are to have a tele style body with sharper cutaways made out of cheap wood. I'm thinking of a center of pinstriping pine and cherry with thin pine sides. I have come up with a headless tuner desing that is going to be using a string through tune o matic bridge with ferules in the back that are in a brass plate so that they can be turned to increase tension. The other end of the string would go through holes in the headstock and through threaded shafts with holes to go through. Bolts would then be tightened on the strings holding them in positionso as not to slip. The neck would be set in maple with a rosewood finger board and med-jumbo frets. It will have dimarzio pickups for great tonal versatility. I might use brass for inlays and put decorative brass inlays on the body wings. As for the tuning system the basic way of how it works is a special locking nut system on the headstock and behind the body the ball end of the string will be holding on to the ferules which when turned right would decrease tension and when turned left would increase tension on the string. Headstock would be similar to an epiphone. For wood I'm thinking that the combination of cherry (dark sounding) and pine ( bright and resonant) would create a well balanced tone. Don't know when it will be done because I'm 14 years old and need help from my father with the Cutting the wood. He works alot but February vacation is coming up so I will probably work on it then. My mom wants me to wait until the summer so don't know how it will go. Edited February 17, 2008 by Dudz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudz Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 If anyone has suggestions for other ideas then feel free to give them as I've read many articles on guitar building but have never built a guitar before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudz Posted February 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 I'm thinking of a design like this http://www.ibanez.com/eg/guitar.aspx?m=FR1620 but with diferrent wood. My exact wood choices dpend on their prices. Finish will either be a natural one with light staining or a neon pink finish thats beaten scratched and burnt up. Got the pink idea from my guitar teachers old ibanez that was in his car when it spontaneously combusted. The guitar got out with only burns. It has also gone through other abuse since the early 90's when he bought it. The neck is from this guitar http://www.ibanez.com/eg/guitar.aspx?m=GAX70. For pickups I have Joe Satriani's favorite dimarzio fred and paf. Still thinking of exactly how I will be build the tuner bridge but I will hopefully get everything done this week. Anyone know a good way to build a locking nut? Also please tell me if you think my ideas are good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borge Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 If anyone has suggestions for other ideas then feel free to give them as I've read many articles on guitar building but have never built a guitar before. i suggest you learn about paragraphs then people might bother to read your posts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudz Posted February 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 There you go I made paragraphs but I couldn't figure out how to ident them without the word "indent" showing up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borge Posted February 17, 2008 Report Share Posted February 17, 2008 i think its an interesting idea, although i wouldnt reccommend fabricating hardware on your first build though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudz Posted February 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Yeah, I might not be able to build the tuning piece as I have been unable to find a source of what I need to make it so I might try to snag some locking tuners for cheap from my good buddies at the local music store. If I cant I'll get wilkinson ez-locks off of guitar fetish. I've heard that titebond is the best glue to use, is this true? Also, if I do a transparent finish then would a minwax oil finish work fine as there are about three cans in my basement. 1 more question, will different nut materials wear away more quickly than others and if so, what is the difference? I'm looking into bone and graphite as the nut on the neck is plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted February 18, 2008 Report Share Posted February 18, 2008 Hey Dudz, The thing is-- your questions are too vague (except the glue one for example, but you could answer that one on your own-- if you hear that Titebond is the best from a number of guitar builders, then regardless of if it's "the best", it's obviously plenty good enough. ) to get many responses from most of the builders here. Even with a mockup, a lot of the more senior members are exhausted from giving advice based on a visual representation without much research behind it. There are certain kinds of questions you'll be able to answer for yourself, and most of those questions are ones that don't have one good answer anyhow. "Bone or graph-tech?" --either! Surely you know already that both are fine, but that each has its own characteristics. Purists seem to continue loving bone, and trem-users tend to like the Graph-tech's lower friction. There's no good answer to that question. My suggestion is-- do some preliminary research, get as far as you possibly can with answering your own questions yourself, and then when you hit a wall, ask our members some very specific questions. Your question about finish was an example of what would be a good question-- "I want a trans finish, I have Minwax that I could use for this first-timer cheap-o build, will it work?" Best of luck! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudz Posted February 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 (edited) I did what you said and I researched a bit more. I will be going with a bone nut probably. I'll try the minwax and if it doesn't work too well then oh well first build going to make some mistakes. From my experience with it it should work fine because it's stable, doesn't go on too thick, and i looks nice. I also can't go woth the headless tuning system so I will use locking tuners. I might get a trem but I think I'll stick with a string through for my first build. Thats all for now. Edited March 9, 2008 by Dudz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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