GEdwardJones Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 So probably the first thing that my fiance' and I are going to do when I move in is replace the deck, which just can't be saved anymore. The wood is in crappy shape for a deck, but that still leaves about 8 guitars worth of GOOD wood left (each plank is roughly 1.5 inches deep, by 12 inches wide by 3 feet long). Martin made a guitar out of scraps of wood by the dumpster. Paul Gilbert has a guitar made out of a shipping crate Brian May's "Red Special" is made out of a mantle. what's the wackiest material you've ever used for making a guitar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveK Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 I used to work the NAMM show doing demos on Reverand Guitars. Their primary material????? Formica!! Yep, the same stuff that your kitchen counters are made of! That being said, the guitars sound GREAT Dave K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 Funny that you should bring this up. I have a few strips of spruce left over from a cabinet installation, and an out door shed project. I just started thinking about glueing a body blank out of them and cutting out a guitar body. wOOt One more for the list, Billy Gibbons made a guitar out of a worm eaten beam from Muddy Waters childhood home. The guitar looked stupid, but apparently sounded really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEdwardJones Posted January 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 Funny that you should bring this up. I have a few strips of spruce left over from a cabinet installation, and an out door shed project. I just started thinking about glueing a body blank out of them and cutting out a guitar body. wOOt Well part of what brought this on is that a neighbor gave me "How to Make Your Own Guitar" by Melvyn Hiscock and he said that some of his favorite wood finds have been leftovers from when people built/tore down houses. After removing the nails he said that it was generally good stuff. I figure, shoot, we've got a 30 foot by 8 - 10 foot deck worth of wood with easily removable nails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 Next thing you know, you'll be wondering around the house looking at furniture... "Honey... do you mind if I use the dining room table for something?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEdwardJones Posted January 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 You're kidding, right? The idea of makig a guitar from scratch came from *My fiance'* I was happy customizing. She'd probably give me the old dining room table if I told her it'd make a good body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 If the best tone is what you're after, then you would want to use older wood. I have a bunch of oak from old furniture I tore apart.It has a REALLY nice crisp tone when I tap it. Only bad part is that I would have to glue a few pieces together to make a full-sized guitar body, but I'm pretty sure that will still sound better than if I went out and bought a piece of new kiln-dried wood. I'm currently making a "surrogate" guitar body, like the one Stew-Mac sells, out of some of the uglier pieces of this old oak, so I can do bolt-on neck re-frets by mail. I think the body of Brian May's guitar has a piece of oak in it. Or maybe the whole body is oak. I do find it quite amazing when guitars made out of things like formica sound good, although I haven't heard it for myself. That's really breaking the rules. A neck is less likely to warp if made out of old wood. I guess people get tired of hearing me say that, but with so many always being so quick to buy a new neck, I guess they need to be reminded. I'm just imagining finding an old piece of mahogany to make a Les Paul Jr. Between the improved tone of the older wood, plus having the option of not having to put on an overly-thick finish like Gibson did, you'd probably have the best sounding Jr you ever heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveK Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 I never would have thought the formica guitar would sound good either! And I am one of the biggest "Tone Snobs" there is! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to expect Eric Johnson to give up his 56 Strat for the Reverand...but you gotta hear it to believe it It definately has it's own thing! I would almost say its a cross between a danelectro (the original ones from the 60's) as it has the "spank" of a telecaster Plus they are VERY playable! Dave K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 Check out the January Guitar of the Month, well ok it is a Bass but he made it out of a piano lid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted January 3, 2003 Report Share Posted January 3, 2003 Holy crap ! I want to know what inspired that body shape. It's got to be either ' Schmoo' or that guy in Star-Trek who changes shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 4, 2003 Report Share Posted January 4, 2003 It's hollow too so it's light weight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave M Posted January 4, 2003 Report Share Posted January 4, 2003 My first ever guitar body was made out of particle board and plywood. I made a sandwich out of several scraps, and used it to test my design, finalize my templates, confirm all of my measurements, etc. I built the neck out of maple, and did a nice ebony fretboard. After I confirmed that everything fit, the scale was correct, the intonation was correct, and the neck pocket and bridge were correct in relation to each other, I used it to test fit the pups, and control layout. Everything worked, so I broke out a humongous expensive slab of mahogony, and went to town. It never sounded half as good as the stupid ply/particle board one did. I even made another neck, ,and tried switching back and forth, but BOTH necks sounded better on the test body than they did on the real guitar. Even after a coat of housepaint, applied with a roller, that thing still sounded better than my mahogony. I ended up keeping it for about ten years, before giving it to somebody to use as a pattern. He still whips it out for a gig now and then, and tells me I was stupid for giving it up. It just rings and sings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Some friends and I had access to an old high school that was turning into a community center and we took the top from a desk students would sit in and went down to the woodshop area and cut it roughly like a Steinberger body. We put an old Kramer bass neck on it, the ones from the 70's that had a metal headstock. I think that's as far as we got with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the third eye Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 hhhmmmmmmmm..... if you cut the body shape out of a huge block of cheese......................... :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Welcome to the forum Rocket Wouldn't be anywhere near the Space Center would ya? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matia Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 I actually once built a guitar out of plastic injection moulding... Cut a guitar body as normal... had a cast made... and just inject your plastic... Easy! just dont do what I did and not research it so when you wake up in the morning and because you used the wrong grade of plastic your guitar is now stuck to the radiator you dont get upset! plus which its a sod to get off! Looked really cool though and didnt sound too shabby either... not the best but by no means not the worst either! happy hunting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 i heard concrete gives good sustain! wOOt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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