AccidentalChef Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 So, after a week or two browsing the forum, I've got a pretty good idea about how to go about my first build (and Hiscock's book is on the way from Amazon). I spent a bit of time over the last week coming up with a design I like. I'm sure it was inspired by dozens of guitars I've seen over the years, but my goal was just to come up with a clean, smooth double cut shape. Nothing revolutionary, but I don't know if revolutionary is even possible in traditional designs these days, so I'm not worried about it. The woods here are just examples. I don't plan on using spalted maple for a while. I'm leaning towards a mahogany body with a quilted maple top and a 5 piece neck through (mahogany/walnut/maple/walnut/mahogany), and possibly an ebony fretboard. For hardware, I'm planning on a fixed bridge, and hum/single/hum pickups. I've got the wiring almost figured out, and I'll post that in electronics when I'm happy with it. The basic idea of it is a 5-way switch for the primary control, with push pulls and/or toggle switches that can reconfigure the 5-way to make the switch work like a strat, les paul, or something in between, by changing how the switch does coil tapping and what pickups are on in the middle positions. The idea is that you might have to hit a couple of switches to get the 5-way how you want it in between songs, but once you've done that you only have to use one switch during a song. Any opinions of the design or wood choices I'm thinking about would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhead28 Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 (edited) Is that to be a 6 in line or a 3+3 headstock? My first impression was 6 in line, and if that is the case, be sure to draw in the string positions from the nut to the tuners. I think that might be a weird angle there. Edited February 24, 2009 by Metalhead28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted February 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Is that to be a 6 in line or a 3+3 headstock? My first impression was 6 in line, and if that is the case, be sure to draw in the string positions from the nut to the tuners. I think that might be a weird angle there. It's a 6 in line. When I drew it by hand on graph paper, I traced the strings to where the tuners would be. I'll have to check what I drew on the computer and see if it lines up. Thanks for the tip; I might not have caught that until the headstock was already put together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Looks nice. If it were mine, I'd probably curl the treble side horn a little less, and refine the headstock shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyManAndy Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 I agree with Rick. Cool design! Can't wait to see it. CMA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 I like the headstock as is, but I do agree about the treble horn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted February 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Metalhead28 was right... the string angles got pretty weird with the original headstock design. I used FretFind 2-D to get a string layout, and extended them past the nut, then tweaked the headstock to make them fit. With the new design, the strings are straight to within 1/32", and I can shift the tuner holes slightly one way or the other depending on exactly where the strings hit the pegs. I tried to keep as much of the feel of the original headstock as possible, while making it more functional. I'm having a hard time matching the feel of the curved upper horn on the body, but I think I've gotten pretty close here. At first, I didn't agree about the treble horn, but after I stared at it a bit, it started to bother me. Design flaw, or the power of suggestion? Who knows. I tweaked it just a few 32nds of an inch, and I think it matches the upper horn better. As it is, the tangent line to the inside of the bass horn hits the fretboard about 1 and a half frets farther up than the tangent line from the bass horn, but since it's shorter, the curve appears tighter. I might straighten it just a bit more, but I need to stare at it for a bit to decide. It also looks a little narrow to me now, so I may tweak the width. I also smoothed out the curves on other parts of the body, but it might not be very noticeable at this resolution. No fancy wood in this picture; I'm a beginner at Inkscape, and that took me too long to do the first time, especially for a rough draft! Thanks for all the advice so far. My craftsmanship probably won't be perfect on my first build, but without a great design, I've got no chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 I think the new headstock design looks tons better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted February 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 I think the new headstock design looks tons better. Thanks Rick. I'm pretty happy with it, though it might get a little fine tuning. I also tweaked the lower horn just a bit more. It seems to match the upper one even better now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 I agree, the lower horn looks better now. I don't really think it looks too narrow though. But if you are unsure, I would keep it as is, make a new file and widen it where you see fit. Then make your MDF template. I've made several that looked too narrow even as a paper cutout and turned out fine, but others were either too wide or narrow once cut on MDF. Even though the paper cutouts looked fine. But if you make your MDF template and it is too wide, it is easy to remove material, putting it back on is the hard part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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