Hey There, New Guy, New Project, Some Questions.

[Lefty_guitarist]

Hi, I just joined up, and I must say this site is excellent, I am sarting a guitar that is based on a fender Jaguar, I'm giving it a wip name of the Tigar. This is my first guitar , and I would like to make it pretty cheap, as if it goes wrong then I won't have wasted too much money. One area that is vrey expensive is the wood, so my first question is, can you use softwood to make a guitar, or just hardwood, what about MDF? I went looking in my garage and found this piece

I belive that it is a hardwood tabletop of some sort, but i'd ike to know, if possible, what type of wood it is. It is the right size, but not thick enough, i want the guitar to be around 40-45mm thick, and its only 20.However, I also have these,

I don't think that they are hardwood, but could I glue them to the back of my hardwood to make a solid piece, and go from there?#

Here is a full size drawing of the Tigar onto some wood type thingy.

Comments welcome.

I'm making this guitar as i am a lefty, and as such, can't find many cool guitars that I can play. I was going to go for an semi hollow Es-333 styly guitar, but I will save that for when I have more experience.

Thganks for reading, its a bit long winded for a intro thread, but oh well.

Lefty

[WAK Guitars]

Welcome! That first pic looks like mahogany. Second pic, I was gonna say cedar but now I'm not so sure.

[dpm99]

Welcome Lefty! My thought is that most any of that would be fine for your body. Not knowing for sure what the wood is, I'd be hesitant to use it for a neck. If I were you, I'd find a hardwood store and find a real nice piece of unfigured maple with straight grain and as close to quartersawn as possible. I can usually get something like that for under $10, but it depends on where you live.

-Dave

[Lefty_guitarist]

Thanks. I was planning on buying a neck, as they seem to be quite tricky to build, especially for a first timer. I live in the UK, Sussex to be presise.

Thanks for comments on the wood, they are really helping me with my thoughts and ideas.

I have redrawn my body design, to make it more like a jaguar, the last one had undergone so much "tweaking" that it scarcely looked like a Jag, more like a tele.

My other problem is that it is too small, my LP is 16 3/4" high, and 13" wide, the New one if only 15 1/2" high, and 11" wide! Is this too small, and do you think I should redo the design bigger, probably.

- This pic is a bad angle, it looks bigger than it is.

I am going to start a project thread, with the most recent pictures, so any comments on the guitar will be better off there.

Cheers

Lefty

[dpm99]

Ok, so all those pictures are of just one piece, huh? Honestly, wood is usually one of the cheaper things in a project. Have you priced out all your hardware yet? And do you have all the tools you'll need?

[Lefty_guitarist]

No, but they were all for the body, I wa going to join them together, is that bad? I have most of the tools that I need, router, saws, sander, and hardware I am going for budget stuff mostly, as its my first project. Where do you get your wood from, alkl the places i've looked online seem to be either really expensive, or not have the right sizes, or both. I shall have a look on ebay for stuff though, hopefully get some good deals.

Cheers

Lefty

[dpm99]

I know there are places to go, but I know it's a little tougher for your guys. Try to find a local hardwood store. That's your best bet!