New Member With A Billion Questions

[Zack]

Hello! I'm Zack and I'm a guitaraholic. Haha! So over the last month I've been indulging in information overload in the quest to build my first guitar. I've sold all of my camera gear which (after buying the wife some house improvements) leaves me with a budget of around $1,500. I've read Melvyn's book and I'm ready. My woodworking skills are OK but the tool vault is slim. Out of the billion questions, the top few would be:

1: My guitar body design is bigger than the standard 20x14 inch blanks available. Where do you buy bigger blanks? Google has not helped.

2: I've designed a custom trussrod cover to match my headstock. Cut one myself or have one made? Where?

3: Titebond I,II,or III?

4: Which is easier: Thru-neck, Set-neck, or Bolt-on? I like all of them equally, so personal taste is null and void.

4.50: Mustard or Mayo?

Thanks for your time!

[westhemann]

Look around locally for wood.Cabinet wood suppliers are a good start...titebond original is best of those three,but I also use two part epoxies of various brands.All types of neck construction have pros and cons,as does mustard and mayo...mustard is calorie free,and if you choose the spicy mustards,you can get some nice bite,but mayo goes better with turkey IMO..there is also Miracle Whip,which I like in some cases..

There aren't many simple answers to be had...you would bdo best just to get started and learn your own preferences...just stay away from expensive woods until you know what you like.

[Prostheta]

Hello! I'm Zack and I'm a guitaraholic. Haha! So over the last month I've been indulging in information overload in the quest to build my first guitar. I've sold all of my camera gear which (after buying the wife some house improvements) leaves me with a budget of around $1,500. I've read Melvyn's book and I'm ready. My woodworking skills are OK but the tool vault is slim. Out of the billion questions, the top few would be:

This is also called the divorce Litmus test. If your marriage can support your guitar habit you likely have no greater issues.

I haven't read previous posts (can't multitask and have a million jobs on now) so hopefully I'm not openly contradicting or repeating stuff.

1: My guitar body design is bigger than the standard 20x14 inch blanks available. Where do you buy bigger blanks? Google has not helped.

"Instrument grade" blanks are expensive because they are chosen for appearance, are dried correctly and have specific qualities such as grain direction and orientation. Usually. For a first instrument I would pick cheaper wood off the shelf until you have the capability to commit work to expensive wood. I worked on cheaper wood when I started out, and I messed up a fair deal. Better doing it rather than wasting expensive stuff. Just make sure you buy wood that has been dried and hasn't got cracks, voids or shrinking knots in it. Your budget and pre-emptive hindsight will thank you for it. I blew over (sorry, can't find the pound sign on this keyboard) 120 on my first neck blank by banging in Bloodwood, flame Maple and Ebony. All went well until I messed up the neck angle. All I could save was the body and the truss rod. Experience.

Point of advice: make a Pine guitar body first of all. It will teach you about the logistics and all of the important things. Soft woods like Poplar and Basswood are good to cut your teeth on also. Not expensive and better choices than woods costing 10x as much.

2: I've designed a custom trussrod cover to match my headstock. Cut one myself or have one made? Where?

Fretsonthenet or PM Huntindoug. Be prepared for cost. Given your budget, I would consider that this ephemeral cost is equal to the cost of a body blank or other essential item. I would stick with that which is important and not the dressing touches right now.

3: Titebond I,II,or III?

Titebond I. Ignore all the crap about creep and the fact it fails in hot temperatures. Most wood glues have that problem anyway, and some have MORE. Until you have the experience or willingness to use more exotic (and hence more work) stuff then Titebond I will serve you admirably. The "advantages" of II and III are not actually useful despite a persistent >0.1% of the amateur guitar building community protesting that they are, repeatedly.

4: Which is easier: Thru-neck, Set-neck, or Bolt-on? I like all of them equally, so personal taste is null and void.

Bolt-on. The others involve relatively complex and potentially death-defying operations for a beginner. You can work on each part separately on a bolt-on, and screwing one up doesn't leave you with a massive salvage operation with little return. That and you'll find lugging around a mostly-built instrument whilst trying to do minor operations very annoying. Start with small items that you can assemble later in the day.

4.50: Mustard or Mayo?

Mayo is for fat people who have too much spare room in their diet. Eat sensibly and stick to mustard, preferably. Not the stupidly sweet kind with sugar in it. Refined sugar has no place in food or condiments and contributes negatively to health. Hot English mustard or nothing. I prefer chilli on everything though. Far better for the metabolism and contains many exciting things like vitamins.

Edited May 31, 2011 by Prostheta

[WezV]

why decide - dijonnaise is clearly the way forward

[Zack]

Wow! Thanks fellers. Dijonnaise huh? I'm fat and I love spice! Sounds like a winner. Actually Sriracha is my go-to flava o' choice with a little Dave's Ghost Pepper added for good measure . It was a trick question. Went shopping for tools today. Couldn't find the spokeshave at the ole Depot. I picked up some rasp files and was eyeing a Stanley surform. Surform or rasp files or both. Hmmmm....Like I said, a billion questions. I love the suggestion of building a pine mock-up. I also plan to start on some MDF templates. Hopefully that will give me some usefull practice as well.

Edited June 1, 2011 by Zack

[Zack]

Is it safe to share my design image here?

[Prostheta]

As safe as any public place. Sharing is caring.

[ESDictor]

This is also called the divorce Litmus test. If your marriage can support your guitar habit you likely have no greater issues.

Amen!

[Zack]

The Design:

[Prostheta]

Logistically, I can't see any immediate issues with the design. It looks like you have covered the primary design considerations. Straighter string pull might look a little more elegant on the headstock, but that's only of aesthetic value thanks to the locking nut.