meatloaf Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 Hi guys and girls ? I've been thinking of trying to build a guitar for a while, done a lot of reading and looked at many forums and found that this one. I'm not very experienced in woodwork and know very little about electric guitars but have got a few tools including a router a rather crude router table that I made myself a cheap jigsaw and a cheap belt sander as well as chisles screwdrivers etc.# Looking at the cost of suitable wood put me off starting as I thought that I would propably screw up big time so I thought about using an offcut of wooden kitchen worktop thats been lying around since I refitted my daughters kitchen several years ago. I think it's beech, I know it's not normally used for guitar bodies but it cost me nothing and if I do screw up I'll have some more firwood. I have ordered the hardware that I need including a neck ( no way I'm going to make my own ) I don't have any blue prints so I borrowed my sons cheapo strat copy so I could make a template of the body. it's not perfect but it's a starting point and I will refine it before I use it. I wasn't sure about posting this build as it will probably be nowhere near as good as the other builds here but hopefully will not embarrass me too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 Welcome! And thanks for sharing your first build with us. We'll try to give all the help we can. You've got a good plan for materials for a first builds and don't worry about making a few mistakes. Believe it or not this is not the first kitchen worktop guitar we've seen built, and I can promise any mistake you might make won't be the first time it's been done in these pages either. Have some fun with it! SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 27, 2016 Report Share Posted September 27, 2016 Any build is a good build. After all, you take a lot from the experience of making weird or even a cheap build. The point is that these skills are taken onboard and you step up your game. Nothing wrong with a multi-ply board even if it was a kitchen worktop. It'll be stable. Is that Beech? If so, be careful of fine dust. It's super bad for your health. Working in the trade, I know that long-term exposure is carcinogenic so I simply refuse to work with Beech. You'll be okay though, just make sure you're extracting the dust when routing and sand it outside with a mask on to be sure. If it isn't Beech, that kind of blows this conversation out of the water....hahaha.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 On 26/09/2016 at 10:22 PM, ScottR said: Believe it or not this is not the first kitchen worktop guitar we've seen built, And there was me thinking it would be a first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted September 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2016 On 27/09/2016 at 6:53 AM, Prostheta said: Is that Beech? If so, be careful of fine dust. It's super bad for your health. Working in the trade, I know that long-term exposure is carcinogenic so I simply refuse to work with Beech. You'll be okay though, just make sure you're extracting the dust when routing and sand it outside with a mask on to be sure. Thanks for the warning, I did'nt know that., I always use dust extraction when routing and a new mask is now top of my shopping list of things to get before I starting working on the beach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 29, 2016 Report Share Posted September 29, 2016 Working Beech or working on the beach? The second is safer as long as it's sunny and the tide is out. I might do a future video on the beach here at Yyteri one summer. That'd be fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted September 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2016 Oh man I must have been day dreamimg again. I used to leave the UK 2 or 3 times a year to somewhere hot and sunny but due to circumstances I have'nt been out of the uk for 5 years and now I'm really starting to miss lazing about on the beach with a rum and coke in my hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 29, 2016 Report Share Posted September 29, 2016 Well, stick around. Once we're doing our regular videos, I'll gladly raise a rum and Coke in honour of that next summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted September 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2016 I have had a busy couple of days, yesterday I finished the body template, it took ages getting the cavity cut outs in the right place and I had to reshape the outline at the bottom as when I put the pickguard in position the shape was all wrong, then I made a template for the neck cut out using the neck as a pattern. From these masters I made working copies using some off cuts of pine that I had laying around. I also manged to cut out the body using a jig saw, I was really crap at that and had to finish off with my belt sander. Had to make it double thickness as my router bit for the cavities is rather long. today I started routing. Halfway through cutting neck pocket, taken off top template ready to take to final depth Using this bit to route round body, scared the crap out of me, sounded like a jet engine when it span up Body routing finished -- well nearly I fogot the cavity for the jack socket . All in all quite pleased with how it turned out, really pleased that I spent so much time getting the edges of the tempates smooth it's going too save so much time sanding the edges. You can't see it in this photo but I did manage to tear out quite a big chunck out of the bottom horn, it will mean reshaping the horn and the pickguard a little, you guys will notice but most won't ( I hope ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 30, 2016 Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 Agreed about the work put into making your templates. The workpiece will only ever be as good as the work put into the templates in my opinion. Making copies from masters is a good habit to be getting into. Perhaps less so for pin routers since the bit never gets near the template itself and you don't need to bear a spinning bearing against it to stop it rotating I guess. That's a different conversation though....! If that bit sounds rough when running, it's a sign either of imbalance in the bit or runout in the router. I'd fiddle with the speed until it "sounds comfortable" which is simply a speed where there are fewer natural resonances. Pretty simple. Aside from the tearout, that looks like a very tidy piece of work. I have reservations about working with Beech from a personal standpoint, but I think it'll make a fine instrument once the dust has cleared (joke intended). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 I learn from my mistakes or better still I try to learn from other peoples mistakes and I know that some have found out the hard way when their template was ruined. I was planning to do so sanding today but its raining so that will have to wait for another day. I did manage to clear some space in my garage so that I could use my much neglected press drill, After a lot of carefull measuring and double checking I drilled all the holes for the neck, bridge and pickguard. I haven't used this drill for over 20 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 1, 2016 Report Share Posted October 1, 2016 There's always something very obvious when it comes to spotting an English shed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2016 21 hours ago, Prostheta said: There's always something very obvious when it comes to spotting an English shed. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2016 Decided to round off the edges the old school way - using my vintage spoke shave which was given to me over 30 years ago, it did need a bit of a sharpen but then was ready to go. Then it was time to use it to start shaping the body, ran my belt sander over it to get the rough shape and finished off by hand to get yhe final shape. Then the whole body was sanded using 120, 180 and 360 grit sandpaper after several hours of sanding my arms and fingers told me that they had had enough so after cleaning up went iI ndoorsand and thought it would be a good idea to make sure everthing went togrther. The weather forecast for tomorrow is dry so maybe the final sand. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 2, 2016 Report Share Posted October 2, 2016 It's funny, because some people spent huge money on expensive body woods and don't even do half as good a job as you've done. It also looks like it uses fewer laminates than some name brands too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 2, 2016 Report Share Posted October 2, 2016 8 hours ago, meatloaf said: Decided to round off the edges the old school way - using my vintage spoke shave which was given to me over 30 years ago, it did need a bit of a sharpen but then was ready to go. That's awesome! The body of this thing is turning out to be quite sweet. Not at all a junk piece to test my skills on type build, but rather a quality looking guitar. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2016 Thanks for those comments guys, I must admit I used that wood because it was an offcut that's been kicking around for years ( although I might not have used It if I knew about the health risks of beech) I know that making an electric guitar body is not rocket science but I have very little experience in woodwork and this project is to test my skills and learn as I progress, the aim from the start was to try and make a guitar to the best of my abilities. So far I'm very pleased with results but I now move into more uncharted waters - the finish but at least if I screw that up I can take it back to bare wood and try again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 On Wednesday my paint arrived so took the plunge and got set up to paint, I had the body sanded and it looked good and I had practised using a rattle can on some scrap the day before. So with a little apprehension I laid on the first coat of base coat all the while trying to remember all the things I had read about rattle can spraying. It went very well so I then spent the rest of the day spraying, I've never spent so much time clock watching and that 15 minutes between coats seemed to take forever, After I finished the last base coat I had some lunch as I had to wait a whole hour before I could start laying down the colour, at first I thought the wrong colour was in the can as it looked more purple than blue but as I looked at it from a different angle it was blue, spent the afternoon laying on more colour coats, lots of thin coats so lots of 15 minute waits but the end result was good with no runs. Yesterday I put on the 2k clear coats which went well except for one run but that should sand off when I do the finnishing went it has cured properly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 It looks better than the efforts of some people that pour WAY too much money into materials. Just goes to show what workmanship produces over fluff, eh? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1556 Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 That body is looking absolutely fantastic, can't wait to see the end result. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 9 hours ago, steve1556 said: can't wait to see the end result. Neither can I but I'm going to be too busy working on my sons bathroom to do anymore work on the guitar for a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 OK change of plans, my sons bathroom has been put on hold for a while which is probably a good thing as I feel like crap at the moment. I did manage to do a little bit today, first I fitted the pickup covers and knobs on to the pickguard that I sprayed the same colour as the body. I then wired it all up, struggled for a while as my 5 way switch is apparently what is called an import (something else I've learnt) and most of the wiring diagrams I found on the interweb thingy as based on the original Fender switch but after a bit of searching found the info that I needed, It would appear that most of my wire stock has grown legs and walked so I had to make do with what I had. I did a quick test by plugging it into an amp and holding up against another guirtar while I strummed the strings, As luck would have it it all seemed to work as it should. I also marked out the headstock ready to shape it. I really wanted to get the headstock shaped today but I had to give up as I had no energy left and needed to get my feet up and rest. Bloody daughter in law passed on some bug she's got. But it will give me a chance to get the ideas that I've got going around in my head for my next two guitars down on paper - I know this one's not finished but it seems like I'm not alone in planning more guitars while still working on the first one - and yes I was only going to build one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 15, 2016 Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Yeah, careful about those bugs. The one we came down with left my wife with a cough and chest infection for three weeks, and I'm still trying to kick pneumonia. Try and bring everything down a notch just in case....there seems to be a harsh season this year.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatloaf Posted October 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Been a bit of a prat, this project has come to a halt because I forgot to include a nut when I ordered my bits but hopefullly it wont take too long to arrive. So I thought I would make one of these with what I had handy. That decking was a bit left over from a garden project a couple of years ago and has been inside since then and the rest of the timber is recycled cheap furniture that a freind was throwing out. You can see that I made the slot in the MDF too long but fortunatey the guide bush acts as a stop so the rails should be safe. Not sure yet how I'm going to hold the work pieces in place but I'll think on that. All in all I'm pleased with the result it's stable and moves freely in both directions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted October 18, 2016 Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 Looks good! Rub the rails with a tealight or candle (paraffin wax) and it'll be like butter. Or at least, butter that tastes bad. Double-sided tape is great for items that will sit flat, otherwise you can use hot melt glue to anchor it to produce a flat surface. Then tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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