krizalid Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 ok, i will begin my project anytime now and i do need a few info's fast. 1. how thick can the body goes? i've seen people doing 2", can it be thicker or it can't? 2. i have a jigsaw which i used to cut the body shape and also the neck shape. can i still used it to cut the body and the neck to its final thickness or near to its final thickness? that's all for now. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGBass Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 you can go ahead and make your body thicker than two inches. It would probably add a lot of good tonal qualities to the guitar, however, it would be rather large, and quite possibly, very uncomfortable. I use a bandsaw to cut my bodies/necks very close to final thickness/shape. As it needs to be fairly accurate, i leave room to take off the rest with a sander and by hand. you CAN do whatever you want when you build an instrument. How it turns out will tell you whether or not its the good way to go about it. Remember, there are no rules, only guidelines, the best instrument makers often try something new and it works! Peace Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 thank you for now i can do my work with a smile and lots of sweat... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 a few more question this time. 1. pickup dimension? size? depth? the mounting ring size? 2. can a single humbucker pickup be used? thanx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 2. i have a jigsaw which i used to cut the body shape and also the neck shape. can i still used it to cut the body and the neck to its final thickness or near to its final thickness? Be very careful with this. As you cut round a curve with a jigsaw the, bottom of the blade will start to bend towards the inside of the curve, mine did by about 1-2mm at one point. In answer to another question: As far as I'm aware a single humbucker can be used, they are normally in the bridge position (on the one's I've seen anyway). I'd wait until someone that's done it has confirmed this though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 If the blade drifts on you when cutting the body you can use a router or a sanding drum in a drill press (or hand drill if that's all you have) to straighten it out. Obviously, using a hand drill could also lead to trouble but there are ways that you can set things up to minimize errors. A belt sander fixed on it's side can also do the job. Just leave 1/16 to 1/8 and sand/route it down to size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fidgec94 Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Ive only seen single humbucker configurations with the pickup at the bridge. A bridge pickup tends to be hotter (more output) because the strings dont move as much compared with middle and neck positions. There is a certain amount of artistic licence when placing pickups. One of the ESP Stephen Carpenter signature models has two pickups very close to eachother at the bridge (someone suggested that he may be using two bridge-type humbuckers). What will and wont work will be governed by what kind of sound/tone you want and what pickups you actually use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fidgec94 Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 As for dimensions, pickups can vary quite alot. Seymour duncan and emg definately have dimensions on their site. Depth wise, it depends on how your mounting the pickups. If you're using a scratchplate or mounting rings, it isnt as crucial as say, mounting them to the body itself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Melvion Hiscock rekons that the bridge pickup should be placed a distance from the bridge that is equal to the distance from the nut to the third fret. EDIT - DO NOT ACT ON THIS INFORMATION AS I THINK IT MAY BE WRONG. I HAVEN'T DELETED IT SO THAT THE POSTS BELOW STILL MAKE SENSE. SORRY EVERYONE, I HANG MY HEAD IN SHAME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angry_jeremy Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Melvion Hiscock rekons that the bridge pickup should be placed a distance from the bridge that is equal to the distance from the nut to the third fret. Uh, isn't that a little far? I know Melvyn is the man (his book is awesome) but that's like 2+ inches away. I'd go and measure off of other guitars and go with the sound you like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Got to agree with you there Jeremy - it does seem a little too far, but I'm sure that's what he said. I'll check tonight if I remember. Krizalid - Go with Jeremy's idea, I don't think you can go far wrong with that method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fidgec94 Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Ibanez and other companies certainly fly in the face of that rule. They look to be 1" or under. If Mr. Hiscock has been quoted right, i wonder why alot of companies dont use that rule Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 At the risk of running off topic (sorry Sherriff Wes and others). I'm sure that's what he said, but my memory isn't too great sometimes (bit too much ). He said it was at the equivical point of the harmonic on the fret board?!? He also rekons that the bridge pickup should be at the equivalent of the 24th fret (but some people dispute this too). I think in all honesty that I'm probably wrong (as you say on most guitars the pup seems much closer to the bridge) sorry hope I didn't confuse anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 OK then, I checked the info last night. Melvin says that the harmonic is about a third of the way inbetween the first and second fret and the bridge pickup should be placed about this far from the bridge. Sorry for any confusion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Luthier Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 1. how thick can the body goes? i've seen people doing 2", can it be thicker or it can't? My bodies tend to be 1.75", sometimes thinner. I've never gone over 1.75", but you can do whatever you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted January 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 thanks for all the advice but i really need to know the depth of the pickup route. i will do some drilling (as i don't have any router) to make the groove and then chisel it out to make it nice, but i need to know the exact size and dimension. or, could i just make a swimming pool route? at what fret should the neck heel is carved and at what fret should the neck be jointed? i was planning on 17th fret as the neck heel and 19 is the neck joint. is it ok? is this possible? i kind of did a mistake in the neck making when i had shape the neck a little bit and then realised that i hadn't glued the ear. when i glued the ear, THEN i realised that my jigsaw isn't long enough to trim it. what should i do? i don't have a bandsaw or a drum sander. all i have right now is an impact drill and a jigsaw. someone, help? my fretboard blank is almost 10mm thick. can i keep it that way? does it cause any inconviniece what so ever? the body blank is a bit small as that's the only blank that i've got for free and i still have to bookmatched them in 3 pieces. can this be acceptable? the reason why i want to use only one humbucker pickup, is that, when i measure it, there's not much space for two humbucker pickup as they would be around 1 1/2" space b/ween them. or is this space acceptable? sorry for the lots of question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 In my opinion 1.75" is the standard. Many factory guitars have this thickness: Strat, B.C.Rich and the JEM(I am not sure here?) as well. But there is no fixed rule how thick a body has to be....you can do what you want, but you should do something that is comfortable to play and not too heavy. Although there alot of people liking Les Pauls which are quite heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fidgec94 Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 i need to know the exact size and dimension. or, could i just make a swimming pool route? Have a look at some of the diemnsions on this site According to the website, EMG 81, 85, 60 and a couple others are 2.75"x1.50" (doesnt say what depth). I guess you could look at all these mesaurements and make the routing as big as the biggest here, that way the guitar has a good chance of fitting many different pickups. Stewmac sell router templates, they must allow for a number of different brands, although i dont know the dimensions of the template itself. In my opinion, i would buy the pickup first, you can then work from those dimension, maybe make the routing a bit bigger to allow for other makes of pickup you may want to install in the future. Thats what i did. You mentioned the swimming pool routing method, that can affect tone (removing alot of wood) and ive also been told that its better to have separate pickup chambers so that theres something inbetween the pickups. This can obviously be ignored if you're only gonna use one humbucker. Can anyone else confirm the pros and cons of the swimming pool method? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 i rout mine 1" deep and use shorter set screws...i don't rout ear holes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted January 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2004 hai again. 1. i want to know, how thick is the peghead after shaping? 2. can i use the accoustic guitar tuner instead of the electric ones? does the hole and size are the same? this is for experiment only and if a lot said it's not good, can you tell me why? or, is it ok for me to put whatever kind of tuner that i want? thanks westhemann & fidgec94. i've considered to make the route just a bit bigger than what i've seen and if the pickup is smaller than the route, i could always use pickguard right? i asked again this same question. 3. at what fret should the neck heel is carved and at what fret should the neck be jointed? i was planning on 17th fret as the neck heel and 19 is the neck joint. is it ok? is this possible? 4. my fretboard blank is almost 10mm thick. can i keep it that way? does it cause any inconviniece what so ever? thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted January 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 can i use carving knife to carve my neck? anyhow, hope to see some answers to my question. i really kind of stuck a little bit without the info's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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