Bivalve

[henrim]

This follows the bolt-on-neckthrough thinking I studied a bit in my previous build. This one's called "Bivalve" because the idea is to trap the neck and electronics inside a clam like body. Without a hinge, though. Back, top and neck all bolted together and electronics stuffed inside. I may build two at the same time because the idea is that the parts are interchangeable. Or maybe just a couple of necks and several different tops. I don't know yet. Top materials may vary. And in some cases they may need to have a laminated structure of their own. 

Top candidate for shape is an amoeba shape. Kinda Jazzmaster like continuous curve without steep turns or corners. I have drawn several iterations, but need to decide. Which is always the hardest part in any design.

I'll experiment with some things I have wanted to try: an oak neck laminated from 6mm oak strips and fabricating my own hardtail brass bridge.

Specs:
27,750" scale
300mm fb radius
Zero fret
Shop made brass hardtail bridge, blackened
Shop wound passive high output bridge pickup
Volume and tone controls
Jumbo frets
Tuners TBD, black
Dual action trussrod (I think I have some, but could as well fabricate my own)
Possibly pick guards.

I have suitable wood for at least these two.
1
Basswood body. Painted.
Birch/mapple/ top.
Oak laminate neck. Ebonized black. Oil finish.
Birch headstock veneer.
Maple fingerboard. Clear coat. 

2
Basswood body. Painted.
Aluminium top.
African mahogany neck. Ebonized/dyed black. Oil finish.
Blackwood Tek fingerboard.
Blackwood Tek headstock veneer.

 

[mistermikev]

I thought for sure you were building a tube... relieved it's a guitar!

afa decisions... this place is a great resource for such things.  I suggest you post a thread w a vote in the design area.  It has been my experience that inevitably folks will vote for the one I was least attached too... at which point I am ushered by my subconscious towards some other design that I secretly was leaning toward all along!  It sounds redic... but it has seriously helped me!

[henrim]

7 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

I suggest you post a thread w a vote in the design area.

Thanks, that’s an option, but since I’m building to myself I guess I have to do the decision myself. So when the doubt kicks in at sometime later, I don’t have to blame others for a bad choice

[mistermikev]

5 minutes ago, henrim said:

Thanks, that’s an option, but since I’m building to myself I guess I have to do the decision myself. So when the doubt kicks in at sometime later, I don’t have to blame others for a bad choice

well that is the funny thing about my above comments... inevitably it pushes me to choose something not recommended by the group.  I respect the input... but sometimes it just drives me to what I truly wanted all along sometimes.  anywho.

[henrim]

Now that looks like a bridge to me. I had the square piece and courier delivered the rectangle today.

[henrim]

Ok. I may have scrapped my original plans but I guess my next build is going to loosely fit under this topic. 

So, I was on this road trip with my kid on my summer vacation and we visited all the guitar stores we could find on our way. On one shop I tried this headless Ibanez Q series guitar. I have never been into headless guitars but I realized it would fit perfectly in the car. I was close to making an impulse buy but the guitar  was not exactly how I wanted so I decided my next build will be designed portability in mind. Not collapsible, but just short enough to be tossed into (small) car.

I chose a piece of maple (oil barrel for scale) and cut it half. I’ll cut some pieces from it and laminate with oak strips. This is going to be a neck trough. Likely weight relieved maple wings for the body. And then some top.

I may have to buy the tuners but I think I machine the headpiece myself. We’ll see.

[henrim]

I don’t know. Likely a bad idea but I thought I would try at least. If this tuning gizmo fails then it fails.

The pictured part  is going to be the base for the actual tuners. On top there’s grooves where the individual tuners will go and on the back side there are slots for intonation adjustment parts. This is still missing holes for intonation adjustment screws. And it has to sized to final measurements. But it is a start.

Tuners are the hard part. I have a general idea how to make them but I’ll have to prototype them before I can decide how bad idea this is.

[henrim]

This is the plan. In a rudimentary level. The body shape is something I drew for the original build idea but otherwise this is pretty much preliminary. The "headstump" doesn't necessarily need to be so knob-like but the idea is that, even though there are no tuners, the guitar can be hung on the wall.

There is the functional instrument part in the middle, with wings that can be made of wood or maybe just of a piece of a flat steel bar. Or what ever. Or used without. I don't know. I and we will see where it goes.

I'll continue with the bridge/tuning machine thing. Once I'm happy with that, I can continue building a guitar around it. Or if I decide I can't build the tuning-gizmo myself, I order it and base the build around it. 

[Bizman62]

2 hours ago, henrim said:

The "headstump" doesn't necessarily need to be so knob-like but the idea is that, even though there are no tuners, the guitar can be hung on the wall.

Just one word: Mjölnir. Just because of the hair flowing in your profile photo,

[henrim]

2 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Just one word: Mjölnir. Just because of the hair flowing in your profile photo,

Mjölnir, never. Ukonvasara. Always!

[Bizman62]

9 minutes ago, henrim said:

Ukonvasara

The svedupelle-name is more familiar to the vast audience. You can't expect them to be able to pronounce "Perkunaksen kurikka" in their bun softened throats.

[mistermikev]

nice looking design.  rawk on.

[henrim]

A bit progress on the bridge.

[ScottR]

I do enjoy seeing such fine examples of precision machine work.

SR

[henrim]

35 minutes ago, ScottR said:

I do enjoy seeing such fine examples of precision machine work.

Let’s just hope that all the time invested pays off. I still have no idea if this is going to work. I mean technically it will work to some degree, but how well is yet to be seen. I do already know that I should have have drawn it thinner in many places but there are still places where I can shave something off.

I’m now waiting to get some round brass stock to machine the tuner parts.

[henrim]

I got the intonation adjustment thingies done. Only thing missing is the coupling to the saddle pieces. Which is just a M2 threaded hole on each sliding piece. I need to get some springs from somewhere. And I may need to elongate the slots a few millimeters towards back. 

[Bizman62]

9 hours ago, henrim said:

get some springs from somewhere

Ball point pens?

[henrim]

6 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Ball point pens?

Yes, out of five I found near my work table, all had different properties . Otherwise the size would be about right. I have a collection of springs but didn't find six similar with right tension and size. I'll keep on looking.

[henrim]

I checked and I could order the springs to my specification at 5,37 € a piece! Bulk discount starts from 25 springs. Would I order 10000 springs it would be 0,15 € a piece. That is from Finland. I reckon from China the price would be a fraction of that. 

Although ideally the compression ratio should be quite high without much force, the spec is not critical. This would actually work without any springs. Springs just make things smoother. I think I'll just butcher six similar ballpoint pens or something.

I used to have a lot of ballpoint pens because I liked to draw with them. Or I didn't actually like it in the beginning but I forced myself to it. That was because as an art student I felt all my money went in to drawing equipment, and ballpoint pens were free. You could get them anywhere! I don't draw that much by hand these days but if I do I use a ballpoint pen. Actually when I got an iPad with Apple pencil I spent a conciderable amount of time to create a perfect brush that mimicked a semi-dried ballpoint pen Attached a test canvas for the brush.

[mistermikev]

wow dude, that car is a really great drawing.  nice work.  

[henrim]

34 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

wow dude, that car is a really great drawing.  nice work.  

Thanks. To me it shows that I can’t really do it anymore as I used to. In the beginning of the 90’s I started to study industrial design and my aim was to become an automotive designer. I drew cars and motorcycles all the time. As a first year student I read a book written by Victor Papanek in the 70’s: Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. That was total game changer and I realized there was much more to it, and didn’t want to become a car designer any more. Anyway, I still doodled vehicles for many years. I still do that sometimes but not very often. 

[mistermikev]

5 minutes ago, henrim said:

Thanks. To me it shows that I can’t really do it anymore as I used to. In the beginning of the 90’s I started to study industrial design and my aim was to become an automotive designer. I drew cars and motorcycles all the time. As a first year student I read a book written by Victor Papanek in the 70’s: Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. That was total game changer and I realized there was much more to it, and didn’t want to become a car designer any more. Anyway, I still doodled vehicles for many years. I still do that sometimes but not very often. 

when I was a kid... maybe 10 or 11 years old... was really into art/drawing/painting.  I used to draw cars all the time.  mostly just sideview.  later in life progressed to 3d lol.  I have some old paintings of guitars and cars that I've kept over the years... it's fun to look back on that from time to time.  Your picture reminded me of those days... youth and nostalgia.  

"and social change"  wonder if I missed any books on "data structures and social change".  "discrete mathematics and social change" lol.

[henrim]

9 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

"and social change"  wonder if I missed any books on "data structures and social change".  "discrete mathematics and social change" lol.

[Bizman62]

Back in the day I read about a Swedish schoolboy who was extremely talented in drawing with a ball point pen. In the magazine they published a picture of a duck or rather a drake drawn with a regular blue ball point pen, yet showing all the vibrant colours of a male duck.

[henrim]

Got the saddle pieces roughly cut and drilled. At this point these pieces are mostly hand made with goldsmith tools as they are smallish and they are getting pain to indicate parallel and level to the machine.