Need noob guidance please

[Hawkhandler]

Never built a guitar before but I have some woodworking knowledge and the tools. The plan is outlined below but I don’t know where to start. Clearly there are templates for more cookie cutter build but if I can’t customize how I want then what is the point?  I’m sum, where should I start?

Les Paul DC body

Dual humbuckers

neck thru construction

24 frets

string thru with TOM bridge

body wood will be mahogany, no cap, no binding. I’m considering cherry for the neck and Ebony fretboard. I’d like to keep the Gibson style head but it would be great if I could get the strings over the nut with less or no kink. Additionally I’d like to add a zero fret.  Appreciate any and all help. Thanks in advance  

 

 

[Bizman62]

Hi and welcome aboard!

A LesPaul double cut, huh? Something like this:

The GOTM entry description is here: https://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/49819-guitar-of-the-month-july-2019/?do=findComment&comment=579304 . I built it before becoming a member so there's no thread about the actual building process.

Anyhow, the neck is where it all starts. You can make it wedge shaped all the way from the nut or start from a straight block and shape just the neck. Similarly you can cut a neck break angle or make it flat like on Fenders. Since you're going to use a TOM a break angle is preferable. As you can see I had the neck almost finished before applying the wings. The long piece of laminated wood is heavy and the wings would be in the way most of the time. Oh, and as you can see I made my life more complicated as I didn't leave places for clamps in the wings! Some step like notches here and there would have helped.

 

[Dward13]

A member here (adfinlayson) has a youtube channel with some good videos.

youtube.com/adfinlaysonguitars

Look at his videos and any others you can find to develop a plan, pick out things that make sense to you and that match the tools you have.

My advice is simply to take your time - practice and test everything before doing it on your project.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Dward13

[Crusader]

Be patient and make plans either full sized or 50% or what ever you prefer

Here is a diagram I made for a project to give the idea

[mistermikev]

"Need noob guidance please" since you are clearly asking for guidance from noobs only (at least that's how I took it) and I am a noob... here goes: put one foot in front of the other.  I get overwhelmed all the time by projects I think up... but have learned to not worry so much about the parts I don't know how to do yet... and start by focusing on the things I do know how to do... break it down into little manageable pieces. 

You've laid out a lot of things you want to accomplish in your post... lets start w one of them: headstock w straight string pull.  Lots of dif ways folks do things but the way I would do this is with some graphics program.  gimp is free.  start w what you know.  do you have tuners picked out?  try to find the manufacturers dimension docs.  I use gotoh a lot so I go download one of their black and white images, load it into gimp, do a 'select by color' and choose the white background... and delete it.  now I've got just the lines.  now scale it up to life size.

go to fret2dfind and create a fretboard/strings (you are gonna need to know your bridge spacing and nut spacing).  I would lay that out and maybe copy 6" of strings and go back and delete the frets from that layer... then move it into position over the headstock and scale it thinner until it meets the other strings.  now you've got straight strings over headstock... but you'll have to compensate for string thickness.  to start I'd just lay out some holes where I think the tuners would look good.  use the mfg dimension doc to ensure you have enough room between each hole for the actual tuners.  them maybe go download some guitar plans for headstocks and start w something similar to what you want.  modify it, then modify it some more.  

that's a fair description of how I get started w things anyway.  some folks just get a pencil and go to town.  do what works for you.  hope something there is useful.

 

[woodfab]

I started making guitars at 12, I never thought of copying something that has been made copied hundreds of thousands of times.

Yes I like the six string basics but the body shape can be most anything which makes it your own.

Have fun.

[mistermikev]

On 7/28/2023 at 1:07 AM, Hawkhandler said:

Never built a guitar before but I have some woodworking knowledge and the tools. The plan is outlined below but I don’t know where to start. Clearly there are templates for more cookie cutter build but if I can’t customize how I want then what is the point?  I’m sum, where should I start?

Les Paul DC body

Dual humbuckers

neck thru construction

24 frets

string thru with TOM bridge

body wood will be mahogany, no cap, no binding. I’m considering cherry for the neck and Ebony fretboard. I’d like to keep the Gibson style head but it would be great if I could get the strings over the nut with less or no kink. Additionally I’d like to add a zero fret.  Appreciate any and all help. Thanks in advance  

 

 

where to start - well we all have been there.  analysis paralysis... I still get it all the time but I find if I just put one foot in front of the other and start going in a direction... I'll immediately get a better sense of what I need to do!  

for me... building always starts with design.  Even if it's as simple as taking pictures of exhisting guitars and chopping them up into "my version"... it's good to have some sort of plan.  for a dc body, altho I've never built one... I am keenly aware of the complications where the neck meets the body.  Those necks are typically at an 1.5-4.5degree angle to give enough height at the saddles to fit a tom under.  doing a neck through is sort of going to complicate... or simplify things depending on how you look at it.  the center stock is going to have to be pretty thick to cut out a body and then an angled neck... if you get my drift.  

so I would start there... you need to know what scale length you are doing (24.75 or 24.625 is pretty typical for a dc)... and what the saddle height is going to be at the intonation line.  I would start by making a sideview drawing.  doesn't have to be complex... just a 1/4" rectangle to illustrate the fretboard (maybe start out using fret2dfind to make a fretboard with your nut and saddle string widths... and given 24 frets let that dictate the length of your fretboard).  make some little squares to sit on top of that and represent frets - at the height of the fret wire you intend to use. then draw a line to sit on top of those frets and run parallel to the fretboard... and make it the length of your intended scale length.

then maybe dig up a dc guitar plan (there are lots of them on the net) and measure the body length... now draw a rectangle to represent your side view of your body... with your intended thickness.  

now draw a rectangle to represent your saddle height.  

take the body and saddle and use a graphics program to rotate them to 1, 2, 3, and maybe 4 degrees... until the bridge/saddle fit under the string.

 

gibson headstock with a straight string pull... well the only one of those I am aware of is the flying v!  it's not really possible to have the typical mustache headstock and still maintain straight pull.  you could modify it... but it has to get thinner towards the top.  I do however like that you started off trying to achieve the impossible!! (gibby headstock w straight string pull)

 

hope there is something above you can use!!

[ADFinlayson]

I have actually found neck-through designs to be easier to build with no neck pocket to worry about. But as @Crusader put above, you definitely want to draw yourself a 1:1 plan of the side profile to get the headstock and body angles right, that really is the main critical part in a neck-through design IMO. you will probably find you need at least a 3" thick blank for your neck through piece. 

Sounds like a fun project, good luck!

[Bizman62]

4 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

you will probably find you need at least a 3" thick blank for your neck through piece

That's close enough to the 10 cm I cut mine off.