work references

[RRVCustom]

Hey. Name's Casey. I'm from Louisville, OH, USA. Bought my first guitar for 17th b-day. a firstact from the walmart shelves. started building an RR3 copy around january of this year in Woodshop class. put it on hold for a while, b/c of lack of $$. got it all ready to finish and wire now, but lack of $$ again, so no way to buy finish

[donald k wilson]

Hey all, donald k wilson, dkw. Invited here after a scolding on MIMF... I've done lots of repairs, woodworker by trade 28 years professionally. Finally getting around to building one of my own, an archtop, I'll get some pictures posted. I do alot of work on a cnc machine, I will try to share technique, setups etc.

[mistahj]

Hey. Name is Steve Jones, and I'm 30. Been a professional painter for 14 years. I've dabbled in carpentry on the side whenever jobs required it. Just recently I've become insterested in building guitars.

To be honest, my cousin's in a band and needed a second guitar for gigs. I looked around at what was available and decided that I could either spend the money in the budget on electronics and good tuners, or spend the money on a cheapo axe that wouldn't do half what he wanted.

Didn't know what I was in for, to be completely honest, but I did get the first electric together, although I made some mistakes along the way. Have a second electric and an acoustic in the works. I'm more interested in the acoustic really, and have some half-formed plans for a from scratch banjo.

I don't usually post much, except when I'm in a particularly masochistic mood.

[GuitarGuy]

I am canadian lol, My name is Sandy (short for Alexander). I'm 25 and have been building things since I could walk. The coolest thing ive build to date was a 1/4 scale catapult. It could fling a golf ball about 600 feet, but I digress.

Growing up I was always surrounded by auto body so I kinda grew into that. I've got 3 years of mechanical engineering and decided that wasn't "hands on" enough for me. So I studied the machining trade and there is very little call for that kind of work here so by some strange twist of fate I now am a tech support agent for Windows XP. Go figure

I've been building guitars since high school and am back at it now after a 5 year break while I was in university. My first productions since starting back up should be done in the next few months and I will post them on my site when pictures are available.

[pyroman]

Hi All

Well I thought I should introduce myself to the rest of the forumers. My name is Gabe, i'm from Canada. I think i've been playing since i as about 12 or 13 and im 17 now. I've always enjoyed building stuff and i'm in a furniture making course at school right now to satisfy my needs. Got interested in building about 7 months ago after my squire craped out on me. I took it apart rebuilt it and then decided i wanted to build one from scratch. Since then i've beebn doing my research so i dont screw up to badley and have been getting supplies and tools for my first build over the past 2 moths. Anyways i look forward to sharing my progress with you guys and getting good advice from the pro's on the board.

[javacody]

My name is Cody, I'm 31, Married with two children, work as a Computer Programmer, and have been playing guitar since I was 15.

I've modified several guitars, put together two from USA Custom Guitars parts, and am in the process of building my first. I have the body 50% done and realized I really need a bandsaw and drill press, along with a decent dust collection system. Also, I've decided that templates really aren't a waste of time.

[erikbojerik]

I'm Erik Hauri, 38yo been playing guitar for 20 years, building for the last 3 years. I'm a geologist by trade, building for me is a hobby that is slowly growing into...something larger, not quite sure what yet. I've done setups for 15 years and simple electronics stuff as needed. I've mainly been building for myself but friends (and others) are knocking on my door fairly often now. The garage is my own personal little shop of horrors.

Resume of completed and on-going projects (last 3 years):

MIJ acoustic neck reset

Gisbon LP Custom neck reset

12-string Fender strat conversion

scratch-built Traveller travel guitar, here->Traveller

scratch-built 12/6 doubleneck, GOTM March 2005, here (last entry)->Nanda Devi

scratch-built 36" scale 5-string bass, here->Bocote Bass V

scratch-built F5 mandolin, here->F5 mandolin

[marksound]

Since I never formally introduced myself ...

My name is Mark Moore. I'm in Edmond OK and work for University of Central Oklahoma and spend most weekends in Night School. I've been playing for about 35 years, give or take. Been turning screws and whatnot on my guitars for most of that time, but just recently got the building bug after I put together a YamaCharvaha for my nephew. Woodworking experience: spent a little time building custom wood-on-steel garage doors.

Projects:

Black Yamaha/Charvette mongrel

Brown sunburst Strat from parts

Black Strat from parts

Acoustic electric solidbody Tele (in progress)

QM/mahogany Tele (in progress)

In conclusion I'd like to say I'm just damn glad to be here.

[Guest gsrguitars]

Hi,

I'm Gary. 28 yrs young. In the UK.

I describe myself as "dependant on others". !!! Why? Well, I worked as a software engineer for years. Ended up hating it and switched over to my hobby - guitars - and launched it as a business.

While I'm fairly competent, have built guitars, paint jobs... I would not consider myself to be a seasoned pro. That's why I said "dependant on others". The GSR team is now around 10 people - including seasoned refinisher, guitar techs, artists etc...

Some of our work can be seen here:

Gallery of Guitars

Peace out,

-G

[M_A_T_T]

This used to be me, but I changed my name and here's my newer website.

[n8rofwyo]

Hi, my name is Nate Robinson. I have limited experience in guitar building, as I have created only one guitar from scratch - a strat copy that was nice to look at but an abomination to play.

I am 25, married, and co-own a contracting business in Wyoming.

I have played guitar for 8 years with no lessons - believe me it shows!!!

I decided to build a guitar instead of paying the money for the one I wanted. I initially thought I might save some money going about it this way. I guess that shows that "young and dumb" is a relevant saying, right?

My experience is almost solely in woodworking, and I believe that jigs and templates are acts of god.

Here's a pic of my only guitar with myself and it's owner - the best man at my wedding. He's holding the guitar.

[Cyclone]

A little about myself. My name is David Scott and I am from Lafayette Louisiana. I have just turned 35 and have been playing guitar for almost 20 years. I have a BS in Industrial Technology (Industrial Engineering). I work for one of the worlds largest helicopter service providers. My first guitar was a hot pink Series 10 that I modded with Dimarizo pickups (God I am amazed that I actualy rember that). When I was about to graduate highschool I became familiar with Warmoth guitar parts and decided that I would build a guitar from a kit as it would cost far less to do that than spend $1500 - $2000 on the Jackson/Charvel that I wanted.My Warmoth

Well a few years passed since I built that guitar and one day I was looking at it and decided that it could use some refreshing so I scuffed it and put about 7-10 more coats of clear, sanded smooth, buffed and polished it. At that point I had a cousin talk to me about refinishing an old Charvel I had to give to his daughter for Christmas. I sanded it back painted it black and did a gothic Micky Mouse theam mural on it, and rewired it. It was at this point that I was made aware of this forum. I sat back back for a while and read alot of the posts before I decided to join in. My wife was about 7 months pregnat with my little boy at this point and I wanted to build something for him so I figured that I would try my hand at making a guitar from scratch.

Well months have passed and it has almost become an obsession with me. I am almost finished with my first from scratch build (for my son, I know he wont be able to play it for years but one day I hope that he will appericiate what I have created for him). I have learned alot from everyone here and I hope that we never get to a point where we dont continue to learn or get to arragant to think that there is no one here that can teach us something.

My philosophy on building is that something is only broken if it cant be fixed. Mistakes ar an opertunity to improvise. We make progress by making mistakes, improvising, adapting and overcoming. (Did I mention that I was a Marine for 6 years). Right now this is just a hobby for me but I hope to profit from it some day. As Forrest Gump would say "Thats all I have to say about that".

Peace.

[Mattia]

Huh. Missed this one, somehow.

Anyway, I'm Mattia, aged 25, Dutch/Italian, living in Amsterdam studying Medicine. Hopefully I'll get placement sorted for internships soon, meaning less of me building, and even less of me online, but until then...

I've been playing since I was about 16, after many years of piano lessons. I'm no great player, mostly into the singer/songwriter side of things, although I like to mix it up a little. At age 17, I stumbled across Bill Wyza's guitarmaking FAQ, decided to buy myself some Warmoth parts and have at it. About a year later, the guitar was done (mahogany strat, EMGs, piezos), I bought Melvyn's book on guitar making, and the rest, they say, is history.

I consider myself firmly in the 'avid enthusiast builder' camp, definitely hobby, and I don't build a whole lot per year. Average, until this year, was 1 to 2. This year looks like I'll complete at least four, including an acoustic.

I mostly build chambered, carved top set neck electrics, inspired by PRS, but of my own design overall. Expect the occasional singlecut and telecaster in the future as well, but mostly, I expect to build a ton of acoustic guitars. They're my real, newfound passion, and I've completed 1, have another box to bind and finish, three more planned for next year, and wood for another 30-odd. So, uh, yeah.

I build out of my attic room, my dust area workshop is a rooftop terrace, and the biggest stationary tool I own is a cheap tabletop drill press. I do, however, own several good quality routers. Love them routers!

I build because I can't not, and I never make quite the same instrument twice (or have yet to, at least). Where's the fun in that, right?

A few samples of my work, for the curious:

First acoustic:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics/GA1_01.jpg

Electric for my GF, pre-polishing:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics/guitar_r_07.jpg

headless travel guitar I built with scrap from my first from-scratch instrument, financing the ABM hardware by selling my mexi strat (I now don't own any guitars not built by me):

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/travel_scrap1.jpg

My most recently completed electric, built as a wedding gift for a friend. My #7 overall, I think.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mvalente/guitarpics4..._finished01.jpg

[Ptt-Guitars]

Hey my name is Paris Gleeson, Maori/Australian, I'm 18 and I live in Australia (South Australia/Mount Barker). Im doing my last year of school and instead of exams we do projects, so I made a guitar.

I have almost finished my first guitar (its curing as I write this), its a cut-away steel-string based on a dreadnought body shape. Im pretty heavily into individualisation, both physically and mentally, and i think peoples guitars often reflect their personalities.

I've been playing guitar for three years with on and off lessons.

I've done work experience with two luthiers here in Australia, this first one is an electrictrified instrument (guitars/basses) maker called Brian West and the second is a mandolin and jazz guitar maker called John Liddy (I think he's pretty big over there in the US).

I definitly want to continue this as a career (with other jobs on the side to put food on the table) (or I could marry a rich chick ) and a good mentality I think to have is a passion and a lack of greed or want for riches.

I will probably eventually move to New Zealand and set up shop there (our goverments corrupt, thanks to your government )

Anywho thats me, as you can see Im fairly new to the forum and to pretty much everything, I reckon im in the hobby builder whos morphing into the wanna-bemakealivingoutofinstrumentmaking.

Heres a link to a website i just set up. My Webpage

Edited October 8, 2005 by Ptt-Guitars

[1576]

Hi guys, I just joined the forum as I just cant stay away from guitars.

While at school in the UK I enrolled on an evening course making classical guitars, and after completing my A-levels, went to the London College of Furniture for four years to study Classical guitar making in the Musical Instrument Technology Dept.

From there I set up my own business (specialising in solid-body electric guitars)and after two years was poached to become the Head of Custom Shop and Production Manager for Patrick Eggle Guitars in Coventry, then Birmingham in the UK.

I became a little disillusioned with the way the business was run and my working conditions so resigned in 2000 to work in a totally unrelated field.

My interest has become re-kindled recently and as I work with CAD all the time now, fancy doing a bit of design/build again.

I understand that there is a section here for drawings, etc so would be interested in seeing that. Do I ned to donate a few ££ somewhere?? Quite happy to do that if someone can post a link.

Ive worked on literally hundreds of instruments and have been involved at ground level with the production environment.

Anyway, that enough about me, just thought I'd introduce myself and ask about the donation thing.

Phil

Edited November 2, 2005 by 1576

[MiKro]

Hello All,

My Name is Mike Kroening, I own AMP Construction and Remodeling LLC in Dallas Texas. I am 49 years old and have dabbled in playing guitar since I was 13. I play harmonica and keyboards much better than the guitar LOL:)). I love messing with electronics and I am an accomplished woodworker. I build custom cabinets and fireplace surrounds. Also make canes, chess boards, small chests etc…. I think you get the picture.

I have been toying with the idea of building my own guitar when I found this site. Now I’m really getting the fever. I just lost my lease on my workshop so I am now setting up in my garage. Man I have too much stuff and not enough space. I hope that I can help those of you with woodworking questions so please ask. If I don’t know, someone here surely will.

I would like to offer to regular PG members in the DFW area the ability to have access to my tools with my supervision, when I am available. I know that many members do not have access to many of these tools and if you would like to PM me and schedule some time, I would be happy to work with you. BTW there is no charge, but a few Cold Buds wouldn’t hurt LOL!!!!

My tools consist of

Grizzly14”bandsaw with 6” riser,

Delta 10” tablesaw with Incra TSLS fence and router lift insert

3 routers

Performax 16/32 drum sander

13” Planer dewalt

6” jet jointer

Delta Lathe

16 speed floor mount drill press

8 speed bench mount drill press

10”compound miter saw

Delta scroll saw.

And all the other little goodies to go with this.

Well that’s about it I’ll try and help when I can and learn when I can. Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Mike

[gibsonsg26]

im George Im a hobbiest im a junior in highschool i read lots of books on building im currently building my first two guitars a lespaul and a oak sg ive refinished 3 guitars ive wired 4 im in carpentry in school this will be my 3rd year (full vocational not woodshop) and ive been playing guitar for 5 years.

Edited June 23, 2007 by gibsonsg26

[Digideus]

Im Jeff and I live on the border of Kent and London in the UK. A Hobbiest mostly, but I do have the advantage of being personal friends of Doug at Blackmachine guitars (www.blackmachine.net) and Ive learned a lot from him and his work. I tend to get my friends guitars shoved in my direction saying "FIX THAT!" which I do and generally have a good response to the work ive done.

My first guitar is a Flying V, simply because its the best shape a guitar could be! Ive half built it (Body done, No neck yet) but Ive put the project on hold as it became obvious that I have neither the space or proper tools to carry on, plus my wife is disabled so I tend to spend most of my time caring for her and bringing up our three children, however, building guitars has been a dream of mine for the last 15 years, so I spent most of this time researching, reading, playing guitars and listening to guitar makers. I am currently building a workshop upstairs in he master bedroom (that we dont use anymore because my wife cant use the stairs), so when thats done (probably after christmas) Ill get on with churning out a lot of stuff.

I have a vast collection of CAD drawings I do in my spare time. Right now, i have about 20 different designs which are mostly original, but some are variations on a theme. CAD is your friend! I am always surprised at the level of detail I can get in a design from drawing it first, full size, then printing it out and examining it up close. You often solve a lot of problems in this way before you even start building it!

[ToneMonkey]

My name is Kaj (although it's pronounced Ki - Kai - Kye however you choose really). I'm a hobbiest and have hundreds of half finished projects. I'm married to Caroline, who shares/makes my happy little life along with our cat, Dweezil. We live in the countryside in the Midlands, UK (just far enough from Leicester) where there are plenty of things for the cat to hunt.

I used to have time for guitar fiddling, but of late it's all been a bit hectic so haven't really done anything for a while. I have a half built Les Paul Double Cut which I was working on until some hidden dodgy wood stopped the progress on that. I have a half finished SG with a reshaped neck that is currently waiting for me to get the resin for the carbon fibre which I will be covering the neck and front of the body with. I have a hollowed out strat copy which I did when drunk and some other bits and pieces. I have a Ibanez lawsuit firebird which needs me to make mini HB's and spend £120 on some banjo tuners. I also have a Patrick Eggle which has needed polishing and the hardware added for about a year too long now........nobody gets me the bits that I ask for for my birthday

I'm a Mechanical Engineer so I normally stick my 2 cents worth (2 pence actually - being from England) in conversations which are about the technical aspects rather than in threads about finishing and the such like (there are much better people to do that). You'll normally hear me sayng "That's a spring/mass/damper model that is" and other over complicated crap like that to make myself sound more intelligent that I am

I've decided that the way forward is definately for me to get steel templates laser cut using AutoCAD drawings which I can generate, rip off or alter accordingly. I've definately grown out of jumping in feet first and will plan it all accordingly next time I make something. I'm going to be building a new LP Double Cut and a tele when I get my act together. I have built a pickup winder, but as yet, no pickups. I promise to be less bone idle, not to play with power tools drunk and plan work properly before getting drunk and breaking out the power tools (err, no, I wasn't going to do that was I).

Future projects that need to be done soon include the highly ambitious: Project Shelves and Project Desk as I'm having to convert the spare bedroom previously used as my shed to my office - bugger. You will soon find me in the garden shed with the spiders or getting cold in the back garden with a can of Stella and a router.......bugger, I said I wouldn't do that.

[biliousfrog]

Wow! I didn't know that this was here...& I'll never think of MiKro the same again (I was sure that you were a teenager!).

My name is Steve Bjorck, I'll be 31 in 10 days & I live in the UK's most easterly town - Lowestoft, which has been responsible for The Darkness, Catherine Wheel, "A" & Radio 1's Tim Westwood! I live with my girlfriend of nearly 10yrs Natalie (we've been together 10 years, that's not her age) & our pets, a rabbit, 3 guinea pigs & a tortoise.

I run a 3d visualisation business, Eggbox Studios, from my home office & have been self employed now for about 3 months. It was a bit scarey to start with but I made more money on my first job (which lasted 4 days) than I did each month in my last job so I'm much happier now

Previous work has included various 3d/graphics/design jobs over the last 7 years, before that I was making furniture & bespoke kitchens. I've probably learnt more about wood working from this site than any of my time doing it as a job. Most of the cabinet making jobs were so automated that it was like assembling something from IKEA...in fact the joints were purposely made loose so that they could be assembled faster!

I'm about to rejoin my old band after 9 years (notice the connection with how long I've been with my girlfriend ) which I'm quite excited about. During my time with them we played a lot on the London circuit, round Europe, had radio play & discussed big things with major labels but I couldn't get the other guys to move up a gear. Things have changed a lot now, we're all older, demo tapes have been replaced by CD's which have been replaced by MP3's & for the price of 3 days in a studio you can buy a laptop with protools.

My musical influences are varied & often quite odd. I grew up on a mixture of glam (T-Rex, Sweet, Slade etc), disco & Cliff Richard. I got into playing guitar at 14 when I was listening to Poison, Metallica, Faith No More, Billy Joel & Jean Michell Jarre. My music collection now includes SOAD, RATM, Sepultura, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Primus, various Jazz & ambient & all things in between. I've never had any guitar lessons & I've been both praised & scourned for not playing like a normal guitarist. I'll happily play just one note in an entire song if that's all that's needed or make a godawful racket in a ballad...whatever makes the song better. Johnny Greenwood has a lot to answer for!

My favourite guitar project is my blue semi. It still isn't finished, partly because I've been so busy but also because I've had it in my mind for so long that I need to get it just right. I've also built a similar shaped, all mahogany, twin humbucker guitar with steel face plate, sprayed with various primer colours & sanded through. My first project "Aloha" is based on a surf guitar concept with a few modern twists, tele neck p-up, DeArmond 2K at the bridge & MXR EQ built in. I've got quite a few spare's & off-cuts, the next project will either be a shortscale for my girlfriend's niece or a banjo...I've had a damaged one for years which I rescued from an Irish pub that we played at.

I've got a large'ish shed to work in but I also share it with my tortoise so I need to be careful what I do in it. I've actually fitted quite a neat air-circulation system to her vivarium which is more than I have. I've got a bandsaw with 10" resaw depth, drill press as well as the usual routers, chisels, saws etc. from my cabinet making days.

[foil1more]

My name is Rob Brenner. I'm 18. I started building when I was 16 but due to lack of money, I've only built an acoustic and a bass, both from kits from Grizzly industrial. I'm currently working on an electric guitar from scratch. If I hadn't had to fix my car, I would be done with it by now. I've always been interested in music. I've played cello for 9 years now. I plan to have my own repair/custom shop one day.

Here's my first acoustic which I finally made playable. It is french polished The fretboard was a little longer than the instructions specified so I ended up moving the nut about 1/8 of an inch towards the bridge and moving the saddle (involved cutting a new chanel and filling the old) almost 1/4" (that's what the light stripe is in front of the saddle). Took many hours and an impressive hand injury but it's good now.

My bass. Built with no instructions. Refinished 3 times: 1. Tried thinning lacquer and brushing it on. Sealer went on fine but the lacquer went nuts. 2. stripped off the lacquer, redyed and used tung oil and waxed it with beeswax. Used too much beeswax. Scraped it off, cleaned it with alcohol and redyed. 3. used brush on poly.

[Sami Ghouri]

Sami Ghouri (surprise surprise!) 24, B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the American University of Sharjah (we're ABET accredited!! even if the uni is in the middle of the arabian desert! hehe... www.aus.edu if you don't believe me! =D) currently working for BurtHill as a Telecom/AV/Security infrastructure engineer.

i have a certificate in music theory and classical music (concentration: piano) and picked up the electric guitar around 8 years ago.....

modded, refinished, upgraded, fixed many guitars (for more than a couple of years). To be clear on things i'm a beginner at doing routings mods and other wood working stuff but i'm trying. first build is currently in progress. in fact i'm more interested in building/modding/fixing guitars than actually playing them!!!!

[Crusader]

Hi I'm Doug from Perth Western Australia

Started Piano about 6yo and changed to guitar around 12. First had the idea of making a guitar when a mate showed me a magazine with Dave Hill from SLADE and his "Super-Yob" custom guitar. It made me realise that an electric guitar doesn't have to be a traditional shape

During English and Social Studies I would draw ideas for body shapes and consequently failed those classes. About 20 years later I found a chunk of Jarrah for the body, and it stayed on the wood-heap for about another 20 years. Then around 1992 I got started and messed it up completely and it went back on the wood-heap

So now I spend more time on theory than actually making anything. I've made 7 guitars and only one of them has reached completion. I've learnt a lot from making them. There's only so much they tell you in books and a lot of it you have to figure out for yourself

Spent a lot of time trying to design unique body shapes but now I've gone off the idea. I feel more accomplished if the end product looks like something familiar, like a Strat or a Les Paul