schnarf Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Hey. I'm a beginner looking to build his own guitar. On Tuesday I'm picking up some cheap wood to practice with, so that I don't screw up a nice piece of wood. Ultimately my goal is to build a clone of the Ibanez JPM P1. Is it worth it to shell out $44 for a template or could I rely upon measurements alone? My main concern at the moment is the building of the neck, and fretting it. Does anybody have any tips, clarifications, or sage advice that are the sort of thing beginners should know and don't? I've already read over basically every tutorial available here. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 for the cuting part you could rely on your own measurements but it is better to make a template so you cut it to withing 1/8" of the line and final cut with a router template bit, and it lets you make your mistakes on cheap plywood. for routing i say yes, it is worth every penny, routing freehand is damn near impossible, of course there are the precious few whos hands are like a robot, but unless you know you can route better then a cnc machine make a template. also i dont understand how you are spending 44 bucks on template wood, the most you should need is mdf or plywood, which shouldnt be more than about $20, its cheaper and its much easier to find pieces wide enough, and spend the rest of the money on a template router bit. also a sound word of advice is to take your time, you are making this for yourself and rushing will only make you make more mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 I think the $44 was for a TEMPLATE, not for just the template wood. Making your own template is a useful experience, but for any guitars I'm going to make in the future that use pre-existing body/neck shapes (ie. a Les Paul) I'm going to spend the money for the templates. That's just me, of course, but I think having a set (not just the body, but also the neck, headstock, pickup cavities, etc.) of templates will pay for itself in the time you save, if you consider your time to be worth money. Of course, for your own original shapes, you'll be making your own templates, but hey... if you like a strat-sized neck, for example, you can still use the neck template for your own design. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnarf Posted June 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 My other question is about cutting the contours (I don't mean the shape of the body, I mean the place for your arm to go and so on). How is it done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 well there are a few ways, most people recomend sitting with a spokeshave for a while to get the countours, or with a plane and sandpaper, or with a chisel and mallet(be carefull not to chisel too much). the way i did (and im not recomending it) is to route away about half of the thickness that i need. and then chisel and sanpaper it to make it smooth. But really once you are seeing results in the carving of the body countours, it starts to get fun (and im not kidding) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Some people use a bandsaw. I don't have the chutzpah for that, i don't think, but it's been done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_ed Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 Read and memorize This thread. It is full of things that you do not want to do. And some things that you do want to do. Guitar Ed Advice worth what you paid for it. Nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 i think making templates is a good idea, tho the router bits with the bearing above the cutter are rediculously expensive in my exp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 you could always use a 1/4" bit with a 1/4" shank, whic ekmininates the need for template bits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 you could always use a 1/4" bit with a 1/4" shank, whic ekmininates the need for template bits except that you have a tendancy to burn the wood that way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted June 1, 2004 Report Share Posted June 1, 2004 but it does save money, as its hard to go to a home depot (for instance) and find single router bits, they usually come in a box with a few othe related bits and sizes, that makes you shell out upwards of $200 (usually less) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 but it does save money, as its hard to go to a home depot (for instance) and find single router bits, they usually come in a box with a few othe related bits and sizes, that makes you shell out upwards of $200 (usually less) untrue...home depot has quite the wide selection of single router bits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 well then you got yourself a good home depot because mine only sells boxes with assorted bits, and it is a big one just that i dont think they concentrated on woodworking materials as much because id say 80% of the population are progaramers, and never actually workied with wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 there are about 10 of them within an hour of my house...they all have a good assortment of bits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnarf Posted June 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 Okay, today I bought a piece of Maple and ordered some fretwire, a nut blank, a truss rod, both side and fretboard inlays, and Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvin *snicker* Hiscock. Tomorrow I'm going to get some rosewood and basswood. I'll keep you all posted. Right now my question is how to go about making slots in the nut. Hopefully all my questions are answered by the book. Oh yeah, I'd sorta like to do binding. What sort of material would I use for that, and are there any good texts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 well the way i did it and i wont recomend it, but because im a cheap bastard, i marked out the places on the nut and used my scroll saw to cut the slots, and then work it with a general nut file (or a very thin file) but if you have the money, stew mac has some assorted saws in extremely thin kerfs so you cna precisly cut the exact width you need, but these only go up to . 025 which is too thin for most strings except for the 1st and econd string and maybe the 4th so you would need to use a file anyway, they also have a handy dandy clamp for working on nuts. then they have their files which come in almost every size and are extremely expensive for even making one nut (about 70) so you probably would want to go with a general nut file. like this, but as this is your first project then these specialty tools can rack up a lot of money, especially if your gonna need new specialty tools for almost every job (i.e fretwork). it is genralyu recomended to make use of what you have and only buy the esssentails as you wil;l end up spending more money for the tools alone then to get the job done for you at a respectable guitar shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnarf Posted June 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 Thanks. One more thing. How do I know where to place the bridge on the body? Do I just measure how far from the nut it is in another guitar, then try to replicate that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper Posted June 3, 2004 Report Share Posted June 3, 2004 Thanks. One more thing. How do I know where to place the bridge on the body? Do I just measure how far from the nut it is in another guitar, then try to replicate that? measure from the nut to the center of the saddles... also, check this thread. I asked the same question, you might find some help there: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...t=0entry10353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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