dteney

Thanks a lot for your replies, it's extremely rewarding

I'll check that out for the patent, thank you for the tip.

And for the 3D modeling, I also use Rhinoceros, it's a great program and they have a free demo version available (www.mcneel.com).

Thanks a lot for your comments

I almost regret that I didn't tried to patent my system before making it public. Anyway I'll think about building a few more and selling them.

Thanks guys !

I made a small vid where you can see how it works and hear how it sound unplugged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK_FEGzQ524

It took me some time, but the beast is now finished. I really don't like doing those finishing touches, but finally, it doesn't look too bad. I put bicomponent polyurethane varnish.

A big feature I didn't tell about is that this guitar can be taken apart ! That's its "travel-guitar" side. The neck can be dismounted from the body, whithout removing the strings. It takes less than 1 minute to dismount/remount it, and the strings are almost in tune when remounted. I wasn't sure if it would have worked well, but it's working really well, I'm very proud of it.

Its sound is what I expected; unplugged, it sounds louder than a solid-body, which is basically what I wanted, with good mediums, thanks to strings probably (I put 12-52 flatwound strings). Plugged in, it sounds very good as well, the tonerider pickup is what I expected, a big round warm tone, perfect for playing some blues or some jazz. I'll try to record some samples, and a video of the manipulation to take the guitar apart and remount it.

Here are some pics:

Your comments are of course welcome !

Thank you for your comment

I started the finish. Finally I won't stain the wood, I'll stick to the nice two tones of my woods, which are alreay pretty nice, all in all.

Sanding, sealer, re-sanding, then a first coat of varnish. I use 2-components polyurethane varnish, with a HVLP spray gun.

The next steps ! I think the pictures speak by themselves, but feel free to ask any question

Sanding the edge:

Thanks for the comments guys.

I want to keep a "natural" look, so I will probably just put some polyurethane varnish. However I'd be happy to accentuate the veins of the ash top, they look ok on the last pic I posted, but they are not so contrasted in real. Any suggestions ? Maybe the varnish will already make it look better ?

Thanks in advance for the tips !

I worked this week on the wenge body:

The neck pocket:

Electronics door:

Test assembly, to verify that everthings fits well:

Below the table:

Top of the table:

Your comments are welcome, of course !

Hi guys,

I started to work on the project I described there. It's a small semi-hollow, with a wenge body and a carved ash top. Since this is my first project, I bought a neck, a full maple telecaster replacement neck.

And here's what I've done so far !

The complete computer model:

Gluing planks together:

The neck, found on ebay:

MDF template:

Copy of the contour lines with carbon paper:

Below the table:

Top of the table:

Any comments welcome, of course

I worked on the top this week, it is nearly finished. I took some pictures at the different steps of the construction, I guess it might interest some of you.

My english vocabulary in woodworking is very limited, so I don't give a lot of comments, anyway the pictures speak by themselves, I think

The complete computer model:

Gluing planks together:

The neck, found on ebay:

MDF template:

Copy of the contour lines with carbon paper:

Thanks again for the advice on the pickup; I finally ordered a Tonerider Alnico IV. I'm waiting for some other hardware, then I'll continue working on the project, and I'll put some pictures.

Thanks for the input guys. One of the goals was also to build that guitar without spending too much money, so using the wood I had on hand was nearly inevitable... I'm warned for the acoustic side of the guitar; and anyway it was intended to be mainly an electric guitar.

Concerning the choice of woods, using hard strong woods looked a good idea to me, since the body was going to be thin and hollow; I guess I'm not wrong on the "mechanical" side at least And it's a bit the same for the weight goal, I know wenge is dense, but there won't be a lot of it in the guitar !

Anyway thanks for the comments. I've presented my project on other forums, but it looks like amateur electric guitar builders usually don't know very well how the guitar functionally works...

Some Tonerider pickups sound cool, but I'd still be happy to have other suggestions !

Wow ! I didn't know those Bareknuckle pickups, but the Stormy Monday has exactly the tone I am looking for ! Unfortunately, such a high price might well double the cost of my project... Do you have any idea of a similar pickup from a cheaper manufacturer ?

Sound sample of the Stormy Monday

BTW, I've started to work physically the project, surfacing, cutting and gluing the wood. I'll try to post regular updates and pictures if there are people interested here.

Okay thanks for the answer.

Does anybody have suggestions for the pickup ?

Hi,

I'm new to this forum; I'm from Belgium and I'm designing what will be my first home-made guitar. I've some experience with wood working and I have access to many tools, so I'm pretty confident

The goal:

A light and compact guitar (to travel with), with a correct sound unplugged (just to be able to play it unplugged in a room), and a warm "round" sound plugged (towards the sound of an archtop, I'm a fan of blues and jazz).

The idea for now:

I'm going to get a full-maple telecaster neck, so I'll only work on the body. I have in my stock a nice block of wenge and a planck in ashwood. I was thinking about a hollowed body in wenge, 0.8" thick, and a thin ash top (0.15") with two f-holes. I'll put a single pickup, a humbucker at the neck, but I don't know yet which one. The thin body won't be a problem concerning strength I think, since wenge's quite hard, nor for the electronics, since I'll put mini-potmeters on the side. The neck would be bolted to a metal plate itself bolted to the body, so thickness isn't a problem either for that.

I would now need some advice, especially concerning the choice of woods. I've seen several wenge basses, but never a guitar body ! Do you have any idea how this design could sound ? I've also difficultied to guess how "loud" it could sound unplugged... Does a thin top make a better sound than a thicker one ?

Thanks a lot in advance !

The current plan (note the small thin body):