jay5

You really dont need to buy a robosander. Just build a guide the same size as the sanding drum and attach it to your drill press table.Here is a plan for what Im talking about

http://woodmagazine.com/wood/story.jhtml?s...ry/data/372.xml

By the way, they (Wood Magazine) have a mag out currently called 101 Workshop Projects that is full of great jigs, tools and storage soluthions. I would HIGHLY recomend picking up a copy. Its a great magazine.

You would be doing yourself a favor (as well as everyone else) by searching through old posts before asking questions this broad. Most people are not going to take the time to answer them. You will find a lot of info here but I can tell you that asking question like "how do I build a guitar" will not get you anywhere. Spend some time checking out this board as well as the tutorials on projectguitar.com. Then if you have specific questions ask away. Im not trying to be rude or discouraging but for the regulars of this board seeing questions like this over and over again gets kind of annoying.

To answer your two questions below you could say that 1 3/4" is roughly standard thickness. Most Fender guitars are that thick. As far as wood is concerned, go to http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/options/options_bodywoods.cfm

This will give you a good idea of what to expect from just about any type of wood you could use for a guitar.

Good luck

I need to know some stuff about making ales paul solid body guitar. I dont know if you have to have like two layer or you just hollow out the guitar to add all the electronics. Also, if someone could give me any tips on how to arch the top it would be cool. I allready have the basic design but any information at all would be helpful. Also, what kind of wood is good for the body? PLEASE HELP!!! 

Wow

I actually sent my template to a luthier friend and he cut it out for me. I think he made a template and routed the shape out. I am pretty set on black unless I get inspired otherwise. The ONLY place I found a bit big enough AND for a 1/4" router was there online.

This is the bit I was talking about for the 'trim' on top and bottom.

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc...es/raiscov.html

#6387 is the bit I plan to use, should give me about a 3/4" cut. What do you think?

Were on the same page here Jory. I think im gonna do regular inlay material flush with the body. I might use warmoths pearloid binding but im still not sure. It is 1/4" so I would have to double it up. I was thinking of doing mine in black as I have never seen any airlines other than white or red. Got any picks of your body template?

This is my body

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306626

For some reason I cant get images to load, something about dynamic tags

I am doing the routing on the front and back. I found a cove bit with a 3/4" radius that I think should do the job. Let me ask you a question , are you planning on doing any kind of binding/inlay to simulate the rubber piece that covered the seams of the two halves on the origional? I am still trying to figure out what to do there.

I think if you search you'll find he's made many more than 6 guitars. Hyunsu is probably one of our most active members build wise.

Great job again Hyunsu!

Teisco's are sweet guitars and I love hollowbodies. Keep us posted, good luck!

Wait til it gets to you I know the feeling of wanting to get started but it will help in marking out the scale length as well as the neck pocket. Have you made a body template yet?

Looks nice, but the picture looks like there is a gap in the joint down towards the bottom

Sound is logorithmic. The difference in volume between say an 18 watt tube and a 50 watt tube is there but it isnt huge. The difference between a 50 watt and 100 watt tube amp is even more negligable. Solidstate is a different story.

Are those staples on the center joint?

Cool setup! I love it when people are creative and build solutions to there problems instead of just breaking out the checkbook. I plan on getting some tubing and setting up a few lines to my work table and router base from my shopvac. Dust collection is definately a must.

Looks decent. Much better than your first attempts. I am still a little curious as to why you settled for those rear routs. They look kind of sloppy to me. Are ypu using templates or going freehand? Also, the ferruls (sp?) look off. You look like youre headed in the right direction though I guess. I would just try and get each piece (routs, finish, etc..) perfect before you move on to somthing else. How does it sound?

The Benedetto book talks about the wagner safe-t-planer ( http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Planes/W...e-T-Planer.html ) and from what I can gather it could have several uses in a small shop like mine. Has anyone used one? Any thoughts in general?

My auction, 10% for forum members

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...me=STRK:MESE:IT

Hmmm, Im still getting the "dynamic pages not allowed" thing even after loading them on smartgroups.com. Oh well

I remember Myka doing a parallel brace as he used a bridge humbucker. That thread is full ofgreat info. I learn somthing new everytime I read it. It is a great source for archtop/semihollow info.

*the BB wont let me post pics saying dynamic pages aent allowed in image tags so the links should work until I can find somewhere else to host them, any ideas?*

Well, I have been here for a while and I figured it was time to show some of the things I have been up to. It isnt much at the moment. I have just finished taking a couple of summer courses at school so I have a little more time now. At the moment I have a couple of bodies, a neck a bunch more wood and tons of templates. I will say that not having the time and money to work fast (these are my first attempts) has been the best thing that could have happened. I have been able to gather so much info both here and books in that time that I can gaurentee these will turn out much better than if I had had the means to finish them right away. Anyway, on to the pics.

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306623

This is a gretsch nashville jr. style body. Its 14" across the lower bout and about 2" thick. Im going to hollow out all but an area below the bridge ala PRS archtops. I am going to put a maple top on. It's mahogany

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306621

This is the neck blank. It's 2 pieces of flatsawn mahogany laminated in quartersawn fasion.

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306625

This is the headstock template I made. Thoughts?

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306626

This is my Airline body. It's 1 3/4" thick and from my template I made from pics (before I had photoshop ). I thik I got pretty close. It is also mahogany.

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306627

This is the same body next to a piece of quartersawn hard maple I got from ebay for $5. It will make the bolt-on neck I'm going to build. I plan on doing a scarfed headstock.

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306628

This is a tele body I routed for a single humbucker. It was the ferst one I did. Im waiting on some whiteside bits, one being a roundover. Also is another piece of the same quartersawn maple as with the airline. Im going to do a big 70's strat headstock. I should be able to get at least 2 necks out of this.

http://thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?use...11&photo=306629

This is some wood I have accumulated for building necks. From the right, 3 pieces of flatsawn maple. Im going to use this for laminating up some blanks in the future. The nect is a piece of quartersawn bloodwood that has a nice little kink in it not sure what I'm gonna do with it now. Next is a piece of flatsawn paduak that is straight as an arrow. Might use this in conjuction with the maple for laminates. Finally is another piece of flatsawn maple. Might make a tele style neck just for kicks.

Anyway, this is what Ive got so far. Thanks to everyone for their help. Big thanks to Myka for his advice on semihollow construction. Any questions fire away!

I thought I had ordered a catolog a while back, but I ordered again anyway. $10 Gotoh truss rods? Anyone have any experience with them? I may have to pick up one of those $25 uke kits. Could make for an enjoyable rainy evening

Cool, I', slowly piecing together the parts to build a semi-hollow in a Nashville Jr. shape. http://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/index.p...=&cat2=&q=&st=1 I plan on building it like PRS does there archtops with a hollowed out solid body, leaving material under the bridge. I am not ready to attack a full on archtop. I have a mahogany body that I am going to hollow out as soon as I get the time to make up my template. I also have the mahogany neck blank rough cut. Still need to get my top wood and hardware. We'll see how it goes.

I just saw in an acoustic cuitar mag (not sure which one) that Grizzly tools will soon be selling lthier supplies. It was in one of their ads. They had 2 kits already up, kind of expensive but the looked nice. They also had Grizzly made amps and a $25 uke kit. The ad said they would be stocking tonewoods, kits, hardware, tolls and a bunch of other things. I didnt see anything on their sight about it but the ad said it would be soon. I know that the president of Grizzly builds guitars so it migh be interesting to see what they have to offer. They claim that over 500 guitar companies buy tools from them! I'll keep an eye out.

Cool! I am currently building a copy myself. That looks like a decent price but it doesnt say what type of pickups are used. I cant tell if it is a wood body or a fiberglass like the origional. Still probably better than the origional though.

lookin good.

No offense, but no, not looking good. I dont see why people spend so much time working on a guitar but have such low standards for quality. I really hate to sound like this but this site is such a good resource for info that there really shouldnt be any reason for people to do such sloopy work. I agree that your current project is a much better attempt than your earlier ones, but... there really is no need for the sloppy pickguard routs and such. Those are pretty simple things to do well. I would just slow down a bit and attack each aspect as its own seperate project. All in all I think your desire is definately there, but despite the fact that these are being built to "be played" I really think you owe it to yourself and your time to strive for better results.