Rane

Thanks for the comments. :] Lexan is more commonly know as bulletproof glass, though it's not glass at all. I got my piece from my uncle who installs/uninstalls equipment at banks. He'll sometimes end up with a bunch of lexan that's usually thrown away. My piece is a little less than 1 1/2 in. There are a few plastic places on the net that might have something that thick. I did a quick search and found a few sites. All the sites that sold the thick, bulletproof lexan didn't seem to want to make it too easy to get, and the stuff I saw was thinner that mine (1 1/4 in). If there are any plastic companies where you live, they might be able to custom order it... Hopfully it wouldn't be too expensive. What kind of pickups should I put in this thing? I've been leaning toward active Duncan Blackouts... But I'm not sure.

Well, this is my first guitar project, so I’ve been learning a whole lot about the craft. I was inspired to make a clear guitar after I saw one being played on one of those late night shows. I looked on the net to see if I could find one with a shape that matched my taste, but I couldn’t find one, so I decided to build one… Sort of a stupid idea, now that I think of it, but so far it’s going well, so I don’t regret it. From what I've read about acrylic guitars, the plastic actually sounds good (especially if you play heavy metal or anything like it) and it sustains forever. The design I did is completely original. I made it as small as possible, which, in retrospect, may affect the way it sounds in a negative way, but it also makes it lighter (lexan is heavy). So far, I’ve finished most of the shaping of the body, and I need to cut the trem cavities, pickup cavities, and also one for the neck. I wimped out on building the neck and bought one off ebay, but I think I’ll build one for my next project, which I already have plans for. Anyway here are the pics of some of the process, and what’s been done so far. I did the rough cut with a Saws-All and the final cut with a router, which may seem weird, but it was the only thing I had that could cut the hard plastic without either melting it or just plain destroying it. In order to cut the angles on the "wings" of the body, I had to build this contraption. The little shape that was left uncut is where the tone/volume pots will go. You can see little pencil marks on it. I was scribbling parts on it to see how everything would fit. :] From cutting it, it doesn't look clear anymore, but after it's polished it'll be crystal. Any thoughts on the shape? My cousin doesn't like it. Anyway, I bought a Gotoh Floyd Rose tremolo off ebay. I'm going to have cut the block of the trem because it's designed for a thicker guitar than what I'm building. My uncle is a machinist, so he's going to help me with that. Weirdly enough, the B.C. Rich "Ice" guitars also have cut trems due to the plastic's lack of thickness. Also, I don't plan on cutting a cavity for the trem. I think I'm going to set it on the face of the body and limit myself to just dives. I haven't decided for sure on this, so if you have any opinions, post. Any ideas, comments, and advice is totally welcome. Thanks. :]