KTLguitars

Autocad works very well for guitardesign as you actually only needs a 2-dimentional drawing for routing etc. As I use SolidWorks at my day-time work as a mecanical engineer, I have designed my guitars in SW and I really enjoy making the 3-dimentional models and even render them with the PhotoWorks extention in SW. I think that you can get a 30 day trial full version of SolidWorks, but you might have to contact your local dealer. After you have made the models and drawings you can view and print them with the free SW viewer. I have made a web-page describing the process using SW as a design tool. The price is though far to high, so I think they have to make a Luthier version... - couldn't aford this if I had to make a living from guitar building !

Copyrights or patents are not hard to get, but they are very hard to protect! -What can you do if someone (e.g. a large well established guitar company... ) steals your design - sue them? -and who pay your lawyers??? You will pay with all you earn from building a few guitars a year....no forget it. The best way to protect yourself is to publish your work under your own name, e.g. here at Project Guitar (like I have done with my Magnum648). Afterwords you can very well prove that it was your idea/design (and if you give a hint to the press, they love to rip up bad practise in the established companies!) Thats is the best "poor mans method" if you don't want to hide in a drawer!

I've found the graduation and experience as a mechanical engineer very applicable, together with experience in wood (and other materials) working. This gives far more knowledge of the technology of mechanical and general material science together with production knowhow than you can get in luthiery schools. I might even be more free when choosing materials or how I choose to design my guitars - and also regarding production methods. This (and other) forums on the internet is though very usefull for getting information on how things are done traditionally, together with many books covering the practical side of guitar building/ luthiery. Members here have different experience from different kind of professions - making us able to find alternative methods and actually develop the art of guitar building. (Remember What Leo Fender did - he created the Strat based on available production and building technology at the time - it was simple and efficient in every detail- and has been a money maker through 50 years) ...but I can hardly call myself a luthier or a "Master Builder" as dcamp67 is saying...

I have had that same kind of question - like all Fenders "fat strats" - HB in the Bridge pos...? Ok HBs have higher output so the signal level will be more balanced - ...? I would have prefered a high output singelcoil at the bridge and a HB at the neck. - Oh,- now I realize wy my own guitars allways are the best ones....

Try seaching the Forum tutorials and reference section

daveq, Your right, get a good education first, some kind of natural science education doesn't harm when you want to be a luthier. As a mechanical engineer, I will say that this is really valuable for me - I like to understand the nature of how things work - making me able tho change and improve them, and still retain the qualities from the basis. Knowledge never goes out of style!

I have played guitar for about 20 years - but more seriously only the last 5 years - after beginning to build my own guitars. My first guitar was a semi-acoustic, not very sofisticated - but it works quite well. This gave inspiration to the playing, which again gave inspiration to study more about how guitars works. I bought a few books, among them, Making An Archtop Guitar of Robert Benedetto. The book is nice, more practical than theoretical, so I have been working with the physics of sound and materials on my own to complete the knowledge a bit. I bulit an other semiacoustic, combining known techniques with a new angle of attack. The result this time was satisfying and gave a taste for more of this. I started to bulid a solid body guitar - still not finished because I came up with the Magnum648 idea during the project, and that one really took off! In my professional life I am working as a mechanical development engineer and therefore I can handle, and have available the most advanced CAD and FEM tools for designing guitars. The last year I have been playing with the idea of being more professional about this, and as a friend has a web hotel and helped me out buliding my own web page, this now becomes closer to reality... I found this (extremely well made) forum in May and put the Magnum648 up for "project of the month", and ended up on the Project Guitar front page! - Resulting in a few enquiries and an ortder! (Thank you all for the votes!!!) The future will show if I end up doing this on a full time basis or if it continues to be a business related hobby... So am I a luthier? - well -no I don't feel like that - I think I feel more like a guitar designer.... -Knut

You can reduce the depth of the trem-block by just cutting of 3 or 4mm, and redrill the spring holes. Put in one or two extra springs (if you only have three) to compensate for the reduced torque arm length. The point with the trem-block is to add mass to lower the natural frequency of the bridge to a level under the lowest freequency of the strings, ca 82Hz for the low E (ca 74Hz for dropped D). If you only cut away 3 or 4mm this should leave you with a good margin (depending of the original block, material and size). I have cut away 3mm of the Floyd Rose Speedloader I use in my Magnum648- which is recessed in a 34mm body.

Wow what collections...but...I thought you guys built guitars - I have only KTL-guitars..... Everytime I have enough money to buy a guitar - I buy the pieces and bulid a new one... anyway, my guitars: KTL: Pitag (The name is my sons first word for a guitar) Evil Axe (The name inspired by Bu....sorry no politics here.. -not entirely finished yet) Magnum648 (This month Guitar of the month) They are all here

hi funkle, the aluminium is water jet cut, and the filleting of the edges is done by a regular wood router with hard metal router bits for wood! Regarding the Spalt bass, thanks for showing me - I have never seen it before - but, it is clear that we have many similarities both regarding design and consept (a paralell to how the human beings have been developed in parall on different continents... ).

Magnum648 I don't know if I have the courage, but I guess there is nothing to lose. As a newbie here, I would like to try out my last "weapon". This guitar is my 3rd complete guitarproject and the first where I have used FEM-analyses (Finite Element Method) in the design phase, in addition to 3D solid modeling. This was very interesting and brought the guitar building hobby to a new level, both beeing able to see what it will look like, making good balance by optimizing the position of the centre of gravity, and also avoid unwanted resonances before even buying a piece of wood! The result turned out to be a real joy to play! A presentation of the Magnum648 is laying here: My Magnum648 page Sample picture:

Magnum648 Moved to the pro section!

I understand I'm spoilt, as I can use the high end 3D CAD and FEM tools, I normally use at work, in my spare time: Here is how... Here is what it becomes...