RestorationAD

Sits in a box on the shelf after I bought the Drum Sander. It is useful for headstocks but it is so rough that I don't use it anymore.

I was poor when I was a kid and I took everything I had apart and put it back together, sometimes better, sometimes not. Dad used to make me try to build everything before he would buy one for me. Learn to weld built a bicycle... learned to bend plywood built skateboards... learn to frame built ramps for the things ... I learned to play guitar on a pawn shop Harmony Flying V and when it was time to upgrade I couldn't afford it so Dad said "Why not just build one". Ummm ok. Bought a copy of "Constructing a Solidbody Guitar" by Roger H. Siminoff and went to work. Then I spent all the money I had buying tools and wood some of which I still have. I built way more guitars from my $100.00 belt sander and $100.00 scroll saw than I ever could have purchased. Then while in college I got a job as a luthier in a small shop that primarily worked on Brass and Wind instruments. That is when I actually got to the point where I could sell my creations. Now I barely find enough time to build... man it was nice when I had no real responsibility.

+1 for this idea also I would compare my slots to the scale template before proceeding as you could throw them off center while widening. You can build a caul to use with the clamps from a piece of wood and 2 brass rods. cut the board about 12" then route 2 slots that have the same angle as the neck. I used to glue about 12 at a time. Fit the frets perfectly before gluing. They MUST lay perfectly flat against the radius. Once they are all fit you can glue them in. Lay the caul ontop of the frets and clamp lightly. Leave some epoxy on your mixing plate in a puddle. Once the puddle begins to harden, but is still a little flexible use a sharp chisel to clean up the fret board. Do not let the epoxy finish curing before doing this as it will be a nightmare to clean up. ---Man haven't done that since the 80's---

Now if I could get some submissions....

+1 on Craigslist. People sell perfectly good tools for nothing because they do not know how to tune them or they are done with the project they were purchased for. I bought my Jet 10-20 Drum Sander for 300.00 and it is brand new. I have a Delta 6" from Lowe's. It is nice until you use it against figured wood or the blades get dull. So for rough stuff it is great but figured wood tears out and you will end up joining it by hand anyway. Learn how to sharpen blades and when to use it and when to use your hand planes. Tools are only as good as the tuning you give them. I have a Central Machines 14" bandsaw that cuts great. I have spent several hours tuning it and keep sharp blades on it and it is great. My hand planes suck. But it is my fault because when I spend time sharpening and setting them up they work great. My radial arm saw is a 1972 Craftsman 12" and it cuts great. But I spent several hours setting it up and bought a nice Freud blade for it. Learning to work with hand tools is fun and less dangerous than power tools. Good luck!

Got my first submission. Thanks! Make sure your pictures are the best one you have!

Send your story I will post it. Please send all the info that goes with the picture because the story is as important as the build.

This is such a lead guitar. It has amazing sustain on single notes. Must be the thick headstock and the JB4. If I was going to play lead in a band I would play this guitar. We previewed it tonight and it sounds like Tom Morello rhythms vs Randy Rhoads leads. My brother is very happy as it came out exactly as he wanted. Attitude. Thin guitar but very alive when you play it. The flame maple, old ebony fretboard coupled with the padauk back makes it interesting, bright and hateful. Padauk makes for very clear bass response . Very heavy sound as compared to Mahogany. If you like deep base tones I suggest Padauk as a replacement for Mahogany. Even though it hates me it plays like a lead guitar.

I want to try to post a picture of a custom guitar everyday... this is going to be fun. Guitar of the Day Seems simple enough. However I want user submissions for content. If you want your custom guitar posted send pictures to guitaroftheday@gmail.com I will not use the photos for anything other than the blog. I want to give guys on this forum and others a chance to show off their work. I do not plan to use anything other than custom guitars submitted by builders. I also plan to mirror the site on worldpress http://guitaroftheday.wordpress.com/

+1 Agreed. Next V will probably have that jack placement. My brother and I spent a lot of time talking about what he wanted. He liked Black Machines but wanted a Randy V so this is what we built. It is thin. 33MM. The neck is glued in because there really wasn't room for screws. The TOM bridge is recessed and there is no neck angle. All the parts are from different Jacksons. The bridge and ferrels are from a JS30KV and the tuners are from a PS1. It has a bone nut (thanks George!) and big 6100 frets. Ebony fret board. This guitar hated me. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. The finish refused to go on. I ended up using poly U. I had to completely sand all the deft laquer off after it yellowed. Entirely my fault for spraying to heavy but frustrating just the same. I am going back to Tung Oil. The Jack placement is ok. But WesT has it right the place to put it is on the upper V. The headstock is thick and I recessed the tuners slightly. Next build I will recess them more and leave the headstock thick. Looks kinda neat. The JB4 is a nice pickup but the guitar was so thin that I was not able to use a push pull volume knob like normal and ended up with a on/on switch. I will be removing it and replacing it with a on/on/on switch so it can coil tap, full, and off. I just couldn't find the right switch in time.

Finished

Free as in Beer. http://www.inkscape.org/ http://www.gimp.org/ http://sketchup.google.com/

If you are interested in donating/selling the kahler PM me.

dude I so built my brother a guitar for Xmas...

Looks like your neck needs a taper.... (maybe a fatty 1 11/16" - 2 3/16") Like the design ... +1 24 frets +1 Why 26" do you have a baritone in mind?

Nice work! I am not sure I like the crazy bevel carve but it is smart to respect the customer and guide them without being arrogant or pushy. Can't wait to get mine. Traditional SG in Sapele that is. No funny curves ....

Car body grinder (angle grinder) with a nasty 36grit disk on it for the initial cuts. Then I use a orbital through the grits. Round the edges as I go with a rasp, then bastard file, then mill file

+1 painting flat. This has really improved my coats and lowered my sanding work. +1 no sanding sealer. The last guitar turned into a nightmare trying to get the lacquer to stick after a bad sanding sealer ordeal. For some reason they just did not get along and forced a complete sand back and restain.. +1 320 Grit sanding - no 600 grit until a couple of coats are on. I now stay away from Steel Wool. It is hard to find it without oil. Watch the water sanding. It is easy to get too much water on the guitar and it get under the finish through an unfinished hole.

13 degrees.

Be patient the wood you have is incredible Save the bolivian mahogany and cocobolo as they are awesome woods. I am not sure what you mean by "imposable to glue a veneer on there" If it fell off it should be as simple as sanding everything down and re-gluing it with a nice wood glue/hide glue. I am not sure how bad the warp is but you could heat the wood and clamp it straight until it cools to see if that helps. If the warps in the sides are not too bad they should come out when you bend the sides with heat. When you brace the back it should straighten out. An alternative is to buy some new Walnut back and sides and a Sapele neck blank and build an acoustic. Use the experience to save your great wood!

+1 on scale length... on my 6 strings its 25.5 or die! Big effect on tone. Consider this thread HIJACKED

I like some neck angle for ergo reasons. However I hate the strings being miles off the body so I always end up sinking the neck as deep as possible into the body. I think coupled with an angled headstock it makes the guitar look better from the side. More like a refined elegant instrument. [Please Flame appropriately as this is an opinion] Not so plank like. You know strats always look so ... well plank like, bolt together things. Like a good piece of decking or a wall stud or furniture even. [Flame away!]

I have used traditional wood fillers or epoxy. Epoxy is messy and hard to sand if you don't squeegee it perfect. Epoxy can darken the wood and mess with stains. When I use epoxy and I need dark filler I stain the piece black before filling. Then sand back to the wood. It leaves a nice dark filled pores. However you really only get one shot at it. Avenger give us a recommendation for a sanding sealer. Do you use something we can get at Home Depot/Lowes/Ace?

Neck angle.... and I thought it was only for TOM bridges and botched Floyd Rose installations Seriously I would dare say that neck angle creates a void between the top and the strings and has some bearing on the acoustic properties of your solid body guitars. For example my Charvel Model 5 has 3 degrees or so and the strings are far from the body. It has a hollow acoustic tone when you play it without amplification. On the other hand my King V has a 2 degree neck angle with a very low set neck. The strings are very close to the body. It has a very solid acoustic sound when not amplified. But when I plug them into the Mark VI mesa all bets are off. And I doubt that the height of the strings from the body are the major factor in tone. I would say that both sound similar do to Seymour Duncan.

Project Guitar already has what you need. A PGM is an RG basically. Volume knob is moved and headstock reversed. A Jem is not that far from an RG either except for a monkey handle... You should be able to make the necessary adjustments from one of those models with ease. Project Guitar DWG files