JamesW

I have just bought a Fernandes Montery X guitar. It has an angled neck, so the bridge and strings are therefore quite high from the body and the bridge pickup has to be raised a lot. Is this normal? The body doesn't have an arched-top, so I guess the string/bridge height is even higher than it would be with an archtop. And what is normally the reason for angling a neck anyway?

I have just bought a Fernandes Montery X guitar. It has an angled neck, so the bridge and strings are therefore quite high from the body and the bridge pickup has to be raised a lot. Is this normal? The body doesn't have an arched-top, so I guess the string/bridge height is even higher than it would be with an archtop. And what is normally the reason for angling a neck anyway?

I'm in the UK. I'll keep looking, although I can get the Epiphone EB-0 reissue for around £180 by mail order...although I'd rather have something else, as they only have a neck pickup so are a bit limited on tone.

Is it me, or is it hard to find a short scale bass guitar? Most guitar shops don't seem stock them, but there must be some demand for them. I'm guitar player mainly but need a bass for recording, and I find 34" basses a little on the large side, whereas a 30" or similar is far more comfortable to play. I know you can get short scale basses if you look hard enough (the reissued Mustang, and the Epiphone EB-0, which I would have to buy by mail order), but it's not like there's much in the way of choice. One reason to build one I suppose!

I like the the 5-string one he made for Keith Richards in the mid 70s - similar to the one above in shape, but dark wood and inlaid with mother of pearl daggers and skulls.

Also, it's worth mentioning that Gibson didn't invent the LP shape as such...it's based on a traditional guitar shape that's been around for centuries.

The most successful guitars seem to be not too way out, pretty normal looking, with style and generally appealing to look at. No wonder the Strat and LP were so successful. Any new guitar designs, if they're also not going to be way out, are going to be subtle variations of these well known guitars. So really, most (normal, not way out) guitar shapes have been done. I don't think there's anything wrong with new guitar designers being influenced by the classics. And I think it's worth noting that, in my opinion, that the success of the Strat and the LP and Tele was surely down to the shape of these guitars and nothing else. Obviously build quality and sound of the instrument is important, but this is assumed. So I reckon a nice new fresh guitar shape, if someone was to design and produce it, could be very successful...and the shape is what will do it. ....I look forward to making my first million....!

Just been reading the posts and some questions occur to me... Can a carved solid top be flat on the underside? Is it a good idea then to lacquer all the inside of a hollow guitar to avoid moisture warping? Myka Guitars - I'm wondering how practical it would be to make, say, an ES-335 with a solid piece of mahogany and then route out the inside, perhaps leaving the solid 'log' part in the middle. Would such a body be as strong as a normal 335's body? What are the disadvantages of doing it this way? Too me it seems like an easy way of making a hollow body guitar, if perhaps a little wasteful on the wood.

Has anyone tried the materials from this UK company: http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/ttwp4.html ? Down the bottom there's a grain-filler listed, but it says it's 'mahogany' - meaning it's been stained...? I too need a clear grain-filler and I live in the UK. I tried the Axeminster site but it was down. Is two-part epoxy practical to use though? What can you thin it with and has anyone done this before? I agree about B&Q, but they do have good tools....like routers, dremel, sanders and also cheap band-saws and drill presses (£39!)....meaning useful workshop machinery is within reach.

I get it, thanks

So you you might do all stages...grain-fill, sand-seal, prime, then paint?

Can you use grain-filler then start applying the coats of paint, or do you need to grain-fill then use sanding-sealer, then paint / lacquer etc...? What is sanding-sealer, and can it be used instead of grain-filler, or are they variants of the same thing?

Could it be made sweepable I wonder, like a parametric equalizer?

I'm wondering if it's worth painting glue over the foil (both sides) to stick it down and also help toughen it up and avoid it getting torn? Although perhaps water-based glue would make moisture get into the wood.... Maybe use double-sided sticky tape then.

In my lunch break I just went out and bought one of those cheap History of the Guitar type books. It's full of good quality photos of guitars, taken straight on, with no distortion of the guitar shape in the photo. One could use a digital camera or scanner to get the image onto a computer then print it out enlarged or use it to trace onto a CAD drawing. They wouldn't be absolutely perfect but they would be good enough to use as plans.

Also check the other similar thread http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=9087

There are more CAD drawings at http://www.guitarbuild.com/modules/mydownloads/

lucky1 - I have just registered at mimf and have downloaded a CAD file for a Les Paul and it's a decent drawing Thanks, Hotrock.

I too am looking for an LP plan! I have searched everywhere too. I have found good CAD drawings for an LP Junior, so presumably much of this is similar to an LP, but a proper LP plan would be useful.

Could someone please explain what the materials are - 'bartop epoxy' and acrylic - are these the same thing? Where do you normally buy acrylic, and how is it used? Is it normally clear, and can you colour it to make it a translucent or even a solid colour? Is acrylic hard enough to be used as a guitar body? Presumably you could just cast a rectangular block of acrylic and then cut it to any shape you want. And the mould could be made out of wood.

I think you'll find that the guitarbuild.com site does have a Tele CAD drawing. Being a cheapskate myself I have found a way to print out full size guitar plans at little cost... If you view a drawing in the Volo Viewer software (link also on same site), then use your own printer's settings to enlarge it the the right size, then print out over several sheets of A4. On my Epson, you can preview the print job before it gets to the printer and delete any blank pages, to save paper. The Tele drawing has ruler scale in inches drawn on it, and through trial and error I found that enlarging the original Tele plan by 366% gave the correct result. Note that this is on my printer, and each CAD drawing will also need a different enlargemnent. Even the small gif files on the mimf.com site could be used in this way to get a full size plan printed out. These gifs are intended to give you a preview of the plans mimf sells, but they can be enlarged and used themselves. You will get a very pixelated low res enlargement, but they're good enough to get the overall shapes of guitars, e.g. a Strat. Now all I'm looking for is a Les Paul plan......

There are none on the www.guitarbuild.com site, and I've scoured the internet and but I haven't found any there either.

I don't know about a dead coil, the whole thing is sealed with welding/solder at the back. You're right the everything sounds trebly at the bridge, so it's hard to tell really. But I do know a single coil sound when I hear it, and it sounds a bit single coilish to me.

I bought a pickup with just one signal and earth wire. It is a standard humbucker-style pick-up with a metal cover, with one row of screw-heads/pole pieces on one side...the usual type. I don't know the manufacturer, it was a cheap unbranded pick-up from a shop. It sounds very thin and trebly at the bridge position...and I have a sneaky feeling that it is a single coil pickup, but humbucker sized. Is this possible?

That guitarnuts site is quite good. It reccomends that you "disconnect the bridge ground wire on your guitar or use a small (about .02uf) capacitor shunted by a large (about 220k) resistor to isolate the bridge from the rest of the ground. Note that this may significantly increase the amount of hum you experience. Also note that this is only a partial fix – the jack plate and some other exposed metal parts (including metal volume and tone knobs) of your guitar and amplifier will still be potentially lethal." So not having a bridge connection seems like a good idea. I made my current guitar and forgot to put a wire in, so I've never had one. I do experience hum, though not much though. The guitarnuts site seems to think that the cap and resistor method would still produce hum, the way they've worded the above..which woudl defeat the object.....? It probably works though. truerussian558, that's what i thought. The hum is not so bad on my guitar and only when I let go of the strings. I like the fuse idea. what fuse rating would you recommend? Not a mains fuse...a low voltage one, say 10V? Are they available? So no bridge grounding or usa a fuse or cap, and no exposed metal parts on the guitar (use plastic pickup covers and volume knobs)..and you should be safe. Just don't touch the mic