stereordinary

Rock it all natural and let people bathe in it's awe-inspiring tone. In other words, if it sounds good plugged in, feels good to play, then it can look any damn way you want it to. Including all-natural plywood-y badassness.

I had to Google "AANJ."

Check out the trem routing template set that Stew-Mac sells on their website. There's a tab with instructions on hoe to use the templates. That could probably get you started.

Also check out Masecraft Supply.

What you're looking for is also known as a "Jaguar" pickup.

I haven't fully read the tutorial, but I have a question about fretboard removal as well. Is there an easier way to remove a fretboard if I don't need to save the fretboard I'm removing?

+1. I don't have enough clamps. So I just plan ahead. I'll do a glue-up late at night so that in the morning I can take the clamps off and use them in the shop throughout the day. During the day's work I make sure that I have something ready for glue-up that night. So pretty much the end of every work day is either glueing in a filler strip, or glueing on a fingerboard, and also glueing up a body blank, since I do have enough clamps for that. I'm gonna get some more clamps and be unstoppable! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

I'm interested in doing some of my guitars with stainless steel frets, but I understand that they are considerably harder to work with than regular nickel/silver frets. All I really know is that you need beefier tools. So what tools can you guys recommend for working with stainless steel frets? I already have the Stew-Mac diamond crowning files (the offset kind with removable handles), so I figure that's probably pretty good there right? But I'm surely going to need some stronger files, among other things. So lay it on me thick-like!

This is always like the hardest part for me. Often I look at the people asking me to build them stuff as friends and give them friend prices, but then I don't make anything on it. But then on other occasions I can see the difference and I ask something that sounds fair. Some people are ecstatic because I can make that for so cheap, other people are like, no way that's too much. With those people I try to come down on my prices and get the job. I'm currently building full-time. But you could just say that I'm unemployed and I'm trying to scrape together my rent money by making guitars. Because honestly, I am not a luthier. I do not consider myself anywhere near pro-level to be making guitars for a living. I'm just procrastinating on getting a new job, and so far it's working. It's only been two months. I specialize in Fender-style solid bodies, mostly unfinished in custom configurations that you can't order from places like Warmoth or USACG or GuitarMill. That's my bread and butter. But occasionally I get someone who wants a whole guitar. So far I haven't delivered any of the full guitar builds, but then again, I've hardly been paid for them either. I go ahead and start on builds for people with them buying the materials as their down payment. It's really along the lines of feeling privileged that someone believes in me. Someone actually has enough faith in me, usually based off of pictures that they saw of my work on the internet, that they are willing to give me money for me to use and play in my work room. For that I am grateful, and I just try my damndest to make their guitar the best one I've made yet. I think I'm making about 16 guitars right now. A lot of those are just experiments that I'm building for myself for fun, or because I hope to someday offer them to customers. I have no business calling myself a professional guitar maker or attempting to share the market with guys who have been doing this longer than me, or who have built way more guitars than me. But the fact of the matter is that before I ever really honed any real skills I said yes. Just coming from a customer service background, I couldn't help but accept people's offers to give me money to do what I love doing and would have been doing anyway. They became financial backers, so to speak. I shouldn't have said yes to them. I still shouldn't be saying yes to anyone, I'm simply not that good. Earlier this year I was depressed and just generally hating my life. A big part of that was not getting enough time to devote to my craft. Another big part was that I was fed up and in trouble at the lousy job that I had for almost seven years. It paid good. But that's all it had going for it. I decided that I had to live the money isn't everything lifestyle and I quit. I was just going to go right in to another day job, just hopefully one that left me with a little more free time. But my friends and family all said great so now that you're not working there anymore, you are gonna make guitars full time right? I thought there was no way in hell I could, but they all looked at me like I was a fool if I didn't take the opportunity I had, go balls out and just do it. So I did. It's been two and a half months and I'm doing fine. I am going to have to take a few commissions to make sure I can pay rent next month. I don't want to take those commissions, I want to spend this whole month catching up on all of the work I've already started. I'm still learning. God, am I still learning. I am really not very good at this. But I want to do it and so I just am. Living the dream, and just begging, hoping for the approval of my peers. With that said, I generally ask about 1k for one of my full guitar builds. That's just for a body neck and pickguard with a finish on it. The customer provides all the hardware and electronics, which I will install for them for a little extra. So far nobody has actually paid me that much. I've got a lot of down payments for materials, and consequently I have a lot of bodies and necks in piles waiting for more money so I can continue on them. Needless to say, I'm working on a backup plan.

I made a body like that once:

Great band. One of them plays a Toronado.

#2.

Hi Ryan and welcome to the forum! Your "peace offering" is way cool and I saved myself a copy, so thanks for that! I have a Toronado too, and I love it. I can't imagine why you think the offset waist is uncomfortable, but hey, to each their own. I also have a Jazzmaster and it's my favorite guitar. Seriously, don't rout it though! Sell it to me, or let me make you a body or something first. Sounds like you have little free time. That's something else you and I have in common. So where are you at with you build and what could we help you with? You have you plan, but I failed to grasp your experience level and where you're at in the planning or building stages. Do you plan to make the neck too?

I enjoy every part I get right.

Slightly OT, with apologies, but does anyone know where to get a spiral pattern cutting bit?

I have these suckers, I am just too nervous to try one on a guitar body for fear of toasting the build. They also do not normally come with a guide bearing. I have a couple of those too. One of them I got and foolishly tried it out in a handheld router. No real risk to my fingers, but sure enough it ruined my workpiece. That thing was like a propellar just trying to take off. Another one I have was only slightly smaller but didn't feel like it was gonna launch my router into the air. It actually worked quite nicely, but it's just not a look I'm crazy about. I would have much rather just carve it by hand.

Interesting thread, though I wish he did go into how he gets that angle in the top. Question though, how would you do that on a body shape that has the horns extending beyond where your neck angle starts? Like how a Strat's horns poke out closer towards the 12th fret than a Les Paul, who's neck pocket is essentially the end of the body.

Nice! I like your pickguard mod too.

Mmm... I love Jags.

Wow. It all looks really nice.

Reminds me of one I've built but haven't tested yet. Almost the same setup, except mine is upside down, the angle can be adjusted, and I'm gonna use a Wagner Saf-T-Planer to do the cutting. I hope it works as well as this simple router table setup.

That's great! Makes me think about my plans to get one of those big granite slabs for flattening various surface before gluing up. Perhaps I could just use some glass.

I'm not even sure that I totally understand the question, but I think it would help to know definitively what kind of bridge you are planning on using.

Good luck! I know the feeling of having lots of work going on at the same time. I have at least six guitars I'm at some point in the process on right now. I love your double-cut shape. Any pics of the single?

I can't imagine you not liking the sound of an original Wide Range. I got one myself for an astonishingly low price ($60) thanks to an Ebay seller who didn't know what he had and a tip off from a Swede with incredible eyes. I only had it hastily mounted in a 60's Jagaur body with a funky conversion neck I made for a very short period of time before taking it out to finish the Jag and it's sound was nothing short of magical.