Helium

Okay, so it has been a lot longer than I thought it would be before I posted again, but I've been pretty busy with work. At this point I guess I need some help on what to do about my build. My plans changed quite a bit since my last post, the relevant changes being a switch to an esp mk II style (I bought the plans from guitarplansunlimited.com after realizing that trying to design my own shape might be more than I am up to right now) and a decision to ditch the top and fancy inlay and just do dot inlays this time around. My current problem is that after cutting the neck to thickness and doing the scarf joint, the blank seems like it might be too thin to use. Since I don't have a band saw, a circular saw was used to get the thickness close to the line and a belt sander (hand-held) brought it to the thickness line. Unfortunately, in the process, the blank got really close to what is probably too thin. To make matter worse, after I hand sawed the scarf joint, the wood needed a lot of leveling before a good straight glue-up would happen, so the belt sander was used to level the newly cut faces. This is where it took a turn for the worse. The belt sander demolished the tip of the neck blank, leaving some paper thin flaps where a smooth taper had been previously. After a lot of hand sanding, I got the surfaces to match up for a glue-up at a steeper angle, which I hope won't be an issue because of the locking nut (someone correct me if I am wrong). The change in angle has left me with at least 1/16th of an inch to sand off the the top of the neck to bring the whole surface to level. Since this will leave the neck on the thin side, I was planning on gluing a thin strip of wood between the neck and fretboard to make up for the lost thickness before routing for the truss rod. This doesn't, however, fix the lack of thickness on the back of the neck right below the nut (right where a volute would go if I were to do one). Currently, it would seem that my options are to either start over on a new neck and buy a decent hand-plane so I can avoid the belt sander or try to thicken up the back of the neck below the nut with a thin piece of wood (I don't really see how this can work too well, but maybe someone here can give some advice). At this point I am completely open to suggestions, having most likely wasted quite a bit of money on a neck that will never see use. How much thickness needs to be left under a dual action truss rod from LMI? If the neck is too thin to allow that, is a thin piece of wood between the neck and FB a feasible fix? Does anyone have some tips on how to deal with the back of the neck on the headstock side? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. If necessary, I can get some pictures up here, but it may take a few days because I'll most likely be stuck using my parent's computer while I reinstall my OS and get everything up and running again. -Andrew

Erik, Thanks for the quick reply. I figured the quilted would probably be a no go, but I figured I'd ask anyway. It looks like I'll be ordering the bird's eye after I make my car insurance payment then. -Andrew

Hey Erik, Since I see that you do bird's eye and flamed maple fretboards, I was wondering if you also did quilted maple boards. If not, I'll just go with the bird's eye when I get the money around. Thanks, Andrew

Hi all, I am heading home from school for the summer in a few days and am planning on starting my first build when I get home, so I figured I'd start a thread now so I could get some opinions before I start cutting wood. I am planning on making a guitar with a body shape similar to that of a Carvin DC400. It will be a neck-through with a cherry body, a 3-piece maple-cherry-maple neck, a purple heart top, and a bird's eye maple fretboard. I'm hoping to use a thin laminate or veneer to do a matching headstock, but I'm still trying to decide on whether or not I should try that. It will have an Original Floyd Rose bridge, with the locking nut and locking tuners. For pickups I am planning on using a Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz, with a 3-way selector switch, 2 tone controls, and 2 push-pull volume knobs for coil tapping. I'm planning on a 25.5" scale length with 24 frets and a radius to match the Floyd Rose (I believe the Floyd has a 12" radius). I think I will use thin slices of purple heart for the inlays, which will most likely be the number "24601" (it is Jean Valjean's inmate number from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables) written up the fretboard (so that it can be read when the guitar is in the playing position). I already have the cherry and the maple, which I mentioned in another thread (I made the other thread before I had fully examined pricing and have since made several decisions based on cost and availability of materials). I am planning on getting the purple heart online (I know it is generally frowned upon, but our local suppliers don't have it in appropriate sizes). Currently I am planning on getting it from either exoticwoods.com or woodworkerssource.com (If I get it from woodworker's source, it will be in a 1 inch thick blank that I will have to resaw and plane to thickness). If anyone knows of a better source for a purpleheart top at a reasonable price, feel free to point me in the right direction. I plan on getting the fretboard pre-slotted, although I haven't decided where I am purchasing it. I have read Hiscock's book and have read through a significant portion of the threads and tutorials on project guitar and have spent time on the MIMF forums, so I feel ready to start my project. I'll be drawing up my plans, making templates, and making a few practice necks out of pine to get used to the tools while I acquire the remainder of the wood I need. I'll post pictures when I have some worth posting. I'm looking forward to hearing your opinions on my project. -Andrew

Ok, I made my big lumber store adventure today. After about 45 minutes in there, I can see where economies of scale come into play in this (I could have saved a ton of money if I'd had money to spare to buy the wood for two bodies). I ended up getting a large 1 3/4 inch thick cherry board with a small knot in the center, but the knot will be cut out and I'll just use the ends of the board for the body. I also got a 1 inch thick piece of cherry for the strip down the center of the neck laminate and a piece of maple for the rest of the neck. I would have gotten better cuts, but they wouldn't allow me to cut down existing boards (except the larger cherry because the price tag had fallen off and they needed to make a new label anyway). There weren't any small, thin bloodwood boards, so I couldn't use that for the neck laminate. Here are the pics of the wood I ended up with. And here's the other side. Given more money, I think I would have gotten better wood, but for a first project, I don't think it will make too much difference in the long run. I don't have a moisture meter and will be heading off to school before one could get here, but the wood has a good 6 weeks to continue drying (it seems really dry already) in the house before I start working it, so it should be fine. I decided to hold off on the template until summer break because I want to read Hiscock's book and make a few more design decisions. Currently I think I'm gonna drop the long scale length down to 25.5 inches because my current guitar is 25.5 and I can't imagine playing anything longer (unless it is a bass). I think the shorter scale will be fine as long as I don't tune it too low (I'd like to get an A on the low string, which hopefully won't buzz on this scale length). I've also decided to go with a tele style body instead of a superstrat/rg style. I'd still really like to do a neck through, but will wait to decide on that until I see the details on how to do it. I don't think I need a neck angle because I'll be using a hipshot fixed bridge and those are pretty low profile (feel free to correct me if I am wrong). I guess that'll be it for a while since I won't have access to wood or wood working tools until the beginning of May. Thanks for all the help so far. -Andrew

I realize that my first build has a decent chance of turning out relatively poorly, but would still like to set fairly high standards so that I have something to aspire to. Obviously I'm hoping that it won't be a complete waste of wood, but, honestly, since it's the hardware (especially those dang emg's) that will make it cost so much, I can always build a new neck and body for relatively cheap (under $100) and just swap out the hardware when it is done (although it would be rather wastefull to do this). At this point I'm just excited about the thought of having a hopefully better than mediocre guitar that I can say I made. With regards to the neck attachment, it seems like set-neck might be the way to go. As much as I'd like the neck-thru, having the ability to scrap the neck or body individually if something goes wrong could really save me a lot of time and effort in the long run. Since I don't have access to any 7-strings to try to get a feel for various radii, I'll just plan on the 12 inch fretboard radius. Currently I'm not planning on trying to try to sell any guitars I make, but that may change after I finish college (ironically, a college would be a great place to start selling guitars, but I have no space to work or large tools to use here since I don't have access to the school's materials lab). Any advice on what to look for in a piece of wood for instrument making before I head to the lumber yard (I don't think we have an actual mill in our area because it is pretty much flat and treeless). Is it basically just straight wood with an even grain pattern and no knots? Thanks for the help. -Andrew

Thank you all for your advice. I'm amazed by how helpful and friendly everyone here has been already. Erik, woodfinder.com helped a lot. I found a lumber store about an hour away that seems like it should have good quality lumber. Their prices seemed reasonable ($7.44 per board foot of 2 inch thick cherry for the body, $4.58 per board foot of 1 inch maple for the neck laminate, and they don't have bloodwood, so I'll need to pick a different wood for the center strip unless I find it elsewhere). John, thanks for the cabinet maker tip. I'll check that out over break. If my tax return check comes in the next few days, (and out cabinet maker doesn't have any scraps I can use), I may buy the wood over spring break to allow it to dry for a month or so until I'm back for the summer. I'll consider doing a bolt-on, but I really prefer the look and feel of a neck-through. Mescabug, thanks for the bloodwood tips. Since it looks like I might not have local access to it anyway, I'll probably try to find another wood for the neck laminate. Thanks for the fretboard advice. I didn't even think about the problem that would pose. I will definately just go pre-slotted and radius it myself. What sort of radius would be common on a 7 string fretboard? I'm not planning on messing with a compound radius just yet (although that might be a nice challenge for next summer). I'll have my hands full getting the neck fretted as it is (to be honest, that part of the process worries me). Since this is turning out to be a rather expensive project (currently in excess of $500 without specialty tools), what sort of quality is to be expected on a first build? Currently my only guitar is a $200 RG, so the bar is set pretty low. If money comes through, I'll post pictures of my templates and wood blanks next week. Thanks again for all the help. -Andrew

Hi all, A few weeks ago I stumbled across this site while searching for some mods for my cheap RG. After browsing the site and the forums, I have decided that it should be within my abilities to build a guitar. I realize that this is a large undertaking and is not something I should jump into without a lot of preparation. I will be purchasing Make Your Own Electric Guitar in the next week or so and have assembled a tentative parts list (I'm away at school now and will hopefully make some mdf templates over my spring break next week). I am currently planning on making a 7-string neck-through guitar with a cherry body and a laminate neck (which I think will be maple with strips of some yet unchosen wood). I know that I shouldn't rush the build process, but I will only be home for the summer for around 4 months, so I was wondering if it should be at all expected to finish a first build within this time frame if I invest a lot of time in it or if I should plan on finishing it over another break. Currently the plan appears to be: Neck: laminate with maple and maybe bloodwood Body: cherry Pickups: EMG 81-7 and EMG 707 Bridge: either Warmoth 7 string fixed or tonepros bridge to string thru (I'd like a kahler, but I can't afford the added $150 this year) Tuners: undecided, but certainly locking Hardware: assorted gold Body shape: most likely superstrat (hopefully carved top) Fretboard: ebony (pre-slotted and pre-radiused from LMI) Finish: hopefully it will go well enough that I can do a nice natural finish with some sort of gloss over it (I'm still looking into finish options since that will be the last thing I do) I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew. My only other question is related to the acquisition of wood. I don't have access to any decent lumber yards (Home Depot only). Would ordering my wood from the lumber section (instead of the guitar woods section) of a site like Exotic Woods translate into lower quality wood than getting it through the instrument making section? While I will have the money to build the guitar, I am trying to keep costs down where possible and it seems cheaper to order just the right amount of each wood than to order a huge block that I won't use all of. Hopefully I'll be able to move this to the current builds section in a month or so. Thank you for any advice and/or comments you have, Andrew