fehgalloway

I was horrified at the price of "good quality" guitars (i only just decided to learn) and (in my ignorance) thought I could do better....how wrong I was.... AUD$3500 for a Strat....pft...not likely, not when they were designed to be cheap to re-produce... and guitars just grabbed me. they seemed possible to build. I'd like to try to build lots of things, most of which i wouldn't have a clue how to do....a computer, a car, it's interesting to see how things work. electric guitars are a lot simpler than i ever imagined (before i ever saw one ) I knew nothing about woodworking or guitars and saw it as a chance to understand both a little better... i think it's worked

Ok, well, i have done a lot since the last post, however, I haven't touched anything over the last week...so i thought i'd post what i've done and show you the rest when i've finished a bit more this is the neck, basically all i have left to do is sand it all down up to about 600 - 800 grit, i suppose and fret the fingerboard. I am totally NOT happy with the three frets i have done, which is why i haven't continued. That and i'm back at work. coming home at 6pm and starting fretting is not good, so i'm giving it a couple of weeks before I start up again. I will pull them and start again. As with everything, there are heaps of mistakes. I don't know if it will even work, but I learned a lot. The inlays look pretty good from a distance, i think, but up close they're fairly crap. The stars are made from shell i found on the beach and cut up with my Dremel. it was time consuming. whilst i'm fairly patient, this was too much for me to handle and i will not be doing it again without the proper equipment. so the stars are actually fairly SH*T. anyway. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's the Southern Cross, and is on the Australian Flag. The leaves on the rest of the frets are gum leaves. They're made out of the same veneer that the binding is around the fret board. the side dot markers are made out of little slivers of the body timber that i sanded down sort of round. I'm proud because everything on the guitar I have made myselft, with the exception of the fret wire. All in all, i'm fairly happy. i decided at the beginning i would be happy if it doesn't look crap...and if i can't use it, i will simply put it down as learning and start again. I haven't touched the body, but the next step is to route the neck pocket. Anyway, here's some photos. I'd appreciate your opinions and comments, for me this was a learning experience and it's been beneficial. there are many mistakes I will not make again next time. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/ozguitar/P1010307.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/ozguitar/P1010310.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/ozguitar/P1010309.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/ozguitar/P1010308.jpg Thanks for looking!

I must admit...I haven't REALLY been following the cricket as much as I'd like!?! It's not as good when we thrash everyone every time....it's nice to see a close comp now and then. I did see Ponting get his century (finally) glen mcgrath is a fantastic bowler. Gillespie seems to be in good form at the moment also, as well as McGill (i think it was him i saw bowling). When Shoab Akhtar is in form it may be a bit of a different story for Aus.. That guy is a fantastic bowler...Whether he is chucking or not!?! Besides... I've been too busy sanding and planing and routing...etc, etc, etc. anyways! I've basically got up every morning and worked through till 5 every day doing this thing.. No progress pics...i'm too embarrassed about my bad workmanship, however, my neck is nearly finished and so I'll post some pics when it's done...maybe today or tomorrow! where's the beef??? Where are you from? i'm from Brisbane (nice weather NOT) Cooktown ironwood!?!!?!?! That's mental! my fingerboard it heavy enough.. Actually, the body is really heavy too...but my neck is super light. i was a little surprised actually, i didn't know that Qld Maple was that light! Hope its going to be strong enough. BTW - you're the first person who actually knows what West Australian rosewood is...my uncle got it for me, it was an old stair tread he cut up, don't know much about it really. Pretty though Any pics of your guitars!?!?!?

Spent all yesterday afternoon and this afternoon planing the timber, so i can glue the two neck halves together. I officially hate planing, but every timber shop is shut over the new year break, so i had to do it myself. Still not 100% level, but i'll give it a go, and see how it is, if it's not good enough, i'll buy more timber! 2nd problem. my autocad drawings seem to be out. i've measured them again and again. I've printed them out on A4's and stuck them together (ok not the best approach) and they're out over all by 5mm going to get them done to scale at a printer, however, am going to be REALL P***ED off if they're still not right

Hmm...of COURSE he's lucky to have me!!! LOL, that goes without saying!

My boyfriend got me a Dremel for Christmas, I am the luckiest person alive!!!!!!! How cool is that!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Ugh...Imperial, why wouldn't you change over! the world would be a better place! and so much less confusing! Drawing updated and ready for Boxing day work! (only 4 hours till Christmas! ) Ignore most of the text in the middle, the details have changed a bit.

Thanks Maiden, i'l go over it a bit. I'd rather have it a little hight than a little low, personally. I've set up my whole design based on 2mm above the fretboard, so my neck angle and everything will change a bit, but that's ok.... i'll show you all after Christmas.. Have a good one everyone, and take care! God Bless!

Just a quick question... i'm just trying to figure out if my design will work properly frets are about 1mm high, strings are 1mm above that, so an action of 1mm, is this going to be too little for a newbie builder to get right???? i don't know what 1mm is in inches...between 3/64 and 2/64 i think.. Thanks very much.

Ok, well, i started to get my neck organised last night: I cut my big chunk of timber into two pieces, that are a bit over half the width of the neck. I have to plane them down and then glue them together.... I can fit the whole neck on, headstock and all, from the one piece...all i'll have to do is glue ears on. I'm paranoid about mucking the fret slots up, so i got into cad (at work today ) and started....then i couldn't finish, so i took cad home, loaded it up, and this is what i got.. the graphic is really big, because it's hard to make out otherwise, its about 1100x1600 i think, so i'm just warning everyone. I would appreciate any comments, pointing out of errors, bad points, anything. As you will probably see, i've copied a few bits here and there.. firstly - Perry, i really liked the volute on the headstock, neck join, so i've kind of copied it - if this is a problem, please tell me and i'll remove it. it's a very gibson-esqu headstock, but i like them.. the body will be carved (hopefully) to accomodate the neck angle. And what i forgot to write on the plans...my headstock is 13mm thick. anyway, have a look and tell me what you think. 800x600 1200x1600 EDIT: it doesn't seem to be linking to the individual photos, just my account, but i'm sure you can figure it out: picture 1 is 800*600, picture 2 is 1200*1600. Bye Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom!

Your work is amazing Hyunsu! I have total respect for you as a person and builder! I wish I could be less lazy and more like you! You'd nearly be able to compete with the gibson factory for speed, and i bet your work is better quality too!

Thanks for your help daveq - i'll go and have a look at my drawings and see if i can't fix them a bit to make a slicker neck! and congrats on the little one!

Well, there's not a lot to update. I've sanded the sides on the body, measured and re-measured the plans, and everything's set to go... this week or boxing day, i'll cut out the neck. It will be laminated 2 piece Qld Maple neck. I will cut it out completely from one piece. It has a 2degree neck angle and 12 degree headstock angle. the 2 questions i do have, if anyone can answer, are: how much wood should be left underneath the truss rod. I have a hot shot double aciton truss rod from stew mac. in my plans i've left 5mm at the thinnest point, near the headstock, however, this still seems like a really thick neck when you include the thickness of the fretboard at 6mm...i'm going to have a look at some plans if i can - from MIMF, but if anyone can give me their opinion, that would be great, thanks.. AND what is a "normal" action. I've got the string set at 2mm above the fret board. is this too little? too much? it doesn't leave much room for error! no pics yet...nothing much to show.. Oh...and my stew mac order came on Friday...1 1/2 weeks postage at XMAS, that' not too bad!!! thanks in advance for your opinions and comments! fiona

Congratulations! Photos?

That doesn't even warrent a response.... you already know the answer to that!

If you haven't figured it out yet, this is what i did to get pics up get an account with photobucket - it's free. browse your harddrive to get photos and upload them into your account. When the photos have been uploaded, there will be a list at the bottom of your account page. under each photo there will be 3 text boxes. URL TAG HTML to post an image, go to the IMG button at the top of where you type your post and click. it will come up with a little box at the top of the screen asking for URL. copy the URL info from the photobucket account and click ok. That will post a picture since there is only 1 picture per post allowed, you may need to post a link to your pics. so... click the http:// button at the top of the post you're typing and paste the URL info from photobucket again (or for a different photo....etc) click ok, type in name of photo, click ok. that is linking to an off-site photo, where as linking an image puts the photo on this website. That sounds more confusing than it is... hope it helped some.

javacody I don't know, actually. I got it as a freebie.. As you can see from the pics, it's really red, not as brown, like indian rosewood, and I don't know if it is as dense/hard. It's a hardwood, that's all i know. Sorry.. I think a carve would look really good on this guitar, as i'm trying to make it a bit less heavy, and a carve would not only take a bit of the weight out of it, but would make it look a little less like a huge chunk of wood with a neck sticking out of it... I probably will, so thanks for the advice, i will most definately use a template! makes a lot more sense! Will hopefully sand sides during week, and probably get my order from Stew Mac. Even with xmas rush, should be here this week! I have 3 weeks holidays coming up after xmas, so i'm hoping to get a lot done then!

It's 45mm thick. It is quite heavy, only slightly more so than my cheap plywood strat copy. I'm probably going to carve the top a bit...well, maybe i'll carve the top a bit - not sure yet, i'll see how i go! What does everyone else think - carve yes or no...

Well, I got nearly nothing done this weekend! Dad bought the Triton workcentre, router table, and jigsaw attachment. so i helped him put it together... he's the slowest and most finickity person i've ever met, so it took all weekend.. but...it's together, so work will begin soon!

I'm not an expert, but i think you use a round bottom router bit, and either make it perpendicular to the carve, or verticle, so they sit flat.

And...I forgot to mention the NOT TO DO THING I LEARNT! The timber i cut the body from was really long, and as mentioned in the old thread, my uncle had cut up an old stair tred and laminated it into 8 pieces for the body - mainly to get the good grain. i cut through the middle of the timber to cut it in half and make the end with the template more workable, and having it balanced over two saw horses, of course it fell in. I presumed it was going to do this, but as it was less than a metre, and it was going to fall onto scraps, i didn't worry. Well, it snapped, completely down the centre, along the glue line, except for 3mm at the top, where it split the timber. Luckily the template held it together, so i cut it out, went to Bunnings bought some clamps and wood glue and fixed it up. There is a slight glue line at the neck end, but other than that, it's fairly un-noticable. Or at least no more than what it was before. And it seems solid as a rock. So, lesson one..Patience, and proper working surfaces.. It's all good now!

Hi everyone, Well, after finishing uni for the year, my next job is to start (and finish) my guitar in the christmas holiday. I have 4 months, so if i don't get a fair chunk done, i'll be very annoyed at myself. I started last weekend. Working full-time is VERY bad. I would prefer to be poor and have time to myself. So the only time I have is weekends, and even then, trying to balance building a guitar with hanging out an acceptable amount with my boyfriend is annoying. So this is a slow warning - letting you all know that this is going to take a while. Anyway, i've finally begun. I had a thread previously with info on my timber and hardware. As i'm from , I wanted to use only native timber, so I've scrounged around and got everything I need, for not too much. To cut a long and boring story short.... I designed my guitar about 2 months ago on graph paper I glued it to some cheap second hand perspex I bought and cut it out with a jigsaw I sanded and filed the sides of the perspex, till all the lumps and bumps were gone. I screwed the perspex onto my timber I cut out the guitar with jigsaw. here are some progress pics. Plan and timber plan on timber perspex, jigsaw, plan template on cut out body body Timber: West Australian Rosewood Body Queensland Maple Neck Cooktown Ironwood Fingerboard Victorian Ash Binding finish: clear of some sort Hardware: 3&3 tuners hotrod truss rod tune-o-matic bridge 2 humbuckers (hopefully made by me) wiring setup same as les paul Inlays: Timber or shell - undecided NEXT.... To sand down the sides and start the neck. i'm using Martin Koch's method for sanding - i'm getting sanding drums tomorrow and making a router table on the weekend. I did want a triton router table, but for $200, I can live without it! Any comments, questions or suggestions are welcome! just be nice, I'd only used a jigsaw once before then, and I've never done any woodworking, so it's all going to be a bit interesting i think! Thanks guys!

I must admit, I hate metal guitars, but I'll give you 10 points for enthusiasm! I guess if you want a metal guitar, then you've got one, so it's all good. Good luck anyway!

Hi, I saw a picture once of a guitar which had been changed from a normal 6 string strat into a 12 string strat. Can't find it now, could have been on MIMF or even here, can't remember. He just changed the bridge over, left the 6 regular tuners on, and added 6 more around the edge. He may have reinforced the back of the headstock with something, can't remember. Anyway, it didn't look the best, but I guess it's an option, something to think about anyway. I've drawn a REALLY quick picture of what it sort of looked like. Dodgy Strat headstock Drawing ...

I'm sorry, I didn't understand your whole post either, but from what I understood, you want to make a Warlock, and you need info on the size and on how to make a guitar. My best suggestion is going to the BC Rich website and reading all their info, I dont' know how good they are, but gibson has all sorts of info on scale, etc, so maybe that would work ok, otherwise, find out the info you need to build the guitar. Scale, size, parts, etc..go to your local music shop and measure it all up, take photos, note down everything that you can. I don't know anything about Warlocks, but I'm presuming it would be similarly built to just about every other guitar, bolt on, or glued, neck, etc.... Get a couple of books on building, you'll find links on here for the good ones, and use them to answer your step by step question. Start a thread in the in progress section, add lots of photos, and I'm sure people will help Not being rude, however, I would guess English is a second language. It's a little hard to understand what you're trying to say. Add a little puntuation (full stops, commas, etc) It breaks it up and makes it easier. Where are you from, by the way? Good luck, and let us know how you get on