jer7440

9 min

I realize how much it costs to produce a product. Havin' a bad day and I just felt like ranting a bit.

I hope you can see that image better than I can. My screen at home stinks

Hey,

Thanks for the comments!

The software I used to draw this guitar was Mastercam. It is a cad/cam software I use at work. I am hoping in the near future to use this model to machine that top in a cnc mill.

As far as learning to do it, thats kind of hard to say. I took a 1 week class to learn this software about 6 yrs ago. Out of that 1 wk class about 3 hrs were spent on creating 3d geometry and surfaces. Thats how I learned the basics, but most of what I do at work is only 2d. So I just kept going hit and miss with different techniques until I got something I liked.

What program have you been using?

I hadn't really been able to find a cad model like this of a carved lp top so I made my own.

I started with a dxf template I found on mimf. I belive it was originaly drawn by John Catto. Due to file conversion issues the entire downloaded file was made up of tiny little line segments. These tiny lines make it almost impossible to do good surfacing, so I redrew the template over top of the original using true arcs and lines.

With a good clean outline I started doing the surfaces. I tried to use what I had learned from Setchs build, things like the neck angle and pickup plane. As far as the curves are concerned, I just had to wing it and go with what looked good to me.

Here are a couple of screen shots from my cad system. I know it is not exact but what do you think?

http://img62.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img62ℑ=lptopiso.jpg

First time I have ever hosted or posted images hope this works

I run an edm machine for a living, and I know alumunum extrusion tools are cut on an edm machine. Trust me if stew-mac sells 30 of those units at $116 a piece they have certainly coverd the cost of the extrusion tooling! And as far as R & D, how long do you really think it took some one to sit down at their cad station and draw a 12" rad with a handle on top, give me a break.

Hope that covers everything.

Yeah that covers it. Dude you rock Thanks alot.

Setch,

I have a couple of questions going back to the top carving.

1) How thick was the maple top when you started carving?

2) How deep is the carve or what is the difference in depth from the bridge level

to the lowest point of the carve?

3) How tall is your binding? The tallest I saw at Stew-Mac was 3/8. Does your

binding channel overlap into the mahogony?

Thanks

Jeremy

Why would you spend "several hundred dollars" for stainlee steel threaded rod? If you watch ebay, I'm sure you could find a set of ball screws for that kind of money. That would be way smoother and accurate than threaded rod.

I pulled the pickguard off the other night. There are 3 wires coming from each pup, a white a green and an orange. They all seem to be wired the same way, orange to the switch and white and green to the bottom of the volume pot.

Is there any way to test the pup to determine if it is bad? If it is I might be tempted to put a single coil space humbucker in the bridge position and move the good sensor from the bridge to the middle. Any thoughts on this combo?

I have a 75th anniversay strat with 3 gold lace sensor pickups. The middle pup barely has any output. Unless I really have my amp running hot and I bang on the strings I get nothing. The combination sounds are the same way, it's all bridge or neck not really any combination.

I am a complete electronic moron. I know very little. Can anyone help me diagnose this problem? Is the pup just bad?

Thanks

Jer

Setch,

I was wondering if you could elaborate a little more on carving the neck angle and "pickup plane". I've read in the past that the neck angle for a LP is about 4 deg. How do you know how deep to carve this angle? Also what angle is the "pickup plane"?

These questions might sound silly, but I am trying to create a 3d model of a LP top in a CAD program.

I would be interested to follow your work. I have a Haas vertical mill at work that I am going to try to use. It's what I do for a living, so it seemed like a natural way to pursue building a guitar. But if I could build something for my home shop, that would rule.

Super glue ,or CA glue, or cyanoacrelate (spelling) comes in at least 3 different consistencies. Thick, medium, and thin. If you use the thin variety (thin like water) and apply right to the joint line of the 2 pieces you are gluing together, the joint will actually "suck up" or wick the glue into itself.

I had one question about doing this, doesn't the CA stain the fingerboard? Does this scrape off?

Setch,

awsome build man! Thanks for all the detailed pics.