Just wanted to share aome pictures of my first attempts.
I have been reading howto's and watching some excellent instructional videos on youtube, so today I took the plunge and started a guitar project. Basically I need to learn how to use the tools as well as how to make a guitar, so I am taking it slow, and using cheap wood, just to "wet my feet".
I had some pine shelving that was only 290mm wide and 19mm thick. I decided to scale down a Les Paul shape to fit the 290mm width, and to glue the shelving to double the thickness to 38mm, then I had an idea to sandwich a piece of ply between them - to produce a nice stripe effect on the side, and take the depth up to 41mm or so.
So yesterday I made the sandwich, glueing them with titebond, and left it clamped overnight. This morning, I made a template, then rough cut the guitar body out with my jigsaw, then routed the exact shape. I also used the router to round over the edges. Next I made a template for the neck pocket (I will initially bolt on an old neck from a Telecaster copy. I might attempt to make my own neck later). I routed out the pocket and fit the tele neck.
Here's how it looks so far. I am thinking of playing around with a floating bridge as in the photo. Nothing is sanded yet, so it is still a bit rough.
Here's a detail shot of the stripe from the ply from the side - I think it looks great.
Edit: just realised I should probably have posted this in the forum for "in progress work". Not sure how to move it though.... sorry 'bout that