foil1more

Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond (The Strokes)

+1 to surgical tubing. No spring noise and a lot easier to keep on the screw than a spring.

Idea. Bevel the edge down about 1/4" and use 1/8 or so binding. Either that or get ready for a fun evening of sanding the sides back to get rid of the gap.

I don't think you can fill that and make it look good with a natural finish.

If you want to get a good finish with tung oil, you have to really work it into the wood. I did my acoustic neck with tung and it is great. Tung oil does get very sticky if you don't work it in. I also didn't use pure tung oil.

Very nice. It just has the "play me" look.

hmm, my favorite body styles are the Teles, Jags, and almost any hollow body. I guess it would be easier to say I don't like spikey things and Strats without a top carve. Hope that isn't too much heresy.

I'm pretty sure it's what I want. I like the sound of teles and I like the complexity that a hollow body adds to the sound. It'd be a good way to get into wood bending. I'd be using fairly cheap wood (since it will be painted) so if I screw up a few pieces I won't be losing a lot of money. The Danelectro is pretty much what I'm thinking of doing.

See if you can find a local lumber yard that will do it. I took a piece to a local place and had it planed down a for $3. Depending on where you go, they might have a big thickness sander for thinner stuff.

wow

SwedishLuthier got my vote. That guitar is amazing. Thanks everyone for the feedback on my build. I'm definitely hooked on building guitars now, so I'll be refining this design and designing new ones.

I would agree with wes. Maple tends to amber as it ages. I have an old piece my uncle gave me that looks about the same color as that neck on the surface but if I sand it, it's light under that layer. You may have just sanded through it. Even so, I wouldn't mess with it. There's more of a chance of screwing up trying to get the color to match perfectly.

Not a huge pink (the color) fan but this is really cool. I like the clear center and colored wings. Strange but good contrast.

I'm pretty sure the sealer prevents cracks by SEALING the ends of the wood so that it dries slowly. If the end is left unsealed, the end will dry up quickly and shrink. Sealer is not supposed to breath. A seasoned piece of wood will not need that. And I would say never build a guitar out of green wood unless you want to be setting it up and fixing cracks for years. And I've never seen an acoustic guitar or other acoustic instrument with any kind of finish on the inside. If you're building an acoustic, you want as little finish as possible so the wood can resonate.

I'm quite a fan of Telecasters and I would like to build one but I want to build a unique one. My idea is to make a completely hollow tele using bent maple sides and a thin top and back. The only blocks would be for the strings to go through under the bridge and reinforcement around the neck (set neck). If I use 1/8" maple for the top and back, would I need any bracing besides a plate to screw the bridge to? If I use a spruce top, how much bracing would I need? Would kerfing be need to get the top and back to glue to the sides? Anything else I need to be aware of? This would be my half arsed way of getting a hollow body (don't have the money for the tools to make an archtop...yet) and a tele. I'm thinking cream colored, black binding and pick guard, and gold hardware. Any answers would be great. I won't be able to build this for a while anyway. I have an electric cello to build first but this will be the project that follows.

Well, total time for mine was five months, from the time I designed it to the time I played the first chords. Taking out the time from mid September to Christmas break (where college stole my time), I probably built it in about 2 months. A lot of that was working 5-7 hours at a time, 3 or 4 days a week, for a month.

Hmm, tough competition this month. I'll through mine in here too. First guitar I've built from scratch. "The Mad Dutchman" (I asked for name suggestions from my friends and this is the best one) Mahogany body with maple top (the body is about 1/2 to 2/3 chambered) Maple bolt-on neck stained with rosewood dust from the fretboard. 25" scale, 24 frets Ebony nut Neck bolted with brass inserts in the heel and 1/4 steel machine screws. Gotoh TOM bridge string-thru Golden Age overwound humbuckers. 5 way multi-pole switch (neck, outer coils parallel, both pickups, inner coils parallel, bridge) Body finished with shellac, neck finished with tru-oil I'm really happy with how it sounds. It has a lot of sustain and a nice rich sound. I'm happy that any mistake I made while building could be easily fixed or covered. My favorite pickup selection is the outer coils. Lot's of bite and crunch and almost a wah sound when the tone is closed. I do have to fix a bit of the finish though. I took it into college to show some friends and professors and I didn't realize that the shellac wasn't as cured as I thought. I now have a strap mark. But live and learn and this was a great learning experience.

It all depends on the guitar. There can be horrible Fenders and excellent Squires. Just play it before you buy it. I've borrowed a Squire strat from one of my friends and it was pretty nice. If you can pick one up at a pawn shop for cheap, go ahead. You can always do your own setup and fix minor problems when you paint it.

Hmm, I must be lucky with my local guitar center then. The people that work there do seem to know what they're talking about.

Well, I don't think you can use straight stain over shellac. You could mix color in with the shellac, but I haven't tried this yet so I couldn't give you any hints.

I can't believe it's as volatile as other finishes. I find tru-oil works better using your fingers anyhow. The rags I have used, I just let dry and I through them out when they're dry and hard. This does give me the urge however, to try lighting it on fire (but I'm a pyro anyhow)

Yes it has been done. I have a huge book The Illustrated Directory of Guitars by Nick Freeth. Tom Anfield carved a full size strat style guitar out of bubinga. It's all one piece except for the ebony fretboard and an ebony accent on the headstock. It also says working with bubinga for 3 months gave Anfield a a chest infection from breathing in the dust.

I'll probably buy a slotting set for my next project. I've probably spent $6-700 on parts and tools and I was out of money.

The first (and last) time I used gorilla glue on a wood project, I was trying to sand it down and getting no where. I realized that the random orbital sander was heating up the glue and making it ooze. Granted, that was my first ever instrument project. I built a dulcimer like thing out of wood and fishing string for a instrument project in middle school while other people had rubber bands and milk jugs. But I digress. Gorilla glue does eventually get brittle and flaky too. I used it to re-attach my car mirror. After about 2 years, I close my door on a hot summer day and the mirror falls off. I'm sure weather accelerated the process but I wouldn't want to risk anything falling apart. There's instruments hundreds of years old built with hide glue.

Lacquer needs a while to cure before it gets hard. Almost every finish needs time to completely cure. I even had this problem when I sprayed shellac. Now I have a few spots to fix (strap and case imprint). Also, I don't think lacquer is compatible with urethane. The original finish on that guitar is urethane http://www.fender.com/products//view_specs...caster%26reg%3B