Supernova9

hi im new to this site and i decided to join to get help with a guitar im planning to build. my name is dave and im 17 and from ireland. being from ireland has its good points, but not when it comes to gyuitars. i live 60 miles away from the  nearest shop, and that shop cant help me get what im looking for. what i want is a mosrite ventures II, as played by Johnny Ramone of the Ramones. I have found them on the net, but cosidering im 17, and still in school, i cant afford the 2500+euros to buy one. so i decided i would make one instead.

I have been studying up on the guitar to see how hard would be. It looks pretty easy and relativley inexpensive. I figured out that it would cost about 400euros, and thats allowing a lot of money for each part. But if it comes to it, i would be willing to spend around 500. I have pretty good setup. My dad is a carpenter, so i have access to his advice 24/7, and access to his workshop, which has every tool i need, you know the usual bandsaws, jigsaws, routers, drill press, spraying and finishing equipment, sanders..etc. I myself have an A in junior cert woodwork, and a B in metalwork(which included electronics and plastic working), i worked with my father doing various woodwork tasks for three years, and i have now branched off into doing my own work refinishing, repairing and in some cases, making antiques. So dont take me for some punk kid who thinks he can just magically make a guitar in his bedroom. I have the equipment, i have the knowledge, i have the money and i have the time.

But what i dont have is the measurments. What im looking for is the scale length, the thickness, the measurments for the outline of the guitar, and the outline of the pickguard. I would also like to know the where i could get a schematic for the electronics, i might do it differently than johnnys (disconnected mini humbucker, with permanantly on single coil always at full volume and tone), but if i could get a copy of them it would be great to start. Ill more than likely have both the minihumbucker and the single coil connected, but with a strat style selector switch so i can change between, cause im not gonna pay 95 euros for a humbucker that doesnt even work. I also have a plan fo the paint job, black body, with a pink pickguard and various pictures and decals around the body. i have the tools to do the paint and the pictures, but i dont know where i can get any pink plastic. I cant just buy a pickguard because it needs to be custom to the body im building. So any leads on that would be handy. I do have some clear perspex, which if it comes down to it i can just shape, buff up, and paint pink on the back of it.

So anybody who has built a guitar in this style, or knows where i can get any info regarding the size, could you please pass it on. Im talkng anything her, even if it is the smallest thing like the thickness of the guitar or the space between the pickups. Any info would be great.  Also any useful tips on how to do stuff would be very helpful.

              Thank you in advance

                    Dave"the dude"

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Maybe try the below ebay auction for the template? Does this help?

Hello everyone,apologies if this seems a stupid question.I'm about to start my first build and have already decided that my guitar body will end up painted. It seems to me that to make the body from some exotic hardwood would be a waste of money and resources.Therefore, I'm considering using plywood (multiplex in USA?),or MDF. Now I might be missing something here, but is there a valid reason why either can't be used? Both are quite dense so sustain should be good.Neither

suffer from splitting or warping,so what's the problem.Is it just a case of snobbery in that these are cheap products?Please enlighten this novice. Thanks.

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MDF is made of small fibres held together by a huge mass of glue. For an instrument to sound 'good', the body woods need to transfer vibrations/soundwaves well. With MDF being formed of so many small fibres, and glue being amazingly poor at transmitting said soundwaves, it does not lend itself to musical instrument making well. Neither does plywood, although it has fewer pieces (just the number of sheets in the ply), the differing grain directions would cause the same sort of transfer problems as with the fibres of MDF.

It's not a case of snobbery that they are cheap, they just aren't usually considered good enough (there's a reason why even the cheapest guitars these days never use plywood). Aesthetics aside, they're pretty much functionally inadequate.

You'll do much better (as was suggested above), to buy a cheap hardwood like Alder/Ash for your project.

I've decided to only build the body for my first guitar, possibly an ESP F shape, and would like to do a deep red quilted maple (I love red quilt) top if that's even possible on the F shape. After looking through ebay it seems all the people selling quilted/flamed maple are in the US, while I don't mind buying something and getting it shipped I would prefer to buy something a little more local.

So I looked at craft-supplies, on their catalogue they have 3/8" bookmatched:

WMS249A Maple (Flamed) - 3A : £37.50

WMS249B Maple (Flamed) - 4A : £50.68

WMS249C Maple (Flamed) - 5A : £66.80

WMS244A Maple (Quilted) - 3A : £37.50

WMS244B Maple (Quilted) - 4A : £50.68

WMS244C Maple (Quilted) - 5A : £66.80

Now first I would like to know if someone has some examples of the difference between 3A/4A/5A and with this being my first project would I really notice the quality difference between 3A and 5A.

Now onto price, what would you pay for a bookmatched quilted maple 3/8" top, the prices from craft-supplies seem a bit much compared to what I've seen on ebay in the US.

Third and Final question, has anyone here bought top-wood from craft-supplies, would you say it's worth it, and was the quality as expected?

Thanks for any help

Note: I tried searching for this but there's so many posts mentioning Quilted Maple I couldn't find what I wanted.

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I've ordered both a 3A Flame top and a 4A flame top from CS. You definitely notice the difference between them. In my mind I will never buy under a 4A again from them. Craft Supplies' quality control is notoriously patchy, and the 3A I got had pretty minimal flame to be honest. When I bought the 4A though, the difference was immediately visible. It had regular flame across the entire surface, where the 3A was patchy at best.

Seriously, for £13 extra, it's more than worth the investment.

Hmmm I have a question regarding paint- hope someone knowleadgeble can answer it- Well this warlock was painted with nitro lacquer, i want to take it with me to England, but of course, it will spend more than 9 hours in a plane at minus 70 celsius, obviously the paint will check, so i want to give it a clear coat with 2 part automotive acrilic, made by Nexa.

The guitar was painted first with catalized lacquer, and then , on top of it, regular lacquer as it ´s way easier to buff, i have done tests before, and if i remember correctly i can apply this 2 part acrilic paint on top of lacuqer, now my question is, if i do, will the paint still check? Thanks a lot

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On a transatlantic flight the holds are all pressurised/heated these days, I don't think you'll get finish checking somehow. At least the Les Paul Standard my mate brought back from the US a little while ago didn't, and they're nitro iirc.

I've never ever heard anyone say that anything was cheaper in the UK than in the US.

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And that's because it's true for almost everything.

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Pardon the thread hijack, but curiousity has just struck - can anyone find anything that us brits aren't paying more for than you guys?

As for the original question - UK builders import stuff from the US for a reason - usually cost. You're lucky enough to be where it's cheap and good already. Stewmac, Gilmer, Durawoods etc. are all in your country, use them

Hey I'm making my first guitar (acoustic steel) under the guidance of John Liddy (awesome mandolins) and Tim Wright (sweet guitars). Ive come to the point where I'm fretting the neck. What I want to know is, is it better to glue the fretboard on and then fret it, or fret it prior to gluing the fretboard onto the neck...

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I've heard from people who do both - personally I fret with the board on the neck. Personal preference I think runs well here - but if doing it off the neck, you need to ensure it's double-side taped securely and flatly to a true/level surface, to avoid any back bow etc.

Supernova9, PRS do regularly use bolt-in necks on their bolt models.

Also, we've covered the spelling stuff. People do the best they can, this is a guitar forum, not a spelling forum. In my not so humble opinion, pointing out spelling errors can come accross fairly pompous.

Possum, you will have to build a body and neck from scratch or mod the heck out of an existing body and neck. The from scratch options are probably your best bet.

Also, I believe that the inserts you linked to are for acoustic guitar necks. Are you asking about using Ferrules instead of a jack plate, using threaded inserts with machine screws in the neck instead of wood screws, or both?

My personal choices would be the neck plate and the threaded inserts with machine screws, but I really like neck plates on bolt on guitars. 

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where can i get thread inserts and machine screws that will work with an electric?

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These Screws can be used with Fender-style Neck Plates

or

These can be used with neck ferrules if you don't want the neck plate

nah saga kit is out of the question lol wont look to nice next to my other guitars. heres exactly what im trying to build. a prs style bolt in neck(as pictured on the page i linked to).

the idea i had was to cut about 1/4" off the bottom of a strat heel and then glue a piece of the same type of wood only longer  to form the exstension, like on the prs bolt in necks. would this work

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Ok, here are the questions I think we need to know the answers to before we can help you.

1: Do you have a body this is already going onto? If so, what is it?

2: Are you intending to take a standard Fender neck and then just make it longer so that it extends further into the body of the guitar but has a shallower heel?

3: Do you realise that PRS don't normally use bolt-on necks, they use set necks?

4: Do you realise that if you're using a bolt on neck, there's not really much point extending the neck tenon further into the body, because you're not gluing it, and unless it's a REALLY snug fit, won't do anything for the tone?

5: Do you realise that it's really frustrating for us when people don't spell words properly? I hate to be a grammar snob, but seriously, it's like reading a text message on my mobile.

Hi,

Does anyb knows which site there is where there are many common good strumming methods, types, techniques?

I know nuts abt strumming ( I know abt the chords though.. )

but wud realli like to learn them..

Pls help

Thank You

Regards

gyaradoz

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Have a look around on Harmony Central, there's plenty of stuff on actually playing guitar there - you're not likely to find much here I'm afraid.

I think I know how to do that. Either way I ordered the Hiscock book yesterday so it should be there tomorrow at my new flat when I arrive. I just was looking for an alternative to it.

I could go VERY 80s and install a recessed (ok, not so 80s after all) Floyd and a single angled humbucker...mhmmmmm... Seems like the easy way out really.

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Do the TOM if you can, angling the neck's just a case of gluing the body wings on a slant. Provided your neck stock thickness is high enough to allow for that extra depth it shouldn't be hard at all. It's like loads of things with guitar building - as long as you're careful, it's not as scary/difficult as it may seem.

I have been applying my finish, Minwax polyurethane applyed with a brush.

these pics represent approx 10 coats.

I decided not to apply any sealers, instead opting to build the finish to fill in the grain. I tried this on a test piece with some success.

everthing was going ok with brushing until recently, so I broke down and bought an airbrush to finish the final coats.

I like the style, and the wood looks great, nice idea for the natural finish. What wood is that btw? Ash? Just one thing I think'd make it look neater, and I know it's covered, but you'll always know it's there, and that's the control cavity. The rest of the build's so smart and clean it just jumped at me straight away. At least rout the edges smooth! Other than that, quality build, looks great! If the tele I'm just getting to finish looks as nice as that, I'll be well chuffed!

cheers thanks for clearing that up, i was going to sand it down by hand but that has definatly now changed. Sorry mate i made a mistake i got my wood from david dyke, luthierssupplies.co.uk.

Another newbie question. Do you add a ball bearing to a roundover bit or do you have to buy a special roundover bit with ball bearing if you want to try and avoid burn marks.

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Getting a roundover bit with a bearing does not cure burn marks (they're caused by you holding the router in one place for too long), but it is better than one without a bearing.

The bearing stops you from cutting into the wood you're working on, and just rounds over level with the edge you run it against, which is the effect you'd be looking for on a strat.

ByronBlack - if you're looking for wood in the UK, try www.craft-supplies.co.uk (on the front page, look at their Soundwoods catalogue), they've got the biggest selection of tonewoods I've seen in the UK, and their customer service is v.good too.

My major concern though is tools. I live in Wallington, surrey, Finally I was wondering, although unlikely, if there is maybe someone who lives reasonably locally who is experienced who could maybe check my work, give me some advice, maybe lend me some tools or any of the above. A bit of a stretch I know but no harm in asking.

Cheers in advance Iain 

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You're from Wallington ey, I'm from just the other side of Croydon from you I guess.

The key with using a router (particularly for beginners) is good templates and a flush trim bit. Get a decent flush trim bit, and plenty of 12mm MDF - a good choice for templates. draw round that custom shop strat on the MDF for the body outline, and cut it close to the line using a saw, then neaten it all up using sandpaper etc, making sure you got it smooth.

Then take it the prepped body blank - trace round it, and again, cut round close to the line. Then stick the template on top, and use the flush trim bit to cut to shape - good templates make the actual work easy

the only difference in the two is the amount of patience you have.

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I'm curious about that one Perry, can you elaborate? You mean Neck-throughs require more patience? (I'm assuming due to more care/precision required in all the measurements before you make a cut?)

Question for those more knowledgeable than myself: Can't you use a router (obviously with a template bit and a machined straight edge) to joint surfaces?

As for thicknessing, search for Setch's Router Thicknessing jig - very useful if you don't have access to a surface planer etc, basically it holds the bit a fixed distance above a workpiece - allowing you to trim it down to the right thickness

Maybe I'm overlooking something simple, but is there an archive for all the guitars of the month?

Thanks much

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Yes, go to projectguitar.com, gallery, then at the top of the page there's:

Featured 2002 2003 2004 2005 Guitar of the Month Gallery

Click on the years to view the guitars.

Interesting kinda project - useful inspiration for the countless "How could I build a guitar for $1.99" threads I seem to see round here.

Not too sure about the headstock though - maybe slimmer next time?

OK, so I was reading the latest issue of Guitar World and saw the interview with Eric Johnson.  In the interview, he's asked how to get good tone, and he says the key is to start with good transparent amplification, and build upon that with effects.  Sounds simple, right?  But, I've been playing guitar for 17 years now, and over that whole time I've never really been too happy with my tone.  I've gone through a couple of amps in that time, mostly cheaper and mid-range solid state models, but all left me cold and unhappy.  I sold my last amp off a few years ago, and only had an acoustic until last year when I decided to buy another electric.  I'm now taking tone seriously, and the last part of that equation is amplification.

Any advice on good amplification for around $400-500?  Tube or solid state is fine, but what I'm really looking for is transparency.  I could spend more, and might for compelling reasons, but I'm just a hobbyist.  I've got money, but I've also got other things (wife and four kids) to think about before buying high dollar toys for myself.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

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The best resource I've seen for these sorta questions would be the Harmony-Central reviews - www.harmony-central.com

To be honest, I'm not sure about transparency, but an amp I've really really liked that was around that price range was the Peavey Classic 30.

I am currently building 3 guitars of my own design

there SG's with a kind of tele top horn

heres links to the pictures

guitar 1 - http://www.freewebs.com/jcguitars1/pictures.htm

guitar 2 - http://www.freewebs.com/jcguitars2/pictures.htm

guitar 3 - http://www.freewebs.com/jcguitars3/pictures.htm

dont look around the rest of the site if u dont want to as some people give me s**t for putting links to my site

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The first one is the most interesting, Drak's right, that carve makes it a better design. Though it feels like it needs accenting somehow, just painting both higher and lower sections matte black feels like it's missing something.

As for the other two - the top horn is too flat , looks like someone just chopped the top off, ya know?

Good work though, all the routing etc. looks very clean and tidy, good templates I take it?

Here's a idea.

Make a template. Put two or three inch wide "skies" on the bottom that are just a scootch thicker than your fingerboard and a little further apart than the width of the fingerboard. Clamp in place and rout away.

Can someone send me a link for the tool we're talking about above. I haven't seen anything like it down here and it seems pretty interesting?

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This was the original one in the first post

Everything else being discussed is pretty darn similar.

It is really neat how he can do it, but I was wondering for me if I should go ahead and use glue.  Anyone have any reccomendations?

Thanks!

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Ok, forgive me if I'm wrong, but you sound new to this.

If you want my honest recommendation - I wouldn't wrap the guitar completely in Aluminium. I'd reckon it'd be far more trouble/difficulty than it'd ever be worth.

I'd recommend (like the "Steel Top" guitar on the page above), if you're desperate for a real aluminium finish - use an Aluminium Top - a 3mm top on top of a wooden guitar could look really nice if done well - paint/stain the wood black, attach the metal top (Using mounting screws round the outside at regular intervals drilled down into the wood), and polish to a lovely shine. I think that would look great.

My $0.02

Toddler68's neck through

Check this thread, it was Guitar of the month last month. A really good, laminated neck-through project, not a tutorial, but shows you the steps in good order, with plenty of pics.

I'm only a Newbie, just started my first project, but after having made my first couple of routing templates I would give this advice:

STAY AWAY FROM MDF!!

I tried to make a routing template for a neck pocket, and found the stuff totally unworkable. Try to shape it with surform and/or sandpaper, and it just turns into mush. The best surface I could achieve was fuzzy and unreliable - the bearing of the guided router cutter just sank into it. Lucky I was only practicing on scrap!

Later I tried it with a nice sheet of ply-wood, with much more pleasing results - easy to rout and sand, with a nice finish. Now I've got a nice neck pocket template - it's a perfect fit for the neck heel and the surface that will contact the router cutter bearing is nice and solid. I'm v pleased with it as a first attempt, I just wish I hadn't waster an evening messing about with MDF - but as this thread is all about, mistakes are part of the learning process.

It's true - mistakes are another way of saying "I am wiser today than I was yesterday!"

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Wouldn't really say that - MDF is lovely for me, can get a nice smooth edge with little effort - a surform isn't too hot an idea for MDF, I just band/jigsaw it to rough shape and then sand smooth. Works fine.

Oh man, I hate this.

I made a beautiful figured koa bookmatched top Tele style guitar awhile back. The owner recently wanted a setup adjustment. I got the guitar back and I could not believe my eyes. There were sweaty handprints all over the guitar, skin cell and  sweat debris on the bridge and he threw the guitar in the case with the guitar strap still on the guitar, adjustment buckle side down. Arrrgh!

I'd rather not see guitars return like this. I put so much care into building these and this is how it's treated?

I've done some work on some customers non-Stewmade guitars and I'm shocked at the lack of care. I'm talking strings so used to the point that your hand sticks when changing chords. And I get this, "yeah, it just doesn't play right anymore" comments. Geez, maybe wipe down your strings after playing might help. I hate seeing my work come back with this much disregard. Yes I know guitars are meant to be played but you don't enter a brand new Jaguar into a Mickey Thompson off road race. I mean, do this to your $500 MIM Strats. The guy paid like $1600 for this guitar.

Do you guys get this stuff back like this?

Fresh out of my shop after completion

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Just one question - is that the StewMac Humbucker-Tele bridge? I'm thinking of that for my project, and wanted to see how it looked 'in action' as it were.

PS> I'm sure it would be fairer on the guitar if you ship it back to somewhere in SW London instead of giving it back to him

Ok, fairly specific enquiry.

Can anyone tell me the minimum bridge saddle height for either the Badass II (Which is a direct Fender Replacement) or a Standard Fender Bass bridge? I have the part being shipped from the states, but that's gonna take a long time to arrive, and I need this measurement to work out the neck angle!