Crusader

When you do things your own way as I am doing there tends to be stumbling blocks all the way. However I am improving my method as I go along if I endeavour to do one of these again. The Template plan I found online was apparently done by Scott Wilkinson and he does his routing in 1/16" increases in height. I did it the other way round going in 1/2 inch steps from the edge to centre and the height varies. Well I decided to take some of his idea and go in 1mm increments in height and now the distance from the edge varies Now here's the stumbling block. I have 2 routers and the newer one is 1 turn = 1mm but that's not the one set up as the overhead router. That one goes 3/4 turn = 1mm. What a PITA Doing the lower bout has never been a problem but navigating the middle and upper bouts have been hard to determine exactly how to go. In previous builds I have always messed them up in this area and it is noticeable. So this time I have taken my time to get it right and I'm getting there. I just hope I'll get enough shed time to get this one finished! I'm still contemplating what scale length to go with. I've marked out where the frets would land if I go 21.1 inches (663mm) I think the 24th fret might be a bit out of reach!

I did get into the shed today but it was more of the same

A bit of work done yesterday, photo speaks for itself

A bit more about what I call the balance line. I know this is not an accoustic instrument but I think "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" I sit the top on the edge of a table and mark where it just begins to tip and do the other way round, then take the centre and that's my balance line. Then to test my theory I hold it up and tap at the end and I hear a slight ring. Hold it anywhere else and I just hear a dead 'thud' This line will move after the top is shaped and when the body is joined It might all be in vain and not have any effect on tone or sound but it keeps me interested Today I've had a dull headache from the sinus surgery and still have nose bleeds so I stayed home. I got some guitar making done though, I made some templates for the top route My lines look a bit bodgy but its not meant to be a work of art!

Is the side with the frets flat? Photos would help

Interesting colour schemes and designs, nice work all round!

I got in a bit of progress on the Big Les Paul before my little holiday at the dream hotel. I've routed round the edge of the top so it sinks into the body 1/4". A couple of reasons for this I want to take advantage of the 7/8 thickness and instead of having a centre block it will be incorporated into the top. I kind-of did this with myES but I didn't think it through well enough. This time it will be wider and I might extend it to the back The other reason (apart from extra strength) is so the effective thickness of the top is a normal 5/8. When its thicker you can have a bigger belly but it alters the neck angle and throws all sorts of spanners in the works An explanation of why I find the balance line on the body, I theories that its the best place for the Bridge because that's where my solid LP bodies seem to balance (before the neck goes on) 252mm from the neck join Something I also consider is an Es175 It is fully hollow and joins at the 14th fret, Es137s join at the 16th fret which has a mahogany block that extends only to the Tailpiece which would shift the point of balance forward My thinking is If a guitar is fully solid or fully hollow it shouldn't affect where it balances, but start messing around with semi hollow and things will change By the way the neck block as you see in the photos will get removed because I messed up and there is about a 1/16th gap, and I don't want to reduce the top any further. A shame really because it took a lot of effort to make it fit Not sure where I'm going with this one at the moment. I might make another neck specifically for it in the style of an accoustic without a long tenon. In that case the neck I've made for it I will use on another project I don't want to put f-holes on this one. I want it to look just like an LP, and want to avoid all the f-problems

Looking at the pictures of your guitars I am in awe, all you guys are leaps and bounds ahead of me!

I already mentioned this but a picture is always good. As I started Routing I realised that it couldn't reach the line around the lower bout. I could have adjusted the stopper but I thought it might be better so I thought "Nah leave it yeah" (Jimmy) And I think it did work out better I got the Neck carve done on the Big Les Paul today. Its 12.5% bigger so I'm wondering if I should put the bridge the same distance from the front or proportionally equal. A Les Paul has the bridge at 252mm from the neck join so 252 x 1.125 = 284. This would work well if I join the Neck at the 14th fret like Semi-Accoustic guitars

Thanks Scott By the way its funny I found a plan for doing this in my files AFTER I'd done it. Its pretty much the same but the lines are straight at the upper bouts although this is probably before the Neck carve is done

Finally got some progress on my LP4. The Top has been glued on for a while and today I did the initial shaping. Its a bit of a laborious method but its the way I've always done it and I'm improving each time I mark it out with lines to follow the router with, this time I made paper templates and I flip them over to get it equal each side. I first go round the edge with a Router bit with a wheel guide then change the Router bit and follow the lines This is the setup This Template matches the R9 contour at the base And this is how it's used, I set the height and the distance in. I take 9 passes with half inch increments. The stopper guides me some of the way and the rest is free-hand following the lines marked out on the top Here's the final result. I still haven't figured out exactly how to mark the lines to follow at the top bouts so I just free-hand it till it looks somewhat right. I also didn't think it through well enough around the Tailpiece area but it will all be good in the end

I was staring at the top for 15 minutes totally stunned

Well I have to modify the Trapese Tailpiece if I want to use it, so at the moment I just put the post in and a lighter set of strings

Good grief, Ich weiss nicht Yes I first figured this out with an acoustic pickup (DeArmond) that some other guitar playing dude gave me when I was working on the mines up north 20 years ago. I got around to trying it out...hang on 25 years ago...on my Washburn steel string...no 30 years ago....and I noticed...nah nah nah 35 years ago or close to it...I noticed the 1st and 2nd strings were a lot louder than the others. Here's a link which shows one with the second pole covered over https://gpguitars.com/products/dearmond-rhc-b210-acoustic-soundhole-pickup I noticed one of the guitarists from "Pentangle" using one of these and I'm sure he had Electric Strings on to fix the problem. I tried that on my Washburn and it pretty much just sounded like an Electric guitar!

It's convenient that the last post has that view of the guitar, you might be able to see that the Saddle is leaning over just a bit more now At first I thought the saddle (and therefore the top) is sinking due to the absence of the "post" underneath. But the action isn't lower, if anything it's higher so then I realised what's happening is the Tailpiece is lifting up due to the Rotational force created by the setup I have had Accoustic Strings on for quite a while now which are rather heavy gauge 12-54 so that doesn't help but I think I should put the post in and use the Trapese Tailpiece It does sound more like an Accoustic with these strings but sounds a bit odd with the electric pickups

One of my guitars has holes and patches due to moving the volume controls and I've thought of doing "Bullet Holes" and Flames so it looks like it was meant that way

I made a Strat Copy with angle on the headstock so it didn't need string trees, bad idea!

If I understand you correctly the answer is yes. I asked a University Lecturer (who also happened to be a guitarist) about this and he said when you play a fretted note, the vibrations go past your finger as Longitudinal pulses and past the nut and then of course reach the tuning pegs Edit: I should mention that once the vibrations have got past your finger they return to Transverse waves again

Hi, welcome to the forum! At first I thought "why change the body shape?" but I quickly changed my mind. You are organised with your plans which is a very good thing, unlike myself, I just chuck myself in the deep end. However when you start actually using machines on the wood is when things might not go to plan! Practice using tools on scrap wood so you learn the nature of the beasts, especially routers I like the more Walnut less Maple concepts by the way and the neck-through design allows great access to upper frets. Great ideas all round so hope it goes well for you!

If I have the right understanding of it, I think the best way is when you play a note on a piano and hold it. You hear the note seem to change tone like "Bwwwwwoooooowwww" LOL if there's a better way to spell it! On a guitar its quicker due to shorter strings

No worries, I thought it looked like the rubber feet in photo above are right at the end

Would it be a good idea to support the timber on its nodal points so it can vibrate freely?

Yeah, a natural choice!

I think that would be correct but there would be too much travel in the string for the pickups to cope with and the top and low E's would go beyond the magnetic field...perhaps? I also think the sound would be too "wooly" too warm. I'm pretty sure there are people who have experimented with this. By the way the twin-neck Gibson SG's have the neck pickup further forward and the back coil is on the second octave node, which results in them having only 20 frets!

Very well put! And by the way the main point of my comment was to not change your mind afterward and butcher your guitar changing the pickup's position. My experience is that a pickup on the 2nd octave node has merit and one that is closer to the bridge also has merit, just a different kind. There have always been guitars with the neck pickup away from the node but it just seems that when tons of guitars with 24 frets started coming out that it became an issue