blackjack

i play classical acoustic, and i have always wanted to amplify my sound.

you can get acoustic pickups which fit into he soundhole and new bridegs ect, but these are normally designed for modern guitars and they dont fit into the clasical soundhole and becuase a classical neck is much bigger than modern gitars a new bridge is out of the question. also becuase classical guitars have nylon strings normal pickups wont work.

its a dilmea i have been trying to find a solution for for ages. nobody seems to make them, so i think im going to have to do some DIY.

i want a pickup that i can permenantly attach to the guitar without affecting the normal non amplified sound of the guitar.

does anyone know how i can do this (if at all) or where i can get one?

i started the project today.

i cut the back off with about 20mm of the sides still attached. i then cut the body to the 50mm depth that i want. i did this becuase it was quite hard to see where you are cutting when the back of the guitar is stilll attached.

after i have reshaped the heel im going to steam the 20mm of sides off the back and re attach it to the guitar.

im okay with the steaming process, but i dont know which glue to use for the reattaching. what would you recommend?

i have pictures of the process, but alas im using a good old film camera and they need to be processed

LEDs use very little juice, itl wil last plenty long enough.

i have a wall paper steamer. will his be any good for the job?

does anyone have any ideas?

i think im just going to mark the new 6cm depth around the guitar, cut it with a coping saw then steam the sides of the remaining back so that it can be reattached easily.

the heel is gonna be quite hard to cut straight with the coping saw

anyone have any ideas/advice?

id love to see a tut on this.

i have always wanted build a guitar with a small amp in the body. that would be cool.

just adjusted my action, and it stoped the buzzing. thank god for that.

im not sure how high im meant to have the action set, but im quite happy with how it is now, it feels just like my acoustic

the only question i have is about pickup height. is it better to have the pickup as close to the strings as possible without the strings touching it or getting in the way of the pick?

while playing my les paul i keep getting fret buzz.

my action is correct, and i can see that the string is not touching any other frets.

its not the nut: when i play open strings its fine.

pressure is fine, i can hold it down really hard and it still does it

position is fine, im playing right behind the fret.

how should the saddle be set? ive tried it full forward, full backward and middle, which had no effect.

it does it when i finger pick and use a plectrum, so its not the plectrum.

what could it be?! its really pissing me off.

heres the image i plan to use, it can be converted to any format:

http://www.watermelon-sux.netfirms.com/3yeball.htm

waterman is my second name if you were wondering

the eyeball looks better when it is smaller, in that picture it looks quite messy.

i want to put a small image on my LP pickguard. the image is in a vector format and i need to print it.

i dont want to deal with clearcoating the guard i just want something thats reasonably hardwearing, and considdering i hardly ever hit the the guard or use metal picks its not overly important.

what would you recommend i do to achieve this?

i cant get it printed professionally, as im in the middle of nowhere.

why artnt these plans publically availiable, is a legal issue or something? and if so why can you show that one and not others?

what cheap woods would you recommend i use to practise making bodys so i dont waste expensive wood?

id like it to behave like mahogany or other similar woods. obviously the tone it produces isnt really important, i just want something that i can experiement with and not worry about destroying it.

why do you put a fretboard over the neck?

is it just to cover the truss rod, or for the feel?

sorry if this is a stupid question, im just curious.

im getting completely lost looking at this.

i was hopeing that there would be a uber noob amp design floating around, and seeing as even the simplest amp designs are too complicated i think ill leave this idea to rest.

good site, but i couldnt find any plans/schematics to build any of the amps. also id like to build a solid state amp, not a tube.

what wood would you recommend i use?

i have a limited budget (around £60) and id like something that is easy to work and gives a glassy clean tone.

id like to make an amp, nothing flashy, just something that plays clean. i think it would be quite a fun project.

tube amps are dangerous and the parts would be harder to get, so id like to make a solid state amp.

can anyone provide me with plans for a really simple amp? ive googled but they were all overkill when i just want somethijng simple.

okay it will work now, just click the link in my previous post.

heres a quick mock up of what id like to do:

LINK FIXED

http://www.watermelon-sux.netfirms.com/danhybrid.htm

i think it looks pretty good, but i think the top part opposit the cutaway (name?) looks too small and needs to be more meaty. also i wouldnt do it in that color.

obviously the real one would have smoother edges, i did this really quickly

comments?

im not going to build the neck, it would be too hard for me to do and i like tele necks, if i was to make one it wouldt be like a tele neck.

im planning on using a tele neck, seeing as its what im used to, and will look quite good.

i think im going to do a hybrid. danelectro single cut-away body, tele neck, bridge and two standard pickups.

ill get some drawings done to see how im gonna go it.

id like to build my first guitar, but i dont want to do anything too complicated.

what guitar designs would you recommend i try? i have limited tools and no router, which seems to be the most important tool in building a guitar.

i thought about doing a Danelectro 59 with a tele neck.

becuase i dont have a router i thought i could chisel out the space for the pickups and electronics and fill in the space with wood filler. once its sanded and painted you wouldnt be able to tell the diffrence. or i could even cover the space with a pickguard. i dont know how it would effect the sound, but it should work. fitting the neck would be a bit of a nightmare though.

what do you think and just out of interest what was your first builds and how did they turn out?

yeh im aware of that, but once the back is off ill be able to shorten it.

i have this old classical guitar my friend gave me. as i already have one that is exactly the same i decided i wanted to do something interesting with this one.

id like to make the body less deep so that it is easier to play standing up. its currently 10cm deep, but id like to make it 6cm. thats a big diffrence, and i will loose alot of the bass, but i dont mind trying it as this guitar isnt really important. it would be an interesting experiment.

anyway, how would i do this? i would steam the back off, but the joins are inside the body and i cant get inside to steam them. should i just cut the sides to the size i want and then steam the back off so i can re-attach it?

any advice?