malebolgia

I'm just about done with it and i'll have ALOT of pics up soon i've also made a few changes ike to color and scale and other stuff. It's not perfect at all but i really like it and it looks METAL AS H*LL!

Just a question, what was your reason for putting the bottom strap lock where it is? I figured possibly it would work better closer to centerline, although I guess it doesn't matter that much, did you do it because of the looks? J

What do you think, did you think about it.

And for headstock 2,3,or4 would fit fine I think, it's gotta be wide enough though as your neck is so wide.

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well i dont want the strap to be getting caught up in the back "horns"

help me out with choosing a headstock design

Yahh that looks tons better and I think IwishIcouldshred is right about the bottom horn.

lookin goood

Wigglez

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is this better and the head stock has been modified....to scale with everything

Is this going to be a carved to? or flat?  Either way I think you should add some bevels to the points and make it look that much more EVIL     

Just a thought Wigglez

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heres wut the body will look like..cleaner, shaped guitarjust scroll down. the lines on the inside of the guitar represent the carved pieces.

HERES ANOTHER OF THE SAME DESIGN BUT WITH A SMALLER BODY....OTHER

...i'll make one to scale just for you people who want one...

I'm not jumping on you (or anything even remotely like that), but I think you're kinda missing the whole point, even after Jeremy tried to make it really simple for you. You're asking for feedback on your designs, but you don't seem to get the fact that we can't really judge them at all from your rough sketches, because the proportions are completely off. In other words, we still have no more than a very vague idea what your guitar is going to look like! Don't feel obligated to make scale drawings for our benefit - just don't expect to get any useful feedback until you go to the effort necessary to show us the guitar's shape fairly accurately. You're gonna have to do it before you build it, anyway. Just my two cents...

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WELL HERE IT IS I'VE BEEN WORKING ON IT ALOT TO MAKE SOME CHANGES TO THE DESIGN AND MAKE IT TO SCALEHERE IT IS

serously i like it just the way it is but thanks any ways. I know it will be heavy as H*LL but my guitarist in my band is strong and he'll be able to work with it! aslo i have another drawing not to scale but i might do this design also

design2

and these sketches are not to scale becuase they are just ideas now, but i'll make one to scale just for you people who want one.

Is that drawing to scale?  It does look pretty wide across the neck compared to the length.  Also, the strings are not straight...in the image, they appear to be curved through the bridge.  Makes me thing something's not right with the scale, or there's some dimensions wrong somewhere.

I like the shape, but it strikes me that there's precious little heel wood to hold the bolt-on neck.  It would be OK for a neck-through or a set neck with a long tenon (under the neck pup), but because it looks like you're going for (at least) 24 frets you don't have a whole lot of room for neck screws there.

If you must go bolt-on, I'd go with one pickup and a longer neck joint.

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here's a back view tell me if this might explain somethings( if i have enough heel wood)back side

Hi, responding since you sent me a PM asking about the design.

Can't say I'm crazy about it, but that's personal taste talking.  I like more symmetry in guitars, this guitar design doesn't have much.  Maybe I'd like it more once it's crisped up but the drawing you have there doesn't do it any justice with the uneven lines and jagged curves.  I think it would be a very impossible guitar to play sitting down, the curve on the bottom will slide all over your leg, and you couldn't hold it like a V.  If you only ever play standing up you'll be fine, but sitting will be an issue.

Then comes the standing issue, your upper horn comes to a point at the end, that means you'll have to position your strap button on the back of it somewhere, that's fine except I don't like the feel of how it twists a strap when you do that.  The body looks way long compared to the neck as well, but I don't think your drawing is to scale, the neck does look to fat compared to the length, your dimensions you have on there look about right (though for some reason I'm thinking on a 27" scale your fretboard should be 21" long but can't remember) so I think your drawing is really not showing it accurately. 

I'd redraw it with proper scaling and take a look at it, even draw it out by hand on paper and measure properly with a ruler.  You have no switch in there either, but 2 pickups, and I don't know where you'd put your jack that would be comfy there. 

On the lower side of the guitar, I don't like all the jagged edges either, the top side shows many curves and flows, the bottom looks kind of hacked into or something.

But, as I say, when it comes to design, it's personal taste.  I don't like pointy metal looking guitars like this, nothing against the design, just my taste.  There are however a few fundamental things I tried to point out though for you.

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thanks, do i didnt draw it to scale its just a ruff sketch. thanks for the advice 2.

well Im not too keen on the design, if it were a little more sleek looking it would be pretty cool, it just looks really bulky (even for an 8) keep us posted on it though man, not many of us actually have gone through and finished an 8 yet (i think jeremy is about it, most of you know mine got trashed)

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ohh, i love the design i think it looks METAL! but you can have your opion and i will keep you posted, thanks

i am building an eight string, finally. i just got enough funds to start it. Heres the specs

-1 peice mahogany body of my own design 30"X20"X2"

-hipshot 8 string bridge, black

-bolt on wenge and mahogany 3 piece neck

-27" scale

-emg active 45cs pickups(2)

-stain red finish

-gotoh sg38 tuners, black

-purple heart fretboard

-stewart mac, wide/highest fretwire

-hopefully a skull inlay design

-bone nut

here's my guitar design

tell me if you like itmy design

i really really like those exotic woods they rock! nice guitar 2!

hey i it looks great but i like your own stuff alot better but i love orignal work but the guitar does look sweeeeeet

I could really use some help on how to build a pickup winder. i have a bunch of links but i was wondering does anybody have the lollar book? and maybe send it to me? i'll send it back, or maybe some one could copy it and send it to me?

thank toeveryone that post infobut i;m just not gonna poston this board againeveryone's attidue sucks and i really dont want to work with assholes so may be i'll post my final guitar but i'm nevercoming in here again thanks to everyone who accually helped me, bye.oh and rhoads56 isareally big asshole too

BECAUSE YOU HAVENT DRAWN A PLAN

you are calculating it WRONG

draw the strings and string width, draw the edges of the fretboard after, then you are done. LISTEN!!!

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weather you beleve me or not i've already done that!

Theres a certain 4 letter name that malebolgia reminds me of...

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thank you that makes me really happy!

maleboglia, this thread is going nowhere, you arent listening.

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i'm listening clearly, you guys arn't understanding me, i keepon doin the calculations and keep on getting 2 1/8 or something around that i've tooken a 6 string measured the nut and took a 7 string measured the nutand subtracted them and added the diferencei've tooken the nut measure ofmy 7 string divided it by 7 and then multiplied it my 8 same calculation, i talked to one of the guys that did a 8 string and he did the same thing and came out witha much bigger numbersomthing like 2.78 inches and i've retried the math so i'm not doing that wrong andthe guy at lgm said" if I remember correctly the Leviiiathan's are about 2 3/4" or 2 7/8" wide at the nut"sowhy am i getting such a different number?

yes i have that book and tom hirst's,and doland brosnac's and no where in them do they mention how to figure out the anything more than a 6 string so really.....yeah.

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what the hell.. it's the same damn thing. math is math, related dimenstions are just that. you change one, the other changes. Doesn't matter if it's 6 or 60 strings.

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hey didn'tyou say this"i give up. 4 pages into this thread and i think it's time for this..."so i thought you gave up on calling mean idiot!

This tread raises a few questions about how much research you have actually made before asking the first question.

Have you read a few books on guitar design? If not, DO IT. It will actually give you the info you need. Searchin the net will not give you all you need and the cost for a good bok is way smaller that the cost of all the stuff you already have got.

If yes, GET ANOTHER BOOK. The one(s) you have are not good enough. I?ll recommend Melvyn Hiscocks book ?Make your own electric guitar? any day. It got me started and covers your initial question and then some. I STILL have to look something up in it when it comes to design, and I?m on to my 13?Th guitar now.

Peace

Peter

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yes i have that book and tom hirst's,and doland brosnac's and no where in them do they mention how to figure out the anything more than a 6 string so really.....yeah.

see, this is why you had a problem.  It's not like you were asking some complicated question like in wiring, finishing technique, etc.. it was a topic covered in almost any book, forum, help page, etc..

wanting to learn is one thing, laziness is quite another and if you ask a bunch of questions that are easy to solve with 5 minutes of research, people will think you lean toward the latter

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hey look i did my research and what not but it came out way different that every one else's researchso that'sy i commented so stop callen me lazy!

so get off your butt and do a plan. Then there would be no need for a thread AT ALL.

No-one can give you the answer. Only you can

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I already have a plan, and there is no need to be mean. accually i'vehad a plan this whole time just trying to makesure its alright!

The patience exuding from the forum is absolutely amazing!

If I may partake;

Reading through this thread it seems to me that most of your problem in finding a nut width is that there is no nut width.  Literally speaking, "It (nut width) is what is comfortable to your particular taste, dexterity, and playing style".  I personaly prefer my strings 3/16's of an inch apart, it helps make up for my inability to put my fingers in the same place twice.  There are those of us here that will say that is a ludicris amount of space between strings, and they will be right.   

But its my guitar.

Do you see what I mean?  I don't think that anyone is being condecending here, it really is just as simple as make it what you want it to be.

Good luck!

Nate Robinson

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no serioulsy if someone wouldhave said this earlier this would have been so short! insted of ppl saying "figure it out your self" implying that there was a way of figuring it out andbeing snotty thanks thought

nah, people just get frustrated when folks want an answer to something that they could work out themselves.  The width thing is very easy.  The nut and bridge make a trapezoid, and when centered on a centerline and drawn at full size will give you a drawing that you can literally take your ruler to and find the width anywhere.  it's very simple.  you'll have to develop those kinds of problem solving skills on your own to do this kind of stuff.  There's always some dimension to figure out that you won't find in a book. You have to be able to visualize the thing and determine how to extract the information you need from the model.

To most people, the joy in the building.  The engineering of it.  To boil it down to a punch list of steps makes it an assembly exercise.  The joy is in the "figuring it all out" and whn you get stuck there is a wealth of knowledge here.

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i agree about the last part its jsut a frustraiting about like allone person had to say was "there is no formula and that your best bet is to measure and add" andthis post would have been a quarter of a page long!