Guitarfrenzy

Sry but I wasn't on much the last couple of days.. alot of work.. so I just now read this... but www.mimf.com sells the full size to scale plans for 15 dollars...

Yet another good reason to not radius your fretboard first.. lol

Yeah, I've always thought that guitarelectronics.com was the best site on the web for the electronic part of guitar building.

I'm still waiting to see a guitar with a neck angle of 7. You guys might have built one like that but I've never seen one made by a manufacture have that much, correct me if I'm wrong but 7 deg is alot and closer to headstock angle which most are around 13 deg..If anyone has a picuture of a manufactured one with that much angle can you post the pics... Not saying that there isn't any with that much angle.. but just have never seen it before ..... please post..

So I guess I'll try some out.....

Offense we'll taken.. lol Um... I'm with Derek on this.. I'd rather spend more money and get one that will last better, because you never know when you might go crazy and decide to build 4 guitars a month.. lol Can't go wrong with a Bosch, DeWalt.... they make them nowdays that has both a fixed and plunge router base attachments... which will cover all bases.. just don't expect it to be too cheap... but then again there are some good cheap tools.. just have to read alot before you shell out your hard earned cash on them though. Matt

I reread the Make Your Own Electric Guitar book, since I remembered that he mentioned it is best to do inlay work with the neck non-cambered or non radiused. So I think I'm gonna try what he suggests... On page 98 it reads: "Since some precut fretboards are also cambered, the fretboard would need to be fixed to a plywood base and the router supported on small pieces of plywood, either side of the board, which are the same height as the centre of the board." Just another way to do it. Matt V

Not sure Chris.. but I'll try it when I get home... lol.. just kidding

I think Roli was joking with ya.. but maybe not.. lol

I had saw this glue at Lowes next to the Titebond and kinda laughed since I thought it was a very gimicy product, I just passed it up. But recently my friend told me that he was using Gorilla Glue to glue his 2 piece Swamp Ash guitar together and said it held up great. He heard about it through a woodworker who swears by it. So basically I was wondering it this glue is all it is advertised..."Strongest Glue On The Market" or is there no place for it in guitar building. What's your thoughts? Matt V

He hit on a mistake I just recently have made. I radiused the fretboard first and I would have preferred to have done it before. I didn't think much about it at the time, but now I think about the mistake alot.. lol.. So knowing that someone has inlayed like this gives me hope, since I pretty much just thought a dot inlay would be my only route. I was thinking of gluing them in with wax paper in front of my radius block and clamp it in till it drys. Anyone have good luck doing block inlays after the radius was already done? I see that LGM has done it before, and would like to get some tips from people who have done that before.

Setch is right about that.. If your guitar isn't gonna have much carving in the neck pocket area, you can make a template out of a piece of plywood where the neck pocket template will tilt due to shims under the other end of the guitar.. just figure out what angle you want.. and shim it at the bridge end of the board so it will angle the plywood and cut the pocket at that angle.. One note of caution: Make sure that the shims won't move or the template or you'll mess up big time (there are many ways to insure that it doesn't... gluing the shims onto the bottom of the plywood is helpful) There are probably a million more ways to do that, and each will work. Just decide on the one you think is more comfortable for you. Good luck... Matt V

I think that might have been the most post in a row of non-working links... lol.. just kidding.. But yeah send them to Brian so we can see what your going for and listen to Setch, your gonna want to read the paint tutorials before you do anything you might regret. One word of advice though, take your time and don't do any type of polishing until at least a week goes by if your planning on using any type of lacquer paint, acrylic or nitrocellulose. Matt V

I got my wood in from Exoticwoods.com yesterday and I got nice piece of mahogany (3"x3"x30") for 29 dollars.. actually I bought two of them. It's not planed but I will bring it to my uncle's house today and get that done. I'll let you guys know how it turns out, I'll take pictures .. before and after planing... But Stew-Mac comparitive blank #5136 has the benefit of already being planed, but cost $54.67 for a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 26". So I'll post later tonight with pics.

Maybe you might be interested in this Swirl tutorial that someone has already posted before.. BORAX SWIRL If not check out Guitar ReRanch'ssite if your wanting to use aerosol spray paint. They might have some of these colors. I'm sure Brian can help you if neither of these suggestions work for you.

Actually, no. Les Paul necks often end up at as much as 7 degrees, since you have to take into account the carve of the top. Bascally you need to consider the top of the binding the top of the guitar, and consider the thickness of the top (above the binding) as part of the bridge height. We'll being someone who owns 3 Gibson guitars.. and each has the following angle 2deg, 3 deg, and approx. 3.5 degrees. So I'm just saying that based on my measurements taken from my own guitars, measuring from the flat middle part of the body as my reference. I'm not saying that a 7 degree angle wasn't done by Gibson, just saying that I don't own any that does. As far as what I was suggesting to him was if he made some kinda exagerrated angle like 20 degrees or more.. just trying to help him get in the ballpark. I'm interested to hear what other people have as a neck angle on their Gibson's...

Sure thing.. This is a list of just some of the stuff I bought recently. Guitar Building Tools List: 1. Hex allen wrenches - $12 2. Adjustable Fret Slotting Saw (#5320) stewmac - $24.90 3. Neck Support Caul - $8.90 (#4479) stewmac 4. Fret Arbor Set - $44.45 (#4365) stemac 5. Diamond Fret File - $54.90(#4455) stewmac 6. Fingerboard Leveler - $37.98(#4578) stewmac 7. 8" Radius Sanding Block with 12" radius - $14.50 (#0417) stewmac 8. Dremel tool - $70 (walmart) 9. Dremel Router base - $25 10. Dremel Carbide 1/32" inlay bit - $15.95(#5150) stewmac 11. Fret Cutters - got something similar at Lowes for $15 dollars Total ------- $323.58 Wood and Inlay List: 1. 3x3x30 mahogany neck blank ... Exoticwoods.com.. $30 x 2= $60 I went ahead and bought two since I'll probably mess up.. lol 2. Ebony Peghead Veneer 4"x8" $15 3. Inlay material $30 4. Ebony preslotted fretboard with 12" radius.. $25.90 Total --------- $130.90 Grand Total -----$454.48 But I've spent alot more than that in the last 2 months.. That's just the last 2 weeks of buying. lol 3.

I think all the guitars look great and would love to see that rule enforced.. I think it should be 100 votes though before you can vote on GOTM, because it would make it really hard then just to get another vote in. I personally voted for Rhoads guitar, simply because I love the attention to detail he put into it and the looks. But then again all of them was great.. Budman was very creative with his guitar, making a totally new look, which is very inventive... Alex's also was very very good.. heck what am I saying.. it was a very close call on my part.. Keep up the good work guys, they all look great!!!!!!!!! Matt

Don't angle the neck too much though or you'll have to have a super tall bridge to play that thing.. lol.. somewhere between 2-4 degrees should be enough for any neck..

Yeah I agree with Brian. There are so many factors in sound of a guitar that what you are talking about is very subtle differences. Even changing a capacitor or resistor to another value will make a difference to the tone. Then you got to think about pickups, and pickup placement. Then what amp your running it through. I've taken bad guitars and run them through really good amps and they even turn out sounding good.. But yeah Maple necks give a brighter tone than Mahogany in my opinion... but then again that's even opinionated.. lol

We'll your talking to someone who just spent close to five hundred dollars on tools and some wood, so it's not a cheap hobby by no means and if anyone tells you any different is only building 1 a year.. lol So that being said, it's not that hard if you read read read and test test test on scrap wood. But mostly you'll have to learn patience, which on my first guitar made me mess up a great paint job. So please read up alot before you start. If you are serious about building guitars there are some tools you'll want to use to make the job easier. I recommend that you find someone who will let you use them until you get ready to buy them one at a time. First off, you'll need to find someone with a bandsaw who can cut the shape out for you. Also, a planer, jointer, drill press, router, and orbital sander will be needed. Borrow, Borrow, Borrow.. lol.. But I'd recommend you reading all the tutorials on the main Project Guitar page before you do anything.. Good Luck Matt

Exactly.. some things you can do to save you money will end up costing you more in the end. It's also like my friend told me one time, you can either spend money on instruction books and videos and save time and money later on by avoiding common mistakes, or you can save the money, buy some good wood and mess it up really bad and learn that way.. either way your gonna pay to learn.. lol.. I thought that pretty much summed it up!!!

You have to watch it with that 4 1/2" grinder you can chew some wood up fast.. and sometimes that's not a good thing.. lol.. I tried my friends one out the other day and man it works wonders.. but you really need to have the depth and distance makes on the guitar already drawn out so you can be more accurate.

Yeah I wouldn't buy one for that very reason... kinda tired of guitar that you can't play comfortably in the upper range. Thats also the reason I started trying to build my own.

Wow good stuff Wes.. No offense, but now I know why you got more post than anyone.. lol.... Oh yeah and read this about the McNaught guitar.. from the same site that sells them.. lol.. http://edroman.com/guitar/dtm/heelfromhell_dtm.htm Kinda odd that he sells them but brings them down at the same time.. lol Oh we'll that's Ed for ya..