TheW00tMan

I wish someone would have told me this when I started doing this. At least I have a lot of interesting exotic scraps. And while this is not by any means universal, there seem to be a trend among new builders toward very exotic woods, whereas many experienced builders migrate toward more common, domestic, or even local wood. I think I might just ask for a chainsaw for Christmas this year. With all due respect...what exactly could go wrong if the entire guitar is made of parts that have been CNC'd? I've disassembled all of my guitars to get an idea of the dimensions of every tiny detail, which I'm then putting into my CAD model. Heck, I even have the arm and back contours on my model (and I actually used to geometry to design them, as opposed to simply eye-balling the stuff)! Although I'm still struggling to figure out the design of the neck (especially in regards to it's eventual construction, as the concept of my guitar necessitates a strong structural system in the neck), I'm sure that, in the end, I'll win! Honestly...the only reason I'm going down this route is because I know of no custom builders who can build the guitar for me for under $10k. Or atleast ones who rely heavily on CNCs. There might be ones who may be willing to hand-build my guitar; but I don't think I'd ever be satisfied knowing that my custom guitar is only 98% of what I envisioned it to be due to the fact that it was hand-built by a human, who's level of accuracy will ALWAYS be inferior to that of a computer-controlled machine. I want my guitar to be built EXACTLY the way I design it.

Question: Does the placement of the bridge, as well as between the bridge pickup and the edge of the bridge, vary according to scale length? Or is it a fixed distance?

Thanks! I'll try to get that book.

Cheers for the reply, man! I guess I was overcomplicating the neck pocket thing in my head! Basically, I was meaning to ask that whether I should get the holes for the bolts/ferrules attaching the neck to the body drilled on to body first, or onto the neck. Because, for some odd reason, I was thinking that I get the body done first, then get a proper luthier to figure out and build the neck for me. But upon further procrastination, I think it's logical to 1) get the neck built first 2) figure out the thickness and dimensions of the heel 3) insert them into the 3D model, 4) add in the holes for the bolts/ferrules based on the shape of the perimeter of the body in the model 5) get the body CNC'd 6) AND FINALLY align the neck into the body and drill the holes in the neck. Am I right? Another question: is string spacing dependent SOLELY on the type of bridge I'd be using?

Hey all. Quite recently (after having put together a disassembled guitar that was sent to me from overseas) I've decided to get into actually trying to build a guitar of my own. I've been making CAD models of guitar bodies for ages (I'm an architect by profession; so life past high school was all about disciplined and accurate CAD work!). I can afford to purchase exotic, figured wood; and I could probably also afford to get my CAD stuff CNC'd from it (although I don't know how to do the CAM work; but I'm hoping the CNC people could figure that out for me). However, I have some questions about some of the (seemingly) fundamental stuff about guitar construction, the answers of which I couldn't find anywhere. Please excuse me if this stuff sounds overly silly. I understand that certain practices may have been adopted due to tonal advantages; however I'm trying to understand if there are any structural/physical issues involved here as well. 1) Why is it that a fingerboard is built out of a separate piece of wood, then glued onto the neck? Is it not possible to build the entire neck AND fingerboard out of a single piece? I found this BEAUTIFUL long piece of camphor, which is 26mm thick (i.e. a little over the combined thickness of the fingerboard and neck of one of my guitars) and I was thinking of building a neck out of it so the grain pattern is consistent all over the fingerboard and the back of the neck. 2) How do I figure out the shape and dimensions of the neck pocket (I'm talking about bolt-ons, obviously)? I understand that there isn't a constant value for the dimensions, and that it is dependent on the scale length; but what ratios do I need to use to figure it all out? 3) When building a carved top body using a CNC, is the general idea along the lines of having the top wood (assuming the top is a different piece of figured wood from the body, to get a different aesthetic) glued on to the body wood even before cutting out the base shape of the guitar body?