Hello everybody!
I'm new to projectguitar.com and to guitar building. However, this is something I have studied and researched for several years, and with quite a bit of woodworking experience, I decided that it's time to build my first...AND second guitar, simultaneously.
Outrageous! you say...
Well, aim high, right? Plus, everything I've read has been "your first guitar is a learning experience for your second guitar." So I am eliminating the amount of time in between...that's all.
Ok...to get started.
I started with an existing guitar shape, and modified it quite a bit to suit my eye a little more, and a unique headstock design...that was the hardest part of imagining the instrument...a classy, unique, and organic headstock design.
After having come up with the basic idea of what I wanted to see, it was time to trace my drawing onto tracing paper.
Now that's done, I cut that out, and trace the cut-out onto my template material.
And............let's cut them out.
The body was a little jagged, and the curves were rather bumpy (it's been a while since I used a bandsaw), so I gave it the bondo treatment so that I could fine tune each curve.
Fortunately, my headstock template was a much better cut, and it only required a little sanding to get it where I wanted.
NOW........what am I going to do? Bolt on? Set neck? Neck-thru?
Neck-thru construction wins. Why? More sustain, and damnit, it looks cooler.
Now that I've determined it's going to be neck-thru...time to buy some wood and start gluing. Here's what I'm working with:
Neck: 5-pc Bubinga/Avodire/Wenge
Body: Paduk
Top: Flamed Curly Maple
Let's check out the wood!
Here's the bubinga, avodire, and wenge for the necks.
And here's half of my slab of paduk being cut into manageable lengths for body wings.
And last but not least, my maple tops after being bookmatched and glued and clamped. I bought my maple as a slab via eBay (so that I could be more selective than just what's in stock locally)...and one set came out VERY figured...another was kinda "eh"...but I digress...
Now that I have my wood cut down to size and my maple bookmatched...time to start thinking about the necks. So, I do a mock-up with the bubinga, avodire, and wenge.
And time to glue them....and yes, I used way too much glue. The avodire was just soaking it up, so I kept applying. Oh well, no worries about delaminating!
Again, it was way too much glue...i know. I learned as I saw much of my hard work dripping onto the table, making a mess. Time to wipe off some of the glue and tease myself with how it looks.
So yeah, that's pretty much where I am now. I started the build Saturday Nov. 10, working on templates. Then on Monday Nov. 12 I bought my woods, except the maple I had already acquired, and had it milled to size and the maple bookmatched (because the machines in the shop I'm using won't accomodate certain larger sizes of wood). I also fixed a line in the master body template that was bugging me a little bit. Then today, Tuesday Nov. 13 I glued up my neck woods and clamped it up trying to make sure every seam was nice and tight between every piece of wood.
Quite a bit of progress was made in the first couple of days, but I'm about to the point where I know the progress is going to slow drastically. However, I'm meticulous, and I'll take however long it takes to ensure everything is right. I will have tons of questions, I'm sure, as I get into it a little deeper, and that's why I'm here!
I appreciate any and all input. And don't forget, I'm doing 2 at once...so hopefully I can have an extra to pass around and let everyone play!
Thanks for reading!
Chase O'Neal