humbuckr

1/4" maple is enough for no carve at all, unless you want to carve through the maple, that is. If you want a carve, use a single piece of thicker maple for the top, or just carve through, and let the join line show/use it as an accent.

I have a 3/8" piece of maple under the fiddleback top. I was going to take the fiddleback top down to just before hitting the maple underneath. I won't be able to do a very deep carve. I could blast through the fiddleback and dig into the reg maple although it might look a bit weird.

If you're going with that route, you might want to look at this - it's how Setch did matching covers on one of his guitars - rout the general shape of the covers higher than the rest of a thick back, then slice them off with a thin kerf saw. The picture will give you a better idea of what I mean:

Like the mahagony body I'm building, I'm a bit dense. I see the way that Setch (cool name btw) routed roughly around the cavities. I like this idea because I'm trying to have a slight arch to the back as well as the top.

Question: Do you shape/fine-tune the cover plate just so, then use IT to make a template of the cavity shape on the back of the guitar and route it out?

thanks for the fine thinking on this thread. when I get brave enough to bang on my wood I'll post pics. the "drawings" are on my blog. http://humbuckr.blogspot.com/

FYI: the body is a sandwich of 4 pieces of wood... thin birdseye bookmatched back piece about 3/8" thick. 1" or so of mahagony (I planed it down from 2" until it was flat...). The top is about 1/4" fiddleback maple but i don't believe it will be thick enough to do an agressive carve so I have ANOTHER piece of rock maple that I was going to put between the top and the mahagony. if this is CRAZY let me know. I'm hoping that the combo of about 1/2 maple and 1/2 mahagony will give me sustain and a little more brightness. I have no frickin clue what I'm doing, but I'm enjoying it

Two main methods - either they use a scroll saw and are very careful, or they resaw a small slice the thickness of the cavity cover off the piece for the back and cut the cover from that, then rout the cavity into the back as normal.

Thanks for that idea. there is no way that I am brave enough on my first project to try to nail a perfect cut-out from the back piece so I am going to try the thin slice idea. brilliant !

I've seen some great examples in the in progress area where the control plate appears to be cut out exactly from the back piece of wood. like a puzzle piece.

Question: Are these guys real good with a jig saw or is there a way to do this with some type of jig and a very thin blade?

Thanks

---

humbuckr

Thanks much for the great responses on this thread. hopefully updating the links on projectguitar.com

http://www.projectguitar.com/ref/wire.htm will avoid re-hashing this newbie stuff.

DGB Studio for Guitar Players

Thanks. loads of good info. I'm more of a wood worker / guitar player and electronics is not my passion so I appreciate the feedback on resources like the DGB.

That said however...there are an amazing array of stuff here on it...if you search for it!

would be great if there was a diagram repository that had links that actually went somewhere unlike

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/diagrams.html#oem

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/menu.html

As for those pickups...they pack a bit of punch for a glassy strat or a jazz type sound...

Any ideas for something with a bit more subtlelty. I love the growl of a les paul and the dynamic range of a strat. that's what I'm trying to fuse. I use a Line6 PodXT since I play at various places and its simple to plug it in to direct boxes.

A lot of these tones are better coaxed by turning down the volume and having an effective tone control.

I was planning on using CTS pots.

You won't get an acoustic sound from anything but piezos...

the PoD does an ok job on the acoustic sounds for now.

I'm in the process of building my first project guitar. a bit tele, bit PRS, bit LP. It's chambered and will use a warmoth 25.5 mahagony/ebony neck.

Pickups - plan on using H-S-H (SD 59'-neck, SD Vintage Rails, SD JB - Bridge)

push/pull controls: 1 volume, 1 tone , 5 way selector. (push pull for coil splitting.)

Ideally I would like this guitar to do a lot of things (including helping me play better...)

1. Ripping distortion, long sustain

2. Strat-like clean

3. jazz rhythm

4. and a way to *combine* these tones to get something different

5. optional acoustic sound (without using a special bridge)

I found a great article by Bill Cozzo who had the same idea but doesn't have any diags or specs.

I'm sure I'm not the first guy to do this so any links to existing stuff would be great. I searched the forum a bit but couldn't anything useful.

thanks

Newbie to wiring here so if there is a thread that I can't find please point me to it and I won't bug you.

I have a 2004 epi that I want to add a SD 59' and JB to. I am replacing the pots and adding a push/pull coil split on one of the tone controls.

I personally have never liked the way that one volume shuts the other one down. I found a wiring diag on the SD site for 2 HB 2 volume, 2 tone.

sd wiring diag

My question is - do most people rip out all of the stock wiring (I can't figure a way to use it on the new design?

If so should I look for wire that is grouped together or just run separate wires for each path?

I obviously have a lot to learn and would appreciate some real simple advice.

-- Thanks

I have a 2004 epi and am swapping out the original pickups with Seymour Duncan 59 and JB. The epi pickups are noisy imho. Now that i got the new pickups I need to figure out how to wire them in. I am adding new pots and a push pull coil split.

The body blank weighs a hefty 13 pounds, and the neck blank just over 5 pounds

I'm hollowing out mine after I hoisted around the mahagony blank. Sounds like a great guitar. I'm doing a carve top (first project) as well. any tips on how to shape it?

-- Carl

that pickgaurd design is sexy..... that guitar is all around sexy....... but build it with some pretty wood and use a clear pickgaurd with like some trim around it in the color your hardware is going to be...... that would look real nice.

Do you have a plan for reinforcing the f-hole slats? Those are 100% shortgrain, and are going to be *very* fragile, to the point that they're unlikely to survive as long as it takes to you to finish cutting them! Don't loose site of the materials you're working with, which means considering grain direction, and unfortunately, occasionally requires a compromise of the visual element.

- Thanks. I was hoping to use a drill press and make a couple million passes to remove the material without too much chiseling as I imagine I would break it out after a few hits

- a woodworder bud of mine thinks that chiseling is the only way.

- I'm using a birdseye maple top that will be only about 1/4" thick by the time I matchbook it.

worst case is that I simply go with the march 9 f-hole.

-- Appreciate the feedback.

If you're a switcheroo guy and don't like to switch geetars (or only have one), H/S/H can be a wonderful thang.

thanks for the thoughts on this thread. I am pretty new to this stuff and I just had twins so perhaps in the middle of the night I can start to read more about all the ideas. for this project I'm trying to simply get the most variety out of the guitar. I may do a thoroughbred for #2,3,4...

-- Carl

My current setup:

SD '59 bridge & neck, SSL-2 vintage flat middle

standard 5-way switch

push pull volume (turns on neck p/u to get bridge+neck -or- all three depending on 5-way)

DPDT on-off-on switch wired for dual coil-split (inside/outside coils)

tone (don't use it much)

what about adding the varitone instead of the tone know in the setup above?

My up and coming setup:

SD '59 bridge & neck, SSL-2 vintage flat middle

5-way switch (megaswitch E) (position 3 gives bridge + neck in lieu of the middle p/u)

push pull volume (turns on middle to get all three)

3/4/5 position rotary switch for coil splitting + changing potentiometer value (still working on this)

LR Baggs T-Bridge (piezo)

T-Bridge volume

SPDT switch (magnetics-both-piezo)

no tone control

this setups a bit over my head. how many holes in the guitar to do this one?

Building my first guitar... specs on the in progress forum.

I am trying to create a tone monster. Honduran Mahagony 1 1/8", 5/8" hard maple carve top with semi-hollow body, warmoth Pro 25 1/2" scale neck (mahagony.ebony).

Plans call for bridge and neck humbuckers but someone suggested adding a third single coil in the middle (e.g. SD SSL1) to give the guitar some more variety. good idea? not necessary?

Since I've never built a guitar before I'm wide open for options on pickup and wiring combinations. I am planning on 1 volume, 1 tone and a pickup selector switch with a push pull for series/parallel split.

thanks

A single in the middle would give you this, plus the in between sounds would be more "quacky". You could set it up so you can combine the middle single with either the neck or bridge humbucker, or a single coil in one of those positions.

I want to try this. any diags you would recommend. Seymour Duncan has quite a list on their site of different setups. any of these meet your specs?

schematics

good idea. will give the slanted / curved slots a try. i'm committed to the f--hole at this point. that sounds strange doesn't it...

I dig the segmented f-hole concept. I think it might need a little refining from what you posted, but I think it could be very cool.

P.S. Why cover up perfectly good wood with a pickgauard?

thanks. I'm leaning towards the segments this am. curious what you would do, less space between the slots? fatter segments? I'll fool around a bit. I think the slots look like gills. I think I have a 'shark' guitar in my future.

I have to agree that pickguards are part of the design. looks like the guitar forgot to put on shoes without one. Anyone ever used a glass pickguard. a friend of mine is a glass blower, wouldn't a custom color/design glass pickguard rock?

I've learned to bite my tongue since I've gotten married. Of course, not at first. What a mistake.

26 hours, 27 minutes and 15, 14, 13 seconds...

You are a wiser man than myself. thanks for the encouragement.

build your original design, and use all the other ideas for you second, third, forth etc........

amen to that brother! I am so totally hooked on this guitar business. there will be many more but I am going for broke (literally) on this one.

the kids are doing great although they HATE bath time. the big dude cried for 4 hours straight. I am going to need active pickups to get enough volume to drown out the crying

-cj

I say go for the cat's eyes --and let them lead you toward a more individual body design....

Here is my latest update using cat-eyes. I've also added a pickguard in there.

A single in the middle would give you this, plus the in between sounds would be more "quacky". You could set it up so you can combine the middle single with either the neck or bridge humbucker, or a single coil in one of those positions.

You know I just might take your advice on this one. I've been taking my mother-in-law's advice for the last 3 weeks on everything from how to hold our new babies to how to open and close doors, how to walk, hold my fork, ..............................................................

I'm using a cheap-o piece of birdseye maple so I have no problem with knocking another hole into it.

Any suggestions for the single coil pu?

I think the modern crescent or slit idea is best for this one.

What part of I-5?

Eugene to Portland. I was the guy swerving.

I can't seem to shake those crescents. still reminds me a bit of an outhouse

I like the plain crescent f-holes a lot more too. Since this design is more of a modern classic, I don't think that classic styled f-holes would fit well with it. But the crescents just make it flow better and appear much more pleasing to the eye in my opinion. I'm excited to see this take shape.

Thanks to all for the feedback on the crescents vs. the classic F-hole. I'm a bit risk averse so the nudging I'm getting to think outside the hole is really helpful. my latest twist on the f-hole is listed on another reply. it uses slats to suggest the f-hole. cool but classic.

I will definitely look again at the crescents and see what they have to say.

-- cj

I've taken a swag at some new f-hole designs.

Those look more like E-holes. There's an "A-hole" joke in there somewhere, but it's too damn early.

LOL. My wife would tell you that its not too early to figure out where A-Hole is in this project

I had a brainstorm as I was driving down I-5 last night so I tweaked on the F-Hole a bit and came up with something that I don't think I've ever come across. have a look:

Cool body shape! Have you considered a single coil in the center to get closer to the single coil strat sound?

No I haven't but I was thinking of wiring the pickups in parallel so I could get a single or double coil option with a push/pull knob. would the single coil in the middle do a lot better job at the strat sound iyho.

Would you mind if I borrowed this shape to do a LP Jr type guitar?

No problem I have a vector version of the guitar. I've used a very cool program called inkscape to do the drawing. I actually work right next to the guy who leads this open source project. the program uses an open vector file format call svg (scalable vector graphics). check out inkscape.org it rocks for designing guitars.

Also, I've met an inkscape developer who was created very accurate vector versions of most every guitar you can think of. I will ask him if he wouldn't mind sharing them on this forum.

-- cj

I've taken a swag at some new f-hole designs. This one simply tweaks the standard f-hole with a bit of a modern edge to it.

This version places the f-holes where my crescents used to be:

Feedback welcome

-- cj