This is my first attempt at guitar building, the second is in design and will start construction in January.
The idea of making a guitar started over 10 years ago when my son started playing, but never had the time to make it happen. Moving back to the UK after a spell working abroad, and the lockdown, gave me the opportunity to finally have a go…
It was built in my garage, I have some wood working experience from DIY projects at home, and a background in mechanical and software engineering. Had to buy a router and a band saw for the project.
I’ve called my guitar brand Lambda Guitars, as lambda is the symbol for wavelength and I thought the λ symbol would look good on the headstock. It’s also the symbol for radioactive half-life, so since the guitar has a carbon top, it got named Carbon14 after the radioactive isotope of carbon. Some may also remember the computer game ‘Half-Life’ where the lambda symbol appeared throughout?
I drew up the plans for the instrument myself, having taken some measurements from my Strat and Epiphone Casino as a starting point. Full scale drawings were done for the body and neck profile/side elevation.
The carbon top was added to give the guitar an engineered look, and also for its mechanical properties. Being very stiff, my thinking was that it would transmit vibrations well, and give the guitar a bright sound and good sustain. It is certainly noticeably brighter and somehow richer sounding than my US Strat, particularly when played clean or unamplified.
Spec
Materials: 3 piece swamp ash body with carbon fibre top and aluminium binding, maple neck, ebony fretboard with MOP dots, carbon fibre control cavity cover and neck plate
Hardware: Gotoh 18:1 locking machine heads, Tusq nut, FW47090 fretwire, Iron Gear Blues Engine & Dirty Torque pickup pair, unbranded bridge, 2 way truss rod, polished stainless steel torx screws for all hardware attachment (except tuners)
Electronics: 2 volume, 1 tone with push/pull for single coil tap, 3 position pickup selector
Dimensions: scale length: 25.5”, FB radius 9.5”, neck width at nut: 43mm, width at 22nd fret: 56mm, neck thickness at 1st fret: 23mm, thickness at 12th fret: 24mm
A few pictures from the construction (clockwise): homemade spindle sander, drilling fret dots, jig for gluing aluminium binding, routing the truss-rod channel
Guitar Of The Month December 2020
in Guitar Of The Month entry/poll archive
Posted
Lambda Guitars - Carbon14
This is my first attempt at guitar building, the second is in design and will start construction in January.
The idea of making a guitar started over 10 years ago when my son started playing, but never had the time to make it happen. Moving back to the UK after a spell working abroad, and the lockdown, gave me the opportunity to finally have a go…
It was built in my garage, I have some wood working experience from DIY projects at home, and a background in mechanical and software engineering. Had to buy a router and a band saw for the project.
I’ve called my guitar brand Lambda Guitars, as lambda is the symbol for wavelength and I thought the λ symbol would look good on the headstock. It’s also the symbol for radioactive half-life, so since the guitar has a carbon top, it got named Carbon14 after the radioactive isotope of carbon. Some may also remember the computer game ‘Half-Life’ where the lambda symbol appeared throughout?
I drew up the plans for the instrument myself, having taken some measurements from my Strat and Epiphone Casino as a starting point. Full scale drawings were done for the body and neck profile/side elevation.
The carbon top was added to give the guitar an engineered look, and also for its mechanical properties. Being very stiff, my thinking was that it would transmit vibrations well, and give the guitar a bright sound and good sustain. It is certainly noticeably brighter and somehow richer sounding than my US Strat, particularly when played clean or unamplified.
Spec
Materials: 3 piece swamp ash body with carbon fibre top and aluminium binding, maple neck, ebony fretboard with MOP dots, carbon fibre control cavity cover and neck plate
Hardware: Gotoh 18:1 locking machine heads, Tusq nut, FW47090 fretwire, Iron Gear Blues Engine & Dirty Torque pickup pair, unbranded bridge, 2 way truss rod, polished stainless steel torx screws for all hardware attachment (except tuners)
Electronics: 2 volume, 1 tone with push/pull for single coil tap, 3 position pickup selector
Dimensions: scale length: 25.5”, FB radius 9.5”, neck width at nut: 43mm, width at 22nd fret: 56mm, neck thickness at 1st fret: 23mm, thickness at 12th fret: 24mm
Demos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_SFKIKEZWRMKkwnC7SCKfg
A few pictures from the construction (clockwise): homemade spindle sander, drilling fret dots, jig for gluing aluminium binding, routing the truss-rod channel