Armaan

6 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Not from me. As long as you like it all is good. The shape of the body is only about looks and ergonomics so you're free to build it to whatever shape you like. The bigger the heavier etc, then again a too skinny one can be difficult to hold especially on your knee. Much the same with the headstock. Straight string pull can help tuning and that's what you've already planned there.

I'm currently thinking of a 1.75inch wide body, which I think is not too thin and not as thick as my les paul. I would have thought about making it a little thinner, but I want to be on the safe side and have extra room for the electronics and pickup cavities. 

1 minute ago, Bizman62 said:

A five piece laminate is plenty strong for a six string guitar. I've made a few laminated neck-thru guitars - from three wide pieces to 9 piece ones with 0.55 mm veneers between thicker ones. The glue acts as a stiffener as it doesn't flex up and down. A truss rod for fine tuning the release is recommended, I guess you've already planned to use one.

Yes, I will be using a truss rod. 

7 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Welcome to the addiction!

You've got a good start, full size drawing can be really helpful in finding any weak spots. That said, your plan is a neck-thru, isn't it? Otherwise there would not be too much support for the neck...

I also see that you're not going for the fanned frets which is good for a first build. Facets on the body are nice, they aren't too difficult to make and they sure add character to the looks. And they can improve the ergonomics as well.

 

It really is addictive! I've just shared some images of my full sized drawings. I used images of EMG H3/H4 pickups and a Schaller 3D-6 bridge that I'm considering buying to try and make the guitar look realistic. I'm sourcing an ebony fretboard from a local exporter so I used an image of an ebony fretboard as well. I thought ebony would make sense and add some contrast, considering the guitar is predominantly walnut.

Yes, it is a neck-through using five strips of maple and walnut - I thought this would be strong enough but let me know if you think otherwise? I was thinking about carbon fiber rods initially, but I thought I could get away with it with a laminated neck?

I really like the carves from a design perspective. I tried to ensure that the carves will work as an arm rest and a belly cut. Though the way I have designed the guitar, I don't think I will get perfectly rounded edges. 

I revised the drawings again - this time I used autocad. Took me a while to learn, but I seem to have got the hang of it to make at least a basic 2D drawing. 

I made a couple of different designs, with minor differences. A key point was to figure out if I should I was also deciding whether the guitar I the wings should be lighter with dark thin stripes in the neck through, or vice versa. My initial preference was the former, but once I saw pieces of walnut that were available I decided to go with walnut wings with thin maple stripes. I will post the pictures of the woods I selected separately.

I printed the model I liked the most to scale, placed it on two of my guitars (epiphone les paul standard plustop pro + Harley Benton strat kit guitar) to visualize the size of the guitar. I felt that it was a bit short and made the body and the headstock a little longer. The guitar would be approx. 39.5 - 40inch, depending on the headstock angle (I'm thinking of a 15 degree angle, using a scarf joint). 

The one I decided to go with is the one in the separate image.

Any suggestions on the shape or design?

I changed the designs - here is a revised drawing.

 The body shape is based on a guitar build that I saw from crimson guitars which I found really interesting - the link to the youtube video for that build is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oq2DZ_pqGs

Hi - I play the guitar as a hobby and setting out to build my first electric guitar. I am a corporate lawyer and have no woodworking or mechanical skills.  The only experience I have is building a kit guitar and painted it. 

This will be a challenging project and a lot of things will go wrong . It will probably get a expensive too, but I'm willing to tough it out and learn on the go. 

Here are a couple of initial drawings I made - they are rough and are based on approximate measurements. I will be refining it as I finalize the design and look up guitar plans for reference. I plan to make it a 6-string, twin humbucker style with neck-through construction.  

I am a complete novice at guitar building and any guidance would be very helpful.

Cheers!