Inisheer

It depends just how much it has warped. If it is not that bad, you may be able to add water to the concave side and put some weight on it. Leave it for a few weeks and see if that helps any. When you go to clamp it to the rest of the body that will help some too since there will be added pressure. I had a maple top bow in the last month and went through this procedure. But it all depends on how much it is warped. More pictures or descriptions would help. Good luck!

Ok, I've had the wood for about a month now so I thought I'd try working with it again. The bowing went down pretty nicely so I cut out the maple top roughly oversized and glued it to the rest of the body. I then put my template over that and used the router to even everything up. It went well until the very end....somehow the router skipped or something and chewed through the mdf template and got a nice little ding in the lower left corner. I then tried to use a drum sander to fix it up a little. It is not as bad now...but the lower left corner of the guitar isn't as round as a result. Maple top Top and back Glue and lots of clamps What is left of the accident on the side.

I think the body design looks pretty cool! The wood in the picture works well with the design, and either redwood or bubinga would look great. But depending on how you do the burst, then other woods might look good too. Good luck with the project!

That inlay is great! It contrasts well with the fingerboard, and the ziricote looks nice too!

Looks awesome! I like the shape, the woods, and the inlay idea. Since constellations consist of dots, you'd think that there would be more inlays like this, but this is the first time I've seen this idea. It is also cool that they are still on the usual frets.

Another difficult choice. Erik's 8 string is a demonsration of superior craftsmanship. Digi2t had a nice looking guitar too. But my two personal favorites are Blackdog and Daniels' guitars. That electric looks great, a simple yet elegant build. I also am in love with the limba/cedar acoustic. I have been doing a lot of research into building acoustics lately, and this guitar looks very well made, and beautiful too. Congratulations to all!

This is a good idea too! After doing that saga kit I decided to do my first build, but I used a pre-made neck and built only the body. After doing that I am now working on my first full project, including building the neck. It is an effective way to slowly lead up to the whole process. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Doing a natural finish depends on what kind of wood those bodies are made of. If they are indeed plywood, then a natural finish won't look as nice. Certain types of wood take dye better than others. Begin by sanding down the current green finish and then you can see how it goes from there. And why would you want to change that cool lizard material finish? Lol, I have enough scraps to build a cheap side project guitar and want to do a material finish, and I have always loved that lizard guitar on the main site. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

If you are determined to buy a saga, then choose whichever you like best since the quality will be about the same on all the models. When I first got interested in building guitars I also thought that putting together a kit would be a good way to start. I bought one of the Saga LP kits and used that. The quality wasn't that great....and although it was fun painting it, I didn't really learn anything. I hardly ever play that guitar anymore and now wish I had spent that money on wood instead. If I were you, I would listen to Myka's advice and start by actually building you own guitar. If you are worried about messing up then you can start with a simple design and cheap wood.

Here is a windchime that I just finished making for my girlfriend. The wooden parts are made from Padauk. I used a woodburner to make a heart on the bottom, and wrote "Te Amo." Hopefully she will like it.

Ok, I might try clamping it. And I will leave it for a couple weeks before I start working with it again. In the meantime, I guess I can finish the final sanding on the neck and I can make some pickup/neck pocket templates for the body. I also have some other non-guitar projects I can work on too.

I don't look in the acoustic section that often...but I'm glad I did now! That is one of the most beautiful acoustics I've ever seen. There is nothing too gaudy about it, it is simple and elegant. I love it. I know that you built several electric guitars before starting on acoustics. After making both kinds now, which do you prefer doing? Also, how hard is it to build an acoustic? There seems to be a lot of special jigs you need to make. I have been craving a nice acoustic lately, but they look much more difficult to make than electrics.

I left it to acclimate for about a week before I glued it, and it was pretty flat when I got it. But, for that week I did keep it in my garage, which is fairly cold. I suppose that was probably not the best thing to do. I did some more research into the subject and tried one method I found. I wet the board down a little, put some other wood across it (stickers?), and put a decent amount of weight on top. I did this twice yesterday and once again this morning, and the bow isn't quite as bad as in that pic. The bow used to be around 1/2", but now it is closer to 1/4" or a little less. I will keep it like this for awhile to see if it gets any better. Do you think this wood is still usable?

I have a problem! I finally got my maple from Larry-it isn't pictured in any of those previous choices, but he said he liked this particular set. I don't have my camera to post pictures of it yet though. Anyway, I glued the top together yesterday and went to unclamp it this morning...and there is a significant bow in the wood. I am not sure what to do. I am afraid that if I just clamp down the sides that stick up, it will somehow break the wood. Again I don't have my normal camera, but here is a bad pic I took with phone (the top is actually the backside, and the front is facing the table). Any advice would be appreciated.

Nobody said that they didn't like your project, we just informed you that the carve does not look the same as more traditional guitars. This is where personal opinion is important and there is no one particular way to do things. It looks different, but that doesn't necessarily mean it looks bad. You are right, that this is some of your cleanest work so far. You should be proud. Can't wait to see the rest of the project.

I do not mean to sound rude, so please don't take it that way....but, I personally don't think that carve looks complete. It seems more like large bevels than an actual carve top. A view from the top makes it look like there is a large flat surface which suddenly slopes at the sides. You said that the carved part is sanded to 400, and the top and back to 220. On a standard carve top, the "top" and the "carved part" should be smoothly integrated, not obviously separate. But, I do realize that you are going for a more original look, so props for that. Also, I have not carved any tops yet, but I do understand how difficult it must be to do, so I commend you for your good work thus far.

Merry Christmas everyone! <--------I edited my picture.

This should be a cool project! I think the shape looks good...it doesn't look exactly the same as a PRS, but pretty close, just different enough to make the design more custom. Also, I haven't had a chance to order any fingerboards from that place yet, but they always seem to have a lot of really nice stuff. Good luck with the project!

Sorry to beat you to making a blue guitar, although you'll probably finish this long before I finish my project No matter what color you decide to use, I'm sure it will look great. Since you like those bird inlays but want something a little more elaborate, perhaps you could try their the newer version, "modern eagles" I think they call them...or you could come up with your own design, which would make the guitar even more personal. Could you tell me more about the piezo system you are using? I would love to be able to make a more acoustic tone, but I have never been able a piezo bridge that didn't cost well over $100. And by the way, that truss rod cover looks great!

Looks great, and you seemed to complete this project really fast too! Is there any chance you could take a straight on picture of the front? Let us know how the pickups sound when you get a chance. And is that a pick I see? I find it easier to play with a pick, but I prefer the mellow sound of fingers touching the strings. I can't seem to do that two finger technique and usually just play with my thumb, though. Have fun!

Looks great so far. What kind of finish are you planning, and are you doing any inlays again? Your neck looks great so far, I love the look of everything being the same except for the binding. And let us know how you like using all that indian rosewood....the only time I've worked with EIR (a fingerboard) it made me sick....it smells AWFUL!

Thanks for the comments guys! Found a little time today to work on this. I cut out the basic shape and used a router and template to bring it to the final shape. All went well, except for one tiny mistake where I bumped the router crooked against the side and made a small gash. Hopefully when I do the tummy cut I can blend it into that so it won't be as noticeable. I started to design the chambers for the mahogany since I want the body to be fairly light. What do you think of this idea for chambering? The upper left two won't be routed as deep since I need some wood on the bottom for the tummy cut. The one for the controls though will go completely through the body though. (This has been done before right? I think I saw that method used on Maiden's SC). dbm, yep, I can see the starship too. RjY, you are right. People are able to see how a copy of an existing guitar should or should not look. In a way, this helps, though building any design takes work. Everybody should build what they personally like and be happy.

I have not worked with bindings of any kind, so this is just speculation, but......doesn't this depend on how you want to do the binding? If you want the frets to end before the binding so only the binding shows on the sides then you would need to cut the tang off of the ends. But, what if you don't mind the fret ends showing on the side of the fingerboard (which may only work with wood binding)? Can't you slot the binding the same as the fingerboard and just have the frets go to the end? The frets would show on the side, so this may not be the most aesthetically pleasing idea, but wouldn't that work? I hope that made sense...

Thanks for the kind words, blackdog. I meant that the rough shape is basically done, though it still does need some refinement. I was planning on getting one of those contour gauges to check for symmetry. I am not sure if I want to copy the profile from another neck or try something new. And that is a Craftsman 10" bandsaw. I've been using it for the last year and it seems pretty good to me. It cut through some mahogany pretty easily that was almost 4" thick. It was fairly inexpensive and I would recommend it if you are looking for a smaller bandsaw. But I am not sure that it is available where you are from (Netherlands, right?). I would listen to Mattia's advice in that case.

I was excited about carving the neck, so I got up and finished it this morning. It still needs some sanding to smooth it all out, though. Sorry for the bad picture.