Hotrock

I think you should start all over again and post the body to me!

8 bassses and no pics! tut tut We like pics around here, lets see some pics.

Dude, are you in Northeren Ireland or Northern some part of america. If it's Northern Ireland, I'll plot the drawing at work and post it off to you fi you want!

Nice one GLW. You're a font of information.

While I was just looking at a few on the net I found this which you all may like to have a look at! http://www.guitarsite.com/ads/musicyo/p4.html

You know the guitars that you can see through, like the geezer out the Foo Fighters, what the hell are they made from? Casting resin? Perspex? Glass? Thin air? Never had chance to see one (if you know what I mean) and I'm curious. Have any of you made one? I'm sure one of you has!

No! Everywhere is expensive! Did find a place near Buxton for wood. It's called craft supplies. No wood picks on the site but they're sending a catalogue in the post. Look ok for tools too.

Cheers Dave. I'll probably see if I can borrow that one after I've read this one. I've heard good things about that book, but the funds are low (especially as I've just been hit with a bill for my bike-it's definately Italian and definately a woman-looks good but needs a kiss in the morning before there's any chance of it moving) Think I'll buy some chisels instead. What I have found though is a geezer that builds resonators and he lives just up the road, hopefully I can beg and borrow some of his tools and save some money. He also works for the international standard currency i.e. pints of beer . Next time I see him, I'll see if he fancies joining the forum.

Most are between about 10 and 15 degrees. I think some Gibsons had an angle of about 17 degrees (some time ago) but they were a bit prone to snapping of if the guitar was dropped. So don't drop it!

Worth a try though! Who needs effect pedels when you can just kick the neigbours cat in the nuts . I still think cress (or moss) is the way forward

I'll post the little bastard anyway. You can keep it out of my way then. Fury guitar sounds cool, how about using cress

I'll post you the neighbours cat if you want real fur.

I was just wondering where the best place to place them are! Doesn't matter now any way, Hiscocks book arived yesterday and I've been . He said that if the neck pickup is placed where the 24th fret should be there is a harmonic point which gives a nice tone. Also, there is a harmonic point at the third fret, if the distance from this harmonic is measured to the nut, the neck pickup is can be placed at that distance from the bridge (which is why the Telecaster pickup is where it is). I think thats about the jist of it. Melvin Hiscock's book should be taught in schools.

For all of you who commented on the fact that I wanted to build a guitar using no glue, I'm affraid you're gonna have to wait a while until I can tell you which bit falls off first. I'm off travelling in about a year so I won't have time to finish it (which means I'm not going to start it). However, I will be building a big girls version (using glue), just to see how it all looks and to get a bit of experience under my belt. My question is this though: I want to place the pick ups under either a node or anti-node (whichever is the wobbly one - I really can't remember). Are these going to be in the same place on each string or will the different thicknesses affect it (is it purely a function of the length)? I have a feeling that the nodes will all be in different places as the strings resonate at different frequencies. The scale length will be 25 inch and there will be two humbuckers. Will the humbuckers (due to the size) "read" over a node and an anti-node, will it sound better if a space them so that each seperate coil is under a two nodes/antinodes? Am I confusing you or am I confused myself. Cheers guys, so many questions, so little money!

No we can't. Do you know anywhere cheaper than David Dyke?

Thats what we're all here for. No worries geezer!

ZANDRO. I passed the old design past the arty type and within a few minutes she had pulled it to bits and put it back together again. She actually liked it but the only issue that she had is the area on the bottom/left of the guitar (as you look at the picture). She thinks that the curve and cut away should be slightly smoother. I much prefer this new design, there should be a 'kicks ass' smilie especially for occassions such as this.

Had a conversation about bending wood in the pub last night! One of my mates said that instead of steaming the wood if you compress it along the direction of the fibres and dehumidify it over a certain length of time (can't remember how long) when it comes out you have a piece of wood that is very very flexible. You bend it by adding a sprinkling of water. Dunno if it's true, but he's quite a reliable guy thats not usually prone to talking out of his arse. Might be worth a look anyway. I also remember my dad tapeing the on button of the kettle down and using the steam from that (but everyone knows that method). Hope this might be of some help, I'll try to get more details next time I see him. Good luck.

We use both. The older folks use imperial but the ones that know better are metric kinda guys. In general its all metric, imperial is just plain wierd.

No worries, what else am I gonna do, work?

zandro, I like it, but I agree about the refining issues. I personally think that it's a good base just the time consuming fiddly bits to do. I spent over a month playing around with various designs, then I plumped for a Les Paul because I'm crap at aesthetics and can't do any better. I'll print the drawing out and run it past the missus, she's an arty type and is remarkably good at this sort of thing, spliting it down into its basic shapes and such forth. I'll post something on Monday if I remember (all the made my memory a bit fuzzy) If I forget then send a post to remind me!

Oooh. Good idea Wes. I'll have a think about that. Look prety funky too! Will they act as a damper though? I'm sure if we all put our heads together we can make this work. You lot are doing corking job already. Just ordered Melvin Hiscocks book , read it a few years back and now I need my own copy, so more ideas on the way soon. Can't wait to start building, at least then I'll be able to put stuff back into the forum instead of racking all yours brains. You in the Uk then Wes? Or do you just get up early in the morning?

No I actually quite like glue, infact I spent a year testing the stuff that they stick plane wings on with. But I enjoy a challenge. There will be a truss rod too, which fair enough may need some glue. The strings will help clamp the body and neck together and I was thinking about drilling a few strategic holes in the sides of the body, into the neck and knocking some dowls in. This coupled with the friction bought about by a big fookin' hammer will hopefully keep it all nice and tight. Anyway, if it all goes tits up at least we'll all know that it can't be done (not by me anyway). Decided on a shape too, it's gonna be a 1959 Les Paul Jr. I've been trying my own designs, but I don't think I'll ever be able to top that shape. Knocking up some CAD drawings at the moment and one of my friends is gonna do it all in 3D, so I'll try to post them soon. Cheers for the advice guys, keep it comming, I'd prefer to know whats gonna go wrong before I get there.

Alright J789. Not found any parts yet! Been layed up in bed for a while so not had chance to do any research. I do it all at work so I get paid for arseing around on the net (kinda like you must be doing now). I'm getting quite handy with casting resin at the minute so I might have a go at casting the bobbins myself. They'll be brittle but I'm sure I can throw in some glass fibre. What do you think? Of course, if you know anywhere I can get 'um please let me know. Got the coolest inlays floating around the idea pond at the minute. They're gonna be black, got any idea for a material? How's Boston? Spent a few days there when I lived in Loughborough .

Hello again boys and girls. Just recovered from a rather messy bout of food poisioning (the local pubs been trying to kill me) so it's good to be back. Can you lot give me your opinion on my ideas.... ....I'm intending to make a guitar (stating the obvious) and want to use no glue in the process (with exception of the inlays). The neck will protude about 3/4 of the way down the length of the body and will be as thick as the body (so you can see it from both sides). This will be held in place by friction alone. The peg head will be angled back at 13 degrees (although I need to check this, I remember a thread a few weeks ago). The entire neck and peghead will be from one piece of wood with no glueing. There will be no fret board. Inlays, knobs and small marker dots will be made by myself. The body is going to be one piece quilted maple (not decided on the shape yet-minor detail). Fixed bridge and a niffty way of holding the strings at the nobbly end (but I'm not giving that bit away). Pick up cavities will be routed from the back leaving a thin piece of wood in place on the top of the guitar as a cover (so it looks like it hasn't got any pick ups). Is this possible? I realise that I may have to raise the area slightly towards the strings to allow for this. Two humbuckers will be wound by myself. Two tone pots, one volume and one balance will be bought in. I can see a fair few problems arising with this design, but nothing which can't be solved if I think hard enough (I'm an engineer after all). I'm after a nice warm warm tone, sort of bluesy. So what do you think? Are there any features that the ideal, absoulute dogs knackers guitar should have? I just want the best tone possible. Please feel free to debate amoungst yourselves. Oh yeah....I'm reserving the right to call it ToneMonkey. Cheers guys.