mattharris75

Funny that you say that. I had narrowed it down to a Scott French SF3 and the AC Guitars Skelf as the two body styles I was thinking about patterning after for my first build. I ended up going with the Skelf, but to me both of those builders have a very similar vibe with those particular shapes. I think that's part of why I like them both so much.

OK, had a little time to work on the guitar tonight. Got the headstock basically cut out and sanded pretty close with the robosander. I have some clean up to do around the neck attachment end to smooth it out right to the thickness of the neck. You can see on there the laminate that I made and glued on. Everything turned out fine there, no gaps where it warped on the edge at all. Before I can put the fretboard on I need to figure out the best way to sand down the end of the laminate flat with the top of the neck. In the linked image you can see where the edge of the laminate is proud of the neck face, which is right where the nut will end up. Obviously this will be a sanding operation of some type. Possibly the belt sander to get it close and then finish off by hand sanding. Anyone got any good suggestions there? Laminate proud of neck face

That's just a nice looking piece of black limba with clearcoat on it. Do you mean try to make wood look like that, or try to alter the appearance of wood that already looks like that?

Looks like Black Limba to me. If you want an idea of the tonal qualities of the wood, Warmoth's site has a link somewhere that will give you a description of the sound of all the woods they sell. That might help give you an idea if it's what you're looking for sound-wise.

I'd love to hear what one of these little guys sounds like, but the downloads on your website don't seem to work for me.

No, the nut area is fine...I'd used clamping cauls on some of the other glue joints, but this one was so small I thought the number of clamps I had on it would take care of it... Looks like I learned my lesson! But yeah, now that the headstock is rough cut I will be fine, the warped area will be cut away.

Well, i'd certainly like to learn inlay. But i'd prefer it to be on a guitar that I think is more suited to the style of it. I'll probably do a thinline style guitar in the future, and that would be the perfect candidate for inlay. However, I rough cut (very rough, I hate the combination of maple and a coping saw) the headstock last night and it looks like i'll be alright. I am removing the material that warped, so I should be good to go.

I hear ya...Same problem I have. Probably a pretty common thing for beginners...Right now i'm waiting on a tool to finish my headstock, but I really want to rush in and jury rig the whole deal. Must....fight....temptation....

depends on how glossy you want it. Most people would probably recommend Tru Oil for a more natural and somewhat less glossy finish. It's supposed to be quite easy to apply. Otherwise a slightly darker stain and a nitro clearcoat would be the way to go. That will be nice and glossy, but is a lot more work.

I think you're misunderstanding me. I import into photoshop a vector file from Illustrator. I import it at the proper scale and resolution for printing and have no need for any further scaling. I listed the reasons why I like this approach earlier in the thread. I'm not saying the other method is wrong, but I find this very easy to work with for everything I do with it (Rendering,trying out hardware/woods, etc, etc.). I work with both photoshop and illustrator as part of my job, so I understand the differences and positives/negatives with each software package and file format.

I've never used Solidworks, but I hear good things about it. I personally like Solid Edge, at least for solids. For surfaces it really sucks...But it's what I have access to. If you've ever used Pro/E you would be grateful just to have Solid Edge. In spite of its power, Pro/E is a PITA to use. I like being able to whip out a drawing quickly like I can with Solid Edge.

I combine tools...I used Solid Edge to design my neck and Photoshop/Illustrator for the body.

Yeah, the headstock isn't cut yet. I will hopefully have an opportunity to do that in the next day or two. I don't expect the gap to be large, but it will be there, and that's irritating. I will try filling it first and see how it looks. If it's a small enough space then maybe it won't be neccessary to bind it. I hadn't even considered doing any binding on this guitar, and that brings up a whole new topic for me to research if it becomes neccessary. I really think I would prefer not to do it on this guitar if at all possible. Given the style of the body I don't think it would compliment it that well.

I'm not saying you can't do it, but I prefer using this method. You have a lot more options for rendering a finished drawing in photoshop. Some people might not care about that, but for me using textures and component images from the net is a quick and easy way to get an idea of how various woods, finishes, and components work together visually. Easy way to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Plus, i'm not a big fan of the scale tool in illustrator. I like photoshops handling of layers better as well. I find it more intuitive, but those may just be a bias from using photoshop more. Anyway, back to the guitar. I say go with your gut, but I like the first version.

Well crap...I checked this morning and apparently the laminate warped a bit and one edge is raised up slightly. The clamp in that area was moved in maybe 1/4" from the edge and that's where it raised. With thicker woods the clamping would have been fine. I guess I learned a lesson about gluing thin woods. I'm not sure why it warped, I planed and saned both sides fairly equally. But it did...So the question now is, do I fill this small void with sawdust and glue (It will be quite a small area I believe once the headstock is cut out) or do I try binding the headstock? Which direction would you guys go? I'm not sure the binding will go that well with the style of this guitar... Ahh well, this first project is a great learning experience. But i'm still convinced i'm going to have a lovely and playable guitar when i'm done.

Illustrator would be way better. Disagree...Illustrator is great for generating a shape using bezier curves, but for getting it scaled properly to actually build a guitar off of, nothing could be easier than using a raster image. 300 = 1". Piece of cake. Now he could scan the drawing, import to illustrator, and then create the bezier curves over the top of it to give it a good clean outline, then import to photoshop for scaling. That's what I would do. But in my post I was only referring to the 'scaling' aspect of things, not the 'design' aspect.

Photoshop works quite well for scaling up the body.

I agree, that looks like it will be a beautiful guitar if you execute it like the sketch. Got any plans as far as wood and hardware and whatnot? And of course, what Russ said, draw it out full sized. That should be your next step. If this is your first build it could take weeks to get all the measurements you need, etc, etc. That should keep you occupied.

Well, i've been on vacation and haven't had much time to work on the guitar, not to mention spring practice has started for football (I coach high school ball), so i've been busy. Tonight I finally had a chance to make a little progress. I used my wagner safe-t-planer for the first time. Worked reasonably well, only a slight learning curve. I imagine I could set up the drill press a bit better next time to make things go more smoothly. So I got the back of the headstock planed to .5" and planed down the headstock laminate to .125". They are currently glued up and sitting in the garage curing. I used the old 'drill a couple holes and stick toothpicks in them' trick to make sure I could easily get the lam aligned once the glue went on and everything got slippery. Worked like a charm. Next step, cut out the headstock shape I suppose.

Well, I can't help, but i'll say this. I'm about to use a GFS P90 in a fender string spaced application myself. It probably won't be in time to help you out, but if you're still curious in about 3 months i'll let you know how it worked out for me.

I haven't used it yet, but I have a pint of the stuff. I hear it takes many coats to get the pores filled (3+). But I also heard that it sands easily, I'll know soon enough. Cool, keep me posted. I'm likely a month or two away from using mine, but it would be nice to know how it works.

Ever tried the Stew Mac clear grain filler? That's what I was planning on using on my walnut project. Any reason to steer clear of it, any particular reason why CA is superior?

You know, this guitar would look awesome with red dye and a black burst...

Love the rosewood. If I was in the UK i'd be buying it off you in a heartbeat. Looking forward to watching this build as it progresses. Looks like it's going to be a really hot guitar.

Made a huge order from Stew Mac and another from Guitar Fetish today to buy all the hardware. I should have everything accounted for but the clearcoat, fretting hammer (or press and cauls, haven't decided yet) and perhaps a few other small odds and ends. Here's the specs on the hardware. Being a first guitar I couldn't necessarily justify spending a ton of cash to get the best of everything, but I didn't skimp too much: Pickup: GFS P90, bridge Tuners: Wilkinson e-z Lock Bridge: Hipshot Hardtail (I really would have loved the baby grand, so this was the compromise) All the hardware is black as well, including the graph tech nut. I can't wait to get this project done, but then again, a major portion of the fun in this hobby is the process itself. I keep telling myself that so that I don't rush things and sacrifice quality. Right now i'm also planning to do a pickup cover for the P90 out of some of the leftover laminate from the neck. So the pickup will be a maple and walnut laminate, with a strip of the walnut running down the pickup lengthwise. All of the wood parts besides the body itself will be tru-oiled to have a little contrast visually and texturally. And as far as the pickup cover goes i'm toying with the idea of using some black stain on it and then sanding it back slightly before oiling...Luckily i've got plenty of scrap to mess with to see how this will look before I commit to it.