Idiot tries to build guitar!

[Wonks]

Do not leave it lying outside on a sunny day whilst working on it. I’ve wasted a couple of sheets of scratchplate material that way.

It doesn’t take long for black plastic to warm up and to start to curl and bend. Or go all Salvador Dali on you if you leave it hanging over an edge of a Workmate.

So if you have to work on it outside, do it when it’s cool.

And keep a vacuum cleaner handy. The shavings go everywhere and being plastic they get charged with static at the drop of a hat and stick to everything.

I’ve used scratchplate blanks from Amazon (as well as from luthier suppliers). It appears to be the same stuff as you’ll get from luthier suppliers, though the luthier suppliers generally have a much larger range of colours and some can supply much larger sheets than you’ll get on Amazon.

[Jumpeyspyder]

Thanks for the tips Wonks

Yesterday, I summoned up the courage to saw off the spare wood from the back of the headstock aimed to take off slightly less than needed because I knew it would need some tiding afterwards.



turned out fine !

[Jumpeyspyder]

With the headstock trimmed down started reducing the neck thickness
now down to 26mm at 1st fret & 29mm at 12th fret - Uber chunky, but feeling strangely comfortable!!!



are my plans for a skinny neck changing?
...maybe, not sure, I might even retain a volute that is forming by accident.



I assumed my fingers would know when I had the neck right.

[Wonks]

It's all down to you. You can either try and duplicate a neck you already have and like, or just go by feel. Of course what may be comfortable for playing chords may not feel so good playing fast single note phrases. But if you keep the finish simple e.g. just clear lacquer, then it's not going to take much refinishing effort if you decide that it feels a bit too chunky later on and want to shave a bit more off it.

It's obviously a lot harder to make a skinny neck more chunky.

[Drew Stephenson]

I think this is shaping up very nicely sir.

[Jumpeyspyder]

Quick update, neck now down to:-
22.6 at 1st fret
28.7 at 12 fret (needs more work at this end)
Feel nicer, I will go a little slimmer but waiting till I've recovered
Seem that thining the neck with spoke shave & scrapers whilst supporting the body between legs and the headstock on chest is not a good idea, I seem to have bruises on my chest! no real harm done, will be back to this in a couple of days.

I'm having 'worries' about the headstock, did I do a good enough job with glueing?
I think so, but still concerned as it's thin (16.5mm). Thinking I might put a couple of 8mm dowels just to give it a little more lateral strength in case it gets bashed.

Never seen this needed, but I don't think it would do any harm?
(apart from the looks) It's a feature honest

[Jumpeyspyder]

...so it's been another week - What's the lazy, no good, idiot been up to, will he ever get this finished ?

Neck shaping complete (stuck with 22.6mm at 1st fret , now down to 26mm at 12th)



Routed the back of the trem a little deeper' cut a piece of rubber and glued it in!
(blackend some of the edges of route before glueing) should allow a tad more upbend and also protect the cavity from dents.



Router blade arrived so control cavity now cut to proper depth
Made a template & routed for a cover plate, template moved again so a little closer to the edge of the body than I'd hoped.
..also made an Oopsie near the trem cavity. Luckily this is the back so I'm not going to worry too much!
Not sure if I will route for the trem cavity cover or if it will just sit on top will depend on clearance for springs & trem block - rear cover may end up one piece.

[Wonks]

Nice to see positive progress.

I'd remove the rubber for now. It really will get in the way of any finish you are applying. You'll be trying to keep finish off the rubber, which will stop the finish being applied correctly in that area. You want the finish to go over the edge of the trem rout by at least a mm or two otherwise if you just apply it up to the edge, you'll find the finish will want to lift after a while.

So, by all means blacken the trem rout, but don't forget that you can still apply a clear finish over it. Or apply black over the clear finish. Just get the main finish going over the edges and down into the rout.

[Jumpeyspyder]

I'd remove the rubber for now. It really will get in the way of any finish you are applying. You'll be trying to keep finish off the rubber, which will stop the finish being applied correctly in that area. You want the finish to go over the edge of the trem rout by at least a mm or two otherwise if you just apply it up to the edge, you'll find the finish will want to lift after a while.

Good point! thanks Wonks

[Albatross]

Really interesting thread and fascinating. I've renovated more guitars than I can remember but never made one from scratch. My old Fender Strat has a nice piece of stiff leather with copper tape on the back covering the control cavity and that works well, looks lovely, feels good and would be easy to cut to your odd shape. I work with leather a lot so have plenty laying though.

Good luck with it!

[Jumpeyspyder]

Really interesting thread and fascinating. I've renovated more guitars than I can remember but never made one from scratch. My old Fender Strat has a nice piece of stiff leather with copper tape on the back covering the control cavity and that works well, looks lovely, feels good and would be easy to cut to your odd shape. I work with leather a lot so have plenty laying though.

Good luck with it!

Leather covers is a new idea - I might steal that, if I try a steampunk guitar!
Thanks Albatross

[S2]

I'm having 'worries' about the headstock, did I do a good enough job with glueing?
I think so, but still concerned as it's thin (16.5mm). Thinking I might put a couple of 8mm dowels just to give it a little more lateral strength in case it gets bashed.

Never seen this needed, but I don't think it would do any harm?
(apart from the looks) It's a feature honest

Just to comment on this. I was in the same position and had to glue some headstock 'ears' on. Never had any issues with them being strong enough - as I'm sure you know the glue tends to be stronger than the wood - and it has been bashed a couple of times as it's not in a hard case, with no ill effects.

Your decision, but personally I'd consider it overkill and unnecessary and would probably spoil the look.

[Wonks]

I wouldn't say 16.5mm is thin. You might need to add 0.5mm of finish on to that. With most 6-in-line tuners, the centre of the string hole is between 20 and 22mm (depending on manufacturer) from the base of the tuner. With the washer and screw-down nut on top taking up about 3mm of extra height, you could have just a very small part of the tuner hole showing above the fixing nut.

If you've already bought the machine heads, it's worth trying one out against the headstock to see just how much of the tuning post is sticking out above the top. Ideally, unless they are locking machines, you'd want all of the curved section of the post sitting above the fixing nut.

[Jumpeyspyder]

..had a nice holiday down south, then a busy week at work catching up on stuff that piled up when I was away!

Meant to post about shielding before I left - but time disappeared!
I bought paint & copper tape, wasn't expecting much from the paint but thought I'd give it a try!




The 'paint' even when dry has a 'graphite softness' so it's easy to smear. It will need sealing + some copper strips to mate with the cover plates
My multimeter test confirms that I have good continuity ! - so copper tape will go to the garden for slug protection.

[Jumpeyspyder]

This evening I have mostly been installing frets!

The frets I bought were not radiused enough so I've been waiting weeks for a bender to arrive!


My 'spinal tap' moment "26 Frets - that's 2 better!"


Frets ends need trimming, dressing, then levelling & crowning, but feel It's starting to come together!

[Wonks]

Don't forget to add the copper first, then mask the mating sections of the copper, then spray some clear to seal the graphite. It is messy stuff.

I always run wire (normally thin tinned bare wire) between the cavities to get a good ground path between them. Sometimes I use small screws, sometimes I just sandwich the wire end between two bits of copper tape.

[Drew Stephenson]

Looking good!

[OneWorld]

Looking good, but if you ever get around to building an acoustic you might get a few tips from this lass. It's a really good watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18scWjZHXZE

But for beautiful guitars, look at this, the tortoisehell back looks fabulous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjtfpEAdTAA

[Jumpeyspyder]

Excellent tips! Wonks
I've drilled the holes between the cavities and was debating between trying to use paint to connect or add wires.

Thanks Drew!

Thanks for the links OneWorld, I think an acoustic build might be beyond my skill level, but that still looks like an excellent resource

I've watched a quite a lot of guitar building youtubes this is the channel I've found most useful :- https://www.youtube.com/@UnquendorGuitars

[OneWorld]

Could a guitar e made on a 3D printer?

[BigRedX]

Could a guitar e made on a 3D printer?

Yes, there are quire a few designs for guitar bodies and there was a company in Australia (IIRC?) specialising in them.

There's also a member on the Basschat forums who has made several guitar and bass bodies for his own use: guitar and bass. There's a couple of other 3D guitar build threads for anybody wanting to search through the Build Diaries forum there.

However AFAIK no-on is making 3D printed necks. This appears to be for two reasons: 1. structural integrity, as the most of the 3D printed body designs require non-3D printed parts to connect the neck to the bridge and prevent the instrument folding up under normal string tension. 2. Size. Most of the people doing 3D printed guitar bodies are hobbyists and their 3D printers just aren't big enough to fit even a guitar neck let alone a bass neck.

[Kwackman]

My 'spinal tap' moment "26 Frets - that's 2 better!"

Looking good

[OneWorld]

Could a guitar e made on a 3D printer?

Yes, there are quire a few designs for guitar bodies and there was a company in Australia (IIRC?) specialising in them.

There's also a member on the Basschat forums who has made several guitar and bass bodies for his own use: guitar and bass. There's a couple of other 3D guitar build threads for anybody wanting to search through the Build Diaries forum there.

However AFAIK no-on is making 3D printed necks. This appears to be for two reasons: 1. structural integrity, as the most of the 3D printed body designs require non-3D printed parts to connect the neck to the bridge and prevent the instrument folding up under normal string tension. 2. Size. Most of the people doing 3D printed guitar bodies are hobbyists and their 3D printers just aren't big enough to fit even a guitar neck let alone a bass neck.

I seem to remember one of my first guitars was an electric I tried to make myself, another example of the asymmetrical relationship between my aspirations and abilities.

[S2]

I've watched a quite a lot of guitar building youtubes this is the channel I've found most useful :- https://www.youtube.com/@UnquendorGuitars

When I built my first one (bass) I used the Crimson Guitar YouTube video mainly which was a very straightforward build and minimal tools. I also like a guy in NZ - Fanblade - who is also quite inventive in terms of building templates and tools.

I find a lot of them entertaining but they all seem to have vast workshops and every tool known to man which isn't really that representative of the average hobbyist. At least it isn't in my case!

Looking good JS. I found it really annoying with the fret radius - the precut ones were always too shallow, which is why I now buy long lengths of it and can bend it as necessary.

For me the neck was the best part, all the fretwork, markers and everything and is quite intricate which I enjoy.

[BigRedX]

I've found the site that produces guitars with 3D printed bodies Odd Guitars who are based in NZ not Australia. The bodies have a wooden core which joins the neck to the bridge and which gives the instruments their structural strength. The 3D printed part is just for the shape and look.

It looks as though there are materials available for 3D printers that may be suitable for making a complete guitar but all of these appear to require 3D printers that are beyond the financial reach of your typical hobbyist and often require additional post-printing processes more suited to large scale manufacturing than the occasional guitar.

From what I have seen and read by those who have tried it, the actual production is still costly compared to more traditional materials and that doesn't take into account the number of time-consuming prototypes each design has go through in order to achieve a workable outcome.