Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: JustBecos on March 09, 2008, 09:16:41 PM

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 09, 2008, 09:16:41 PM

I am making a guitar for the first time. Thought you might like to see how I get on.

The body is going to Padauk, the neck is a Bublinga with ebony board. It;s going to have a fixed bridge and a set of Slowhand sc's

Hewres a pic of the wood and neck

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 09, 2008, 09:19:04 PM

heres a pic of the wood with guiat outline drawn roughly on 1/2 cm outside of the edge of where the guitar will finish

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: AJDS on March 09, 2008, 09:25:10 PM

Good luck man, thats gonna be a really good looking guitar. Building guitars always gives me a really big feeling of accomplishment.

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 09, 2008, 09:29:04 PM

It was all going so well, I had to body rough cut and routed to shape, the neck pocket was cut, all I to do was take a bit extra off where the body meet the neck  by the top horn and disaster struck   :shock: .

The nut holding the bearing on the router bit comes loose and router goes straight through the wood at the top of the neck pocket, breaks off the end quarter of 3/4 inch which goes along the neck and rips out a chuck from the inside of the neck pocket about inch long and 2mm thick.

I should have realised everything was going to well :evil:

But I will over come this, might have to put some shims long to top of the neck pocket, shoudln't effect the sound but will look a bit ugly.

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: noodleplugerine on March 09, 2008, 09:31:33 PM

Looking nice =)

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: FernandoDuarte on March 10, 2008, 12:28:27 AM

Should look nice!
About the mistake: think about put a top on the guitar... would cover the bit...

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: WezV on March 10, 2008, 07:35:40 AM

sounds like a dull router bit to me, if they aint really sharp they will generate more heat and things like this start to happen

anyway, if you do want to go with Fernando's suggestion let me know beause i have a few 1/4" maple tops with minor flaws that i can let go cheap

sets like this

(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/th_3a.jpg) (http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/3a.jpg)(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/th_4a.jpg) (http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/4a.jpg)(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/th_3b.jpg) (http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/3b.jpg)

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: jibidy on March 10, 2008, 03:57:44 PM

Looks Real nice. Hope you can sort out tha' lil' mistake!

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 10, 2008, 06:14:53 PM

Thanks for the offer Wez

That second pic looks a beautiful quilt, but the guitar  is going to have a rounded front contour a la PRS mira, which I have started.

To be honest if the problem will be purely cosmetic I'm not two bothered. I'm just worried about the neck stability as these is going to be less support laterally with only than an inch on the bottom side of the neck (which is pretty normal for strat style) and on the top there being about 2" instead of the normal 3" and also a gap of about 2mm between the body and the neck.

I have come up with a couple of plans but not sure which to go for yet I'm leaning towards this.

cut back the chipped area in the neck pocket by about 3mm and make an insert a bit a little bigger from an off cut and glue it back in then re-shape the neck pocket. I think this should work and not be too noticeable.

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: WezV on March 10, 2008, 06:38:32 PM

yeah, splicing a new bit in there will be the way to go to ensure stability... and if you match the paduak well with some of the ofcuts it could be almost invisable (obviously havnt seen the actual damage)

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 10, 2008, 06:51:18 PM

Thanks again wezv,

I'll take some more pics on the weekend, hopefully the weather will be a bit better then as the only place I have to work is outside.

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: WezV on March 10, 2008, 06:56:44 PM

has it turned you orange yet

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 10, 2008, 07:25:04 PM

Oh yes, the entire garden as well, the patio I did all the work on so far now has a very striking orange grouting, opps.

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 17, 2008, 07:15:55 PM

Heres a pic of the body in it's basic state with hardware

Also a picture with my tear out in the neck pocket

I have done a quick test attachment on the neck and it seems rocksolid so I probably just leave it, as a reminder that I do this again always check everything is propably tight before you start routing :roll:

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: WezV on March 17, 2008, 08:10:59 PM

i really like that shape a lot.  Personally i wouldnt bother with those chrome rings though.. always seem a bit too bling for me

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on March 17, 2008, 08:41:33 PM

You might be right about the rings, haven't made a definite choice on them yet.

There are a few parts like that where even with the huge amount of time I spend trying design this guitar mainly just looks wise. So to get round it I went and bought multiple options to decide when I had the guitar nearly built, such as pick up covers I have black white and cream (I'm leaning towards black cream black) knobs etc.

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: JustBecos on April 06, 2008, 10:08:32 PM

Getting there, here is some pics of the guitar  put together for a test fitting, a little shaping and a lot of sanding still to go, but I won't have a chance to do any more work on the guitar for a at least a month now  :(.

Title: My first guitar build
Post by: opprobrium_9 on April 07, 2008, 12:17:48 AM

looks damn good how long has it taken you so far?