Going forward with building my first axe

[WezV]

I would say the bailey course looks pretty good, you are right that you wont get fantastic attention to detail in 5 days  but it doesnt mean you wont get a nice guitar you can be proud of.  Of course there is a learning curve to building guitars but this is really aimed at people who havnt got much clue where to start.. and you wont come out of it knowing how to build guitars, far to intense for that,  but you will have a better idea of a lot of the processes involved.  I think the biggest compromise they make on the course is with the finishing, you basically get it sealed with a few fast drying coats and work on it again the next day.

my guitars at the moment are taking 4-6 months but thats because i factor in a lot of resting time for the wood to aclimatise between stages and i also have another full time job to do as well.. and finishing is a bit of a bottle neck at the moment :oops:

.. but i have done complete instruments in a week before.. sometimes its fun to just bash one out quickly

these were all done in a week

[Bob Johnson]

Building a custom guitar can take anything from 20 hours to a 100 hours; it depends on how many steps there are in the process. I use Titebond adhesives like most guitar builders do so you've got a 24 hour curing period between gluing up any composite parts of the guitar before you can move onto the next step for instance. Then you really have to do things in the right sequence to save you problems further down the line; this is really important!!

I have process sheets for manufacturing various different parts of the guitar that I've developed over the years you're welcome to a copy of any relevant ones if it will help you.

[opprobrium_9]

As a beginner i would say something like 350-500 hours is reasonable.  I dunno how long you have been building guitars Bob, but as long as you are a builder i am sure you know that there are a certain number of things that require precision well beyond the human eye; the eye will be trained with time as mine was, but as a beginner, unless experienced in woodworking, the eye will be the weakest point of the construction process.

There was a two week planning period for my first build: finding woods, figuring out what tone i wanted and what i wanted the general look to be, drawing up plans (there was some indecision in this process so it took a little longer), etc.  Getting everything exact takes more time than actually just paring down the wood.  95% of guitarmaking is getting everything to look and work right, but 100% of the remaining 5% is dedicated to attaining exactitude so the working parts previously accomplished can not only work, but function PERFECTLY - Guitarmaking (should) = perfection (or as near as you can get it).

[Nadz1lla]

Again, thanks to all for the info so far!

I thought that the compromise they would make would be the finishing, that's something that if I was really bothered about I would just make the basic axe and finish it at home where I have all the time in the world to let coats dry in their own time and get it cured properly.

Bob, that would be amazing! But I wouldn't want you to go to any trouble, I'd only ask for the copies if they are uploaded already somewhere or they're easy to send in an email. My main areas that I can forsee difficulties with are things like neck angles, fretboard / neck radius and bonding when it comes to things like making a thru-neck, as I understand that incorporates a lot of sandwiching pieces of together etc.

I'll be buying some rubbish mdf or cheap timber this week with a "Tesco Value" quality router from B&Q just to make a mock-up of the shape and start playing around with carving techniques / where I'm going to put the electrics etc, but the project as a whole (unless I actually go for the Bailey option) is going to take a long time of meticulous planning and mock-ups, hehe.

I was going to take apart one of my cheapy Guitars and measure distances etc, things like distance between the frets as they go up the neck and where the neck ends in relation to the bridge so I don't end up with something that is a note away from an octave when you get to the 12th fret, lol. It's the kind of mistake I am likely to make if any.  :lol:  :roll:  :oops:

[Bob Johnson]

I was going to take apart one of my cheapy Guitars and measure distances etc, things like distance between the frets as they go up the neck and where the neck ends in relation to the bridge so I don't end up with something that is a note away from an octave when you get to the 12th fret, lol. It's the kind of mistake I am likely to make if any.  :lol:  :roll:  :oops:

"Top Tip"; unless you've got a jig for cutting the fret slots you should really buy a pre-slotted fingerboard from somewhere like David Dyke's Luthiers supplies or Touchstone Tonewoods, Craft Supplies etc. A digital caliper for measuring things like the nut width, heel width, neck pocket depth/width etc is an essential tool in my view. There really reasonably priced these days if you shop around.

[Nadz1lla]

Digital calipers, got it, will shop around for some.  :D

Also nothing like a good couple of hours of checking and double checking to put one's mind at ease, heh.

[opprobrium_9]

digital calipers are damn expensive but quite worth it as an investment in the long run

[Nadz1lla]

Wow! Well they certainly vary in price, lol! I found a site selling all different makes that range from £10.00 to £725.00 heh. I'm guessing the £10 ones are probably rubbish.  :?

[telemonster]

i made 4.

the first 2 were great, but the last 2 were shite. i just buy them now!

much less stress!

[Nadz1lla]

Just an update, the build is going pretty well!

I bought a piece of mahogany and have been carving into that (as can be seen in another thread here, heh), and my Mockingbird is donating it's neck. But I truly have the bug now! I am already planning 3 more builds! 2 of those are from some mates at work who just want a basic guitar and bass to start learning on and said it would mean more to them if their first axe was made by a friend. Managed to mock up a pretty cheap list of parts which would cost them about the same as a basic "learning" guitar anyway, except instead of 12 ply they'd be getting a solid mahogany body shaped to their taste.  8)

But the next build I want to do for myself is definitely going to be neck thru. Taking dvice from here I am going to source the materials as cheap as possible for this first attempt, although after progress with my current project I am getting more confident by the day that I can do a fairly good job. Going to invest in some proper luthier tools too at some point as although my Dad's woodworking equipment is good, there are just some things that require a more specialist approach.

I'd just like to say thanks to all who have posted in this thread, your contributions have not only been informative but also have given me a motivational boost!

Cheers guys!!! :D

[Roobubba]

and finishing is a bit of a bottle neck at the moment :oops:

Really? :)

sometimes its fun to just bash one out quickly

Truer words have never been spoken.

:D
Roo

[WezV]

that was march Roo... getting stuff ready for finishing (constant hand sanding untill i buy better sanders) seems to slow me down at the moment but the actual finishing isnt too bad since i am shipping out lacquer finishers to a couple of different people. 

[GuiTony]

Only just seen this thread ....

Has anyone here been on this course? http://www.baileyguitars.co.uk/oldsite/index.htm
Seen a few people on the forum Wez pointed out that seem happy with the course. But it's a lot of money for me, I just want to be sure, heh.

I may have been one of those "few people", but just in case I wasn't, I'll tell you here ... that the course is totally, absolutely, and without-any-reservation amazing. 

I've done it twice - the first time taught me that I actually could make a guitar, then I went back a second time to learn a bit more about how to make one.  I've just booked another slot as an 18th birthday present for someone.  I wish I'd done it when I was 18!

Even when you've completed your current build, and your 100th own build, there will still be tips and tricks that Mark can teach you.  He'll be the first to say that he's still learning about guitar-building after many many years of practice.  So, if you get the chance, do the course.  In the meantime, have fun, and get some pics posted here!

ps - see the link in my sig to pics from the Bailey course, and to what I've managed to do since then ...

[Nadz1lla]

Ah yes, I do believe I have seen your work before, lovely guitars! You've used some really nice timbers there.  :D