The weather's been lousy up here, so I can't spray lacquer on my current project. So what do I do? Start another! I've had this blank laying around for a LONG time. It's from the same board as the see-thru blonde Tele (can you tell?). This is a rough bandsaw cut before it goes under the router. Jeez. I'm in over my head:%
Dig this grain:
Man, I wish I could build a guitar from that level..
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It's not that hard. You just have to be willing to waste a lot of money on machinery & mistakes. My garage has a stack of bodies right now that I'm trying to figure out how to redeem from bad routes or dimensional flubs.
Why not do something genuinely clever and build an original design?
...Or why not try your hand at a thinline Tele??Originally Posted by Sven
-Kevin
GAS: Gear Acquisition Syndrome
TAS: Telecaster Acquisition Syndrome
BAS: Bass Acquisition Syndrome
...but I don't have SAS: Stratocaster Acquisition Syndrome...not yet anyway...
You mean come up with an original idea as opposed to rehashing something someone else thought of first? What a concept
Sure. What's wrong with coming up with a cool, new shape?
Well, I do have a few ideas. But hey, I'm also learning a lot by doing this stuff. I'm too cheap to buy the CS stuff that I like, & WAY too cheap to buy a lot vintage stuff. This is the best way I've found to get the guitars I want with the features I want at an affordable price. And it's fun.
I'm sure it is fun, but if it were me, I would tweak the shape, not just the hardware.
my brother has really gotten into his luthery. He has bought a lot of tools, and built a lot of forms....He is into acoustic guitars/resonator guitars...
my other bro builds all sorts of wood projects in his garage.... right now he is building a wooden kayak!
There is a school here in Phoenix called Roberto-Venn School of Luthery....
I went out there and checked them out.... very, very nice results from those 20 + students and instructors!
I really admire those who can bring shape and form to a block of wood! Especially beautiful instruments!!!!
Moe Humble
= = = = = = =
Pay NO attention to that man behind the curtain....
that is a nice piece of wood there - I could see me attemting this - but my wife wouldn't - it has got to be very satisfying the first time you run up a scale when you crank that thing up for the first time - good luck with that project
I was just thinking. It's a Strat shape.. How about a Aerodyne Strat? Where the top curves down on the top and bottom.
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7, forgive me if I missed a thread on this over at LPF, but have you ever taken a run at a Paul-type guitar? It boggles my mind to think about having to drop one perfectly shaped piece of wood on top of another, but it seems like it'd be really cool if you could do it.
Holy Crap is that cool.
I learn something new every day here. Thanks Spose!
Just out of curiousity, how much might one drop on the various pieces of machinery used in this process?
Spose, I'm looking forward to the project!
The tools I have (or borrow):
bar clamps
jointer (borrowed)
band saw
planer
drill press
router & bit assortment
orbital sander
hand-held belt sander
sawzall (for the contours)
jamb gun & compressor
Once the clone bug has bitten, there is no stopping! I have built some of my dream guitars because I couldn't afford the originals. And I have always enjoyed the challenge. I also realized right away I had more potential as a builder than a player. Not that I suck as a player or anything.. ;)
Of course building your own is fun, but there really is not much room left to be completely original. Inevitably you are going to scribble nibble (as Matte H. would say) someone somewhere.]
A recomended set of machinery for starting out would be a band saw, Jointer, router, and a drill press.
A portable planer, sanding center, buffing machine, air compressor, and a wide belt sander would be next.
You gotta be careful with those original designs. Sometimes the tried and true method is better.
VM
If aliens listened to our current top 40, they'd think that the entire planet was populated by sexually ambivalent robots with ethnic insecurity.
I have a blueprint for an LP Jr. but that's a long way off. A Standard isn't even in the picture! All that binding
I think because I've owned & handled so many vintage Strats, & considering the nature of their construction they are an easy choice when it comes to cloning/replicating. I can count on one hand the vintage LPs I've played. If I knew more about the original specs I might attempt it, but it would still be a hard job for me.
The Clonenator!
Holy crap! That looks sweet. How long did that take to get from the picture on top to what we see here?
The front cutaway is a little severe, but it'll work. I routed the basic shape from the rough-cut body yesterday afternoon, & that took me about 30 minutes, maybe? The rest took me from about nine o'clock right up until I left for work at three. This morning I was up early to take my daughter to work, so when I came home I got right on it. The routing is easy. Cutting the contours is the hard part. The sanding just takes a lot of time.
Tomorrow I shoot some clear to seal it & then go after it w/pore filler!
I'm thinking this one will be See-Thru-Blonde.
in my "best" Tweety-Bird impersonation voice: "...I thought I saw a "bass-ackwards" Strat!"
Yup. It's getting a USACG maple neck :wail2blonde on blonde
that's gonna be a honey
Damn that looks good!
Much respect Mr 71818! Which profile for the neck?
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained as stupidity"
Robert,
For the people who asked what tools et.al you need to get started at that type of work you should also have good jigs / fixtures:
this is one for the SSS pickup routes and control cavity that a friend of mine at GM made for me while waiting to be assigned a job (he was a tinsmith at the time). I was using the single pickup template from Stew-Mac that you see in the picture by the blade guard. I was talking about how it would be nice to just hit those with the router all at one time. The dude says "You got a drawing?" He damn near made a perfect template for the whole Strat (except he nipped the upper bout even with the neck pocket :wah
I drilled and countersunk some holes in the template and mounted it to some birch plywood and routed the plywood with the aluminum as the template and it's a jig that will outlive me. These are big time saving things (and also allow you to reproduce consistent results) that you should do up front.
Anyway, that's looking good Robert. Have you taken on a neck yet?
Oh yeah... jigs! How could I forget those
And it's a good idea to find some kind of donor guitar for the dimensions. That stuff would look pretty funky if I just "eyeballed" it.
Necks are beyond my abilities at this point. I would like to try one in the future, but right now them fret slots make me eskairt. Gotta be precise.
Next up: Clear coats & maybe a little amber tint.
Sorry, I missed the question. It's just the standard U shape. I picked it out of a "blowout" box down at Tommy's shop. Not a flaw on it. Someone ordered it & then just decided they didn't want it. My gain!
Bonus!
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained as stupidity"
what are those 4 pins? I'm guessing to be able to hold the body W/O damaging the paint/laquer.
am I right?
I don't need no proof, I know I'm right!
The pins (small finishing nails) support the body when I spray the back. A lot of finishers use a stick screwed inside the neck pocket, but I want these as close to vintage spec as possible so I use the pins & place the body on a Lazy Susan just like they did at Fender in the late '50s & early '60s. That way the neck pocket gets sprayed along w/the rest of the body. I doubt if it has any great influence on the tone, but hey, that's the way they used to do it!
The pins are covered by the pickguard, bridge, & jack cup when the guitar is fully assembled.
and what about the back? the neck plate area and the tremolo cover area are stable enough?
and one more question. if you were to position the pickguard on the body and mark 4 screw holes, ind place the nails there, wouldn't it be better?
I don't need no proof, I know I'm right!
No nails in the back. Another reason people use a stick is so you can paint it faster & hang it between coats. When you use the nails in the top of the guitar, the back of the guitar HAS to be dry when youy lay it down on the Lazy Susan to paint the top. You paint the top & sides of the guitar, flip it over onto the nails, & then paint the back. You could use the p/g screw holes, but that's too much work & planning for me. If it worked for Leo, it'll work for me.
Go here & scroll down almost 1/3 down the page to the section heading, "The Nail Holes and the Paint Stick" for a more complete explanation of the support pins (w/illustrations).
Great work! What do you use to replicate the side contours? Radius gauges? I am curious. Very impressive stuff!
If you mean the "contoured body" cutouts (the belly & fore arm) I just use a sawzall to get the gig hunks off & then I smooth the cuts w/a hand held belt sander. I'm searching for a better way to do that. The edge radius is done w/a router & a 1/2" roundover bit. I'm going to try & find a 5/8" roundover or maybe a 9/16" & experiment w/those, too.
A vertical spinder sander would work great for that:
http://www.woodworkingtools.com/ClrGifs/cJOVS10.gif
http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodmag/..._sander-lg.jpg
http://www.toolpeddler.com/Sa350k.gif
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