Hey DC, got some Q's for you

[TurboDog]

I see that you made a guitar body yourself. I am about to do the same, so I'm looking for some help.

 

I think I may build a solidbody acoustic. Maybe even with nylon strings. I'm thinking about an under bridge piezo, maybe from LR Baggs or Fishman.

 

I'm going to laminate a top to a back, and I may hollow the insides a bit to lighten up the guitar and give it a little bit of a semi-hollow feel/tone.

 

I'm also thinking about dropping a coil-splitting bucker on it near the bridge to get the whole electric/acoustic deal.

 

You have any advise on my project? I have all the woodworking tools imaginable (grandfathers woodshop). I have done extensive research on finishing the body. It's the pickup situation I'm not sure about.

 

I will also get a neck from Warmoth, probably walnut with an ebony fretboard.

 

Thanks

[DC]

Hello T-Dog.

 

First off, I don't think nylon strings will work with electric guitar pick ups. A piezo yes, but regular pickups aren't gonna see the solid nylons I don't think.

 

My basic steps:

 

1 Get a good chunk of 2" solid wood. My fav is cherry, but alder, mahonogy a bunch of others are good. Don't use oak, it sounds awful.

 

2 If your wood is big enough to make a body from great. Chances are it's not so you'll need to use a radial arm saw and a joiner to bookmatch the two pieces.

 

3 Get a cardboard cutout of your fav body design and place it on your wood blank. Trace in pencil. Take your chunk of wood over to the band saw and cut it out except for the side where the neck will go.

 

4 Take your neck and position it on your body exactly where it will go. Clamp it down (scrap wood between the neck and body and where they touch the clamp of course). Now scribe around the heel of the neck. Remove neck.

 

5 Very carefully route out the neck pocket a little at a time. When you've hit correct depth very slowly and carefully route all the way to the scribe marks.

 

6 Back to the band saw and get rid of that extra wood around where the neck joins the body. (You needed it earlier to give your router a base for the neck route).

 

7 Now do your pick up/control cavity routes. If you're going hollow like me, make your top first, clamp it to the face of the body and scribe around it, then route the thickness of the top on your first pass. Now route at least 1/4" inside to form a ledge for the top to sit on. Leave some meat under where the bridge will sit because you'll need to mount it to something and it really aids in sustain for the electric portion of your guitar.

 

7 Use balloon sanders to rough shape your forearm and tummy routes if you're going stratish. Use one of those table circle/band sanders to sand off outside edges. You'll need balloon sanders and a table router with a round sander attacthed to smooth out inside cuts like the little arms on the front of a strat body.

 

8 Round over all your edges with hand router.

 

9 Sand sand sand and ask someone else about finishing because I'm hopeless at it. Warmoth makes great necks. I highly recommend the solid rosewood ones. They don't need finish, but I like the feel of lacquer so I epoxy seal them and then put about 12 coats of nitro lacquer on em. Nitro lacquer makes your body sound better with age too.

 

I put my top on with screws so I could remove it and mess with wiring. If you want to permanantly attach your top, you'll need to have access through the back to change your battery or fix wiring problems. I left out a load of steps, but that's a rough idea.

 

My guitar has an EMG single coil at the neck and a hum buck at the bridge. Martin thinline under the saddle with it's pre amp mounted inside the body. I got my ebony acoustic bridge from Stewart McDonald and eventually got a Carvin articulated saddle which seems to sound better in tune.

 

NOTE: POWER TOOLS ARE DANGEROUS AS HELL! A JOINER CAN GRIND YOUR ENTIRE ARM OFF TO YOUR SHOULDER BEFORE IT WILL STOP IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN IT. TABLE SAWS CAN KICK BACK WOOD AND SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOU. I HAD A PIECE OF BIRCH ALMOST TAKE OUT MY APPENDIX ONCE. MOST OF THESE TOOLS CAN HANDLE HARDWOOD SO A FINGER IS CHILD'S PLAY.

 

USE PUSH STICKS!!!!! TAKE A COURSE ON SHOP SAFETY BEFORE YOU MESS WITH POWER TOOLS.

 

NEVER GO INTO A SHOP IF YOU'RE NOT COMPLETELY ALERT AND IN THE MOOD. NEVER PARTY BEFOREHAND.

 

LOSING A FINGER IS HORROR SHOW FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON, IT IS UNIMAGINABLE FOR A MUSICIAN!

 

WHEN YOU'RE IN THE SHOP YOU'RE IN CHURCH. BE REVERANT AND ATTENTIVE AT ALL TIMES AND AS I SAID, IF YOU'RE NOT IN THE MOOD THAT DAY QUIT AND DO SOMETHING ELSE. YOU NEED ALL OF YOUR CONCENTRATION WHEN USING POWER TOOLS.

 

Have a nice day.

[TurboDog]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm a very safe woodworker, so don't worry too much about me. I have been around woodworking tools for many years (I'm 32).

 

If I go nylon, it will strictly be acoustic. There are some piezos made specifically for nylons. I will probably not do this for my first project.

 

I actually like a neck with little or no finish. I find heavily painted necks to get sluggish. I've played on walnut necks with slight sealer and oil finish and have really liked them. If I get a maple neck, I won't finish it at all, just steel wool it down occasionally to avoid dirt/grease build-up.

 

Man, that's interesting that you just bolted your top to your back. How many bolts and where did you locate them? Do you have huge bolt holes?

 

I have several pieces of wood I'm considering. I have some awesome looking padauk. I may use that as a top with a walnut back. There is an Aussie wood called Red Gum that sometimes comes in a 'bees wing' figure that looks amazing. I may make a top out of that if I can find some.

 

As for shape, I'm still undecided. I will probaly go with a custom shape. Maybe a Rickenbacker meets Strat thing. 25 1/2 scale for sure.

 

I've got some good info on finishing over natural wood to get a glossy finish.

 

Where did you run your preamp controls? I'd love to see a pic of it if you have one.

[Nollykin]

You should write a book, or make a website... "How to make guitars."

 

I know there'd be plenty out there - but your way of doing it seems to be astounding all. Keep it up

 

Nolly

[DC]

Turbodog,

 

I've known a lot of folks who like raw necks. I sweat when I play so I like lacquer because my fretboard starts feeling like greesed lightning after a bit of playing. I dig that slick feel. It's also way easier to clean the crud off of lacquer where it gets pounded into bare wood.

 

If you go for a raw neck, I'd recommend rubbing it down with tung oil about once a year as it will preserve the wood and not change the feel. Also, rub lemon oil into the fretboard when you clean it.

 

I don't think I was specific. I didn't bolt the top down, I screwed it down with pickguard screws. Sorry about that.

 

Paduk is great for necks. I have no idea how it would work for a top altho I agree it would be beautiful. Can you get like 1/8" or 1/16" sheets of it? Never heard of that Aussie wood. Walnut is great for necks and bodies. The luthier I worked with made a fretless bass out of solid walnut and it looked and played loverly!

 

My acoustic portion doesn't have any controls except on and off. It's so dynamic that if I want it louder I just hit the strings harder. The pre amp is mounted to the back of the guitar (inside) and it's jack just comes out the back side a couple of inches below the strap button. Martin Matrox I think it's called, came with the pickup and pre together. The acoustic goes into the pa and the electric portion goes into a Boogie or pedalboard. I made a plastic cover and routed a hole in the back so I can get in and change batteries without taking the whole top off.

 

I've got some piccys but I'm HTML challanged. Something I'm hoping to learn in the near future. It's not much to look at (functional is all I was worried about), black lacquer with bunches of it scraped off over the years, but I'll email you a pic if you want.

 

Nolly,

 

I've considered writing a 'Woodworking for Musicians' book. I've actually got a load of notes and plans put together explaining building speaker cabs, racks, studio furniture, guitar mods etc.

 

Also got a 425 page fictional novel (thriller) finished entitled 'Musician's Creed.' Writing is easy. Finding a literary agent is impossible so far. I can't write a query letter that's any good. Should have taken more advertizing in school I expect.

 

But I'll keep trying...