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Building your own guitar
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20-09-2010 02:17PM#1
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Here's my K Lulu which I finished in 2006:
Body: carved from an old alder tree which was knocked in a storm close to my home
Neck: Ibanez maple neck with rosewood board ~ headstock adapted with fretsaw
Tuners: Schaller chrome
Front pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jazz
Back pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck
Control knobs: Rickenbacker
Neck-plate: Jackson 4-bolt
Bridge: Gotoh hardtail through-body
Switches and sockets: Various0 -
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damonjewel wrote: »Dochara that Guitar is fantastic looking!
Thanks Damon ~ the project went on for years though. I kept coming back to it.
It's more fun carving your own body but it's vital that you get the neck pocket routed by a craftsman. A local bespoke carpenter/joiner (and guitarist!) routed my neck-pocket for me. After that, it's plain sailing.
The body is a hybrid of a Vox Teardrop and a PRS.
Here are some photos which I took during the project. I will add some more over the next few days.
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Here's my K Lulu which I finished in 2006:
Body: carved from an old alder tree which was knocked in a storm close to my home
Neck: Ibanez maple neck with rosewood board ~ headstock adapted with fretsaw
Tuners: Schaller chrome
Front pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jazz
Back pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck
Control knobs: Rickenbacker
Neck-plate: Jackson 4-bolt
Bridge: Gotoh hardtail through-body
Switches and sockets: Various
How long did you have to wait for the wood from the tree to dry out ?
Thanks
Rusty0 -
Here's my K Lulu which I finished in 2006:
Body: carved from an old alder tree which was knocked in a storm close to my home
Neck: Ibanez maple neck with rosewood board ~ headstock adapted with fretsaw
Tuners: Schaller chrome
Front pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jazz
Back pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck
Control knobs: Rickenbacker
Neck-plate: Jackson 4-bolt
Bridge: Gotoh hardtail through-body
Switches and sockets: Various
Lovely stuff!0 -
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I'm about 75% of the way there on a tele build. I bought the neck from guitarfetish.com but cut the body myself from a slab of wood I got from www.irishwoods.com. They advised me to start with sycamore for my first, and when I've learnt from that to graduate to a more expensive wood. I intend finishing mine with Danish Oil. I have tested it on scraps and it gives a really nice finish, like the stock of a shotgun, not mad shiny but smooth to the touch. I have enough sycamore for five bodies, and I have a slab of beech big enough for seven bodies drying out in a shed. If you are thinking of getting into this, get your wood and let it be seasoning and curing, it takes a year per inch of thickness.
Unless you have a jointer and a planer-thicknesser its easier to use a full-width piece, but that means you will have to find a saw mill to cut it that big for you. I have a few sources ifr anybody is interested.
I got all my pickups, bridge, pots, knobs etc from guitarfetish. Here's a dry-assembly pic. The bits of masking tape are just marking centres of the parts for alignment:
I used a LP-type switch just because I preferred it. The headstock has to be shipped oversize because of trademark infringement issues. It can easily enough be reshaped to something more recognisable. I'll make my own neck in time, this will do to begin with. I will be looking for broken antique furniture to get slips of rosewood etc.
It would be good if we had some contact between Irish builders to share tips and info re suppliers etc. I post on tdpri as well.
JC0 -
I've pretty much finished building my first tele now, here's a pic:
It plays well and sounds pretty good, particularly the bridge pickup. the neck p/u isn't as powerful but makes an acceptable soft acoustic sound. The pickups are tele vintage style from guitarfetish.com, next time I'll use something different just to try something else. The finish is Danish Oil, I like it and it feels nice:
This board is very quiet - any chance of perking it up a bit?
JC0 -
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Recently built (assembled) a Tele with parts off eBay and Warmoth.
Fender neck, MIM body, tuners and bridge, All Parts electronics and Warmoth hardware, then stuck a pair of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounds in it.
Made a gorgeous looking guitar, (I'll stick a pic up soon), but still having a few issues regarding wiring (mainly due to my inexperience with a soldering iron) and getting different brand parts to fit together (some boring and sanding required).
Still, it was something I've always wanted to do, even if it did work out a little more expensive than a MIM Tele, but I've now got something a lot more personal to me and I've learned a heck of a lot in the process. It sounds great, (dodgy wiring aside), and I'm slowly working on the playability which is coming along. Gonna get it set up by a tec soon to finish the job off.
Next up a homemade Strat!!!
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No problem showing the back, I just made a cover from an offcut of the same material. You can see the LP switch turned sideways which meant I had to widen the chamber at that point. I marked all my earths (grounds on US sites) green and yellow and all the lives are marked red, because by the time it goes worng I'll have forgotten. I made the cover just by eye but it is a tight push fit and doesn't need screws to stay in place. The whole thing is shielded with sticky copper tape and the capacitors came from maplin.
The g-string ferrule is half a millimetre off line, unfortunately.
I'm in West Limerick, if anybody needs a hand with soldering and electric matters etc I'd be pleased to help.
JC0 -
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Thanks for the obs, all. If anybody wants a slab of wood to start a build, try Terry Goggin at www.irishchainsawmills.com he is based near Cork and he is very obliging. However, since his timber is freshly sawn, you will have to store it properly and let it season and dry out fully before you can use it, which could take approximately a year.
I would like to get a bit of dry spalted wood, proobably beech or ash, to attempt a guitar like this but in a tele or Les Paul Junior shape and with single coils:
Note - that isn't my guitar, I'm just linking to the image.
JC0 -
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I started to build another tele at the weekend. I am using the blank on the left here, which is sycamore sawn from the plank behind it:
the blamk on the right successfully became my first tele. As you can see, this present one is much browner, therefore I am expecting a different look when it is finished. I haven't bought any hardware for it yet, but I'm thinking of different pickups, a traditional three-saddle bridge (which i might even make myself), maybe a blend pot, and on the visual side, a leather pickguard, a wiped dye tobacco-burst type of finish, an arm relief cut and a belly cut. The aim is to try a few new things, and do an all over better job where possible.
First improvement was to fit a wider base to one of my routers, this is just an offcut of laminate flooring:
Next get set up with the Terry Downs template on 12 mm MDF attached to the blank with countersunk screws through the neck pocket area and in the area under the bridge:
And start the routing:
That cutter is very good, it leaves a clean cut and doesn't burn the wood. The end-grain on this body blank is already much smoother than it was on the first one. Notice how the wide base easily keeps the router well supported as well as plumb and square to the work. To do this you have to screw the template down, you can't have G-cramps obstructing the bigger base. To be continued...
JC0 -
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Anywhere near Dublin (I don't drive...) for buying wood?
Just picked up some finished Sapele (he mentioned it was "Sapele Mahogany" but I thought they were different trees?) for the neck of my first Cigar Box Guitar attempt from a chap out in Celbridge, Gaffney's Woodworkers (01 6288697). If you take the 67/67A and get off at the first bus stop after you come off the main street* you're right outside his front door. I know nothing about wood but the piece I got was straight as an arrow, knot free, a lovely reddish brown colour and 5 quid, so I'm not complaining
*if you're unfamiliar with Celbridge, after the bus goes over the bridge it'll turn right. There are two stops on the main street, then it turns left - hit the button there and you should be fine. Although I haven't been on the bus for ages so if you end up in Maynooth or Narnia don't come crying to me.0 -
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Just picked up some finished Sapele (he mentioned it was "Sapele Mahogany" but I thought they were different trees?) for the neck of my first Cigar Box Guitar attempt from a chap out in Celbridge, Gaffney's Woodworkers (01 6288697). If you take the 67/67A and get off at the first bus stop after you come off the main street* you're right outside his front door. I know nothing about wood but the piece I got was straight as an arrow, knot free, a lovely reddish brown colour and 5 quid, so I'm not complaining
*if you're unfamiliar with Celbridge, after the bus goes over the bridge it'll turn right. There are two stops on the main street, then it turns left - hit the button there and you should be fine. Although I haven't been on the bus for ages so if you end up in Maynooth or Narnia don't come crying to me.
I get stuff off him, top chap0
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