First Guitar -WIP

[syntec4]

Hello all,

Just started my first guitar (from scratch; I have built a few from parts before) at the weekend. Only WIP pictures so far but have a look anyway.


The main body is my design based on a few features I like in some of the other guitars I own. The body is from a single piece of Sapele. Not the normal 'Tonewood' but its quite dense and very heavy so it should have plenty of sustain.

I am trying to source some some maple and rosewood for the neck at the moment. I will be installing a Wilkinson trem and Seymour Duncan pickups. Just been trying to make the template to route the body cavity for the trem springs and the wiring. I've never used a guide bush/template setup before, should be fun

:shock:

Cheers.

Lee.

The rest of the pictures are here http://www.harrisonwoodwork.co.uk

 

[Philly]

Look forward to seeing the completed beasty!
Enjoy,
Philly

 

[tigerturnings]

Looks like a good start. One of my friends from college has asked me to try making him a guitar so I'll probably be doing a similar project come the summer holidays. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with this.

 

[neilc]

I'll also be keeping an eye on this one, its something I'd love to have a go at. Very nice so far.
Neil

 

[Waka]

Looking good, keep the pic's coming.

 

[syntec4]

Made a little more progress over the past week or so. Used a Drawknife that I found in the field whilst picking up dead wood for the hotspot heater. The knife was quite rusty but cleaned up well with some wire wool. Sharpened it on the grinder on holds a sharp edge. Worked a treat on the guitar body for removing large bits of waste. In fact in leaves quite a nice finish.

You can see the body contours are getting quite close here. Had to remove quite a bit of material.

After a bit of sanding with some 120 paper.

Ready to start doing some routing now. Gulp! :shock:

Bigger Pictures here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lee_harrison944/Guitar Construction/index1.htm

Thanks for looking.
Lee.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Looking good, Lee. That drawknife was a good find :wink:

Paul

 

[Alf]

Good stuff, Lee. Bet someone cursed their luck when they realised they'd lost that drawknife - good rescue job. =D>

Cheers, Alf

 

[syntec4]

Good stuff, Lee. Bet someone cursed their luck when they realised they'd lost that drawknife - good rescue job. =D>

Cheers, Alf

Thanks ALF

I'm very pleased with it. Can you have a look here and see if you can give me some more info on it. Seeing as you are the tool god :wink:


Thanks
lee.https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9755

 

[syntec4]

Been a while since I posted. Work is getting in the way of workshop time. So is the heat, but thats another topic.
Anyway, I had to make a template to route the neck pocket on my guitar project.

It worked better than I expected. the fit is very good and needed no cleaning up. It was my first try with a guide bush and template, I am beginning to see how versatile the router (even a very cheap one) is.

I will make a template for the pickup cavity and the tremolo cavity next.

There are a few more pictures on my website

http://www.harrisonwoodwork.co.uk/

Thanks for looking.

Lee.

 

[mr]

Is that the beginning of a scalloped fret board?
Cheers Mike

 

[woodbloke]

syntec4 wrote:

Just started my first guitar (from scratch; I have built a few from parts before) at the weekend. Only WIP pictures so far but have a look anyway.

This looks as though its going to be very good when done. Its one of the great regrets of my life that I never learned to play the guitar, its the one instrument that I would love to play. I offered to make one for my son Gareth but when he got his Gary Moore (signature) Les Paul I realized that I couldn't make one that sounded as good as his, 'specially as he uses an Orange 120W per channel amp - doesn't play it through this at home though

Pic of him below in his room at Edinburgh having a strum:

Rob

 

[johnelliott]

I missed this thread the first time round. I used to do quite a lot of this sort of thing. I hope you've left enough flat area for securing the templates for routing the tremolo. When I was doing one-offs I used to draw the cutout straight on to the body, then use double-sided tape to secure pieces of eg 9mm mdf around the cut out to the exact size, and then use a bearing guided cutter to machine out the recess. Most firms do a really short cutter with a bearing at the top. The diameter of the cutter takes care of the rounded corners
If it was a big cut out,like the spring cavity, I would use a large sub base on the router that would bridge right across the template

Is that a bought-in neck?

John

 

[syntec4]

The neck is off and old Squire Strat that has been used as a template. I scolloped the fret board years ago on it to make it play a bit faster. It will not be used on the final setup. I have a nice Warmoth Neck with 12" radius and rosewood fret board for the guitar. I will make my own for it as soon as I have time. I already have the 2 truss rods on the way from Stewmac.

This guitar is intended to be a test bed for a few ideas that I have. I am not worried about the finish at this stage. If it plays well I will build the actual guitar out of some more exotic woods. It will have a Walnut back with Maple cap and possibly a Zebrano fret board.
My Dad is a model engineer (live steam) so he has lathes and milling machines etc. We ar just finalizing the prototype of the tremolo system and the roller nut. Its going to be a beast

Thanks for looking.
Lee.