Ever make your own guitar?

[ken]

I think we need a forum section right here just for us guitar and bass makers

Jack, I dig the green maple topped one myself.

Here are a couple of 'new ones'. I finished this Sherwood Green one awhile ago, and I just fell in love with this body shape. It's different enough to make other players take a second look, familiar enough to not be too offputting, and best of all it's really easy to find lots of aftermarket parts since Strat parts all fit. It has the Strat's belly and arm contours, and also a contoured neck heel so I can reach high frets easier with sore hands. It's become my favorite guitar, that is, until the next one





I got screamingly lucky with this one. I found someone willing to sell me some really nice ash and maple so I'm making this ash one '1950's approved' sunburst.
I'm hoping to get this one done quickly



Now if I could only make a good guitar neck... or a good bass body

ken

[Chuck H]

I just wanted to say that I'm floored by all the great work and concepts. You can punch "custom guitar" into Google images and not see as much fine craftsmanship. Funny, with all the incredible woods, intricate design and out of the box thinking that's offered here the one guitar that I'm itching for is John_K's new red psuedo Tele. The color and slight design differences look really cool.

[copperheadroads]

I have recently talked to a "New up in comer builder " with a business degree ,He see's $$$ & with a few of his prototype body's made in china somewhere ???. We got on to the topic how many pieces of wood is ok for a body .I told him I prefer to use 2 piece body for most projects .strat,tele,les paul ...I think the number he had in mind was 5 or 6 .............holy sh_t

[davos]

I just finished this one up, first time I've used Stainless Frets, really enjoying it so far, 6.8 lbs finished weight too



The pickup in the middle is basically a hum sized Jazzmaster pup, wound very vintage - 5.5K DCR with Alnico II rods. Its very clear and woody, a touch warmer than I expected which was welcomed. The bridge bucker is Alnico V at 8.2K DCR, they are nicely balanced. I put 2 push push pots in there, one is splitting the bridge bucker and the other is currently unused (we all know that we constantly swap out pickups )

[David Schwab]

We got on to the topic how many pieces of wood is ok for a body .I told him I prefer to use 2 piece body for most projects .strat,tele,les paul ...I think the number he had in mind was 5 or 6 .............holy sh_t

It really makes no difference, but fewer pieces looks nicer for natural finishes, unless you are doing a "hippy sandwich." I try to use two, unless it has laminations up the center. It's not so easy to get wide boards anymore.

[dor baruch]

[ken]

I have recently talked to a "New up in comer builder " with a business degree ,He see's $$$ & with a few of his prototype body's made in china somewhere ???. We got on to the topic how many pieces of wood is ok for a body .I told him I prefer to use 2 piece body for most projects .strat,tele,les paul ...I think the number he had in mind was 5 or 6 .............holy sh_t

It really makes no difference, but fewer pieces looks nicer for natural finishes, unless you are doing a "hippy sandwich." I try to use two, unless it has laminations up the center. It's not so easy to get wide boards anymore.

Dave is right, it isn't easy to get good wood for guitarmaking anymore. It isn't like it grows on trees or something....

I had a Cort? strat body once with seven or eight 1 1/2" wide and thick strips laminated together and veneered over the top and back so when it was factory sunbursted it looked like one piece. I never should have tried to strip and refinish it, it was really ugly when it was stripped. It sounded horrible too. Maybe the bodies in China are cheaper if you use more smaller pieces and glue 'em all together?

I screwed up gluing my ash body together, but this blank's wood feels so nice, light and resonant I didn't want to cut it apart and reglue another piece to it. I'm going to have to be careful when I sunburst this one.

ken

[belwar]

Dave is right, it isn't easy to get good wood for guitarmaking anymore. It isn't like it grows on trees or something....

I had a Cort? strat body once with seven or eight 1 1/2" wide and thick strips laminated together and veneered over the top and back so when it was factory sunbursted it looked like one piece. I never should have tried to strip and refinish it, it was really ugly when it was stripped. It sounded horrible too. Maybe the bodies in China are cheaper if you use more smaller pieces and glue 'em all together?

I screwed up gluing my ash body together, but this blank's wood feels so nice, light and resonant I didn't want to cut it apart and reglue another piece to it. I'm going to have to be careful when I sunburst this one.

ken

I dont think 1 joint makes alot of difference, but 3-4+ definetly can deaden up a guitar. At least in ash you can get 2 pcs bodies all day long, and the prices hasnt really increased too much beyond the rate of inflation, but the trend is cheaper guitars or cost cutting so more pieces are used. Currently I only use 1 piece bodies, not nessesarilly because they sound better, but because I can avoid the cost of joining and gluing.

I recently visited the company that supplies fender with ash for America and Mexico. They dont sell them lumber, but joined and sanded body blanks. 4 and 5 piece bodies were not uncommon. You can see that the majority are 3 piece.

[shawnl]

This is my latest design, although I still consider it a tad bit unfinished in that I never got around to installing the bridge I originally wanted to put on it. The current bridge is a badass (as in the brand). I threw in there just to make it playable because I couldn't wait. The bridge I really want it to have is black hipshot A style. The bass is made of black limba with a pau ferro fretboard. I sort of have a thing for fretless.

[jack briggs]

shawnl,

That is baddass!!! Nice carving work and overall aesthetics. The pau ferro looks a lot like cocobolo.
Great job!


Cheers,

[shawnl]

shawnl,

That is baddass!!! Nice carving work and overall aesthetics. The pau ferro looks a lot like cocobolo.

Thank you Jack. I often end up getting carried away and put so much into a single bass that I could never be good at mass production. I was very inspired by the pau ferro. It is a very beautiful wood however it's very oily and takes some patience when applying a finish. My design aesthetic is based around the bass feeling like its a living organic thing.

I once posted a photo of this bass in another forum and people weren't really taking so well to it. I got ripped apart for using an EMG pickup and yet no one could tell me why I shouldn't. I got kind of tired of my basses being advertisements for various manufacturer's parts, guess that's why I've taken an interest in making my own pickups. Anyway, thanks for the support!

[rickmorgan2003]

I'm partial to LP styles myself although I have a 335 and tele style in progress. Here's two of the LP styles I made this year plus a Ukulele LP I made for my daughter:

[Chuck H]

I'm adding that green quilt LP with gold hardware and no fingerboard inlays to my jones list. I love the WOW factor the colors bring to the LP styling. Very nice.

[ken]

I gotta say the guitars look nicer here all the time

I dig Shawnl's carved bass... very cool! It actually looks like a living tree to me.

I also like rickmorgan2003's green Lester too. A green quilt is on my GAS list, but I'd like thumbnail inlays on my neck.

ken

[tedmich]

this ones taking forever...






8 strings, 33 frets 3 octaves, Kahler and EMG 808