Ever make your own guitar?

[restorationad]

This one is more like a LP shaped SG.

The top is pretty thick and it is a very heavy guitar. No neck dive. The body is sapele so it has a nice dark sound to it.

If I remember right the neck is only at 2 degrees and the headstock is at 12 degrees and bridge is recessed into the top.

This one was supposed to have 24 frets. It ended up only having 23. I have no idea how I managed that...

[ken]

Restorationad, you do good work.

The first guitar you posted reminds me a lot of my own tele.

ken

[Joe Gwinn]

Where are you? We have people from all over. Please update your User Profile to specify your City and Country.

[Chuck H]

Holy "S"!!! There should be a "love this post" option!

[restorationad]

Done.

[restorationad]

Thanks Ken!

I learned a lot about pickups from this site. I don't think I would be an end to end builder without the info on this site.

[ken]

The irony is delicious... you come here to be an 'end to end' builder, and we go to your site to do the same.

I gotta admit I love the top on the SG.

ken

[Joe Gwinn]

Done.

Thanks. I assume that RTP is Research Triangle Park or the like.

[restorationad]

Thanks. I assume that RTP is Research Triangle Park or the like.

Yes I am in that area. Not quiet Raleigh... but close enough.

[Joe Gwinn]

Yes I am in that area. Not quiet Raleigh... but close enough.

OK. You might wish to expand RTP - people outside the US probably won't recognize RTP. Or just say "Raleigh, NC, area" or the like.

[David Schwab]

Yeah, that's what I wanna do, my own interpretation. I used to play an SG back in the 70's-80's when I was a giging musician and I always had a love/hate thing going with it. I loved the shape and the fretboard access but hated the thin body and the neck-heavy thing dragging it down. I used to spend most of my nights pulling up on the neck to keep the guitar in playing position.

I want to do a neck-through, set the neck back (toward the bridge) about 1.5" and make the body 1-3/4" thick.

So you want to make one of these, then?



I actually like SGs because they are thin. Never had one, but I think I want to get one.

[RedHouse]

So you want to make one of these, then?



I actually like SGs because they are thin. Never had one, but I think I want to get one.

Well not exactly, but that is a very nice piece there.

I like the non-bound, beveled-edges an SG body shape provides. It just (INHO) needs the whole neck-pickups-bridge moved back toward the rear of the guitar about 1.5 inches or so, again, just my opinion.

I bought this one in 1978 and gig'ed with it for years, played it to death, went through several fret jobs, refin's and then retired it in '88 when I stopped gig'ing



I loved that SG, it had an ebony fretboard which IMHO went well with the mahogany body, kind of brightened it up a little but not too much, not as much as having a maple cap (Les Paul/PRS). The neck joint on that SG was done differnt than most modern and vintage, the neck pickup was in the same spot as on a Les Paul (not set back like they normally are, but the bridge pickup was not placed properly. Not shown in these pics, I actually had the bridge pickup route filled and re-routed to move the pickup closer to the bridge in the "normal" position as most SG's have them.

BTW, that guitar lost in a car accident ...(sigh).

[Chuck H]

An SBG Yamaha is NOT the same thing as an SG Gibson!!! Two very different guitars. I love them both. Gibson SG's always feel a little imbalanced for me but the tone is amazing!!! And I cut my teeth on a Yamaha SBG1300TS.What a guitar! A mentor of mine saw it and said "That's a players guitar." I just acquired another that I need to get repaired. But I'm really glad to have it since they're quite rare.

[ken]

I like the non-bound, beveled-edges an SG body shape provides. It just (INHO) needs the whole neck-pickups-bridge moved back toward the rear of the guitar about 1.5 inches or so, again, just my opinion.

I'm wondering how you would do this while keeping the original scale length. If you just moved the pickups and bridge down the body an inch and a half, wouldn't you lose access to the last four or five frets? Would you have to also shorten the neck by the same amount?

[Peter Naglitsch]

If you move the complete neck/pickup/bridge package back as one unit as Redhouse said it will not really change anything in regards of scale length and such. However if you are moving the bridge only (regardless if the pickups stay or move) you are totally ruining the scale and the guitar will be unplayable, for all western musicians at least. There is a great place to get started in regards of scales and fret layouts:
STEWMAC.COM : Scale Length Explained Free information
and
Fret position calculator at Stewart-MacDonald