Official Luthiers Forum!

I have been a member of this forum since Feb. of this year, but I have wanted to be a builder for much longer than that. I have watched the builds here with great excitement, which only increased the desire to build. I have built (assembled)a few guitars from
aftermarket bodies and necks, as well as used ones. I've also spent 14 years setting up and doing minor repairs to mine and my friends guitars, as well as the occassional "customer". I've learned a lot. Which brings me to the point.
About 20 years ago, I cut a body out of an old cutting board, thinking to build myself a guitar. Not actually knowing a thing about what I was doing, I realised quickly that I was out of my depth, and so set it aside. It has sat until now.
Now, 20 years later, I believe I have enough knowledge to actually pull it off . What has stopped me was that 1) money is tight, and $80-$100 for a body blank is hard to come by, especially when 2)I've already got another iron in the fire, so to speak, with a refinish/rebuild that I'm also in the middle of. I thought that I'd have to wait until sometime next year, after I finished the rebuild I'm currently occupied with.
Then my mind said, "What about that old thing that's been laying around so long?" So here I go. I can't think of anything more fitting for a first build than to finish what I started so long ago. As I said, it's from an old cutting board. I can't say for sure, but I'd bet money it's poplar. It has the characteristic green streaks in the grain, and it's not real heavy. It's multi-piece, but so are a lot of guitars. On the plus side, it's been laying around for 20 years, so it's definately stable.
I spent some time with it today, squaring things up and thinning the body a bit from it's 2 inch thickness. There were also a lot of rookie mistakes made while I was shaping the body so long ago, but having spent some time with it I'm certain I can either fix them or work around them without it affecting the quality of the build. Thinning the body has actually corrected the majority of these already. This will be a long build, as I'll have to work on it as funds come available, but I've waited 20 years. I can wait a little longer. I'll post pics slowly as I make progress. Right now I need to see my doc for "scheduled maintenance" (diabetes). If he leaves me any money then next step is to build the neck.
Here's a pic or two. Sorry for the poor quality, but the camera's cheap and doesn't like indoor pictures much. I'll post a pic or two in natural lighting as soon as I can.




It looks pretty primitive right now, but I'm certain I can make a decent instrument out of it. I'm just glad to finally begin.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hi Mike,
Looks like an excellent place to (re)start to me. I say go for it.
Please keep us posted on your progress. I myself want to build an electric also, but won't be able to start that for a while yet. I'd love to see how this progresses.
Thanks for sharing and good luck!
Dave

Looks great so far. Just make sure you keep a centerline to reference to keep everything squared up. I love reclaimed wood projects. My first was from the mahogany of an old bed.

Darrin

Thanks, guys. I'll definately keep everyone posted on my progress. I promised everyone better a pic in natural light.


You can see the green in the grain in this pic, so I think I'm safe thinking it's poplar. However, I worked on the belly contour last night, and it was definately harder than I thought using a rasp on it, but I've never tried to shape poplar like that before, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I'd post pics of that, but it's really hard to see the contours in this wood, even with really good light(that's what the black paint around the edges comes from. Years ago when I was trying to shape it, I used the paint to try to see the contours better). Oh, about the rasp: I'll be using minimal tools on this(and future builds). Hand router, hand drill, jigsaw, jitterbug sander,various rasps, files, sanding blocks, etc. My work bench is a Black and Decker Workmate or the kitchen table, depending on the task at hand. My shop is either my front porch or my kitchen, again, depending on the task at hand.
Thanks for looking!

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Looks like you're off to a great start, Mike ! Welcome to the merry-go-round of guitar building. The ride never ends!

Pat

_________________
formerly known around here as burbank
_________________

http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I hear you! I cant stop building insturments...I swear i've built 20 guitars in the past year....And took them apart again >.<

I have some walnut I'm thinking of building the neck with. It's flat sawn, 3/4" thick, but it's been sitting in a barn for God knows how long, leaning against the wall and it's still dead flat. I don't think there'll be any stability issues with it. But the temps in my area are getting very cold, and the weather's been quite wet for a while, so I haven't been able to work on it, since I build outside. I'll have to wait on spring. I'm also wondering if I can use some of it for the fretboard as well.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Looking good...

if the walnut is flatsawn, you will thank yourself in the future if you rip into squarish slices and reglue in order to create a quartersawn blank...

Keep us posted!
Stephen

_________________
www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Mike bro that is going to be a killer ax!

I was looking at your avatar and I think that that guitar looks killer too - do you have any pics of it to post please?

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars

Hi Stephen, I thought of that, but since the piece is only 3/4" thick, I'd have to have at least 5 laminations to get the width I need for the neck blank, and I'm not sure I'd like the look. But I'll give it some more thought anyway. The wood seems quite stable, so I had been thinking that with a decent truss rod, it should be fine flatsawn. But, as I said, I'll definately think more on that. It's not like I don't have the time for it. Thank you for your advice. Feel free to give more. I need all I can get.
Hesh, thanks! I certainly hope it turns out well. It will be my first from scratch build.
The guitar in my avatar is one I built from parts, so I assembled more than actually built it. But I could not ask for a better instrument. It's my main guitar, plays like butter and sounds fantastic. Nearly everytime I play it, someone comes up wanting to know what makes it sound so good. The body is a Flametop from StewMac. Swamp ash with a quilt veneer, prefinished in cherry burst. It's beautiful, with the only flaw being that the completed guitar is pretty much as heavy as a Les Paul. But I'm used to heavy guitars, and personally prefer them. The neck is also from StewMac, one of their MightyMite strat replacements. I have no complaints about it. It is well constructed and fairly chunky, which I also like. It did require fret leveling, dressing, and of course I put in a bone nut. But every neck requires that if you want it to play it's best.Hardware and pots are also StewMac. Switch is a Fender 3 way. Modern Fender string trees and Seymour Duncan pickups. SH4 JB in the bridge, SH2 Jazz in the neck. To get a guitar of comparable quality would cost a lot more than what I spent on it. This is the guitar that convinced me that if I could build the parts to tight enough tolerences I could build decent instruments. If the guitar I'm working on turns out anywhere close to it's quality, I'll consider myself very lucky. Oh, and here are some pics. I took them in my "workshop". And again, my camera's crap. Sorry.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.