NGD-some assembly required

[shreddy bender]

so i just got back from visiting family in ontario (haven't seen them in over 7 years!). well i went to visit my good friend and we got talking about my new hobby of building guitars when he said "i got a nice piece of hard wood you can have. my brother in law gave it to me and i've had it forever and never made anything out of it"
well i wound up with a piece of walnut 1 3/4" thick by 2 feet long by 18" wide. now i'm just trying to decide what i should build.
i have an ebony finger board i bought from L.M. it is a 24 3/4 scale length.
this will be a guitar for me- not for sale so i'm not quite sure what i want/need. oh well if i stare at it long enough i'll figure it out!

 

[Biddlin]

For some reason, this pic made me think," Strat."

 

[Tobacco Worm]

Well there's a guitar body in there I know.
I understand the feeling though. Once took me a week to see the body design in a piece of swamp ash. I just kept turning it around, and over, and standing it up against the bench and looking at it. Then one day while working on another in for repair, it hit me what to build. After becoming detached from it, I saw what to carve. You'll see it soon.

Wade

 

[shreddy bender]

Biddlin... no strats for this guy! never been a fan. they are nice but way too common and for my playing style (sloppy) the knobs and switch are all in the wrong spots.
i'd like to do another set neck guitar as i don't want to break up this beautiful slab by doing a neck through and i've never really liked bolt on necks. like Wade said it will come to me. what a beautiful piece of free wood for my "Freewood" brand of instruments.
when i do decide on a body shape there should be enough left over to build a lap steel. i've never owned one but i like the idea of having one so i might as well!

 

[Biddlin]

Funny, I feel like my Strat is more forgiving of slop than my Gibsons and Epis.
Biddlin ;>)/

 

[shreddy bender]

i have a sloppy right hand and always hit the volume knob and knock the switch out of place on a strat if i get too "into" my playing

 

[Heket]

Hmm I dunno. That third picture says "PRS-style doublecut" to me. Keep it natural or stained with a gloss overcoat to show the grain, and some gold hardware if that's your thing. Mmm.

 

[shreddy bender]

Heket- i've already decided on showcasing the wood grain. i'm not a fan of solid colours. this is an OLD piece of wood so it HAS to shine. it's got some subtle flame in it and a very interesting grain to it. still thinking. need to hit the internet for some inspiration i guess! hmmmm. thanks for the input!

 

[Alex_SG]

I would go LP double cut... But that's just me

 

[shreddy bender]

well i figured out what to do. i'm using the template from my first guitar but have changed the body shape a bit to make it look more balanced. i like the shape already but it doesn't sit on a stand very well so i'm changing the bottom and bass side of the body a bit. i'll take some pictures at work today. i'm just in love with this fine piece of wood. this will be my first one piece body guitar i've ever had.
i'm thinking a little far ahead now but have been wracking my brain to decide on pickups. i really like the p94 in my first guitar and am thinking of that for this one as well. it will be a 2 pickup guitar. may as well give it some tonal options eh?
i guess i should get started on a neck blank today as well have to cut some strips from an old desk top and glue them together so i can start shaping. i'm thinking this one will come together rather quickly (but not TOO quickly! i don't want to mess it up!). this is sort of the shape i'm going for but it will have more wood on the bass side and bottom of the body.

this will be the neck.

 

[shreddy bender]

well since i gave the piece of wood a sanding on the top my wood working buddies seem to think it's mahogany - oh darn! who's ever heard of a guitar built from 1 3/4" mahogany?
all kidding aside i have cut out the body shape and started a neck. i'm very excited about this guitar as it should sound awesome with that much wood in it.
anyhoo without any further adieu...

 

[shreddy bender]

i cut up some desk top into strips to laminate together for my neck. the desk top is teak so i gave my gluing surfaces a nice bath in acetone to hopefully ensure a good bond. it sure looks nice along side the body wood. i hope i got enough clamps on there!

here is a close up of the wood on the body. it sure looks like mahogany to me.

 

[shreddy bender]

well i've cleaned up my neck blank on the joiner and cut my neck joint. i put a 3 deg. angle on it by setting up a tall fence on the table saw and slowly nibbling away at the wood with the blade set at 3 deg. then i cut the sides of the joint with a small hand saw and the band saw. so far so good. now i have to cut a neck pocket in the body. yay router time!

 

[oldrockfan]

really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out!!!

 

[shreddy bender]

oldrockfan- i'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out as well!
i routed out my neck pocket the other day and after some fine tuning i think it went well.

i also did a colour test and i think i like it!

a friend of mine gave me some B.C. opal and i think i'll try to do some inlay with it. sure do wish i had lapidary equipment available though! oh well. i'm not selling this guitar so i can take my time on the opal with hand tools and sandpaper. this is a piece i polished the other day to see how it looked. sure is purty!

 

[shreddy bender]

i also have decided as a tribute to my favourite guitar i'll put some nice sharp beveling on the bass bout.i have a lot of meat on this body so a little weight relief from beveling, a belly cut and a forearm cut should help. i am also toying with the idea of using a piece of granite tile to use as a pickguard. i'd recess it into the body so it sits flush to the top of the guitar. i'm thinking it may help to act as a maple top on a les paul to aid in brightness and sustain. any thoughts?

 

[shreddy bender]

it's true... what's big news to me is boring to others. sorry. i'll keep posting to give photos to the less jaded neophytes who may google something and find this and get some useful info. it's good to be a teacher. i miss my teachers who also became friends.

 

[thatbastarddon]

I subscribed to this thread last night...never done that...looks very promising
Can't wait to see what is done for the inlays.

 

[shreddy bender]

thanks don. i've been a little out of sorts lately and my last post reflects that. sorry for being a jerk.

 

[shreddy bender]

more neck work. headstock angle cut, truss rod slot cut, and a lot of meat hogged out of the neck blank. ahhhh yes! fun with power tools.