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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2020 14:04:40 GMT -6
Ok, Here is a drawing I have been working on today. Please remember everything is subject to change along the way. LOL
What I did I fused my 71 LP custom with one of my Teles. So I'll call it one of two names... Les-Tele or Tel-Les. LOL!
For this build I have to try and keep it somewhat simple. Some of the things I want to do to it may not be all that simple. But I'll be doing my best to pull it off.
You all know how much I like Teles and LPs. So it came to me to put the two together. I have not decided yet if I am going to make a neck through or a set neck as of yet. Still a long ways to go before I have to decide.
This guitar will have a 25" scale on it. As of right now I am thinking LP bridge with string through the body. But that might change over time. Hum... So here is the drawing as of today.
The design will be copper inlay.
The peg head will also get copper inlays as well.
Well, that is it for today. Clean lines with a twist. LOL! Once I am happy with it, the next thing will be making the templates.
Al far as neck though or the set neck goes, it will depend on the woods I can find. Remember I'll be getting the woods at my local hardware store. I'll see what they have on hand. Then I will have to buy me some clamps, so I can do the glues up for the neck through or the set neck. Set neck would take less clamps. Hum...
Also at this time all the wood will be stained black. Because of me living in a condo I can't paint it. So I though that staining it would work better for me. It may be all maple. But like I said I'll have to see whats on hand at the hardware store.
Let me know what you all think... It should be a fun build, with the tools I have on hand. I'll also have to get some files for shaping the neck. I no long have my spoke shave. But I can pull it off with the right files.
EB
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Post by dnic on Oct 16, 2020 7:34:21 GMT -6
That was quick! Don't want to over simplify here but body shape wise it looks like a tele with a rounded butt. The puzzle piece inlays look cool. This will be fun Eddie!
On a clamping note: On a job site I once need to clamp something, I wish I could remember exactly what it was, anyway, I used my truck tire as a clamp. It was still on the truck so technically I use my truck as a clamp. anyway before spending a lot of $ on clamps try weighting it down with things you already have. Like your car.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2020 18:14:18 GMT -6
That was quick! Don't want to over simplify here but body shape wise it looks like a tele with a rounded butt. The puzzle piece inlays look cool. This will be fun Eddie! On a clamping note: On a job site I once need to clamp something, I wish I could remember exactly what it was, anyway, I used my truck tire as a clamp. It was still on the truck so technically I use my truck as a clamp. anyway before spending a lot of $ on clamps try weighting it down with things you already have. Like your car. I was going to go the other way around and use the butt of the tele with the front of the LP. But it too would look like an LP with a butt of a tele. LOL!
I thought the rounded butt looked better.
I am still thinking of changing the bottom horn, to the LP looking one. But I can't make up my mind because then I think, it would look too much like an LP.
I think it will all look good once it is built. Thinking of doing a carve top on it like an LP. Again depends on the wood I can find.
Wish I had a way to dry wood out. There are all kinds of trees that have fallen around here form the hurricane. Sad to see all this free wood and no way to do anything with it.
I have no way to cut it. But there are a lot of nice hard wood trees down. Most of the trees are being cut up and thrown away in the land fills. So sad...
I may have to wait until next week before I can start looking for wood. I had to put money down for my surgery, so I'll have to wait a little while before I can do anything that way.
I was thinking about what you side about using heavy items to do my glue up for the build. But I really don't think I have to much in that I can use. When we moved from AZ we sold off a lot of stuff. I don't think my wife would let me use our furniture for glue up! HA! HA!
Yes, I think this will be fun. I am also thinking of make some videos of the build. I may not do the whole build with videos. But it is something I am thinking about. I'll see.
Yep, I want to keep it a simple as I can. I'll be posting this here and on my FB page as well.
One reason for doing this is to show people you don't have to go out and spend a lot of money on tools to build a guitar. I see people on line going out and spending tons on money on tools that they may not even use. Plus if they had never built a guitar, how will they know if it something they would like to keep on doing? I have seen some quit half way through a kit build. What would they do after sending a huge amount of money on tools and then found out it's not for them? LOL!
The other reason for the build (I NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!!) HA!
This is my second week of healing and I am feeling a lot better than I have in a long, long time. The doctor still has me on nothing heaver than 10 pounds. So once that is over I hope to be better than I have for long time.
So, I hope this build will help spark some interest in building a guitar from scratch with simple tools. The Biggest tool I'll be using is a router.
EB
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Post by dnic on Oct 16, 2020 18:45:31 GMT -6
Wasn't knocking the looks Eddie just stating the obvious. Either way would look good. Even a straight up Tele with a carved top would be a combo of the two.
I think building with limited tools would be a good challenge although I wouldn't personally be happy with the results I might say handing mortising pickup cavities and neck pockets. Although you did say router was ok. I don't want to work that hard and I don't think I'd be happy with the results. But it would be fun.
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Post by antares on Oct 17, 2020 8:13:18 GMT -6
You can do an awful lot using tourniquets Eddie.
e&oe ...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2020 9:47:00 GMT -6
I sold off my nice set of chisels (wrong thing to do) LOL! Dane I took no offense to what you said about the body. I was trying to show my thoughts on how I came up with the one I made up.
My fist guitar body I did was made from (tool wise) was a jig saw, electric drill and a borrowed router. At that time I had no idea on even how to use a router. I also learned that sand paper is my friend. HA! I was so scared when I fired up the router for the first time in my life. But once I did some experimenting with it I felt more at ease with it. I did do a lot of no no's on that first and second build. But that is how we learn. So I thought maybe I would go over some of the do's and don't with a router. I see people all the time doing things they should not. Even with router tables. I don't have a router table as well.
But some on here may remember what happened to me a few years back when I ran my hand through a router that was mounted in my router table. From that time on I now do things differently. It was a hard lesson learned. I now cringe when I see someone using a router the same way when I hurt myself.
So anyway, I find it funny that I feel like I have gone full circle. I do have my table top joiner planer. I will be using it to make the neck. I could do it like I did on my first neck I guess and use sand paper on a flat surface and sand it flat. Maybe I'll show both ways. Hum...
Lots to think about on this build.
I will be using one of my favorite tools. A hand cranking drill. I love that drill for drilling for pickup ring holes and holes for the mounts on tuners and so on. I will have to use my electric drill for bigger holes. My hand drill is to small for the bigger stuff.
A lot of this build too, will depend on how I am feeling as I go along. So, that will come into play on how I do things as well. This will take me a while to do. On top of that I will have to order parts as I go along.
I will be ordering the truss rod soon. I use to buy them in lots of 5. I thought I had one left but I can't find it. So, I'll have to order one. I'll need one pickup for the neck. Tuners, pots switch, input jack and so on.
This build will be one of a kind for me. The fret board will also get copper inlays. This guitar will have more copper on it than any guitar I have ever built. I may through in some turquoise in it. Copper and turquoise go together... LOL!
I can hardly wait to get started on it. Next week, I'll be looking at what woods I can find. If I can I may look at some birch wood. But if not I will be looking at maple. I have not checked here, but in AZ at the Home Depot they had mahogany. So I'll be checking for that as well. I did see a lot of old pine on the streets were people are having to rebuild their homes. Some of that pine has to be 40 to 60 years old. I did look for some old header beams but didn't see anything. Well, it's a thought. Hum...
EB
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Post by dnic on Oct 17, 2020 19:08:26 GMT -6
On the wood front it seems our buddy Ben Crowe has made it vogue to use absolutely crap wood that could even need to be steel or copper rodded together to keep it together. And resin's all the rage so you can pretty much slap any old garbage wood together and your good to go. Just burn it and flood it with epoxy and you're golden. I'm only slightly tongue in cheek here. Is my hubris showing? Now I'll probably end up doing something like this.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2020 11:08:05 GMT -6
On the wood front it seems our buddy Ben Crowe has made it vogue to use absolutely crap wood that could even need to be steel or copper rodded together to keep it together. And resin's all the rage so you can pretty much slap any old garbage wood together and your good to go. Just burn it and flood it with epoxy and you're golden. I'm only slightly tongue in cheek here. Is my hubris showing? Now I'll probably end up doing something like this. Some of the guitars I have seen do look pretty cool done with the resins. But at the same time not all look good. I would liked to have see Ben's LP for the build off with resin in it. I think it would have looked better.
It's been years since I did anything with resin. I use to make plant hangers back in the 70's that I used resin on them to help keep water from getting into the wood.
But I think on this build I am going to stay away form doing anything with resin. Plus it makes a mess and I just don't have a place where I could poor it.
I have even thought of doing one of them electric shocks to the wood. It would be kind of cool if it would look like lighting going across the body.
I have also used gold leaf back in my car building days. I might see if I can get some copper leaf for this project. Be fun to use on some the build.
Like I said so many ways to go and so many ideas. I wish I could build all the guitars in my head. But I figure I would have to live to be a thousand years old, and even at that I still would be able to build them all. LOL!
I am doing this one as a tribute to LPs and Teles. My 2 favorite guitars.
EB
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2020 13:52:50 GMT -6
OK, I went to Low's and Home Depot. I was disappointed. Both places only had Oak and Poplar. I went ahead and bought some poplar to make the neck. This will be the second time I used poplar for a neck. I even got some for the fret board. Remember I am trying to do this on the cheap side of things. I spent less than $20.00 for the wood. So, far so, good! LOL!
I could not find anything in poplar for the body that I liked. I may end up doing it in pine. I did see some some cool pine boards but they were so under cut in thickness that it would take 3 flat board to equal 2" or just over 2" thickness needed. So the pine would have ended up costing me almost as much as the poplar. I still would have to glue to halves together to get it to where I need to make the body.
I'll keep checking over there to see if they get some new wood in. I miss my Home Depot in AZ, they carried all kinds of hard woods. I'll also keep looking on line to see what comes up.
So, it looks like I'll be starting with the neck. It will end up being a 3 piece neck. I got some kind of dark wood to go in the middle. LOL! I think it's poplar as well.
Picture to come later on this week. Not feeling so good after wood shopping. So, I am going to take the rest of the day off.
EB
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Post by dnic on Oct 19, 2020 22:05:49 GMT -6
I do buy some of my guitar wood but a good deal of it comes from people I know that find out I make guitars. They tell me they have some kind of wood in their barn or garage from when they had a tree felled. I got the piece of black walnut I used on the Gecko from a carver I know that pulled it out of a burn pile. One end was pretty charred. Anyway...
Since you are new to your area you may not know that many people with wood mills but even if you snooped around some you might find some good size chunks of wood you can use. I'm sure you're already looking at Craig's list and FaceBook market place.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2020 11:34:40 GMT -6
I do buy some of my guitar wood but a good deal of it comes from people I know that find out I make guitars. They tell me they have some kind of wood in their barn or garage from when they had a tree felled. I got the piece of black walnut I used on the Gecko from a carver I know that pulled it out of a burn pile. One end was pretty charred. Anyway... Since you are new to your area you may not know that many people with wood mills but even if you snooped around some you might find some good size chunks of wood you can use. I'm sure you're already looking at Craig's list and FaceBook market place. Yes I have look on line in lot of places. I did find one guy that sells wood slabs. But I don't want to spend that kind of money on wood. If I were going to build more guitars I might buy a big slab of wood. So far I have not seen anything worth bringing home. I would really like to find something thick enough so that I don't have to sandwich things together. So, I'll keep up the hunt.
EB
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2020 11:50:03 GMT -6
Today I went over to Harbor Freight and bought some clamps and files that I will need to help out with this build.
I did not buy top end tools. Because I don't know if I'll use them again once this build is done. But if anyone is looking for clamps Harbor Freight is the place to go.
here is a look of the clamps and files I got. These should make the build a little easier.
Here is the wood for the neck. No it's being glued up yet. I remembered I had some of these clamps. So I was testing them out. I think they will do a fine job gluing up the neck.
Here is wood I got for the fret board. I have not fully made up my mind on it yet if I will use this wood or not. But I think it's cool to look at. LOL!
getting closer to start this build. I still need to order the truss rod. I could not find the one I use most of the time. Size wise that is. So I may go with one that is 1/2" shorter than what I normally use. I did find them in bulk of 5 and I may end up buying the 5 because I can get them so much cheaper. LOL!
Ok, I hope to started on the neck soon. Trying to decide if I am going to do a video or pictures. Hum...
EB
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Post by antares on Oct 21, 2020 3:52:41 GMT -6
We have a saying (I'm sure you do too) that an engineer is one who can do with five pennies what any fool can do with five pounds. (cents/ dollars). By that definition you are an engineer Eddie. I'm looking forward to this.
e&oe ...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2020 9:56:33 GMT -6
One of the most important tools I forgot to get... Glue! LOL! Soon as I get that I will be starting on this project.
I hope this will be one of my detailed how to builds yet. Going to try and show a lot of things that get looked over in a lot of builds.
I hope it will help someone out there.
EB
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2020 11:10:04 GMT -6
I did some digging around and I found some wood tops I had put away. So now I am thinking of putting a top on this build. Remember what I said about things can change? LOL!
here are the 2 tops
Here are the tops with the copper. The walnut I have had for a really long time. It is the last of walnut that I used on two other builds. The Male I have had for sometime as well.
So now I have some thinking to do. Do I still use the copper? If I do what top would look the best with the copper? Hum...
The nice thing about doing a top is I can router all my wire channels in before hand. Cover them up with the top. Makes this a little easier than drilling for the channels. At the moment I am leaning to the walnut. The darker color would go better with the copper. At least that is what I am thinking.
Let me know your thoughts/ideas
EB
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