Looking to build my first guitar from scratch

[kidblast]

If I didn't know better, I'd say you've been at this a while.  Between you and Mr Rabs...  pretty  impressive stuff..

 

[jdgm]

...And that's a very tidy workshop!

[Rabs]

Looking good sir..  Building them can be as addictive as buying them when you first start out..

Once I realised I could make a working guitar theres all sorts of things I wanted to build.. Still are  🙂

Like working with pine purely for the smell when cutting it 

[Dub-T-123]

3 hours ago, Rabs said:

Looking good sir..  Building them can be as addictive as buying them when you first start out..

Once I realised I could make a working guitar theres all sorts of things I wanted to build.. Still are  🙂

Like working with pine purely for the smell when cutting it 

Thanks everybody. Yeah I’m hooked for sure. Always wanted to do this but the time is meow

 

the pine is really fun. It cuts like butter and I think that project is going to turn out nice. The main concern is going to be getting that binding scrape looking good with the black paint 

[Rabs]

6 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Thanks everybody. Yeah I’m hooked for sure. Always wanted to do this but the time is meow

 

the pine is really fun. It cuts like butter and I think that project is going to turn out nice. The main concern is going to be getting that binding scrape looking good with the black paint 

There is one question..  From those pics is it right that you havent drilled the holes for the tuners or bridge yet?

Would it not be better to do that before you do the finish?

[Retired]

29 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Thanks everybody. Yeah I’m hooked for sure. Always wanted to do this but the time is meow

 

the pine is really fun. It cuts like butter and I think that project is going to turn out nice. The main concern is going to be getting that binding scrape looking good with the black paint 

Have you weighed it yet? Just curious. 

[Dub-T-123]

1 hour ago, Rabs said:

There is one question..  From those pics is it right that you havent drilled the holes for the tuners or bridge yet?

Would it not be better to do that before you do the finish?

Yeah I want to do the wet sanding first before I drill the rest of the holes. 
 

Retired - I haven’t weighed anything but I think the LP will be pretty average and the Tele will be light

[Rabs]

4 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Yeah I want to do the wet sanding first before I drill the rest of the holes. 
 

Retired - I haven’t weighed anything but I think the LP will be pretty average and the Tele will be light

I am going to guess at 7.5 lbs ish..  (once its all put together)   🙂

[uncle fester]

super awesome cool my friend...  a little bit of pride should be due.

[Retired]

That will be a good weight, It's been a long time but the Gold Top I believe weighed around 8 lbs. 

[Dub-T-123]

Here’s a closer pic to show you how the pore fill looks. But again don’t judge too harshly yet 😛

im noticing Imgur really noticeably changes the colors btw. The red was jumping off my screen in that pic, then I uploaded to Imgur and it got more dull

[Big Bill]

Dub, that is looking so sweet! I may have to pay you to build me one!

[Rabs]

Hey Dub..  Nice work.. Looks good to me.

Something I came across that I thought was quite interesting.  Someone over on another forum built a similar guitar.. The interesting thing that he did though was to buy a see through pickguard and then he stuck a picture of the wood grain underneath (grain matched of course) to vanish the tenon.. It looks slightly odd in one way as we are not used to seeing that.. But a cool idea..

Edited December 23, 2020 by Rabs

[Big Bill]

30 minutes ago, Rabs said:

Hey Dub..  Nice work.. Looks good to me.

Something I came across that I thought was quite interesting.  Someone over on another forum built a similar guitar.. The interesting thing that he did though was to buy a see through pickguard and then he stuck a picture of the wood grain underneath (grain matched of course) to vanish the tenon.. It looks slightly odd in one way as we are not used to seeing that.. But a cool idea..

 

 

Rabs, when I was in London last year, I entertained the idea of buying one of your guitars. I had no clue on getting it back without all the hassle.

[Rabs]

12 minutes ago, Big Bill said:

Rabs, when I was in London last year, I entertained the idea of buying one of your guitars. I had no clue on getting it back without all the hassle.

Well thanks..  But I dont blame you. Especially as I think the CITES thing was still in place.. I think its gone this year so it would be less hassle.. Plus theres just always that chance that the baggage people will trash it somehow..

[Big Bill]

19 hours ago, Rabs said:

Well thanks..  But I dont blame you. Especially as I think the CITES thing was still in place.. I think its gone this year so it would be less hassle.. Plus theres just always that chance that the baggage people will trash it somehow..

Exactly!

[Dub-T-123]

Thanks everybody! I had work off today so I went to the shop to play around

 

It was raining so I didn’t attempt to spray today. I found a really nice straight flame maple board in the shop and got it to the point where the fretboard is glued on. 
 

[Rabs]

Ha... Nice stuff     When  I started building some people would say how talented I must be..  Now I am not saying that there is no talent involved, but its not exactly rocket science either  🙂

As far as I am concerned its a lot about knowing your tools and having good templates..  The rest of it is creativity and experience in knowing how to finish them and what hardware to use. And as I said before, you obviously know your tools.

[Dub-T-123]

Not to mention I’ve intentionally chosen relatively very easy projects to start with. But I’m really happy with how it’s turning out anyways cause they should be good guitars and I made them out of basically scrap pieces of wood that I got for free lol

 

btw I went to the store where my boss bought the mahogany I used and they have two types there. They have Philippines mahogany and African mahogany. I’m sure you know Philippines mahogany is not actually from the mahogany family. Anyway I’m really pretty sure the LP Jr is in fact the African mahogany from that store. But for sure they had massive beautiful African mahogany pieces at stupidly low prices. Like $9/ft for huge thick pieces. I couldn’t believe it. I know it’s more desirable to use Honduras mahogany but these were badass pieces for so cheap I will definitely buy a slab 

[Rabs]

2 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Not to mention I’ve intentionally chosen relatively very easy projects to start with. But I’m really happy with how it’s turning out anyways cause they should be good guitars and I made them out of basically scrap pieces of wood that I got for free lol

 

btw I went to the store where my boss bought the mahogany I used and they have two types there. They have Philippines mahogany and African mahogany. I’m sure you know Philippines mahogany is not actually from the mahogany family. Anyway I’m really pretty sure the LP Jr is in fact the African mahogany from that store. But for sure they had massive beautiful African mahogany pieces at stupidly low prices. Like $9/ft for huge thick pieces. I couldn’t believe it. I know it’s more desirable to use Honduras mahogany but these were badass pieces for so cheap I will definitely buy a slab 

Your piece is African Mahogany im pretty sure of that too from A, the initial colour and B, the grain pattern...  Asian Mahogany I think is called Luan..  Most of it is pretty boring and WAY softer than African Mahogany..  Also African Mahogany is about 1100 on the janka hardness scale where as Genuine (South American) is more like 750 and on the very edge of being hard enough for a neck.. Chances are you have some Utile.

So actually in some ways African Mahogany is better. I also had the same reaction as you when I realised the actual cost of wood.. If you go to the right places its pretty cheap, well compared to going to a shop that specialises in Luthier woods...  And I am jealous of the range of beautiful woods you have out there and the prices they are when I look even on Ebay.... You can get flamed maple much cheaper than we do for instance.

[jdgm]

Luthiers/guitar makers have been saying this since I started reading articles in guitar magazines in the mid 70s, and probably before....

"You just can't get the wood, Jim".   

Well you sort of can but it's very expensive and younger - the era of the century-old source tree must surely be long over. 

[Retired]

I almost got in Big trouble. I was marking out a Les Paul pattern on the wife's Thomasville Dinning Room Table when she caught me and said. "STOP! You are Not cutting My Table to make your'e first guitar! Haha,  Just kidding but its gorgeous wood. 

[Retired]

On 12/25/2020 at 12:37 PM, Rabs said:

Your piece is African Mahogany im pretty sure of that too from A, the initial colour and B, the grain pattern...  Asian Mahogany I think is called Luan..  Most of it is pretty boring and WAY softer than African Mahogany..  Also African Mahogany is about 1100 on the janka hardness scale where as Genuine (South American) is more like 750 and on the very edge of being hard enough for a neck.. Chances are you have some Utile.

So actually in some ways African Mahogany is better. I also had the same reaction as you when I realised the actual cost of wood.. If you go to the right places its pretty cheap, well compared to going to a shop that specialises in Luthier woods...  And I am jealous of the range of beautiful woods you have out there and the prices they are when I look even on Ebay.... You can get flamed maple much cheaper than we do for instance.

Is there that much difference on tone between different woods? Example, I have a Koa top on an acoustic guitar. 

[Rabs]

4 minutes ago, Retired said:

Is there that much difference on tone between different woods? Example, I have a Koa top on an acoustic guitar. 

Really..  Tonewood again..  I expect more from you  😄  

I think its a fairly well established fact now that on acoustics.. 100% it matters..  They work buy having a flexible top that vibrates , its all about the wood..

Electrics..  Yes it does make a difference BUT its less so than on an acoustic as the pickups are the main source of sound.... But there are certainly differences in wood when it comes too tone, the basic rule being that the harder the wood the brighter the sound... BUT as we all know wood is organic, every piece is different... Thus really, every guitar is different. The thing with electrics is that we have tone knobs and EQs on the amps and effect pedals... So the sound differences between woods becomes almost nothing when you add all of that and even less if you add any sort of distortion..

Well thats my take on it all anyway..  Im sure there are still people who think different.

[Retired]

36 minutes ago, Rabs said:

Really..  Tonewood again..  I expect more from you  😄  

I think its a fairly well established fact now that on acoustics.. 100% it matters..  They work buy having a flexible top that vibrates , its all about the wood..

Electrics..  Yes it does make a difference BUT its less so than on an acoustic as the pickups are the main source of sound.... But there are certainly differences in wood when it comes too tone, the basic rule being that the harder the wood the brighter the sound... BUT as we all know wood is organic, every piece is different... Thus really, every guitar is different. The thing with electrics is that we have tone knobs and EQs on the amps and effect pedals... So the sound differences between woods becomes almost nothing when you add all of that and even less if you add any sort of distortion..

Well thats my take on it all anyway..  Im sure there are still people who think different.

Thanks Rabs. No, I really didn't know that answer for sure. I knew the tops, sides and back on Acoustics were much thinner and was pretty sure the make of the woods made a difference in tones but I didn't think it made a difference at all on thicker woods on electrics. But I was wondering if all woods are used in making electric guitars or just a few?