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My new project.. Turn a door into a guitar


Rabs

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Seems like a cool idea. And you know how to do it. It does seem to be used mostly on "highly figured" instruments. Also I'm guessing you would need/want a real fine sand on the wood beforehand? Whereas oil finishes may be more forgiving.

Sanding is the easy bit ;)

 

Id be more worried on how long the finish would last on the neck...

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Sanding is the easy bit ;)

 

Id be more worried on how long the finish would last on the neck...

 

Lol, most people I know prefer an unfinished neck, or even sand their finished necks down. And you're worried about how long the finish will last :P Go with it and call it a "Rabswood Relic" when it wears down.

 

-Ryan

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Lol, most people I know prefer an unfinished neck, or even sand their finished necks down. And you're worried about how long the finish will last :P Go with it and call it a "Rabswood Relic" when it wears down.

 

-Ryan

Does that mean I could charge more for it then :-k

 

:P

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Howdy all...

 

Today I got some more done as I said on Neckthrough 2... and its coming along nicely now..

 

So back to the body shape..

 

As I mentioned above I was going to cut the bottom left corner as it seemed out.. and also as Searcy suggested I thought well ive gone this far off why not slim het down a bit..

 

So as per usual I draw it on..

DSC04749_zps9d55fc58.jpg

 

Bottom cut and I think that's looking good now..

DSC04751_zps61ee5594.jpg

 

Then the sides.. I probably went slightly too far.. this now means I need to smooth the curves out a bit, which isn't much of an issue.. the body is still big enough me thinks to take it (just)

DSC04754_zpsb3e2fa37.jpg

 

Not bad :) And actually you get a better perspective from the back (for some weird reason)

DSC04764_zpsab145827.jpg

 

So I left the body there for now before I get too carried away...

 

I then decided to double check that the input jack socket I got was actually going to fit.. OHHHHhh JUST!! :)

DSC04757_zpsa32991d4.jpg

 

I spent most of today doing the detail of the body.. the edges and the horns etc.... I quite like my volute type area at the beginning of the neck.. fits the thumb nice and ergonomically

DSC04769_zps6421614c.jpg

DSC04770_zps515e95b9.jpg

DSC04772_zps959f97bc.jpg

 

Im pretty happy with the neck shape for now so decide that I really need to get on with the nut and tuners (cos then I can do the bridge etc :)

DSC04774_zps077dd34a.jpg

 

You can quite see in this pic but theres a slight bump at the bottom of the fretboard which is making the nut sit funny

DSC04780_zps981700bb.jpg

 

more below

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You can see here it doesn't quite fit snug

DSC04782_zps851f84c3.jpg

 

So I go at the edge of the fretboard a bit with a file and make sure I angle it so it doesn't hit the top

DSC04783_zps23278267.jpg

 

And BINGO was his name ;) (I need to slim that end of the neck down by 0.5mm each side.. no problems there)

DSC04784_zps581fed3f.jpg

DSC04787_zps2f99a4db.jpg

 

That will of course need some tweaking later but it doesn't look bad.. So now on to the tuners

 

At one end they fit (just)

DSC04791_zpsc44b9423.jpg

 

At the other end the wood is slightly too thick

DSC04792_zpsdbfa19c6.jpg

 

 

So I sand it down a bit and, better :)

DSC04794_zpsbcf3be31.jpg

 

I measure the positions and make sure the tuning pegs will stick out enoughDSC04796_zpsb0ef97ae.jpg

 

And.. BAMMMO! :)

DSC04807_zps71d5932c.jpg

 

Now you may notice that the washers are missing from the E strings.. that's cos it didn't quite fit with them on.. So another mm will need to come off the back..

DSC04808_zpsdde0a814.jpg

 

Even more below :)

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Not bad :) I had to position them slightly oddly so they all fit in that shape I have

DSC04812_zps10105d53.jpg

 

All nice and snug

DSC04814_zps0d953152.jpg

 

And not looking bad.

DSC04820_zpsd8cffbb7.jpg

 

So that's it for today.. More tomorrow.. which will be bridge drilling (when I finally decide which bridge to go with :)) and more fine tuning of the body and once I get the bridge in the nut and string height etc...

 

Hope your all still enjoying.. I don't think it will be too long before this one finishes now :D (and no neck to set this time ;))

 

Catch you next time [thumbup]

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Looking good sir, looking very good [thumbup]

Thanks man :)

 

Lets hope I can bring it all together for a good end product mainly that plays well and sounds good... If I can get it to look good aswell, all the better [thumbup]

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It's getting close to the end now!

 

Great job, Rabs!

 

[thumbup]

 

P.

Cheers guys :D

 

My only issue now is how to finish.. So many options.. I have like 5 different bridges and each one means different designs.. and I keep changing my mind..

 

So im gonna do some planning today and use that online guitar editor thing to try and make my mind up :)

 

So tomorrow I will go with a bridge and that should dictate most of the rest of the design.. AND still no way to spray them so I may as mentioned above have to use an oil finish or just not finish them at all until it gets warmer again.

 

All part of the fun :)

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On wood grain guitars where a natural finish is wanted Try-Oil is my favorite finish of all. Easy to apply and looks fantastic. Here's a crappy picture of that last guitar I made with it.

 

That's the thing.. I want to colour them.. or at least that's what was in my head for most of the time until I realised I couldn't spray the at the moment...

 

I also have a load of veneers to use which will pretty the tops up...

 

So im not sure oil is the way for that...

 

I got Birdseye Maple

DSC02500_zps62b87b7d.jpg

 

Flamey Maple

DSC02501_zpsee704f5d.jpg

 

And the best one.. Flamey Walnut [love]

DSC02565_zps116f9c75.jpg

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I am sure someone else has already said it, but I'm not looking through all twenty-seven pages of this thread to verify it...

 

The first song you play on it has to be a Doors song! [blink]

haha.. I don't blame you.. this thread is LONG :)

 

and yes its been suggested.. and indeed when I make a video (when I finish one) I want to use a Doors song and the Stone Roses song I Wanna be Adored ;)

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Hello all and welcome back any followers...

 

Yesterday I decided not to do anything and spent all day using that online guitar designer thing which is awesome.. The reason is that im at the point where I have to decide which bridge I have will go on which guitar with which tuners ect.. Its so mind boggling I keep changing my mind every day.

 

So I decided to go along today and just place the hardware on the guitar and see if that helped..

 

So here we go...

 

This lot is with the chrome grover tulip type tuners

DSC04823_zps330eb2ee.jpg

 

not sure about that bridge with those pups.. So I tried this one (the wraparound I got off that LP Junior I did)

DSC04825_zpsb6920492.jpg

 

Then the more normal TOM set up

DSC04826_zpsf96c2dc5.jpg

 

I still wasn't sure so decided to look at the other tuners I have.. The ones I got of the LP Junior (banjo). But they didn't even fit on lol (this headstock is a bit smaller than my standard one will be).

DSC04829_zpsce0e851a.jpg

 

Hmm.. so I decide to try those black tuners with the black hardware

DSC04832_zpsceb1dd95.jpg

 

OHHH, not bad at all [thumbup]

DSC04835_zps85a9aead.jpg

 

Then just for fun I decided to see what those dynasonic type pups would look like

DSC04837_zps58fd48a5.jpg

 

Then with the other bridges

DSC04839_zpsdedfeef7.jpg

 

DSC04841_zpsb3ecd476.jpg

 

DSC04843_zps261e9718.jpg

 

So far im really loving the black hardware.. maybe I need to get some more of that.. but as you can see they all have their own thing going on. So many choices :unsure:

 

More below.

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I decided to leave it there and come home and look at the pictures to try and decide.. So I thought this would be a good time to plug a few tiny holes I have where the fret slot may have been a bit too deep.. just a few

 

DSC04847_zps291d7c44.jpg

 

and on the other side its all good, no plugging needed

DSC04850_zps15c488e4.jpg

 

Then and slightly scarily I decide that im still not 100% happy with the body still. You know something just kept catching my eye.. So again I draw on the body and go at it which may have been a mistake

DSC04851_zpsfeec7605.jpg

 

But no.. the difference is small but im really liking it now.. Apart from a couple of curves that need smoothing out I reckon the body shape is there now (I don't think I would risk cutting any more off anyway at this point :))

DSC04853_zpsf36ce769.jpg

DSC04860_zps1b0061b7.jpg

 

Then to end the day off I thought id give it a wipe down with some meth that I have lying about.. The good thing about doing this is that if I decide to do an oil finish this will give a good indication of what it will look like when its all polished up [thumbup]

DSC04864_zps90147f76.jpg

 

So I hope your all still enjoying.... More Sunday when I hope to have made my final decision on what hardware to go with and I will do the drilling [crying] ;)

 

Have a great weekend one and all.

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Hello all and welcome back any followers...

 

Yesterday I decided not to do anything and spent all day using that online guitar designer thing which is awesome.. The reason is that im at the point where I have to decide which bridge I have will go on which guitar with which tuners ect.. Its so mind boggling I keep changing my mind every day.

 

So I decided to go along today and just place the hardware on the guitar and see if that helped..

 

So here we go...

 

This lot is with the chrome grover tulip type tuners

DSC04823_zps330eb2ee.jpg

 

not sure about that bridge with those pups.. So I tried this one (the wraparound I got off that LP Junior I did)

DSC04825_zpsb6920492.jpg

 

Then the more normal TOM set up

DSC04826_zpsf96c2dc5.jpg

 

I still wasn't sure so decided to look at the other tuners I have.. The ones I got of the LP Junior (banjo). But they didn't even fit on lol (this headstock is a bit smaller than my standard one will be).

DSC04829_zpsce0e851a.jpg

 

Hmm.. so I decide to try those black tuners with the black hardware

DSC04832_zpsceb1dd95.jpg

 

OHHH, not bad at all [thumbup]

DSC04835_zps85a9aead.jpg

 

Then just for fun I decided to see what those dynasonic type pups would look like

DSC04837_zps58fd48a5.jpg

 

Then with the other bridges

DSC04839_zpsdedfeef7.jpg

 

DSC04841_zpsb3ecd476.jpg

 

DSC04843_zps261e9718.jpg

 

So far im really loving the black hardware.. maybe I need to get some more of that.. but as you can see they all have their own thing going on. So many choices :unsure:

 

More below.

 

The Dynasonics with the Wraparound bridge would look cool imho!

 

Good job Rabs. I'm awaiting the finale with baited breath!

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