My new project.. Turn a door into a guitar

[Rabs]

Very first thing that crossed my mind.

 

It's an inoculation tent or something.

Lol no.. you will see the link above where I bought this.. I wont spoil the suprise ;)

[RaysEpiphone]

Your going to want to use some safety goggle's too man. Eye's are very important.

[Rabs]

Your going to want to use some safety goggle's too man. Eye's are very important.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. :)

[badbluesplayer]

Cool project!

[Rabs]

Ok another small update.. So i kinda got stuck on this build as I had the rough pieces of wood cut out but needed to plane the sides so that when I glue them its a nice tight fit...

 

And whats funny is I havent really used one before so I bought it, tried it.. Nothing happened.. Looked up Youtube vids on how to use them and set them up.. STILL couldnt do it AHHH!!!!

 

Today I finally worked out how to set it up properly after hours of trying lol.. This really isnt as easy as you may think it would be.. Im using make shift ways of doing things as I dont have all of the correct tools.. So its going slow but I am determined to get there even if its bit by bit.. Also cos im working in such a small area its hard to be in there for more than a couple of hours.. Even with the face mask it gets too much..

 

So.. I have started on the neck just a bit.. I got two nice bits of wood I had to glue together to make the right size I need..

 

So heres the wood

 

I saw a good tip on Youtube to use a roller to get the whole surface covered

 

And this is the result (the roller was a pound :))

 

All clamped up.. and remember the bench is a clamp too so I had nice pressure

 

And dry.. nice and tight :) Im gonna put this aside for now and work on the body

[Rabs]

So now I know how to use the plane properly lol I can start to get the sides of the body pieces all straight and level..

 

heres the first piece.. you can see (sort of) its not very flat

 

and heres it again after some elbow work.. much better

 

 

So I now have another 5 sides to do but its too late now.. So hopefully will get the body straight, glued and cut this week :) Got about 3 more hours of this planing to do first...

[pippy]

Excellent work so far, Rabs.

 

Are you going to fit a truss-rod in the neck and, if so, have you worked out how?

 

Long-tenon / Short-tenon?

 

So much to think about and that's even BEFORE you have to work out how to obtain Sl00sh-Tone...LOL!

 

Good stuff!

 

 

P.

[Rabs]

Excellent work so far, Rabs.

 

Are you going to fit a truss-rod in the neck and, if so, have you worked out how?

 

Long-tenon / Short-tenon?

 

So much to think about and that's even BEFORE you have to work out how to obtain Sl00sh-Tone...LOL!

 

Good stuff!

 

 

P.

Cheers man..

 

And yes I have thought of many of these things.. The tenon I will try and get it as long as I can... And yes now ive decided to go ahead and do the neck I will install a trussrod.. Basically once you have the neck to the rough shape you have to route a line down the middle and it needs to be proper tight or it will buzz when you play.. Then you glue the fretboard on top of it.

 

Its going to be a huge leaning curve, but im doing my homework and gonna make sure I get it all right :) (even if all VERY slowly)

 

Been watching loads of vids like this

[badbluesplayer]

Rabs - I noticed that the pieces of wood you are gluing together to make the neck are pine or fir or some other softwood. There are knots in the wood. That wood probably won't work for a neck. You need to use clear hardwood, with no knots. Maple, like what the guy is using in the video, will work a lot better.

 

[Rabs]

Rabs - I noticed that the pieces of wood you are gluing together to make the neck are pine or fir or some other softwood. There are knots in the wood. That wood probably won't work for a neck. You need to use clear hardwood, with no knots. Maple, like what the guy is using in the video, will work a lot better.

 

Cheers for the advice.. I hear what your saying.. But youd be suprised how hard this wood im using is (and yes I think its pine).. Maybe because its quite old wood?

 

Well im gonna give it a go anyway cos its all an experiment.. if it doesnt work I will just have to start again... (plus I dont have any other wood to use :)).

[Rabs]

Rabs - I noticed that the pieces of wood you are gluing together to make the neck are pine or fir or some other softwood. There are knots in the wood. That wood probably won't work for a neck. You need to use clear hardwood, with no knots. Maple, like what the guy is using in the video, will work a lot better.

 

Actually just had a quick look and there is such a thing as Hard Pine.. so who knows .. All I know is this was one of the toughest woods ive ever tried to cut..

 

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/an-overall-guide-to-pine-wood/

The Hard Pines

 

This group is somewhat opposite of the soft pines, not only in obvious areas of hardness and density, but also in regards to earlwood to latewood transition, and grain evenness. Hard pines in general tend to have a more abrupt transition from earlywood to latewood, and have an uneven grain appearance (though there can be certain species that are exceptions). Overall, average dried weights for hard pine species range from 28 to 42 lbs/ft3.

 

Subgroup A: Southern Yellow Pines

 

The major species in this group fit into the signature hard pine profile: they have the highest densities (between 36 to 42 lbs/ft3 average dried weight), very abrupt earlywood to latewood transitions, and are very uneven grained. All of the species in this grouping are essentially indistinguishable from one another—even under microscopic examination.The four major species of southern yellow pine are:

•Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata)

•Slash Pine (Pinus elliotti)

•Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)

•Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)

[bonzoboy]

That's a big job for the first time but I'm sure that with the kind of determination you have you're well up to it.Have you considered using the pine in the door for the main body and putting on a 1/8-1/4" slab of that lovely teak for a cap? The colour and grain of teak is just so much nicer than pine plus it's just about impervious to scratches and dings-the beauty of it isn't the only reason that they use it on the decks of yachts etc.A buddy of mine was given some teak that his father had left over from a job he was doing on a friend's boat,took it to a woodworking shop,had about a 1/4" thick slab cut from it and made a pickguard for his clear lacquer finished Tele,it looked just spectacular.Teak is extremely difficult to work with and for cutting off thin slices or veneers for bookmatching etc. it's best to take it to a speciality woodworking shop.Most places will do it for little cost or you may get lucky like my buddy did-they didn't charge him anything when he told them what he was going to do with it.

 

Lots of luck Rabs and please keep us up to date with your progress with ongoing pix and details.

 

BTW: When you get it finished,it should be the perfect guitar for doing covers of Jim Morrison's famous band.

[Rabs]

That's a big job for the first time but I'm sure that with the kind of determination you have you're well up to it.Have you considered using the pine in the door for the main body and putting on a 1/8-1/4" slab of that lovely teak for a cap? The colour and grain of teak is just so much nicer than pine plus it's just about impervious to scratches and dings-the beauty of it isn't the only reason that they use it on the decks of yachts etc.A buddy of mine was given some teak that his father had left over from a job he was doing on a friend's boat,took it to a woodworking shop,had about a 1/4" thick slab cut from it and made a pickguard for his clear lacquer finished Tele,it looked just spectacular.Teak is extremely difficult to work with and for cutting off thin slices or veneers for bookmatching etc. it's best to take it to a speciality woodworking shop.Most places will do it for little cost or you may get lucky like my buddy did-they didn't charge him anything when he told them what he was going to do with it.

 

Lots of luck Rabs and please keep us up to date with your progress with ongoing pix and details.

 

BTW: When you get it finished,it should be the perfect guitar for doing covers of Jim Morrison's famous band.

Cheers man.. and I will keep the updates coming as I get too it..

 

And with those Teak doors.. I found out that they arnt solid.. They are very thick laminates but hollow.. And I do like your idea (and they would probably be 1/4")... But now for some reason my mother doesnt like the idea of me cutting them up even though they are just sitting there and taking up space lol... I will work on that..

 

Meanwhile I do intend to actually put a cap on so I can route and then cover it and I have more Pine boards for that.. The thin bits of the door are just the right thickness..

 

As I say this is all an experiment really to see if I can even do this.. I quite like the look of the pine.. But the next one I will use something more traditional if I can find the wood.

 

Theres actually a place on Ebay that sells nice slabs at good prices

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sapele-Mahogany-Hardwood-Guitar-Body-Blanks-Luthier-Turning-Mantle-/181048778134?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&hash=item2a27591d96

[pippy]

...BTW: When you get it finished,it should be the perfect guitar for doing covers of Jim Morrison's famous band...

 

As far as the knots in the 'neck' ;

 

I'm not a carpenter by any means but as Rabs is bonding two thick slabs together he might find that the areas which might have been weak-spots in one section could be strengthened sufficiently by the opposing section if it is 'clear' - i.e. there are not two knots at the same area in both halves of the neck. Not quite cross-banding (as the grain is aligned the same direction) but even so It might work.

Just a thought and I may well be mistaken.

 

You might want to check out something like this, Rabs. I've used a similar product to treat old (mid-Victorian), weakened sash window frames and after it 'goes off' the frames were like steel...lol!

There are quite a few advantages of using this type of product even on sound wood (pun) as far as the final finishing / staining / painting of the wood is concerned.

 

http://makezine.com/...e_Wood_Hardener

 

P.

[Rabs]

 

As far as the knots in the 'neck' ;

 

I'm not a carpenter by any means but as Rabs is bonding two thick slabs together he might find that the areas which might have been weak-spots in one section could be strengthened sufficiently by the opposing section if it is 'clear' - i.e. there are not two knots at the same area in both halves of the neck. Not quite cross-banding (as the grain is aligned the same direction) but even so It might work.

Just a thought and I may well be mistaken.

 

You might want to check out something like this, Rabs. I've used a similar product to treat old (mid-Victorian), weakened sash window frames and after it 'goes off' the frames were like steel...lol!

There are quite a few advantages of using this type of product even on sound wood (pun) as far as the final finishing / staining / painting of the wood is concerned.

 

http://makezine.com/...e_Wood_Hardener

 

P.

Haha..

 

Cheers Pip... However in looking at it.. im not sure id want to use it on something that I will be running my hands across regularly.. These are two things that stood out when I read the page.

 

Minwax Wood Hardener is an obnoxious-smelling, toxic, flammable, watery-thin fluid

Some hints: Never work with this stuff indoors! The solvent in Minwax Wood Hardener is vile stuff.

 

What I will say is that this pine I have must be one of the hard wood types.. I say this as I clamped the neck bits together without any protective spacers (which you would certainly use on mahogany) and when I undid the clamp it left hardly any mark (I did that cos I will be taking most of that wood off when I carve the neck so didnt care if it dented).

 

Secondly, I took a small piece I cut off that was about a foot long and only about 1/4" thick and 2" wide.. It took my whole body weight (all 14 st) to snap this small piece and even then I had to add alot of pressure to snap it..

 

So I am hopefull it will work :)

[pippy]

...I'm not sure id want to use it on something that I will be running my hands across regularly.. These are two things that stood out when I read the page.

 

Minwax Wood Hardener is an obnoxious-smelling, toxic, flammable, watery-thin fluid

Some hints: Never work with this stuff indoors! The solvent in Minwax Wood Hardener is vile stuff.

Yes, I read that bit too...

 

The Solvent issue wasn't applicable in my case as we had all the windows removed from the frames so they could be treated so 'well-ventilated' was never more apt!

 

The solvents vaporise in any case - it's only in the raw state that the liquid is toxic - so once it cures it wouldn't be a problem for you but I'm glad to hear you think the wood will be fine as-is.

 

Good Luck!

 

P.

[Rabs]

OK latest on this project...

 

So I have been getting the sides of the body pieces straight and flat. Which without the proper tools is not as easy as you may think. I didnt even have any straight edges to measure it by so I have to improvise.

 

I have been using a plane and a chisel to get the edges straight... Im useless with the plane so I ended up scraping the sides down bit by bit like this

 

And using the chisel to test the flatness. You can see here.. Its NOT flat :)

 

And after some scraping. Almost there

 

So after much work I had to find a way to add pressure to the pieces and stick them together.. In the end I went with the string cos its all I really had that would work.. I tied this as tight as I could

 

And got it pretty tight :)

[Rabs]

So now the big one.. The body is cut :)

 

 

 

 

So next things now.. Sand the edges so its flat and straight all the way around.... Start the routing for the hardware and neck.. Then I will be sticking some caps on the top and maybe the bottom as the wood I have for that is much nicer looking than the grain on this (and it will cover up any issues :P)

 

More to come soon :) (hopefully this week).

[manse]

You did a good job cutting out the body - especially if it is super hard! Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Manse

[Rabs]

You did a good job cutting out the body - especially if it is super hard! Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Manse

Cheers man...

 

and yes it wasnt easy.. I had to do this with a jigsaw.. Not as much control as youd like but as with the rest of the build I will make it work :)

 

Yeah im also getting excited about it.. It took so long to get the edges straight (yeah I know I did it in a slow way :)) I was becoming a bit frustrated.. But this should really push me along now.

 

The neck is going to be the hardest part, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

[bonzoboy]

I gotta hand it to you,that's a tidy cutting job that you've done on the body and a nice size and shape too.She's going to look sweet when you get a finish on it,whether it's stained or not.Keep up the good work!!!

[Rabs]

I gotta hand it to you,that's a tidy cutting job that you've done on the body and a nice size and shape too.She's going to look sweet when you get a finish on it,whether it's stained or not.Keep up the good work!!!

Cheers man. Thats appreciated :)

 

And yeah im happy with that shape too.. the bottom horn wasnt quite what I was going for but I like how its come out.. Makes it a bit (just a bit mind you) different and more my own thing :)

[Izzy]

When I first saw this thread I thought, "oh, WTF! Why are men so damn handy all the time? Got ants in their pants!"

Then I didn't see the thread updated for a bit and I thought,"Wasn't that guy going to destroy a perfectly good door? Bet he got tired of the project and gave up. Bloody tease!"

 

Seeing the picture of it cut out and the slow STEADY progrees makes me very happy.

...and you;re right, it looks different and thus more yours the way you cut it.

[Rabs]

When I first saw this thread I thought, "oh, WTF! Why are men so damn handy all the time? Got ants in their pants!"

Then I didn't see the thread updated for a bit and I thought,"Wasn't that guy going to destroy a perfectly good door? Bet he got tired of the project and gave up. Bloody tease!"

 

Seeing the picture of it cut out and the slow STEADY progrees makes me very happy.

...and you;re right, it looks different and thus more yours the way you cut it.

Cheers.

 

The encouragement does actually help... When your doing something like this and the learning curve is so steep you get frustrated.. But I am determined to do this..

 

And if I wasnt unemployed, I doubt id be doing this. It gives me something to aim for and I will (hopefylly :)) be really proud of it by the end.

 

I am at the point now were I have to be even more careful. If I make a mistake at this point and take the wood down to far, thats it.. Start again. But thats why im doing it slow to try and make sure that doesnt happen. If im happy that I can do it all (still all the electonics to come which I have even less experience with) I will make more and hopefully each one will be that much faster and better.

 

Fingers crossed ;)

[Rabs]

Ok its been a few weeks.. Last week was spent doing things to try and find work and this week ive been really sick with one of the nastiest flu's ive ever had in my life (or is that just getting old ? :))

 

However last weekend just before this flu kicked in I drilled the cavity hole for the guitar using my LP DC as a template on size as I want to use a similar configuration.

 

Not having the right tools (in this case a router) it can be a pain.. So here it is

 

 

Just using a standard drill with a hole borrer or what ever its official name is :)

 

I know I could have done this more sensibly by just drilling a hole in each corner and using the jigsaw to cut the rest. But for some reason didnt think of that till after :)

 

And the end result (that still need smoothing a bit