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First build in years.

Ya, it's been a long time. I want to get three done. This is the hardest of all three. Thought it would be awesome to get the fun one first. This will be a piezo semi hollow guitar.

The guitar will be made in four layers. The top is 1/4 ply. The second layer down is 1/2 ply. Third layer is 3/4 maple from a table top. This layer will support the neck. Bottom layer is another layer of 1/4 ply.

First. Each layer will first be cut into 13 11/16 x 17 7/16 rectangles. Each piece of wood will get a 3x3 inch grid. There are three patterns. Each patter has 3x3 grid markings. So they will line up in the very same spot on each piece of wood.

The bottom layer gets two recessed plates. The will be cut out of and sit flush in the 1/4 ply. I'll have to start each with a knife cut. Then use a jig saw to finish them. These tow access plates will screw into the maple layer above them.

The maple layer will get three cavities cut out of it. One for the pots and jack. One for the three way toggle switch. And one large one on the left side, as your looking at it in a stand, of the guitar.

The 1/2 ply layer is mostly one large cavity. There will be support for the output jack. And a block of the same wood for under the bridge.

The top layer will get holes for four knobs, the output jack and three way switch. There will also be a sound hole.

At this point the four layers are still rectangles. I'll first glue the top two layers together. Then cut the neck pocket out of them. Then glue the rest to make one block. Once dry I'll cut the body shape out.

The two piezos. The one at the neck will be permanently sealed within the guitar. the only way to have access to it is to make a plate on the face of the guitar. Choosing looks over function. The second piezo will be under the bridge/

Two pics. The first pic is the maple layer. The second is the 1/2 ply along with the block for the bridge.

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Attachments:

IMG_maple layer.jpg, 976 KB
IMG_1:2plylayer.jpg, 260 KB

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on June 26, 2018 at 7:32am

The Pearly Gates are great pickups and I also love the P Rails. I really want a set of P Rails and the Triple Shot Rings to go with them.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on June 26, 2018 at 8:34am

Those triple shot rings are a great alternative to wiring up push/pull knobs. And definitely better than drilling into a guitar's body to add switches.

This is by far the best vid on the net demonstrating these rings,

Duncan triple shot mounting rings.

What's nice about the rails and humbucker style pickups from Duncan is you can get the same results with them as you can with the full size humbucker.

Trying four experiments with thin ply. Trying to find a way to reduce or stop chip out. There's not much I've found on the web so I decided to play around with it. Because I don't plan on putting a wood finish on any of these guitars anything i can sand off will work.

First will be Elmer's glue and copier paper. The second is a coating of straight Elmer's glue. Third is Tightbond and copier paper and fourth is just a coating of tightbond. These are all still drying. Hopefully I'll be able to get to this tomorrow.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on June 26, 2018 at 8:18pm

Good video on the ring switching. They cost a good bit, but they are worth it when it comes to accessibility, ease of wiring and choice variety.

When it comes to fixing wood tear-out, I mix wood glue and saw dust and apply to the area. let it dry and sand back even. It works great on solid wood. Plywood is a bit harder to pull off without noticing. If your painting over it with a color that won't let the wood show through, your fine. But if your going with something thin of mutli-colored layers, then you have to do each layer with like material for each layer. Or just cut back with a straight line and graft on a piece.

Remember to replace those router bits now and then with new sharp ones. Keep reminding yourself to not apply a lot of pressure on corners to keep damage at a minimum. I think a lot of those Plywood body guitars were cut out on a bandsaw just outside the line and sanded back to the line with a belt sander or drum sander to keep those problems to a minimum.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on June 26, 2018 at 10:11pm

I think for folks who what a variety of sound without modding their guitar those rigs are the way to go.

I'll be doing all my cutting between a hand held jig saw and a table top scroll saw. I want the pickup rings and back plates to be cut out of the same 1/4 ply that makes up the outside of the guitar. So they fit flush in the body. The treated ply will be cut on the table top scroll saw. Once all four pieces are glued together the body itself will be cut out with the jig saw.

I'm still the the process of making my home made router/spindle sander table. I'll use the spindle sanders to do the sides and hand sand the edges.

The only thing I plan on doing with router bits is lap joints when I need to glue to pieces of hardwood together. And because the router's base is warped and I drilled the frame out to fit larger bolts it will always be part of a table. It's hand held days are over.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on June 30, 2018 at 3:24pm

Between work and things at home.... OK . found scroll saw blades that are supposed to create clean cuts with less tare out in 1/4 ply. Flying Dutchman Ultra Reverse. Got some no. 3s coming. What I plan on doing is finishing the top of the guitar. Picture on front. Then cutting the pickup rings out. Really need something with little to no tare out. These blades are only five inches tall. I've learned I'll to press down on my Craftsman scroll to get them to fit.

Sorry folks. I have a lot of pots on the fire right now. Building is the one I have to put to the simmer side for now.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on June 30, 2018 at 4:30pm

I find that if I scribe the line I intend to cut with an exacto knife and cut close to it then that is as far as any tear out goes. I also have a tool called a Gramil that scores the parameter of a guitar prior to routing the rebate for binding and purfling, it does the same thing, stops tear out.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on June 30, 2018 at 4:43pm

Hi My first visit to this thread, I found the info on the triple shot mounting rings very interesting, never heard of them before. I used the Pearly Gates pickups the guitar I built for myself some years ago, so those pickup surrounds sound interesting.

Your right about that demo video, there are some awful ones out there that would not sell me on the product.

Here's a photo of the guitar I mentioned.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 2, 2018 at 8:13am

That's a nice looking Thinline Tele Taff.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 2, 2018 at 8:17am

A guy over on the TDPRI Guitar Forum has made a nice guitar similar to yours Cause. Here's a link to the build, he used kitchen counter top formica for the top and back of the guitar.

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/gretch-like-build-with-bent-ply-vacuum...

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on July 2, 2018 at 9:28am

Paul, checked out the link. What I'm doing is child's play compared to the skill that builder has.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on July 3, 2018 at 6:52am

Some great talent at building over there and good material to learn from.

One guy made a couple semi-hollow guitars and covered them with vinyl wrap. They looked great and had a snakeskin design on them. Awesome stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on July 22, 2018 at 5:04pm

HO here's where I'm at with this build. The one that keeps changing.... I'm almost done with my home made spindles. Just ned to make a jig to cut the slots on the table saw. I'm confident in my skills with the scroll saw. Totally in LOVE with my new jig saw.

Next obstacle to defeat. The finish.

This is a tribute to my childhood comic book hero. A mindless, heartless, thoughtless killer. I was a special child... : ) My first attempt was to print this out in sections and try to hide the lines. Not going to work. So this will be printed out on legal sized paper in five parts. The comic book cover will be one piece. Most of the bottom side will be in one piece. Then three more smaller pieces. I'll cut them out with a exacto knife and straight edge will they are on the guitar. Before the polycrylic get's to tacky. I'll be trying this on scrap first to get good at it. After this drys completely I'll cut the pickup ring and hole from the back side of this piece.

The body is a heavy modded Fender Jazzmaster. Really like the offset body curves. That's the only original design of it I kept. Fattened up the bottom and lower horn. Rounded off the upper horn and changed it's angle a bit.

I'll glue this to the mid layer of 1/2 ply. Once dry I'll cut out the neck slot.

Then next step is to glue all four pieces of wood together. 1/4 ply back, 3/4 maple center, 1/2 ply mid and finally the 1/4 ply top. Once dry I'll cut out the body shape. Sand the sides and finish the rest of the guitar. Either black or a dark slime green.

The pickup choice for this guitar has changes so many times it'll make ya dizzy. I have a SSS set of Alexander Pribora 'Blues Classic' coming. These are a mid priced set. Every youtube vid I've seen of these sound awesome. I'll be using the bridge pickup for this build. It'll be in the mid position. I'll then use the other two pups in a build with a humbucker in the bridge. Really don't like the sound of a single coil at the bridge position.

Alexander Pribora 'Blues Classic' single coil set.

Their webside

https://www.priborapickups.com

The other two pickups will be going into a closer to a Jazzmaster look but still modded body. There will be a single sized humbucker in the bridge. But that's a different story.