I got a silverware box from Goodwill for 50 cents because the young people running the store didn't know what it was. LOL
I bought one awhile back and gave it to my wife to use as a jewelry box, but I decided to use this one to make a 6 string Bo Diddly style guitar.
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I carved the back of the neck in a soft V profile. Still getting used to it being my first.
Got the box sanded today. The top is Masonite like the Danelectro Guitars used, still think the sides are Balsa. Hopefully the neck trough and extra wing pieces in the box will stop any neck-dive.
Trying to decide whether or not to make the neck angled in the box or straight.
Unless you plan to play mainly slide, have a bolt on neck where you can add a shim later or plan on having a thick fretboard I suspect you will need the angled neck to lower the strings.
Great idea for a Bo Diddly tribute guitar - I came across the attached photo in a burger bar in Amsterdam a couple of years back.
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Those were my thoughts as well for the neck angle and bridge height. At the lowest height, the bridge would have the strings 10mm to 12mm(3/8 to 7/16) from the top of the guitar. The fretboard (if neck isn't angled)will be 3/16ths" above the top leaving a 1/4" at the highest fret. Making higher frets pull sharp when fretted.
So putting a 1 to 3 degree angle of the neck would help even things out. Other option would be to route a shallow cavity for the bridge. Then I could use the adjustment wheels to raise the bridge if needed.
The neck is a neck through, so if I angle it I would need to cut a long angled spacer to attach the neck to the body. That would be hard to do because my tools are limited. So routing a cavity for the bridge and making the neck flat will be easier. I'll use a roundover bit on the cavity edge to make stringing the guitar easier.
Though I should update my thread. It's finished. I had a couple problems along the way with the paint mostly, but it will stay as is til it needs a repaint.
The base coat was a Silver Glitter paint by Rust-Oleum that didn't stick well to the Masonite box top. The cover coat was Caymen Green Metallic and several layers of clear. The edges started peeling away, so I attached a wood trim barrier and painted it Antique White to contrast the Green-Blue. I comes off easy if you bang it on something, so one day I'll have to scrape the paint off and start over.
The installed the pickups to a 3-way switch, 500k pots and a .022 tone cap. At first I was disappointed at the tone, just wasn't getting that Gretsch Filtertron tone. I adjusted them up as far as I could, then removed the adjustment screws to get them just under the strings without bottoming out the string when fretting and that did it. Now it gets the tone I was looking for. I was about to switch the pots out for 1meg pots before I did this, that would've done it too.
It nails the early Rock tones, Classic rock and Rockabilly. I've been playing a lot of ACDC with this lately. These pickups are hot and easily overdrive a low watt amp.
Here's a couple pics.
I bought this bridge and some pots for the build. 12 bucks Guitarfetish.
I've been trying to identify the wood used to make this box. It has a paper veneer over it. The wood is light in weight, light in color and tight grained.
I'm thinking Balsa or Aspen.
I have a Can of Dupli-Color Perfect Match Cayman Green Metallic for this. Supposed to look like this:
This color should look good with all the Gold hardware. May use a clear top coat with a little glitter in it to make it pop more. Depends on how it turns out.
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