truerussian558 Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 oookay so this is a strat with a tad bit wider neck (closer to a clasical guitar) now what you shoyld now is that this is not only my first atemtp at making a guitar it is also my first ever attempt at woodworking ever... well unless you count with a hatchet, but nothing too personal also added on im only 14 (13 when i started it ) and id say its atleast ok I test fited parts from my other guitar so i know that the pickguard covers up any routing mistakes (100% freehand = bad idea) Btw the mody is alder the neck maple and the fingerboard is zebrawood with 3 coats of shelac the frets are glued in since i didnt have the thin saws so the cut was too wide, seems to hold though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 hey guys...put a few spaces(enter key) in between your images...it keeps them all in a line and makes the post fit on the screen the guitar..yeah freehand routing is tough...but if you have a good chisel and hammer you can clean those routs up and you have to be very careful about the depth...as you noticed i am sure on the blowouts into the trem cavity but good first build...at 14 mine would have looked ALOT worse i am concerned though...the neck seems crooked...is that an illusion? keep it up,man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted May 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 first off i put spaces before you posted but after you looked second it might be a tad crooked but its most likely the angle if you look at the center line on the guitar it looks a about right see thats what happens when you mess up on the neck route it becomes a tad guess work well the blowouts arent intentional but i would have dont them anyway since i was using my other guitar as a model and oddly it has the same things for the ground wire oh and the depth wasnt freehand but it was after i did the exctra depth for the side of the pickups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 okay..that explains why the spaces were there when i edited it...i guess i just put a few more in i think the crookedness i see is an illusion from the wavy grain of the fingerboard you should see my first freehand rout....i was 30 and it still looked bad i don't mean to criticize...but you can get straight lines on your routs by clamping a straight board to your guitar,and using it as an edge guide for the router...i just did that yesterday on my seven string i am building Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsl602000 Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 I think you'll have a hard time to make that guitar playable..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 why you say that? anything is possible, i think it looks pretty good myself Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsl602000 Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 why you say that? because the neck is crooked. Draw a straight line on the treble side and you know what I mean. Either the strings will run off the fretboard in the middle or, they'll be too far from the edge at the nut and the end of the neck. However, since it's a bolt on, you could always build a new neck if this one doesn't work out for you. A tip for getting straight edges if you don't have a router: glue some sanding paper on a straight piece of wood and sand...sand sand..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted May 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 actually what you see there is me messing up the radiusing i tried to radius without using radius block with lots of sandpaper ended up that the edge of the fretboard is kind rounded oh and if it looks extreme its the photo angle because there is no curve in real life. Impatience really is evil also it could be theat instead of it being thinner in the middle its actually wider at the end since i made it kinda that way to make it a tad easier to bend at the higher frets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 well you could park a bike in the neck pocket with the neck still attached, the arm rest is almost 1/4" the size of the entire top of the guitar, and i'll bet ya 10$ that guitar will never intonate properly BUT if that's your first go, with no previous wood working experience and no guidance other then what you may have read on this site then that's pretty good!! it's good to see you putting in some effort in and you did get quite far, i bet it was a hoot to wasn't it ? keep working at it, although i don't know how salvagable that guitar is going to be, you've already learned the free hand = no no rule for routing maybe now would be a good time to look up a bit more reading material, either on this site, or getting one of the popular books on amazon.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 I wasnt going to say anything bout the arm rest, but since Derek did, yea, that is pretty big, not to make yea feel bad or anything, hell, my guitar aint perfect, the body is too small and I cant change that, but I am a small guy so it dont matter Good job other wise Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 yeah mines probably gonna look worse. i'd be pretty proud if i were you. just do what he said, glue some sandpaper to a straight board and try to straighten up those routes. you can fill the neck pocket with something the sand it so it's even with the top. the grain won't match, but it will be better. keep goin.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsl602000 Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 glue some sandpaper to a straight board and try to straighten up those routes I was talking about the sides of the neck...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted May 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 I wasnt going to say anything bout the arm rest, but since Derek did, yea, that is pretty big, im 6 ft tall and about 230 lb's so i aint small and it feels alright to me even if it is huge oh and ill have to keep this as a hobby as iv already spent about 200 on tools alone if not more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 Who says you can't spend money on a hobby? It'll make the hobby more enjoyable in the long run. I don't know if I'll ever even attempt to sell a guitar (I'm a ways off from even finishing my own first, so it's not even a thought yet) but I'm likely to invest more money in tools soon. Like the others have said, you're learning a tonne already, and that's the name of the game. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonamemx Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 Is it just me, or do the pictures look like paintings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 Is it just me, or do the pictures look like paintings? haha...just you..that is what a cheap digital camera does...i have one of those myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted May 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 cheap my ass 800 bucks well technically its a camcorder with a digital camera added on its probably a combination of cheap (its an analog camera) bad lighting and bad photography cant hold it still Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivin Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 If i built a full guiar from scratch I wouldnt be suprised if mine came out worse than that, so im keeping my mouth shut! kudos for giving it a crack, im sure your next one will be infinitely better with all the lessons you will have learnt from this attempt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted May 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 yes im taking vow of routing\ i solemly swear that i will always route using templetes... amen seriously you should have seen the truss rod rout, but i packed it with some of the insane amount of packing peanuts you get from a simple package trhough lmi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanKirk Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 cheap my ass 800 bucks well technically its a camcorder with a digital camera added on its probably a combination of cheap (its an analog camera) bad lighting and bad photography cant hold it still Not to get off track too much but I've noticed that even the best camcorders take crappy pics and the best cameras take lousy movie clips. Seems that one dedicated to each is necessary. Anyways, good job on seeing your project all the way through and learning alot about what to do and what not to do in the process I'm sure Lotsa fun ain't it? Can get a little stressful too but worth it in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa Claws Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 i think that guitar is very good for 14 years of age, but what i would do if i was you, i would sand it down alot till you got it right, mine was fairly choppy looking at the start aswell, just keep sanding it down and it will look Very nice. Keep it up, definelty keep sanding it tho. Very good ...keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truerussian558 Posted May 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 i havent worked much on the body at all besides countores and routing im just concentrating on finishing the neck. my fret rounding files should arive today hella sweet it only takes 1 day for stuff from lmi to arive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alchool Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 I think you'll have a hard time to make that guitar playable..... The first guitar I made plays, so anyone's first guitar should play He's only 14 and I would have at least lost a finger doing that at 14. And if this one doesn't play... his second one surely will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis P Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 well said well said!! I almost lost my entire hand, grinder accident, the hand held ones, slipped outta my hands and caught my wrist, the disk also rocketed up my thumb and gashed it quite well, the only thing i needed stiches for and i didnt get them, lol lots of gauze and bandages fixed it up, I know have a small scar (glad its ALOT smaller then when it actually happened) on my wrist and have been asked if i tried to slit my wrists on many occasions Kudos by the way, sorry to get off topic Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 At 14, that's a very good attempt. Stay at it if it ineterests you - I think your vow to use templates will go a long way to helping on the next one. One question on the third pic - the last 4 tuners look very strange. They look different from the first two. What's the difference there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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