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a little help for a young luthier
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Author:  i_fight_bears [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:35 am ]
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Can anyone tell me how a chambered electric guitar is actually chambered?  I'm just starting luthierie as a hobby (for now) and I want to build a chambered electric for my next project, but I don't know exactly how they are constructed.  Any suggestions or resources I should check out?
Author:  A Peebels [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:38 am ]
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The body is made of 3 peices, top middle and back. The middle section is chambered then the top and back are glued on.

Hope this helps,

Al
Author:  i_fight_bears [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:46 am ]
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Sorry, I should have been more specific.  Is the center entirely hollow, or are there multiple hollow spots in the body?  If there are different chambers, are they connected, or are they each sealed off?  I was considering the effect this would have on the overall resonance and it seems like this would make a big difference.  I have a lot of questions about it but it would be sacralige to just bandsaw a chambered Tele apart.

Author:  Mattia Valente [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:19 am ]
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The answer is...depends what you mean by 'chambered body'.

Some are entirely hollow, bent sides, top and back glued on. Some tops and backs are carved, some are laminated, some are flat. Some hollowed guitars have a block in the middle, some support under the bridge, some no support at all. Some have lots of small chambers, some a few larger ones, some only one. Some only glue on a top, and have a variable number of chambers and/or sound holes. Concensus, insofar as there is any, is that more small holes = more effect on weight, less effect on tone, whereas fewer larger chambers affect the tone. How exactly tone is affected....that's a whole different conversation.

Look at Warmoth's website for several shots of the 'insides' of their chambered strats and their thinline telecasters. Google image searching will help, too.

I build most of my mahogany/maple topped guitars with chambers, lately with multiple large-ish ones. Shot of the inside of the last chambered electric I built (been a while):



The next one on the list, for example, is essentially an archtop (carved, braced top) glued onto a fully chambered body.
Author:  Mattia Valente [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:21 am ]
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Also, on a general note: buy Melvyn Hiscock's 'Make Your Own Electric Guitar' (book), which covers most aspects of solidbody electric guitar construction. Chambering doesn't really require anything particularly special.
Author:  i_fight_bears [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:38 am ]
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That was spot on, thank you everyone. I was thinking I could just rout the cavities and throw on a top and back (maybe mahogany with some sort of maple).  That really helps. Thanks again.


 
Author:  microsmurf [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:07 am ]
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It depends. Are you planning to put an F hole(s) on your guitar like an arched top, or no holes, but the has cavaties in the body?

Check out this Warmoth page


Just routing holes randomly will cause some resonance issue.
Author:  i_fight_bears [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:19 pm ]
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I was planning on a body without an f-hole, and I have an image of where I was planning on routing the cavities but it won't load.  The body is about the size of a Les Paul with four cavities; two smaller ones in the upper third of the body and two larger ones in the lower two thirds, with a solid center for the pickups and bridge like Mattia's image above.
Author:  i_fight_bears [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:23 pm ]
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... With a carved laminated top.  I wanted to to one piece for the bottom, but I might get a matching laminate for the bottom, sort of like the Alembic guitars and basses.
Author:  Homeboy [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:03 pm ]
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You could also get a thick back/middle piece and rout out the chambers in it and then just glue on the top. That makes it easier as it is just a two piece guitar body not three.

Blake
Author:  AStass [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:55 pm ]
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I built a hollow elec guitar, and I love the sound of it. The way I constructed it, was, I made a through neck, from top to bottom, then, sawed out some sides, about 3/8" thick, then glued the top and back, about 1/4" thick. It was not totally hollow, with the through neck, but that's good with an electric, because it won't feed back like a totally hollow one will. If you have more questions, mail me, because the process of building one of these is a lot harder than it sounds.
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