Official Luthiers Forum!

blame me^ to cont. it.. anyways;


You guys have probably have seen me around, asking frantic questions and id like to apologize for any irritation that might occur. I'm a first time luthier and want to make it my profession after high school (I'm a jr/11th grade so.. yea lol) so i would like to ask for your experience stories, how you started out and what tips you could give to me. This would be something i would do till my fingers break off its become a passion. I'm looking to make my guitar crazy with tone (2 humbuckers, at bridge and neck and a single coil p90 style in the middle) 3 tone and 3 volume. 1 tone and volume to each pickup with a capacitor to each tone. I would also like opinions on THAT specifically, i want something unique. i want to learn and I'm passionate about this. so if you could give your 2 cents to a beginner on how you like to setup your electric guitars in terms of wiring. Do you think i should change a pickup or remove one? (I'm thinking about the middle p90 because of the lazy-ness in me lol) but any thing would be great. and don't be afraid to. i wont bite lol

have you actually built something?
are you in the process?
do you want a metal guitar?
or a sweet sounding one?
or maybe you want one that covers all the bases.
steve morse plays a guitar that impressed me,
because it had hummers at da bridge and fretboard,
and 2 single coils in da middle.
sweet to scathing at the flip of a switch.
of course, steve morse was playing it.
you could also put 2 humbuckers in,
with coil taps that would give you the sound of both single and dual coils,
then again, i don't think the hummers split sound as good as a good single coil pickup.
my own opinions of course.
i like 2 pickups, with tone and volume, and a 3 way switch.
there is less that can go wrong with that set-up.
i also build solid bodies out of softwoods, like fir and redwood,
why?, i don't know.
i had some lying around, and wanted to use it up.
how do they sound?, great.
i like emg pickups, which are available thru stew mac.
then there's the neck.
i like koa, but mahog and maple are good too.
just make sure the grain is nice and straight for that.
i laminate, in 2 pieces, the grain to be 45 degrees, meeting at the bottom of the round on the neck.
strong.
koa is nice for the body, especially when a chambered body.
then again, if you want a high output humbucker tone,
a solid body archtop, like a les paul, can't be beat.
something about the arch that adds some bite to those pickups.
all my own opinions.

im building my first guitar out of ash. nothing special just plain ol' ash and i want a sweet sound. im personally more of a classic rock like buddy holly and ska i also like 80s metal a bit but not too into it. i like sound in general i guess lol.

i ask because i want as many opinions as possible lol

skankstro,

Let's start with the basics. Do you have any wood working experience. If not, that's priority one. Do you have a few wood working tools or have access to them? If not, that's priority two!

I cheat! I use cad and cnc, but I have worked wood in several different methods since I was about your age, and I am old!

Here is my recommendation. Start with a white pine 2X6, take the radius off the edges, cut two pieces long enough for a guitar body of your choice, glue, wait and work with that. Save your ash until you have built something that begins to get close to what you want to end up with as far as a finished instrument, then build another. I would go with one humbucker a tone and a volume knob. I would use compontents as possible and learn. Back to my original post on the other thread, (don't know if it is your's) read this forum, MIMF and the TDPRI (tele forum). Spend two weeks doing nothing but reading and soaking in all in, and then see if you do not have a much better idea of what you want, and how to get there. BTW, watch ebay as you can find lots of inexpensive parts, bodies, necks etc that you can build from without having to start from scratch. Not a bad way to learn the basics either.

Mike

From experience, less is more when it comes to pickups and wiring. Unless you know exactly what sound you are going for, simpler is better. I did one guitar that had a 3 way switch and 4 mini toggle switches as well as piezo's in the bridge. I didn't know what to play when I picked it up. If you normally play a strat and actually use the middle pickup, then it might be worth putting a P-90 in the middle. If you don't, then just go with the 2 humbuckers, 3 way switch, and push pull pots for coil splitting. You can also get a 5-way rotary switch and wire it like a PRS, or like a 3-way with coil split. There are a ton of options, but more than about 5 options of pickups on the guitar and it becomes very easy to get lost.

-John

_________________
John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

well i already cut out the body and for the most part except for routing is done. but routing covers about most of the guitar body building lol.

wood working experience wise? I'm have some not a expert but I'm in my 3rd year of wood shop where I'm building the guitar (apparently I'm the first to build a guitar) I'm also got wood shop 4 with wood shop 3 this year and i lucked out lol

another question is where can i find some good pots? lol

just a personal word of advice, dont plan on making a living off this after highschool, there are not a lot of people who make a living at it even with tons of experience, im not saying dont try, but go get yourself a degree in something so that if it doesnt work you have something to fall back on. just my 2 cents not really related to building but something to think about all the same. also no offense but most of the questions you have could be answered in 2 minutes on Google.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

^ i also wanna go to a wood working college

Ahhhh......Grasshopper. I see you have not yet obtained wisdom in the art of sanding and finishing!

sanding? lol i can do that its finishing I'm stressing over. i want my guitar to look beautiful as well as sound it

well i just wanna kill 50 birds with 2 stones lol.

cts pots are good.
i recommend an oil filled capacitor.
.022, or .047.
either will work. experiment.
if you want a sweet sounding guitar,
go with humbuckers in the 8 k ohm range.
or single coils in the same range.
keep it simple, and don't stress.
you can build another after this one.

to be honest i have no idea where i could get oil filled capacitors... i was thinking about ceramic disc or orange ones

i wanna learn before i make mistakes..

i plan to use guitar fetish. i got a wraparound bridge, 5-way switch, and a jack+ jack plate from them and im ganna get there VEH humbuckers and a p90 in the middle

thank you

From a guy that is about a year and a half ahead of you and has pretty much the same goals I have this to say: get a job. Even if it's part time work somewhere where you'll fit with no real wish to move ahead and you'll do just fine.

Also, use whatever you want as far as wiring goes, the more complicated without getting ridiculous the better, just stay away from preamps for a while, oh and buy plenty of solder and wire . I used a pretty uncommon wiring scheme on my current project and what I learned from it is invaluable. I learned a lot about every aspect of the process, from seeing where to put the holes and channels so that it doesn't drive me crazy next time round, to actually learning how the currents work between the parts. Picking wood species and neck joints is the easiest part, but the wiring is something different, almost comparable to bracing an acoustic top. GFS has everything you'll need for wiring, nothing cheap, and nothing too expensive either. I just realized that every part of the wiring process uses GFS parts in my project. Pots, wire, capacitor, pickups, soldering iron, solder, soldering wick, everything but the outlet and the paper towel I use to clean the tip of the iron, all GFS. Not saying that's the best way to do it, just saying it's very easily done and an enjoyable experience to use quality parts from a reputable source. Another good thing to try is working on other people's guitars. If someone tells you about an annoying buzz, find out how to fix it and offer to do so, no matter how cheap the guitar is. If you do fantastic job doing it you may even have a small cash flow. Or if someone mentions changing out the pickups on their guitars, go for it! They may even sell you the previous one for cheap, which you can put on another guitar, putting more cash in your pocket.

I do recommend using a fender neck joint for simplicity's sake, but with everything else, throw some new ideas in, because most everything is interchangeable on an electric anyway. Just so long as your wood's cheap you have very little to lose.

Another thing I thought of. Save up your money and buy some bulk wood that can be used for both bodies and necks and get to work making some for people. Ash is a good candidate, and at like $4 a board foot on WestPenn for 8/4, that's a good deal. Multiply that buy 10 (their minimum) and you've got a good stash of wood. If you live close enough you can even hand pick every board, and therefore save shipping.

The prospects of making money as a luthier aren't good, but as long as you have money, you can build guitars, and you'll be able to build whatever the heck you want, too. Try to make this a career so early on and the stress will be horrible. Also, I know people are more prone to buy something professional than something from someone who's obviously "still learning".