Started a cool project today

My kids want a Gibson Explorer - apparently Tele's don't have the glam rock-n-roll look to an 8 and 9 year old. So I made a plan for a 22.75" scale explorer and told the kids to have at it.

Here they are working hard on making the template.

http://i.imgur.com/KVxLP.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/C5Gr4.jpg

Plan is rough cut.

I ran out of 1/2" mdf but I had some 1/4" with white laying around. We glued them together and sanded off the slippery white part.

http://i.imgur.com/VC1i7.jpg

Then it was time to rough cut the shape. I didn't think they were ready for the bandsaw so I had them work together to cut it out with a jigsaw

http://i.imgur.com/3UzZu.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/IhFKq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7Wiow.jpg

They did really well with that so it was on to the drill press with the drum sander attachment.

http://i.imgur.com/84oP4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qCGWR.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/AmfoZ.jpg

After a few hours they ended up with this

http://i.imgur.com/iQXpq.jpg

That's pretty cool and they were very proud of their efforts. Hopefully the enthusiasm to continue stays strong. I think it will be a really cool guitar if they finish it.

Nice job getting them involved! Looks like a cool project!

Cool project... and I say this with no disrespect intended and not to be a downer, but the tech teacher in me just says '' put on some safety glasses and tie your hair back" :-) You wouldn't believe what can happen when kids work with machines and tools.

Cool project. Its great you have your kids involved

That's awesome, dude! I had my 7 year old helping me today, but not to the extent that yours were involved. Great job!

Cool project... and I say this with no disrespect intended and not to be a downer, but the tech teacher in me just says '' put on some safety glasses and tie your hair back" :-) You wouldn't believe what can happen when kids work with machines and tools.

That's good advice, I was thinking the same thing as I was looking at the pictures - which of course is a little late to be thinking that. Thanks for the reminder.

That is really cool! Good luck to you and the kids!

I'll echo the safety thoughts... though the posted pictures appeared to be slightly "freeze framed"... so I'm sure the safety precautions were taken when the actual cutting/machining was being done! :-)

Really awesome though! I wish my dad had me building stuff at that age!!!

Cool project... and I say this with no disrespect intended and not to be a downer, but the tech teacher in me just says '' put on some safety glasses and tie your hair back" :-) You wouldn't believe what can happen when kids work with machines and tools.

Not to add to the negativity, but MDF is glued together with really nasty stuff. Dusts masks are a minimum MUST have.
On a lighter note, AWESOME getting the kids involved. The smiles on their faces with the finished template makes it a winner already.

Cheers.

I also freaked out. Little lungs and formaldehyde MDF glues = BAD.

Ears, eyes and lungs ... there's two of each, but life's easier with them in pairs.

They rock!!

Great project ,and it's looking real good .Keep the pictures coming ,I'd like to see the completed project. good luck

Cool! If they make the neck and cut the fret slots then by golly I'll take a swing at it. :-)

Beautiful kids! You must be proud.

For shame! Using child labor like that!

I also have been known to utilize child labor. My kids are helping to build their guitars, and the little guy helped me design a wooden Santa's Sleigh for a wooden Rudolph I found in the trash bin last month at the woodturner's club shop. He's 7 years old, and he used the jig saw and the ROSS, and the palm sander, and later on he painted it, also.

These are skills that the kids will learn and use their whole lives. I started at about 4 years of age, and 55 years later I still love working with tools and wood and metal. Pass it forward. HOHOHO.

I like the idea and the shorter scale is cool but the body still looks very large, its not too late to downsize it though...

Cool project... and I say this with no disrespect intended and not to be a downer, but the tech teacher in me just says '' put on some safety glasses and tie your hair back" :-) You wouldn't believe what can happen when kids work with machines and tools.

On my first day of Metal Shop class in High School, the teacher made us watch a video of his eye surgery. After seeing them pull 4 or 5 jagged little shards of steel from his eye, I've worn safety glasses ever since :lol:

Cool! If they make the neck and cut the fret slots then by golly I'll take a swing at it. :-)

This is part of the inspiration for the thread. Seems there are more than a few around here that are trying to gather the courage to build their first guitar. Hopefully when they see a couple of kids do it they will have no excuses left. I'm sure they will make plenty of mistakes and who knows they may not even finish it. They don't have any explorer's now, the worst that can happen is they won't have any explorer's when they are done right.

I like the idea and the shorter scale is cool but the body still looks very large, its not too late to downsize it though...

Yep I was thinking about that. I scaled the body down the same percentage as the scale length (if that makes sense). Seeing them hold it though, I had the same thought.

But I think I would rather they have guitars they can grow into for a while. I compared it to my daughter's child size strat and it's actually smaller than that.

On my first day of Metal Shop class in High School, the teacher made us watch a video of his eye surgery. After seeing them pull 4 or 5 jagged little shards of steel from his eye, I've worn safety glasses ever since :lol:

Well I'm glad I didn't post the pics of us running with scissors :roll:!

I also have been known to utilize child labor. My kids are helping to build their guitars, and the little guy helped me design a wooden Santa's Sleigh for a wooden Rudolph I found in the trash bin last month at the woodturner's club shop. He's 7 years old, and he used the jig saw and the ROSS, and the palm sander, and later on he painted it, also.

These are skills that the kids will learn and use their whole lives. I started at about 4 years of age, and 55 years later I still love working with tools and wood and metal. Pass it forward. HOHOHO.

Wow! to me that is just awesome. Kids need opportunities to learn these things. I'm glad my Dad kept me involved when I was little.

I think it looks to be about the right size. The way kids grow at that age you don't want to make it too small. An explorer is a big guitar even for normal sized adults anyway.

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/1733/edgegibsonexplorer9ga.jpg

I think it looks to be about the right size. The way kids grow at that age you don't want to make it too small. An explorer is a big guitar even for normal sized adults anyway.

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/1733/edgegibsonexplorer9ga.jpg

Wow that is huge. I've never held or seen an explorer in person so I didn't realize how big they are. Thanks for the pic.