Build begins - 72 deluxe Jaguar type thing...Jagster well call it.

[Muzikp]

I picked up this piece of black walnut and my intentions are to build three of these 72-deluxe-jaguar... er, Jagster's out of it.







Started with a full size plot of my plan which I drew in CAD. I had a variety of drawings, pdf's etc that I found here at TDPRI to use as a reference.



Glued it to a piece of 3/4" I had laying around (actually my neighbor gave it to me but that's more detail than we need) and rough cut it on the bandsaw. I forgot to take a picture here so this one was staged sorry



Then it was on to sanding the template to the line on the drill press. I also forgot to take pictures where I cut out the cavities with a jigsaw, but really that's not very exciting so...



So that's about as far as I've made it so far. I need to finish sanding the template and get it all perfect.



I'll start cutting up that walnut this week and gluing it together for 2 piece bodies. More to come...as usual input and advice is welcome, please let me know where improvements to my process could be made.

I will send out the CAD and PDF to those who wanted it this week.

[redddog]

Holy crap. I LOVE this!

[Muzikp]

I finished the template, then I decided to make a prototype body before I ruin all that expensive walnut. Here's the prototype so far.

[Muzikp]

I'm thinking about making the slot from the pickups to the control cavity bigger on the real ones. That looks small to me. Waddya think?

[Shepherd]

Those are plenty big for a couple of wires, you could even just use a 1/4" drill bit instead.
Have you seen this build? Lotta a cool stuff over there.

http://offsetguitars.com/forums/view...hp?f=8&t=41268

[crane550]

Nice! Look forward to seeing this play out! I am about to start a Jazzmaster for myself...really looking forward to it.

[Jupiter]

Just curious, but what are you planning to do with that "prototype" when you go on to the walnut?

[mgdesigns]

Originally Posted by Muzikp

So that's about as far as I've made it so far. I need to finish sanding the template and get it all perfect.

How did you get the interior cuts with just a band saw? If you did, that's a trick we can all use, for sure.

[DesmoDog]

Originally Posted by mgdesigns

How did you get the interior cuts with just a band saw? If you did, that's a trick we can all use, for sure.

He said jigsaw, not bandsaw...

Originally Posted by Muzikp

Then it was on to sanding the template to the line on the drill press. I also forgot to take pictures where I cut out the cavities with a jigsaw, but really that's not very exciting so...

P.S. I'd love to get the CAD files for this. 24" scale length?

[Casual_Reader]

if you think that switch might be in the way, there's always the option of a rotary switch to the south of the neck p'up with an old selector knob.

Originally Posted by Shepherd

Those are plenty big for a couple of wires, you could even just use a 1/4" drill bit instead.

though it's convenient when all the electronics can be assembled on the pick guard and dropped in and screwed down. A bit wider channel would make that less tedious.

[Muzikp]

I'll send you the cad file. There's lots of other interesting things in the cad file. Standard tele versions, 72 tele deluxe drawings, tele and strat neck drawings, jaguar, jazz, telemaster, a les paul tele type thing etc. etc.

PM me your e-mail.

This is a 25.5 scale, but with the cad file you could easily make it 24". You'll have to massage it a little to move the bridge but it could work.

Originally Posted by DesmoDog

He said jigsaw, not bandsaw...




P.S. I'd love to get the CAD files for this. 24" scale length?

[Muzikp]

Originally Posted by Jupiter

Just curious, but what are you planning to do with that "prototype" when you go on to the walnut?

Funny thing about my prototypes, they will likely turn out better than the predecessors. You may not be impressed after I tell you that's doug fir that I salvaged from my neighbors 80 year old floor joists. You can see a couple of nail holes on the front of the Jagster. I have a whole garage full of this wood. I put up a post a while ago asking what people thought of making bodies out of it. I got mixed opinions (go figure it's the internet) but in the end people said go for it, so I did and I'm glad.

Here's the tele body, I need to take some current pics of it but you get the idea. It's full dimension wood, very dry and incredibly light. This one is 3.9ish pounds.

[Muzikp]

Originally Posted by Casual_Reader

if you think that switch might be in the way, there's always the option of a rotary switch to the south of the neck p'up with an old selector knob.




though it's convenient when all the electronics can be assembled on the pick guard and dropped in and screwed down. A bit wider channel would make that less tedious.

Good point, I'm all for less tedious. Wider it is then.

Now I need to figure out how to do the contours, I've never done those before, that's mostly why I wanted the prototype. My plan is to sketch the shape of the contour on and grind away everything that doesn't belong...how hard can it be

[mgdesigns]

Sorry about no seeing the note regarding using a jigsaw. My bad. These builds from the old floor joists look great, and I bet they'll sound great too. Nice thread, and good craftsmanship. Thanks.

[Muzikp]

So I quickly got overwhelmed by the amount of people wanting the cad file and pdf. I had no idea so many would be interested. Rather than e-mail it 50 times here is the link to download the CAD file.

http://www.fifty5five.com/tele/jag/guitar-cad-file.dwg

There are a lot of different style guitars and concepts in this file. Here's a screen capture of some of it



Here is a link to download the PDF of the jagster plan for this build

http://www.fifty5five.com/tele/jag/jagster-plan.pdf

[justin72deluxe]

Is there somewhere to get autocad for under $4,000?

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by Muzikp

Funny thing about my prototypes, they will likely turn out better than the predecessors. You may not be impressed after I tell you that's doug fir that I salvaged from my neighbors 80 year old floor joists. You can see a couple of nail holes on the front of the Jagster. I have a whole garage full of this wood. I put up a post a while ago asking what people thought of making bodies out of it. I got mixed opinions (go figure it's the internet) but in the end people said go for it, so I did and I'm glad.
...

I totally agree: I love "softwoods" they generally tend to be rigid while being relatively light and hard enough for making a great guitar body. Also, I tend to do my best work when I'm trying something new - which I try to do a lot..

I have some wide railings that are about 40 years old that I replaced recently - those are going to make some great bodies.

[Muzikp]

Originally Posted by justin72deluxe

Is there somewhere to get autocad for under $4,000?

I used Google Sketchup for a guitar body template drawing once...emphasis on the "once". But it is free. I could import the file above into Sketchup for you if you like.

You can get AutoCAD lite for a lot less than the full program and it will do what you need for this purpose.

[Citizen_Insane]

Originally Posted by justin72deluxe

Is there somewhere to get autocad for under $4,000?

Yep. I think that's all I'm allowed to say. Basically get it the same place everyone gets every piece of graphics software.

[Muzikp]

Didn't do much on the Jagster today. I decided to get the 53 Tele body ready for paint instead. How do you guys drill your input jack holes? This was all I could come up with, my drill press rotates, swivels, spins and on occasion I even use it to drill a hole. I clamped the body to a make shift jig and lined everything up and then hoped for the best. It came out really well I think.