Faux acoustic build.

[gitlvr]

Hi there! Thought I'd post another build thread.
This build may take a while, since I'm starting kind of late in the year. If I don't reach finish stage before colder weather sets in, it could end up being late spring 2012 before I'm done.
Before I get started, I need to tell you a little about the reasons for this build.
I have not been able to play an acoustic guitar for at least 2 years. I have nerve damage in both my arms and hands from diabetes that went unknown and untreated for several years. My right shoulder joint is also crumbling, basically. I forget the proper name for it, but that's the jist of it. So reaching across the thickness of a decent acoustic guitar body causes intense pain, as well as numbness in the arm and hand(imagine that) which can last for several days after playing. Just 5 or 10 minutes is enough to cause this(before anyone asks, yes, I'm under a doctor's care). So I am strictly an electric guitar player.
This would not be a problem if I didn't love the sound of an acoustic guitar so much. Or if it didn't lend itself so well to one of the main types of music(Gospel) that i play regularly. So this build is basicly an attempt at a crossover between the two. This is nothing new, as it has been done before by a few manufacturers, like Taylor. But this is my version. I really have no concept of how other types have been built. This is my attemopt to achieve what I'm looking for.
So, on with the build!
I have some lovely white ash laying around just begging me to build with it. So, what i basically did was take an old parlor guitar I had laying around, reduced it's size 12.5" across the lower bout, and about 17.5" long(electric guitar size, roughly), and added a cutaway. Then I built templates for this shape. Here it is drawn on the body blank.

After cutting with the jigsaw.

And routed to the template.

[gitlvr]

So far, so good. Except for this:

While i was routing around the body, i failed to pay attention to the grain direction. This chunk of wood the router ripped out is the result. Ouch!
However, I found the missing chunk, slapped some glue on it, and clamped it back in place.

Doesn't look very pretty, but I promise, it'll be o.k.

[JeffPBlues]

I'm sorry to hear about your medical problems, but I'm happy to be able to get a chance to watch this guitar being built. This should be very interesting!

[Daddy Hojo]

I've always wondered what would happen if you cut a section out of the sides of an acoustic. Kinda like chopping the top on a hot rod.

[gitlvr]

Thanks, Jeff!

[gitlvr]

Originally Posted by Daddy Hojo

I've always wondered what would happen if you cut a section out of the sides of an acoustic. Kinda like chopping the top on a hot rod.

Daddy Hojo, thanks for the comments.
If you were really good and really careful you could probably do that, then add a braced back to it.
I thought about building a really thin acoustic, but I don't believe I could get decent acoustic tone out of it. While this guitar won't have any acoustic tone at all(no sound hole), it will hopefully sound like an acoustic once plugged into an amp or PA. I think that's probably as close as I'm going to get in my situation, and if it works out well, I'll be really happy with it.

[Picton]

Originally Posted by Daddy Hojo

I've always wondered what would happen if you cut a section out of the sides of an acoustic. Kinda like chopping the top on a hot rod.

Plenty of boutique luthiers do this all the time; some like it, some don't.

The soundhole on the top is NOT so that the sound can "come out;" it merely helps the wood resonate more freely. Even without a soundhole, an acoustic built of good tonewood, thicknessed and braced properly, will still sound pretty good.

[crazydave911]

Nice idea going here, from one diabetic to another, I'll be glad to see it. There are several ways to skin this cat, and yours promises to be prettier than mine . Looking forward to it

[gitlvr]

Thanks, Dave!
About "skinning this cat", this'll be a pretty simple, straightforward way. I'll keep ya'll posted.

[vtcyclist]

If you don't mind playing acoustic through a PA or amp using Piezo pickup, you might look at one of the Yamaha Silent Guitars. I have the steel string version and it is an nice guitar, plays well, and through headphones or an acoustic amp sounds really good. And for your condition, it has no more thickness than your basic Stat/Tele.

It looks like this and the top frame comes off to make it easy to transport.

[gitlvr]

Thanks, vtcyclist! I've seen the yammies before, and have read good reviews on them.
But I want something that looks at least slightly more traditional.
This build will have a braced spruce top and an acoustic type bridge, with either a soundboard transducer or a UST pickup and the fishman powerjack. It should look pretty good, hopefully.
But the real reason I wouldn't buy the yamaha is that I do not buy guitars. If i want one, I build it. I don't ever plan to purchase another off the shelf guitar.
Besides, building is much more fun than buying, IMHO.

[vtcyclist]

Mike, good for you. On the building instead of buying. I did not know if you'd even heard of this Yamaha guitar. Looking forward to seeing where this project takes you.

[gitlvr]

Took the treble horn out of the clamps today and finished routing.

Turned out good. Told ya not to worry.

Time to start on the body cavity. Here it is with template attached.

I don't have a drill press, so I have to do this by hand. I chucked a 1.25" forstner bit in my hand drill.

The tape will help me to judge depth. Not exact, but it'll be close enough.

[gitlvr]

Coming along.


There, that's better.

[kwerk]

Cool! I'm building something similar at the moment, this will be great to watch.

[originalmatthew]

I built this 12 string for myself as a kind of "parts of all worlds and best of none" guitar. It has a piezo under the steel saddle that goes to a cheap chinese eq onboard. It is semi-hollow. The bucker is an old OBL that needs swapped, chechen fingerboard with zero radius. It sound GREAT. (IMO at least!!!!! hahaha) and cost me about $60 to put together. Keep on truckin!!! I will be watching this build. Its ubercool.

[Bongocaster]

Reminds me of this The soundhole is not real in the sense of an acoustic guitar.

When I was but a lad a family I knew had one along with the strat looking 12 string and one of the amps with the funky push buttons. They had gotten them really cheap when Baldwin was trying to close them out. Also, Baldwin was headquartered here in Cinti.

We would get together and make horrendous noises with them. Usually with missing strings. Wish I appreciated them more than I did.

[bajaasdad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89B5pplOXBU


good luck on the guitar

[gitlvr]

Matthew, cool! I wish I could build a guitar for $60! How does the peizo sound? Does it have an acoustic tone through an amp?
Kwerk, I just found your build. Will be watching yours as well.
Bajaasdad. A concrete block guitar, huh? Seems kinda heavy,lol.

[gitlvr]

Once i hogged out the cavity with the forstner bit, I began cleaning it up, using a small hand plane.


And here it is all cleaned up (mostly).

There are some marks left in some areas where the point of the forstner was, as well as a couple of slightly deeper marks from the cutting edges of the forstner in the upper left of the cavity. The hand plane just won't get into that corner.
I would have used my router and router sled to clean it up farther, but the router in combination with the template and sled(both 3/4" plywood)won't go any deeper than the 1" depth of the cavity. And the cavity is not deep enough for the bearing on the router bit to ride on it's edges if I remove the template. I could route the edges deeper with the template on, but without being able to use the sled to get into the center of the cavity, it's a no-go.
I may just leave well enough alone. We shall see.