My First Build(Kinda)

[Ceti Alpha VI]

This is practically my first post because I've only posted in the Welcome Wagon. So I have a little travel guitar kit that I've been off and on working on for years, but I wanted to build an electric from scratch. Between working full time and going to college nearly full time and preparing to get married later this year, I don't have much time. This is going to be a slooooooow build. My goal, if this works well is to build a tele. I've had the shape for this guitar stuck in my head for well over a year, and I wanted to use it as my first build. The measurements are going to be based off of an SG.

First of all, the body is going to be poplar. I got a large piece, cut it and did a glue up/clamp to make a 1.5 inch body, the same measurement I took off of my SG's.(the body is going to be painted so grain and color don't matter as much to me here)


Second, I drew out the shape I wanted on the body blank itself. I couldn't wait to get it fleshed out so I didn't make a template beforehand for the overall shape.


Here's another picture of the shape drawn out and I picked up a 1/4" thick sheet of purpleheart for the fretboard. I played around on the spare section of poplar with the rasp some because I plan on doing a bevel around the entire body, at least on the top. I'll be using black hardware as well, and I ordered some cheap stuff, but not all of it came so the shipper is sending me the rest of the inserts now.


Here I have done just a part of the pickup routing(I know I have more to go on it) and I picked up a piece of mahogany for the neck. The headstock shape is going to mimic the shape of the body but mirrored away. At this point I'm trying to decide one or two pickups. I may just do one bridge pickup. I plan on gluing the neck also.


This is over a months worth of work, working an hour or so here and there around my busy schedule. It could be a while before I post more pictures, but I'll update as I have time to build. I hope it goes smoothly because this is inspiring me to do do a tele build.

[Bentley]

Mahogany, purple heart, and poplar.. Interesting combo..

[Ceti Alpha VI]

Yep, it may end up sounding terrible but I only have like $40 or so invested so far if things don't work out.

[Bentley]

Nah, electronics are what matter, imo. Not wood.

[crazydave911]

Welcome to the Forum!

I really like the design, I like poplar and single pup guitars. The tail looks a little long, but then again with the bevels in place that will help that optical illusion. I have only one suggestion and it's worth what I'm charging for it . You might want to make the neck a bolt-on, and just put a wash coat of shellac on the body at first. This would allow you to assemble it, play it, and see if you like the single pup layout. If you want to add a second one, then you only need to disassemble and rout it................plus the shellac works well as a primer so you haven't wasted your time

[Ceti Alpha VI]

I really like those ideas crazydave. I think I'll do that, Thanks!

[R. Stratenstein]

Originally Posted by Ceti Alpha VI

I really like those ideas crazydave. I think I'll do that, Thanks!

Let me add my welcome, Ceti Alpha.

Among other things, CrazyDave is a welcome ambassador here, as well as guru of good ideas. He's crazy like a fox.

I'm looking forward to seeing the body take shape, and of course, purpleheart fretboard. Cool build in the works, and you are a very busy guy!!

[Ceti Alpha VI]

So I had a touch of a break tonight and got back out to the garage. I learned a few things, but this is a learning process for me to build up to a nicer build(or at least something that ends up looking better!)

I took my chisel in hand for the first time(learning project, remember lol) and knocked out around the screw areas on the pickups and test fitted a ring and an old pickup I had laying around. It went very smooth.





Then I took to the jigsaw and cut out the body. It didn't go horribly but I learned that either I'm going to have to get a bandsaw, or go over to my dad's and use his, or buy a better jigsaw if I want 90 degree cuts around the edges. I have a lot of touch up to do here, but I think it turned out okay for my first attempt.



I know I'm roughing up the body a lot, but I'll sand it and make it look better closer to the end.

Let me know what you all think. I'm itching to do a tele, and starting to plan out ideas in my head. I'm constantly looking for wood, everywhere I go to get ideas also. As for this project, I'm starting to think of truss rod options for future stages.

[fluid69]

I dig it. The shape is cool, its different, like a bo diddley or cigar box guitar. Id move the tail stop closer to the bridge. Stew mac has a fret calculator and will tell you where to place your bridge for your scale.

http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator

"If you want rules, read the IRS tax code. If you want to build guitars, make some sawdust." -Colt W. Knight

[Ceti Alpha VI]

Originally Posted by fluid69

I dig it. The shape is cool, its different, like a bo diddley or cigar box guitar. Id move the tail stop closer to the bridge. Stew mac has a fret calculator and will tell you where to place your bridge for your scale.

http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator

"If you want rules, read the IRS tax code. If you want to build guitars, make some sawdust." -Colt W. Knight

Definitely. I'm not going to mount any of the string hardware until I have the neck fit to the body so I can make all of the measurements. I just kind of threw them up there for the picture kind of close to where they are going to go. I'll definitely make use of the fret calculator you linked. My dad has all of the stuff I need for fretting it also, so I'll be going over there or borrowing to bring back here. He makes F style mandolins so he has a lot of the special tools I'll need later on. Thanks!

[I_build_my_own]

since you haven't routed the neck pocket yet. I'd double check the bridge location relative to the bridge pick up. It looks very close in post 8. might want to think about if there enough wood to hold the bridge post and what tonal effect this close distance will have. i also concur with fluid - the tail piece looks bit far away from the bridge. unless you have a huge neck angle and a very high bridge you might have a very low breaking angle for the strings.

[Ceti Alpha VI]

I'll be verifying and mounting all of the string hardware after I have and idea of how the neck is going to set in the body. I'm not going to drill anything before then. It was a little close when I sat them on the body for the picture. Thanks!

[crazydave911]

Looking good there Ceti (killer Star Trek reference BTW ). Using a jigsaw, in the future you might want to cut a little outside of you line in case of a mess up..............You gonna cut your bevels now? Also, just curious as to what fretscale your going to use...............inquiring minds and all

[Ceti Alpha VI]

I'm going to match an SG on the scale. I haven't looked it up yet though. 24 in maybe? I need to research that still. I really should have cut out from my lines some. I'm going to lose a touch of the body to sanding now. As far as the bevel, I am trying to decide between rasping or sanding the sides and routing with a 45 degree bit. Any suggestions?

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by Ceti Alpha VI

I'm going to match an SG on the scale. I haven't looked it up yet though. 24 in maybe? I need to research that still. I really should have cut out from my lines some. I'm going to lose a touch of the body to sanding now. As far as the bevel, I am trying to decide between rasping or sanding the sides and routing with a 45 degree bit. Any suggestions?

First, the scale on an SG (in general) is 24 3/4". This gives it the feel SGs and Les Pauls are know for. If your going for a Fender kind of feel, you'd want a 25 1/2" scale. When I don't know what I want, I split the difference with a 25" scale used by PRS, National and Danelectro. Single coils and humbuckers both sound good here..............as do acoustics
As far as the carve, I'd probably use a saw and make notches as guides (like doing a belly cut) because rasps are pretty much my only option. If I had a portable belt sander however I'd likely use it, just to get the rough material off first then go to a rasp..................it's be much faster . Depends a lot on your skills and experience though. If you've never done any of this, I advise by hand only. You don't get in trouble as fast that way

[Jim Beam]

Originally Posted by crazydave911

You don't get in trouble as fast that way

Doesn't mean you still can't get into trouble. Don't ask me how I know.....

[Ceti Alpha VI]

My router finger got itchy so I routed the bevel, but not before I built a quick router table lol. Didn't turn out bad, but I got some tear-out really bad in one spot on the back. I hope to post a picture or two by the end of the weekend. I like the way the bevel turned out so far. I kind of want an SG feel on this one, but the next build is going to be a tele, so I want a tele feel on that one.

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by Jim Beam

Doesn't mean you still can't get into trouble. Don't ask me how I know.....

Guilty as charged myself