recommendation for a uk bodyblank seller that might be able to cut out a basic outline shape?

vale

i'd like to have a go at building a guitar. or as much as i can do without needing decades of experience & skills. i am la-la for cheap jap/us 60s offsets but aware (even if i could afford an original, which i can't) necks would be planks, fretting trouble, pickups weedy & so on. i want vintage styling & modern spec.

so i reasoned if i buy an ebay neck (cheap reliable squier probs) with a profile i can cope with (shallow D for smaller hands) that would leave just the bodywork to think about.
i can rout. not a pro but an artist friend taught me how to rout the slots in his canvas frames & stretchers so i can do slots & set for depth & use templates. no fear.
but i don't have any standyup pro gear like a bandsaw or drillstand. i have a jigsaw but blade flexes. if i cut out a thick blank i think the top would look neat & bottom would be messy.

sooooooo...

can anyone recommened a uk bodyblank seller that might be up for cutting the basic body shape if i sent a paper template with centreline? so i would have a basic guitarshaped wooden biscuit to work into.
i read building threads here at the weekend & hardwood looks a problem for beginners unless you have experience & pro tools. but maybe alder (ash?) or something like that. solid, workable & affordable.

advice & links would be appreciated & thankq.

paulnb57

Guitarbuild.co.uk do custom work, might be worth a look.....or possibly a local carpenter with a bandsaw could cut it for you for a small fee?

Kalimna

Whereabouts are you located? It's a heck of a job to build a guitar without much gear. If you could find someone local to you to give you an overview, that would help immensely.

Adam

NPP

Years ago (1989 to be precise) I decided I wanted to build a guitar in the same way, using a neck I had. A local carpenter cut the basic shape for me out of mahogany stair piece and also routed the neck pocket, based on a paper template (left-hand LP shape) I had supplied so that shouldn't be too difficult. I did all the other routing, drilling and finishing as you propose to do with very little experience and just a little research (that was pre-internet and in Germany so my knowledge came from the Rockinger catalogue and Helmut Lemme's 2 volume work Elektrogitarren). And if I could do it everyone can!

Maybe look at buying a body blank separately and finding a local place to do the cutting?

Edited to add: the whole build went very well and came out as intended, but the neck was shit, sounded shit, and had a rather unique heel shape so couldn't be swapped, and therefore it was a waste of money in the end. But it still proves that what you want to do shouldn't be too difficult. 

Rabs

Well you could do it yourself..   I use a jigsaw, router, angle grinder and various sanders along with the usual hand tools (chisels and the like)...  This is what I can do with a jigsaw now 

http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r588/Rabs2010/2017 work/DSC_0097_zps1hdwmay7.jpg

What I did when I started was to go find scrap wood..  At first I used old doors (which you can find in skips), pallets which I break up and use the thick bits to test my drilling accuracy for the bridge and routing etc..... and then I was lucky enough to find a local joinery company who sold me their offcuts (they had a whole container load) and that was really nice wood too....

Then what you do is get some MDF and cut your template from that..  Once you have your template you use a router with a bearing bit so it runs around the side of the template...  Unless you have a CNC machine its all about good templates..  (and actually you can buy them too)...

WezV

Rabs said:

Then what you do is get some MDF and cut your template from that..  Once you have your template you use a router with a bearing bit so it runs around the side of the template...  Unless you have a CNC machine its all about good templates..  (and actually you can buy them too)...

this is the important bit, because if you want it to be decent you are not just asking someone to cut out a body.  

You are asking them to make or buy a template (or a CNC design) first, then cut out a body.  That is most of the work in a simple one -off design, and you may as well pay them a few quid extra to do the remaining routes - which they will already have templates for, or at least be able to re-use on something else.

Although my first was 2 1/4" thick mahogany cut out by hand with a coping saw - don't do that.

Rabs

WezV said:

 

Although my first was 2 1/4" thick mahogany cut out by hand with a coping saw - don't do that.

Owwww ....  I can only imagine ..  We live and learn 

Nomad

And don't try resawing a lump of sycamore for a cap using a cheapo hardpoint hand saw from the DIY shop...

WezV

Nomad said:

And don't try resawing a lump of sycamore for a cap using a cheapo hardpoint hand saw from the DIY shop...

these pic may scare you





Where there is a will there is a way - and it turned out surprisingly well
 

Rabs

Im sure you all must have see this... But when I started watching build vids I came across this fairly early..  What this guy does with a saw is amazing  and just the build in general.. he makes pretty much EVERYTHING from scratch

WezV

Yeah, i remember seeing that and thinking he was crazy....the way he approaches the headplate is clearly mental, but you can't argue with the results he got. 

he seems to have a fully equipped workshop to do it all in though.  

Rabs

WezV said:

Yeah, i remember seeing that and thinking he was crazy....the way he approaches the headplate is clearly mental, but you can't argue with the results he got. 

he seems to have a fully equipped workshop to do it all in though.  

Yeah I thought that too.. Some of his processes seem way over engineered but hey as you say, it works..  and is pretty impressive to watch..  Even just the idea of a  whole guitar made from a single piece of wood is pretty bonkers to begin with its like a super neck through .... Im not sure ive even seen anyone else do that..  A neck through with wings yes, but the whole body and neck like he did it seems unusual (not that im saying theres anything wrong with it in any way)...

DartmoorHedgehog

I'd say just do it with the tools you've got.  There are some things you can't do easily without a particular tool, but I reckon most things are possible if you're methodical about it.  I know what you mean about jigsaw blades flexing, but if you make sure the blade is sharp and cut slowly it's usually OK in my experience - if you're impatient and press too hard against the blade that's when it's guaranteed to go wiggly.  If it's a valuable bit of wood then I suppose it may be a bit more scary (I've only ever made things out of pretty much scrap wood) so a friendly band-saw user would be a bonus, but it's certainly not impossible to make a perfectly decent guitar with pretty basic hand-held tools.  And it's a good feeling to have made something without all the machinery.

FX_Munkee

It does depend on what you want to achieve. If you want to build a guitar to enjoy the exercise then you might as well do it all. If you want to create a guitar to play then I'd recommend the "partscaster" approach.
I'm more of a latter and Guitarbuild bodies are a great starting point for me http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Guitarbuild-uk?_rdc=1

Andyjr1515

Hi, @vale

I wasn't sure from your opening thread if the building bit was a means to an end or an end in itself.  Whatever, I would thoroughly recommend the Gear4music offset kit here. 

At £99, you could just use the body, or build the whole thing as is or mod it to your own spec - whatever you want.  This range of kits was used for the 2014 Fretboard Summer Challenge - "buy one of Gear4Music's range of kits and 'do something with it!'"

This is how it was before assembling / modding.  Stunning value for the money and very good quality:




This is what I did with mine:


Now....I've got LOADS of guitars but this is STILL my main gigging guitar!  Three years later!

Yes - I upgraded a number of things, but the body, neck, and trem is straight out of the kit.

vale

thank you for all the recommendations & wisdom (clearly hard-won in many instances).

i’m going to buy a decent readymade neck (squier or similar reliable&cheap quality) because frankly that looks like trouble & a circle of hell I intend to stay well clear of.

my reasoning for making my own body ( rather than go kit) is that i want to make something based on a styling amalgam of a handful of obscurish sixties offsets I like the look of (silvertone/harmony/supro)  but can’t afford orig vintage & wouldn’t be happy with the spec anyway. this for example.

http://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/graphics/supro_lexington.jpg

I want something totally me & totally one-off as my main guitar, as a sort of statement of intent fetish object, my spirit captured in it. yes I am an actual witch.

@WezV ;;;;;;;;; @Rabs ;;;;;;;;;

I didn’t know about needing to make an mdf template for the outline. I imagined (naïve) they would draw the shape in felt tip onto the wood and bandsaw it out. obviously I’m thinking school woodwork lessons not pro methods.
I was planning on making a plywood template for the electric & pocket routing tho & maybe for that thing they do to round of the edges of the body with the quarter of a circle shape bit. I’ve actually got the bit.

I especially wanted to do the routing as it’s a cool tool. the last time I had it out I ended up doodling random shapes of random set depths into a piece of scrapwood for the fun of it (because I’m a madwoman & into my weird solitary pleasures).
so router-play is a big part of the attraction to me. buying a kit would spoil the fun & leave only finishing which is the bit I’m dreading.

@Andyjr1515 have you got a building thread here for that? looks smart.

if I tried a jigsaw & it came out wobbly, what type of long (5cm body thickness long) router bit I could use to tidy it up? some of my router bits have a bearing thing at the top to follow templates so assume it would be one of those?
I’ve seen them in building tutorials online but names of bits & tools don’t always come up as I suppose woodwork people already know what they are.

anyway, on the basis of the sound advice offered here I will ring around a few local woodyard places tomorrow & see what they think & will charge & go solo from there if no joy.

thankq for the wisdom, fretboard ppl.

Sporky

vale said:

I didn’t know about needing to make an mdf template for the outline. I imagined (naïve) they would draw the shape in felt tip onto the wood and bandsaw it out.

Maybe a pencil, not a felt tip, but you can do it that way . I did on my first build. Lots of sanding needed to get it all smooth though. Hours.

vale said:

if I tried a jigsaw & it came out wobbly, what type of long (5cm body thickness long) router bit I could use to tidy it up?

I wouldn't recommend using that sort of bit in a handheld router. I have a 60mm long solid carbide bit that I use on my CNC router. The forces are enormous so if something goes wrong it tends to go very wrong very quickly. At full depth I don't do more than a 0.5mm finishing pass.

WezV

Sporky said:

vale said:

I didn’t know about needing to make an mdf template for the outline. I imagined (naïve) they would draw the shape in felt tip onto the wood and bandsaw it out.

Maybe a pencil, not a felt tip, but you can do it that way . I did on my first build. Lots of sanding needed to get it all smooth though. Hours.

You can indeed.  Much of my early work was done that way.  But the thread was about getting someone else to do it, and most who would make a custom body would not do it that way.

i eventually forced myself to make templates for everything. It probably is quicker than doing it freehand for me now.

eithrr way you put the hours in.  Whether it's making a physical template, drawing a CAD design, or cleaning up the shape freehand.  

Sporky

WezV said:

You can indeed.  Much of my early work was done that way.  But the thread was about getting someone else to do it, and most who would make a custom body would not do it that way.

That is an excellent point.

Nomad

Templates are good because they're much easier to work up to a nice outline freehand than 2" of hardwood. You can then rough cut the body wood and use the template to rout it to final size. Templates are also much cheaper to screw up, especially since nearly all sheet material is bigger than a single body template (a 4x2' sheet of something is big enough for several, for about a tenner, and cheaper still if you buy an 8x4 and get the DIY place to cut it into 4x2s).

Andyjr1515

vale said:

@Andyjr1515 have you got a building thread here for that? looks smart.

With a warning that it is more like War and Peace than a build thread, this was the competition thread for the kit