Offset Body, Neck and Pickguard templates...

[Amber]

Maybe this could be made a sticky?

Since I've got this Jag body and vintage pickguard I'm going to trace or scan them.

I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can direct each other to templates we've made ourselves or found?

What's the best way to get them most accurate template? I was thinking scan to Illustator. I know a few of you guys work in design etc so maybe you know better than I!

[fuzzking]

the auto-vectorize function in illustrator doesn't work for me. you'll end up with all kinds of
lines and stuff you don't need. one way that works pretty well is to scan in the original,
and then manually re-draw it on a superimposed layer. takes some patience, but if you work
at higher zoom levels, it will come out pretty accurate. for the body contours (you'd need a
large scanner for that) I layered original drawings and pics, compared them and the re-drew
in illustrator. good thing with illustrator is: you can export the drawing to a .dxf file, that means
you can open it in any cad program and use it for cnc-machining. I'm still not doen with the drawings
though, as I tend to work on everything at the same time - i'm not even done with the decals.

cheers, m

[zhivago]

if you manage to do some tracings that people can work with, we could put them in the Library section of the site

[Amber]

Zhivago, do you have any idea what would be the best way trace and import to a PC and what app to use? I want to make sure they can be used to their potential instead of some crappy outline drawing Jpeg.

I'm still not sure how to trace this 65 Jag and how to trace all the cavities.

[zhivago]

hmmm...I've never done anything like this before, so I don't really know....

If I were to do it, I'd do it with a pencil, and then scan it somehow (if I had a scanner big enough - mine's A4 size)



maybe someone else here knows a good way.....

[fuzzking]

the auto-vectorize function in illustrator doesn't work for me. you'll end up with all kinds of
lines and stuff you don't need. one way that works pretty well is to scan in the original,
and then manually re-draw it on a superimposed layer. takes some patience, but if you work
at higher zoom levels, it will come out pretty accurate. for the body contours (you'd need a
large scanner for that) I layered original drawings and pics, compared them and the re-drew
in illustrator. good thing with illustrator is: you can export the drawing to a .dxf file, that means
you can open it in any cad program and use it for cnc-machining. I'm still not doen with the drawings
though, as I tend to work on everything at the same time - i'm not even done with the decals.

cheers, m

I explained it all here. I'll send some of the stuff when it's ready.

cheers,

michael

[Stereordinary]

I mentioned this in another thread somwhere, but I have access to a large-format scanner and I'm very good with Illustrator.  The only reason I haven't made accurate drawings of vintage bodies myself is that I don't have the vintage bodies to trace.  With desirable original specimins of bodies and pickguards and stuff, I could make drawings that could be used to CNC-manufacture templates.  I don't mean to sound like some sort of hot-shot here, but this is something I've put a lot of thought into.  I want to make accurate repro offset bodies almost more than I want to make my own custom designs.

[fullerplast]

I mentioned this in another thread somwhere, but I have access to a large-format scanner and I'm very good with Illustrator.  The only reason I haven't made accurate drawings of vintage bodies myself is that I don't have the vintage bodies to trace.  With desirable original specimins of bodies and pickguards and stuff, I could make drawings that could be used to CNC-manufacture templates.  I don't mean to sound like some sort of hot-shot here, but this is something I've put a lot of thought into.  I want to make accurate repro offset bodies almost more than I want to make my own custom designs.

We need to talk about pickguards!

On my gold guards, we had to do ALOT of test and trial fitting that could have been greatly reduced had I had access to a large scanner and someone who knew how to do accurate drawings!

[Stereordinary]

Sorry, I guess I could've mentioned that at the time!  Up until recently I didn't trust my skills enough to confidently say that I could do it, but I've been searching everywhere online for accurate drawings of pickguards and body-shapes that I want to do, and nothing looks good enough to me.  I really think I could do a better job.

[fullerplast]

Sorry, I guess I could've mentioned that at the time!

I wasn't implying that.... but in the future maybe we can do some of these projects together!

[Stereordinary]

I am so game.

[Stereordinary]

Here's a drawing available from the Musical Instrument Maker's Forum http://www.mimf.com.  You may have to register and login with them to see it.  I have no idea how accurate it is, but it doesn't look entirely correct to me.  Just figured it might be of interest here.

http://www.mimf.com/library/jazzmaster_ansic.pdf