OffsetGuitars.com

Hey all!

This will be quite some time in the making, but I'm gonna use this thread for ALL my upcoming projects so I don't clog up the board with ridiculous amounts of project threads!

I am finally getting around to making some from-scratch guitar (and bass!) bodies. I won't be making any from-scratch necks yet, but maybe later I might attempt a neck. I don't have all my big tools yet, but I have access to the ones I don't yet own, so I will definitely be making progress, though probably slowly. Haha.

I have 5 guitar "types" I want to make: jazzmaster, bass, bass VI, humbucker, and P-90/semi-hollow/thinline thing. I printed some designs from that Fenderish site that has all the pdf designs AND 2 from a friend and fellow OSG'er (who I won't mention incase he doesn't want me to). Here are the basic projects that I have planned (though I'm sure some of it will change before then):

Jazzmaster type:
Body: Toronado with typical Jazzmaster accoutrements (Mastery lefty trem and either Mastery or Staytrem bridge)
Electronics: Curtis Novak JM-FAT (bridge) and JM-V (neck), typical JM volume, tone, and rhythm circuit
Finish: Charcoal Frost body (with matching headstock!) and hoping for a Spitfire red tort pickguard in typical Toronado shape
Note: I still need a "model" name for it as neither Jazznado nor Toromaster sound good to me. Actually, Jazznado sounds awesome, but I'm not sure...

Bass: Named: Lucy
Body: Ash 4-string P-Bass with Hipshot A-style bridge
Electronics: P-Bass split coil in typical position with MusicMan humbucker between pickguard and bridge (possibly Delano hybrid for MM AND Jazz Bass sounds)
Finish: Olympic White body (maybe matching headstock) with a Spitfire faded orange P-Bass pickguard

Bass VI: "Model": Astro VI/Named: Jeannie
Body: Alder Mustang/Cyclone body routed for 3 Jaguar pickups and JM/Jag trem and bridge (Strider13 hardtail VI plate andWarmoth modified Mustang bridge)
Electronics: Sentell pickups clear plastic topped Jaguar pickups, and a GFS neck-position lipstick tube in the behind-the-bridge position; typical VI wiring
Finish: Sonic Blue body (with Lake Placid Blue painted headstock), clear pickguard painted silver from the back

Humbucker:
Body: Mahogany (either Supro Sahara or Deed Poll's offset Tele design) body
Electronics: Possibly Gibson humbuckers (looking at 498T bridge and 490R neck) or Bare Knuckle Nailbombs.
Finish: ??

P-90/Semi-Hollow/Thinline:
Body: National Newport routed for either two P-90's or two Goldfoils
Electronics: ??
Finish: Walnut stain/Tru-Oil with 12" Vinyl Record pickguard

Thanks to Deed_Poll, Storyboardist, and PorkyPrimeCuts for all the designs!

Last night I rough-cut-out the templates from 3/4" MDF!!

Dude... You do the templates on 1/4" mdf and get them really right them use those to make the 3/4" working templates. Damn, you've got some serious sanding left to do. If you have a ROSS sander (oscillating spindle sander), that would help a ton.

All cool projects, have some serious fun.

ken

kdanie wrote:Dude... You do the templates on 1/4" mdf and get them really right them use those to make the 3/4" working templates. Damn, you've got some serious sanding left to do. If you have a ROSS sander (oscillating spindle sander), that would help a ton.

All cool projects, have some serious fun.

ken

Thanks! I didn't know that, but I'm not planning on making them professionally, just for myself, so not having a master (though I did save the pdf's, so I could remake them again if I need to) isn't a big deal. I DO have access to a spindle sander, so not a problem!!

Kdanie is right, it's much easier to do a 1/4 MDF template first. the issue is getting those edges sanded perfect so that when the router bit rides the template that you don't get those little micro bumps that are such a pain in the arse to sand smooth. 3/4" is a lot of surface area to accidentally get a bump or random imperfection. The idea is you use the 1/4" MDF to make you template and pay extra attention to getting all the lines smooth. Even micro imperfections will get translated onto your working pieces with a router bit with a bearing. Once your 1/4" template is PERFECT, you use that to make your 3/4" template that is more durable and gives you a bigger surface area for the bearing edge to ride on.

It's funny because I did a ton of research around here and the Internet in general about template making and I never once saw that come up.

I'll definitely keep it in mind for next time, but as I don't make much money and I've already got them rough-cut out, I have no problem taking my time to perfect the big ones. It's gonna be awhile before I get to routing, so I guess that just means that I have a bunch of templates to perfect

you have my intrest

s_mcsleazy wrote:you have my intrest

Alright! I got Sean's interest which means it's gotta be a cool project ;-P

I was thinking at work tonight that since I have 5 project ideas and 6 templates... Baritone Sahara?

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:

s_mcsleazy wrote:you have my intrest

Alright! I got Sean's interest which means it's gotta be a cool project ;-P

I was thinking at work tonight that since I have 5 project ideas and 6 templates... Baritone Sahara?

baritone tornado

s_mcsleazy wrote:

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:

s_mcsleazy wrote:you have my intrest

Alright! I got Sean's interest which means it's gotta be a cool project ;-P

I was thinking at work tonight that since I have 5 project ideas and 6 templates... Baritone Sahara?

baritone tornado

That WOULD be really cool, and I could, but I'm absolutely 100% dead set on making my JM type on the Toronado body also... I was tempted to do the Baritone as the Newport, but Eastwood pretty much does that and I like my stuff to be something kinda different and not found in "nature".

Also, that would called the Barinado?

or torbarinotone

s_mcsleazy wrote:or torbarinotone

That's much better. Haha. Ok, so you've got a knack for "model" names. What would you do with my Toronado JM? I don't care for Toromaster...

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:

s_mcsleazy wrote:or torbarinotone

That's much better. Haha. Ok, so you've got a knack for "model" names. What would you do with my Toronado JM? I don't care for Toromaster...

masternado or jazznado

These are all great, I love project threads and you've picked some good ones! I'm especially excited to see how the Eastwood Map-style one turns out, I've always liked those.

Jazznado! Looking forward to seeing these all take shape. Everything print out ok for you?