Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
- kndw
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Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
To start off: hello! I've been looking around here occasionally for quite some time, gazing at all the beautiful offsets. I've built something myself over the last year or so, and decided to register to share it.
The idea was to have a thinline shortscale offset that allows easy changes to the pickups, with adapters for anything from single coils to mini-humbuckers, to full sized humbuckers. I took designs for a strat and a jaguar, and averaged the outlines to get the body shape using a vector drawing program; filling in the rest. Then I bought a cheap mustang clone for parts like the neck, tremolo and hardware. To build the body, I considered getting a slab of wood and attacking it with a router. However, I'd done that before, and didn't want the stress of f-ing the whole thing up, continuously getting worse the closer I got to finishing it. So, I chose to have it laser-cut out of sheets of plywood, and then glue it together. I'm aware of the controversy around using plywood, but thought I could just try. It turned out great. So here are some pictures:
Edit: I can't see the images for some reason. This is the album
Luxicaster album
These are the cut sheets of plywood as I got them from the shop:
These were then glued on top of each other:
And then I sanded all edges to get it smooth (and to get rid of the barbecue smell):
Then I routed the edges, and stained and tru-oiled the body:
And put everything together:
At the moment there is a p90 in the bridge position and a jaguar PU in the neck position, with phase switches for both. The sound is great, and the sustain is not bad at all.
The idea was to have a thinline shortscale offset that allows easy changes to the pickups, with adapters for anything from single coils to mini-humbuckers, to full sized humbuckers. I took designs for a strat and a jaguar, and averaged the outlines to get the body shape using a vector drawing program; filling in the rest. Then I bought a cheap mustang clone for parts like the neck, tremolo and hardware. To build the body, I considered getting a slab of wood and attacking it with a router. However, I'd done that before, and didn't want the stress of f-ing the whole thing up, continuously getting worse the closer I got to finishing it. So, I chose to have it laser-cut out of sheets of plywood, and then glue it together. I'm aware of the controversy around using plywood, but thought I could just try. It turned out great. So here are some pictures:
Edit: I can't see the images for some reason. This is the album
Luxicaster album
These are the cut sheets of plywood as I got them from the shop:
These were then glued on top of each other:
And then I sanded all edges to get it smooth (and to get rid of the barbecue smell):
Then I routed the edges, and stained and tru-oiled the body:
And put everything together:
At the moment there is a p90 in the bridge position and a jaguar PU in the neck position, with phase switches for both. The sound is great, and the sustain is not bad at all.
- BoringPostcards
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
That’s awesome! Great job!
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.
- jthomas
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Very clever imagineering, and clever use of material. The modular-looking top layer or presentation has a really great look. Hats off to you!
- MattK
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Looking great, nice work!
I would love to see that in a slightly more tech look, e.g. gloss cream with charcoal and red accents. Maybe the f hole would need to be toned down and made simpler to carry it off.
I would love to see that in a slightly more tech look, e.g. gloss cream with charcoal and red accents. Maybe the f hole would need to be toned down and made simpler to carry it off.
- alexpigment
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Really dig the concept of a modular design for testing pickups. Although a swimming pool route in a normal guitar can get you pretty far in that regard, it always comes down to dealing with pickguard limitations. Printing out different inserts for pickup mounting feels like a big plus. Cool concept and execution.
How much does this thing weigh out of curiosity? I know that you've got a lot of hollow parts going on, but on the other hand it's a pretty high glue to wood ratio, so I figured I'd ask.
How much does this thing weigh out of curiosity? I know that you've got a lot of hollow parts going on, but on the other hand it's a pretty high glue to wood ratio, so I figured I'd ask.
- bodhi
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Looks really good! Nice design as well, the only thing that springs to mind is that the offset trem is a bit closer to the bridge than in the classic offsets, which will feel a bit different, but very cool
Regarding the weight, can't imagine it'll weigh much at all, I'd be more concerned about the durability of the top and back, since individual pieces of thinner ply have a fair amount of flex to them. The honeycomb pattern of the layer below should probably support that decently, but even then it's probably a bit easier to smash than a regular guitar. Not that I'd suggest trying!
Regarding the weight, can't imagine it'll weigh much at all, I'd be more concerned about the durability of the top and back, since individual pieces of thinner ply have a fair amount of flex to them. The honeycomb pattern of the layer below should probably support that decently, but even then it's probably a bit easier to smash than a regular guitar. Not that I'd suggest trying!
Jazzmaster project (got a body, placeholder neck, some pickups and ideas)
Tokai Telecaster Thinline with Creamery Pickups Filtertron and Tapped Tele
Blake Mills-inspired Strat project w/ Gold Foil and slide pickup
Tokai Telecaster Thinline with Creamery Pickups Filtertron and Tapped Tele
Blake Mills-inspired Strat project w/ Gold Foil and slide pickup
- DrippyReverbTremolo
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Cool. Always nice to see original concepts.
- ohm-men
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Superb work and very innovative!
I love the idea of the modular aproach.
Plywood is indeed not that bad as a tonewood. I guess the laser cut plywood is of the somewhat harder/denser woods. I believe Birch is a plywood that is often used for these. Sustain is indeed not bad.
I noticed that hardwood plywood is quiet good for guitar building espcially if you are doing something with a chambered body.
Takes a bit more work to finish (if you want to finish it like a regular guitar that is)
Last summer I made two Jm bodies from Okoumé ply (middle part) with a 5 mm birch plywood on the top and the back. I made a small chamber where normally the armrest on the Jm body is and kept both "slab" so no armrest or tymmy contour.
Both sound much better then anticipated.
One is a regular thinline Jm, while the other is more a Telemaster.
I do find that the stringthrough Telemaster sound more articulated, but the regular Jm has a very warm sound.
I guess that the ashtray bridge of Telemaster add to the snappyness...
I love the idea of the modular aproach.
Plywood is indeed not that bad as a tonewood. I guess the laser cut plywood is of the somewhat harder/denser woods. I believe Birch is a plywood that is often used for these. Sustain is indeed not bad.
I noticed that hardwood plywood is quiet good for guitar building espcially if you are doing something with a chambered body.
Takes a bit more work to finish (if you want to finish it like a regular guitar that is)
Last summer I made two Jm bodies from Okoumé ply (middle part) with a 5 mm birch plywood on the top and the back. I made a small chamber where normally the armrest on the Jm body is and kept both "slab" so no armrest or tymmy contour.
Both sound much better then anticipated.
One is a regular thinline Jm, while the other is more a Telemaster.
I do find that the stringthrough Telemaster sound more articulated, but the regular Jm has a very warm sound.
I guess that the ashtray bridge of Telemaster add to the snappyness...
- kndw
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Thanks for the complimentsalexpigment wrote: ↑Sat Apr 27, 2024 8:44 pm...
How much does this thing weigh out of curiosity? I know that you've got a lot of hollow parts going on, but on the other hand it's a pretty high glue to wood ratio, so I figured I'd ask.
I just put the guitar on a scale: it is very light, weighing only 2820g/6.2 pounds (or some 16 bananas). The balance is still good though, it is not diving (is that the term?)
One way to go for a more technical look, could be to have transparent acrylic laser cut. Could be cool as well, but I like a more classic look. Was thinking about adding a salami pickguard, but laser-cutting celluloid is probably not a good idea...
Last edited by kndw on Sun Apr 28, 2024 4:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
- kndw
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Are they also on the forum somewhere?ohm-men wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 4:00 amLast summer I made two Jm bodies from Okoumé ply (middle part) with a 5 mm birch plywood on the top and the back. I made a small chamber where normally the armrest on the Jm body is and kept both "slab" so no armrest or tymmy contour.
Both sound much better then anticipated.
- kndw
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Some more: the pickups are in boxes that have magnetic connectors. These boxes slide in from the underside. Well, they are supposed to. Takes a bit of careful convincing...
And this is the current setup:
You can see near that one screw that a pickguard would be nice...
And this is the current setup:
You can see near that one screw that a pickguard would be nice...
- interceptör
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Oh damn that's pretty fucking clever. I'm not fully sold on the looks, but the concept is simply elegant and elegantly simple. And there's nothing wrong with plywood, really.
- Red-Tin-Dave
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Nice work!
I got to quite like the smell of barbequed wood in the morning when I was working with a laser cutter
I got to quite like the smell of barbequed wood in the morning when I was working with a laser cutter
- ohm-men
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Re: Luxicaster - laser cut plywood guitar
Yes, they arekndw wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 4:39 amAre they also on the forum somewhere?ohm-men wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 4:00 amLast summer I made two Jm bodies from Okoumé ply (middle part) with a 5 mm birch plywood on the top and the back. I made a small chamber where normally the armrest on the Jm body is and kept both "slab" so no armrest or tymmy contour.
Both sound much better then anticipated.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=124034&hilit=plywoo ... r#p1752218
I should update the post as the Jm looks different now.
Sorry to hihack this tread, Back to the main topic it is!