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fuzzy
Copper Member
Australia
42 Posts |
 Posted - 06/17/2008 : 07:51:34
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Hi Guys
I took a search and to my surprise there is no topics on building your own guitar.
I want to build a guitar like the manson guitars built for Matt Bellamy of Muse. I'm interested in all different topics on it like what pikc ups are good (Types of Hum, P-90 or P-94, Single coil) And I like the sustaniac ferdanes pickup. Has anyone tried it? Also what necks are good. I like a 24 fret guitar because I write alot of songs that need a high e. What size neck would be good for that.
Also stuff like different woods, and straplocks and whammy bars.
I scan a show of my design in here later
Regards
Fuzzy |
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jack
Platinum Member
USA
1418 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 16:10:50
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There's no topics on it on this forum, but there are are entire forums dedicated to that whole topic 
stewmac.com has some free resources about guitar building. They also sell just about every kind of tool you will need for guitar building. Custom guitars from scratch are very expensive, and even if you build it yourself, unless you already have all the tools needed, or access to them, it can be very pricy. Buying parts to build a guitar can also be a bit pricy after all the shipping charges are added up....
Look at warmoth.com for other parts needed to make guitars. They also have some FAQs I believe on all the different kinds of woods and other topics.
Those are a couple places to get started, and they have books at stewmac on how to do it. I think its great that you want to build your own guitar, but it sounds like there is a lot of research and reading you may want to do before getting into it. Good luck, and let us know how it works out  |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 16:25:47
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words of warning on building a guitar...
if you choose not to keep it you will likely take a severe loss on what you have invested in it.
as for pickups that are "good" it depends on what you want to sound like.
things to look for in pickups: magnets, dc resistance, voicing.
magnets:
alnico ii = vintage
alnico v = "rock"
ceramic = metal
dc resistance:
under 9k = vintage (under 6k for single coils)
9-12k = rock (6-8k for single coils)
13-25k = heavy (9k or higher for single coils)
voicing:
basically the bass/mid/treble of the pickup.
body woods:
dark sound to bright - mahogany, ash, basswood, alder, poplar, maple
fretboard wood:
warm to bright - rosewood, ebony, maple (some may feel ebony and maple should be reversed on this).
other random crap to choose:
neck scale length 24.75", 25.5" are standards
fixed bridge vs. tremolo
body shape, pickup config, etc.
it's a pain. if i build anything custom i usually try to hunt down some quality stuff for cheap and frankenstein it together while selling off the unused parts to recoup the investment. e.g. it will probably cost $250+ for a 24-fret neck (or $150+ for a used one) or you can track down a beater MIJ charvel or jackson 24-fret guitar for like $250 and take the neck off it and part out the rest of it (or build another frankenstein to sell). |
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ChristoMephisto
Platinum Member
Canada
1288 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 23:44:50
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I was thinking the same thing with building my own g'tar and modding it to the hilt.
With so many factors like Zentropa pointed out, just deciding which route to take can be just as hard as sourcing the parts.
Found some deals on evilbay, but yeah, shipping would add up after a while
What other guitars have a sustaniac ferdanes pickup? Whats that fretboard made of?
Are they bright like maple, or mellow and dark like rosewood and ebony? |
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fuzzy
Copper Member
Australia
42 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 07:17:20
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quote:
Originally posted by zentropa
alnico ii = vintage
alnico v = "rock"
ceramic = metal
dc resistance:
under 9k = vintage (under 6k for single coils)
9-12k = rock (6-8k for single coils)
13-25k = heavy (9k or higher for single coils)
voicing:
basically the bass/mid/treble of the pickup.
body woods:
dark sound to bright - mahogany, ash, basswood, alder, poplar, maple
fretboard wood:
warm to bright - rosewood, ebony, maple (some may feel ebony and maple should be reversed on this).
other random crap to choose:
neck scale length 24.75", 25.5" are standards
fixed bridge vs. tremolo
body shape, pickup config, etc.
Yeah. What do you exactly mean by dark and light. I have a mahogany guitar and I wouldn't have suspected it of being dark. I want to play Alternative Rock, with Bit of dark and light mood songs, but def not metal. What wood Would be best. Is there somewhere where you can hear the different wood.
How do you change to voicing of a pickup?
What is VIntage exactly. For my style what would I be best with.
What is the difference between Warm to Light. Do you mean light like how heavy it is or the sound.
Regards
Fuzzy |
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fuzzy
Copper Member
Australia
42 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 07:27:12
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Here's a list of all the featurees i would like
-Solid Body Flat Top
-Fender style Head
-25" Neck w/ 24 frets
-Ferdanes Sustainer P/U
-Roland GK-2a P/U Installed of Guitar
-Pick-Up One (Probablly P-90 type)
-Pick Up Two (Humbucker Alinco prob)
-Bigsby B5
-Tune 'o' Matic Bridge
-6 x Goto510 Miniture Tuners.
I'm still waiting to be able to put a scan up of the design not to scale. It sort of looks like a telecaster Deluxe 72, mixed w/ a explorer, with a strat head.
Regards
Fuzzy |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 08:04:52
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fuzzy:
dark vs. bright = tone.
mahogany = dark tone = lots of bass, not a lot of treble
maple = bright tone = tons of treble
when you combine two woods, you get combinations of things. e.g. les paul = mahogany body w/ maple top = nice full warm tone with some nice bright bite on top. i personally have fallen out of love with pure mahogany guitars. if you want a good crunch tone at a volume that doesn't rip the paint off the walls requires pickups that are generally less than toneful.
the guitar you are describing will likely run $1200-1500. the downside is that it would likely resell in the $300-500 range unless you parted it out (if you ever had to get rid of it).
you can hear different wood at a guitar store.
sg = mahogany
les paul = mahogany w/ maple top
most strats/teles = alder
some teles and strats = ash
super ultra light cheapo strat copies = poplar
most ibanez shred-style = basswood
maple guitars are hard to come by.
something to keep in mind is that not all build em yourself guitars sound good and it's often disappointing after you sink in the work/money.
pickups are designed to have a particular voicing. this their designed frequency response.
vintage varies by type. for humbuckers vintage = PAF voicing = lots of bass, moderate to high treble, scooped mids.
for strats, vintage = moderate of mids, lots of treble, medium bass.
vintage style pickups generally have low DC resistance and are made with alnico II pickups (although there are some that use alnico V's okay).
"hot" voicing = tons of mids, and treble, not a lot of bass and this is the same for both single coils and humbuckers. hot voiced pickups are usually made with ceramic magnets, but there are some overwound alnico V's that can pull it off.
have you thought about what neck profile you want? C shape? U shape? V shape? what fretboard radius? 9.5-10"? 12"? 14"? 16-17"? what style of frets? thin, med thin, med jumbo, jumbo, etc.?
as for your setup, i'd guess this would probably work out the best:
alder body. ash if you want a little more low end. basswood if you want a a little more punch.
medium-hot alnico V humbucker at the bridge (JB, 498T, tone zone, air norton, etc.).
P-90 at neck (they don't have a lot of variety of these). otherwise something like a '59, dimarzio PAF, classic 57, etc.
you could probably coil tap one or both pickups to give a larger variety of sounds.
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fuzzy
Copper Member
Australia
42 Posts |
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jack
Platinum Member
USA
1418 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 16:25:21
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quote:
Originally posted by fuzzy
Can YOu COil Tap a P-90
I am pretty sure a P90 is a single coil pickup, and if it is, you can't coil tap it. |
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zentropa
Gold Member
USA
837 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2008 : 16:33:31
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you can't tap P90's.
you'd tap it if you went with a humbucker.
how sure are you that you want P90's?
that tele looks like swamp ash.
les pauls, PRS guitars, etc. have mahogany bodies with carved maple tops. |
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fuzzy
Copper Member
Australia
42 Posts |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2008 : 09:48:20
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Hi fuzzy
It looks very interesting.
I'll be keen to see & hear about your progress.
What you are about to tackle is both very ambitious, & very rewarding.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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FunkenGrooven
Silver Member
USA
360 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2008 : 17:27:55
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| Hey Fuzzy, That image file you linked looks like an ash body, I have a Warmoth body made of that with a quilt maple top on it, very nice wood. If i could ever make pics upload to the server I would show you what it looks like |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 06/25/2008 : 17:49:51
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quote:
Originally posted by FunkenGrooven
Hey Fuzzy, That image file you linked looks like an ash body, I have a Warmoth body made of that with a quilt maple top on it, very nice wood. If i could ever make pics upload to the server I would show you what it looks like
Hi FunkenGrooven & guys
First of all you will have to re-size the pictures from your digital camera, as some of the files are too large, About 300K in file size seems to work fine.
A lot of file uploads fail due to the file size being too large.
Then follow the steps here:
http://www.bossarea.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4015
If that still doesn't seem to work, PM me & I will re-size & upload them on your behalf.
Regards Dr. Bob |
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nosi0
Gold Member
Netherlands
511 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2008 : 01:03:54
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| There are a lot of resources over at www.projectguitar.com Their forum has even more information than the actual main site. |
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nosi0
Gold Member
Netherlands
511 Posts |
Posted - 06/26/2008 : 10:08:14
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So from personal experience i can give you a few tips:
I'll start from the top of the guitar and move down:
Tuners
- Tuners are vital to tuning stability so quality is extremely important.
Suggested quality brands:
- Gotoh
- Planet Waves
- any quality guitar producer (Ibanez Gibson Fender etc.)
Headstock design
- Visualy important that the headstock matches the body
Common designs:
Gibson LP, Fender Strat, Ibanez, Jackson
Neck Profile
- The profile of the neck is going to be the most important factor in the feel of your guitar so try a lot of necks before deciding on your profile.
Common neck profiles
C shaped, V shaped, Thick profile(LP), Thin profile(IBNZ: Wizard)
fretboard material
- I don't know much about tonal qualities of woods but looks are also important when deciding fretboard
Common Materials:
Rosewood, Maple, Ebony
fretboard radius
- the radius of your fretboard is the second most important to the feel of your guitar. 430 radius is fairly flat like and RG, where as 250mm is more like a older Strat(and ofcourse JS)
Common radius:
430mm radius, JS 250mm radius
Fretwire
- the shape and height of your frets. Standard size is 6105 i believe ofcourse you can get higher ones. this sounds like a good idea but do realize that they do turn into speed bumbs.
Neck costruction
- neck construction will be important to tone and repair ability. neck throughs will be a pain to repair but have clearly more sustain
Common constructions:
Bolt-on neck, Neckthrough, Set neck
Body material
- body material will have a large impact on tone and weight. unfortunately i'm only familiar with mahagony and basswood. basswood is and extremely light and rich(tone) material.
common materials
Mahagony, poplar, maple, alder, basswood
Pick ups
- my favorite area, when dealing with pick ups there are so many choices .
Common pick-ups
Dimarzio
- Breed series, PAF pro, EVO series, Joe series, tonezone, FRED, YJM, and many more
- used by joe satriani, steve vai, yngwie malmsteen, also in many signature guitars
Seymore Duncan-
JB
- used by most people not using dimarzio's
EMG
- Heavy rock/metal pickups, used by Zakk Wylde (common in ESP models)
Bridge units
- locking tremelo (flyod rose, lo pro, edge pro)
- standard tremelo (fender strat, 1 way tremelo)
- fixed bridge (Tune-o-matic with tailpiece or strings through body, Gibraltar, gotoh fixed bridges.)
Ofcourse my opinion is slightly bais to JS, Ibanez and Dimarzio. |
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Building your own Guitar
