Oh, right, this thing..

Holy heck it's been a month.

Well sue me, I have nothing new to report but delays. Weather's been too cold, lack of time blah blah no one wants to hear. But everything is starting to shape up. Weather's getting warm enough (finally right?), I've got a few paychecks under my belt and bills are relatively paid up and I'm finishing some classes in the next couple weeks, which will free up a good chunk of time.

I guess one thing I can post is what design I'm going to go for on the basic shape of the guitar.

I don't really feel like making another strat or tele, there's enough of them in this world, so I am going for this design. It won't be exactly like it in any means, even in shape and definitely in all the fancy functions. But it's intriguing and a little different.

Expect a post next week. Thanks for sticking around.

Sorry for the lack of updates, as I am busy starting my new job and with school and all. But more to come soon I promise.

-On a semi-related note: I have ordered some replacement parts on my most recent Ibanez guitar as I'm determined to fix the issues that are bugging that crap out of me on it, even though its rather minimal.

Stay tuned!

Half-hour to deadline

Free time has been short, but I was determined to get started tonight.

I sat down and did some planning. Just some real basics.

A few things are becoming clear about my first attempt; For one, I'm going to keep this real basic. Next, I'm going to push this guitar towards specs comparable to published strat/telecaster specs, yet make adjustments to the Ibanez necks I'm used to.

Basically, I'm going to use the published scale length of the strat/tele, but adjust the neck thickness and nut width (wood type permitting) to what I am used to on my guitar, which I have to investigate, but I'm certain will be smaller, and hopefully arrive somewhere between the two.

As far as electronics go, I'm going to stick with a two control knob (one volume, one tone), with a selector switch. I would love to do a killswitch four control knob design, but I want to keep cavities to a minimum to prevent routing mistakes, and keep simplicity on a first attempt.

Before I decide on much else I need to do some research on some specific numbers of my previous guitars to make some choices, then start drawing out full scale pictures to put the pieces together.

Oh yes, I also gotta start thinking about what will this guitar look like. To get some pictures going soon, I'll perhaps post some pictures of guitar designs that inspire me.

I wouldn't mind some comments of favorite guitar designs of your own (by the way, anyone with a gmail account can register and comment here!). I have played almost exclusively Ibanez guitars in the past, but I am trying to branch out, hence why I'm going to bridge this design. I love the sound of Tele's but what really has caught my attention are the custom Manson guitars, which many are played by Muse, and feature very original ideas for looks and function.

That will do it for now. Stay tuned for results of first pass designs on paper.

better late then never...

I didn't get back to this as soon as I wanted, but some good things did happen.

I did find my book that will be my bible for building this guitar. It's titled "Make your own Electric Guitar" by Melvyn Hiscock. That along with a few other resources will be my guide as I make this attempt. So far as I've read through the book, I can say that it is probably the best start for anyone who wants to make their own guitar. Very thorough on absolutely everything.

A special thank you goes to Tom Walters, for giving me a lead on a possible source for some good wood, which I think may be the most interesting part about this whole experience. 

And lastly, and probably the biggest weight off of my shoulders, is the funding is now officially a go. Today I got an official offer for a job that I accepted, and will allow me to have plenty of personal use money to fund the project. On a side note, if you love coffee, nows the time to be my friend cause neither Meg nor I drink coffee, and I will soon be getting lots of it for free thanks to Green Mountain Coffee.

One of the biggest reasons that I think that I will be able to do this project, is that I have the tools available. Right now Meg and I are living with her parents, and soon in my parents household while we save up money for schools when we move (and to help pay for our current schools as well), and although that isn't ideal, Meg's father has an incredible amount of woodworking tools ready for my use, so I'm going to make the best of it.

So far I know this blog is very no frills, but I hope to get some of the planning done soon, and perhaps some sketches and details worked out soon so I can get those up soon. 

Here's where you come in.

As I go along, I am thinking of having this blog pay for itself (yeah I know it was free) and perhaps use polls of some sort to get votes on different designs or specifics, as I am sure I will run into things that I can't decide on. I hope to get a little participation in from followers, as I think it will help motivate me to continue this to completion.

I think I will end on that note. I promise to have the next post by monday night, but hopefully sooner, as I have a good amount of schoolwork to do by then. If nothing else I'll try to get on to pitch out some of my ideas on the basic design, and functions of the guitar.

...and it begins...

This will be the site of my blog, for the documentation of my creation(s). Tomorrow I will go a little more in depth, but this is the start. I will write tomorrow a little about why I am attempting to do this and any other background details I can think of. 

For now, I just need to find that darn book so I can get started. It's amazing how things get lost while you move several times a year.

-Doug