Suggestions for materials to "practise" with

[Johnny Bravo]

These will probably rank as the "noobiest" questions ever but here goes.

I'd like to do two projects in order to build up my severely limited skills (I'm genuinely at the start of my guitar building journey) - I figure that I need to jump in, have a go and make many inevitable mistakes.

The first project is to craft a telecaster-ish body and apply a veneer and binding (I figure I'll just do solid body, not Thinline).

The second is to have a go at shaping a PRS style top.

So, two questions:

1. what would be a relatively cheap timber option for blanks (or sufficient equivalent) to work on (on the assumption that they'll never get to end state). Is there an option to scale up and get a few, given I will likely muck up irredeemably for one or more.

For instance, could I just use pine or is there a better alternative? Do I rummage through the local recycling/transfer station? What price should I roughly expect to pay in AUD?

2. Are there any decent PRS contour plans I could access for free/ low cost and which ones would be recommended?

I know that there are "no stupid questions" but these probably sail pretty close, I imagine.

If these questions have been answered in other threads, then I apologise and I will try to do better at searching in future.

Cheers JB

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Johnny,

You are right, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Twenty five years ago I was in the same position.

I think pine is great to start with. Maybe look out for some pine pieces and laminate them together till you have a slab big enough to build your PRS. Approach the body like a archtop carve so you need a block plane and some small planes for shaping. The laminations can be 1/4 sawn, rift or even flat sawn. It don't matter. Make sure you have access to a jointing plane so you can shoot the edges of the pieces so they are flat and square. On youtube there are a few demos of carving Les Paul guitars which is the same thing as a LP anyway.

Another way is try and fins four pieces of pine say 20mm thick and laminate a top and a back. Cut out the shape of the PRS on the top and back and then find some pieces that will fit between these like a sandwich. If you need to weight reduce you can glue the middle bits together and maybe with a jig saw cut a hole in the middle piece. The picture tells a better story. With a top and a back 20mm thick you can have a go at carving. If you would like me to find the carving vids for you I can but just do a search in youtube Les Paul PRS carve and something will come up.


Contact me via our forum Private email service and I can send you a contour I just uploaded from the net.

Good luck Johnny, there is nothing more rewarding than carving a top and back. Noe easy though, patience my friend.

Cheers

Alan

[Johnny Bravo]

I'm very grateful for your thoughts and suggestions.

A bit to consider - hopefully I can come back with some intelligent questions.

Kind regards

[kiwigeo]

It's a good idea to reduce risk of stuff ups by 1. going in with a plan and 2. not rushing.

If something doesn't feel right or doesn't make sense...down tools, step back and think it out.

[Johnny Bravo]

Good advice Martin

I'm conservative by nature - my default is to stand back, scratch my head and ask "what's going wrong here" and absolutely I always want to have at least some sort of plan/stepped plan in advance.

And it appears that it is my very good luck to land here and hopefully get the perspective of better minds than mine when the inevitable head scratching moments occur.

Regards

[kiwigeo]

And it appears that it is my very good luck to land here and hopefully get the perspective of better minds than mine when the inevitable head scratching moments occur.

Not so much better minds...more a case of people who have learned how not to make stuff ups ...by learning from their stuff ups

[Taffy Evans]

Hi, practice makes perfect, if you learn from any mistakes you make. My son started making guitars a few years ago, and as he is over 2000klm away I could not help him much. But I was surprised when I saw and heard his first guitar. Great. What also surprised me was the lengths he went to before building with expensive tone woods.

First, he practiced bending sides using MDF. Then he built the whole acoustic guitar body out of ply from Bunnings. He is now confidently but carefully building with solid timbers.

Here is a photo of a solid pine body I built to see what it was like. It is laminated. The neck is also Pine cut on the quarter, and is as stable as any.

IMG_1177.JPG (81.17 KiB) Viewed 28219 times

Taff

[Mark McLean]

Hi Johnny. Good on you for jumping in and giving it a go.
I understand completely the thought that you can't start by working on any kind of nice timber, but don't go too far in the other direction either. For my first build (an acoustic) I bought a kit (from StewMac, or LMI - I can't remember now) with pre-bent sides and thicknessed plates and some machining of the neck. It went OK. So then I decided to try doing #2 from scratch and bought some mahogany back and sides and spruce tops for 2 instruments from Gerard Gilet's old place in Botany. I specifically remember choosing one pretty crappy looking set "for practice" and a nice set "for real, later". I was sure that my first attempt at bending sides would fail, but it didn't. Then I thought I would be bound to stuff up the bindings, but they were OK. I kept going with each subsequent step being "for practice" and after about 150 hours of work I had a perfectly good guitar made out of the crappy-looking set of wood. I was pleased, but also wished that I had trusted myself to use the better stuff!

Taffy, Alan and Martin are giving good advice, with decades of combined experience. You can get decent pine at a hardware store - but very little else. That pine can make a very decent instrument. Fancy wood is not essential - have you heard the story about Taylor's "Pallet guitar" - which was literally made from the timber of the pallet on which their fancy tonewood was delivered but sounded about as good as their production model?

Where are you located? In the major cities there are great places offering salvaged or recycled timber (just Google those words to find them) and you can find useful pieces of interesting hardwoods if you spend an hour or two poking around in such places.

[TallDad71]

For what it’s worth

This is your first guitar, if you’re anything like us, it won’t be your last. The thrill of stringing up and hearing it for the first time will never leave you.

You’ll never build another first guitar again!

So with that in mind don’t spend a kings ransom but do buy materials that you know to be stable. This will be an emotional journey, one in which you learn how to cover up mistakes as much as you learn how to build a guitar. At the end you will have something that will make you feel really as proud as punch…. For the rest of your days.

The last thing you’ll want, at that point, is a guitar that twists and turns because you built it out of firewood.

Go forwards with a degree of financial/emotional investment, a first guitar is for life.

[Johnny Bravo]

Hi Johnny. Good on you for jumping in and giving it a go.
I understand completely the thought that you can't start by working on any kind of nice timber, but don't go too far in the other direction either. For my first build (an acoustic) I bought a kit (from StewMac, or LMI - I can't remember now) with pre-bent sides and thicknessed plates and some machining of the neck. It went OK. So then I decided to try doing #2 from scratch and bought some mahogany back and sides and spruce tops for 2 instruments from Gerard Gilet's old place in Botany. I specifically remember choosing one pretty crappy looking set "for practice" and a nice set "for real, later". I was sure that my first attempt at bending sides would fail, but it didn't. Then I thought I would be bound to stuff up the bindings, but they were OK. I kept going with each subsequent step being "for practice" and after about 150 hours of work I had a perfectly good guitar made out of the crappy-looking set of wood. I was pleased, but also wished that I had trusted myself to use the better stuff!

Taffy, Alan and Martin are giving good advice, with decades of combined experience. You can get decent pine at a hardware store - but very little else. That pine can make a very decent instrument. Fancy wood is not essential - have you heard the story about Taylor's "Pallet guitar" - which was literally made from the timber of the pallet on which their fancy tonewood was delivered but sounded about as good as their production model?

Where are you located? In the major cities there are great places offering salvaged or recycled timber (just Google those words to find them) and you can find useful pieces of interesting hardwoods if you spend an hour or two poking around in such places.

Thanks for the kind words and motivation.

My woodworking skills are poop. My poor dearly-departed dad would likely hang his head in shame but I want to do better. I've even given some thought into doing some sort of woodworking course first.

But pine sounds groovy and there are some salvage places that have been recommended by the guy I bought maple veneer from so I might have a little day trip, poke my nose in and have a chat.

To everyone who has responded here. Thank you for your input and kind welcome.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi, I think I read somewhere that the measure of a good craftsman is how well they cover their mistakes. My mistakes bring about creativity in inlay and design, often things I would never think of.

I had a customer with a guitar I built for him that had one such inlay feature added. He asked for that feature to be included in future builds I did for him.

Enjoy the journey, the destination will be very enjoyable.
Taff

[kiwigeo]

I had a customer with a guitar I built for him that had one such inlay feature added. He asked for that feature to be included in future builds I did for him.

I recently had to help a mate finish a guitar he'd started at a guitar making school that had shut down. Somehow the instructor had made a saw cut across the front of the headstock just aft of the nut slot. My mate didn't want to replace the neck so he bogged it up and so far the headstock hasn't snapped off under string tension. I hope he doesn't include the extra feature in his future builds

[Deano2]

Exciting times ahead JB. I'd recommend keeping an eye out on Facebook marketplace for free furniture. Often pieces come up with ample wood to build an instrument - you just need to make sure it's not veneered. You'd be surprised at how regularly a free mahogany table pops up.

I have body and neck templates for both a prs and a tele. Happy to make you a copy from MDF if you cover postage.

[tapslider]

Hi I've been a member for quite a while and never posted
Johnny you say your wood working skills are crap! Hmmn?
Okay first things first you need to know how to sharpen tools properly this is a skill of its own and once mastered will make everything easier
Warning! Danger! Guitar making is extremely addictive and can be very bad for your health wood dust is worse than smoking so beware some wood can and will make you very sick so be wary. Laquer and epoxy are all so very toxic so try to avoid these sorts of products where possible. Don't want to sound like a party pooper if your starting out you need to be aware of what your getting yourself into also you will find yourself sitting in your shed spending countless hours playing with your wood tapping it and getting to know it intimately.
Don't spend countless hour chasing up wood get the good stuff, from a reputable supplier and spend time working rather than chasing, mistakes can be innovations and less time will be spent mucking around.
Also there a courses available depending on where you live and these can give you the inside knowledge and save years of time
hope this is helpful and good luck
Regards Tapslider

[Johnny Bravo]

Don't want to sound like a party pooper if your starting out you need to be aware of what your getting yourself into also you will find yourself sitting in your shed spending countless hours playing with your wood tapping it and getting to know it intimately.

@tapslider.

Aw pal. That made me wheeze- laugh!! Thanks for the chuckle.