Frustrated Guitar Builder

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Author Message JohnS Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    OK, I've always had the desire to design and build my own guitar. In the mid 70's I even drew up some pretty good plans for 2 guitars. But after investigating it, I realized that starting from scratch is a lot harder than rebuilding one or building a kit guitar. So, I've changed my mind and have refocused on rebuilding a guitar. One problem I have is picking a model to start out with. Some of the cheaper models aren't made of the same woods as their big brothers and when I do find a better model, I'm too afraid I'm wrecking something that might be the next "rare" Ibanez. So what would you do? What model would you start with? Would you start with something that was beat up (gouges, cracks, etc.) or try to find something in good shape? Would you start with a bolt-on or setneck? Trem or no? Would you invest in spray gun and lacquer or let someone else refinish it? JohnS Chris Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    Hi John well for the last three years ive been rebuilding guitars i too was going to make one from scratch but i dont have the tools, knowhow, nor the time so i decided to buy beat up guitars that didnt have to many problems and most of, if not all the original parts were there, first i started with an old RG550 i found in a local cash convertes, it was previously repainted and very badly dfon with out and clear coat so this was easy to redo myself i painted it bacl with spray laquers i got from a local auto paint supply store it turned out so good im in the process of redoing two other guitars im doing a BC rich Bich and an old Ibanez Destroyer i strpped both bodies down and got some new hardware and im repainting and redoing them myself so id say if you wanted to do an ibanez get an 80's guitar like an RG it will be worn but not to damagaed where you have to start filling the body before painting so thats my bit of advice if you want more we can have conversations throught email or on ICQ my number is 13697708 and my email is philsteed@sympatico.ca johnS Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    Chris: If you don't mind, I'd rather discuss it here. This way others will benefit from the info, too. What's the difference between RG550, 560, 570? Is the higher number always better? Does the year matter? The big question: what kind of wood? I've always a mahogony, maple, ash/alder kinda guy. What's with basswood? I've heard it's soft. Should I be steer clear of it? Chris Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    Sure no problemo ok well first off the RG550 is made with basswood and it has a maple fretboard instead of rosewood this makes the guitar awfully bright i have one....i know the 560 is an RG with two humbuckers and it has a rosewood fretboard the 570 has H-S-H config and it has rosewood...now on the 550 it has a pickgaurd actually they are all basswod unless you get the RG with the flame/quilt top then its mahogany now year doesnt matter ..but thne again i prefer the older ones..but the newer ones have the all access heel...but that is easily achived with the older style .....just takes some well thought out mods as for the woods id stick with something hard...and basswood is sort of the mid ground between maple and mahogany....Mohog is a little softer than basswood and has more pouris grain where as basswood and maple have tight grain and when refinishing a maple or basswod body you dont have to fill the grain like on mohog....i still wood....but ....you dont nessicarily have to so really if you want that fat tone...use mohogany if you want brightness then use maple if you want a tone inbetween basswood and none are praticularly better than the other..its more of a personal preferance...........i like mohog the best and my three sabers are made of it...excep one has a flame top and back but its got a very nice tone so if you think of anything else ...just ask Chris Gianni Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    I would like to change the paint job on my RG550. Any tips on how to get rid of the existing paint job and not ruin the guitar? Thanks. spiro Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    sand sand sand sand and sand it again.. Dont use any paint stripper.... You will find that it will take you a while but you won't ruin anything... Use a sand block anywhere you can and sand with the grain. if you have any dings in the wood get them out with hot water or steam. Try placing a wet rag on the ding and heat it up with a soldering iron. this will make the wood fibres expand and you will not have to fil as much as you expect. Gianni Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    Thanks Spiro! Any tips on types of paint? Do they affect the sound of the guitar? Should I use a paintbrush or spray? mango Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    i would buy a guitar that is in pieces and glue it back together and start from there jester Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    You may want to take another tack... Carvin offers a nice kit guitar for a few hundred bucks, and good instructions in case something isn't intuitive. The Carvins I've played are smooth and fast, and not far from an Ibanez feel. Some aspects (especially fretwork) are even better. Just a thought... Keith Posted on Friday, October 08, 2004 - 11:08 am:    John: I have constructed two guitars and am now starting two more. Originally, I just wanted to build "my very own guitar". I did the design work for my guitar based upon the Carvin AE185 semi-hollow body Acoustic Electric. This guitar has 2 humbuckers plus a piezo pickup in an acoustic guitar bridge. It's wired for stereo outputs. It probably sounds like an ambituous project, but what did I know? I have the basic handtools but I'm certainly not set-up to mass-produce guitars. But, could I build just one? I figured, at worst I could always sell the tuners and other hardware to my local repairman. So I started into it. I was very apprehensive about the neck, so I started there. I got a peice of white oak that was big enough for 3 necks. I figured I'd have 2 to practice on and 1 as a final neck. Well, I cut the 3 necks too short due to a measuring error. How disappointing. Since I had purchased all the other componants, I decided to purchase a factory made neck, for which I paid $100.00. That problem out of the way, I did the hollowed-out Honduran Mahogany body with the Engleman Spruce top without too much difficulty. The guitar came together just as perfectly as I had dreamed about as I designed it. My point is, you CAN build your own guitar if you put your mind to it. I did use friends power tools for some of the work, but you should have access to some tools in this way. Also, I purchased 4 books on the subject, which helped to the max. You can't do it by just knowing how to play guiter, you know. If you'd like further info on the construction process, drop me a line. See Ya Keith Renier (Renier) Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - 9:22 am:    CHRIS: i'm pretty shure the RG560 doesn't have two humbuckers. as far as i know, it's one of the few RG's that has two single coils and a humbucker. (a V2 and 2 S1's) the part about the basswood body and rosewood fretboard is correct. off topic: are there any other RG's with a HSS pup config? best regards, renier Spiro (Spiro) Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - 5:19 pm:    Yes the RG 760 has a HSS config... Shark tooth inlays and no scratch plate Koadude (Koadude) Posted on Sunday, October 05, 2003 - 6:50 pm:    Research!! Ibanez bodies and necks are all different between models (rg,s, jem) and sometimes different between country of origin, ie koean and japanese models differ in the rg line. After building 2 rg 550's I'd say stick with the rg line, preferably 400-500's made in japan, they have the better parts Funkle (Funkle) Posted on Sunday, October 05, 2003 - 9:10 pm:    Getting back to the original post by John, and echoing jester's post, I would recommend a kit as a good starting point. There are the Carvin kits, and Warmoth makes some very nice necks and bodies. The advantage with working with a kit is that everything is fresh and new. You don't have to deal with the problems that may exist in an old beat up pawn shop RG. And stripping the paint is a bear! I've built one guitar from kit parts before, and I was planning to build up a Warmoth guitar, probably a Tele, but I decided I really don't like the shape of the Tele that much, or for that matter, any of the traditional body shapes that Warmoth produces. I guess I'm spoiled by the ergonomics of my Ibanez AMs and Radius. So I've set out to build a guitar mostly from scratch. I've designed the body, and have ordered the wood. It will be super-lightweight ash with a figured anegre wood top. It will have tone chambers like a thinline tele, but the body shape is original. I'll be building it in a professional woodworkers shop (it's great to have friends with woodshops full of machines that cost as much as cars I've decided not to attempt building the neck this time - this will be a Warmoth piece. There's an excellent book on the topic called "Make your own Electric Guitar" by Melvyn Hiscock. I'll post some photos when I'm done. At any rate, I highly recommend this to anyone who has had dreams of building their own guitar. It's not really that difficult, as long as you do your research and work carefully. Just in case anyone is interested, I have drawn up very detailed scale CAD drawing of a Radius/Satriani body. I'd be happy to share this. The idea of an exotic hardwood Radius with an oiled finish and tone chambers just makes me drool. -Sven Koadude (Koadude) Posted on Monday, March 22, 2004 - 6:06 pm:    I would also suggest the 550/560/570 line. As long as the frets are good & the neck is'nt badly cracked where the locking nut bolts comes thru the neck you'll be in good shape. If you love the way an Ibanez plays you can buy on ebay, otherwise check pawn shops or guitar center takes trade ins. I've built 3 RG550 based guitars, actually got one that was ash from Ebay parts. The japanese and korean parts are different. korean models (100-400)necks do'nt fit japanese models without alteration, but it can be done. Basswood is a soft wood when compared to ash, alder & mahog and on top of it Ibanez bodies are usually 3 pc.s of unmatched wood, thus the paint job. I like the 550's because all electronics are mounted on the pickguard like a strat, the body is top routed, not like the 560-570 models. Do'nt forget that wizardI &II neck pockets on the body are different. Do'nt get involved w/S series the parts are fewer on Ebay though it does have a mahog body. I have 12 guitars, 1/2 Warmoth and 1/2 Ibanez that I've built from parts and the Warmoths cost twice as much and require more work, granted I have hardwood bodies on the Warmoths the tonal difference between basswood and hard wood is negligible. The 550's I've built will blow away anything on the market priced under $800. Rain Username: Rain Registered: 09-2005 Posted on Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 9:20 pm:    I am working on a bass first I was remaking an old cort eletric bass but after I got the paint off it was 1 1/2"ply so I rebuilt it from scratch I made the body out of poplar (think thats how you spell it) and the neck and the fret board out of mahogony but its a fretless I want to learn or try to teach myself how to inlay Ibanezfreak1960 Username: Ibanezfreak1960 Registered: 03-2004 Posted on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 6:44 am:    Welcome to ICW Rain! Rain is one of my guitar students who is studying cabinet making in high school. His 1st guitar building project was a pretty good! I was really impressed by it. Rain, pay attention to a guy named Spiro and Jim Donahue who is a former Ibanez guy that builds his own stuff today. They post some very useful info here on ICW. Jeffsailor Username: Jeffsailor Registered: 01-2004 Posted on Friday, September 30, 2005 - 10:10 am:    Rain, Check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0879308354/qid=1128089116/sr=8-1/r ef=pd_bbs_1/002-5097888-1380819?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 Larry Robinson's work is spectacular. He gives a very straight forward explanation on the techniques of inlay. You can buy everything you need at Stewart-MacDonald: www.stewmac.com Good luck and welcome aboard. js Rain Username: Rain Registered: 09-2005 Posted on Monday, October 03, 2005 - 9:24 pm:    I checked them outthat inlay book was cool so were the tools I want to get a wood bender to make acoustics does anybody know how to do it without a wood bender

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