A Slow Start

So it begins. Well, kind of. At least the idea. I have always had the dream of building my own guitar someday, but I never thought it would actually happen. It seemed like there was too much involved and too many required skills I didn't have as well as a variety of tools that are way too expensive for a tight budget like mine. But still, the dream was there, so I would often find myself reading blogs like this one where people had posted their experience of making guitars. By doing so, I gained a lot of ideas and it showed me that it wasn't altogether impossible for me to do this.

 

The idea for this guitar began while I was at work. I took a post-it note and a pencil and sketched out a rough design. I really liked it and decided this is what I wanted my first guitar to look like. (I also toyed with some names.)


I was very exited about this of course and wanted to start right away. I didn't have any wood, but I found a large piece of masonite that my work allowed me to use. I took it home and decided to first make my templates which would be very useful, well essential actually. A good place to start. However, I was a little uneasy about this because I knew certain measurements need to be very precise. That's when I had the idea. I noticed my guitar looked very similar to a Les Paul and I took advantage of that. I went online and found a free template of a Les Paul guitar that I could print out. I had to use several pieces of paper and then taped them together to complete the full sized template. I then "modified" it to resemble my own design. By doing this, I knew that it would give me that guide that I needed.

Once I had that completed, I carefully traced the outline of the body onto the masonite I had acquired. I actually needed two identical templates for different uses so I fixed one masonite piece on top of another, before I traced the outline. Once that was done I proceeded to cut out the pattern using the scroll saw that my in-laws purchased for me at a yard sale (THANK YOU!) VERY tedious work, especially since I had only used the scroll saw for the first time that day. But it came out well. Some of the edges were a bit rough, so I took a flat file and smoothed them out a bit as well as using small drum sander attached to my cordless drill to work it until I was pleased.






Finally! I had accomplished the first step! It made me feel good knowing my project was actually under way.