I am compiling an ongoing list of resources that can be used to aid in building custom musical instruments. I’d really like to add my knowledge to the internet world to help younger builders feel more confident in their building abilities. On this page you’ll find information and downloads available to you for free.
!!!Follow this build while in progress!!!
Plywood Guitar: Are you new to building guitars? Do you want to try something different? Well, I'm putting the debate about using "junk" lumber to the test. I'm putting up the step by step process I take for building guitars as well as doing it with construction grade plywood. Let's see if you can get great tone from Home Depot lumber shall we?
Wooddustsafteysheet.pdf This is the OSHA guidelines for wood dust safety. Building guitars should be fun not cancerous! Do yourself a favor and read it.
The Wood Handbook: This book has it all from wood working to wood safety and it's all here ready to download in PDF format. I obviously didn't write this book but I support it and feel it's a great resource for learning!
Labor_Cost_time_sheet.doc This is a sheet that I use to track the amount of time that I spend building a guitar. In my opinion a guitar shouldn’t cost as much as a car but you can’t work for free. So, this sheet will help you keep track of where your time goes and it will help you with figuring out how much you should be charging for your time.
Parts_Cost_Sheet.dochave you ever sat down and tried to figure out how much a build actually cost you in parts and supplies? This form will help you keep all of your supply costs in one place. Although you should always keep shipping invoices for tax purposes it can also be convenient to have a sheet of supplies needed in your shop just to make sure you don’t put a TOM where a Floyd should be.
Kahler_baseplate.pdf Here is a to scale blueprint for the base plate of a Kahler Hybrid 7300 flat mount. You can use this to make a shim for your bridge which is commonly done for guitars with steeper neck angles. You can see a shim in action by checking out the EXV Dominator Prototype. Just print it at 100%, cut it out and use it as a tracing template. You can also put the blueprint in a CAD enabled CNC and make your own precision shim. I suggest using metal stock like aluminum and the coating it the particular color that you need.
Neck_Drop_Calculator.xls This is an awesome spreadsheet that helps you determine the appropriate amount of neck angle for the specific bridge, scale and fret board thickness you’ll be using to build your guitar. This is being used by permission of “Years of Decay”. Check him out on MySpace. Also, if you’d like more information on this there is a forum thread on the MCS forum. Read more here.
boardfootcalc.xls Have you ever gotten confused when an online seller had their prices listed by board foot? Well Arch55 from the Woodnet forum sent this Excel calculator to me which is a great way to figure the exact BF size and cost of that board you are interested in.
Bushing And Knob Puller: This is a cheep way to build a useful T.O.M. and knob puller out of local hardware materials. It’s a cost effective alternative to those that you might find in luthier equipment catalogues.
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