# Hollowbody guitar



## gmm (Sep 1, 2008)

A little hobby of mine , more like an obsession. Laquer finish, maple rosewood. I did everything from the body to the neck (fretboard as well).(my third attempt).


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## widekerf (Aug 9, 2008)

Beautiful work--finish particularly nice. Analine dye? Keep meaning to try one of those, just never seem to get around to it Maybe I'm afraid it will become an obsession with me too. Now if mine turned out to sound as good asyours looks, I'd most likely build little else.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

That's beautiful work! A hollow body has to be harder than a solid body too. Nice shape to, and a very nice finish! I'd love to see it complete with hardware.


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## Terry Beeson (May 29, 2008)

Very nice...

Only one thing wrong with it... NO STRINGS!!! LOL...

No tone adjustment? Just volume? The humbucker is a little to close to the neck for my taste, but will give a good sound none the less.

You did the fret board from scratch? Do you have a pattern for fret placement? Wow... that's very kewl!!! A couple of stap locks and you're ready to go!! (Well, and strings...)


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## gmm (Sep 1, 2008)

*more info*

Thanks for all the compliments, I appreciate it.
Here are the only pics I have on hand with the strings on, ha,

For the fret board I bought a 1/4 in thick piece of rosewood from Rockler Woodworking, and using a hand plane and a sanding block that had been shaped to the proper radius(stewmac.com), I shaped the face. Using a fret "ruler" I marked the fret locations. Before tapering the rosewood, I used a miter box and a fret saw to cut the grooves. (The fret wire you can buy online or at local guitar repair shops) the most difficult part believe it or not was pressing or hammering the fret wire in, then dressing the edges with a small file without damaging the wood. I used a flat long block and fine sandpaper to sand the tops of the fret slightly to flatten everything out. That went fairly well. I think the frets are a bit too high still, but I don't have any string buzz anywhere from any one particular fret being too high or too low.

For the finish I used japan color from rockler, bulletin red. I thinned it out with mineral spirits and sprayed it on. It comes out with a flat finish. Then I put about three coats of valspar clear laquer that I was able to find at a local paint store. After spraying and letting it dry, I ran the whole range of sandpaper to flatten the surface. I used these micro mesh foam blocks for the first time, I believe the grade went to 12000 which worked well to remove all fine scratched. I used a meguiars polishing compound and a swirl remover with a hand held buffer (next time I'll use a stationary buffer)(several hours of buffing.)

but in a nutshell that 's about it. A lot of experimentation with previous projects/ Though you can find a lot of info on line, its really hard to understand how some of these products work without actually going out and trying them. I have a few bombs that I will spare you from seeing ha, but its all a good learning curve. I still have a lot to learn , but enjoying the lessons.
Thanks again! If anyone would like any specific info about this project or building guitars, feel free to ask,, It is difficult to try to figure it all out at first.


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## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

Now that looks like a guitar! Chet Atkins would be proud! :thumbsup:


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

very nice. Looks like a great project! First you get the satisfaction of building it and now you get the satisfaction of playing it. 

John


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## Terry Beeson (May 29, 2008)

Did you make the tailstock?

As for the fret height, you did exactly right. If you still think the frets are too high, go for flattening them even more. But if you don't have a buzz and you're not having to use a lot of pressure to chord the guitar, should be no sweat.

Depending on what you plan to do with the axe, you want the action set for the style of playing. With that one humbucker at the neck, the frets and strings being a little high will be great for clean rhythm style playing. But for lead licks, a player might want a lower action.

My old bandmate lead player took his tele and sanded the frets down and lowered the action where the strings were low enough that you could almost blow on the strings and make a chord.

I've always wanted to build a guitar, but don't think I would attempt setting the fret spaces myself even with a fret ruler. Grizzly has a few kits that I've been eyeing, though.

Nice axe!!!


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