manland - the prospective project [Mig-29]

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Wed Jul 14, 2010 8:02 pm

so i'm out of town and away from all of my own tools, guitars, and everything else for the next while..
but what i do have access too is a nice shop a bunch of tools, and someone who knows a thing or five about wood working.

i'm deciding on what kind of wood to build this puppy from
essentially a modified mustang, probably 25.5" scale (with a 24" conversion neck, as i have a cv duo neck), and a jazzy tail piece

but as i'm not at home, and don't have access to my mustang body, the cyclone body, or a jaguar, who wants to help me with some templates?

what i need:
mustang template: body shape, neck pocket, pickups.
jaguar template: body shape, tremlo route, neck pocket
jagstang template: body shape, neck pocket

essentially i love the mustang, love the jaguar, and jag stang, but want more of a mustang body with a slightly more jagish lower horn, and i figure the easiest way will be to overlay the templates and sort out the body, its all in my head roughed out. but once i have those i can start my design sketches and post a bunch of things for you cats..

i'm naming it a mig-29 for now, but who knows what it will be when finished.. ie: if i scrap the custom body and do a mustang/whatever, then it will just be that guitar.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:35 am

google helped me steal a template from OSG [member nickolabulous]
looks like it might work

nickolabulous wrote:Here is the new version of the template:
http://www.hotrodandcustoms.com/webpics ... dyver2.pdf

as i'm mostly concerned with neck pocket, pickups, and shape, and moding the shape once traced out onto MDF is easier then doing it from memory.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:44 am

i'm contemplating building it out of some found Oak that is sitting around here, the issues is that the pieces are only 1" thick, so i would have to glue them together so i have 2" of wood to work with..
other options include hemlock (is a softwood though, so possibly a bad plan) or i read somewhere that you can make a guitar out of pine... history has proven to me that spruce will not work as the neck will pop right out due to tension issues.
what are your thoughts shortscale?
i'm headed down to a wood shop tomorrow to pick up some stuff for a fence i'm helping build, and probably pick up a 2x12x8 to put together a body blank..

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:58 am

i took another look at the oak that i have available (used ot be a table top.. its about 50 years old i've been informed)

but again they are 1" thick.. and i'm not sure how well they could be bonded together..

i sent a text off to robert(original) in regards to using Pine
his response was this

robert(original) wrote:Any wood will work just fine. Even plywood. The first teles were made out of pine

did a bit more research, appears that pine bodies show dings and scratches a bit more.. and i'm a bit of a "heavy handed" player, and i believe that HotRod once (or twice) has reprimanded me on my throwing of guitars... so that could be a poor choice, but certainly a cost effective one.

having built a body using spruce before, i know that is not a viable option as the tension from using 11's on the neck has this wonderful effect of pulling the neck out of the pocket.. but that could have been the bad build job (aka not letting things cure)

i've read a bit about wood hardener, has anyone here tried it before?

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:08 am

reprimanded you? really?

i don't remember that.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:32 am

The Classic Vibe 50's Telecasters are made out of pine.
My room mate has one and though it hasn't seen prolonged abuse, it did take a bad slamming against a wall and a mic stand once and all it got was a nasty paint chip. Glop enough poly clear on that sucker and it'll take plenty a beating, is what I say.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:41 am

serfx wrote:having built a body using spruce before, i know that is not a viable option as the tension from using 11's on the neck has this wonderful effect of pulling the neck out of the pocket.

That sounds to me like a problem with the neck or the screws you were using more than the body unless you mean the screws would rip out of the body and come out still attached to the neck, in which case

but also:

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 7:01 am

i think the issue was with the screws, or possibly the fact that it was a jackson neck on the body...
who knows..
i could end up with a bunch of different options by weeks end..

hotrod, it was due to some video thing i had done, i went to look for it again but the youtube account is deleted. and i finally found the thread
it was othomas2, not you, i apologize for the mistake, in my head it was you. thred in question.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:25 am

The new Esquires are made out of pine. So far, the one I have has been great.

The wood grain is pretty awesome too. I think you'd be surprised that it is actually more sturdy than people make it out to be.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 7:06 pm

from a cost vs effort vs skillset i'm going with pine
will pick it up today (if time permits) get it cut and glued into a good size plank, do some shots, and get my template sketching started.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 2:41 am

Awesome!
Pine is the right thing, bro.
I'm pretty intrigued as to how that's going to look.
Hope you post some sketches and tracings and whatnot.

Shaguar · Post by **Shaguar** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:13 am

If you're going out to pick up wood, why not just pick up some poplar or something?

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 7:49 pm

picked up a 2x10x8 pine board ($25 not so bad) , and am now working on the body design before i cut and glue it together

poplar wood is not quite as accessible in Alberta as in New Brunswick i would imagine, that and they didn't have anything in that i would buy. (and more cost etc..) they did have some very beautiful ash, but not within my price range.

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:07 pm

so i combined the mustang template with a jazzmaster template, kind of.. but its not going to look much like a jag-stang..

but first.. a concept i had done a few years ago, when i wanted to combine something similar to the malik-caster

► Show Spoiler

anyways here are some shots of the diagram thus far, now to trace it onto one piece of paper, before i then go and make a template from it

► Show Spoiler

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:37 pm

upon doing a one piece trace so that i can then make a template i'm thinking that it may end up a little back heavy...

either way i now have the dimensions i need to make my body template.. (ie the wood..) so i can get that cut and glued..
while i ponder this design.
i appreciate all feedback, including the wtf its a lame kurdtz rip off, fucker just maybe throw somethign constructive in so i can see what you would do.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:42 pm

Definitely a bit butt-strong.
I would trim it down by like an inch, while preserving the profiles, if that makes any sense...

Hmm... That's goinna fuck with your trem placement...

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:21 pm

That first concept you did awhile ago is HAWT!

It makes me really want to build one.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 pm

I think it looks neat. I infinitely prefer the mustang-upper-horn-with-a-jaggy-bottom-horn to the other way around.

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:48 pm

your original lower horn looks weird, so i redid it and the jaguar lower horn looks better than i thought it would.

you should follow the original line you have under that trace. click the spoiler to see mine. the quicker you do it, the easier it is to see what i changed.

► Show Spoiler

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Fri Jul 16, 2010 11:40 pm

i see what you did there...
i'm going to try something slightly in between i think...

*edit: no new posts so fuck it
here is concept 2