The tuner holes should be marked and drilled, then the headstock designed and cut out and sanded till your happy with the shape. It is acceptable only on most inexpensive guitars. The reason I started dabbling in the realm of woodworking was so I could make my own guitar. Stains should be applied before the finish if desired. Aiersi Brand Small 38 Inch Cutway Lindenwood Colour Acoustic Guitar Model SG026C-38 Look for a change in grain direction at the edges of the soundhole. If the description is “spruce top”, without the word solid, it is in all probabilities, a laminate top. Frets: 15 Frets 12. I don't know about material not mattering. Arch top guitars allow electrification and minimize feedback for live performance on stage. I cut the wood for the neck (487.5 + 200 + a bit extra) 700mm by 25mm. Face Material: Plywood 2. Is it possible to construct something so efficient out of wood? I used a piece of scrap indian rosewood because it looks nice. I mean it's kind of an unconventional neck. If a wood is not specifically labelled as solid, it’s safest to consider it to be a laminate. If anything: wood/the body .... is the black hole for vibrations and like The Roach Motel: vibrations check in - but don't check out. Adjust the bridge height to get the right string action. Cap of wood is usually glued over the fingerboard end to hide the layers. Be extra careful with solid guitars if the conditions are dry or if fire is burnt in the house. With age, opening up happens, whereby the wood fibers gradually loosen to provide clear & warm sound and additional volume. At some point the voids should be filled with splinters of wood and glue. The TENSION of the string itself - dampens most of the motion since it wants to stop vibrating and return to rest. Most plywood tends to have voids in it, now is a good time to fill these. Then use a saw with an appopriate kerf width (0.6mm or so) to cut each slot. That's all there is too it. So, buying solid top guitar with laminate back and sides is perfectly reasonable. If I understand mid_life_crisis correctly, the strings attach to the body at the ends of the string. Generally, laminates hold very well through short term climate changes,abusive treatment and travel. Tuning Peg Material: Plastic 7. It maintains rigidity of sound chamber and helps in sound projection. I teach guitar-making for a living. What if the degree of absorption differed in relation to the characteristics of the material the witness points were seated. @CarlMaltby: Now who's baiting ... "stupid" cardboard instruments, eh? It is important to draw on the fretboard the position of the nut so you dont forget which way round the trussrod is or accidentally cut into the trussrod while shaping the headstock. Mark out and drill the bridge post holes, one of these holes need another hole drilled between it and the control cavity so a ground wire can be connected to the bridge. The wood (of a slab guitar in this case, not an acoustic instrument) , cannot shake the bridge or it's hardware and other hardware sufficiently to cause the string to start shaking harder (more volume) or longer in time (increased sustain). Most times I admire those kinds of thoughts, but they are IMHO most positively - and IMHO constructively --- wrong, IMHO, Reply I used a 7.8mm string spacing. By that logic, then the wood is somehow ferrous and emits magnetic waves, right? Cut the fretwire into appropriate lengths, Install each fret in its' slot with a little glue, File the fret ends down and put a 45 degree angle on them, Level the frets (I used 120grit sandpaper glued to a spirit level). The position of the trussrod needs to be marked so that the trussrod adjuster approximately lines up with the nut. Plywood? Get some cheap tools for woodworking and practice. Back and sides of any guitar have different acoustic functions than that of the top. Laminate is made up of several layers of wood glued together. Guitar Fretboard – Learn About Frets in Acoustic Guitars, Acoustic Guitar Neck – A Brief Guide to Function, Woods, Shape, Relief & Truss Rod. China Acoustic guitar catalog of [Winzz] 40" Spruce Plywood Araucaria Rosewood Fingerboard Cutaway Acoustic Guitar, All Size Hand Rubbed Process Round and Cutaway Body Acoustic Guitar (AF-GH00L) provided by China manufacturer - Aileen Music Co., Ltd., page1. Leo Fender has a lot to answer for with his clever but frugal approach to making guitars. Laminated guitars carry many of the tonal properties of the outer layer wood as this part vibrates with the string. Since in no way would magnetic pickups vibrate, nor the wood around them, and the only job a magnet does is sit there waiting to detect the string moving in its aperture. Plywood is not effective for tops as it can’t vibrate in a way required to produce good sound. Acoustic Guitar Tail Block 6 Reviews; For Dreadnought. plug in their guitars and control sound quality through electronics. Great instructable, and a really nice looking instrument! I'm not rising to that bait. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice 'ible, but those purists aren't wrong. Install the fret 22, 23 and 24. For the control cavity the locations of the controls should be marked then a pilot hole drilled all the way through the body so a cavity shape can be designed on the back of the guitar around them. The Inner Ply, visible through the sound hole, should usually be the same wood as outermost veneer. 4 years ago. " The strings aren't floating in mid air over the pickups. Examine the guitar. Newton's Law of Conservation of Energy: "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in thatstate of motion unless an external force is applied to it. Item # 1136. It has upgraded tuners, an adjustable bridge, ebony fingerboard, and a detachable/adjustable endpin with a … Radius sanding blocks are also available. Files, Rasps, Sandpaper glued to a flat piece of wood etc. The router also left a much neater hole, but either method is fine. Making acoustic guitars, however, takes a real artist. (I hope you were not just basically explaining that would isn't metal with this part. I roughed it out using a belt sander, though this was fairly innaccurate. This type of plywood is made from three 1mm thick sheets of either birch or low quality mahogany. The fact of the matter is that in reality whether or not a body material is resonant and how it resonates has no influence over magnetic pickups. ", Question This process is  most efficient and retains ornamental grain pattern in comparison to other milling methods. Professional grade acoustic guitars have their top, back and sides made up of solid woods, while beginner and intermediate grade guitars are made partly or even entirely with plywood and are sometimes also referred to as plywood guitars. Participated in the Full Spectrum Laser Contest 2016. I have a pair of old Teisco/Kawai guitars with plywood middles. Because there are truths contained in them that are valid IMHO. If the guitar was less elastic, it would not return to its original position but slowly over time deteriorate. Full-size 41 inch cutaway dreadnought body for full and vibrant tone, suited for all styles of music. huh? Look for plies on inside edge of sound hole. Plywood is just a different material with different engineering properties to solid wood, so as far as that goes, cool. This arrangement results in high strength. Is it affected by seasonal humidity? The edges need to be shaped. I will take the bait, but feel that you've included the answer in your explanation. His comment was something along the lines of "maybe the pickups got a different number of windings or the body got an extra shot of paint or something." Different woods will affect it differently and that vibration is what is exciting the pickups. It is best to cut fairly oversize to be safe. Party on !! Required fields are marked *. With sawdust and glue or my prefered method of applying superglue then sanding over it while the superglue is still wet, then repeating till filled and smooth, this only works for smaller voids. We stock the sheets in whole 5'x5' dimensions, but shipping restrictions prevent us from shipping whole sheets. This cuts down on the cost of the guitar, but it also generally cuts down on the tone and volume of the guitar. Plies in laminate may separate over period of time due to excessive changes in temperature and humidity, leading to a loose section. Almost all acoustic guitars with a price tag under $1000 are made of laminate sides and backs. Laminate fingerboard is weak and potentially unstable. I wish I had the ear and the talent to play and ability to build. With the strings being held by the two final contact points (witness points), when the string is plucked - it vibrates inside the aperture of the magnetic field(s) of the magnets. What is a small patch repair job on solid guitars, requires cutting out and replacing an entire section in laminate. I used 24 frets and a 650mm scale length (approximately the standard 25.5inch) which gave 487.5mm to the 24th fret. Therefore, I think you over-reacted to his post and were unduly hard on him. Alibaba.com offers 1,146 linden plywood acoustic guitar products. The main benefit of a completely solid wood guitar is tone. Plywood shatters when punctured making it difficult to repair. There is 0 electrical energy within dead wood, so nothing there for a pickup to be influenced by. Consider that the strings are attached in a 'musical' instrument, and the only point(s) witnessed are therefor the last contact points of both ends of the strings and not the anchoring point(s) on the guitar, including the tuning capstans. I thought I would attempt to improve plywood's poor reputation and to really hammer home the point I decided to make the neck and fretboard from plywood too, which as far as I can tell hasn't been done before (multilaminated necks have been but they appear to have the grain all in line which disqualifies them from plywood status). The body of the guitar affects that vibration. The three sheets are held together with relatively thick glue layers. HPL, or High-Pressure Laminate materials are becoming more commonplace in guitar construction. This is most difficult to hide in the area under the fingerboard. It's great that you built a guitar in the first place, however isn't it a bit passive-aggressive in baiting or labelling people as "purists"? When would it stop if it could just cycle from the string, through the hardware, into the wood and back out again, only to continuously repeat this cycle until Armageddon? I made all straight cuts with my brothers fancy new circular saw, but a panel saw would work just as well. Electric guitar bodies tend to be smaller than 340mm by 440mm so that's how big the body pieces should be cut, unless you want an oversize body. Trying to be positive and constructive here! China Acoustic Guitar wholesale - Select 2020 high quality Acoustic Guitar products in best price from certified Chinese Guitar manufacturers, Musical Instruments suppliers, wholesalers and … Re-animation of the strings or rattling the pickups sufficiently enough to generate electrons and cause them to flow is in league with validating the theory of perpetual motion for discussion. One word that comes up over and over in these discussions is the word plywood. He wanted a dense material that would be neutral and NOT resonant. Lamination in these parts by juxtaposing cross grained sections imparts strength. Alder: full and rich, with fat low-end, nice cutting mids, and good overall warmth and sustain. In stock, ready to ship! I also superglued the inserts in place for luck. Inexpensive guitars may even have fingerboards made of plywood. A wide variety of linden plywood acoustic guitar options are available to you, such as body material, combo set offered, and type. Believing that sending energy back through a heavy hardware piece (the bridge assembly and all it's components) --- at the bottom of the string is equal to believing in perpetual motion. play in a band where the sound is not exposed. I highlighted the outline as it was blurry. If using a tune-o-matic style bridge like me you will need to make a break angle for the neck. 6 layers are required to make up the width, plus a few extra layers just at the headstock. If the material that the guitar is made of is soft then the contact points of the strings to the guitar will be more sluggish than if they attached to a more rigid material and you will get less sustain. Excerpted from the 1994 Acoustic Guitar article “Tapping Tonewoods.” ... A finely made plywood guitar, for instance, will likely sound superior and be more resonant than a poorly built rosewood guitar—just as the finest guitar made from premium Adirondack spruce and Brazilian rosewood will only sound as good as the guitarist playing it. Now, I have done some woodwork with plywood myself and I know that they lamination has both awesome qualities and not so awesome qualities due to the perpendicular nature of the layers. I believe it would to to some degree however miniscule and that degree would vary with different characteristics of different materials. Size: 23" 11. A flat point to connect to the body must be left, about 70mm long. Baltic Birch Plywood Use this void-free plywood for your shop jigs, utility cabinets, or functional furniture projects. However, Guitar industry prefers to use the word laminate exclusively. Put the strings on then you can cut the string slots in the nut (I don't have any good advice on this, for the larger ones I used a small saw but for slots smaller than 0.6mm I had to just cut them out with a chisel, which was quite hard to do and didn't work that well. However, inexpensive and cheap guitars may have even junk wood or a composite. Ideally, central ply should be of same wood as other layers. This isn't essential but makes it easier. I think your inclusion was a mis-read. The neck of the acoustic guitar is usually made from Mahogany, particularly with steel string guitars and often Spanish Cedar for Nylon string guitars. How is the neck working after one year? I glued these together in 3s, to make two halves which I later sandwiched the trussrod between. However, Guitar industry prefers to use the word laminate exclusively. Long term tests and their results are not well documented. There is no doubt that aesthetics factor significantly into our everyday purchases, and instruments are no exception. The tone profile is flat with not well rounded bass or crisp highs. Learn more about the wood for necks here. I did a neck from plywood (but at 90' to your arrangement) -- is that near enough to claim "prior art" :), https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Hero-Guitar/. The rest of the neck should just be finished in with whatever varnish you like, could use superglue too. Enter your scale length and number of frets into a fret position calculator (https://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator), the distance from the nut to the last fret plus about 200mm is how long the wood for the neck must be cut. This 36 inches 3/4 travel size Linden plywood acoustic guitar set is ideal for the beginning to intermediate musician. Laminate tops have less finished coarse grained inside surface. Mark out and drill holes for the screws or bolt in the body then transfer the hole positions onto the neck by clamping the neck in plane and pushing the drill used to make the holes through. The Outermost plywood is the visible one and is a finished veneer made of mahogany, maple, rosewood etc. http://www.tundraman.com/Guitars/NeckAngle/, Bandsaw- A jigsaw or coping saw would also work, just take longer, Fret slotting saw- Apparently a junior hacksaw works for this, I have a little dremel attachment that worked ok, Plane- At least as large as a No.4, I used a No.7 which is an amazing tool. One of the primary laws of universal physics is that you don't get somehting from nothing. Bracing are rigid and do not move but top can shrink and crack if the condition swings are great. The Control cavity needs to be lined with grounded copper foil. You're right! In an "all solid wood" acoustic guitar, each body wood component is solid, and not layered or laminated: that means the top, back, and sides are all made from solid wood components. You wrote a great long diatribe based on a false premise. A router with roundover bit is easiest, but files and sandpaper would also work, or perhaps a belt sander. Did you make this project? In solid top guitars, wood grain is visible through the entire width of the top like a ladder. I used a smaller dremel circular saw to cut these slots as I wanted the slots to end before the edge of the fretboard, to do this the neck shed should be marked first so you dont cut beyond the lines. Well designed plywood top guitar with fair price can be suitable for a beginner. I didn't buy enough fretwire. So, only very inexpensive guitars or old models from some companies use plywood tops. The Central Ply, or the second layer, is also known as the core. Adjust the truss rod while the strings are tight so the neck is straight (or very slightly bowed?). Also, I think that BIlly Gibbons and mid life crisis' points should not be disregarded so readily. I have nothing but respect for an artist who can make his own tools. Any twists or warps (although plywood I believe is stiffer than wood)? However much more or less miniscule respectively. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. These can vary depending on what you want your string spacing to be. I'm not sure how well screws would hold in plywood in this orientation so recommend using the threaded inserts, these are also ideal if you have to remove the neck a number of times. Cut around the outline, a bandsaw is ideal but a jigsaw or coping saw would also work. It has an impressive quality, and is a remarkably affordable option. Using a chisel and mallet or a router cut out the cavity. Solid top guitars improve with age. What are the tonal differences on solid body guitars, between Alder, Ash, Poplar, Basswood, Mahogany and Maple? Laminates are more stable and durable than solid woods. Good look at the end of the fingerboard above the sound hole can expose layers of lamination. Energy IN = Energy OUT {minus} Resistance. In the world of guitars, terms plywood and laminate are used interchangeably. The trussrod should be about 6mm below the surface of the fretboard face of the neck. I made my first acoustic guitar!! Guitars are typically built in 40 to 50% relative humidity conditions and remain best under these conditions. Few hobbies combine woodworking skills, a keen ear and patience in the same way making acoustic guitars does. "The body was made from blockboard (strips of softwood sandwiched between two plywood skins) with oak inserts in the top and bottom layers sourced from an old table. But more accurate reflection of the tonal qualities of the wood used, depends on the type and quality of wood used for core and inner ply. That is exactly why Dan Armstrong had the idea of building a guitar body from lucite. and different degrees/ more efficiently designed machines incorporate better materials to minimize that. This whole process takes some time. The aim is to make is roughly D shape and for the thickness to be around 21mm. Any other problems? There is no perfect machine. I decided to use cedar, maybe this would add to the "warmth of the sound". Concert vs dreadnought – Which Body style is Right for You? My son often bends his guitar slightly by pushing on the upper part of the body just above the front pickup. No electrical generation would result - no output, no music. 41" Basswood Plywood Acoustic Guitar , Find Complete Details about 41" Basswood Plywood Acoustic Guitar,Acoustic Guitar White,Global Acoustic Guitar,Acoustic Electric Guitar from Guitar Supplier or Manufacturer-Jinan Xuqiu Musical Instrument Co., Ltd. Step 2: Design Decisions, Cutting and Gluing. The cheaper laminates used for instrument making some sort of "junk" wood for the interior layer and it is often at 90 degrees to the grain on the faces. Martin Guitars, in particular, have a line made partially, or almost completely, from HPLs.  As a guitar construction material, there are a lot … This is usually not the case with cheaper guitars, where need for visual appeal is minimal. Put those pickups on a different wood-slab guitar and voila,it will sound the same. Some manufacturers use inner ply with grain patterns which makes it harder to visually tell if it is solid or plywood. Martin introduced low-end Sigma line of laminates to counter Japanese competition in 1970s. Router- not essential but probably the most useful tool, 1/4 sheet of 12mm HARDWOOD plywood (2ftx4ft), Screws or bolts with threaded inserts to attach the neck to the body, Potentiometers for volume and tone controls, Self adhesive copper foil- to line the control cavity with, To avoid having to cut the fret slots you could buy a preslotted fretboard, Control cavity cover- sheet of plastic or something. So, different wood makes different sound. Just get a cheap guitar and practice. Thhats really cool, maybe you should learn to play!! If you can overcome the annoyances, then I think plywood is nice to work with. Clamp the neck into its' correct position on the body, line it up with the centre marks. Share it with us! These veneers are made by milling process called as rotary cutting. inch spruce sapele plywood folk acoustic guitar light Acoustic Guitar About this item. Not everyone realizes that just like furniture you can have solid wood or plywood guitars. Some of the possible ways are: Read through the sales literature and merchandise tags. Use a router to cut the neck pocket out. When a string is fretted, that then becomes a witness point. That small flow of electricity then ultimately travels to the amplifier where it is reproduced in great volume. Neck Material: Basswood 5. Just chisels could probably also work, but would be quite hard to make accurate. Guild began using laminates for back and sides in mid 1970s. While the difference in sound quality is very distinct between all laminate, back and sides laminate and all solid wood guitars. Before marking or cutting anything the fretboard face of each half of the neck should be planed flat, check this with a straight edge. I may not be understanding your point so I may be arguing the same side. There are many to choose from: Oil based varnish, water based varnish, spray laquer, hardening oil (eg. The left-handed fretless instrument features a solid wood neck and a hollow body made of one-eightieth-inch Baltic birch plywood, so the bass is both light and strong. I have a 339, an HR Fusion (recently sold) and a Painter archtop, all plywood and they all Actually, laminate woods are a subject unto themselves. 一 ， popular taylor GS Mini body shape，Hot sale travel size acoustic guitar I believe that an outside source could impart enough vibration on the solid body of the guitar to cause the strings to vibrate and thus induce sound from the pickups. Included is the final mounting point at the bridge, or the body in some designs. It was covered with mahogany marquetry veneer on the top, bottom and side to give it the appearance of a solid-body guitar. With the pickup cavities marked out, use a drill with a depth marker on it to remove the bulk of the wood to a depth just beyond the pickups depth. Diecast: Plastic 10. In the world of guitars, terms plywood and laminate are used interchangeably. on Step 5. This may make laminate guitars more attractive visually than solid wood instruments. The depth should be made so the fretboard is about 6mm above the body. Most inexpensive guitars even have laminate tops. I reccomend covering the fretboard in superglue, then sanding down and repeating a few times, it leaves a hard finish and is very quick, by the time you've made a pass with the glue the beginning will be ready for sanding. The problem was that the plywood used was intended for general construction work and not for building guitars. Plywood gets alot of stick in the guitar world, being reserved for mostly only the cheapest guitars. I may not be getting your explanation correctly regarding this either. In this, a thin continuous layer is cut from log of wood similar to peeling skin from any round fruit. tung oil, tru-oil, Crimson Guitars do a guitar finishing oil). Cut out this cavity leaving about 4mm thickness of wood. In recent times, laminates are even being used in good flattop guitars and some electric archtop guitars. In such cases, these are also called as laminates. Laminate is made up of several layers of wood glued together. :). If so, I apologize for misunderstanding that too). Maybe I've not made sense to anybody but myself. Would it have a dampening effect or nullify vibrations? and the insertion is wrong. Think of it this way. though I may not be understanding the witness point explanation correctly. 1. The MASS of the string wants to return to a neutral position and stop all this activity. Only exception to the rule can be when specific origin of wood is mentioned, like Sitka Spruce. I made a full scale printout of a guitar I wanted to copy but you could draw it freehand, or a combination, use a printout but modify it. Is it stiffer than a neck made of wood? You pluck the string and it vibrates, but the wood surface it's attached to affects how it vibrates by how it absorbs that vibration. All plywood ,top solid and All solid is ok for us .With help of CNC machines, we can provide OEM/ ODM service . It is glued with the outer layer with its grain pointing in perpendicular direction, also referred to as cross-grained configuration. Glue and clamp the body pieces together, I didn't have many clamps so screwed it all together around the edges, though far from ideal it seemed to work ok. You need something to cut around. The fretboard should be made flat, I used a router jig but a plane would also work. Fingerboard Material: Basswood 6. A guitar pickup receives the vibration of magnetic strings within the field they generate and passes that signal through to your amp. Laminate guitars can bring out certain color variations and grain patterns that can be very pleasing to the eye. These may not be sounding really good but may sound better than inexpensive all solid wood guitar. In the context of musical instrument construction the word is almost a pejorative as if someone was trying to build guitars with construction- grade materials. There is always loss drag friction etc. What happened to the demo? Playing an acoustic guitar can be a true art form. Right-hand design, spruce top and Laminated Nato back and sides bring you richer and brighter sound. Now would also be the time to add any ergonomic contouring if desired, I like the simplicity of without though. This 41" full-size spruce plywood acoustic guitar set is ideal for the beginning to intermediate musician. But, like he said, it would be tough to hear the difference. Necks and head stocks are sometimes made by gluing several pieces of wood together. If a coat of paint could make the much difference, the material could. Installing frets is quite a long process and really requires a whole tutorial to itself so I will only briefly list the steps and reccomend finding one of the many guides available. Your email address will not be published. Using a router is by far the easiest way of making the slot for the trussrod, however some careful chiseling would probably work, or maybe a router plane (these can be made with a chisel and piece of scrapwood quite easily), which would be alot more quiet and pleasant to use than an electric router too. Tonewood schmonewood. Think about it: a vibrating (wooden) slab does not induce motion in the wood sufficient to cause electrical generation in the p'ups. As the string vibrates, that vibration decays (in motion) from quite a few physical laws of the universe. The conventional definition for plywood is an odd number of veneer layers with opposing grain directions. About acoustic guitar , we can make various styles with different material . Unless you want a flat fretboard, a radius should be made. * The place from where the string is/are ultimately no longer supported but are suspended, in this case: the top nut & the adjustable "barrel" of the intonation adjuster. Here is a useful calculator for this http://www.tundraman.com/Guitars/NeckAngle/. I put the bridge pickup 50mm centre to centre from the bridge, it could be put closer or further, a little closer would have possibly been better. The saw marks need to be removed with sandpaper and files. Before any shaping is done, it is easiest to mark and cut the fret slots while the neck still has parallel edges to work off. Either make or buy a nut. After reading your reply to mid_life_crisis, I went back to see whether or not he deserved such harsh treatment from you. Some manufacturers use plastic binding or inserts to hide the cross section. Laminate or plywood guitars are much cheaper to manufacture and are typically found in cheaper guitars. I would like to add that different woods have a different coefficient of elasticity. I tried both to see the difference, the chisel took about 20 minutes and the router took about 7 minutes. The string slots need to be cut to the correct width and depth once the rest of the hardware is installed. The metal strings vibrating are what excites the pickups. In electric guitar building it poses major issues with edges and finishing. The pickups should be mounted perpendicular to the centre line, unless you have chosen a telecaster style pickup then it is at an appropriate angle. I would recommend building a guitar, whether out of plywood or more conventional tonewoods. A lot of these tools aren't essential and you can make do without, but all the tools makes life far easier. The top of an acoustic guitar is where you get most of your tone and volume. Inside of an acoustic guitar is bracing for the top and bottom. I sat though the whole build and it looks nice enough. Your instructible is great but I think you read into his reply more than he was saying. With an inspection mirror, look underneath the top. Very well done! Solid guitar tops are glued in the longitudinal middle and to the bracing to provide stability along with their natural resins. No. It is always better to ask again to be 100% sure. Once you are happy with the shape and how well it is sanded the body is ready to start being finished. Practice on all those fronts. Plywood vs solid guitars Showing 1-82 of 82 messages. This is most easily done by putting a wooden shim in the neck pocket and sanding it will it gives the right angle, though a better way is to make a router jig to put the angle on. Reply Dubbed the 'scrapnought'. The argument about 'tone woods' and their relative ability to 'recharge' the energy (current active string vibration) and reinforce that same energy (which it has to do to re-impart energy INTO the string again), begs to violate physical law. Completely solid wood guitars tend to be louder and sounds much richer. This will determine how long the neck is made. I know there are so many that will refute this argument but it makes perfect sense to me. Your email address will not be published. http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiring_r... Make a control cavity cover, this should also be covered on the inside with copper foil. Professional grade acoustic guitars have their top, back and sides made up of solid woods, while beginner and intermediate grade guitars are made partly or even entirely with plywood and are sometimes also referred to as plywood … Similar sort of idea, however Nomex is a lot stiffer by thickness and durable.You're completely right about the cheapness thing. The centre of the body must be found, this is done by marking the centre of where the neck will be attached and by marking the middle along various points along the body then averaging them out with a straight edge. Selling Thompson Plywood Upright bass with violin corners and an oil finish - EXCELLENT CONDITION.Originally purchased from String Emporium. Guitars are normally about 42mm thick but it doesnt really matter, I used 3 layers of 12mm ply which gave 35mm thickness. Nomex would be more appropriate than cardboard. The pickup position must be found, I made the neck protrude into body by 68mm (it joins at the 19th fret) so the neck pickup will start just beyond that. Draw around the neck onto the body. Each kind of body wood has its own characteristic full and resonant sound. The neck pieces need to be cut as straight as possible though. Choose Your Size. Even professionals use laminate guitars, when they. They have a unique sound and look you don't get with the big name stuff.That said... Brian May from Queen, his guitar sounds amazing, and is essentially plywood. Wire it up, this website below has a lot of good wiring diagram, if you can't solder then it would be worth looking at some tutorials. I believe this is just to make the thin wood stronger but positioning of the bracing, its thickness and properties of the wood used can affect the sound of the guitar. Cut the neck so it tapers from about 58mm at the last fret, to about 44mm at the nut. You just have to have one hell of an ear to hear the difference. Apply coats repeatedly till you're happy with it. This method was fiddly and probably not very accurate. It has no physical means of converting signal generated by a guitar body, unless said pickup was extremely poorly made and totally microphonic. An alternative would be cutting the control cavity from the front and mounting the controls to the cover, this would avoid having to make the wood at the bottom of the cavity so thin, which would make it easier to do with just chisels. About 30% of these are Guitar, 0% are Other Musical Instruments & Accessories. Solid wood is much more expensive and is typically found in guitars in higher price ranges. Maple has bright sound, rosewood punchy and mahogany sweet. Cut the nut slot to the correct depth and width (dont change the position of the fret side of it), Cut the nut to shape then glue in place (not too much glue, it needs to be removable just in case). Just buying a nut would be alot easier, then sand the bottom till its the right height). All of that being said; I do agree with the builder and creator of this fine "instructible" The material used isn't as important as the the quality of construction and pickups/ electronics used. Tell me that doesn't totally go against the grain (couldn't resist) of the tonewood argument. Plywood & Sheet Goods; Baltic Birch Plywood; The Ultimate Woodshop Plywood. But, surely there is some vibration induced in the surrounding material that the points are mounted in. Plywood vs solid guitars: clevelandjazz: 2/12/10 7:14 PM: Just curious why folks usually assume solid wood is better? Guitar Sound – Overtones, Balance, Presence & Sustain, Acoustic Guitar Nut – Functions, Materials & Impact of Action. How did you drill the hole from the pickups to the control cavity? Many experts say that due to laminated nature of wood, vibrations don't travel organically as in single piece of wood. Boutique builders will often utilize more exotic wood species, such as Brazilian rosewood, cocobolo, or koa, but the limited supply of these materials means that these options – though visually striking – are simply not available at the more modest price points. Side Panel Material: Plywood 4. and that vibration (of the body: my inclusion) is what is exciting the pickups. " For that I apologize. It is not easy to distinguish between solid wood and plywood. Most solid top guitars are described as solid spruce or solid [top wood name]. It has an impressive quality, and is a remarkably affordable option. Shape the back of the neck using a belt sander, files, rasps, spokeshave (this might not work well on plywood), sandpaper glued to a stick etc. Billy Gibbons (front man for ZZ Top) has a favorite 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard and has purchased ridiculous numbers of them over the years trying to find another with the same tone. Arch-top guitars are made of plywood. If the witness points* of the guitar could somehow cause the wood to vibrate, then the effect would be to nullify the strings vibrating in their respective magnetic apertures. The short video is my friend Joe playing the guitar (Tbh I can barely play) and the long video is the whole building process. Holes need to be drilled between the cavities, so wires may be passed from the pickups to the control cavity. 3 years ago. I think this method of installing the trussrod is unconventional though I am fairly certain it's a good idea, and seems to have worked perfectly well so I recommend it, it avoids a skunk stripe or having to have a separate fingerboard. Some of the best tones EVER were made on 335s and 175s. To position the bridge pickup the bridge position must be found. I used the No.7 plane to straighten it and finish putting the radius on. They can be made to look very comparable to solid wood options at much less cost. Presence of any binding material or any finish in the area is a dead giveaway that guitar has a laminated top. Why does the wood/ the body have to be a black hole and completely absorb all vibrations? To make the guitar sing takes real talent. They're anchored to the guitar at both ends. He's yet to find another one that measures up. Dimensions: (23.03 x 7.48 x 2.16)" / (58.5 x 19 x 5.5)cm(L x W x H) 13. You think the wood vibrates and sends that vibration to the (magnetic) pickups? In acoustic guitar construction plywood is to dense and rigid, it won't allow nice vibration for the sound chamber. Once the trussrod slots are cut in both halves of the neck and you are happy with the fit, glue and clamp the neck together, ideally using more clamps than I did. The pick ups are electromagnets and if the string doesn't wobble inside it's cone of magnetism, there is no sound to be heard or reproduced. Back Material: Plywood 3. I would also recommend using star grounding, where all ground wires stem from one point, and avoid ground loops. Limited supply of these exotic woods and the elaborate processes makes it difficult for these varieties to be available at modest prices. This is so long, it's impossible to proofread on this site. Maple is also common though more common in electric guitars than acoustics. This is called "cutting fields" and it generates a small electron flow. If using threaded inserts drill appropriate sized holes and install them, be very careful not to split the neck. This may be tricky to do with just a chisel. Hopefully this will show people plywood can make a good sounding and attractive guitar. 2. Nut Material: Plastic 8. Does it have any tendency at all to unglue? Something that wouldn't color the sound at all. Vintage Fenders were all over the place in terms of build quality. Laminate guitars, on the other hand, can be made to acce… Here are plywood acoustic guitars which we make for customers . How can these wood vibrations be sufficient to somehow travel back to the string to re-amplify the original vibrations (the note or energy) off the string to make it again wiggle through the magnetic field(s) of the p'ups? If using screws then drill pilot holes. - SUBSCRIBE if you want more on this or my other GREAT projects! Truly awesome video account. Real solid wood guitars sound much better and get better with age, a process known as opening up. Because the strings are always connected to the wood at all times. Gibson Electric spanish have three ply Maple for top and bottom plies, and the center wood is bass. A keen eye can spot these tiny layers in the top if you look at the soundhole opening. Plywood dont crack in dry conditions like solid woods but can swell or distort in humid ones like poorly seasoned solid woods. I can't hear it either, so don't feel all alone. 1. 2 years ago Cross section of laminate appears to be three layers sandwiched together and have little or no vertical grain. But, I gave it a shot. A bobbin sander or sanding drum in a drillpress is ideal but the more manual approach is fine, just longer. Feel free to ask questions and I will answer as best I can. It is recommended to use humidifiers in such times. Each fret position must be measured from the nut, then a line marked using a square. Then try to locate an identical corresponding pattern on the inside. The neck and fretboard should be finished. I thought I'd start with that. For mine, the 19th fret is at 433mm from the nut, to the bridge should be (650 - 433) 217mm from the end of the body, where the 19th fret is. The headstock will need extra layers of wood added to make it wide enough, I added one on the top and 2 on the bottom, but this may vary depending on your headstock design. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Laminate is also called as veneer, more so in the furniture industry. Bridge Material: Plastic 9. So choose your favourite finish or whatever is to hand, I used some oil based floor varnish which dries very hard. Its tone does not change significantly over time. Majority of Guitar Laminates are three - ply construction. At the very least, it's a better project than that stupid cardboard Strat which keeps doing the rounds! Most manufacturers and dealers do not indicate that they use laminates unless they want to sell you guitars in solid wood price range or unless specifically asked about the wood. Files, Rasps, Sandpaper glued to a flat piece of wood etc. However after much searching on the internet I have concluded it doesn't matter what an electric guitar is made from as much as many people might think, if it's well made and setup at least. I would love to soundproof many rooms of my house with this technology. Look for knot, pattern or texture on the outer wood. Alder is generally considered to be one of the "traditional" Stratocaster body woods. From the nut to the bridge. Fully Plywood Guitar AKA How to Annoy Purists Step 1: Materials and Tools. Though making a guitar was quite a challenge, it was easier than I expected, and was very fun. But beyond a certain price point, there is a diminishing return on sound quality.