MIMF

Hi Everyone,
Frank here! I've been wanting to build a guitar for the longest time, and just recently started to make my first. I decided to make an SG style. I have an extensive background in woodworking, but unfortunately I have never picked up a guitar in my life, so I do not play. I simply choose to make one because I thought it would be a challenging project......and the little research I've done is telling me I'm correct - lol. Anyway, I'm hoping to get some good advice here and also get good building tips and techniques. While I do not have any specialized guitar making tools, I do have what you would expect in an average woodworking shop. So far I'm most of the way into the body of the guitar, but I do know the majority of the work is in the neck and fretboard. The attached pic shows the body so far.....made with a couple of pieces of burl surrounded by epoxy resin (still rough sanded until I'm done with all the cavities, of course). I also cutout a cavity for the neck and partial cavity for the pickups. Looking forward to digging into these posts! Any feedback based on the pic would be great!

Thanks,
Frank

Welcome to the forum Frank!
I like the epoxy around wood idea, been thinking of try one myself.

The biggest mistakes in a first build usually happen in the routing stage, or in the neck line up/scale length stage.
Are you building from a guitar that you have access to for measurements?

Gordon Bellerose wrote:Welcome to the forum Frank!
I like the epoxy around wood idea, been thinking of try one myself.

The biggest mistakes in a first build usually happen in the routing stage, or in the neck line up/scale length stage.
Are you building from a guitar that you have access to for measurements?

I am building from full scale plans, but I'm researching slow and methodically before I cut anything. The entire build will be from scratch, so I don't want to make any mistakes.

did you vacuum the epoxy to get bubbles out before pouring it? if not, how does it look up close? I am in process on a wormy ash guitar with blue glow epoxy in the worm holes

Eric Baack wrote:did you vacuum the epoxy to get bubbles out before pouring it? if not, how does it look up close? I am in process on a wormy ash guitar with blue glow epoxy in the worm holes

No, I did not vacuum the epoxy......and I did get quite a bit of bubbles that came through, but I plan on going back and filling them in with more epoxy......and then when I apply a final clear flood coat, it should be fine.

Looks nice so far, I like the approach with the epoxy. Spend a lot of time getting the neck angle right. Fenders have a zero neck angle but the neck sits high off the body and the bridge is quite low. Gibson SG's I think have a 4 degree neck angle, the neck set fairly low into the body and the bridge maybe 5/8" off the body. On mine the bottom of the fretboard is flush with the top of the body. Not sure if you plan a set or bolt on neck, bolt on can be adjusted but set neck needs to be right the first time!

Looking at your first attempt I can say that the struggle is indeed real. Hoping that you can keep us updated with the progress as I am also a newbie just like you.

Yeah, you may need to get those bubbles leveled off before doing the poly, unless you are brushing it on. I've had a heck of a time with pitting in my clear due to those bubbles. I'll be on my 3rd attempt soon. I'm making sure that I've got it totally leveled out before spraying clear this time.