Hey guys, as most of you know ive spent the last two weeks building a new guitar, so i thought while ive got some spare time to share my efforts and knowledge with you all:toothless:
I haven't got all the pictures yet, as some are in my other camera on a seperate film, soon as they are done , you guys will be the first to see them.

Stage 1:
Well i got the body and the neck basically as blocks of wood lol, along with the fingerboard (which was fretless at the start), so really it was a case of starting of doing the basics.
I decided the starting point was going to be the body, so the first job was to draw out the template i designed to put onto the body, so i basically knew whereabouts i was cutting the wood.
I jigsawed the body out, so it was basically the shape i wanted(from my template),but i had to then concentrate on rounding the corners of so that it wasn't a bloke but contoured edges.
The sanding isn't that bad(depending on what wood you have), but do be careful as sometimes the wood can catch fire when being jigsawed.
Next job was cutting the shape for the neck, luckily i based it on a neck i already had, so it made cutting it to the right size much easier then if i had to decide on a diffrent size neck.
Now then the most important part to doing the neck to body is cutting the hole on the body for the neck, but more importantly not overcutting the hole, the neck needs to be a comfortable fit, but not to tight, not to loose onto the body.
Another important factor is the holes you drill through the body and onto the neck, make sure they are square but not to deep into the neck wood , obviously if you got to far or the screws your using are to big, they will go straight through the neck would and through the otherside.
I suppose a rough estimate , is to go into the neck wood about three quarters(about a quarter of the wood of the fret board).
Once there done, then i moved onto milling out the hole for the trust rod, erm its a pretty straight forward job, Av has a nice milling machine, so made life easier, basically just have the hole big enough so the rod sits inside it nice and square but levelish.(this can be diffrent with diffrent trust rods).
Next job was to work out how big of a hole i need to take out for the pickup holes and other controls, along with where the bridge would sit.
Thats where this piccy comes into the mix.
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/580/guitarbodypartsoi2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
After this i started on the fretboard, basically you glue it on, let it dry, then hacksaw down the sides , then just level it of to the neck wood, make sure its equally placed on the neck wood before glueing.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8826/guitarbodyneckym6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This was stage 1 complete:
Once i get the rest of the pictures, i will finish of the rough guide.
Anyone has any questions or might need help, then don't hesitate to P.M(i don't know anything about tremlos guitars ).
:thumb:

I hope it turns out great for ya! :) cant wait to see the finished product

can't go wrong with a nice stratty number. lookin forward to keepin up with the progress of this one. :thumb: awesome.

Thanks guys, lol ive actually finished it near enough, just need to design my logo for the headstock(not overly important though).
Been playing on it for the past 3-4 days, im really happy with the tone:rock:
Soon as i get the other pictures, i will finish of the guide;)

Nice guide Bahamut :thumb:

Looking forward to see your finished baby :rock:

Wow Bahamut! Looks like you are going to have a riot with that project.:thumb:
Thanks for sharing your pictures. Can't wait to see more.
I hope the finish you pick shows off that beautiful wood grain. Is that a two piece swamp ash body?

Thanks guys, its a one piece swamp ash m8, i found its quite nice to work with hehe:thumb:
I remember Avalon having hell with his normal ash body, i was going to have Alder but in the end had to go for this:toothless:

nice pics mate,
must be a very interesting thing to do..looking forward to the other pics :thumb:

bet its bloody hard work though.

regards,
jim.

Yeah it is m8, the wood work can soon wear thin, especially when you don't like it anyway lol:lol:

come on bahamut! we need more pics!:wavey:

Sorry for the delay lol, had to find something else to fill the film with.
Part 2:
Here's the picture where i basically made a hole for the pickups and all the wiring for the switchs to sit into.
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/2214/av2bodyneckrt3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

My next job was to cut out the kickplate , it is a bloody annoying part of the building process.
The easiest thing to do is use your pickups(the ones your going to use in the guitar) to mark around, then cut out the shape then its just a case of filing it until its smooth and the pickups slot in without force.
Fitting switchs and pickup selectors is a easy job, its just a case of drilling the holes for them on the kickplate.
One important thing is to make sure all your switchs (once there on the kickplate) sit flush to the body , obviously you don't want the kickplate sat in the air because you didn't make the hole deep enough for them to sit in.
This next picture shows how the kickplate should sit on the body.
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/1278/av2bodykickplatebd1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Once i finished the above i went onto fretting the neck, this is yet another tedious task, the best advice i can give on this is to clamp the frets into the holes, use a block of wood in between the clamps so they don't dent the frets themselves.
Once there in you might have to file the ends of the frets depending on how forgiving the frets were going in hehe, thankfully i only had to do a couple.
After this i went on to milling the slots on the fretboard for the pearl dots, this is not a hard task, just mill down about the same depth as the pearl dots then put abit of wood glue into the holes and pop the dots inside.
They soon dry out, but i left them over night just to make sure .
Then really the final task , the spraying of the guitar.
Ideally you want to sand the guitar down a good amount, make sure everything is smooth with no rough edges, i would reccomend using 220 grit sand paper(dry not wet) , use a sanding bloke behind it so it keeps everything smooth and even.
When thats done and your happy with it, then use some laquer to seal the wood, you can get alot of diffrent laquers but i used a spray can based laquer which i have to say was bloody brilliant.
Once you laquer the body then i would recommend leaving it for about two days to make sure its dry, i found a airing cupboard is the perfect place for it to dry out(make sure its dust free lol).
The next job after this was done was to grain fill the wood, once you fill the grains in(which are showing) then sand it back over until its smooth and even all over.
I next used some filler primer , i suggest using a few coats of this to make sure the body is lovely and smooth.
Then some white primer after the filler primer,once again the amount you have to use depends on how it takes to the wood, i had to use a few coats of this but you might have to use more, this makes it right ready for the actual colour though once your happy with the outcome.
The colour is much like the above, put as many coats on the body as you require, then perhaps one extra for luck hehe.
Once the colour was done i used polyurethane varnish, i had the spray version but i used about 9 coats of this.
With all the spraying jobs , i highly recommend leaving a couple of days
between each step.
At this stage there is quite alot of orange peel effect, so more sanding is required, so again out with the wet and dry sandpaper, but this time we do actually wet sand it.
Start of with 600 sand paper , go all over the body, then onto 800 and the same again, 1200, 1500 being the last one.
After this i teacut the body , then before it has the chance to dry , turtle wax it.
All in all that was it, i think the spraying part is the hardest if not the most frustrating part of building a guitar.
If anyone wants a more in depth guide to spraying bodys, then P.M me, i can send you a link(you better have you reading glass's ready lol).
Heres the finished article , im very happy with how it turned out, more amazed by its gorgeus tone though hehe.
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/6328/av2finishedxe5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I hope this rough guide helps anyone interested in building there own guitar, if you have any questions about the above or need advice, im always happy to help:thumb:

congrats! looks right sweet m8 :thumb:

think if i ever made one, i would buy a neck tho...that seemed like hard graft frets etc.

can you still get rattlecan paints in uk with no hassle? as i cant see em advertised on web.

regards,
jim.

Yeah i used car paint sprays for the job m8, i got them all from halfords lol.
The varnish i got from B&Q, its the best way because you get a decent selection from car paints, as you can see its np using them on wood:toothless:

Hey Bah,

Fantastic thread mate...really enjoyed reading it and seeing the pics at last LOL...Very sweet mate, love the new axe, its like a cross between a 70's strat and a music man silouette, lovely, and sounds great as well. Really nice colour too...Im always in total awe of people who have the skills to make their own axe's. Fantastic work....

Awe man, gorgeous looking! I had my sight on the PU´s, that beauty should sing on twangy stuff! I´d love to build a guitar, I´m not too bat at wood working, but I always have had fear for neck joints-fret work. I sure envy you man!

Damn Mart...she's BEUTIFUL!!!!!! Realy like that color!!! What do ya call that color??? And i know she sounds sweet!!!! Fantastic job on the play-by-play as well....really doesn't seem that difficult, if you have a basic wood working knowledge, and a whole pocket full of patience!!!! LOL!! Really wonderful to see the finished project!!! :thumb: :rock: :yourock:

Interesting guitar dude. Not seen one quite like it before... not my cup of tea really. But if it plays well and you dig it then thats all that matters. Lookin forward to hearin it.

Cheers lads, yeah im very happy with it how it sounds and feels, i went for yelow cos i don't want to be like everyone else, i think it worked lol:lol:
The colour is Signal Yellow John, i was going to go for broom yellow but it was to orangy, so stuck with this lovely colour:)
Suprisingly i nicked a old tremlo plate of another guitar, but this is actually a fixed bridge guitar(i don't believe in wasting stuff), i just love the feel to them , plus it dosen't make you lazy vibrato wise.

Bahamut, when I'm older and got the money I'll pay you to build me the same guitar! :D She looks so fuckin' awesome, I can't belive it - Purple neck with big headstock, the pups, the switches, everything is just perfect!!!

Rock that baby m8!! :woot:

i finally looked at the pics and mart you did a fantastic job. it is absolutely beautiful and it sounded great on the g3 song too. at least now you don't have to borrow Jamie's guitar. he'll probably want to borrow yours now

thats pretty sweet

Thanks lads, i also used it on Fires At Midnight to Eamon:rock: :woot: