I also realize Im imploring some fear here...which is not really my intent...just make a practical/safe decision based on your level of experience. A wood shop is not where you want to jump head first in the shallows persay.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Making a basic body blank?
- Thread starter rojo412
- Start date
My body blanks use 4 board feet of 8/4 lumber each. For alder, ash, or basswood, that's about $20 of wood. For something like Mahogany, it's more like $60.
I start with a board ~7" wide and 41" long..
7 x 41 x 2 = 574
574 / 144 = 3.986 board feet
I cut that board into two pieces: 22" long and 19" long. I glue it so the tail end is flush, leaving it such that the bass side is 3" longer than the treble side. It is big enough that I can cut all of my designs out of it, and there is still plenty of meat around the neck pocket to support a template. I like to route the pickup cavities and neck pocket before I cut the body out, and then route the back after I cut the body out. It just works best for me.
I start with a board ~7" wide and 41" long..
7 x 41 x 2 = 574
574 / 144 = 3.986 board feet
I cut that board into two pieces: 22" long and 19" long. I glue it so the tail end is flush, leaving it such that the bass side is 3" longer than the treble side. It is big enough that I can cut all of my designs out of it, and there is still plenty of meat around the neck pocket to support a template. I like to route the pickup cavities and neck pocket before I cut the body out, and then route the back after I cut the body out. It just works best for me.
I appreciate all of the help. And the concern for my well being.
My original intent was to find answers as to whether it made sense for me to make a blank or buy one.
If it's half the cost of the premade and just takes a bit more effort, it's worth it...
And if it's only going to save me a little cash and cost me a lot in effort, it's not.
Rest assured, I've weighed the risks of working with power tools and am ready for the challenge.
My original intent was to find answers as to whether it made sense for me to make a blank or buy one.
If it's half the cost of the premade and just takes a bit more effort, it's worth it...
And if it's only going to save me a little cash and cost me a lot in effort, it's not.
Rest assured, I've weighed the risks of working with power tools and am ready for the challenge.
I recently went to my local Hardwood dealer here in San Antonio. After comparing available woods, quality, dimensions, etc. I came to the conclusion that the "ready made" body blanks from the guitar suppliers, is really a good deal. There was no big savings in doing it yourself. The local supplier told me they have a hard time buying the quality pieces because the large luthier suppliers buy it all up in large quantities.
I'm in the same boat as you and am gearing up for my first build from raw wood.
I purchased my neck and body blanks from bestguitarparts.com
Their prices were pretty good, shipping was a little pricey though, but the product is very nice.
EDIT:
Sorry I just reread that you want to do the body glue up yourself!
I purchased my neck and body blanks from bestguitarparts.com
Their prices were pretty good, shipping was a little pricey though, but the product is very nice.
EDIT:
Sorry I just reread that you want to do the body glue up yourself!
Not necessarily... I was really asking whether or not it's worth doing.
Looking at blanks, I was seeing them go from $70 on up. What I've hoped to accomplish with this research was to see if there was a drastic difference in price/hassle to make one on my own.
Looks like the difference isn't as vast as I'd thought. On the low end, making a blank would be about $45 and I'd need to make sure it's cut, seasoned, and glued properly.
I'm working on that. I have a circular saw, a friend has a table saw. Neither would be good for cutting the shape of a body out, but with the right cut of wood, I could at least cut it for gluing.
As others have written, really the wood should be run through a jointer before glue-up. When I've glued non-jointed stuff together (wood that was just sawn on my table saw and not run through a jointer), the glue line was very prominent.
Did you check out the Stew-Mac body blanks? A tad pricey but their stuff has always been top-notch.
Cutting the body to shape is easy with a vertical band saw.
Did you check out the Stew-Mac body blanks? A tad pricey but their stuff has always been top-notch.
Cutting the body to shape is easy with a vertical band saw.
Stewmac is pricey! $120 ish
Carvin is kinda cheap, $70 alder, $90 ash.
Allparts, I used to have an account, which would put those at $60-65 + shipping.
Warmoth and USACG are about $95 for ash.
Carvin is kinda cheap, $70 alder, $90 ash.
Allparts, I used to have an account, which would put those at $60-65 + shipping.
Warmoth and USACG are about $95 for ash.
It was better when you kept that "IMHO" in there. Your "opinion" is in conflict with every glue manufacturer, every clamp manufacturer, every wood working text I've ever seen, and my own personal experience of seeing glue starved joints break.
You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but it's a pretty lonely one.
Hopkins
Commercial User
I clamp my bodies with 6 bar clamps, and I tighten them as tight as possible, working from this inside out. The results are a glue line that cant be seen unless because of grain alignment. I have never had a glue joint fail on me, not one time. Do you really think a human can tighten a clamp as tight as the presses that major guitar factories use? Its really just common sense, unless you are Superman or something.
I forgot about those Harbor Freight clamps. They actually do work better than some of my others even though they're cheap. The rubber handles make tightening them a lot easier that wooden handles.
Is running the edges of a piece of wood through a jointer the "right" way to do it? Yes. Can a solid joint be made without doing it the "right" way? Absolutely.
Here's a joint in which the maple portion was cut with my table saw, and then sanded, and the mahogany piece was just sanded right from the store:
The center piece is just plywood, and not glued - just there as a spacer until my neck arrives.
Here's three pieces of maple, right from the store, but sanded smooth like the other pic, with 80 grit sandpaper on a piece of plywood used for the sanding block:
All these joints are stronger than the wood, and the seam is quite *not* prominent.
My husband claims I am impetuous, and that is most likely true, but if I waited until I had the "right" tools, I'd still be waiting to build my first speaker cabinet, completed in 1969.
Further, yes, a band saw is the "right" tool to use for shaping the body. On both of the above, I used a jig saw, and sanded to shape using my drill press with a home made drum sander bit. Then sanded smooth by hand.
Look, I'm not making Sadowsky or Alembic level builds here, but they look and work fine for me, and I have a great time building them myself. My friends and bandmates seem to agree.
Yes, I have a mix of some "higher quality" and more expensive clamps, and a bunch of the Harbor Freight ones. I can tell the difference in quality, but both do the job. Equally well, as far as I can tell. Excess wood glue squeezes out from the seams when I tighten down, without regard to the brand of clamp I'm using.
It really isn't a lonely opinion. In 10 years as a full time woodworker I've never seen a starved joint because of too much clamping pressure, only from insufficient glue coverage.
