I Got this Idea for a Project...

Kam

Kam

Shaftologist
...and it won't leave me the **** alone.

I think I'm going to have to take a stab at it, even if the odds are astronomically in favour of me screwing it up beyond all recognition.

*sigh*

On a related note, here's a question:

Hypothetically, let's say that you had a semi-hollow guitar with a rather large hole in the top. Hypothetically, let's say that you wanted to solve this by adding a hypothetical veneer across the whole top of the hypothetical guitar, with a hypothetical f-hole cut out over the hypothetical hole.

What wood and what thickness would you use? Let's say that there isn't a lot of room to raise the height of the guitar body, so you're looking for maximum strength from minimum thickness...since you don't like the idea of catching a sleeve on the corner of the f-hole during an energetic down-strum and tearing a chunk of wood from the top of your guitar. Let's say that aesthetics don't matter, because you're not into fancy wood and will most likely paint it a solid colour anyway.

Talk me out of doing this, SDUG. And if you can't talk me out of it, at least offer some advice on the above noted dilemma. Please and thank you and good night. :)

:beerchug:
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

I would hypothetically brace the hole from the inside of the current top and add wood flush with the current top wood after making the hypothetical hole more symetrical.
Then I'd patch it, sand it and paint it a solid color without adding a veneer.

Hypothetically.

(pictures of this hole would help, btw)
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

MojoMonster said:
I would hypothetically brace the hole from the inside of the current top and add wood flush with the current top wood after making the hypothetical hole more symetrical.
Then I'd patch it, sand it and paint it a solid color without adding a veneer.

Hypothetically.

(pictures of this hole would help, btw)
Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea. I guess that may be easier than adding a full size veneer.

The body is a semi-hollow front-routed guitar, that has a big hole routed for the electronics cavity, which would normally be covered by a scratchplate. That's all well and good, but it's a righty body that I'd like to convert to lefty. So, my idea was to add a veneer to cover the control route (with an f-hole cutout in the veneer over it) and then reroute the controls on the other side of the guitar, in the proper lefty position.

It sounds like a ridiculous amount of effort to spend on something like this, but the end result would be a guitar that's totally impossible to find in lefty. Plus, I'm just kind of in the mood for a project.

How would you add the bracing? Two strips of wood, glued to the inside of the current top?
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

I'm going to guess that the guitar is something along the lines of a Tele Thinline. The obvious solution is to begin with a scratchplate that has not been drilled for the controls.

You could try modifying the guitar top to position the controls in the conventional LH places. Alternatively, you could just scatter them randomly in the style of Gretsch.
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

Kam said:
How would you add the bracing? Two strips of wood, glued to the inside of the current top?
Click to expand...
Yep.
The veneer would still be doable after the patch if you still wanted to do it.

If you're painting it a solid color, there's no real reason to, tho.

IMO, the only reason to veneer a guitar is to add quilt/flame/burl texture to the top.

Since you're wanting to reverse the guitar, you might want to consider doing an ES-333 style backplate.

Post a pic so we can see what you're on about.
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

Funkfingers said:
I'm going to guess that the guitar is something along the lines of a Tele Thinline.
Click to expand...

You are correct, sir!

Well....sort of.

Here's the pic:

I1jcc1dzqK.jpg


Unfortunately, the kit is unavailable in lefty (I already asked) so I'd have to convert it. It's a pretty big job for someone with zero woodworking skills who's never built a kit guitar before but, if I can pull it off, I think the results could be pretty unique and awesome.
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

Doesn't look like that daunting of a task to me. Get some maple veneer and go to town!
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

What doesn't? The veneer idea or the bracing idea?

Bear in mind, I can screw up changing a light bulb.
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

I would use a similar wood as the top to glue in some bracing tabs around the perimeter of the electronics cavity. One thing you could do as well is to trace the current electronics cavity very carefully, and then cut that shape from where the F-hole is currently. Then flip it over, and glue it on to the tabs on the opposite side. Then you have the proper cavity on the other side, the F-hole intact, without having to by a ton of extra wood.
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

You're going to make it a rear route, right? F hole where the existing control cavity is?

Make a template of the F hole, then make a template of the guitar, pickup routes, TOM holes, etc. Make sure everything lines up with a template. Get some wood, use/borrow/steal a jig saw and some files, cut it, use the f hole template to cut the f hole, make sure it fits, get some glue, slap it on, put it between some heavy books, drill some holes in the back where the old F hole was, use the jig saw and files to clean it up, make a template of your new control cavity, use a piece of the wood you used for a top to cut a cavity cover, paint it, bang, you're done. Easy, right?


Run on sentence of all run on sentences, LOL.
 
Re: I Got this Idea for a Project...

I don't think you'd need much bracing, if at all. Get a decent thickness of material to work with.
 
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