recycled guitars

[johnnyb]

i have been fixing and rebuilding guitars for a long time and ive finally decided to start making my own. im really good at making crappy guitars into really good players so i figured id give it a go. ive made 2 guitars in the past, which one i kept and plays really well, but they were one offs. i have made templates for body, neck, pickguards, headstock, fretboard etc... that way i can pump out a few at one time. i also make all my own jigs as well.

i have 2 kinds of builds going on. one will be a higher end model made with nice woods and hardware, while the 2nd type will be made from recycled materials. ive been in construction for a while and the ammount of materials that get thrown away is crazy. so i try to keep whatever i can to make stuff with. that plus tossed away furniture on the curb has supplied a few interesting materials.

so here is the start. as you can see the body was made out of an old table insert. i picked up 3 of them from the garbage and can make about 6 blanks from them. the neck blanks are made from scraps of maple flooring that were destined for the landfill. there was enough scraps to make 4 blanks, plus i know where to find more.



clamping on the fretboard after putting in the truss rod.


homemade fret saw jig


it will be interesting to see how these things play and sound. eventually id like to wind my own pickups, but for now ill buy them. that is a whole other project in itself

[VintAxe]

I wish I had your energy (and woodshop) johnnyb

How did you come up with the body shape for the guitar? What are you thinking on the headstock profile?

I see a bright future for the Recycled Guitars company where you quit your day job and produce the first "green" guitars in the US. I think it is a cool idea.

I look forward to seeing how the guitar turns out, keep us posted.

[johnnyb]

[Phizix]

[Spud1950]

[johnnyb]

[johnnyb]

here is the first rough shaping of the neck. its still pretty beefy but i like it. it has a 9.5" radius on the board. im trying to think of a good material to use for the side markers. any ideas?

[VintAxe]

Hey johnnyb.

I don't really have a practical suggestion for the side markers; more of a concept.

To me, the problem with side markers is you often can't see them very well in the dark stage light offered by most bar stages. Does a phosphorescent paint for the markers strike your fancy. These guy claim their pigments only lose 5% of their brightness over 10 years. I say lets make markers that work both in the light and the dark

[johnnyb]

I have seriously been contemplating doing that. The more I think about it the better of an idea it seems.

This project slowed down a little bit. I've been fixing up my old silvertone guitar. It's 1 of my favorites but it hasn't been a good gig guitar so I've been doing a lot of stuff to it to bring it back up to a professional player. When that one is done I'll get back to this project and post some more updates

[cheepaxes]

This looks like a cool project. I've considered doing stuff like this but am lacking in tools, workspace and skills. There are a lot of people on the TDPRI Telecaster forum who are making their own guitars like this and I find it fascinating to follow.

FWIW, as I understand it, Danny Gatton's approach to seeing side markers in the dark was to inlay small zircons (artificial diamonds)for side markers. They do a pretty good job of reflecting whatever light they pickup up.

-Scott

[johnnyb]

ahhhh progress. ive been really trying to bust out the necks on this project as they are the most time consuming part of the build, a very step by step process. plus im trying to make a small pile of them so they will be ready. 3 of the recycled maple and 3 of the mahogany/rosewood. i have all the neck blanks made, the truss rod grooves cut, rough cut fretboard blanks
(i hope to plane the fret boards this weekend).

but until then i found a few hours to make a neck pocket jig. its made of old cabinet wood from a remodel. im trying to do as much recycling as i can throughout this whole project and ill tell ya, its much easier to go out and buy the stuff you need. anyway heres a few pics.

setting up the jig


all that work for a hole.


but its straight, tight and at a good angle.



cheers
john

[johnnyb]

i little more progress on the prototype. im planning on putting it together and play it to make sure everything works o.k. then ill put a finish on it after the bugs are worked out. so far the only part i bought is the truss rod.

[johnnyb]

Ahhhhhh, and yet another installment of recycled guitars. the prototype is all strung up and has had a few good jams with my band. there are a few tweaks to work out but all in all it is a decent guitar. i wasnt able to embed an audio or video clip so here is a link if you want to hear what a pile of discarded materials sounds like.



http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll14 ... GUITAR.mp4

[johnnyb]

so, moving on. im now starting to build a couple of nicer guitars using the same templates. now it really starts getting fun. pictured are 2 necks that are almost ready for frets. mahogany and rosewood. i really like the grain reflection of the rosewood so i thought id share it. one guitar is going to have a solid alder body with a sparkle type paint. the back will be stained to show off its grain. not sure of what color. the other will be made of black walnut from a local fallen tree. it fell like 10 years ago so the wood is dry. ill keep that one wood tone and no pickguard. they might start getting heavy.

[johnnyb]

here is a mockup picture of one of the next guitars. black walnut body, mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. im actually not as into "woody" guitars as i used to be, but i dont think i can paint this one a flashy color.