Es gibt ein neues deutschsprachiges Forum für Gitarren- und Bassbau.
Zu finden ist es unter www.gitarrebassbau.de und bietet für jeden etwas (Anfänger bis zum Profi)
Schaut doch mal vorbei
Vielen Dank
grüsse
Daniel
GitarreBassBau.de
May 5th, 2010Status update, layout-program
April 9th, 2010The last days I had the chance to work a few hours at the project. I implemented some components (resistor,capacitors) and a lot of other stuff.
Right now, I’m able to dynamically load, choose and place components. One of the next steps is to implement the function, that a component can be moved. I also have to do the component-count (R1,R2,R3,C1,C2…) and let all components have some properties to set (like color, value, name…)
Right now, it’s probably not the fastest software, but it’s much faster than diy-layout creator
Here a preview pic
layout software for guitar-related projects
April 6th, 2010Long time no post… but I’ve got news for you
At the moment, I’m developing a program, that allows you to draw guitar-effect or guitar wirings (can also be used for bass 
)
There’s already a software that allows you to do that (Called DIY Layout Creator: http://diy-fever.com/software/) but the handle of these versions aren’t as easy as it should be. In fact, this software needs a lot of time for itself (it’s very slow and it also needs a lot of your time to do the drawing)
That’s why I’m developing such a project – it’s just for fun so far
Here’s a list, what this software should be able to do:
- Draw Perf-/Strip-/PCB-Boards
- Draw usual components on it (like resistors, capacitors, IC’s…)
- Plugins for more components
- Placement of the boards (in enclosures) to check sizes
- Ability to write own components (maybe!)
- Save / Export (as PDF, PNG/JPG)
- Print (board, parts-list!)
- Online-Exchange of layouts (in-program)
- Import from DIY LC (maybe, not in the first releases)
I guess, this is pretty much it – if you have any ideas just let me know, I’m in the pre-alpha developing state right now
Here’s a screenshot of the look (just as it is right now)
Goldtop
December 8th, 2009Lately I’ve finished my newest project – it’s a copy of a Les Paul goldtop, but it’s not a normal one.
I really love the look of the Bigsby tremolos, that’s why I decided to use such a thing (not from Bigsby but that doesn’t matters) on my new axe. I bought the guitar body/neck some time ago from a Asian seller, it was too cheap to build it by myself and the goldtop wouldn’t look as good as it does now. All I had to do was putting the hardware on the guitar and solder the pickups/electronics. Well it wasn’t no work, I needed about 2 hour to solder the electronics and about 3 hours to install the hardware.
The sound of the guitar is good, it’s not sounding like a >$2000 guitar but it sounds better than most of the guitars in the price-range of this one. Without work, the guitar costs me about $450 not that much.
I’ve taken some pictures for you, so you could imagine how the beauty looks like and there’s also a short video that shows it in action.
My summary:
It was worth spending the money for this guitar – I could have spent more for better parts but I’m happy so far. I totally love the look of the guitar and I definitely will use it on the next gig, just for fun 
maybe there’s a gig on Saturday so there’s not a lot of time to do the final steps.
Things to do:
the tuning isn’t optimal right now, I have to setup the guitar and work on the saddle
Normalizing tulip tuners color
November 19th, 2009Few months back I’ve ordered cheap tulip tuners (tuning machines of a Gibson guitar) and I expected not that much but the color of the plastic tulip parts were so very ugly… A really plastic-green color that I didn’t want to put on a guitar. Now that a new Les-Paul project (coming soon) is in work, I wanted to get them ready for mounting.
So I was asking myself the question: What could you do to get a better color-tone of the tulips?
- Age them by smoke of cigarettes
- Age them by light
- Try aging them with stain
No one in the house smokes, this plan failed… It’s wintertime, light-aging is for summer… I tried the staining-thing and it worked. I used vintage-amber stain I bought from Stewmac. I just put some of the concentrate on a cloth and rubbed the tulips with it. Then I cleaned them with a clean cloth and they seem to have a slightly warmer color. I have to check the color with daylight, right now I’m not sure if it’s really a big difference.
Here some pics, on two pics you can see two tuners, one (the little bit darker one) is already stained.
[smooth=id: 5; width:450; height:350; timed:false; arrows:true; carousel:true; links:true; info:false; align:center; frames:false; open:false; text:Pictures;]
Daniel
Binding for SG-neck headstock
November 9th, 2009Today I found time to work on the neck for the SG Project and I also made some pictures during the build.
The first step today was cleaning the veneer on the head, I brought it to shape, it’s now between 0.5 to 1mm thick. One side is a little bit thinner but that does not matters that much, I hope it’s not to thin, that it’s gone after sanding. When the neck was cleaned I routed a channel for the neck-binding. This is a quick work and so I glued the binding to both sides of the head.
In the gallery you can also see a picture of the fretboard-gluing for the Firebird-project
[nggallery id=4]
Dan
Neck building for an SG
November 8th, 2009I haven’t had much time to build guitars lately, that’s why I haven’t posted a new blogpost.
Now I have had time to build, and I was in mood to build a neck, there are several necks on their way… I need to build necks for following projects: Les Paul, ES 335, Jaguar/Jazzmaster and Flying V but I decided to build a neck for my Gibson SG project.
I haven’t had much time to build guitars lately, that’s why I haven’t posted a new blog-post.
Now I have had time to build, and I was in mood to build a neck, there are several necks on their way… I need to build necks for following projects: Les Paul, ES 335, Jaguar/Jazzmaster and Flying V but I decided to build a neck for my Gibson SG project. By the way, there is no difference between Les Paul and SG necks and a ES 335 is not very different indeed.
Details of the neck as it was before:
- Mahogany wood
- 16,5° headstock angle
First of all, I had to shape the neck on the top as it wasn’t straight enough. Then I sketched the middle line on the wood and routed the truss-rod channel. After routing the truss-rod channel, I made the access to the channel on the headstock side by drilling a whole into it.
Then the truss-rod side was finished. Further with the neck shape. I used a template to draw the shape on the wood and cut it to shape with the band-saw. After that I sticked the template to the wood and used a table-router to route the neck to the exact shape.
Then I needed a break and on the next day I started over, but just with a small step. I glued a headstock-veneer to the head of the neck. As I haven’t had a headstock veneer at home I had to cut it by myself. I once ordered an ebony neck-blank and I never used it (and will never do) so I decided to use it otherwise. It’s about 1cm thick – too thick for a veneer. First I shaped the wood to plain surface. Then I saw the ‘veneer’ into two pieces (about 2 – 4mm thick) and glued one piece on the neck
That’s the state so far.
Next steps: Shaping the veneer to thickness (about 1mm) do a headstock binding (as I love this) and route the neck-end to shape… And, of course, give the neck a good neckshape with a fretboard.
I’m sorry this time, no pictures… maybe next post
Dan
Uke build
October 18th, 2009A year ago, I’ve built an uke for myself and I was satisfied with the result. So I showed the ukulele to my friend Eric, who loved it’s tone and wanted to have one too. So I built him one and I even like this one more.
It’s a ukulele kit, that I bought from stewmac.com, so I did it this time. I also bought better tuning machines as the one I put on mine were really poor and unstable. Once the kit received, I found a free Sunday afternoon to do the first steps of the build.
- Gluing the tailblock
- Gluing the bracings for top & back
- Gluing the lined kerfings
Later on that Sunday I found time to glue the back to the body and some days later I finished the neck (fretting, and gluing the fretboard on) and gluing the top to the body.
About two weeks later, the weather was good enough to finish the uke with nitrocellulose lacquer and finally sand the body three weeks later. Then I put strings on and gave it to Eric, he really likes his exclusive ukulele and hopefully he plays it sometimes.
[nggallery id=3]
Daniel
Any questions?
October 13th, 2009Hello there
This is the third blogpost I’m doing, not that much – I’m trying to post now and than and I have made additional photos of gluing a fretboard on a neck (the one of my firebird-build) but…
If you are a builder and have any questions about building (specific or general ones) or if you like my blog and wish that I show you something, please feel free and ask me (just write a comment to this post) – I’ll do my best
- off
Daniel
Overview of my workbench
October 9th, 2009Hello
Yesterday I was in my room doing some work. I originally wanted to finish shaping the firebird neck, but somehow the Ibanez JS guitar that needs a big cleanup fell into my hands. So I removed everything (neck, pickups, electrics, floydrose) and now I can start cleaning the parts. The guitar also needs some new screws, I hate the floydrose system, but it will stay in the guitar.
The floydrose system is very unstable and not easy to handle – when you put new strings on it, you have to cut them off first, then stock them on the floydrose bridge with screws that are ‘gone’ thats why this guitar haven’t been played last 3 to 4 years (or even more). The string clamp on the neck (or however it’s called) is maybe the most stupid thing they did on that guitar (or on guitars with floydroses in general) if you play the lower frets, you probably hurt a finger – that’s maybe good for a joiner, but not for a guitarist… Well however, I will work on this ‘problem’ that it suits my needs.
I hope I’ll find time to work on the firebird neck during the weekend – then I maybe take some new pictures
[nggallery id=2]
Daniel