What's on your workbench?

[Albake21]

This may sound a bit crazy, but how possible would it be to build a guitar from scratch only using hand tools? (besides generic tools like a drill). I've been trying to figure out if it's possible for the past year.... oh apartment life!

 

[Defyantly]

here ya go. All by hand except inlay work.

 

[Lemonbaby]

This may sound a bit crazy, but how possible would it be to build a guitar from scratch only using hand tools? (besides generic tools like a drill). I've been trying to figure out if it's possible for the past year.... oh apartment life!

Can be done and good tools make it a lot more enjoyable. All depends on your experience with hand tools to begin with. Expect some learning curve to run through if you're not used to working with hand planes, chisels and of course sharpening those to razor level...

 

[Albake21]

here ya go. All by hand except inlay work.

Well I know what I'm watching for the next hour. Thank you!

 

[Albake21]

Can be done and good tools make it a lot more enjoyable. All depends on your experience with hand tools to begin with. Expect some learning curve to run through if you're not used to working with hand planes, chisels and of course sharpening those to razor level...

Well I'd like to do sort of a test guitar and buy super cheap materials to make the bare minimum just to see if it's possible. I'd plan to buy the tools as I go, so I'm okay with it taking a long time. I'm a pretty crafty person, so I feel pretty confident in doing it. My buddy also has a small wood shop so I might cheat with the big stuff like cutting the body, but doing everything else by hand.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

I

Well I know what I'm watching for the next hour. Thank you!

Watched that the other day. It was incredible. My big takeaway was "oh man, band saws save a lot of time".

That guy has some expensive hand tools though. Like the plane he uses for the truss rod channel. That things gotta be pricey. Or all of his saws.

 

[Defyantly]

^^^This for sure^^^ Although he really only used like 2-3 saws to do most of the major cutting. The hand drilling looked like a pain the ass! Especially lots of holes with a forstner bit. I wonder how much that guitar ended up weighing in the end? Still looks like a chunky boi!

 

[Lemonbaby]

I

Watched that the other day. It was incredible. My big takeaway was "oh man, band saws save a lot of time".

That guy has some expensive hand tools though. Like the plane he uses for the truss rod channel. That things gotta be pricey. Or all of his saws.

The Japanese saws aren't that expensive. One really good hand plane costs as much as three or four saws, usable chisels are in a similar range like saws. And I'm only using Veritas (w/ V11 blades that I highly recomend), Lie Nielsen is REALLY expensive...

Great video BTW! I'd personally either stay away from building a semi-hollow design with hand tools or use a really soft wood for the body. Still a PITA though, just a wee smaller.

One more thing: hand planing on a flimsy table is also a major PITA. That small 6mm planer used for the truss rod channel is roughly 50 EUR from Veritas. Not cheap, but I chiseled out a truss rod channel once and it's basically impossible to achieve a clean result.

 

[Albake21]

One last question. I'm only asking here because I don't want to create a thread for simple questions. How would I go by actually using this template I found? I was thinking of printing it out into pieces on paper, but I don't know how to get the exact measurements correct. Anyone have any good suggestions?

EDIT: I think I found the correct size using the Hipshot dimensions and several print attempts.

 

[crackout]

Just make sure to print in 100% without scaling.

 

[dmlinger]

The idea of building with only hand tools sounds cool. As mentioned above, good hand tools are expensive and often cost more than their power counterparts. Not to mention, if you don't have experience sharpening plane blades and chisels, you'll have a miserable time.

I'd strongly urge you to at least use a router with some pattern bits.

 

[Albake21]

The idea of building with only hand tools sounds cool. As mentioned above, good hand tools are expensive and often cost more than their power counterparts. Not to mention, if you don't have experience sharpening plane blades and chisels, you'll have a miserable time.

I'd strongly urge you to at least use a router with some pattern bits.

My buddy is on board with helping me so I'm going to make the big cuts and some routing with power tools. The rest though will be done in my tiny studio apartment.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

My buddy is on board with helping me so I'm going to make the big cuts and some routing with power tools. The rest though will be done in my tiny studio apartment.

Awesome. Good luck and post your progress.

 

[Albake21]

Awesome. Good luck and post your progress.

Thank you! I will definitely be making a thread on my progress.

 

[dmlinger]

Thank you! I will definitely be making a thread on my progress.

Excited for you and good call on using a few power tools...would have hated it if you got unto it and became frustrated because it is a lot of fun and very rewarding!

 

[MikeNeal]

One last question. I'm only asking here because I don't want to create a thread for simple questions. How would I go by actually using this template I found? I was thinking of printing it out into pieces on paper, but I don't know how to get the exact measurements correct. Anyone have any good suggestions?

EDIT: I think I found the correct size using the Hipshot dimensions and several print attempts.

My suggestion is to spend a little bit of money and have the templates cnc cut or laser cut on mdf. Was the best decision I ever made when i used to do my own router work

 

[Albake21]

My suggestion is to spend a little bit of money and have the templates cnc cut or laser cut on mdf. Was the best decision I ever made when i used to do my own router work

I was just going to make them myself on mdf. It's more work, but I don't mind doing it.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

I was just going to make them myself on mdf. It's more work, but I don't mind doing it.

Very doable. I did it that way once.

If you take your templates to a print/shipping shop with a large format printer, you can have them print the stuff out full size on a single sheet. Then glue the paper to your mdf and cut carefully.

 

[MikeNeal]

I was just going to make them myself on mdf. It's more work, but I don't mind doing it.

I found it more difficult to get it perfect by hand. A full set of laser cut templates (body, neck, fret board, pickup, and control cavity) was about 30 bucks from a local mom and pop cnc place.

But if determined to do them by hand a good drum sander is key for getting the shape perfect

 

[Albake21]

I found it more difficult to get it perfect by hand. A full set of laser cut templates (body, neck, fret board, pickup, and control cavity) was about 30 bucks from a local mom and pop cnc place.

But if determined to do them by hand a good drum sander is key for getting the shape perfect

Damn really? I'll try looking around Chicago to find a place then, for that much I'll happily buy them instead.