Sketchup is so friggin cool!

[robanomoly]

(laughing) It would be really scary if you're a Professional Engineer (Structural) like me! Although, it does make sense that certain mindsets gravitate towards particular carrers.

Here is a link to the spreadsheet.

Hopefully you find it useful. The related picstory would probably be more useful. Next week I will try to post a picstory in a new thread.

 

[BigM555]

Thanks for the spreadsheet link.

I chuckled at your "alternate tools" list. Gotta have a contingency I suppose.

 

[Durero]

I've been dabbling in Sketchup a bit for guitar designs, and yeah those curves are pretty tricky. Nice work BigM - any Sketchup tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[robanomoly]

Thanks for the spreadsheet link.

I chuckled at your "alternate tools" list. Gotta have a contingency I suppose.

You're welcome. If anything, I hope it gives you an idea on my build approach.

The tool/alternate tool list was created for a co-worker that has been considering building a guitar. I thought it would help them decide what tools they would need/want to purchase.

 

[BigM555]

I've been dabbling in Sketchup a bit for guitar designs, and yeah those curves are pretty tricky. Nice work BigM - any Sketchup tips would be greatly appreciated.

It certainly took me a while to be able to get the smooth curves. I think I "built" the neck in Sketchup about 10 times before getting the nice curves you see here. I'm still not that happy with the heel but I have to keep in mind this is mostly just for visualizations and dimensions.

Oddly enough, to get the carved top in Sketchup I followed almost the same procedure that robanomaly showed in his prior post;

I'm going from memory here so don't take this as gospel.
1) Draw outline of body (I scaled a photo to help me here).
2) Push/Pull (extrude) surface to desired thickness at edge of body.
3) Use the offset tool to create additional contour lines.
Edit: 3.5) The new offsets will likely have overlapping lines. Intersect them and erase whats not needed.
4) Push/Pull these to the right level. (I created a template of the contour I wanted and then dropped that on the top so I could drag the new surfaces to the intersections.)
5) Figure out the neck angle
6) Create a surface starting at the top of the neck pocket extending over the entire body.
7) Rotate the surface to the calculated neck angle
8) Select the rotated surface, right click and choose Intersect with Model.
9) Clean up the model.
10) Select the contour lines and use the Sandbox 'From contours' tool to drape the contour map over them.
11) Cleanup the model (it will "web" all the cutouts, you have to erase this).
12) Use the Sandbox tools "Flip Edge" and "Add Detail" to clean up the surface.

Tips;
1) Guidelines are your friend. I use the tape tool extensively to create temporary points for creating tapers and hashing out dimensions prior to creating a polygon.
2) Create a separate layer for major components (ie; body, neck, headstock, guidelines, center lines, frets, etc.) and USE them.
3) Use the View/Hidden Geometry option as needed.
4) Complex items can be easily created by intersecting simple objects.
5) If you want a line/arc/angle/etc of an exact dimension just type it in.
6) Create separate view tabs to help navigate the model and get you quickly to often used areas.
7) Intersecting complex shapes (like the carved top) is VERY processor intensive and can have rather unexpected results (this is why I intersect the neck angle BEFORE contouring the surface)
8) There seem to be lots of ways to achieve the same thing. Experiment. If one method doesn't give the results wanted try to figure out a different way.

Hope that helps.

 

[Durero]

^ Awesome post my friend - Thanks!

 

[BigM555]

Well in the absence of a decent shop to work in (and a bunch of business travel) I haven't made much progress on my build but I've continued to refine the drawing.

I'm pretty proud of the drawing. I've learned so much about Sketchup it's not even funny.

I've added a series of detail views and a full scale TOM bridge.

A sample of the views. I'd be happy to make the SketchUp file available to anybody that might plan on a LP build. The whole drawing is to scale including fret locations.

 

[robanomoly]

You have done a spectacular job of modeling! Wow! That is very impressive! You are quite generous for offering to share something you have put so much effort into creating.

 

[BigM555]

I have another file that shows the binding but didn't put it in the main file because it was a serious PITA once the contours had been applied (though I'm not sure how else I would have done it).

Thanks for the compliment!

And as far as sharing. Eh, no biggie. I got a lot of joy out of doing it too. And honestly, I'm not sure I'd be doing anyone any favors as the education gained by fully modeling the build should benefit the end product.

I feel like I've built this thing a dozen times already.

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

Is this sketchup a free program? And any of you guys who have built guitars before, do you think that it would be possible to do a carved top with a flat area on the top large enough to put a flat mount Kahler on it without it looking odd?

 

[HighGain510]

Wow this thread is really cool Mike, must have missed it somehow! Looks like taking your time is really paying off, the model looks fantastic.

 

[BigM555]

Yeah, JJ, SketchUp is a free Google app.

Link

There is a pay version (Pro) as well but I can't see why you'd bother. I haven't run into too many limitations yet.

A craved top with a flat spot big enough for a kahler shouldn't be too much of a problem. Most carved tops are actually pretty subtle.

Download SketchUp and give it a try.

 

[BigM555]

Thanks Matt!

@JJ: There is always the option of the 2200 series stud mount, made just for carved tops.

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

Thanks Matt!

@JJ: There is always the option of the 2200 series stud mount, made just for carved tops.

I think those are ugly as fuck, I'm aware of them, Just don't like them aesthetically.

 

[robanomoly]

Is this sketchup a free program? And any of you guys who have built guitars before, do you think that it would be possible to do a carved top with a flat area on the top large enough to put a flat mount Kahler on it without it looking odd?

I think it would be possible, depending on the depth and shape of the carve. Instead of a flat area, the trem could be recessed into the arch of the top.

 

[darren]

Wow... that is a phenomenal piece of work. I've played around with SketchUp and it's a tricky tool to use. You've done a fantastic job, man!

 

[PaperyAlloy]

Just found this, really impressive! I'm trying it myself but the neck is giving me massive problems - the curve of the bottom of the neck is obviously not as wide as the curve at the top and sketchup doesn't want to merge the two. Any pointers?

 

[josh pelican]

Epic bump, bro.

 

[MetalBuddah]

How exactly did you make the LP shape in sketchup? I just got it last night in the intention of doing guitar models, but I am perplexed on how to do the shape as accurately as u did