Cnc For Guitars

[SPEEDRE]

NO CAPS, happy now. back in '73 i built my first solid body guitar and looking back it was basic woodworking logic. i had access to a mill with right angle capability and made the neck. that was a chore that required a little more patience and technique than logic. my point, i just built another using a cnc mill and after thirty hours of cad/cam and machine time i had a body i could have built by hand in twenty hours. why in the name of LES PAUL would anyone use a computer to build one guitar, once in a while? here is that effort.

[NeoMoses]

Your picture is not working. It appears that your album at photobucket is password protected.

You are absolutely right. CNC is not always the best method for producing single products. In fact, popular manufacturing lore says that CNC doesn't become affordable unless you are producing 1000+ of an item. I suspect that number was based on CNC prices 10-15 years ago and may be much lower now.

Now, just imagine that you wanted to do a 3D bas relief of a face on the guitar. Not many people are skilled enough to do that by hand and have it look right (I know I'm not). Or perhaps you wanted to do some engraving with a 1/16" Endmill around the edges that resembles henna tattoos? Again, somewhat difficult and definately time consuming. Both of these tasks would be much easier to accomplish on a CNC. If you're just looking for a plain stratocaster body, I would imagine that it would be easiest to draw a line, trace it with a jigsaw, and sand to perfection.

If you have a CNC available to you, the multitude of things you can do with it becomes apparent, and you will know when to use it and when not to.

[SPEEDRE]

Neo, you are right you know but i think if you wanted an art guitar the best way is still by hand. that kind of work on the face of a guitar is often distracting to the carve and color of the face. so i would not do this to a fine piece of quilted maple or spalted swamp ash.

[johntbyrne]

I agree and disagree. I would like to carve a guitar as well and time is an issue in that I don't like to waste my time but it also isn't the final issue. I have a very nice piece of wood and don't want to gamble with it. This is why I'll carve a proto first and then the real body. Thus, I can work out the bugs on CNC first and then make it right the first time with the real piece of wood. Besides I may want to make another one in the future. Thus, for me there are reasons beyond time why I would love to use CNC.

Yet another reason, how cool is it to say "I built it", then wow them by saying I built it on a CNC router, and finally say that most wowing statement of all, "I built the CNC router too". How cool is that!

Cheers

[SPEEDRE]

JT, certainly a valid reason to cnc. work out the kinks and go for the cool. I also agree to disagree. A good piece of lumber deserves only the best ones hand can offer. I guess it comes down to a ZEN thing. STRINGKILLA. Try and get the photo of my guitar from the url in my first post.

[balsaman]

Home made cnc definately has a high factor of cool if you are successful

E

[ger21]

I get a "Page cannot be found" error with that link.

Gerry

[SPEEDRE]

I must say you are all correct. I've been busy building solid bodies by hand and it's not easy. I admit, it's a labor of love om my part, but. If I still had access to that machine I'd be ahead of schedule and enjoying my free time. I no longer work for that company and my new venture is very manual and hands only operation. I want cnc

[gregmary]

I have been buidling f style mandolins using full CAD and I want to branch out and build an arch top guitar or a les paul hollow body. I already own a solid body electric, so I can't get too excited about building one of those (never say never). I am very handy with cad and can make a full model of the guitar, and even tool paths if I could get my hands on some good plans. Does anybody have a set? I would be willing to collaborate as well. It may not make sense to spend a bunch of hours to build a CAD model if you are going to make one guitar, but if others can ride on your coat tails and build on in less than a bunch of hours-that would be cool.

[SPEEDRE]

I know two sites for mando plans, http://Stewmac.com and http://mimf.com. Both places are excellent site for parts and info. Good luck with your project.

[ger21]

A long time ago, (~10 years) I bought a Les Paul plan from StewMac. I also have a good book on building Archtops. A real Archtop body is very much like an acoustic, no CNC needed, just has a little thicker top. Although CNCing a neck would sure be a lot better than all that hand carving.

[jan stovicek]

Hi
Do you have somebody 3D plans for Paul Red Smith guitar ??? Especially 3D plans for the top of body ???

Thanks
Jan