Any advice for a complete novice please?

[CarlWalters]

Hi everyone,

I'm completely new to all of this and have only just joined the forum. I have no experience with CNC stuff at all (but I've just discovered that my brother-in-law has his own machine and has done loads of aluminium parts for his cobra sports car). I do play guitar however and what I'd like to do is to make a replica of a Travis Bean TB3000. All I have at the moment are a few pictures. The guitar is a pretty simple shape but I guess that I'm going to have to model it somehow and then produce a program for a CNC machine. Am I about right so far?

So does anyone have a rcommendation for a program that I should use to model the guitar? I had a google but there seem to be a lot of them out there and most seem to pretty expensive?

How easy are such programs to use? I'm guessing it would be easiest to start with a correctly dimensioned drawing and then input this? Or do people work from pictures too?

Would this sort of program also produce the code required to drive the CNC machine or is this a separate process?

Lots of questions I'm afraid but I'll be extremely greatful for any pointers anyone can offer.

Carl

[SPEEDRE]

Carl all I can say is by my own expiereinces. I play also, and have built several guitars now. Mostly by hand with just general woodworking machines. I built one using a vey large mill. The software was MasterCam, a three demensional CADCAM software, about $5000 USD. I have a copy of Ver 9 and the learning curve is very steep and I have an AS in CADD. I had a CadCam Tech. at work make the program from a 2d drawing I made with AutoCadd 2000. I saw no real advantage except for its acuracy in the neck pocket area. It also took about three hours longer in total time to produce a double cutaway Les Paul styled body than if I had made it by hand. My advice, go to projectguitar.com and lurk about. Read some of thier tutorials and get an idea of what it might entail. Good Luck. Gods speed.

[rlrhett]

CNC to build a single guitar is overkill, and would probably take longer and require more effort than building one with regular woodworking tools. There is obvious appeal if you are going to make dozens of identical guitars, or identical bridges, etc., but to make your one (or one dozen) dream guitars, old school is the way to go.

For electric guitars, projectguitar.com plus Melvin Hisccock's book: Make your own electric guitar is the best resource. For acoustic guitars, mimf.com plus Cumpiano's book: Guitar Making Tradition and Technology.

CAREFUL!!! Making guitars (especially for a player) can be completely addictive.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by rlrhett CNC to build a single guitar is overkill, and would probably take longer and require more effort than building one with regular woodworking tools. There is obvious appeal if you are going to make dozens of identical guitars, or identical bridges, etc., but to make your one (or one dozen) dream guitars, old school is the way to go.

I'll agree, and mention that those are the two books that I own. Both are very good. It's not hard to build a decent guitar by hand with minimal tools. Much easier than learning CAD,CAM, CNC and machine building. You'll also need more tools to build a machine than a guitar.

[Mike Stevenson]

Carl,

I disagree with my learned colleagues here. Making a Guitar by hand is still a very skilled process and not easy to do. Also there is a big difference in how close you can copy a certain body style by hand and with CNC. If you still want your parts cut with a CNC machine all you have to do is send me a CAD file and the wood and I will cut it for you.

Ballard Guitar Works
http://users.adelphia.net/~michaels123/index.html