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  • Author Author: dubbie
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One String Electric Guitar #4 : Making the Final Guitar Body

dubbie

Having created the prototype one string electric guitar body and pickup I wanted to be able to hear the sounds it makes. I don't have a guitar amplifier so I decided to use an ordinary music amplifier instead but this needs a pre-amp to make it work. There didn't seem to be any such thing as a guitar pre-amplifier, all I could find were expensive foot pedal pre-amplifiers which were not for me. Then I stumbled across electric guitar headphone amplifiers, which do exactly what I wanted, so I purchased a low cost one. This seems to do everything I need and is rechargeable.

 

 

I made some tempororary connections used crocodile clips and 4 mm leads and I was able to obtain some sounds from my music amplifier. once everything was plugged in. Unfortunately I didn't make a video of that part working as it wasn't that loud so I was going to try repositioning the string closer to the pickup. Then life intervened and I forgot. When I returned to the one stringed electric guitar as I thought everything was working I decided it was time to start making a better guitar body. When I started I indicated that I wanted to make something that looked good (or at least as good as I could make it) as well as working. So I have now stripped away all the parts from the plank of wood I have been using and stuck together some additional bits of wood to make something that looks a bit more like a guitar. So at the moment I cannot show any actual audio from the amplifier.

 

 

Once the glue has set on the 'fins' I will be able to fill in the large holes and imperfections and then sand down, paint and varnish. I am hoping that it will actually look something like a real guitar. I haven't really altered the main plank which formed the structure for the working prototype so I am fairly confident that it will or should go back together without too much bother and then I can record some audio.

 

Dubbie

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  • Hi Dubbie,

     

    A great guitar design.

     

    It might be worthwhile running some epoxy resin into the larger gaps as the PVA wood glue doesn't perform too well at bridging gaps and wood filler isn't any good for strength either. Once the epoxy has set you could then add a final layer of wood filler to get the top flat.

     

    Rod

  • in reply to 14rhb

    Neil,

     

    I was going to use some epoxy to fill the gaps as I thought I had some left over from window frame repairs, but it was so long since I did the repairs that it had all gone hard and I had to throw it away. Shame. On going to the hardware store to purchase the small amount I needed for the guitar I found I could only obtain relatively large amounts and decided not to bother. I just purchased some low-cost wood filler instead. It will fill the holes, but as you say, it will not improve the strength. If it falls apart I might just screw it all back together and fill in the screwhead holes.

     

    As for the untidy tools, I seem to have some sort of untidy gene within me. Even if I tidy everything away (which I do periodically because it starts to become unmanageable) within a short period of time it has returned to the disorganised jumble you see. In fact, this applies to any flat surface in my office, they are all jumbled high with stuff. I know where everything is, except after I have tidied, when I can no longer find anything. I think the jumbledness just seem to suit my brain, which is probably all jumbled up as well.

    Dubbie

     

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  • in reply to 14rhb

    Neil,

     

    I was going to use some epoxy to fill the gaps as I thought I had some left over from window frame repairs, but it was so long since I did the repairs that it had all gone hard and I had to throw it away. Shame. On going to the hardware store to purchase the small amount I needed for the guitar I found I could only obtain relatively large amounts and decided not to bother. I just purchased some low-cost wood filler instead. It will fill the holes, but as you say, it will not improve the strength. If it falls apart I might just screw it all back together and fill in the screwhead holes.

     

    As for the untidy tools, I seem to have some sort of untidy gene within me. Even if I tidy everything away (which I do periodically because it starts to become unmanageable) within a short period of time it has returned to the disorganised jumble you see. In fact, this applies to any flat surface in my office, they are all jumbled high with stuff. I know where everything is, except after I have tidied, when I can no longer find anything. I think the jumbledness just seem to suit my brain, which is probably all jumbled up as well.

    Dubbie

     

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