Posted by: @

Groovy Louis. I've heard about you from Mark on the Live Stream. I wish I had started at your age. Keep it up.

🙏🎶🙂🎸

Looking forward to this thread Louis!

I agree with Russ - this could be the start of something wonderful for you 😃

Cool idea Louis and I am envious that you have adopted the art of guitar building at such a young age. It is something I would have done at your age if we had the internet back then but we didn’t, it was a different world. I have only come to it in my mid 40s and I wish I had known about it much sooner. Keep this thread going, upload loads of pictures and of course ask any of us any questions that we will gladly help you with. @markbailey is the guru expert but a lot of us here are experienced now and have made (and fixed) enough mistakes to learn from them. 

Go, go, go Louis!  
👍

Louis

Best wishes with your build and thesis. I'm sure you will do well with all the advice on offer. I think you asked a question about quoting sources on a recent live stream. You should always acknowledge your sources in any academic work or you will be marked down for not including reference material, or in the worst case if you use someone's idea and don't acknowledge it then it could be classed as plagiarism.

Also from your body photo I couldn't decide which way round it goes so I'm looking forward to seeing the design.

Hi Louis,

You have taken on a very ambitious project but I am sure that you will make it a great success. When writing up your work never be afraid to admit mistakes. There are many points to be won from the markers by showing them that you have understood that you have made an error and then explaining how you analysed it and then corrected it or avoided it the next time. Students often think they only get marked down for errors. This isn’t the case if you show that you understand where you went wrong and present a solution to the problem. Every step of the process is valuable, so share your thoughts. Good luck

Regards

Darren

@darrenking

Thanks darren for the comment!

I will do my best to build the best guitar i can, within limits of course.

I will let you and the memebers know if something goes wrong.

Thanks for the kind words,

Louis

@james-chacewatergmail-com-2

Thanks for the kind words!

When i am done with this project, i will consider building guitars on a regular basis as a hobby, i am really interested in the craftmanship! I will probably continue to build some more guitars in the future, i think i am hooked!

Louis

@tv101

Thanks for the kind words!

Louis

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing allright, i am but my dad has been sick for a while now. he did a covidtest but we are still waiting on the result. However i have a question about fretwire. I have basically everything for my build, wood, elektronics,... etc. I have trouble finding fretwire, because i am not familiar with fretwire. I bought a premade fretboard made by mark (the standart one like on the courses). I am wondering what fretwire size en specs i need to put on my fretboard. I heard about medium and jumbo and all those therms but i dont understand what they mean. Would there by anyone that could recommend maybe a standart size fretwire that will fit in my premade fretboard by mark? any help is greatly apreciated!

Cheers and all the best to you

Louis

@louis-kerckhove You can put any "size" (medium, jumbo etc.) of frets on the fretboard. The names "medium" or "jumbo" refer to the hight and width of the fret crown.

Which one you want to use is up to your personal preferences.

@louis-kerckhove I’m sorry to hear about your dad, hope he improves soon. 

I use this medium jumbo fret wire. It’s out of stock on this website but you can use the dimensions to find an alternative. 
https://tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk/fret-wire-jescar-fw55090-evo-gold.html

Like @darrenking has said, don’t just tell us here in the forum about any problems you had or mistakes you made during your project. Write it all in your report, it’s not all about getting everything right first time and it being perfect that will impress the people marking your report and project, it’s showing how you analysed, considered options and fixed the problems/mistakes that will truly impress them. You WILL be marked UP for showing critical thinking skills, don’t think that you will be marked down for making mistakes, YOU WON’T! (I promise). 

No matter what industry people work in, whether it is engineering, carpentry, building etc, NO PROJECT GOES FROM START TO FINISH WITHOUT HAVING PROBLEMS TO FIX! I would say that employers out in the real world want to see that they are hiring the right people for the job. They want to employ people that can identify problems when they occur, figure out options to fix them, discuss the best option, fix the problem, review the solution with pros and cons and get the project back on track. Industries are full of mistakes every day but they are fixed every day too, that’s what makes them professional. (Unless you are Boris Johnson dealing with *rexit)🤣

Good luck and keep talking to us about your project. Oh and I’ll post some book references you can use for your project too. Buy them or see if your local library has them. Use different reference mediums too, you will be marked up for that as well. Eg. Online references, books (real paper), magazine articles, videos etc. (Don’t use Wikipedia or similar sites because they are not seen as reliable reference sources) 

@boo

Thanks i really apreciate it!

I will make shure to let you know if anything goes wrong.

I have exams coming so i will put a hold on the project, i will pick up the build around 21 december or so.

I already did some carving on the body, but is not perfect yet. I will post everything when i have more time for the project, my exams are my priority at the moment.

The best to you!

Louis

I have exams coming so i will put a hold on the project, i will pick up the build around 21 december or so.

@louis-kerckhove Yeah I understand, good luck with your exams. Prioritising your efforts and energy is another good skill to have. 

I’ll post you some book references here so you can look at them after December 21st. 🤘😁🤘

For your referencing @louis-kerckhove 

@boo

Thanks! I already have the book by Melvyn Hiscock, great book lots of good info!

Thanks again

Louis

Hello everyone

I am back! I finished my exams and they went well, so now i have time to continue my build. In de meantime i cut the pickup rout and the control cavity. My controls will be mounted on my cratchplate (like a strat), thats why the cavity is on the top of the body. I also did some body carving and sanded everything down. Today i worked on the neck, it's a glue in style of neck and i have a scale length of 25inches. I bought a premade fretboard (standart like on the courses) because it is my first build. I started with the neck today, i cut the headstock angle and sanded that down a bit. I then drew the profile on the neck blank so it will be ready for cutting. the neck is a quarter sawn piece of wengé that i found in my graddads workplace. I will be installing a single humbucker (seymour duncan '59) so that i will have more place for a better neck-body join. Tomorrow i will be installing the trussrod and fretboard, Here are some pictures.

Louis

 

I am back!

@louis-kerckhove Hey Louis, I’m glad your exams went well and that you are back making your guitar. Your pictures are great as is the work you have done so far. 

Tomorrow i will be installing the trussrod and fretboard

Whatever you do, make sure you route the truss rod slot before you do anything else on the neck. Definitely do the truss rod before you cut the shape of the neck out. I’m sure you may know this already but I just wanted to make sure you were making things as easy as possible. 

Keep the pictures coming. 👍

Hoping to interview Melvyn soon - his health ain't good, so timing is a challenge