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Make a steel string guitar from scratch

Braced soundboard for acoustic guitar

This is an excellent step by step guide to building an acoustic steel-string by Jonathan Sevy. It's intended to be a pictorial journey through the required steps in the construction of a acoustic guitar.  Sevy uses the general approach  described by Irving Sloane in the book "Steel-String Guitar Construction" (E.P. Dutton and Co., NY, 1975).  With some variations for arched tops, neck joints and  truss rods.

Make a folding guitar

Hinged guitar neck

This instructable shows how to make a folding guitar. The technique of folding the neck using a hinge to the body end of the neck is not new, but this guide shows a DIY version. This guide has some interesting ideas, but I would say its still in the development stage: I can't see a mechanism to lock the unfolded neck in place. There is also a strange cylinder mechanism on the back of the neck that coils up the strings when the neck is folded, but it looks like it would get in the way when you are trying to play the guitar.

Make a Lo-FI Arduino Guitar Pedal

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This is a project for the guitar electronics geek. Traditionally guitar effects pedals used analogue circuits made up of clever combinations resistors, capacitors etc. Digital signal processing chips now allow analogue effects circuit to be simulated in software. This project shows the a prospective pedal maker how to build a guitar pedal with an Arduino for lo-fi digital signal processing..

Make a custom fuzz face

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This is a PCB (printed circuit board) layout for designed for fuzz face effects unit. The circuit is designed so you can tweak the cicuit to get different tones. It uses sockets you can easily swap components in and out of your fuzz face.

Using this circuit the designer claims you will be able to make the following fuzz face variations:

Fit a Kaos Pad into a Guitar

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Following on from yesterday's post about the Alesis AirFX guitar, I thought someone must have put a Korg Kaos Pad into a guitar, and it turns out some guy called Phil has already done it. The Kaos Pad is a multi-effects unit (designed for electronic musicians and DJs) with a square touch sensitive pad. As you move your finger around the pad you control the powerful effects processor, moving left or right up or down or in an arc affects different aspects of the effect.

Make a wooden practice amp

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This is a photo gallery of a project to build a practice amp out of a solid block of quilted maple. Every part of it is hand crafted, he even makes the control knobs on a lathe.

The end result looks great, you can see that this guy has a talent for 3D design - there are curves everywhere. The amp turns on when you plug the lead in. The green light gets brighter as you play, depending on the volume of the input from the guitar. It also pulses if two strings are out of tune to help you tune your guitar.

Make a guitar neck with CNC

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This project by John Williams shows how you can make a guitar neck using a home-built CNC machine. John built the CNC machine with plans and a kit from HobbyCNC.com. (Check out www.cnczone.com for free plans). The software used was: Rhino 3D to design the neck, MeshCAM to generate the tool paths for the maching process and TurboCNC to operate the machine.

Build a home made CNC machine (JGRO router)

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This project describes how to make a CNC (computer numerical control) machine that could be used to make guitar parts. CNC may not always be the most efficient way to make guitar parts (a band saw and pin router is often the most sensible way to do guitar woodwork) but they are a flexible way to convert complicated 3D computer designs into reality. A good discussion about the role of CNC in guitar making was posted over at project guitar .

Make an Ikea guitar

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Although acoustic guitars usually have spruce tops, you don't see many electric guitars with pine wood bodies. Softwoods can have a broad frequency response with good midrange resonance, giving a generally lively sound. Softwoods will dent easily, so a hardened coating is often used.

Change a cheap guitar into a Steinberger style travel guitar

chopped up guitar

This project shows how a guy modified a cheap yard-sale guitar into a travel guitar. He sawed off most of the body and the head-stock and put the machine heads behind the bridge. Unfortunately the finished product does not balance properly like a Steinberger , the neck falls down if you let go of it. Maybe some weight could be added to the body?

Here is the link to the project

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