kG's $100 Build - Now pics with a *CAMERA*

[whyachi]

Purchased:

Poplar for the body
Maple for a three-piece neck since I don't have the money in the budget for a truss rod
Oak for a fingerboard since its strong and why not
MinWax wipe-on poly

Total Spent: 48.24
Remaining: 51.76

My eBay watch list has the rest of the stuff I need for about $40, flexing the PayPal account in a few minutes. No pots, wiring a cheap soapbar I found directly to the jack to cut costs and simplify things, and this might have to go fretless as I just realized I didn't budget for them yet.

 

[Patrick]

hmm
either your photo is backwards, your plans are upside down, or you just want a lefty guitar  :dontknow:
sounds like a good plan and i like the curvy body shape  :icon_thumright:

 

[whyachi]

hmm
either your photo is backwards, your plans are upside down, or you just want a lefty guitar  :dontknow:
sounds like a good plan and i like the curvy body shape  :icon_thumright:

None of the above. Its a reverse-singlecut, just to screw with people. The neck access isn't really limited any more than it is on a Thunderbird and I don't play that high anyways. I'll have easy access to nineteen frets. I also got enough oak to make two fretboards, fully expecting to screw up the first one.

 

[whyachi]

Got a cheap soapbar, some import tuners, a Squier bridge and some other bits and bobs on eBay, and I'm down to $7.33. All I need is a steel rod for the neck (no money for a trussrod) and some spray paint for the nasty greenish poplar.

 

[JaySwear]

first off, that design is BADASS. 100%. secondly i like the idea for the neck. hopefully it'll be strong enough to not need a truss rod, and a three piece neck would look amazing without a fretboard over top. don't know if thats your plan or not

 

[whyachi]

Since its fretless I figured I'd put a slab of oak on it but but I'm doing this all by the seat of my pants so if it looks awesome then I'll leave it one-piece. I'm putting in steel rods like Warmoth does, but no truss rod as I ran out of money.

EDIT: Thanks for the props on the design! I did about five of those before I finally came up with something that was "different" while still looking like a bass guitar instead of a pop art piece.

 

[whyachi]

Got my steel bar for the neck today. I'm down to $1.34 but all my parts are ordered, I just need some spray paint to cover the nasty green poplar. Guess I'm hitting the dollar store. Can I put poly over spraypaint?

 

[whyachi]

Cut the steel support bar by clamping it to my work bench futon turned on its side and swearing at a hacksaw for a while.

Stacked some disassembled shelving units on the neck as I didn't have clamps that would apply even pressure along that big of a surface.

Smoked the motor in the new Dremel.. thing ain't made for maple, apparently.

 

[Cagey]

Smoked the motor in the new Dremel.. thing ain't made for maple, apparently.

One thing they drill into you (no pun intended) in metalworking, but not as much in woodworking, is the importance of "speeds and feeds". Usually it's not much of an issue in woodworking, but when you get into hardwoods it is. What they're talking about is how fast the tool is spinning/reciprocating and how fast you feed material to the tool. In both cases, the issue is usually heat, which will either affect the tool or the workpiece. Sometimes both.

Assuming you have a sharp cutting tool, your Dremel can handle maple just fine, but not if you jam it down its throat. On the other hand, if you go too slow, it'll burn. It's a fine line you gotta walk.

 

[whyachi]

I tried from 2k to 10k RPMs and nothing worked

 

[Cagey]

So, it wasn't speeds, it was feeds. The motor burned because it was overloaded; that much is certain. Just gotta figure out why it was overloaded. Cutter may not have been sharp enough or was too big, or you were forcing it.

 

[whyachi]

Either way its ten hours old and going back to the Depot tomorrow for something with an actual disc blade attachment instead of this funky little side-cutting thinger it came with. Might just be a different Dremel, not sure yet.

 

[JaySwear]

you're having one hell of an adventure with this build! between this thread and your facebook updates it's a pretty good one :icon_biggrin:

 

[whyachi]

I've got family watching too, so sorry if you're getting a double-dose of updates.

I'm currently sitting on a $125 Home Depot gift card I got for the Dremel and doing some research on routers, and drinking some Amp Energy so I can use the can for a pickguard.

I stupidly cut the steel rod into the wrong sized pieces. I'm not sure why I was thinking that half of 3' was 16", but oh well I can't undo it. I'm going to put the 16" bit on the bass side and the 20" on the treble where there is more tension.

 

[whyachi]

Annoyingly enough, only two of the parts I ordered on eBay on 8/4 are here so far, so today is going to be less productive than I'd hoped. Making a short 120 mile drive to my father's place to use his Sawzall to make some rough cuts on the body and take about 3" off the headstock. I randomly decided to make this 33" scale, after I measured my drawing and realized I'd lost an inch somewhere. I was hoping to have at least the tuners today so I could figure out how big the headstock needs to be, but oh well.

 

[Cagey]

Damn! Where do you live that you have to drive 120 miles to get at a Sawzall? Y'know, for brutal cuts like that will get you, you could probably save the gas money and buy a little sabre saw of your very own. One of these Black and Decker units, for instance, is only $39 at Amazon.

You're not going to take over the world with that saw, but for occasional use around the house, it ought to last you about 100 years.

 

[Soylent]

Gas or buying tools, seems like it's gonna cost more than $100 when this is done..  :laughing7:

 

[Cagey]

Gas or buying tools, seems like it's gonna cost more than $100 when this is done..  :laughing7:

I'm pretty sure the rules specifically exclude shipping costs, which I'd broadly interpret as transportation costs. I don't think the rules mention tools at all. It's assumed you'd have or acquire whatever tools you need to build the thing and wouldn't be needed to play the guitar, so they're not part of the $100 limit, either.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Gas or buying tools, seems like it's gonna cost more than $100 when this is done..  :laughing7:

I'm pretty sure the rules specifically exclude shipping costs, which I'd broadly interpret as transportation costs. I don't think the rules mention tools at all. It's assumed you'd have or acquire whatever tools you need to build the thing and wouldn't be needed to play the guitar, so they're not part of the $100 limit, either.

Still sorta sucks nonetheless.  :laughing7:

 

[Soylent]

Gas or buying tools, seems like it's gonna cost more than $100 when this is done..  :laughing7:

I'm pretty sure the rules specifically exclude shipping costs, which I'd broadly interpret as transportation costs. I don't think the rules mention tools at all. It's assumed you'd have or acquire whatever tools you need to build the thing and wouldn't be needed to play the guitar, so they're not part of the $100 limit, either.

Still sorta sucks nonetheless.  :laughing7:

Yeah, I wasn't calling him a blatant and obvious cheater, just saying I feel bad for his misfortune.  :doh: