bondcliff made a guitar

January 29, 2016 6:04 PM

"I made a guitar" [via mefi projects] I’m not doing this because I want to have an electric guitar. I already have an electric guitar. I’m doing this because I want to build an electric guitar.
posted by Greg Nog (52 comments total)

Cigar box guitar building is uber cool.
posted by shockingbluamp at 6:18 PM on January 29, 2016

Obligatory: How to make an electric guitar? Well, I don't know. But from the name of it, it's just a combination of guitar and electricity.
posted by effbot at 6:31 PM on January 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

bondcliff built a beautiful guitar.

This is awesome.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:40 PM on January 29, 2016 [5 favorites]

Nicely done. And now you get to call yourself a luthier, which is very cool.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:44 PM on January 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

My uncle made a kit guitar that my son plays now, and I told him it was a lot of work so he should baby the thing.

Now that I know just how much work it is, I am keenly afraid to see him taking it to school each Thursday. :7(

Gorgeous work, bondcliff! How's it sound?
posted by wenestvedt at 7:05 PM on January 29, 2016

What a great read. I would have totally kept the misnumbered neck, though. Every guitarist who watched you playing it would gradually be overcome with a sense of unease and dread, for reasons they wouldn't quite be able to pin down, giving you a subtle but real advantage in postapocalyptic desert guitar duels.
posted by No-sword at 7:05 PM on January 29, 2016 [40 favorites]

Very nice, bondcliff.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:05 PM on January 29, 2016

MetaFilter: a subtle but real advantage in postapocalyptic desert guitar duels.
posted by oheso at 7:07 PM on January 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

"I’m not doing this because I want to have an electric guitar. I already have an electric guitar. I’m doing this because I want to build an electric guitar."

I love and approve of this logic.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:15 PM on January 29, 2016 [5 favorites]

Wait, wait, WAIT. Where does the fire come out?

After all, isn't "bondcliff" just a substitution cipher of the first nine letters of "doof warrior"?
posted by wenestvedt at 7:27 PM on January 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

That is really beautifully done and, even moreso, I feel after reading this as if I myself could make something like this (if I had a suitably-equipped workshop, which alas I do not (yet)). Really nice work; your pride is well-deserved.

I do have one question, though: why did you not just use a miter saw for that 15° scarf joint on the neck? The first time, you did it with a hand saw and a plane. The second time, you built a jig and did it on a table saw. Was it simply a matter of not owning a miter saw, or was there a particular reason why you eschewed that tool? For me that would be the first tool I reached for in that application. I am curious as to whether there is something I am missing that would make a miter saw unsuitable for that cut.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 7:39 PM on January 29, 2016

Oh, wow. Front page. Thanks, Greg! And thanks for the comments, folks.

How's it sound?

Like an electric guitar. I don't know how else to describe it. It sounds pretty good. I think the pickups need to be adjusted a bit, the neck is a bit louder than the bridge pickup. Sustain is really great. It plays in tune for the most part. I haven't even touched my other one since I finished, and my guitar teacher was mightily impressed. Unfortunately I am a very shy, neurotic player so I haven't gathered up the courage to post a demo video yet.

why did you not just use a miter saw for that 15° scarf joint

I have a miter saw but it cuts 90 degrees to the fence. The maximum angle i can cut is 45 degrees. If I put the neck against the fence of the saw then I'm not actually cutting a 15 degree angle, but a 75 degree angle. (from the normal blade position) Make sense? I would have loved to use the miter saw and actually spent some time trying to figure out a way to do it but there really isn't one.
posted by bondcliff at 7:51 PM on January 29, 2016 [6 favorites]

Yup, I see it now. It's obvious, when you point it out like that, and I've never seen a miter saw that goes past 60°. In my head I can envision a couple of ways to possibly make the cut anyway, but jigs would be involved and I can see how in real life it might well be easier to do it on the table saw. Thanks for addressing my curiosity!
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:03 PM on January 29, 2016

Though I'd still be tempted to see if there were a way I could clamp a block to the miter saw's fence and set the neck blank against that, perpendicular to the fence if you get what I'm saying, and then cut it at a 15° miter. Kinda wish I had a saw in front of me so I could play with it.

I bet you thought of that though, and rejected it for some perfectly good reason. And regardless, if you were doing this "for real" (as in professionally) you now have an appropriate table saw jig so you can make that cut on your table saw all day long if you want. So for you it's a moot point now. I'm just thinking about this as a mental exercise.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:14 PM on January 29, 2016

Great job, bondcliff!
posted by drezdn at 8:18 PM on January 29, 2016

I tip my hat to you bondcliff, this is very, very cool! Thanks for posting Greg. Now I'm off to play my guitar that was, sadly, made by someone else.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 8:19 PM on January 29, 2016

It's beautiful. I would love to own a guitar that looked like that. The asymmetrical headstock with the staggered tuning pegs is really cool.
posted by straight at 8:40 PM on January 29, 2016

So... you taking orders yet?
posted by downtohisturtles at 8:43 PM on January 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

What a great job!

Also, kudos for making a guitar that isn't shaped like a Fender or Gibson.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:40 PM on January 29, 2016

Hello, I'm a guitar tutor.

One of the joys is when the students are so enthusiastic. I have one that was doing her best but was struggling with the cheap Squier her mother bought for her. I thought, correctly, she would not learn anything on that thing. So I left my guitar behind after one lesson, saying 'oh sure you can use it'.

This was the guitar I had played at a talent quest in my first year at university. I didn't win (thanks Megan Washington), but I did meet my fiance, who went backstage to give me a pint of beer, which I couldn't drink because I had to drive home.

I actually gave it a girl's name. 'Cammy'. I had it engraved on the bridge.

The student I gave it to improved immensely. And I couldn't take it back. Cammy was hers now. Whoever says 'as easy as taking candy from a baby' is an asshole. Nothing is more difficult. She had made a shrine? Perhaps not the right word. But in her bedroom, as teenagers make their space their own, there was a proud place for Cammy.

A guitar, or any musical instrument, is a personal thing. It really is a relationship. I gave her a girl's name because I love her. She helped me express myself without words. We worked together, to make music.

But she found another that knows how special she is.

Her dear mother shocked me, when I said she could keep Cammy. She asked how much it was worth. It's free! I'd never considered what it was worth in dollars. I laughed!
posted by adept256 at 9:45 PM on January 29, 2016 [18 favorites]

Nirvana had a reunion. Dave Grohl on the drums, Krist Novoselic on bass. The one and only musician who could entice the two of them to work together after their career exploded in horror and ruin, he had to figure his part out.

This musician had to pretend he was somewhere near Kurt Cobain's mastery of guitar.

He didn't. He shellacked a home-made cigar-box guitar just like this and well! They jammed.

I want to do this. Build my own guitar, and bring back the rock idols of my youth to the height of their power at the command of my parent's youth.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:47 PM on January 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Sometimes when you’re building a thing you not only have to build the thing, but you have to build things to help you build the thing. Woodworkers call these things jigs. So I built a jig.

I love this description! I would happily listen to an audiobook or podcast of writing like this article, as long as the captions were included.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 10:02 PM on January 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

OK, I got to the caption that says "Don't fret" and maybe I'm regretting that thing I said about the captions. But still, that bit with

That’s when the router made an awful noise.
[Fuck.]
Fuck.

is the best.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 10:10 PM on January 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Nicely done. I can’t believe you built a neck.
posted by bongo_x at 10:36 PM on January 29, 2016

I wasn't sure about the tuning head shape, but then i saw the guitar assembled, and holy crap! That guitar totally works in every way. Beautiful. I'm eager to see bondcliff add some video of how it sounds...
posted by Chuffy at 10:49 PM on January 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

excuse me, did someone just say "Kurt Cobain's mastery of guitar"?
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 11:07 PM on January 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

The snide narrative is the best part. I guess the guitar is alright too.

Nice job, bondcliff.
posted by a halcyon day at 11:14 PM on January 29, 2016

My comments to you, bondcliff, have little to do with your creating a guitar. This is because the only carpentry product that I ever built that even worked was a bookshelf. I was proud of it.

I loved your writing - and photos--, though. You made the process seem possible, plausible. Still, not for me. But for somebody. (Plus, I play piano. I'm not going to make a piano, duh.)

But thanks for this. I could follow it...in theory. The internet does something that books I would have had to check out of the library when I was your age could never have done. Not "something," but "too many things to name." Really great documentation!
posted by kozad at 11:47 PM on January 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

"a subtle but real advantage in postapocalyptic desert guitar duels."

You may want to borrow the one I made last summer for that. Behold the Guntar , no it does not shoot fire yet, I can't do everything at once.
I don't really know anything about guitars so this was a learning experience, I'm just really good at working with found objects.
posted by boilermonster at 11:56 PM on January 29, 2016

That is my fantasy guitar, boilermonster.
posted by adept256 at 12:28 AM on January 30, 2016

Incredibly well-written, informative and funny piece, fucking gorgeous guitar. If I had a hat, it would be off to you bondcliff.

excuse me, did someone just say "Kurt Cobain's mastery of guitar"?

Playing simple things and making them sound good is one of the hardest things you can do, really. A trip into any guitar shop* will quickly inform you of just how easy it is to play his music and have it sound horrible.

*at least, a quick trip into a guitar shop ten years ago... is the solo from Smells Like Teen Spirit still the teenage guitar-shop go-to? I haven't been in music shops for a long time now...
posted by Dysk at 1:07 AM on January 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm about to rebody an ancient car which is made of wood (well, the body is framed in wood). I've never done one. But people seem to think I do nice restorations, and I don't really have any dread about this project, and the reason is the same one Bondcliff has so eloquently articulated in his rule #3. Mistakes happen. You have to accept you'll fuck up and be able to laugh at yourself for making them, and, most importantly, be willing to start all over again. (It's super hard for some of us to resist HULK SMASH. I fail still every once in awhile, but am old enough to mostly not smash the irreplaceable against the expensive.)

I sometimes have to go back into the house after a particularly awful mistake and do something else, but when I pick it up again I'll (probably) do a better job.

I would add one more "rule": If you can swing it, buy at least one extra of anything likely to get ruined if you make a mistake. On a car that's bolts, gaskets, paint. On a woodworking project, buy a bit more stock than you need.

This guitar is very nice work (especially for a first attempt!), and i could watch a bunch of videos of Bondcliff putting together his next guitar. There's something soothing about time-lapse project clips, at the neck build was really fun to watch.
posted by maxwelton at 1:16 AM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm sure Brian May would approve. Nice work!
posted by TedW at 3:56 AM on January 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

I made a bass body in woodshop in high school, and bolted on a neck I had from a hagstrom, so basically, I didn't do the hard part at all. And it was still fantastically difficult. I miss working with wood, but boy, it takes patience.

I think it's really gorgeous, by the way. The wood grain on the body worked out really well.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:15 AM on January 30, 2016

Having watched my brother refurbish a few old guitars I can appreciate how much work and skill this must take. Well done and be proud!
posted by Emma May Smith at 5:29 AM on January 30, 2016

This is awesome and I loved reading it! I know a few people who build guitars -- although not quite completely from scratch, necessarily -- and I find the whole thing fascinating and somewhat baffling. And cool.

The best guitar is the one you like playing. I have fun custom-made Telecaster knock-off that probably no one other than me would really love, but it's the best.
posted by darksong at 6:03 AM on January 30, 2016

Oh man, I facepalmed when I saw the 12th fret markers in the wrong place, and I totally know that feeling: “Crap! If I do it again, it’s gonna take forever. But if I leave it, I will never be happy with it.”

You did the right thing in starting over on the neck, bondcliff, which makes this project that much more awesome. And besides, it’s not like all that knowledge gets scrapped. You never lose the act of making something.

(I ripped the frets out a bass neck to make it fretless a la Jaco Pastorius, and that was a way more involved project than I imagined. Building an two entire necks from scratch is pretty badass.)

This is super cool! Can’t wait to see the 5-string bass!
posted by subliminable at 6:16 AM on January 30, 2016

I wasn't sure about the tuning head shape

The first piece of veneer StewMac sent me was a bit too short so I had to make the headstock a bit short and stubby. When I rebuilt the neck I had a slightly longer piece of veneer so I was able to do it properly.

You did the right thing in starting over on the neck

I think so. There were a lot of other mistakes, including the headstock length, so having to redo the neck was actually kind of a blessing.

I realized I left out a lot of stuff about the body. I had to carve arm and belly bevels on the front and back, which took a while. I also spent about an hour drilling and cutting out a stripped bridge screw, which came very close to ruining the body.

I would add one more "rule": If you can swing it, buy at least one extra of anything likely to get ruined if you make a mistake.

This is very good advice, and in fact when I bought the stuff for the second neck I bought two of everything. I knew I'd use them on another project and it was nice to know I had spares in case I screwed up.

i could watch a bunch of videos of Bondcliff putting together his next guitar

I'm hoping to keep that site up as a repository of my projects. I'm always so grateful for what other people put out there that I learn from. I feel like it is the duty of all us tinkerers to add to that body of knowledge, even us amateurs. Especially us amateurs.

Y'all are making my morning with your kind words. Thanks again.
posted by bondcliff at 7:12 AM on January 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

I really enjoyed the writing in this. I will never do anything like this, yet I stayed with it through the whole story. Thanks!

The only thing missing? Do you mind if I drop by and play it just a little bit?
posted by cccorlew at 8:46 AM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is a sweet essay. I am not embarrassed to admit that I read the paragraph about stroking the neck fifteen or twenty times. Maybe twenty-five times.

When you have a guitar you are never alone.
posted by mule98J at 9:02 AM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

“I would use this experience to learn patience.”

I have no patience. I want instant gratification. You know those people who brew beer and they mix the stuff and then wait six weeks before they can drink the beer? Screw those people.

I've only read this far but even though I know I'll probably never build a guitar, I feel like I'm going to learn some sort of lesson reading this because this really speaks to me.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:03 AM on January 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

So bondcliff, what did you do with the first beautiful yet misnumbered neck?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:29 AM on January 30, 2016

Oh man, I immediately started counting at the "look carefully" picture and almost cried but had to laugh. I trust that neck occupies a place of honour in your workshop.

Very nice work, sir.
posted by raider at 9:52 AM on January 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Wow… I have a hard enough time practicing.

I've always thought it would be a fun hobby to build guitars but reading this reminds me I would need to build a shop first. I have an old '62 Jazzmaster that needs work so this is good inspiration!
posted by jabo at 10:18 AM on January 30, 2016

Woodworking and physical construction in general tends to mystify me, so reading this helped a lot, especially this part:

Sometimes when you’re building a thing you not only have to build the thing, but you have to build things to help you build the thing. Woodworkers call these things jigs. So I built a jig.

I build a lot of software "jigs," so it's comforting to hear that physical artificers also do this instead of just somehow "doing it right with their hands".
posted by ignignokt at 1:28 PM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

That's so wonderful. I would love to have a go on that guitar. I wish you well to play it!
posted by motty at 5:25 PM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

bondcliff has been tweeting pictures of this project for quite a few weeks now. It's been fun to watch his progress.
posted by slogger at 7:41 PM on January 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have wanted to do this for almost 25 years (since I was a teenager), but it was only ever talk. Loved living vicariously through this. Maybe I'll get there one day, you certainly made it seem accessible albeit extremely challenging.
posted by Pazzovizza at 12:58 PM on January 31, 2016

If you want to do an easier version there are a lot of in betweens. When I was younger I bought a vintage neck and built the body, then had an actual guitar repair/builder guy route out the neck joint and other body routings. Those are the hard parts. The rest of it is not that difficult but does take some work, and is more rewarding than just buying a kit. You can build a body with minimal tools. You can buy new necks, or find older ones all over the place. Your local guitar repair or ebay are god places to look.
posted by bongo_x at 1:03 PM on January 31, 2016

That's a great looking guitar, I'm impressed! I don't play any instruments, but I love music and woodworking, so building a guitar is a project I've thought and dreamed about. Now I can imagine myself actually being able to pull it off. Thanks for the inspiration!
posted by Daddy-O at 1:20 PM on January 31, 2016

I loved your writing - and photos--, though. You made the process seem possible, plausible. Still, not for me. But for somebody.

I totally agree with this, reading this I kept thinking to myself "Wow maybe I should make an electric guitar." I don't play guitar, nor have I ever done any woodworking. The only electric tool I own is a cheap drill.

Great job on the guitar and the writeup bondcliff!
posted by DynamiteToast at 11:17 AM on February 1, 2016

Just in case anyone is wondering how much more goes into building an acoustic guitar, this is a pretty good blog that follows the process, written by the guy who wrote the review of the guitar building book that initially put this whole crazy idea in my head.

He builds his on a kitchen table in a small condo with mostly hand tools, proving my point that, although a shop is nice to have, it can be done anywhere.

So bondcliff, what did you do with the first beautiful yet misnumbered neck?

It's up on a shelf in my shop. I used it to practice with the spoke shave a bit. I've thought about tearing it apart to salvage the truss rod, but it's only a $13.00 part so I think I will instead just keep the neck as a reminder to myself to measure, measure, count, measure, count again, measure and, only then, cut.
posted by bondcliff at 10:05 AM on February 3, 2016 [2 favorites]