Scratch build 335 in a garden shed

[Ricky]

A few more photos.

Cheers
Ricky

[dozymuppet]

Lovely handiwork. Looking forward to the next update.

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[Ricky]

Well, the shed project is finished!

Polished, strung and intonated. (now all I have to do is learn to play it)

The neck is a "D" shape so slightly thicker than the norm. I also made it 2mm wider all the way down as there are some bits of music I play where my fingers struggle with the Gibson sized neck. It is only an experiment but so far I have found that I can control the faster runs and riffs a bit better - my fingers do not slide off the edge of the neck.

Tone is fantastic! I think this is mainly due to the solid mahogany centre beam. It is 4 inches wide and runs full length of the body. Possibly also due to the Warman Tennessee pu's.
Bridge is at a bit more of an angle. I was trying to avoid running out of intonation space as it is a home build and measurements could be a bit off. As it turned out it intonates well.
She is heavy but no tendancy to nose dive that I can see although I tend to play seated anyway.

Finish is Omi-Cron 2k automotive lacquer - you definitely need good masks for that stuff.
Probably about 24 coats - 4 at a session/day.
Lots of wet sanding and then many hours of hand polishing with T-Cut etc.

Great project and I loved every minute of it.
If you have not built a guitar from scratch I can recommend it. Take each task as a separate project and take your time.

Photo time.
Cheers
Ricky

[Ricky]

A couple more pics.

Cheers
Ricky

[Woltz]

Good job mate. Very tidy on the volute as well.

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[m0j0]

That is lovely. I'd kill for the skillz.

[Dacious]

Do you mean the original Gibson 335? The centre blocks in the original was maple. They had two routes near the neck pocket and near the bridge for wiring. I had a 335 Fatneck Dot reissue at one point. The body on the real first ones was 5-ply front and back but for years Gibson has used 3-ply and maple-poplar-maple. I think the top end Historics are maple-maple-maple but still 3-ply. I think the f-holes today are routed once the body's glued.

[Ricky]

Thanks mojo and woltz!
I think it is more dogged determination than skill really but I love working with wood.

Dacious, you are right. The original (and current, I believe) centre block is maple with a mahogany end cap.
I looked at using maple but the price was ridiculous so I opted for mahogany. It is made from 2 laminations of mahogany 'plank' glued together and then the end cap glued to that.
I thought that using a softer wood would be pointless in achieving what I was looking for (but it would have been much cheaper).

I think Gibson create their ply during the construction process rather than using a sheet of pre-made ply. Again, this was a process that was not available to me so I used marine grade 3-ply mahogany faced and then glued a maple veneer on top.
And, yes, I routed the F holes after the body was assembled - less chance of any splitting when the bend was clamped in.

Cheers
Ricky

[Simon Barden]

Well done, Ricky. Something you can be proud of. Doing a semi-hollow body as your first full scratch build takes a lot of guts but you did it.

So what's the next one going to be?

[Trevor Davies]

I love the guitar. Really love the neck - the colours go together so well.