Drawing Guitar Plans

[Woltz]

Hi all,

I'm getting close to finishing drawing a plan for a BC Rich Eagle (which I'll post here for people to use). Once I've completed that I'm happy to draw up some other guitar plans if anyone has a particular guitar they want to build and there are no plans available on the internet. Please note that as an absolute minimum I would need to know nut width and scale length and have access to some good quality photos.

[kuanjb]

I'm interested in what process you use to do this. I tried to make plans when I was working on the pickguard design for my JZA-1 build. The problem I ran into was that the photos would have a sort of fish bowl effect and hence you couldn't just trace the routed locations etc. Had to do a lot of measuring to try and get it right.

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[Sonic Mountain]

A good trick is to use a scanner. Even a cheapo one from officeworks will do the trick if you have Photoshop & Illustrator . A scan is generally 1:1 so its great for a lot of the smaller parts like bridges, but I've done the entire body of my JMA and a pick guard to suit. You just need to scan it a few bits at a time and then stitch it together in photoshop. I then import that to illustrator and trace away.

Measuring is still important, if nothing else to confirm everything will work. I did a lot of that on all my various guitars when designing my scratch build and there is still stuff I didn't account for :/

This is my current progress on the JMA changes:

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...t=7788&page=15

[Woltz]

I'm interested in what process you use to do this. I tried to make plans when I was working on the pickguard design for my JZA-1 build. The problem I ran into was that the photos would have a sort of fish bowl effect and hence you couldn't just trace the routed locations etc. Had to do a lot of measuring to try and get it right.

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The advice Sonic has given is really good for what you are wanting to do.

It ultimately comes down to how accurate you need to be. Here is where I'm up to with the plan for the Eagle.



The advantage I have with this is that I'm not aiming for an exact replica so the measurements don't have to be exact. Obviously the most important thing is the scale length. So first I set up the scale length in illustrator. Then when drawing the fret locations, they are not taken from a photo, the whole fretboard is done based off exact measurements. This website (http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/) allows you to plan out a fretboard and export in multiple formats.

In the case of the pickups and bridge. They also aren't traced. They are drawn separately based on measurements and then placed in their approximate location along the centreline with the photo in the background as a reference. I've also spoken to someone who has a BC Rich Eagle to get some basic measurements and may yet have to get a couple more but the extra measurements at this point aren't necessary for a functional guitar.

The more measurements you have obviously the more accurate it will be. However it is possible to produce a plan of a guitar that is very similar to the production version even with limited information.

[kuanjb]

Yeah I guess it is different between making a plan for making a guitar from scratch and modifying an existing guitar / kit. I had thought about trying to scan the guitar. I'll have to see if my work has one. Don't really want to buy one....... I have enough junk at home.

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[wazkelly]

I am seriously contemplating a Steinberger XL headless bass and will upload some photos over the weekend to see what you might be able to do.
Typical 34" Bass scale and may even contemplate neck through too.
Thanks, Waz

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[Woltz]

Well here it is. Happy to take feedback if anyone has any.



It's probably the best I can do without more detailed measurements. I'll get it printed at some stage and make up a MDF template to check everything but I'm happy to share either a PDF or the Illustrator file with anyone who wants it.

[wazkelly]

Hi Woltz, here are some Steinberger images to work with....they originally started out with the more rectangular brick shape that over time tapered out a bit, and at one stage they also did a small V shape too. That weird boomerang shaped thing was the original strap connection setup and could be a bit too hard to replicate and on subsequent models it was left off (ie. the Spirit models in recent times).
Thanking you in advance, Waz.

[kuanjb]

Hi Woltz, here are some Steinberger images to work with....they originally started out with the more rectangular brick shape that over time tapered out a bit, and at one stage they also did a small V shape too. That weird boomerang shaped thing was the original strap connection setup and could be a bit too hard to replicate and on subsequent models it was left off (ie. the Spirit models in recent times).
Thanking you in advance, Waz.

This thread might help:
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...3&share_type=t

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[wazkelly]

Thanks kuanjb, that tapatalk thread helped heaps.