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Modeling. how to make a guitar from polymer clay. How to make an electric guitar: a step-by-step description of making a guitar from scrap materials How to make a guitar

Make a plan to build your guitar. If you don't have a plan, you may end up with something completely different instead of the intended guitar. To make a good guitar, you need to think about its design, and decide on the components you want to use. The condition and quality of your guitar will depend on how skillfully you handle the assembly. The equipment depends on what funds you have and what brands you prefer.

Make a drawing. Everything you build, be it a house or a Lego car, needs a blueprint. To make it, very carefully draw the guitar you want. Do not write anything on this sheet - it will bother you later. Indicate only the required dimensions, and make all other notes on another sheet. You can also print a life-size photo of the guitar and then transfer the outline using a backlit surface or sheet of glass.

Guitar body. To make a guitar, you will need a body. The body is the most important part of the guitar. Without it there would be no strings, no pickups, no sound itself. If you have a guitar, you can use a pre-made body. However, if you want your guitar to be different, you will need to handcraft the body out of wood. The type of wood and its density affects tone and sustain (how long a note lasts). Once you've chosen your wood, trace the body onto a piece and cut it out. Body blanks made from exotic woods such as swamp ash and mahogany can be ordered from guitar-building resources such as stewmac.com. Once you have the body of the desired shape, you need to make a cavity in it for the neck. There are three types of neck mounting: bolt-on, glued-in (looks sleeker, but is not as versatile), and through (the neck goes through the entire body of the guitar).

Buy or make a bar. It's easiest to buy a pre-made neck, but if you're making your own guitar, you'll need to make the neck as well. It's not very difficult, just find it wood block desired length (usually the bar is about 24 inches/61 cm long, give or take a couple of centimeters). If you're making the neck yourself, you'll need to make fret bridges from fret wire, which can be purchased in many places. The process of installing frets is quite labor-intensive and requires care and patience. Each fret needs a separate notch, and it must be the same everywhere. If the notches are different, the neck will constantly ring at different frets: no one will like this, least of all you.

Cut out a cavity to accommodate the neck. Its size may vary, so be careful and be precise.

Select pickups. The pickups generate a magnetic field and pick up the vibration of the strings. Without pickups, your guitar won't be able to handle the amp. You will also need to determine the sequence in which you will place the pickups. It all depends on your budget. Here are some examples:

SSS, SSH, HSH, HH, H, HHH, SS, Or HS
- S - single, H - humbucker
  - Be very careful when selecting pickups as they will affect the tone.

Buy pickups. You had to choose the option that suits you. Look for it in your region so that it is of high quality and affordable. You can also find interesting deals online (eg three pickups for $50).

Cut out the cavities for the pickups. There are two types of strokes: the top stroke is used to route wires to the top of the body, and the controls are accessible from the top (like a Fender Stratocaster); the bottom stroke is used to route wires into the back cavity of the guitar (like a Gibson Les Paul). Make cavities the correct depth for each pickup, and make holes between the cavities for wires to the controls and other pickups.

Install the tailpiece (bridge). The bridge holds the strings at a certain height. It should be placed directly opposite the bar. The string slots on the bridge must EXACTLY match the slots on the saddle near the headstock. Some bridges hold the strings themselves (Telecaster), others pass the strings through the body (Les Paul).

Painting. This is the most interesting part. Sand the body of the guitar well so it can be painted and choose a color. It is recommended to use paint based on nitro varnish to give the wood good looking. Apply one coat, let it dry, then apply another coat. You can apply four coats or more until you are happy with the color. If you want your guitar to last a long time, apply fewer coats and avoid using varnish.

Hello humanity. Today I will tell you how I made my first electric guitar. Surely anyone can make it, and from all sorts of rubbish. This was the original goal when I picked it, at about 14 years old.

This was my first handmade guitar. Therefore, it does not look very good, and the sound is not the best, but this gives it its charm. The guitar works, that is, you can play it (or learn to play it, like me), and this is the main thing. Besides, making this electric guitar was a great experience and the next instrument was much better.
I advise you to immediately stock up on all the accessories in order to bring the guitar to working condition right away, and not suffer later with a half-finished instrument.
You will need:

Pickups.
Frets.
Pegs.
Strings.
Preferably a nut and bridge, but I also have them homemade.

I started with the deck. Of course, it would be nice to make some kind of musical wood (maple, spruce, alder, etc.) from a single board. I made it from three pieces of 10 mm plywood. They all even different sizes. I sawed the largest piece of plywood in the shape of an arrow. There are a huge number of soundboard stencils for electric guitars on the Internet, but you can use your imagination and come up with something of your own.

Let's leave the body alone for now. Let's take care of the neck. I cut it out of maple boards. The markup is as follows:

Length - 650 mm;
Width - 50 mm;
Width at the top sill – 45 mm;

The tree, by the way, is very suitable. The next step is to insert the anchor or anchor bolt. The truss rod is a screw that is screwed into the end of the neck (where the headstock is). It prevents the neck from bending when the strings are tensioned. But I thought that for this particular guitar, an truss rod is not needed. Plus, trussless electric guitars actually exist. Also, the neck will do without an overlay. From the front side (where the frets will be) we process the neck with a file and sanding belt, giving it a rounded shape.
Now, on the back side, the neck also needs to be given an arched shape. Do as I do, i.e. It's better not to cut it with a knife. It is better to process it using a plane, because... it's much easier to control than a knife, which can cut too deep and ruin the entire neck. Next, we process it using a sanding belt, i.e. sandpaper, gradually increasing the grit. Not the entire neck needs to be treated this way. Leave 100 mm at the beginning of the neck, where it will be attached to the soundboard.
Let's return to the body again. Now you need to mark where the bar will be attached. After that, I made a cutout in the top and middle plywood for the neck using a drill and a hacksaw. I placed the neck the way it would be in the finished guitar and began to count the scale. Scale is the distance from the bridge (lower saddle) to the nut. We mark where both will be.
Next, we mark where the sensor will be. Drilling and milling work is now underway. Those. we make grooves for the pickup and bridge. Mine turned out to be through, due to the insufficient thickness of the plywood. Next, I fastened all 3 plywood pieces with the most reliable known fastenings - black self-tapping screws. If the screw is black, the metal will play better. I didn’t think about resonance and all that stuff at all then. The smallest one will hold the bar securely, right? I immediately drilled 4 holes in it and marked these holes on the neck.

Next, a bridge is installed in the deck. It would be nice if there was one, but if not, plexiglass or any material softer than strings will roll. Since the hole for it is through, I had to screw an iron plate from the back to prevent the bridge from flying out. Next we insert the pickup. WITH back side A plate made of aluminum cans is also screwed onto the deck. A white plate is attached to the body with two outer screws; it also covers too much big hole. The other two screws secure the pickup itself to this plate. You can even adjust the height of the sensor. Using a needle file, we make small cutouts for the strings on the bridge. Each string should be above its own magnet. I didn't have the required drill bit for two potentiometers. Only for the spinners themselves. We insert them into the deck, and we will spin them using coins. So even better. I secured the potentiometers using hot glue known as hot snot.

We will attach the strings like an adult - through the body. I drilled six holes in the soundboard for the strings.
Now let's get back to the fretboard. You need to mark where the frets will be. You can do this different ways, for example, find the required template on the Internet, which is what I recommend. We make cuts for the frets themselves using hand jigsaw. If the cut doesn’t fit, you need to widen it, if it doesn’t hold, then you’ll have to glue it in, which is what I did. It would also be desirable to have an upper threshold, but I made it from cold welding. But this is far from the best option. Next, drill holes for the pegs and install them. I didn't like the screws that came with these pegs, they were too small. I screwed in more. These pegs, by the way, are for a classical guitar; I bought them because they were the cheapest (about 90 rubles).

The guitar can now be painted. Since this is plywood and a regular board, I painted a simple acrylic paint. You can paint it with stain, the result will also not be bad. Next, ideally varnish.
Now you can assemble the guitar. We will screw the neck with four self-tapping screws through a unique platform. It's made from several aluminum cans and rubber gasket. All that remains is to install the strings. Oh yes, I almost forgot about the exclusive belt from the belt. More precisely, from two denim belts. Attached with two self-tapping screws. They can even adjust the height.

This tool, saturated with hatred and pain, even works. Although it was done for beauty. You can play any kind of garbage, but devilishly expensive guitars are not for us.
The advantage of this guitar is that it is homemade. Do you have a better understanding of how this works? musical instrument. It's a good experience. The first electric guitar most likely won’t turn out to be very cool, but you remember all your mistakes and next time you won’t make the same mistakes.

P.S. The guitar is very suitable for playing grunge or punk rock, or even heavy metal.
P.S.S. On New Year You can save on the Christmas tree, you will always be happy with this guitar.

An original master class on how to make a guitar figurine from polymer clay.

We will need:

Plastic: gold, mother-of-pearl and bronze Fimo, a little black and the rest of any color, to fill the guitar drum.
A utility knife (I use two different sizes).
Some kind of device with a ball at the end (I made it with a toothpick and baked it).
Guitar drum template (cut from cardboard)
Medical gloves.
Wire.
Round nose pliers, thin nose pliers and wire cutters.
Tweezers.

Not shown in the photo, but absolutely necessary are two rolling pins: glass bottles, large and small.

Using gold and mother-of-pearl Fimo, we imitate wood; to do this, we act as if we were going to make a smooth color transition manually:
Fold the triangles into a square, as shown in the figure.

Let's cut it into several strips, so that each of them has a different ratio of mother-of-pearl and gold.
Now you need to mix each strip until the color is uniform and roll into a ball. The easiest way is to knead as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Roll out a long sausage, twist it in half..

and flatten.
After which, roll the resulting flat cake into a sausage again. Repeat the procedure until a uniform shade is obtained.

We received several of these balls, in different shades. Looking ahead, I will say that the brightest turned out to be too much, a large number of light stripes are not good for naturalness.

We roll out these thin sausages from each ball, be sure to use our hands; squeezing from a syringe is not suitable here. The pearlescent scales must curl differently to achieve the effect.
I posted the ruler and template in the photo for neat people like me. This way I determine the approximate size of the sliced sausages. You see, I have them about two times the length of the template; when we roll them out, they will turn out to be exactly three lengths. (I don’t like a lot of scraps)) In general, you don’t have to deal with this, but simply cut it into equal pieces.

There is also no need to worry about the evenness of the thickness of the sausages. After all, the veins in the wood are also uneven.
We fold the resulting sausages into one sheet, pressing lightly against each other, in any order.

We got this canvas of alternating shades.

We take the larger rolling pin and slowly roll out all this splendor. Don’t rush, so as not to accidentally roll it out to a very thin transparent layer.

Voila! We have a completely wooden surface. The veins turn out to be very natural, since the scales in the metallic plastic “stand on end” along the edges of each sausage and give dark color, and in the middle, each vein plays with a shade, because we rolled it out with our hands and the scales were wrapped randomly.

Let's get straight to the guitar.
Using a small blade, we cut out two soundboards and a shell for the body of the guitar according to the template.
Using the same template, we will cut out a base 3-4 mm thick from plastic filler, which we will then glue over.

I cut out the shell using a ruler. 12cm long, width equal to the thickness of the filler plus the thickness of the decks you cut out.
Starting from this moment, we carry out all operations with gloves so as not to leave fingers and give smoothness to our wood.

First, we glue the decks and carefully iron them from the middle to release all the air. Then we will cover the sides with a shell.

Let's smooth out the joints a little, there is no need to achieve complete merging, real guitars always have such a edging.

Now we roll a small ball made of bronze plastic. And very carefully flatten it with a small rolling pin (for me this function is performed by a naphthyzine bottle). The difficulty here is that we need a thin layer of a perfectly round shape. In finished (flatten) form with a diameter of 8mm.

Using a device with a ball at the end, we will make a recess in the upper deck and literally press a bronze circle into it. Smoothing out from the middle so that no bubbles remain.

We form a small piece of bronze plastic and glue it to the body, creating a support for the neck.
Well, the troubles with the guitar body are over for now. Dimensions: 3.5cm by 2.5cm.

We cut out a block 4.5 cm long from bronze plastic. We flatten one end and form the headstock.

Let's roll up a small sill from black plastic and place it on the fingerboard. And use a thin wire or needle to pierce through holes diagonally. I thought that for such a little thing three strings would be enough.

Now we need pegs. It is convenient to roll very small balls on the table with your index finger.

Using a needle, place them on the back of the fingerboard,

Let's attach the neck to the body, press it well, just make sure that our work is not deformed. Let's adjust the second sill, slightly longer than the first. And we'll make a small hole for a pin with a loop on which the guitar will hang, slightly diagonally to the center of the drum.

so that they visually cover the holes, but do not clog them.

All we have to do is put three drawings on the sills, the strings will lie in them. And pierce three holes, 1-2mm deep, on the body opposite each rice. We will glue strings into them.
The guitar is ready for baking. Preheat the oven to 110-130 degrees, place the guitar on a sheet of baking paper folded in four and into the oven! For thirty minutes.
You can, of course, put it on cotton wool so that the neck does not bend, but it seemed easier to me to straighten it with your fingers when we take the finished guitar out of the oven, while it is still warm.

If you want to make any musical instrument from plasticine, then a guitar is quite suitable. suitable option. It doesn’t matter whether you know how to play this instrument or not, but all music lovers can appreciate its sound. Modeling a guitar from plasticine can be called a craft medium degree complexity, but only due to the presence of all kinds of small details. The master class below will completely facilitate the creation process.

Desirable colors of plasticine for work:

beige, reminiscent of wood texture;
dark brown;
black;
white;
You will also need thin wire to create strings.

1. First, roll a ball out of light brown plasticine.

2. Then knead the ball with your fingers to make it flat, but not completely thin.

3. Press the resulting cake on both sides with your thumb and forefinger, defining the outline of the guitar.

4. Press out the space for the socket hole. Prepare a black cake based on its size.

5. Insert the black pastry into the punched out hole. Frame the black piece with dark brown, and also place a dark strip - the stand - closer to the base.

6. Make a guitar neck from a long black strip. If the plasticine you use is too soft and does not hold its shape, then fix a piece of black cardboard of the same size at the base.

7. Using black plate and white dots, make a headstock with a tuning mechanism.

8. Attach the part in place.

9. Using a stack, draw thin stripes along the neck.

10. To make strings, use pieces of thin wire.

The plasticine guitar musical instrument is ready. Of course, you can’t play with it, but you can play with it, like a toy made with your own hands.

Guitar making is a rather complex but interesting area of music. Of course, it is not suitable for beginners, but experienced guitarists can try their hand at this. This will allow you to make an instrument that suits you, as well as create custom guitars, and get pretty good money from it. In this section we will talk in detail about, and also give detailed guide on this matter.

Before starting work

Before you begin making a guitar, you will need to prepare your tools. This includes:

- Different types of wood you need

— Wood glue

— Sealant

— Sandpaper

— Clamps

— Drill

— Cutter

— Varnish for coating

Besides, you will need drawings for marking. This will be enough to.

The most common wood used to make an acoustic guitar is cedar and spruce, but you can experiment with different types wood to create your own sound. Walnut wood is a very common wood and is popular in Western guitars. We recommend starting with these materials as they are the easiest to work with.

Also, pay attention to the quality of the wood. It varies from A to AAAA, and this greatly affects the price. For the first time, take medium-priced wood, and later start purchasing the most expensive options. This way you will protect yourself from losing money due to unsuccessful production.

How to make an acoustic guitar? 17 steps to make your own guitar

1. Choosing wood for making a guitar

We have already described this point in detail in the paragraph above. IN making an acoustic guitar In this tutorial we used walnut and cedar. In the future, try to consider mahogany or rosewood, as they give quite a warm and unusual .

2. Making the guitar soundboard. Trimming and installing wooden parts

So, first of all we need make a guitar soundboard . IN in this case you need to make the top and bottom of the back of the deck. In this case, the back part of the deck consists of two halves. You need to achieve such a result that the line of the junction of these two pieces is not visible when gluing, and that they are perfectly even relative to each other. To do this, take the two sheets of wood that you prepared initially and start sanding them using sandpaper. It will take a long time to sand to ensure that the deck is smooth and without any splinters or chips. In addition, you need a special thickness - this is 2.5 millimeters for the top part, and 3 millimeters for the bottom. The most convenient thing in this case is to use a grinder, but you can try to do this with sandpaper, which will be much longer and more problematic.

After this, you will need to draw the deck on the finished pieces of wood. You can find the diagrams on the Internet yourself - since there is no single format, and everything is limited only by your taste and imagination.

3. Sound hole. Rosette and inlay

For the next step, you will absolutely need a wood carving tool. This can be a regular jigsaw, but it is best to purchase a specialized tool for cutting wood. After marking the location of the socket with drawings, you will need to cut it out. Drill a hole in the center first, then use the circle cutting attachment. Be sure to keep an eye on the diameter and double check everything carefully - this is critical to good sound.

After this, you need to cut strips of wood that will be glued into the inside of the deck in accordance with the drawing. Their thickness should be approximately 2mm. Make sure they fit perfectly with the body of the guitar.

After that, we move on to decorative stickers. Here the matter is limited only by your imagination and the ability to make the guitar individual.

4. Clamp assembly

The next step in making an acoustic guitar is This is an assembly of side clamps that strengthen the thin wood. The recommended wood for this is Sita spruce, but you can also use cedar. Cut the pieces according to the drawing and place them according to the drawing. After this, fasten them to each other and make two halves, onto which the deck will later be attached. They should be slightly narrower than its diameter.

5. Mold making and side bending

The next step in making a guitar is This is creating a strip of wood that will cover the clamps and give the guitar a solid look. The first option for making them is to create something from pieces of plywood that replicates the shape of the guitar, or to create the same thing, but from two large pieces. For this you can use pneumatic fillers. You will need a 2x4 panel.

The hardest part is bending the wood. To do this, you will either need to soak it for a long time, or use steam and special tools. In addition, you will need an iron mold, which also needs to be either made or purchased online. Once you have soaked the wood and made it flexible and pliable, you will need to place it in a mold and bend it to suit your needs. Be sure to secure it and leave it to dry before removing it. Next, glue it to the clamps using wood glue.

6. Creating cuts, tail inlays and neck fitting

To begin, you will need to attach to inner side the rim is two strips of wood, on one of which the neck will be mounted. First, soak them in water for better plasticity, then secure one to the bottom of the strip. Give the glue a day to dry and then repeat the process. Use sandpaper to polish them so that they do not protrude beyond the edges of the bend sheet.

The easiest way is to purchase the neck on the Internet rather than cutting it yourself. Usually they are sent with a ready-made cutout for , as well as bolts for attachment. Cut the wooden panel that covers the hole for inserting the anchor, and also dry the wood. Sand it down. Mark the two holes that are on the neck of the guitar on its body and match them correctly. Everything needs to be aligned perfectly, and after all the markings are done, connect them with bolts.

After this, place the anchor in the neck cavity. Cover it with a special strip so that the neck is solid, and you can later apply a pickguard to it. After this, separate the neck from the body - later you can attach it using the bolts that you marked before.

7. Housing assembly

After that, it's time to assemble the body. First, carefully cut out the required gaps for the neck and fingerboards on the top and bottom of the body, after which the task becomes less difficult. You just need to connect the finished parts to each other as accurately as possible, glue them, secure them with electrical tape or something else, and then give the glue time to dry.

After this, cut out small strips of wood that you will place around the edges, covering them and protecting them from dents. Soak them so that they bend well and stick to the edges.

8. Neck preparation

The next step is preparation . Using tools, shape it into the shape you want, mark the holes, and then drill them. Use sandpaper to sand the neck so that it is smooth and without any splinters. After that, apply paint to it, or leave the original color of the wood.

9. Inlay in the fretboard

If desired, the neck can be decorated with wood inserts. To do this, you will need to make an indentation in the shape of the decorations you want to place, and then place the addition on the glue, pressing it firmly.

10. Making and installing the fretboard

The next step is – making the fretboard. This way you will mark the frets using special inserts. First, of course, you need to prepare it - cut it to shape and clean it. After this, it was time for marking. First you will need to mark the frets. Do this according to the instructions, or take measurements from a ready-made neck. After this, make indentations along the lines of the frets - in the future you will insert steel strips there. The next step is to drill small holes for the washers that will mark the frets. Next, you will need a strong press to help you push all the metal parts of the wood into place. It is advisable to slightly soak it and dry it after setting the frets.

11. Neck assembly

First of all, you need to fill the anchor groove and cover it with a specially prepared board. After this, coat the fingerboard with glue and place it on the fingerboard. Press it down using additional wooden board, then let everything dry and sand the neck again with sandpaper. In addition, you will need a cover for the anchor. It can be made from any piece of wood, cut to shape and mounted on bolts.

12. Making a protective drop (golpeador) on the upper deck

You can make it in any shape you want. Simply cut out the protective drop you need from plastic or thin wood and place it on the glue. The most important thing here is to polish it just as well.

13. Varnishing

This is followed by the varnishing stage. Everything is very simple here - using polyethylene, separate those parts that need to be varnished from those that do not. This is, first of all, the fingerboard, rosette, and also a place for the stand. Just stick it on top of the guitar so that you can separate it later.

14. Installing the stand

After this, check how well the strings fit after installing the bridge. The best way to do this is to take a simple measurement, roughly imagining its height. If they lie on the bar, this is bad. Try raising the bridge with a piece of wood placed underneath the bridge.

15. Finishing touches

Once you have everything you need in place, it's time for varnishing. Use any tool varnish, especially a good option– in aerosol cans. It is best to apply 10 layers of varnish, sanding each layer a little for smoothness. In addition, it is recommended to make a separate box to apply the varnish in. Of course, use protective equipment respiratory tract and bodies. After the layers have cured for a week, polish them.

16. Installing Stand II

After that, it's time to install the bridge. Drill holes for the strings according to the markings inside the body and the bridge itself, and then attach it with glue. Your task is to calculate everything as accurately as possible. If you did everything correctly, then you will have a spot on the body under the bridge, which forms after applying the varnish - focus on it.

17. Final steps

The last thing to do in the task“How to make a guitar at home” - polish the instrument, tighten the strings and adjust the anchor . Remember that the glue must be allowed to dry thoroughly, after which you carry out all these manipulations. If you did everything correctly, then you should have a playing acoustic guitar.