Inventables (or anyone), please tell me you have the strat or tele knockoff in easel! LOL Thanks…
I’d suggest you download or create some SVG files of a Strat Body, and the basic outline of the neck, and also the pickup and control cavities. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find plans.
Im not sure if this is the exact model, but this could give you some ideas on how you might be able to do what you are looking for.
Alex,
Doing that very thing. Thanks…
Dave
Blair,
Wrong model, but thanks for the reply.
Dave
I have a tele body I posted the other day. It needs some tune up work and then I’m going to work on a jr or nighthawk style body.
A strat will be after that since I’d have to figure out making the contours for the comfort cuts.
I won’t be able to buy and build a machine for a bit so I’m happy to share if you’ll make done test cuts.
Im in the process of building a library of parts in Illustrator so you can turn on and off different configurations for bolt on guitars. IE Build a tele w 2 P90 routes and a strat trem or strat with one bridge humbucker and a hardtail etc…
I have about 7 bodies and associated parts… then it will be figuring out how to QC them.
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Ive been wondering with cut times if the xcarve is a better template maker than body carver. It looks like on the one youtube video the carve time was eight hours.
As a guitar builder and new X Carve owner I am wondering if it may be faster to do some carving by hand or hand held router after the X carve does most of the grunt work. The most important aspect to me in regards to making parts (bodies and necks) is being able to mill perfect neck pockets and produce necks that fit the pocket exactly within .001 tolerance.
Keep the guitar thread going.
Regards
Jon
Played with my library for a few and tried a couple of designs:
One of my personal favorite designs from years ago, and intentionally backwards strat type:
And a two piece design with a 1/4 inch top so the cavities have rear access and internal connections for the cavities. It probably needs some cleaning up but I’m liking the results so far.
Guitar Top:
Guitar Bottom:
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Jon,
My thoughts are similar to yours. Carve the important pieces with the machine and use it to build templates for the rest. However I think with the xcontroller and a good router spindle with some stiffening the machine may be more effective than it seems. Now I need two find two grand lying around so I can get testing or a fellow xcarver in or near las vegas.
John
This site has a bunch of DXFs - it’s in German, but seems easy enough to understand - Schablonen und Zeichnungen - GitarreBassBau.de
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Right on. Build all those tools that Stew Mac sells for hundreds of dollars.
I used my X-Carve to make this guitar using the original stock spindle ( Electric Guitar ). I made lots of test cuts on the material to find the optimum speed and depth of cut so as not to stress the spindle, bit, belts, motors, etc. I was conservative to make sure it would produce clean cuts and finish the job without going off course. I’ve also cut templates with it and it did both accurately…the only difference is cut time really.
I have since upgraded to the Dewalt 611 and I expect to be able to cut the next one a little faster, although speed is not really an issue for me in my hobby shop. If you want to cut out more than 2-3 guitars per week, I think it would be more efficient to have the machine route the pockets and cut about 1/4" of the outlines, then cut the rest with a band saw and flush trim bit. Saws cut wood a lot faster than routers do.
I was happy with letting the machine cut the whole thing out while I did other stuff though. Since I was making a video, I did check on it every 30 minutes and record some progress footage. My biggest concern was that my 1 gallon shop vac would catch on fire. I don’t think shop vacs are designed to run for 6 hours straight. lol
@Syxxstring - Those are some nice projects you have going! Keep it up! Steve…
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