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I know this is probably a loaded Question , however here it goes . I am thinking about building an Acoustic/Electric Guitar and I am toying with a Body Thickness of approx 3-3/4" Is that to thin? What would be a good thickness to try .

The Widest Part Of The Body as seen Below will be 14-1/2"

Any Suggestions would be appreciated . This is my first effort on a guitar. Usally I do Mando's

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
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Is the primary use acoustic or electric?

What type of pickup system will you be using?

_________________
Bad decisions make for good stories.
-------John


My blog - http://poplarmechanics.blogspot.com/

very good questions and I have NO idea. I would appreciate ANY advice in those areas . I dont want to use cheap stuff . If im doing this I want ot use good quality middle of road price materails so. educate me please in any suggestions u have Im all ears

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Define the 'type' of acoustic electric you want to build. Some builders like Rick Turner (look up his model 1, among other guitars) go for the acoustic solidbody approach, feeling that a solidbody is a better vehicle for amplified acoustic tones when coupled with a good pickup (like a PUTW or good undersaddle system). A nice, lively acoustic wood core (my 'solidbody acoustic' design - not built, only on paper - would be either spruce, cedrella or western red cedar) with something tougher/harder on top and back.

If your intent is to have a stage acoustic that will be plugged in and amplified, then the thickness of the box is almost secondary, especially if a, under-the-saddle pup is used. The pup will take the vibrations almost completely from the strings, so the acoustic sound is virtually moot. The woods used will still color the sound, but the box becomes secondary. You could get away with however thin you're comfortable making it in this case.

If it's an internal mic system or something similar, then it will need to be more of a traditional acoustic.

_________________
Bad decisions make for good stories.
-------John


My blog - http://poplarmechanics.blogspot.com/

Mr. valente HUH ???


ZOOM over my head

I wanna build a 3-3/4" hollow body accoustic / electric is there anything you can suggest that I use in regards to materails , or is my " thickness" a good idea??

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

James-
3.75" thick is pretty well in the range of acoustics and jazz acoustic guitars.
So it sounds like you are thinking of building an acoustic guitar with a pickup?

Most people think of more 'thinline' models when 'electric acoustic' is mentioned- dimensions more like a thin electric guitar.

What sort of design ideas are you working on?

Cheers
John

I suggest you read up some more, go play some guitars in that thickness range, and figure out what you're trying to achieve.

What do you want from the hollowbody?

Do you want a shallow acoustic guitar with a falttop style braced soundboard?

Do you want a medium thickness archtop-style guitar?

Carved arch top with center block, a la ES-335 construction?

What kind of tone/sounds do you want from it?

'Acoustic/electric' is very vague. Many electrics have very lively 'acoustic' characteristics, but still need to be played using an amp. I've built several arched top electric instruments, some with a block under the bridge, one simply braced (acoustic arch top top with tailpiece) over a thinner body, as well as a guitar with multiple smaller chambers that's essentially a solidbody, but lighter. All have different 'acoustic' signatures, and adding a piezo to any will give them an acoustic stage character. I'd also like to build a solidbody stage acoustic (a solidbody instrument with plugged in acoustic character) at some point in time, which is what I was describing in my previous post.

What I'm trying to figure out is what kind of sound you're after. What 'family' of instrument and/or of tone you want.

Thanks I followed that . Understand I am a woodworker for 35 yrs at luthrie 1 yr . Mando's only thus far . As a musician I am a strummer at best. I have a friend who is a good musician who intonates my instruments for me. Understanding that , what I want to do is build an acoustic guitar with good acoustic sound , that can be plugged in and played as electric.
I have read alot and there is a world of info to choose from , hard sometimes to tell the ducks from geese at times. So I come here and ask , and thus far have gotten good advise.
(a ) how thin can I go before I start loosing GOOD accoustic sound quality ?
would actually like to get to 3" but was afraid it wood be way to thin .

(b ) What control and pick up system do people recommend , dont need the absolute best , however I dont want junk. " good sound quality middle road price "

(c ) Is there a Scale length that would be better suited for a thinner guitar, or does it matter? " My Mando's join the body at 15th fret , moves bridge forward , like the sound quality "

(d) in going that thin is tail piece better idea , or can it be built as standard acoustic ?

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Also , Forgot to mention , yes this will be a flat top guitar . And was planning , or thinking about side mounted controls .

Again Keeping in mind I am a Novice at this . Thanks for ANY advice or input . Welcome recomendations.

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Again, it depends on what sort of sound you want. You have choices in pickup type (magnetic, microphone, undersaddle, under bridge, etc), or combinations of pickups.
I've put K&K Pure Mini pickups in a couple of OOO-style steel-string acoustics and have been happy with the results. That said I don't play gigs or at loud volume, so feedback control is not an issue.
I don't like control panels cut into the side of guitars- you will be tied to outdated technology. Leave that to the factory guitars.

Cheers
John

Thanks for the recomendation on controls , I will definantly take that into consideration. as for pickups , I dont have any idea . so i guess I will have to do alot of research . Based on ease of instillation and use , what way would be good for a novice to look ? brands or types , again just looking for recomendations to cut through alot of the research into items that are a waste of time.


I saw a kit offered that had "plug together connections " for ease of installation , stewmac maybe . Are those generally a decent idea, or do they pose problems . thats kind of stuff i dont know and wonder about.

I will however look at the k&K mini's thanks

Or should I look at like the Mcinyre feather mini's that mount inside and go with somthing like that ?

Thanks for your patience with the first timer on this guys I do appreciate it.

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

James-
If you have a big guitar store nearby, it would be a good thing to spend a few hours trying out different types of "acoustics with pickups". It would probably narrow your choices a bit. Imitating/copying is usually more reliable than starting 'from scratch', at least at first- IMO.
You could just build a 'standard' acoustic and put a pickup in it. Then you would have a point for comparison if you wanted to experiment a bit with later builds.
There's lots of challenge and interesting stuff just getting that first guitar done, for most of us.
Cheers
John

thanks john , that is good advice . closest one is hour away , but i may be there next week , maybe i will take a good look around .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/