# (INCOMPLETE AND/OR ABANDONED) Armageddonmetal's "V8" Home Depot Build Story



## armageddonmetal (Jul 31, 2009)

Hi guys,
I am new here, but I immediately found the Home Depot Challenge very interesting. I have been wanting to build a guitar for some time as I have never done so in the past, so this seems like a good opportunity. I will be using Lowe's as there is no Home Depot in my town. The basic theme of the guitar will be one of a late 50's stripped down, bare bones Hot Rod. Only the essentials, and what is needed to go fast, and maybe a piece of chrome or two so you can impress the girls. As of right now, I plan to attempt to make EVERYTHING myself using parts from Lowes or for electronics the local radio shack. I am also planning to come in under $100 for total build cost, just for another challenge. This may change as time begins to wear down, but as of now, this is the plan.

"V8" Basic Specs so far:

Body: Classic Gibson "V" Shape, Material TBA

Neck: 8 string, 28 5/8" Scale, Gibson "V" Headstock, Material TBA, Still undecided on bolt on or set neck.

Tuners: Homemade design

Bridge: Tune-o-matic style with stop tailpiece (fabricated from steal or aluminum)

Pickup: Single Humbucker in bridge position. Something Hot-Roddy looking. I put a Lace pickup in the mockup pick, because I think they look cool, but from what I understand, they don't make the alumatone pups for 7 or much less 8 strings, so I plan to make something with a similar look.

I think that's about it for now. I hope to get started this weekend, so I will be posting up pics and progress ASAP!

Here is a rough photoshop mockup:


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## op1e (Jul 31, 2009)

Good luck. That would be very amazing to keep it under $100. You must have a lot of good equipment.


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## armageddonmetal (Jul 31, 2009)

Thanks! My dad is a mechanic, so I am fortunate to have some basic tools at my disposal, not a lot of which are specifically made for guitar building, but I think I can make them work. Woodworking will be the toughest part, but I do have some experience with metal working and some decent metal working tools, so that part of it should go pretty well.


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## op1e (Aug 1, 2009)

Well, thats good to have for all the hardware. I'd love to build, but it took me 2 days to sand and stain a guitar this week because I couldn't even source a good orbital. The damn velcro disks flew off every time I turned it on! Let alone access to a planer and clamps and everything else that one would need.


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## 74n4LL0 (Aug 1, 2009)

if you got experience with metal...and tools for metal...
why don't you use metal on your guitar e.g. alumium fingerboard and an alumium cap over a light wood for the body?


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## Andrew_B (Aug 1, 2009)

op1e said:


> Well, thats good to have for all the hardware. I'd love to build, but it took me 2 days to sand and stain a guitar this week because I couldn't even source a good orbital. The damn velcro disks flew off every time I turned it on! Let alone access to a planer and clamps and everything else that one would need.


 
disks flying off of an orbital can mean two things....
1, the hook/loops on the orbitals rotating disk are clogged with sawdust, or they are compressed (from being stored with the disk against a hard surface....

2, the back of the sanding disk is no good... some are just cheap and wont want to hook into the hook and loop system on the orbitals disk....

i have 3 orbitals, 2 makita's and a cheapo ozito.....
i run my tools through hell and the makita's didnt survive too well... they have had to have their rotating disks changed 3 times each....
so i got the cheapo ozito and funny enough it goes better than the makita's

mind you the makita's were $300 units....
where as the ozito was $30....


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## armageddonmetal (Aug 1, 2009)

Those are definitely some possibilities. There will be some aluminum accents for sure. The main thing I'm concerned with is getting the basics done first, cause that's the part that I have no experience with, then once I get that stuff taken care of, I can go into some more creative stuff. I think I'm gonna head over to lowes this afternoon and see what I can gather for body material, and possibly some steel or aluminum for the bridge, then swing by the music store and see if I can trace one of their V's on cardboard haha. Who knows, I may even have some pics up tonight!


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## op1e (Aug 1, 2009)

Ya, it had some dents and chunks out of the contact surface and was stored face down for a while. I really just want a good palm sander and something to get in between the horns with.


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## armageddonmetal (Aug 2, 2009)

Well my trip to lowes was somewhat disappointing. My wood options are Pine, Poplar, Red Oak, and Whitewood. I have read of pine and poplar being used for guitar bodies. Not sure about red oak or whitewood. Apparently poplar and pine are too soft for a neck, so I need something for the neck. I think I will drive to a nearby town with a home depot tomorrow and see if the selection is any better. I did find some suitable metal for my bridge and tailpiece, so thats good I guess.


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## Andrew_B (Aug 2, 2009)

> Ya, it had some dents and chunks out of the contact surface and was stored face down for a while. I really just want a good palm sander and something to get in between the horns with.


 
a while back i was reading something in a woodwork magazine or something, and the bloke had modified a palm sander (not an orbital) to get into tight curves....

what he did was he bought some foam, hard foam...
and cut it into the shape he wanted and glued it to the base of the palm sander....
he then used sanding belts instead of the ussual little sheets....

was pretty cool...
if i could get a palm sander cheap enough i would use a simillar method and make up some interchangable shaped rubber pads for it... 




armageddonmetal said:


> Well my trip to lowes was somewhat disappointing. My wood options are Pine, Poplar, Red Oak, and Whitewood. I have read of pine and poplar being used for guitar bodies. Not sure about red oak or whitewood. Apparently poplar and pine are too soft for a neck, so I need something for the neck. I think I will drive to a nearby town with a home depot tomorrow and see if the selection is any better. I did find some suitable metal for my bridge and tailpiece, so thats good I guess.


 
pine can be used for a body....
i wouldnt use it for a neck...
maybe laminate red oak neck 

also remember aluminium cant be grounded so you need to think about that when making the bridge if you ended up getting aluminium)


theres 7 frets that are unacessable!!
lol


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## armageddonmetal (Aug 2, 2009)

ah yes haha. I'm going to home depot to see if I can find some better hard wood for the neck. Yea that mockup was really rough haha. I'll be sure they are accessible on the finished product, and that is a good point, they had steel in the same shape as the aluminum pieces so that will do. I am also pretty sure that I'm going to do a neck through if I can ever find some suitable wood.


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## troyguitar (Aug 5, 2009)

I'm doing red oak for my neck-thru and body and fretboard, with just a couple poplar strips in the neck-thru added for flare.


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## armageddonmetal (Aug 5, 2009)

Cool, I was actually considering doing something similar, I think I'm going with a pine body, and laminating a neck with red oak and pine or poplar. Hopefully get started gluing by the end of the week. Will have pics


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## TomParenteau (Aug 5, 2009)

"...remember aluminium cant be grounded..." 

Why not?


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## Concerto412 (Aug 5, 2009)

poor conductivity, plain and simple. also a right pain to solder to.


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## armageddonmetal (Aug 7, 2009)

I have wood! .........Hopefully start gluing tonight or tomorrow. Red oak with poplar strips. Hopefully it won't break in half.


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## vainamoinen (Aug 7, 2009)

Are you going to stain it or do a painted finish? Those woods would look quite nice stained.


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## armageddonmetal (Aug 7, 2009)

I am really considering doing a stained finish now because they do look so nice. At least maybe the back

I haz glued. Hope it turns out ok. We'll find out in 24 hours:::






Started out with this wood, where I found out that one piece of the red oak was quite out of whack, but I continued so hopefully it will work out okay















You can see the one bowed piece in this pic very well





Clamping. You will find that no two clamps that I used were the same, and try not to laugh at the ridiculously huge ones I ended up having to use. 





The stretch was too big because I was using a 2x4 on one side to brace it, so I had to break out the Big clamps haha










I was running out of big enough clamps, and this one was a tiny bit too small, so there is only one way to get around that.......





Use force!





Fits now





And I'm done clamping. Not the prettiest job, but I think it will work. Only one thing left to do...





popsicle!!


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## armageddonmetal (Aug 8, 2009)

I updated last night but it was acting weird. It finally posted but it merged with an earlier post from yesterday. o well


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## leandroab (Aug 10, 2009)

Nice job!

OMG @ Monster clamps! 

hahaha


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## TimSE (Aug 10, 2009)

looking good so far man


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## willybman (Aug 22, 2009)

update?


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## darren (Sep 26, 2009)

Concerto412 said:


> poor conductivity, plain and simple. also a right pain to solder to.



Aluminum is VERY conductive. They make electrical wiring out of it. I won't dispute that it's a paint to solder, though.


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## damigu (Sep 26, 2009)

darren said:


> Aluminum is VERY conductive. They make electrical wiring out of it. I won't dispute that it's a paint to solder, though.



i was just about the make that same statement.
aluminum might not be as conductive as copper, but still highly conductive--more than adequate to have a functional ground and a quiet guitar.

as for soldering to it: that isn't the only way to make an electrical connection.
for example, if you mount the bridge via metal studs, you can connect the ground wire to the studs (either by soldering, by screwing, or simply by the pressure of putting the wire in the hole where the studs will go [the way most LPs are grounded]).


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