# The Guitar Modelling Thread!



## AwDeOh (Jun 3, 2013)

Since we have a few talented 3D Modellers here, and plenty who'd like to learn, it's time for a modelling thread! Share what you're using, how you learnt, what you've modelled, what you want to know. Anything goes!

I'll try to keep this post and the next edited with cool info that comes up, perhaps a list of software, resources, tutorials and tips from SSO members.

---

As for myself, after OfArtAndArsenal posted a thread about the topic and Rhino 3D was recommended, I've started using the trial and I'm really impressed. My only experience is a little of SketchUp. Based on that, Rhino seems familiar, yet simplistically powerful. Really looking forward to seeing what I can do, not to mention any guitars SSO'ers have modelled with it.


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## AwDeOh (Jun 3, 2013)

Reserved for links


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## Pikka Bird (Jun 3, 2013)

Well, I did model this in Maya:












And also this, which is a bit more accomplished, mostly wen it comes to the materials:











I might try to get some better renders as soon as I get Maya re-installed again. Don't know when that'll be.

What did I learn? Well, modelling the heel and volutes was a lot easier once I learned that I could just take a torus, rotate it 90 degrees to vertical, delete the outside polygons and the lower half of the inner ones and then grab the vertices and move them lenghtwise until i was at the correct length. Then I'd shape the headstock, making sure i planned ahead for the next step, which was to make the neck taper, and THIS is where I think I really had a Heureka!-moment. Use a lattice to make the entire thing progressively scalable. Simple as hell, and I had been painstakingly vertex-manipulating for seventy-one eternities before I thought of this.


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## tommychains (Jun 4, 2013)

About time we had a thread dedicated to this! Been dying to try one of these programs, as I use a pencil and paper all the time. Any recommendations for a total noob?


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## psikoT (Jun 4, 2013)

I use Blender, a free and powerful 3d software. Unfortunately, I can't find any guitar modeling tutorial, but you can start learning modeling from here:

blender.org - Tutorials

More advanced tutorials:

Tutorials | Blender Cookie
Blender Guru | Video Categories Archive | Tutorials
Tutorials | BlenderNation
www.blendtuts.com


























Hope it helps!


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## psikoT (Jun 4, 2013)

Found this video tutorial about modeling a guitar with Blender, not the technique I personally use, but it's a good start:


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## psikoT (Jun 4, 2013)

tommychains said:


> About time we had a thread dedicated to this! Been dying to try one of these programs, as I use a pencil and paper all the time. Any recommendations for a total noob?



I use Adobe Illustrator for 2D drawing. I also use it to make all plans before build anything, so no 3d software is needed to build a guitar.


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## Yo_Wattup (Jun 4, 2013)

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/re...aaaa-tone-test-opeth-content.html#post3580282


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## Mark_McQ (Jun 4, 2013)

Yo_Wattup said:


> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/re...aaaa-tone-test-opeth-content.html#post3580282



Might be worth reading the first post in a thread instead of just the title.


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## Mark_McQ (Jun 4, 2013)

Some stuff I did few years back in Cinema 4D:


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## AwDeOh (Jun 4, 2013)

^ Nice dude, love that effect of the Explorer going from wireframe to full rendered 3D.



psikoT said:


> I use Adobe Illustrator for 2D drawing. I also use it to make all plans before build anything, so no 3d software is needed to build a guitar.



So you could use Illustrator to make the 2D plans to the right scale, then import to Blender (or whatever you're using) to model/render it?


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## psikoT (Jun 4, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> So you could use Illustrator to make the 2D plans to the right scale, then import to Blender (or whatever you're using) to model/render it?



Yes, you can import a vector plan and use it as a basis.

Well, I use Illustrator to make plans of real builds, no 3D needed to make a guitar, although it would be useful if you're creating some concept, like in the above images.


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## muffinbutton (Jun 4, 2013)

Might have to give blender another try I guess.


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## AwDeOh (Jun 4, 2013)

I'm gonna try figure it out parallel to Rhino. 

I had a play last night and managed to get a 4 window interface (by splitting windows) that I'm comfortable with, just need to find out if I can have top/front/right perspectives forced and not 3D, like a regular CAD layout.


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## psikoT (Jun 5, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> I had a play last night and managed to get a 4 window interface (by splitting windows) that I'm comfortable with, just need to find out if I can have top/front/right perspectives forced and not 3D, like a regular CAD layout.



You mean in Blender? To switch from 4 views to one, place the cursor over the viewport and press Cmd+Alt+Q. With the num pad you can switch quickly from different views:

1 - Front
3 - Left
7 - Top
5 - switch from orthographic to perspective

Also, in the bottom of each window you have all needed menus and tools, specific for each window.

hope it helps


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Jun 6, 2013)

You guys are ridiculously talented round these parts.


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## AwDeOh (Jun 7, 2013)

psikoT said:


> You mean in Blender? To switch from 4 views to one, place the cursor over the viewport and press Cmd+Alt+Q. With the num pad you can switch quickly from different views:
> 
> 1 - Front
> 3 - Left
> ...



The CTRL+ALT+Q command works great, exactly what I wanted after I changed the Ortho window to Perspective. Thank you!

Now, I've been trying to work out how to close down all the toolbars that I don't need - stuff like the animation timeline, Render/Dimensions/AA etc. Can those be turned off, leaving me with the 4 window view and the basic modelling tools, like Rhino? I took to Rhino and Sketchup because they were alot simpler, so I kinda need Blender.. 'dumbed down' for me 

EDIT: Hmm.. never mind. I had an 'outside the box' thought and figured I might go through the basic tutorials on the Blender site.


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## Yo_Wattup (Jun 8, 2013)

Mark_McQ said:


> Might be worth reading the first post in a thread instead of just the title.



My apologies.. for some reason I cannot delete or edit the comment..


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## asher (Jun 8, 2013)

AwDeOh said:


> I'm gonna try figure it out parallel to Rhino.
> 
> I had a play last night and managed to get a 4 window interface (by splitting windows) that I'm comfortable with, just need to find out if I can have top/front/right perspectives forced and not 3D, like a regular CAD layout.



I think what you're asking has already been answered, but I always just CTRL + TAB cycle through the four views in one maximized pane.

My preference to Rhino (or another CAD based modeler) is the ease of getting plans out of it and going to or from a dimensioned drawing, or using it to potentially program CNC machines. While quite fun, I don't think - as a builder mind - that there is a ton of point to using actual renders for anything.


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## AwDeOh (Jun 8, 2013)

asher said:


> My preference to Rhino (or another CAD based modeler) is the ease of getting plans out of it and going to or from a dimensioned drawing, or using it to potentially program CNC machines. While quite fun, I don't think - as a builder mind - that there is a ton of point to using actual renders for anything.



I agree from the building perspective, but I'm also keen to visualize guitar concepts to see how they look, and eventually have the available to customers. Between all the different render engines, it seems like photo realistic rendering won't be a problem.

TBH I'm finding Rhino way easier than Blender, it just makes sense to me, so I'm gonna stick with it.


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## redstone (Sep 8, 2014)

Bump, I'm using sketchup ; it's been hard to complete the headstock but I loved to design it line by line.












edit - forgot the back, wanna play it soooo bad !


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## morgdav (Sep 8, 2014)

MoI, 3D modeling for designers and artists


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## asher (Sep 8, 2014)

Yeah the headstock was a pain. Volute was way worse


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## redstone (Sep 8, 2014)




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## immortalx (Sep 8, 2014)

I used to do stuff in Lightwave back in the Amiga days, but that was a long time ago 
Now I only use Sketchup to make 2D plans/templates and occasionally a basic 3D model to check the general feel, neck angles, routing depths, etc.


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## redstone (Sep 9, 2014)

Did you convert some models to g-code ?


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## Anchang-Style (Sep 9, 2014)

Some cool stuff here, always thought about trying to get a guitar done in Max / ZBrush... whoow let's do some Hard Surface Modelling...as soon as i find something inspiring...how about an 8 String FF Takamizawa Style Angelic? Probably gonna spend the next year just practicing ZBrush.


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## slapnutz (Sep 9, 2014)

For the Maya guys, when dealing with curvy shapes (which guitars happen to have tons) ... do you prefer creating the surface using Nurbs patches or simply use Polygon modeling and smooth the shit out of it later?

What do you find is more efficient in your workflow?


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## Pikka Bird (Sep 9, 2014)

slapnutz said:


> For the Maya guys, when dealing with curvy shapes (which guitars happen to have tons) ... do you prefer creating the surface using Nurbs patches or simply use Polygon modeling and smooth the shit out of it later?
> 
> What do you find is more efficient in your workflow?



I never ever use smoothing at all when modelling. What I do is scan in a hand-drawn sketch of the shape, put it onto a plane and draw a CV curve around the body which I then extrude and convert to polygons (and then use "fill hole" to make it solid). The rest of my modelling is done with booleans and simple vertex manipulation.


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## immortalx (Sep 9, 2014)

redstone said:


> Did you convert some models to g-code ?


I just export them in DXF, print them full size and cut the templates by hand on MDF.


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## WillVilla (Sep 9, 2014)

I use Pro-Engineer, and have done a few basic models for fun. Nothing too intricate or fancy. I will also print the dxf files to full scale for router templates or just a bandsaw guide.


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## WillVilla (Sep 9, 2014)




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## JuliusJahn (Sep 9, 2014)

Sketchup 2014 pro user here, and planning on learning solidworks eventually. How do you guys go about making nice clean curves? I find sketchup doesn't like stuff under 3mm and my body shapes always look a bit jagged on screen. I wish it had spline-control like Solidworks. 

The superstrat was the first I ever did, and I'm always juggling between designing it on screen, or drawing it in person then making a digital copy. I find Ketchup (as I call it) is less of a CAD program, and more of a precise, digital drawing program.

I also have a repository of guitar bridges, tuners, fretboards (accuracte to 3 decimal places!) and some electronics I'd share if anyone wants them. All 2d at the moment except for the Floyd rose that I found online.


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## immortalx (Sep 9, 2014)

JuliusJahn said:


> Sketchup 2014 pro user here, and planning on learning solidworks eventually. How do you guys go about making nice clean curves? I find sketchup doesn't like stuff under 3mm and my body shapes always look a bit jagged on screen. I wish it had spline-control like Solidworks.
> 
> The superstrat was the first I ever did, and I'm always juggling between designing it on screen, or drawing it in person then making a digital copy. I find Ketchup (as I call it) is less of a CAD program, and more of a precise, digital drawing program.
> 
> I also have a repository of guitar bridges, tuners, fretboards (accuracte to 3 decimal places!) and some electronics I'd share if anyone wants them. All 2d at the moment except for the Floyd rose that I found online.



My thoughts exactly! If it wasn't for its ease of use and awesome inference engine I would switch to another application.
I use the BezierSpline plugin for curves and always up the default segments (20s). That makes for somewhat nicer curves and also raising the anti-alias setting to 4x reduces on screen jagged edges.
Also, under Model info>Units i set the precision to 3 decimal points and I found out it helps to scale your model up to 100x. This reduces modelling errors and snapping problems and when you're finished you can scale back to the original.


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## JuliusJahn (Sep 9, 2014)

immortalx said:


> My thoughts exactly! If it wasn't for its ease of use and awesome inference engine I would switch to another application.
> I use the BezierSpline plugin for curves and always up the default segments (20s). That makes for somewhat nicer curves and also raising the anti-alias setting to 4x reduces on screen jagged edges.
> Also, under Model info>Units i set the precision to 3 decimal points and I found out it helps to scale your model up to 100x. This reduces modelling errors and snapping problems and when you're finished you can scale back to the original.



I tried that or some other bezier curve plug in but you have to select the tool for every arc....The problem with me is Im so anal about precision is I want my horn to be exactly 136mm from center and the widest point of my "waist" to be 159mm so I can fit the body in my 13" planer that it sometimes makes the arcs look horrible, whereas in real life I just bend my (Flexible Curves - Lee Valley Tools) to the line.

I'll try out up-scaling - I heard it worked somewhere else as well but if I am to print out the shape I'd obviously just sand everything out anyways (since it takes a good 25 minutes just going around cleaning up every arc I drew). I need to decide on if I'll always draw by hand then digitize, or design it all at the computer then print them out.


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## redstone (Sep 9, 2014)

Yup, scale up, add as many segments as necessary, merge manually. Also, using rendering softwares will smooth it up. Here's a basic rendering with kerkythea (freeware) :











Also, curvizard  might help.


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## tmo (Sep 9, 2014)

What? no love for AutoCAD or 3D Studio Max?... damn, I'm out of the loop...


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## JuliusJahn (Sep 9, 2014)

redstone said:


> Yup, scale up, add as many segments as necessary, merge manually. Also, using rendering softwares will smooth it up. Here's a basic rendering with kerkythea (freeware) :
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Noice. I'll look into it. Do you do neck carves as well or just a rounded back? I found making a cylinder and scaling each side of it to 44mm one end and 5_mm on the other makes a decent enough looking neck profile. I'd hate to make a volute of neck joint in Ketchup though...

Anyone up for swapping Sketchup hardware or textures though?


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## redstone (Sep 9, 2014)

I altered two circles and made the cylinder ; the basic bolt-on /set neck heels aren't really hard to shape with lines and arcs, neck-through is another story..

https://www.cookwoods.com/wp-content/productpics/25499-9.jpg"]flame myrtle
swamp ash 
maho/maple neck 
http://lichtyguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Curly-Koa-Tonewoods-2.jpg


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## JuliusJahn (Sep 9, 2014)

tmo said:


> What? no love for AutoCAD or 3D Studio Max?... damn, I'm out of the loop...



I tried to learn it, but it seems to be more typing and coordinates then anything, whereas I want to just draw it out and see how it looks. I'm sure it's great way to go, but everyones brain works differently.



redstone said:


> I altered two circles and made the cylinder ; the basic bolt-on /set neck heels aren't really hard to shape with lines and arcs, neck-through is another story..
> [/URL]



Can you just make the heel join up to a square block and then push/pull it out the length of the body? 

Here are my textures so far: 
texturess - Imgur


Its suprisingly hard to find good quality wood texture images online for free.


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## svartsol (Sep 10, 2014)

This is my actual project. But the pictures aren't up-to-date. Meanwhile it's a multiscale fretboard which goes from 25" to 27".


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## immortalx (Sep 10, 2014)

That's just PERFECT!!!


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## Pikka Bird (Sep 10, 2014)

Pretty good material/texture work. I never really got into that, unfortunately.


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## redstone (Sep 10, 2014)

Almost real 



JuliusJahn said:


> Can you just make the heel join up to a square block and then push/pull it out the length of the body?



You can, some ergonomic heels are just easier to shape than others ^^


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## Necromagnon (Sep 10, 2014)

Interesting topic. I've looked a bit at 3D modelling of guitars, being formerly mechanical engineer, but I've stopped at the neck carve. 
I just do some 2D plans with inkscape, works fine for me. There're some tutorials on yt from a luthier. It's very well done for who would like to try it.

Some plans I did on inkscape: 
the Soloist as it should look like




One of my various next project: 6 strings fretless bass, just for fun cause I don't know how to play 6 str bass, nor fretless.


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## tmo (Sep 10, 2014)

JuliusJahn said:


> I tried to learn it, but it seems to be more typing and coordinates then anything, whereas I want to just draw it out and see how it looks. I'm sure it's great way to go, but everyones brain works differently.



Yea, AutoCAD feels like it. I got to work with it a lot in the past, so I am already used to its work flow.

I have some ideas to put out as soon as possible (may take a while) on the DIY guitar building and those are fully projected in AutoCAD. I'll use old doors to recycle their woods. AutoCAD allows me to measure everything correctly and build up a strong and flawless project. I can interchange blocks to see what works best, etc. etc....

Illustrator or Corel Draw could do some pretty work also, but for this I think I prefer AutoCAD.

I've done some modeling and rendering on guitars a few years ago, but never posted them, let's see what I can find on my archives...

AutoCAD modeling and rendering... in 2003





















... and this is the only one rendered on 3DS Max, also a long time ago... more or less by the same time.


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## Jim666 (Sep 10, 2014)

Good time for this thread, as I have been considering which software to use to generate some 3D models.

I use CorelDraw for 2D stuff. I find it very intuitive.

I was leaning towards Rhino, but it's pretty expensive. Unless I started selling guitars, I can't really justify it. I may just go with Blender. I used to use Sketchup, for other non-guitar stuff, but I figure if I put the time in, I should use something a bit more powerful.


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## JuliusJahn (Sep 10, 2014)

svartsol said:


> This is my actual project. But the pictures aren't up-to-date. Meanwhile it's a multiscale fretboard which goes from 25" to 27".



This is so, so close to being realistic. It's just missing scratches on the hardware from mis-handling and some wood pores in the neck.

Also, are you're tuners backwards?


http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/images/30N/KH502_headstock-front.jpg




Necromagnon said:


> Interesting topic. I've looked a bit at 3D modelling of guitars, being formerly mechanical engineer, but I've stopped at the neck carve.
> I just do some 2D plans with inkscape, works fine for me. There're some tutorials on yt from a luthier. It's very well done for who would like to try it.
> 
> Some plans I did on inkscape:
> ...



Which luthier? Care to supply a link?



Jim666 said:


> Good time for this thread, as I have been considering which software to use to generate some 3D models.
> 
> I use CorelDraw for 2D stuff. I find it very intuitive.
> 
> I was leaning towards Rhino, but it's pretty expensive. Unless I started selling guitars, I can't really justify it. I may just go with Blender. I used to use Sketchup, for other non-guitar stuff, but I figure if I put the time in, I should use something a bit more powerful.



Sketchup is really easy to learn, and will teach you other CAD techniques to it won't be a waste of time. Just treat it like digital pen and paper, and you won't run into the problems a lot of people do. I think solidworks may be the easiest program to teach yourself as far as CAD programs go.


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## Jim666 (Sep 10, 2014)

JuliusJahn said:


> Sketchup is really easy to learn, and will teach you other CAD techniques to it won't be a waste of time. Just treat it like digital pen and paper, and you won't run into the problems a lot of people do. I think solidworks may be the easiest program to teach yourself as far as CAD programs go.



Ha, Solidworks is even more expensive than Rhino! My brother-in-law has a copy from his design days, maybe I can borrow it...

I just went through the cup tutorial for Blender. Seems ok. Really glad I got myself a 4K monitor...


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## asher (Sep 10, 2014)

I've heard (and seen a little) that Solidworks is a completely different workflow and UX than other CAD-based modellers, so I find that statement a bit surprising. SketchUp is generally easier and faster, but isn't really a CAD modeller either - it's a 3D sketching program as it were


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## redstone (Sep 10, 2014)

Solidworks is freaky expensive, maybe I'll give Blender a shot.


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## svartsol (Sep 11, 2014)

JuliusJahn said:


> This is so, so close to being realistic. It's just missing scratches on the hardware from mis-handling and some wood pores in the neck.
> 
> Also, are you're tuners backwards?



WOW, nice spotted =) I grabed the tuners from a library and there wasn't a wide choice of tuners =)


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## Jim666 (Sep 11, 2014)

So i went through that first cup tutorial with Blender. Seems pretty good. Learning curve is not small though. After the cup I spent a few minutes to see if I could make anything even remotely resembling a neck. I didn't add a light to the scene, so it looks dim, but it at least gave me hope I could eventually make something usable.


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## Black43 (Sep 11, 2014)

Ill post up some of my new SketchUp models soon


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## MrTeatime (Feb 11, 2015)

I'm not sure this is the right thread but I'll try.

I'm building a guitar this spring, a strandberg boden. A friend of mine has a CNC machine and is going to make my wood templates (I could use his machine to make almost the whole guitar but where would be the fun?).
I've drawn my parts in Photoshop, using the full scale drawing available on Ola's site and FretFind2D, in 300 DPI. I know my files are really accurate size wise but they're bitmaps now...
My friend uses Rhino3D to make his CNC code thing and he needs vectorized pdfs, or AutoCAD files and such.
I've tried to convert my bitmap PDFs as vectors using InkScape but for some reason the resulting files are totally off, sizewise...
Would anyone have an idea how to convert my 300 DPI PDFs to vectorized files with the right dimensions please?


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## redstone (Feb 17, 2015)

No idea.. but since you bumped it


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## JuliusJahn (Feb 18, 2015)

Nice neck carve 

Any tips on frets or did you just make a flat fretboard?


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## redstone (Feb 18, 2015)

Well the neck heel is special.. 

Yes it's flat, purposely I mean. Only tips that work for sketchup I guess, but doing frets straight or curved/compound is pretty much the same in this case, once you cut the slots, you can use their curved lines to link the fret ends. ^^


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## Pikka Bird (Feb 18, 2015)

Can we see that from the back?

I never worked in Sketchup, but does it have the ability to delete and extrude single polygons, and is there a torus shape in it? Because that's what I use to create necks.


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## redstone (Feb 18, 2015)

Yes ; not sure to understand the last question though, you can make a torus with the "follow me" tool.


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## redstone (Feb 21, 2015)

Here's the basic step by step neck+heel to give you an idea about sketchup, just using the line, arc and guide tools.


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## Jim666 (Feb 21, 2015)

This is great, thanks.

I have been trying to learn Rhino, and managed to model a neck, but would rather just use Sketchup. Time to try it again...

Please give a bit more detail how you did the transition from neck to heel. When I have tried stuff liek that I could never get it to make a surface.




redstone said:


> Here's the basic step by step neck+heel to give you an idea about sketchup, just using the line, arc and guide tools.


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## Jim666 (Feb 21, 2015)

I see what I missed before. If you connect endpoints into triangles you get a face. Sketchup does not really do curves, so by changing how many endpoints a curve has you can build your faces with control.


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## redstone (Feb 21, 2015)

Absolutely. When the pocket isn't symmetrical, you can use temporary surfaces to find the other end of the arc. 






Most heels are not difficult to reproduce as long as you can see the original. I don't think it's easier than rhino though, some stuff takes less time, some takes more..


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## Jim666 (Feb 21, 2015)

Thanks, that helps too!

Rhino is pretty good, I actually cut the neck I modeled in Rhino on my CNC today. I found it much more intuitive than Blender. Still, I find working in 3 dimensions easier in Sketchup. Maybe because drawing basic shapes feels a bit more like CorelDraw which I use for 2D.

Funny, some of the things I am trying in Sketchup now based on your pictures are actually making some other things click for me in Rhino.


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## redstone (Feb 22, 2015)

That's quite unexpected, glad it helps that much. Agree, Sketchup is a great interface, too bad it doesn't handle solids, I wish I could try spaceclaim..


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## Jim666 (Feb 22, 2015)

redstone said:


> That's quite unexpected, glad it helps that much. Agree, Sketchup is a great interface, too bad it doesn't handle solids, I wish I could try spaceclaim..



Maybe it's one of those things where you can't figure something out, go on to something else, then solve your first problem easily when you get back to it.

Today I tried Rhino again, and within minutes had modeled the headstock much better than my first attempt. It also helped that I had the actual neck I made from my first model to rethink the design.

And I suppose learning to model in 3D takes more than an hour or two...


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## redstone (Feb 23, 2015)

Ah, I proceed a bit differently for the headstock transition, if this can help.


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## JuliusJahn (Feb 23, 2015)

I'm surprised there's no lofting script out there yet for this sort of thing....


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## redstone (Feb 23, 2015)

There is, in my case they didn't work so I got used to working without plugins.

CLF Simple Loft | SketchUp Extension Warehouse 
SketchUp Plugins | PluginStore | SketchUcation


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## Klzow (Feb 23, 2015)

I like modelling guitars before I build them to give me a good picture on how the guitar will look when finished! 

I'm using Solidworks and the built in render tool photoview 360.

What do you guys think?


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## redstone (Feb 24, 2015)

Looks nice, do you use your own wood for the textures ? The multiscale looks wierd though, where's the neutral fret ?


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## JuliusJahn (Feb 24, 2015)

God, I really need to teach myself SW. Such great lighting/texturing power.

Ebay is a great place to find wood textures, actually. If you just google the wood you only get a square 'floor tile' sample.

^Looks like the 15th, for some reason? I'd stick it to the 12th or 8th.


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## asher (Feb 24, 2015)

JuliusJahn said:


> I'm surprised there's no lofting script out there yet for this sort of thing....



Rhino has a loft function, but god damn is it ever fickle.


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## Klzow (Feb 24, 2015)

redstone said:


> Looks nice, do you use your own wood for the textures ? The multiscale looks wierd though, where's the neutral fret ?





JuliusJahn said:


> God, I really need to teach myself SW. Such great lighting/texturing power.
> 
> Ebay is a great place to find wood textures, actually. If you just google the wood you only get a square 'floor tile' sample.
> 
> ^Looks like the 15th, for some reason? I'd stick it to the 12th or 8th.



Thanks! I'm pretty new to rendering and stuff but still learning.

Like JuliusJahn said ebay is awesome to find wood textures, this wood is from a seller there, I just fix it a bit in photoshop and then import to SW.

The neutral fret is fret number 9, i guess the angle makes it difficult to see. Here is another pic where it shows the fan better.






This one is not close to finished though, my plan is to put in a model of some real pickups instead of my mockups and make a good cad model that can be used to rout the guitar with a CNC. And that needs more work then this.


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## rockskate4x (Feb 25, 2015)

I think 9 is about right. It makes extreme fans more comfortable because the angle of the nut and the bridge are more equal rather than having one be very extreme in comparison to the other. Also, i know virtually nothing about modelling, but that looks brilliant and i'd love to hire you to design all my guitars (in the fantasy where i can hire people to do my bidding haha)


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## redstone (Feb 25, 2015)

The right place is the center of the accessible fretboard.


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## JuliusJahn (Feb 25, 2015)

the 8th fret will leave the 24th and nut to be on the same angle. 12th will make the nut and bridge have the same angle. I really don't find a 12th fan that bad at all, it all depends if your doing a 1 or 1.5" fan and with how many strings.


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## redstone (Feb 26, 2015)

Sure, it's an ideal rule in an ideal context...

I did a proper dome knob yesterday, you can download it here https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=uf7499ef9-9ffb-432e-a56d-8963f2866ef5


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## JuliusJahn (Feb 27, 2015)

Woops! Were we supposed to be sharing things?


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## Knarbens (Feb 27, 2015)

I used to model a lot! It slowly went from full detailed polygon renderings to cad 3d files and now I only do 2d drawings and some photoshop mockups. I still "testbuild" my guitar bodies in 3d though! Here's some of my work:


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## redstone (Feb 27, 2015)

Amazing, the 5th pic is incredible !



JuliusJahn said:


> Woops! Were we supposed to be sharing things?



Oh, did you model the hipshot open+lock tuners by any chance ?


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## JuliusJahn (Feb 27, 2015)

Knarbens said:


> *snip*


 Teach me!




redstone said:


> Oh, did you model the hipshot open+lock tuners by any chance ?



Tell me where to send it


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## redstone (Feb 28, 2015)

Great ! I'm PM'ing you my email in case you don't want to share it via 3dwarehouse.


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## loqtrall (Mar 1, 2015)

I don't know anything about 3-D modelling, but I just did this in MS Paint


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## rockskate4x (Mar 2, 2015)

JuliusJahn said:


> the 8th fret will leave the 24th and nut to be on the same angle. 12th will make the nut and bridge have the same angle. I really don't find a 12th fan that bad at all, it all depends if your doing a 1 or 1.5" fan and with how many strings.



This is only correct when the nut and the bridge have the same string spacing, which is only correct on some classical guitars, but even then is very rare. With more conventional string spacing (2.125 @ bridge 1.375 @ nut) the bridge are more equal when the perpendicular fret location is closer to the 9th fret.


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## JuliusJahn (Mar 2, 2015)

rockskate4x said:


> This is only correct when the nut and the bridge have the same string spacing, which is only correct on some classical guitars, but even then is very rare. With more conventional string spacing (2.125 @ bridge 1.375 @ nut) the bridge are more equal when the perpendicular fret location is closer to the 9th fret.



I tried some others out, and it within 5* of difference for a 25.5-26.5 6 string, but the 8 string I did had the exact same offset forits fan. Looks like it's more on a case by case sort of thing and not a rule.


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## redstone (Mar 2, 2015)

In between the 10th and 11th fret if we include the saddles compensation.


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## vansinn (Mar 3, 2015)

@ Knarbens and JuliusJahn: Which CAD are you using? (looks like SolidWorks/AutoCAD)

I'm using Inventor, and have access to the whole Autodesk suite, so I'm sometimes thinking I should get into SolidWorks as well, as it seems many are still using it (AutoCAD isn't even being taught anymore in dk technical schools).


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## redstone (Mar 3, 2015)

So here's my hipshot tuner clone, still for sketchup users https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u145a5712-adab-4f1e-95f5-f2d6ab718f2b


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## Renkenstein (Mar 3, 2015)

You guys are blowing my mind.

KNARBENS!!! Those renders are flippin sensational!!! You never cease to amaze me, my friend.


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## rockskate4x (Mar 4, 2015)

JuliusJahn said:


> I tried some others out, and it within 5* of difference for a 25.5-26.5 6 string, but the 8 string I did had the exact same offset forits fan. Looks like it's more on a case by case sort of thing and not a rule.



you are exactly right! i was thinking six string numbers  I was mostly trying to combat the notion that the 12th fret would be the perpendicular location when the bridge and nut are at mirrored opposing (isosceles?) angles. In the vast majority of cases with the bridge and nut mirroring eachothers' angles the perpendicular location is closer to the ninth fret because of the difference in string width between the bridge and the nut, regardless of the number of strings style of hardware etc.


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## Pikka Bird (Mar 5, 2015)

Renkenstein said:


> You guys are blowing my mind.
> 
> KNARBENS!!! Those renders are flippin sensational!!! You never cease to amaze me, my friend.



Yeah, he's the guy who did those awesome LP and SG editors too.


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## rikomaru (Mar 6, 2015)

This thread got me to attempt modeling for the first time. I've been messing with Blender for something like a week now and am in the process of trying to make a guitar with it. It's still VERY rough compared to most of the pics here, but i'm confident i'll become more proficient as I find tips and shortcuts. Thank SSO.


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## MrTeatime (Mar 23, 2015)

Help! 
I bought an endurneck licence, I made all my plans for my neckthrough 25-26.5" 7 strings strandberg using Illustrator and FretFind2D, everything looks great and ready for my templates to be laser cut but now I have to deal with the endurneck...
I'm trying to stretch the provided .stl file to fit my fretboard and neck template but so far I've only managed to mess everything. I've tried Sketchup, Rhino3D and AutoCAD and got various bad results...
Can anyone help me please?
Thanks!


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## metaldoggie (Apr 22, 2015)

Guys

I just posted thread asking for advice on 3D modelling programs.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/art-media-photography/293743-course-zbrush-3dsmax.html

If you have time, would you consider taking a look?

Thanks!


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## JuliusJahn (Apr 26, 2015)

In the last 10 days Ive went from a Solidworks scrub who was trying to get a center line to a maestro who can do everything (and more) I could do in sketchup over a year. A lot of the mechanics transferred for sure, but it's so nice to have a proper UI and tools that can think for themselves.





100 files and counting!


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## rockskate4x (Apr 27, 2015)

you are KILLING it, man! Awesome renders here!


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## SevenStringJones (May 16, 2015)

Started designing a headless guitar this weekend. Got a good start on the neck so far. Birds-eye maple neck with a quilted maple fingerboard.


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## SevenStringJones (May 16, 2015)

The designing continues. Still need chambering, pickup routes, bridge routes, control cavity, etc.


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## Phon (Jan 29, 2017)

Finally figured out how to implement multiscale calculation in Autodesk Inventor, thanks to cross-checking scale lengths between DXF and SVG format.











FretFind's DXF output for fanned frets really threw me for a loop, since the frets looked like this:






After many days of frustration, I realized that SVG and DXF output was correct, the SVG's frets are _not_ colinear after all (due to non-vertical string paths),
and that simply joining the scales of the outer string paths would produce negligible intonation errors (on the order of microns!).

Though in the end I really had nothing to worry about, I figured I might share my experience with FretFind2D so others won't get caught in the non-issues that I tried to solve!


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## vansinn (Jan 29, 2017)

Cool! Did you write a Visual Basic script or arrange the calculus in the parameter file?
Or maybe I've misunderstood, as it seems likely you simply imported the already done numbers from fret2find into Inventor..


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## Phon (Jan 29, 2017)

I simply imported the parameters (and added a few new ones) listed in the screenshot below:






Sketch constraints and equations control the final fretboard shape. Winspear implemented the same thing in Solidworks,
though he uses some different variables than the ones shown here. His is more geared for actual CNC work, where mine
is simply for idea sketching.


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## Phon (Feb 4, 2017)

Single string version of 'kickass' bridge, WIP:


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## Phon (Feb 5, 2017)

Decided to do a six string fanned-fret version of the Gecko Upright


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## Phon (Feb 6, 2017)

Carved out truss rod channels and trying out a scalloped nut profile:


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## Phon (Feb 13, 2017)

Custom dual-coil pickups with proportional string spacing






Preliminary string paths


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## Phon (Feb 15, 2017)

Added fretboard dots and split the neck up into a 5 piece laminate. The woods - Bubinga/Wenge for the neck, and Macassar Ebony for the fretboard:






Additional images:

Scarf joint detail
2160p, full 3/4 view


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## turenkodenis (Feb 15, 2017)

Fantastic modelling skills!


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## Phon (Feb 19, 2017)

Finished string paths:






Grabbed some Schaller M4 Light tuners I had modeled previously and stuck them in this test assembly.


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## knispler (Feb 20, 2017)

Nice Work on the Tuners and the string winding!


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## Phon (Feb 22, 2017)

Did the truss rod cover, and spent another 2 days hand-tracing the Gecko outline to engrave:










I'm not sure if I want to trace the Warmoth logo at the moment... had enough tracing for right now.


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## Feathertone (Feb 23, 2017)

Ahoy ! 

Some super nice modelling jobs up here. Niice! 

Here's my latest.. although a bit boosted after rendering the top view.. 

I've done my modelling with Autodesk Fusion, using drawings and references drawn in Autocad. 

Cheers! 

-L


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## Phon (Feb 23, 2017)

Dude that's a pretty sick build you have! What's the scale length/fan?


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## Phon (Feb 26, 2017)

Did the truss rod in the style of Stewart Mac's Hot Rod, since they had enough critical dimensions to make a reasonably accurate replica.
I had to cut into the fretboard a little, or else the neck would have been less than 1mm thick at the beginning of the volute!

Section View
Side View
Truss Rod Detail

Rod length is 33.875", nut length is 2.625", total length 36.5".


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 9, 2017)

To any of you who do 2D modeling on the computer, what software do you use?

I've tried Manga studio (basically photoshop in this context) and it works okay for me. But I'm thinking Inkscape might be a better choice. 

Also where do people go to print out their plans full scale. The local print shops will do poster size stuff with nice semi gloss paper and such but I really don't need anything with a nice finish. Something cheaper and less fancy would be great.


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## KnightroExpress (Mar 9, 2017)

For 2D, I use AutoCAD. Inkscape has always been oddly crashy for me, but your luck may be different. 

For printing, try Fedex/Kinkos, I've always had good and cheap results there.


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## Phon (Mar 13, 2017)

KnightroExpress said:


> For 2D, I use AutoCAD. Inkscape has always been oddly crashy for me, but your luck may be different.
> 
> For printing, try Fedex/Kinkos, I've always had good and cheap results there.



Do any places do paper sized beyond A0? My upright bass is ~61" long, so it requires a 2A0 size to make sure it is a full scale print.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 13, 2017)

Phon said:


> Do any places do paper sized beyond A0? My upright bass is ~61" long, so it requires a 2A0 size to make sure it is a full scale print.



Biggest I've seen is 3'x4'. And that is like 60 dollars. The trouble is these print shops are doing high quality glossy color prints when I basically just want a big black and white laser print job on flat normal paper. I can't find anyone who does that though.


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## KnightroExpress (Mar 13, 2017)

Phon said:


> Do any places do paper sized beyond A0? My upright bass is ~61" long, so it requires a 2A0 size to make sure it is a full scale print.



You might have luck with a custom wallpaper printer or someone who does banners. Like....big banners.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 13, 2017)

Anyone know where I can get standard poster size printed at lower quality/price?

Edit: to answer my own question, it looks like FedEx kinkos is pretty cheap after all. I had accidentally been looking at the "mounted" section.


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## morgdav (Mar 13, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Anyone know where I can get standard poster size printed at lower quality/price?
> 
> Edit: to answer my own question, it looks like FedEx kinkos is pretty cheap after all. I had accidentally been looking at the "mounted" section.



Make sure you measure the resulting printout. I had a full-size print made at a local print shop and it was off by several millimeters over the length of the guitar. We double checked the PDF and all measurements were perfect so the printer just didn't have tight tolerances.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 13, 2017)

Thanks for the warning. In the worst case I suppose I can print to multiple sheets of printer paper and tape them together, but that seems a little error prone. With alignment markers in the overlap spaces it might not be too bad though.


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## FrznTek (Mar 14, 2017)

I made these models just to see different color combos on Ormsby guitars.
their not fully flushed out. (no electronics routing, and the neck pocket isnt there, etc.)


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## gnroach (Feb 7, 2019)

MrTeatime said:


> Help!
> I bought an endurneck licence, I made all my plans for my neckthrough 25-26.5" 7 strings strandberg using Illustrator and FretFind2D, everything looks great and ready for my templates to be laser cut but now I have to deal with the endurneck...
> I'm trying to stretch the provided .stl file to fit my fretboard and neck template but so far I've only managed to mess everything. I've tried Sketchup, Rhino3D and AutoCAD and got various bad results...
> Can anyone help me please?
> Thanks!



did you managed to make it?
opinion?


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## penguin_316 (Feb 9, 2019)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Biggest I've seen is 3'x4'. And that is like 60 dollars. The trouble is these print shops are doing high quality glossy color prints when I basically just want a big black and white laser print job on flat normal paper. I can't find anyone who does that though.



Better late than never, but any Office Depot can do that for you.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Feb 9, 2019)

penguin_316 said:


> Better late than never, but any Office Depot can do that for you.


Haha thanks. 

I ended up just going to a UPS store and got like six full size prints done on their large format printer for like... I dunno 20 bucks? 

But then I got a cnc machine, so...


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## Lan (May 21, 2022)

Found this thread in a search, so apologies for raising it from the dead haha. Here’s my contribution. Maya x Prman 21


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## LiveOVErdrive (May 22, 2022)

Woah. I remember writing those comments. Been a while. 

Nice models!


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## Lan (May 24, 2022)

Haha it has! I was debating whether or not to resurrect this thread; but it was too interesting to pass up, for stumbling across it by chance


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## JimF (May 25, 2022)

Stumbling across these now, are most of you doing this as a guitar-building aid, or as an artform/hobby in itself?


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## Winspear (May 25, 2022)

JimF said:


> Stumbling across these now, are most of you doing this as a guitar-building aid, or as an artform/hobby in itself?


Myself I've never gone into the pretty rendering and such, or even including/modelling the hardware. Very much an enjoyable hobby but I am intending to manufacture everything I model and only model as far as is necessary for that.
It's awesome to see finished renders though! Must be satisfying


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## LiveOVErdrive (May 25, 2022)

JimF said:


> Stumbling across these now, are most of you doing this as a guitar-building aid, or as an artform/hobby in itself?


Its the first step in the cnc process for me, but it's also just how I play with a potential new design. I have a lot more modeled guitars (in various states of doneness) than I do built guitars.


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## Lan (May 25, 2022)

JimF said:


> Stumbling across these now, are most of you doing this as a guitar-building aid, or as an artform/hobby in itself?


I work in film, so I sometimes like to extend my work into the hobby space, and make things that interest me. I also teach CG at a film school as a side gig, so it's nice to have projects to explain concepts with. In this case, the strat was to explore how flamed maple works as a material


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