# Pine guitar build



## felixbarrell (Feb 25, 2011)

im gonna build a guitar made out of pine just to get familiar with some tools and educate myself before i ruin a decent bit of maple or something. i'll be getting the wood tomorrow and start building next week pics soon to come. not sure what body shape to do though and suggestions would be nice and ill get on with the build 

Cheers 

Felix


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## darren (Feb 25, 2011)

The first Telecasters had bodies made of pine, and apparently they sound pretty awesome.


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## felixbarrell (Feb 25, 2011)

darren said:


> The first Telecasters had bodies made of pine, and apparently they sound pretty awesome.


yerh i heard that and its dead cheap in england


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## UnderTheSign (Feb 25, 2011)

Neal Moser did a pine tele about a year ago, if I remember correctly it's pretty good to work with.


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## Rook (Feb 25, 2011)

It's very crumbly and got a lot of air in it, it comes out slightly honky, lol, a tele's the ideal guitar for pine haha.


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## felixbarrell (Feb 25, 2011)

Fun111 said:


> It's very crumbly and got a lot of air in it, it comes out slightly honky, lol, a tele's the ideal guitar for pine haha.



i might do a wolfgang its kinda like the tele


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## darren (Feb 25, 2011)

European (yellow) pine is apparently much more dense than the North American varieties, so it should work out very nicely.

You're from Norwich? My grandparents used to live near Cromer.


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## HaMMerHeD (Feb 25, 2011)

I'm not sure I'd recommend pine for the neck, but it'll be dandy as a body.


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## felixbarrell (Feb 25, 2011)

darren said:


> European (yellow) pine is apparently much more dense than the North American varieties, so it should work out very nicely.
> 
> You're from Norwich? My grandparents used to live near Cromer.



im very near there and i have a thaxters in my town and i went there today looking for some mahogany or maple but they dont stock any and they have loads of pine i didn't get any because i though i would be able to get some maple or mahogany but its too expensive around here so i'll pop in tomorrow and get some. i won't start my build till monday or tuesday.


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## felixbarrell (Feb 25, 2011)

HaMMerHeD said:


> I'm not sure I'd recommend pine for the neck, but it'll be dandy as a body.



i've read up and it's not strong enough for the neck but im gonna try any way to see if it works


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## Dead Undead (Feb 25, 2011)

HaMMerHeD said:


> I'm not sure I'd recommend pine for the neck, but it'll be dandy as a body.



Pine wouldn't stay rigid enough without being super thick, even with a truss rod. It wouldn't feel right either. Would kill sustain too.


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## felixbarrell (Feb 26, 2011)

heres the wood


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## MaKo´s Tethan (Feb 26, 2011)

Huf made a sigle cut guitar (ala LP) with pine years ago, he said "was very resonant" pine>low quality basswood (bad cuts on deep low end guitars)


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## vansinn (Feb 26, 2011)

> :
> Originally Posted by HaMMerHeD
> I'm not sure I'd recommend pine for the neck, but it'll be dandy as a body.





Dead Undead said:


> Pine wouldn't stay rigid enough without being super thick, even with a truss rod. It wouldn't feel right either. Would kill sustain too.



Reinforce the neck with two carbonfibre rods; no more difficult than routing out the truss canal. Or maybe a three-ply pine/something-else neck.


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## UnderTheSign (Feb 26, 2011)

MaKo´s Tethan;2361159 said:


> Huf made a sigle cut guitar (ala LP) with pine years ago, he said "was very resonant" pine>low quality basswood (bad cuts on deep low end guitars)


What, this one?


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## teqnick (Feb 26, 2011)

That guitar will smell great.


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## Dead Undead (Feb 27, 2011)

vansinn said:


> Reinforce the neck with two carbonfibre rods; no more difficult than routing out the truss canal. Or maybe a three-ply pine/something-else neck.



carbon fibre rods would be a bad idea IMHO. If anything does happen to the neck, you can't adjust them.
But as a 3 piece.... that might actually work.
Still I think a neck made of pine would feel awkward.


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## felixbarrell (Feb 28, 2011)

i gave the first piece of wood the clams 




i'll glue the next piece of wood and cut the body shape out tomorrow


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## airpanos (Mar 1, 2011)

I like Pinein fact i found this article from a pro builder about pine bodies and is pretty interesting.


 I chose pine because it's one of the best tone woods in the world. It has the best resonance and the best vibration from the string. Pine is a very close relative to spruce and cedar, which have been used on acoustic musical instruments for thousands of years. This guitar became a point of controversy. It was a shock to people -- they assumed that pine was a junk wood since all the fancy guitars are made of flamed maple, quilted maple, spalted maple, and other exotic hardwoods, most of which do not reproduce the vibration of the string very well because they're hard and heavy.


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## FretWizard88 (Mar 1, 2011)

I might make a guitar out of pine too. I have always wanted to build a guitar, but I was too much of a chicken shit to do it because I didn't want to ruin a nice piece Koa or Maple.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 1, 2011)

airpanos said:


> I like Pinein fact i found this article from a pro builder about pine bodies and is pretty interesting.
> 
> 
> I chose pine because it's one of the best tone woods in the world. It has the best resonance and the best vibration from the string. Pine is a very close relative to spruce and cedar, which have been used on acoustic musical instruments for thousands of years. This guitar became a point of controversy. It was a shock to people -- they assumed that pine was a junk wood since all the fancy guitars are made of flamed maple, quilted maple, spalted maple, and other exotic hardwoods, most of which do not reproduce the vibration of the string very well because they're hard and heavy.



and i got all my wood for £3.30 which is like $5 so i might get some more to make a neck and put a piece of mahogany, walnut or maple in it to keep it strong


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## felixbarrell (Mar 1, 2011)

i'm properly going to make a strat out of the next piece of wood how does that sound?


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## HaMMerHeD (Mar 1, 2011)

Man, plain maple neck blanks are cheap. You can get one from StewMac for £12...granted, shipping would cost like £20, but surely there is a reasonable source for maple neck blanks on the island...


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## sk3ks1s (Mar 1, 2011)

felixbarrell said:


> i gave the first piece of wood the clams


 
I'd keep an epi pen on hand... I heard pine is allergic to shellfish.

You should call your previous lovers and get them checked for it too...

Frozen or fresh?

... take your pick.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 1, 2011)

todays update
body cutout and sanded 













clamped down and about to rout the edges 








done routing quite a few mistakes this was my first time routing 
















all sanded


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## thewildturkey (Mar 1, 2011)

airpanos said:


> I like Pinein fact i found this article from a pro builder about pine bodies and is pretty interesting.
> 
> 
> I chose pine because it's one of the best tone woods in the world. It has the best resonance and the best vibration from the string. Pine is a very close relative to spruce and cedar, which have been used on acoustic musical instruments for thousands of years. This guitar became a point of controversy. It was a shock to people -- they assumed that pine was a junk wood since all the fancy guitars are made of flamed maple, quilted maple, spalted maple, and other exotic hardwoods, most of which do not reproduce the vibration of the string very well because they're hard and heavy.



A local luthier here in Australia I met swears by light woods for that very reason, resonance. He doesnt use pine to my knowledge, but he trys to buy the lightest cuts of maple ect he can find.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 3, 2011)

the arch


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## SirMyghin (Mar 3, 2011)

thewildturkey said:


> A local luthier here in Australia I met swears by light woods for that very reason, resonance. He doesnt use pine to my knowledge, but he trys to buy the lightest cuts of maple ect he can find.



A lighter piece of wood (holding stiffness equal) will only increase the resonance for certain frequencies if the resonant frequency of the wood was below the frequencies used. The meaning of resonance is an increasing amplitude with the same input throughout oscillations. Ideally the resonant peak of the wood will fall somewhere in the middle of a guitars range, to give higher amplitudes all around. 

It is best however, not to confuse resonance with vibration. Resonance is a very special case in dynamics and wave propagation when the frequency exciting is a multiple of the resonant (also called natural) frequencies of the system. Which of these frequencies is excited will determine the resonating wave form (which is sometimes called the modal behaviour). 

To sum, as lighter guitar will only vibrate more if it was operating in frequencies BEFORE the resonant peak(S) and moved INTO a area closer to the resonant peaks while doing so. There is not direct correlation between mass and resonance, as stiffness is also a large contributor. 

/rant

Sorry but the mainstream misuse of many phenomenon (especially vibrations and dynamics!) is very frustrating, I aim to help eliminate this.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 4, 2011)

BODY CARVE!! (why is this in capitals)


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## ivancic1al (Mar 4, 2011)

Looking good meng.  I'm really diggin that carve on the body.


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## jcgss77 (Mar 4, 2011)

That guitar looks like it will weigh less than 6 pounds. I really can't wait to see it done...and hopefully hear it too. I have never seen a pine electric before. Keep the updates coming!


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## felixbarrell (Mar 5, 2011)

jcgss77 said:


> That guitar looks like it will weigh less than 6 pounds. I really can't wait to see it done...and hopefully hear it too. I have never seen a pine electric before. Keep the updates coming!



i'll post a vid of me playing when i'm done 
getting the maple for the neck next week or so i'll do more updates when i get some


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## felixbarrell (Mar 5, 2011)

what wood shall i get for the neck i have a chose of maple, Sapele or Cedrela which 1?


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## vansinn (Mar 5, 2011)

Originally Posted by vansinn said:


> Reinforce the neck with two carbonfibre rods; no more difficult than routing out the truss canal. Or maybe a three-ply pine/something-else neck.





Dead Undead said:


> carbon fibre rods would be a bad idea IMHO. If anything does happen to the neck, you can't adjust them.
> But as a 3 piece.... that might actually work.
> Still I think a neck made of pine would feel awkward.



Nono, I didn't mean replacing a truss by carbonfibre; I meant use it to reinforce the neck while still outfitting it with a truss.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 8, 2011)

i got the wood for the neck and glued it 




















i got 2 necks out of the blank


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## xMaNgOxKusHx (Mar 8, 2011)

Awesome. Keep with the updates!


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## felixbarrell (Mar 9, 2011)

the glue has dried but there are some big gaps in the wood i'll do some sanding to get them out


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## felixbarrell (Mar 10, 2011)

ive done some stuff today like sanded the neck so it was flat and still not done it and i'm gonna take it to a belt sander in a a few days but i'll try and get it flat and then get some wood for the fretboard and ive got a question: i know the neck is thicker at the bottom than it is at the top so.. how do you get that like that? 
cheers 
Felix


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## felixbarrell (Mar 13, 2011)

neck cut out


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## felixbarrell (Mar 14, 2011)

i routed the neck pocket. it was pretty hard on the archtop and i did a really bad job of it it's tight but there are some gaps how could i fill them?


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## Themadcow (Mar 14, 2011)

felixbarrell said:


> i routed the neck pocket. it was pretty hard on the archtop and i did a really bad job of it it's tight but there are some gaps how could i fill them?



Your best bet is to glue a couple pieces in there that are slightly bigger than the gaps and then either hand sand them down to match or re route......I would think that hand sanding would be easier....


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## Randomist (Mar 26, 2011)

I've only just stumbled upon this by searching "archtop" so I apologise for the delayed reply/bump. I'm also a little pissed atm as I'm in serious pain and want to sleep tonight, but that's another story...

Anyway best approach in this situation IMO would be to make the gap bigger but uniform. So route a nice square lump out and then cut a block to the dimenions of the new route. Don't worry about neck pocket dimensions yet, put more material in than you need to and work it away slowly until you get the right dimensions.

As a mechanical engineer I'm dubious as to the mechanical durability of pine, regardless of tonal properties. My natural alder pacifica 112 has REALLY bad buckle rash (It has had a fair few years of abuse as its a much better guitar than its price tag suggests, but still...) and I think I'm right in saying alder is harder than european pine? (please correct me). Anyway I realise this is a bit late so sorry again. I'd say take extra time with the finishing, and be very generous when clear-coating it, it will need some protection, but please keep us updated.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 27, 2011)

Randomist said:


> I've only just stumbled upon this by searching "archtop" so I apologise for the delayed reply/bump. I'm also a little pissed atm as I'm in serious pain and want to sleep tonight, but that's another story...
> 
> Anyway best approach in this situation IMO would be to make the gap bigger but uniform. So route a nice square lump out and then cut a block to the dimenions of the new route. Don't worry about neck pocket dimensions yet, put more material in than you need to and work it away slowly until you get the right dimensions.
> 
> As a mechanical engineer I'm dubious as to the mechanical durability of pine, regardless of tonal properties. My natural alder pacifica 112 has REALLY bad buckle rash (It has had a fair few years of abuse as its a much better guitar than its price tag suggests, but still...) and I think I'm right in saying alder is harder than european pine? (please correct me). Anyway I realise this is a bit late so sorry again. I'd say take extra time with the finishing, and be very generous when clear-coating it, it will need some protection, but please keep us updated.



its really soft and i'll be doing a epoxy base and a lot of clear coating to stop it from getting a lot of dents. there won't be many updates because i want to finish my other build (http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...ustomizations/150368-deamon-coming-alive.html) i would quite like this neck to be a neck and fretboard on the same piece of wood and i don't have any tools to cut the fret slots any ideas on what i could use?


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## Customisbetter (Mar 27, 2011)

Randomist said:


> I've only just stumbled upon this by searching "archtop" so I apologise for the delayed reply/bump. I'm also a little pissed atm as I'm in serious pain and want to sleep tonight, but that's another story...
> 
> Anyway best approach in this situation IMO would be to make the gap bigger but uniform. So route a nice square lump out and then cut a block to the dimenions of the new route. Don't worry about neck pocket dimensions yet, put more material in than you need to and work it away slowly until you get the right dimensions.
> 
> As a mechanical engineer I'm dubious as to the mechanical durability of pine, regardless of tonal properties. My natural alder pacifica 112 has REALLY bad buckle rash (It has had a fair few years of abuse as its a much better guitar than its price tag suggests, but still...) and I think I'm right in saying alder is harder than european pine? (please correct me). Anyway I realise this is a bit late so sorry again. I'd say take extra time with the finishing, and be very generous when clear-coating it, it will need some protection, but please keep us updated.



Not to stray too far off topic, I'd like to give a little input.

My first guitar build was a Pine neckthrough with Poplar wings. No this wasn't even well seasoned tone wood, this is random shit i grabbed form home depot.

The guitar is about 5 months old now with no finish, and always had string tension. Its insanely stable tuning wise and INSANELY resonant. I can literally hold a note for 20-40 seconds. 

TL;DR, don't knock it until you try it.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 28, 2011)

Customisbetter said:


> Not to stray too far off topic, I'd like to give a little input.
> 
> My first guitar build was a Pine neckthrough with Poplar wings. No this wasn't even well seasoned tone wood, this is random shit i grabbed form home depot.
> 
> ...



was the neck made out of pine and was it stable?


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## Customisbetter (Mar 28, 2011)

Yes. Thats what a Pine Neck-through is.


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## felixbarrell (Mar 29, 2011)

Customisbetter said:


> Yes. Thats what a Pine Neck-through is.



sorry i was being a bit stupid there


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## ElRay (Sep 23, 2011)

Nice start. Don't forget, when it's done, post in this thread: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...1-guitars-built-members-ss-org-pic-heavy.html

I also added the "member built" tag to the thread.

Ray


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## ShadowFactoryX (Sep 23, 2011)

ohh god, i want someone to make me one now


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## CD1221 (Sep 23, 2011)

Mate, that is looking fantastic. love the carve.


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## Tom Drinkwater (Sep 25, 2011)

I havent used pine yet but it is a legit solid body wood. I use the same supplier that Fender used for their Telebration 60th anniversary teles and that order consisted of several thousand body blanks of the following species-salvaged old growth redwood, 100+ year old pine and red spruce. If it's good enough for Fender.....


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## in-pursuit (Sep 25, 2011)

I have a query to anyone who has more knowledge about pine/guitar-building, how would the distribution of weight be in terms of balance and neck dive and the like? 

and on topic, I'm very keen to see how this turns out. if all goes well for you, I may just try this myself!


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## felixbarrell (Sep 25, 2011)

in-pursuit said:


> I have a query to anyone who has more knowledge about pine/guitar-building, how would the distribution of weight be in terms of balance and neck dive and the like?
> 
> and on topic, I'm very keen to see how this turns out. if all goes well for you, I may just try this myself!



im scrapping the guitar and getting some new wood and trying again with more preparation this time i kind of rushed into it a bit i've made a template but i got school at the moment so that sill get in the way a bit


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