Bass Guitar Template Pdf
Breogan Heflin
A 1957 Harmony Stratotone guitar would be a great addition to any collection, but good luck finding an original. This Stratotone guitar template set will help you build your own though, which is even better!
Hey, does anyone have or know where can I find a template for drilling the holes for a Tune-O-Matic style bridge? I hope I'm not the only one who's had trouble finding one or I'm going to feel really dumb...
There's more to it, like setting and marking your scale length and bridge position out, setting the bass side back 3/16", double-checking your measurements after you set the bass side back, but that's enough for starters for your question?
I already bought one from CustomShopParts.com and it didn't come with anything for layout... Hence my asking. I would've thought those would be pretty much universal, otherwise how would you know what you're buying is going to fit if you're getting it as a replacement?
In that case, take your bridge and sit it on a ruler (a steel ruler that measures down to 1/32" like that found on a square rule would be best) and just accurately measure the 2 holes, center-to-center.
Hmm... Maybe it's more complicated that I first thought... Is there a tutorial on how to space it correctly and measure where it needs to go? Like what happens if you guess how far forward or back it goes and get it wrong? Bad things?
So I, being both insane and in need of a challenege, decided to refurb it. I couldn't find the original bridge or even a good match, so I decided to use the Gibson-style one, thus bringing us to the present.
I'm not sure quite how to measure the scale length on it, since there's a space of about 1/4" between the nut and a sort of extra fret, and since I don't have strings on it I can't tell if the strings rest on it or if it's just there to look at...
Any and all help is appreciated, as I've never worked on a guitar like this. Maybe I should just try a different style of bridge, I don't know. The body isn't realy thick enough (i.e. strong enough) to put too many holes in it, such as for a string-though style. I'd kill for the original one!!
Okay, so in that case the distance between the zero fret and the middle of the 12th fret is about 11 7/8". I'd love to have a more original bridge, but I've already plastered over the mounting holes and I don't think it would go with the rest of the design anyway... We'll see how frustrated it get with the Tune-o-matic.
that sounds a bit more like it. So for starters you're going to measure that distance from the 12th fret now towards the body and make a precise mark. That's where the treble side of the bridge will go, from that mark you will off set the bass side post back 3/16, that'll give you your angle, but you still have to measure with a ruler the spread of the two posts.
Here's a trick for finding the center to center distances. measuring only the post holes, measure the outer edge to the outer edge of the other hole (across the bridge) now measure the distance between the 2 inner edges of the circles.
ok, sub track the inner from the outer, divide the answer by 2, and then add that to the inned measurement you took before, that should be the center to center distance that the posts need to be apart. and just place them on the scale marks like i mentioned above, and make sure they're evenly spaced from the centerline of the guitar.
I am new to the group, and it looks like it's full of great information. My daughter is about to start on her first guitar building project. She has shown a lot of ability working with wood and has a lot patience. I lack all of those skills, but enjoy the research. Do any of you know of a template for Doug Irwin's Tiger, or Wolf both built for Jerry Garcia? The closest body I have seem is Warmoth's WDG, but they don't sell templates. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Have you considered finding a full frontal picture of the guitar in question, blowing it up full size using the fret spacing as a guide, and printing it out? You could then make a template from that.
I tried guitarbuildingtemplates.com and they don't have the pattern. I have tried blowing up pictures with mixed results. It does not always blow up proportional, but it's a very good idea. I was thinking maybe someone might have knocked one off already. It's a beautiful body shape Warmoth gets close but we want to build our own body. Almbeic produces almost an exact copy, but @ $10K it pretty much out of our league. LOL
Well, this is a big part of what building your own guitar is about. Sure, you can go out and buy a template (or try to buy a template), but once you've done that, you're already 75 percent through the build. Maybe even more.
But you should be able to develop your own plan/template using photographs and Autocad. It's not always easy to find dead-on photos, so what I do in that case is draw a center line on the photo, then spline in only half of the guitar and mirror that. This works for symmetrical shapes, of course. Also to get the proportions I want, I take the measurement of the neck I'm going to use and scale up so that the width of the neck pocket matches the heel.
From there, you cut your own template-- and spend the time tweaking the template until it's what you want. Since this is probably the most important step in a build--since like I said, most of the real work flows off of that--it's worth the time spending to get it right.
I suppose it all depends on how exact a copy you want. Personally, it takes me months to build a guitar. So if I'm going to build a guitar, I'm going to build one that fits ME, not Jerry Garcia or anyone else. (insert coffin case joke here).
Planning and drawing, on paper, is half the fun for me, but it's mostly doodling, and these days I can whack out a blueprint/design in an evening's worth of drawing. A few more evenings pass refining the details, getting inlays right, that sort of thing, but after the drawing's done (which isn't hard), making templates is absurdly simple work. Yeah, you have to make sure they're all nice and smooth, but beyond that it's nowhere near 75% through the build. The build only starts once the templates are made, in my book, and all the templates do is let me cut out the basic body shape, basic headstock shape, and various cavities/routes. But that's where the harder stuff starts; detailing, carves, cutouts, binding, bevels, fitting tight neck pockets, etc. And lest we forget, jointing, prepping, laminating wood blanks, radiussing, slotting, tapering fingerboards (for those of us who start with lumber). That's a ton of work, and all of it requiring more attention and patience than making a template out of 6 mil MDF (and then making a master out of ply, because MDF compresses too easily).
I made a guitar based on "Tiger," which is probably the most famous of the Doug Irwin guitars (my version is in my avatar; it's actually made with padauk instead of cocobolo and I modified the body shape to fit through a 12 1/2 inch surface planer). I took a pic from this page (which has tons of info), and blew it up:
I disagree; making the MDF template is trivial once you have a good full size drawing on paper. Glue the paper to the MDF, sand/file/whatever (usually saw, rasp, and a bit of drum sanding) to the line, and you're done.
These days I really enjoy the parts where I turn off the machines and it's just me and my hands (and the rasp or sandpaper or whatever) working. Of course, I wouldn't want to shape the body that way , but when I'm actually using my hands, I feel like I'm really building something.
I am probably at the wrong place for the kind of help I am asking for. We are talking about a 17 year old girl that wants to build her first guitar. She has never drawn a plan, or made a template, or blown up a picture of a guitar until she gets it to correct scale. Sorry I asked. I simple tracing of a Warmoth WDG would have been adequate. I am sure all of your suggestions were intended to help, but all I can see is road blocks and arguments.
Your daughter is only 17, that leaves her with plenty of time left to build a guitar. One of the best builders in this forum is only 17 (or 18 now?)--he started when he was even younger. Here's his latest build
It may look easy from the outside--you think, "hey, I can knock one of these out in a few hours." But most of us spend months working on a build (of course, most of us aren't 17, so we can only work in our spare time).
Patience is an extremely important part of the process --if she, and you, aren't patient enough to handle ANY of the steps, then the guitar's going to be that much harder to build, and less enjoyable to boot.
On the other hand, if she (and you) look at this as a learning experience, then you'll be able to embrace each step, overcome each obstacle and go for it. And she can learn how to do anything and everything. It's up to her. And you. Don't get angry at us.
but a 17 year old girl is quite capable of doing an excellent job her first time.in my experience girls are more patient and pay more attention to detail naturally.that's something we guys have to fight every step of the way(our lack of patience)
She will get the guitar built as her shop teacher works for internationally known luthier on the side. The class has accomplished several fine guitar projects. She pulls a 4.28 GPA, and has been playing guitar professionally for over 2 years, so she probably will excel in guitar building as well.
As far as your trouble blowing up a pic, you just have to make sure you blow up both axes the same amount, and you are trying to get the distance from the bridge side of the nut to the middle of the 12th fret to be half the scale length (if you're looking for total accuracy, tiger is a 25.5" scale length, so the dimension should be 12.75"). When I did it I used paint, but you should be able to do it in any number of graphics or photo programs. It took me several tries and a bit of math to blow it up to the right size, but it worked in the end.
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