Building a 7-String Guitar Using Hand Tools

Описание: This video has been aggressively edited in a pointless attempt to capture the build process in under 30 minutes. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see a 1 hour version with subtitles about the process.

I've been meaning to try a 7-string guitar for a while now. Instead of just buying one from the store down the road, I spent about 2 months and way too much money building my own.

While the neck and fretboard wood was bought from reputable dealers, the body woods are reclaimed. The top is a beautiful figured piece of walnut that used to be the top of a bathroom cabinet. Underneath it is mahogany from an old staircase.

Making these videos helps me to improve my own processes. One change I made this time around, was to hold off on cutting out the body for as long as possible. This gave me a flat surface to reference my tools against, making it easier to do the cavities for the neck and pickups.

The neck profile on this guitar feels incredible. I made it thinner than usual, and offset the trapezoid to be thicker on the bass side and thinner on the treble side.

While I haven't really found much use for the extra string yet, I'm extremely happy with how the guitar plays and sounds.

Specs
Reclaimed walnut top on a reclaimed mahogany body
Multi-scale 640mm - 655mm (roughly 25,2" to 25,8")
Assymetrical trapezoid-shaped maple neck
Indian ebony fretboard with 20" radius and jumbo frets
Machine screw bolt-on neck
Guyker headless tuners
Fishman Fluence Modern Pickups
Free-way 6-position toggle switch

Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
0:10 - Neck blank
1:35 - Truss rod cavity
3:45 - Fretboard
7:29 - Headstock wings
8:18 - Walnut top
9:50 - Mahogany body
11:00 - Neck and pickup cavities
13:10 - Control cavity
17:20 - Arm contour
18:04 - Glue the top
19:08 - Shape the body
21:22 - Trapezoid neck profile
23:50 - Threaded inserts
24:30 - Fretwork
26:50 - Corian nut
27:18 - Well this is awkward...
27:31 - Apply stain and finish
28:16 - Assembly
28:46 - Sound demo



If you have any question about the process, the press itself or the materials used, please leave a comment. Also please add any suggestions on improvements or better workflows!

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