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Permalink Reply by jawbone on November 14, 2013 at 2:46pm

Yeah - I just build a box a 1/2" bigger on each side as the plate, route it out so that the plate is recessed and then glue blocks so you can fasten the plate thru the normal holes that you would use on a car.

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Permalink Reply by J. W. James on November 14, 2013 at 6:59pm

How deep do you typically make the body? Also, how do you enclose the back? Or DO you close the back?

I was doing some general planning using a plate held up to my Gretsch Bo Diddley. Generally speaking, the best way for me to do things would be to have a block at the end to hold the bridge and use a 14-fret neck.

I think this would be the most stable way to set things up. Especially since I plan to use a wrap-around bridge/tailpiece.  I could have the fretboard overlap the top of the plate but it's unlikely that I would be accessing any frets beyond the point where the neck and body meet.

The other option would be to cut a section out of the license plate for the fretboard extension. But, as I said it's unlikely I would really access those frets.

I'm really curious as to how yours sounds. Is there any way  to get a sound sample?

I am thinking that if I do close the back up I may want to drill some sort of "sound hole" in the side somewhere just to allow a bit of volume when playing unplugged. However, I am not sure how much that would really help.

Because of the need to have the neck run through the body on guitars like these I am thinking that there would not be much vibration on the license plate unless a small gap were left between the plate and the "center block" section of the neck.

As always, your ideas and advice are welcome and appreciated.

-James

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Permalink Reply by jawbone on November 15, 2013 at 2:16am

The ones I make are 2" deep - back is closed with 1/8" plywood.

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Permalink Reply by J. W. James on November 15, 2013 at 12:22pm

Ok, cool.

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Permalink Reply by J. W. James on November 15, 2013 at 12:42pm

You make your necks out of a single piece of wood right? Have you had any issues with bowing or warping?

I know I can't really use that as a way to gauge the situation with what I want to do since 6 strings will have more tension that 3. However, other than for being aesthetically pleasing I would think it would be far more stable to make a laminated neck.

Though, depending on the size of the board I use and how many layers I can cut, a laminated neck would still TECHNICALLY be from a single piece of wood.

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Permalink Reply by jawbone on November 15, 2013 at 2:33pm

1 piece of wood.

Permalink Reply by J. W. James on November 23, 2013 at 9:07pm

Ok, this is the first detailed thing I have found for building a license plate guitar:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S0zbqh6GZZc

 

One issue is that it is only a 4-string model and, as I have stated, I want to do a 6-string version.

Another issue is that even for 4 strings the sesign shown in the video does not seem all that sturdy.

 

Does anyone know where I can find SPECIFIC info on building a 6-string license plate guitar?

 

Jawbone has given me some very useful info but, I really need to know about making one of these guitars as sturdy as possible. I would still like to keep it fairly "hollow-bodied" as I would like it to have some acoustic characteristics (I'd like to put a piezo under the license plate).

 

My original thought was the neck through body with a wrap-around bridge  so that there would be no need for an extension off the end of the guitar to run the strings through. I still feel that would be best as for securing the strings on the bridge end of things.

So, for this part of my plan I know I would need a wood block directly under the license plate to secure the bushings for the bridge anchors.

However, I would like to avoid having the part of thge neck running through the body from making contact with the rest of the plate as I want the plate to have some vibration.

I also plan to use a magnetic pickup in conjunction with the piezo I mentioned (perhaps a P-90 or perhaps a Tele-style lipstick pickup). So, I need to have room inside the guitar for mounting whichever I deside to use,

Has anyone taken photos of their build process? Or perhaps you have drawings of your designs that you'd be willing to share?

Again, I appreciate all the help!

 

-James

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Permalink Reply by Hellhound Custom Built Guitars on November 24, 2013 at 1:08pm

This is a small piece of what I am currently doing. I hand carved the neck which measures 1.75 inch at the nut, tapering to 2 inch were it meets the box. I decided to go with a neck thru for strength. The neck is a laminate of red oak in the middle with maple on the edges, that then is topped with a piece of red oak, and that is topped with a poplar fret board. very strong but a lot of carving and sanding to reach the desired thickness for comfort of playability. Buying a fret board is probably a good move as the one thing I wished Id done because on a six string I think it feels a bit odd without the radius. Also the thickness of the lamination came in handy were I had to carve away wood to fit the pickups. No truss rod but all in all it is shaping up very nicely

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Permalink Reply by J. W. James on November 24, 2013 at 9:22pm

Thank you so much!

This is EXTREMELY helpful!

I was planning on doing a laminated neck like this but I am not sure what wood(s) I will use, I am leaning towards oak since I can buy that at Lowe's or Home Depot.

I know that the majority of people think a truss rod is necessary for a 6-string guitar. I also know WHY that is.

However, I have guitars that were made before they started using truss rods and they have not had neck problems yet.

Of course the necks from back then tended to be a bit thicker than they are these days.

I am still not sure if I will use a truss rod or not. I am leaning heavily towards "not" as this kind of guitar is basically nothing but neck. The box will be largely for aesthetics.

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Permalink Reply by David McQueen on November 25, 2013 at 9:25am

If you stick to electric strings, the neck tension is much less.

Here is a link to electric guitar string tensions

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f21/string-tension-charts-73846.html

Here is a link to acoustic string tensions

http://www.elixirstrings.com/stringtension/stringtensionacoustic.html

Depending on string choice, a 4 stringer with acoustic strings could have higher neck tension than a 6 stringer with electric strings.

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Permalink Reply by J. W. James on November 25, 2013 at 11:01am

Yeah, I learned a long time ago that electric strings have a different tension that acoustic strings. I had a friend that would put electric strings on his acoustic guitar. I always found them to be too "rubbery" because of the difference in tension and also the difference in how an acoustic is set up compared to an electric.

But, honestly I never really thought about using anything but electric strings on this project. I guess it's because I don't think of it as being an acoustic guitar design....even though I do want to try and have some acoustic playability to it,

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on November 25, 2013 at 10:29am

Will this be your first build, or do you have some experience under your belt?

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