Hollowbodies & f-holes

[jeremyb]

So.... I've got wood for this PRS hollowbody II but I don't have the $8000 to give the rock shop for it

I'm kinda keen to have a go at making a guitar at some stage, maybe this could be a good project

One question tho does the f-hole shape make a difference to the sound or is it just for looks?

[thehenderson]

Pretty sure hollow body guitars are really tricky to make

Yeah of course the f holes make a difference, have a listen to one of those signature 335 lucielles which don't have the f holes

[rickenbackerkid]

Damn I love hollow bodies . . . I'm saving my pennies, but not sure what to get yet. Probably a ES 335 or 333. Big, big job to build a hollow bodie, not a beginners project. F holes make a big difference, even in my thinline tele.

[ash]

Not just whether there is an f-hole, but the shape, size and location all have a measureable effect on tone.
The more hollow it is, the greater the effect.

I have a several unclaimed Heilo and PRS styled hollowbody projects in the racks awaiting someone to say "hell yeah! pick me" and lay down a deposit. Any of them can be yours for a whoooole lot less than $8k.

[robnobcorncob]

Nothing sounds quite like a 335.

That PRS is a semi-hollow, I wonder if it gets close to the 335 vibe? their new Singlecut archtop is a full hollowbody model. Would be cool to A/B them.

[jeremyb]

Hmmm interesting, my idea was to have lightning bolts instead of f-holes, to make a slightly more metal version of the PRS

If I had the cash I'd be a starter Adrian, your guitars are beautiful, unfortunately I have to make do with my LTD for a while as we're probably buying a house soon, but my woodworking exploits might be expanded to playing around with making a guitar in a while

[B45-12]

if you go to your local Library you might be able to track down (via interloan or similar) a book by one Donald Brosnac called The Electric Guitar which tells you how to construct a solidbody and an arch top (although not a great arch top) WITHOUT needing $100,000,000,000,000,000,000 of tools, wood skills of Ash etc.

[Ironbird13]

needing $100,000,000,000,000,000,000 of tools,

talking about expensive tools, one of my boss's told me the other day that they had someone enquiring about getting a guitar body machined out of ali must've seen that Tele on tradme

[thehenderson]

And if it's hollow body tones your after I don't think a 335 is a great choice if you already own solidbody guitars. 335s aren't very 'hollow' sounding to my ears. I found you needed to get a proper fully hollowbody guitar to start getting those cool resonant tones

[jeremyb]

if you go to your local Library you might be able to track down (via interloan or similar) a book by one Donald Brosnac called The Electric Guitar which tells you how to construct a solidbody and an arch top (although not a great arch top) WITHOUT needing $100,000,000,000,000,000,000 of tools, wood skills of Ash etc.

I got one off bittorrent called make your own electric guitar and bass, looks reasonably good, but will check out that other one too cheers!!

I'm not too worried about skills as I'm a keen woodworker, and have tools up the wazooo, but my plan is to build a CNC router at some stage so then I can get my engineer wife to model the parts in 3d and then I can click go (if only it was that easy....)

[mr_sooty]

Hmmm interesting, my idea was to have lightning bolts instead of f-holes, to make a slightly more metal version of the PRS

OK, when these guys say the F holes make a difference, they don't mean it has to be that specific shape. They just mean having holes there roughly that size makes a big difference to the tone. If you did lightning bolts it would pretty much have the same affect. If you did manage to make a decent hollowbody we'd all be very impressed - not an easy task.

[sgt mukuzi]

a yamaha made for limp bizket had simular F holes

[bender]

I'm not too worried about skills as I'm a keen woodworker, and have tools up the wazooo, but my plan is to build a CNC router at some stage so then I can get my engineer wife to model the parts in 3d and then I can click go (if only it was that easy....)

Fark that would be awesome.

I'm fairly well tooled up to but I don't have a bandsaw which severely limits my builds. I have to take blanks to a friendly joiner to get cut which sucks. It's the main reason that I haven't built a neck yet.

[jeremyb]

Hmmm interesting, my idea was to have lightning bolts instead of f-holes, to make a slightly more metal version of the PRS

OK, when these guys say the F holes make a difference, they don't mean it has to be that specific shape. They just mean having holes there roughly that size makes a big difference to the tone. If you did lightning bolts it would pretty much have the same affect. If you did manage to make a decent hollowbody we'd all be very impressed - not an easy task.

Ahhhh cool, the f-holes do look timeless tho', hmmmm, once my current raft of projects are out of the way I'll have to start having a play with making one, I think semi-hollow like the PRS might be a good starting point, I have no doubt its going to be hard but it ain't worth doing if it ain't hard!

I'm in awe of guys like Adrian who make beautiful instruments

[jeremyb]

I'm not too worried about skills as I'm a keen woodworker, and have tools up the wazooo, but my plan is to build a CNC router at some stage so then I can get my engineer wife to model the parts in 3d and then I can click go (if only it was that easy....)

Fark that would be awesome.

I'm fairly well tooled up to but I don't have a bandsaw which severely limits my builds. I have to take blanks to a friendly joiner to get cut which sucks. It's the main reason that I haven't built a neck yet.

DIY CNC is becoming quite affordable, theres even forums dedicated to it like: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48

Making a neck seems like the hard part to me, i'd probably just buy a fretted blank for me first homebuild