Finished custom guitar.

Project Brief: At 2018 Customs and Studio we specialize in designing and fabbing custom guitars. For this build, my Maker wanted a custom guitar body that was a variation in its design and construction from an Ibanez Fireman, a guitar originally designed by guitarist virtuoso Paul Gilbert.

Materials: The body was [...]]]>

Finished custom guitar.

Project Brief: At 2018 Customs and Studio we specialize in designing and fabbing custom guitars. For this build, my Maker wanted a custom guitar body that was a variation in its design and construction from an Ibanez Fireman, a guitar originally designed by guitarist virtuoso Paul Gilbert.

Materials: The body was to be a fixed bridge with a 3 single coil configuration, similar to the original, but made up of exotic and domestic woods. The neck pocket was to be made so that an orginal Ibanez Prestige 6-string neck would fit. Purpleheart was used for the middle. Bubinga was placed on each side of the purpleheart. White hard maple was placed on each side of the bubinga, and African mahogany was placed on each side of the maple.

The body was to have a clear pickguard, which was also custom cut from 0.090″ thick clear Lexan. The rear electronics cavity cover was custom cut from 0.200″ thick clear Lexan. Electronics, minus the pickups, were Switchcraft products, and the bridge hardware was made by Gotoh. Both Switchcraft and Gotoh are high quality parts and are found on many high end guitars.

Fabrication Notes: To get started, a model of the guitar needed to be created in the computer using modeling software so that it could be transferred to the ShopBot CNC for cutting. I used Lightwave for the modeling and made use of models of several different shapes for the adaptation. Once I had developed a good model, I used CAM software to create what is called a toolpath or Part File. Toolpath files are instructions that the ShopBot digital fabrication tool uses to cut out the parts.

The different wood pieces were first cut and precisely glued together to produce a laminated body blank which was planed down to the correct thickness. Once the body blank was planed to the correct thickness it was then ready to be cut to shape and to machine out the neck pocket, pickup pocket, and electronics cavities using the digital fab tool.

Contours were sanded by hand using a belt sander on the back of the guitar where the neck attaches to the body and where the body touches the lower torso of the body (commonly referred to as the “tummy contour”). Usually there is also a contour of the front where the forearm touches the body, but this build didn’t have that. An angled output jack along the bottom of the guitar body was cut by hand using a handmade jig.

The pickguard and electronics cover, made from Lexan, were carefully fit and mounted along with the hardware. Then the body was taken apart so that it could sanded and finished using tung oil. In this build the tung oil was applied to the sanded body in numerous coats. Each coat was hand rubbed and the polished to produce a lustrous shine.

Costs: In this build the cost of the specialty woods was around $90. The hardware and electronics came to about $80. Time was a factor as there were a lot of things done by hand including the time spent on the computer creating the model and toolpath files. I had several hours of computer time and around 10 hours of digital fab and hand work in it. The final price was $500. (The piece was picked up by the Maker so there were no shipping costs involved.)

Additional costs for the customer after receiving the body include buying the pickups, wiring and soldering and buying a neck suitable for the body. Pickups range in price depending on what brand and model you buy. A decent pickup would cost around $65 each. The pickups and electronics would need to be wired and soldered, so that cost would need to be factored in. An Ibanez Prestige neck can go for around $360. So a total cost for the customer would be in the range of $1000 to $1100 plus the cost of getting the electronics wired and soldered.