I need gibson plans... PLEASE READ

[triggerhappy]

Hi everone...
Im new to these forums and to guitar building aswell.
Im going to build a solid body electric for a tech studies project at school.
I HAVE CHOOSEN TO BUILD A GIBSON EXPLORER....
My problem so far is finding full scale drawings of the guitar...
So if any one can help me out... like send me some dimensions of something... THAT WOULD KICK ????.... thank you

Otherwise i might be foced to take some paper into a shop and start tracing...hahahhah

[old_picker]

Here (http://www.mimf.com/) may have plans for explorer I know they have them for les paul

Or just get right into it and get this (http://www.guitarbuildingtemplates.com/58Explorer.htm)

Or trace this (http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/bodies/large/M378A.jpg)and this (http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/bodies/large/M378B.jpg)in corel draw and do the templates from scratch.

Pretty cool school project should take about the whole year

Good Luck

[triggerhappy]

Thanks mate.... pics are really helpful
I dont have this corel thing tho... and I dont know what it even is..hahahhaha
But if any one out there does....wink nudge
i dont know how to scale the picture up either... and i dont know how big it would have to be.....

Thanks

[old_picker]

Well we aint gonna do ur project for ya but heres a clue or two

You need a draw program corel is what i use
then you draw around the outline and then scale it [the drawing you do] up to the right size

now what is the right size??

the neck pocket size on all the warmoth bodies is the same and you will find that dimension on the warmoth website and i aint gonna tell you where but its there.

once you have that dimension you can scale ur drawing up so the pocket is the right size and the rest will also be close enough.I done quite a few like that so far and it works pretty good

print, trace and cut

comp-licated but do-able

you learn a lot aksing
you learn a lot more by reading
you learn most by doing

[bricks]

I always use the scale length to work out dimensions,
If you use the neck pocket or the nut or the bridge a small miscalculation, once enlarged, will make a huge difference.

[Dean]

Hi everone...
Im new to these forums and to guitar building aswell.
Im going to build a solid body electric for a tech studies project at school.
I HAVE CHOOSEN TO BUILD A GIBSON EXPLORER....
My problem so far is finding full scale drawings of the guitar...
So if any one can help me out... like send me some dimensions of something... THAT WOULD KICK ????.... thank you

Otherwise i might be foced to take some paper into a shop and start tracing...hahahhah

Oooh just the guitar I wish to purchase one day :)

[old_picker]

I always use the scale length to work out dimensions,
If you use the neck pocket or the nut or the bridge a small miscalculation, once enlarged, will make a huge difference.

On the pic of the explorer body he has there is no neck to get the scale. Besides with a photo of a full guiitar depends on ur point of reference. The body may be 90 deg dead to the lens but the neck is sloping back or off to the top or side where it will diminsih in size due to perspective and lens distortion. The warmoth photo is as good as you'll find on the web for a body and the only known dimensions are the neck pocket. you can confirm by aksing on alt.guitar fo someone to measure a real explorer across the widest pasrt of the body to get it closer to size. Tried workin back from neck scale and its pretty inaccurate. my method is as well but man you gotta start somewheres.

you woulnt drill the stud holes etc till you had a neck in place so you could measure it up proper like. Use the drawing / pic tracing as a guide to where ythe bits go and a measure of a real one will get you cliose enough.

[contrebasse]

corel draw software is like photoshop.

I scale my pictures up in photoshop when I need them.

I make an image the size of the instrument (mine's, like, really big!)

I draw a line using the measurement tools for the scale length like he said before.

I scale the photo up (hold the shift key down to keep proportions correct) until it fits the scale length. It will look realy crappy unless the original picture was high rez.

I use the outline tools to trace the outlines and key dimensions

then I delete the original graphic 'cos it makes the file way too big.

When it's right you can get it printed at officeworks on big paper.

good luck!

[dayvo]

Hey triggerhappy
Heres a couple of .pdf's of an Explorer
My printers on the blink so Im not sure if they can be tiled to print at the actual size
You'll have to try it out
Hope these are helpful:)
dayvo

[Malibu]

Here's another option that might help...
http://www.guitarplansunlimited.com/

[old_picker]

corel draw software is like photoshop.

I scale my pictures up in photoshop when I need them.

I make an image the size of the instrument (mine's, like, really big!)

I draw a line using the measurement tools for the scale length like he said before.

I scale the photo up (hold the shift key down to keep proportions correct) until it fits the scale length. It will look realy crappy unless the original picture was high rez.

I use the outline tools to trace the outlines and key dimensions

then I delete the original graphic 'cos it makes the file way too big.

When it's right you can get it printed at officeworks on big paper.

good luck!

you better off zooming down on the photo then scaling up ur vector tracing. That way the original pic retains its integrity. The vector trace will scale up easy and will be way more accurate than trying to plot a fuzzy photo blown up to A! or A0

[bricks]

Hi there,

Here are some Drawings of an Explorer for you mate, scale length I believe is 25.5 inches.
http://www.guitarbuild.com/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=8
http://www.guitarbuild.com/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=10
http://www.guitarbuild.com/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=11

You can download CAD from here.
http://www.guitarbuild.com/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=2
http://www.guitarbuild.com/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=1

With this stuff you'll be able to pull any dimension you need directly with the cad reader. Although It'll take about 45 mins with dial up speed access.:2tsup:

PS> I always use scale length as the start of any project, most guitar manufacturers will have the scale length on their fact sections of their websites.
If you use the nut/neck pocket / anything small, and your out by 3 mm, by the time you enlarge it ten times manually then your actually out of scale by 30mm at the end!
I always find out the scale length and work to that, not the other way round.

[triggerhappy]

THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH.... F**K These things have helped me out so much.... I ordered a blank neck this weekend... so that should be here soon...( hopefully)....
I got some wood lined up... Getting it for free as well...AWSOME
So ill keep adding some pics when the building starts... wont be soon but o well.

If you still have some suggestions tho.... Please keep them coming...
Any thing that I should need to consider also... Let me know.
Good on ya's THANKS...

[triggerhappy]

THANKS SO MUCH GUYS...
Its been a massive help.

Ill try get some pics up when I start making it... Might be a little while tho.
I ordered a neck and I got some wood... FOR FREE!!! AWSOME

If you stiil have some tips, pointers or anything else you think might help... everthing helps...
THANKS GUYS...