Any DIY'ers Out There? (DIY=Do-it-youself)

HANGAR18

HANGAR18

Who is John Galt?
Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Messages
2,907
Location
USA
Holy Cow Batman! If I were to ever try building my own Private Stock style of guitar, I would start here...

Rockler Woodworking and Hardware
12975 Fair Lakes Shopping Center Ste 2975
Fairfax, VA 22033
Phone: (571) 435-8030
https://www.rockler.com/

Then I woul shop for hardware in all the usual places like "Stew-Mac" and so on.

They have other Rockler locations around the country but I had never heard of them before and this one just opened up just over an hour away from the PRS factory. I'm pretty sure that my mouth was hanging open when I was walking through the showroom for the first time looking at all the exotic lumber that they had in stock, machinery, tools, glues, sprayers and so on.
 
Rockler is pretty cool!

My brother and I made the desk and keyboard furniture in my studio in the mid-90s. He has an incredible array of tools, table saws, even a welding rig. My role was "guy who's basically the clueless assistant."

The materials were oak veneer ply, corners mitred, (that we sprayed black (we built a paint booth), solid maple trim with mitred corners around the edges, we glued formica onto the top surfaces, and even welded square tubing together to make the legs. The tops are extra thick plywood with solid wood reinforcement underneath around the circumference and in the middle.

It still looks brand-new, has survived a move from my old studio to my current one, and has been functional all these years.

Below is a current pic of the furniture. The desk on the right was designed as a keyboard stand with a pull-out drawer for another keyboard (back in the day, there were only hardware synths and I had a number of them). It also has a storage area that originally held the early Mac tower computers. The keyboard stand on the left has a rack for free standing direct boxes and mic preamps that‘s angled 45 degrees (toward the workstaction)

It was a lot of work that was hard enough 20-odd years ago. Last year I said to my brother, “Let’s make some matching storage shelves.” He said, “Are you nuts? How about if we don’t, and you go to IKEA and buy some black stained oak storage shelves instead? Way too much work at this point.” Which I did.

Anyway, here’s the pic of what we built:

kO7IzbU.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice work Les.
Good looking stuff there.

Do I qualify as a DIY'er?

Let's see now...
So far:

built 6 kitchens - all rooms gutted to the studs and rebuilt from scratch.
built 9 bathrooms - also gutted and redone.
completely rewired a circa 1908 10 room house.
ditto circa 1905 11 room house (next door neighbor's home)
completely restored all the woodwork in the 1908 one
replaced all the support columns in the 1908 one
moved a load bearing wall in the 1905 one.
built an extension on the 1905 0ne
other stuff I can't think of offhand
 
Tony M. said:
Nice work Les.
Good looking stuff there.

Do I qualify as a DIY'er?

Let's see now...
So far:

built 6 kitchens - all rooms gutted to the studs and rebuilt from scratch.
built 9 bathrooms - also gutted and redone.
completely rewired a circa 1908 10 room house.
ditto circa 1905 11 room house (next door neighbor's home)
completely restored all the woodwork in the 1908 one
replaced all the support columns in the 1908 one
moved a load bearing wall in the 1905 one.
built an extension on the 1905 0ne
other stuff I can't think of offhand
Click to expand...

If not, that is probably a good start. :)
 
LSchefman said:
Rockler is pretty cool!

My brother and I made the desk and keyboard furniture in my studio in the mid-90s. He has an incredible array of tools, table saws, even a welding rig. My role was "guy who's basically the clueless assistant."

The materials were oak veneer ply, corners mitred, (that we sprayed black (we built a paint booth), solid maple trim with mitred corners around the edges, we glued formica onto the top surfaces, and even welded square tubing together to make the legs. The tops are extra thick plywood with solid wood reinforcement underneath around the circumference and in the middle.

It still looks brand-new, has survived a move from my old studio to my current one, and has been functional all these years.

Below is a current pic of the furniture. The desk on the right was designed as a keyboard stand with a pull-out drawer for another keyboard (back in the day, there were only hardware synths and I had a number of them). It also has a storage area that originally held the early Mac tower computers. The keyboard stand on the left has a rack for free standing direct boxes and mic preamps that‘s angled 45 degrees (toward the workstaction)

It was a lot of work that was hard enough 20-odd years ago. Last year I said to my brother, “Let’s make some matching storage shelves.” He said, “Are you nuts? How about if we don’t, and you go to IKEA and buy some black stained oak storage shelves instead? Way too much work at this point.” Which I did.

Anyway, here’s the pic of what we built:

kO7IzbU.jpg
Click to expand...
Les, that looks very functional and professional.

Pleasant place to work.
 
Well, I made this when I was a cabinetmaker in the early '80's. Semi-hollow w/ carved quilted maple top and back on a zebrawood core, neck-through maple and zebrawood three piece neck w/ Brazilian rosewood fretboard. 1st generation Bill Lawrence L-500 pickups under brass covers.
The third guitar I attempted; the first two were stillborn, but this one made it all the way. Became a hairstylist after that and never built another one. It actually plays and sounds great.

20220703-100156-resized.jpg

20220703-100659-resized.jpg

20220703-100326-resized.jpg
 
Tony M. said:
Nice work Les.
Good looking stuff there.

Do I qualify as a DIY'er?

Let's see now...
So far:

built 6 kitchens - all rooms gutted to the studs and rebuilt from scratch.
built 9 bathrooms - also gutted and redone.
completely rewired a circa 1908 10 room house.
ditto circa 1905 11 room house (next door neighbor's home)
completely restored all the woodwork in the 1908 one
replaced all the support columns in the 1908 one
moved a load bearing wall in the 1905 one.
built an extension on the 1905 0ne
other stuff I can't think of offhand
Click to expand...
why can’t my neighbors be like you?
 
Tony M. said:
Nice work Les.
Good looking stuff there.

Do I qualify as a DIY'er?

Let's see now...
So far:

built 6 kitchens - all rooms gutted to the studs and rebuilt from scratch.
built 9 bathrooms - also gutted and redone.
completely rewired a circa 1908 10 room house.
ditto circa 1905 11 room house (next door neighbor's home)
completely restored all the woodwork in the 1908 one
replaced all the support columns in the 1908 one
moved a load bearing wall in the 1905 one.
built an extension on the 1905 0ne
other stuff I can't think of offhand
Click to expand...
May I be the first to say that's beyond impressive?
 
Rhythmisking said:
Well, I made this when I was a cabinetmaker in the early '80's. Semi-hollow w/ carved quilted maple top and back on a zebrawood core, neck-through maple and zebrawood three piece neck w/ Brazilian rosewood fretboard. 1st generation Bill Lawrence L-500 pickups under brass covers.
The third guitar I attempted; the first two were stillborn, but this one made it all the way. Became a hairstylist after that and never built another one. It actually plays and sounds great.

20220703-100156-resized.jpg

20220703-100659-resized.jpg

20220703-100326-resized.jpg
Click to expand...

That is fantastic!
 
Rhythmisking said:
Well, I made this when I was a cabinetmaker in the early '80's. Semi-hollow w/ carved quilted maple top and back on a zebrawood core, neck-through maple and zebrawood three piece neck w/ Brazilian rosewood fretboard. 1st generation Bill Lawrence L-500 pickups under brass covers.
The third guitar I attempted; the first two were stillborn, but this one made it all the way. Became a hairstylist after that and never built another one. It actually plays and sounds great.

20220703-100156-resized.jpg

20220703-100659-resized.jpg

20220703-100326-resized.jpg
Click to expand...

That’s not DIY, that’s luthiery of a high standard.
 
ScottR said:
Maaannn!!! What a great space! So much room for activities!! Seriously though gets me every time!
Click to expand...
Rhythmisking said:
You guys are too kind.
Les, your studio is inspiring!
Click to expand...
Tom Bradovich said:
Les, your studio looks just as I expected it to look - clean, neat, organized and totally professional.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the very kind words, guys - I have plans to take it to the next level, but the latest cost estimates mean I have to be patient.

I'm not patient.

So for now...it is what it is!
 
Rhythmisking said:
Well, I made this when I was a cabinetmaker in the early '80's. Semi-hollow w/ carved quilted maple top and back on a zebrawood core, neck-through maple and zebrawood three piece neck w/ Brazilian rosewood fretboard. 1st generation Bill Lawrence L-500 pickups under brass covers.
The third guitar I attempted; the first two were stillborn, but this one made it all the way. Became a hairstylist after that and never built another one. It actually plays and sounds great.

20220703-100156-resized.jpg

20220703-100659-resized.jpg

20220703-100326-resized.jpg
Click to expand...
Very, very impressive!
 
I built the guitar, the speaker cabinet, the faceplate of the amp, and on the pedalboard I built the loop switcher (which doubles as the amp footswitch) and the tap tempo.

Bvp5RVE.jpg


The guitar technically isn't done yet. I needed to lower the bridge area a fair bit and I'm still in the process of finish work. Also, those silver tuners need to go. I'm more into the batman look.

But I did build this guitar too.

XoYgJbV.jpg


I bought the pau ferro fretboard and body stripe at a Rockler store. And for both guitars I bought the maple on the back of the body at Rockler. The rest of the wood came from various lumber yards around the area. When I was still in the planning stages I spent a lot of time wandering around Rockler marveling at the exotic lumber.

As for stewmac... I avoid it at all costs. Anything tool you need to build a guitar can be bought with high quality from somewhere else, usually around half the price. And it does not take as many tools as they would have you think.
 
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