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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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11368 No.11368 [Reply] [Original]

So, mac/diy/vers, does anyone here do stuff with instruments? Anything from being full-on luthiers to once having made that lagerphone that sits in the corner, gathering dust.

Pic-semi-related, I'm currently stripping back a cheap uke to paint it up.

>> No.11387

>mac/diy/vers

shit, I think I just found my new favorite board

>> No.11404

I made a guitar out of a Kleenex box and elastics back in grade school for a french project.

>> No.11408

>>11387
been my favourite since i realised it was here

>> No.11526

bump for potential luthiers, and the phrase 'mac/diy/vers'

>> No.11690

bump?

>> No.11707

i bought a harmonica once.

then looked up ways to retune it. involved filing down the metal reeds on the inside. have not attempted. but.

i bought a harmonica once.

>> No.11714

I petition for mac/diy/vers to be the regular name for ourselves. That's just too perfect. And on a related note, let's challenge each other to make instruments out of random materials.

Chewing gum, three paperclips, and a two inch square piece of wax paper. Dazzle me!

>> No.11781

I got a Schecter XXX for 50 bucks, stripped the paint, and the top of the bodyand headstock was freaking flamed maple, the body/neck/headstock are mahogany. I'm finishing up the fine details with the sanding (around the bridge post anchors/string-through grommets) and I'm planning on staining it a transparent purple with a satin finish. I have a spare set of Blackouts and locking sperzels I'm throwing in it. It's my 4th refinishing project, and my umpteenth wiring project.
Once I have downtime (while the nitro is drying) I'm building a talk box. I have everything I need except a suitable driver. Any ideas?

>> No.11791

My first guitar was a total POS because I bought it used. It had a very abused Floyd Rose tremolo, so just about everything (short of the body itself) broke at some point within the first year. I fixed it all myself through trial, error, and some instructions on the internet.

I paid $30 to have it restrung the first time because I didn't know how.. Never again. Now, I do my own set-ups and everything.

>> No.11793

>>11781
As an aside, I do have a ukulele I'm removing the neck of, and I have a snapping turtle buried out back so the flesh rots off it. In spring it'll have been down there for a full year, so the flesh should be gone, and I'll make a turtle shell ukulele.

>> No.11814

guitarist here.

i had this old busted up pos dean i took apart. i planned on reworking the pickups into something of my own design, but i have yet to come up with something i like. theres a dismantled guitar and a box of screws sitting in my closet.

>> No.11844

>>11814
>>11814
If you carefully pull apart the pickups, you can uncoil them gently and see how they're put together. Then order some AlnicoII magnets and recycle the housings and wire and hand-wind your own "custom" pickups. With trial and error (on a single coil) I've made some pretty unearthly tones come out of my strat. The one I have in my neck position just sings like a bird clean, but can't handle any fuzz.

>> No.11848

Anyone know of something to do with an electric guitar?

I have an old Ibanez guitar, and never got around to learning how to play.

>> No.11876

I've rebuilt a few pawn-shop/thrift shop electrics in my time, and I've built around six or seven shitty amps using busted parts I got for cheap.

Most of this is for playing guerrilla punk shows, and I've lost three rebuilt instruments to the briny deeps of a river while fleeing the inevitable police calls. The trick is to find the shittiest instruments you can that still have straight necks, and then just get any parts you need cheaply. There's hundreds of cheap-ass Strat copies around, and if you know how to redress frets, intone them, and don't mind fucking with the wiring a little bit to get a better sound out of 'em, you're golden.

Then again, guerrilla shows are kinda idiotic, but a fun way to get a party going in semi-public places. It's why I prefer shitty instruments for 'em; if you're gonna have to ditch something while fleeing the cops, you may as well not ditch a nice instrument. Grab your amp if it's decent, and book it the fuck out of there.

>> No.11887

I have a schecter C1EA semi hollow, and I wired amber LED flashers inside the F-holes with a flush mounted momentary switch by the volume knob. i hit the button during breakdowns and the flashers go off for about 20 seconds.

>> No.11894

>>11848

Frame it and use it as a piece of wall art?

>> No.11929

>>11714
if i had paperclips, i reckon that could make a sweet kazoo-ey thing

>>11707
cool story bro ;) i have one laying around somewhere. might be fun to fuck around with.

>>11781
holy shit, bro. Should post pics of it thus far, it sounds incredible! And a turtle shell uke? Is it more for the novelty of it, or does turtle shell sound good? Aaaaand do you just do this shit as a hobby? (sorry for all the questions - i just wish i had that sort of ability with instruments. I can't do much more than re-finish and change the hardware on it).

>>11791
haha. Thrity bucks to restring??? My old local music shop did it for me for free the first time, and taught me how. Then again, I was about 12, and people are nice to small children.

>> No.11932

I recently lost most of instruments in a flood, so I'm taking some of them and I think I'll paint them. One of the classical's became so warped that it bent inside out in the area below the bridge. I think I might paint some kind of explosion on it and hang it on the wall.

>> No.11963

>>11929
I do it as a hobby. I've never used turtle shell, but I found a dead turtle, and it looked the right size for a uke, so i took it home and buried it. I'll dig it up in march.

Gimme a minute and I'll upload some pics of the sanding thus far.

>> No.11985
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11985

Top, wiped with a damp rag to show grain

>> No.11995
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11995

I made an erhu once. Shit was cool, and it actually played really well.

I wouldn't mind going in to instrument making/repair after college, I hear they make decent money at a chill as fuck job. Whenever I went in to the repair shop for my trombone when I was in band, the owner was always a total bro.

>> No.12004
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12004

back of body, wiped with rag to show grain

still have to sand around the neck joint and horns

>> No.12011
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12011

I build cigar box guitars and bowed psalteries (pictured).

Looking at making several different instruments and, combining them with traditional instruments making a varied album of sorts.

>> No.12016
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12016

neck and back of headstock wiped, etc...

>> No.12032
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12032

full frontal view.

It looks anxious.

>> No.12045

If I decide not to stain it purple, and stain it a dark cherry or something similar, then I'll order some rosewood knobs and rosewood tuner keys then mill a rosewood truss rod cover and electronics cover.

>> No.14123

I've tried making some veggie instruments just for the halibut. results were fun, but I didn't trust them to be edible after dealing with metal shop tools.

>> No.14220

I made a couple pvc flutes. Gave the best one to my brother for his birthday. Fucker never even tried learning it.
I want to build an acoustic guitar, then classical guitar. A fucking violin would be so cash!