Building a 7-String Guitar Using Hand Tools

Рет қаралды 16,401

Күн бұрын

This video has been aggressively edited in a pointless attempt to capture the build process in under 30 minutes. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see a 1 hour version with subtitles about the process.
I've been meaning to try a 7-string guitar for a while now. Instead of just buying one from the store down the road, I spent about 2 months and way too much money building my own.
While the neck and fretboard wood was bought from reputable dealers, the body woods are reclaimed. The top is a beautiful figured piece of walnut that used to be the top of a bathroom cabinet. Underneath it is mahogany from an old staircase.
Making these videos helps me to improve my own processes. One change I made this time around, was to hold off on cutting out the body for as long as possible. This gave me a flat surface to reference my tools against, making it easier to do the cavities for the neck and pickups.
The neck profile on this guitar feels incredible. I made it thinner than usual, and offset the trapezoid to be thicker on the bass side and thinner on the treble side.
While I haven't really found much use for the extra string yet, I'm extremely happy with how the guitar plays and sounds.
Specs
- Reclaimed walnut top on a reclaimed mahogany body
- Multi-scale 640mm - 655mm (roughly 25,2" to 25,8")
- Assymetrical trapezoid-shaped maple neck
- Indian ebony fretboard with 20" radius and jumbo frets
- Machine screw bolt-on neck
- Guyker headless tuners
- Fishman Fluence Modern Pickups
- Free-way 6-position toggle switch
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
0:10 - Neck blank
1:35 - Truss rod cavity
3:45 - Fretboard
7:29 - Headstock wings
8:18 - Walnut top
9:50 - Mahogany body
11:00 - Neck and pickup cavities
13:10 - Control cavity
17:20 - Arm contour
18:04 - Glue the top
19:08 - Shape the body
21:22 - Trapezoid neck profile
23:50 - Threaded inserts
24:30 - Fretwork
26:50 - Corian nut
27:18 - Well this is awkward...
27:31 - Apply stain and finish
28:16 - Assembly
28:46 - Sound demo
If you have any question about the process, the press itself or the materials used, please leave a comment. Also please add any suggestions on improvements or better workflows!
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Пікірлер: 82

@janelaincloudcroft 2 ай бұрын

97-Year-Old NYC Builder Still Serves Their 7-String the Old Fashioned Way

@rauschguitars 2 ай бұрын

🤣

@TarynnElizabeth619 11 күн бұрын

@@rauschguitars absolutely gorgeous Guitar! I have built some of my own, from kits, and from bare necks and bodies. I’ve even done multiple upgrades to some of my regular guitars. I have some of those on my channel. If you’d like to check them out. ☮️💜😊

@jurgenzoller4407 Жыл бұрын

I love how you nmake hand tools seem easier than electric. The patience and skills you have are so enviable

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Honestly, the skills can be practiced. The patience, not so much. 🤣

@kardRatzinger 4 ай бұрын

Hand tools often ARE easier to use than electric. However, the ripping of the walnut top at 8:20 definitely wasn't. It's the kind of thing after which you can just go buy yourself another set of forearms.

@pamyaccarino1566 Жыл бұрын

It was totally awesome watching you build this guitar.

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!

@divergentguitars Жыл бұрын

Gorgeous work, as always!! And the camera work and editing are top-notch as well!

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@a.pihulsky323 Жыл бұрын

Работа только ручным инструментом! Это тяжёлый труд! Мое уважение!👍👍👍

@CMRWoodworks Жыл бұрын

A satisfying build to watch!

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@forsakensounds Жыл бұрын

Outstanding work ! Very beautiful and sounds great ! It never ceases to amaze me the ability it takes to work properly with a such simple but extremely efficient set of tools. Congrats ! :D

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!

@DanelonNicolas Жыл бұрын

this build is a master piece, I'm speechless! that guitar is astounding and seems to sound amazing too. Impressive hand wood skills 🤩 I'll see the extended version asap!!

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you! It's on of my favourites.

@jimcoppa6946 Жыл бұрын

Excellent job very good work you are truly a skilled Woodsman

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you

@duxxck Жыл бұрын

Great build man! Good to see :) really enjoyed it. MOAR PLZ SIR!

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

More to come!

@vinztattooerartguitars Жыл бұрын

Amazing work 🤘🏻

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you 🙌

@rakistaobet7440 8 ай бұрын

You inspire me, I want to build a guitar ever since I was a kid, and now I'm starting to build my own guitar without power machines I'm lucky that I've seen this video... Keep it up sir. Watching from Philippines

@rauschguitars 8 ай бұрын

Thank you

@adsr22 Жыл бұрын

Very Nice build ! Good tools and good hands 😉 congratulations

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@MarkGutierrez Жыл бұрын

I've always wanted to use Corian for nuts. Killer build.

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I think Corian works as well as bone, and has the great advantage of not smelling like death when you shape it.

@Dead-Eye Жыл бұрын

That is so cool.

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@PaulCooksStuff Жыл бұрын

Crazy. In the best possible way. 👍

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you

@jonwold Жыл бұрын

Respect.

@MetalGod-fv6tw 5 ай бұрын

man, i would give an eye for one of these hahahahah, very good work

@rauschguitars 5 ай бұрын

Thank you! Keep an eye on my Instagram, I'll be taking very limited orders this year.

@holierthanthou_ 3 ай бұрын

Those shoulders at the capped headstock are a great improvement over Bodens!

@rauschguitars 3 ай бұрын

My guitars hang on the wall, so it just makes sense to me.

@jeffadams8339 Жыл бұрын

Ripping a one piece top from walnut...by hand? Fantastic work.

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

It was brutal. Don't think I'll do that to myself any time soon.

@nobnobnobnob Жыл бұрын

Headless guitar is a problem to hang on the wall. You solved it. And also I didn't noticed it's fan-fretted.

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Yes, all my guitars hang on the wall in my home office, so the headstock wings are important to me.

@denysburlaka2799 Жыл бұрын

awesome work, man! what stain and finish do you used for this build? If it's posible, could you make a video about what stain/finish do you usually use, what is worst/better. I mean the final stage of build, how to get great look.

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Honestly, finishing is one of the parts I struggle most with. This one has a few coats of hardwax oil which is pretty easy to apply. The stain is Fiebings leather dye.

@aforabiishk Жыл бұрын

Congrats, looks and sounds amazing. How much time did the build take?

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I didn't time it, but I would estimate this one between 80 and 100 hours.

@MustafaAldhaheri Жыл бұрын

Amazing work and skills! I am a big fan of this guitar shape and the whole headless concept. But why did you go with the guyker tuners? Your work worths that you try to put a Hipshot or an ABM. Is the guyker really this good?

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Nope, I'm not happy with the Guykers at all. I wanted to try something cheaper to see if it's worth it, but regret not getting ABMs. While they hold tune well enough, the Guykers are very difficult to get up to pitch with your fingers, as well as having quality that's inconsistent. In future I'll just opt for the ABMs, because they're the best I've had so far.

@Andy-th9kj Жыл бұрын

Thanks for posting this. Beautiful work and I also want to go with fishman fluence when I get around to building my first guitar. Where did you find the fretboard template and or fretboard measurements?

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I used FretFind2D to create a drawing, which I then had printed at scale.

@Andy-th9kj Жыл бұрын

@@rauschguitars thanks!! That’s really helpful. I’m trying to compose a list of supplies and tools I’ll need to do this so I can actually do it when the time comes lol

@wnmjeremy7824 Жыл бұрын

Congratulations! Amazing work, can you tell me the thickness at the 1st and 12th fret pls? I would like to make a similar neck. (sorry for my bad English, I'm French)

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the compliments! This one is fairly thin, around 20mm at the 1st and 21,5mm at the 12th. Feels awesome though.

@user-cv8bw6xz7k 10 ай бұрын

why? did u use a powered sander at the end? kinda defeats the whole purpose of the whole video... but i absolutely love what u r doing... excelent!!!

@rauschguitars 10 ай бұрын

Without a down-draft table or any other way to contain it, hand sanding creates a LOT of dust. Wood dust is known to cause lung cancer, hardwoods even more so. As much as I hate the power sander, it's a safer way for me to get a good finish.

@rockeyjohnson2751 Жыл бұрын

How do you get into this sort of thing? I've always wanted to build modern guitars but it all just seem like undo-able, is there anything you can refer me to if I wanted to get into this. and is it to hard to get into I've had no prior woodworking experience.

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

I got into restoration videos a few years back, wanted to try it myself and started collecting and restoring a few hand planes and other hand tools. Eventually I wanted to build something with my tools, and since I'm into guitars that's what I started building.

@ianariyoshi2712 11 ай бұрын

What bridge am locking nut piece did you use? Haven’t been able to find any that look good, but the one you used look really nice.

@rauschguitars 11 ай бұрын

The string lock is from an Ibanez Q-Series. For the tuners I recommend ABM. They're the best I've experienced so far.

@ianariyoshi2712 10 ай бұрын

@@rauschguitars you prefer ABMs over Hantug? Hantug is what you used on your blue six string build, right?

@rauschguitars 10 ай бұрын

@@ianariyoshi2712 the blue headless has ABMs, and they're excellent. I haven't tried Hantug so can't comment on them.

@ianariyoshi2712 10 ай бұрын

@@rauschguitars ahh I see. Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll give them a try!

@stenmartens7179 7 ай бұрын

saw this in your 6 string build es well, why do you install those bolts in the neck itself and how does that work with the bolts coming through the body into the neck?

@rauschguitars 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! The threaded insert that goes into the neck has a thread in the middle, acting as a nut that the bolts go into. I could just use a normal Fender-style screw, but I prefer the way the machine screws look.

@stenmartens7179 7 ай бұрын

@@rauschguitars oh there's actually a tread inside of that hex head? Interesting!

@rauschguitars 7 ай бұрын

@@stenmartens7179 exactly!

@therealonepossessed Жыл бұрын

Hi I want to build myself a 7 string Floyd Rose equipped guitar. Anything that I should know before? It is my first thing doing with wood. I can send everything I want to have on the guitar

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

My best tip is to do a LOT of research before, understand everything there is to know about the process.

@therealonepossessed Жыл бұрын

@@rauschguitars thanks, do you have any good ones?

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

@@therealonepossessed I consumed a lot of youtube before I started building, also the books by Robert Benedetto and Melvyn Hiscock are good resources.

@therealonepossessed Жыл бұрын

@@rauschguitars thanks, I will look for them!

@unskilled_worker Жыл бұрын

How do i figure out fanned fret placement?

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

I used FretFind2D for the layout, which I then had professionally printed at scale. Link: acspike.github.io/FretFind2D/src/fretfind.html

@unskilled_worker Жыл бұрын

@@rauschguitars Thanks!

@brianpanther1967 Жыл бұрын

What about shielding?

@rauschguitars Жыл бұрын

The guitar has active pickups, which are supposed to not pickup interference. I decided to test this by not shielding the cavity and not connecting the bridge ground. It works perfectly with no interference!