build your own mold?...

[justrfb]

Hello All,
I am still in the "gathering information" stage and am looking to find out what people think about or have found out first hand, concerning building your own guitar mold. Here is what I am thinking... Take my yet to be received kit guitar sides, trace a side onto paper, see if the other matches it. Then draw a center line down a piece of 3/4 inch ply wood, rip it on my table saw, trace the shape on each half and cut it out with my band saw. put the 2 pieces together, file and sand just enough to smooth down to traced line. Separate, glue some blocks on the hinge line, get some appropriate fasteners and I should be good to go... Thoughts, experience, comments? Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Rich

[johnnparchem]

I would beg, buy or find on the net a full sized image of the guitar and trace that. (you can print a PDF at most copy stores). The sides you getting in the kit will not be in the prefect shape to use as a template as they are flexible.

[Darryl Young]

What John said. The bends in the sides relax a bit so they aren't a perfect match to the final contour desired. You may be able to buy a particular body tracing from John Hall and use that to make your outside mold.

[darren]

you will want a deeper mold than 3/4" So plan on cutting 4 'halves' and using spacers or 6 if you want a solid mold. Making it separate easily (ie: not screwed together) will be helpful in some of your processes.

I gotta say that I really enjoy using my mold from John Hall... made my first mold and probably won't do that again. (Thanks John!)

[darren]

I prefer building guitars to making molds.

that's what I was trying to say!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Hi Rich and welcome to the forum
First off, who did you purchase the kit from? What model is the guitar you are building? You might be able to get a plan that you can trace the shape and make your mold from. Even one of us might have this for you.

Kevin

Rich,
This link will take you to a site offering several free, full sized plans in .PDF file format which can be put to paper by your local Kinko or other similar printing service. In addition to providing the outline for your mold, plans contain a wealth of necessary shapes and dimensions for other stages of your build.
http://www.grellier.fr/plans.php?lang=en

Paper plans as well as fully built molds are available from John Hall at Blues Creek.

-tommy

[hummingbird]

I made several using this method. Easy and accurate.
http://liutaiomottola.com/Tools/Mold.htm

[Darryl Young]

Keep in mind that there may not be a drawing at either of these sites that match what your kitbuilder used to bend the sides.......or there might be. So as Kevin mentioned, it helps to know what kit you have and then you can get better guidance.

If you have the funds, I would just purchase a mold. If you want/need to save a few bucks or you think you would enjoy the process........then try to get the correct plan for your kit.

[justrfb]

Thanks for all the posts and information. We haven't gotten our kit yet and I am back and forth on this one again. I am thinking about the $$ with ordering our (me and my son Willie's) kit... Telling Annemarie (my wife) that the kit will cost $475.00 will be easier to digest then $575.00 (with mold included)... I know, and we have told her, that it will be more than that with all the tools and other stuff but buying the kit and the mold together from Blues Creek (which is what I would end up doing) would automatically add the two together making the kit that much more expensive. Just free thinking here... Thanks for the info and will let you know what happens.

Sincerely,
Rich