The design process for my homemade guitar is almost done and I have started taking measurements for a more precise model. When first starting out with the project, I drew a picture of a basic electric guitar and tried to identify all of the essential parts.
For each one, I had to figure out exactly how each component did its job within the framework of the guitar. From there, I tried to figure out what things I have that I could use to model those parts as accurately as possible to build my own. The next thing I did was draw a picture of a tennis racket and try and fit each of the parts from the 1st picture onto the body of the tennis racket.
I decided that I needed something to elevate the strings from the body, so I decided on L-brackets that I would mount to the racket itself. For the tuning pins, I will need to find something to wind the strings around at the end. The next step will probably be figuring out a way to amplify the sound and starting to put the prototype together.
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It is awesome that the guitar is coming together nicely! Are you planning on using it as a lap guitar or a more traditional that sits upright? For amplifying the sound, I would probably recommend some kind of microphone. I don’t know how many strings you have, but if its less than 6, it may be easier just to use an old microphone. If you do have 6 strings, you can probably build a pickup or just find an old pickup or hum bucker that you can fix to the body of the guitar. I would stay away from making your own pickups, they take a long time to wind and are very easy to mess up. This would need to be wired to a 6.3mm jack, but the wiring for that would be pretty straightforward. Let me know if you need any help!
This sounds like it will be really cool when you finish it! You were much more ambitious than I was with this project. Your design loop starts with a pre made decision on a tennis racket guitar. I wonder, did you have any other ideas you were choosing between? Did you make this decision based off of what materials you knew that you had?