How to build a great sounding plywood acoustic guitar PART 1

[@paanokayaitotv1726]

i didnt expect that sound. For someone less knowledge about making guitar like me, it seems less sound it can make but im so thrilled to hear its actual sound - sounds like a thousand bucks...

[@manofbeard]

Definitely mission accomplished. As a Carpenter it annoys me when people turn their noses up at using plywood in projects. It’s one of the most versatile woods you can use. I really like the aesthetic overall look of the body too.

[@pradeepjhuboo9458]

Thank you.

[@De_mitaSiburian-uw7xs]

Thank you

[@EYELYKE2DOOAYNALL]

this is actually really useful because i wanted to start building guitars and this looks like something i can start to base a design off of so i can design my own version.

[@andrewmundenandcadfellmast4624]

Great idea. The cleverest piece of this build is (well, for me anyway) the aluminium tailpiece/string holder. Far less stress placed on the top by the string tension, much less chance of pulling the bridge out, or denting the top.

[@thorstenfaust153]

Hi Andrew, you nailed it ;-) Actually the whole guitar was built around this idea..

[@hokehinson5987]

A great design alternative! We expect to see it copied.

[@kevinjackson4237]

What a wonderful and inspiring video. I applaud your vision, creativity and technical ingenuity. Please keep the magic coming!

[@hokehinson5987]

Would be great sounding with the plywood sides and a cedar or spruce top.

[@dragoivasile1375]

Congrats for your work and also for your amazing ideea! Please continue in your beautiful activities!

[@micmacnz]

That is a nice little guitar, love the design... reminds me of the sound of the Selmer guitars used by Django except more body

[@jeanlawson9133]

Honestly I like the design I see strength in it.... playability will be something I think it will be a keeper...😎 I thank you.... never hurts to try something unorthodox....

[@tofersiefken]

I like the process you used to create the sides of the guitar. I once built a set of 4 Ashiko-style drum shells out of particle board in the same stacking manner. I cut them out with a rotozip, stacked, pegged and glued them, then sanded down the rough edges both inside and out. It was a long and tedious process which ended up costing enough in materials that I probably could have bought some good used Ashiko drums for the same price, especially when time and labor is factored in. Still it was a great learning process and I would do it again if I had the opportunity and better tools, a shop, and everything else that makes a project like this more enjoyable and less "work".

[@thorstenfaust153]

Interesting approach ;-) Would like to see some pics of your work. Best regads! Thorsten

[@pvillez]

Thank you for making this. There is so much snobbery about ply in the instrument building world yet it so versatile and has a great aesthetic. Great design features using the washers and bolts, Im on that same wave length when building things for my studio. Thank you too for the files.

[@lorriecarrel9962]

I love it,nice job

[@neilmchardy9061]

That’s very clever, never thought of that.

[@georgefrench1907]

Nice project. It would be interesting to see how much the tone could be improved if the sides were cut thinner and the internal bracing pared down significantly.

[@thorstenfaust153]

Good point! To be honest - after a few weeks I slightly had to reinforce the region behind the neckpocket, because the body began to warp a little bit. The balance between stability and sound is always like a ride on a razorblade ;-) Stringtension is always the big "enemy" ...

[@gozzawick]

I'm guessing it began to buckle when it was strung, or is there another reason for the piece of roundstock that can be seen through the soundhole? I made a bass from a Jerry can and had to use a dowel to stop the can from collapsing under string tension. My next challenge is to try and build an acoustic bass from the fiber board back panel of an IKEA cupboard.

[@thorstenfaust153]

Well observed ;-) First I was afraid that the ceiling would sink in there. But I removed it again after a few weeks and everything is still stable.

[@pureborneon7264]

I would definitely love to have one of this

[@drewgold7142]

Very cool project. I expected that sound too. Subscribed ;)

[@samuelp1227]

It sounds exactly like what I imagined a plywood guitar would sound like.😂

[@robinleebraun7739]

There are many types of plywood. The high pressure laminate used to make guitars is not the same as floor underlayment or luan plywood. It is harder, thinner and has no voids as most plywood does.

[@thorstenfaust153]

Absolutely right - for the top and the back I was using 2mm high quality "aircraft plywood".

[@MountainHomeJerrel]

How wonderful! Thank you for sharing!

[@joashpadios8602]

wow i'm jealous you are amazing, you can make your own guitar I wish I had a guitar I just learned to play guitar by borrowing my friend's guitar It's kinda crazy😆

[@MrLuckybudha]

Thosi, wie immer einfach genial. Bin schon auf die Pickup Installation gespannt :-)

[@thorstenfaust153]

Ohgott! Ich steh auf'm Schlauch - woher kennen wir uns? (Hab Mitleid mit einem verwirrten alten Mann ;-)

[@Ted007-r5r]

I like it What does it weigh ?

[@pradeepjhuboo9458]

Beautiful and superb but I'm trying to understand the functions of the magic screws.....

[@thorstenfaust153]

Those screws are producing an adjustable downward-force to the bridge. With an undersaddle pickup underneath you can adjust the output volume for each single string. They are also "sending" a big amount of the string tension to the stringholder. kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKKYqqWtjr1nrJI

[@georgevillanueva6926]

Needs a sound port it’s good maybe for nylon but for steel string it sound like it needs some escape but that in its self is awesome it means it’s solid but make the sound port n thanks me later

[@darmans1695]

That's nice idea.good job to get a beautiful guitar.

[@dragoivasile1375]

Hello and Happy New Year! I have a question could you please prepare a video about how is mounted the piezo pickup? And also how you decided tu use this model and no the other? Thank you very much Herr Faust!

[@thorstenfaust153]

Hi Dragoi, here's Part 2 with the pickup-installation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/paKro6R3gsSgfq8 Best regards Thorsten

[@dragoivasile1375]

@@thorstenfaust153 THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!

[@NicholasRadina]

Great build! Did you glue each body layer separately, clamp and dry? Or glue all layers, clamp and dry?

[@thorstenfaust153]

Yes, I've glued each body layer separately. Otherwise it would have been difficult to precisely line up the layers ;-

[@NicholasRadina]

@@thorstenfaust153 Thank you! How much time did you allow the glue to cure before gluing the next leyer?

[@thorstenfaust153]

@@NicholasRadina With Titebond, I think 60 minutes between each layer should be enough.

[@vernonknight5827]

I’ve listened to many other hybrids and some were name brands but your s sounded the best not counting Fender! My question is did you plain the plywood down at all?

[@Steeld78]

can you build a guitar in ibanez tod10n style??

[@tubeworkshop]

Ohoh... the traditional luthiers will not like it. But I love it!

[@shadow04901]

What are the dimensions on that aluminum plate

[@07LUTE70]

This is an awesome guitar Brother. I love the simplicity of this design.It also at the same time makes me upset over the cost of some instruments that are made by the use of cnc machines. These companies are making obcene profits not commensurate with the materials used to make such instruments.Just because something can be duplicated by the use of machines to get the same result everytime. In my estimation does not justify such obcene profits the art factor is greatly diminished to where the value of the instrument must be justified by the energy and quality of material used to make the product which in my opinion is not justified. Branding in my opinion is over rated and companies with popular branding exploit whatever the market will bare.

[@corporeidad]

And what about the neck?

[@edingcnc7685]

Do you have a list of materials and where you bought it?

[@thorstenfaust153]

Hi, I purchased the plywood parts at www.cutworks.com (as seen in the video at 01:09). At 01:36 you can exactly see what the different layers are made of. Does that help a bit? Kind regards! Thorsten

[@edingcnc7685]

Thanks, ich hoffe das ich da auch von die Niederlande aus bestellen kan.

[@ajitpatel6832]

Fantastic! 👍🏽

[@CarloGutierrez820]

nice way making guitar... in a modern way

[@opidonorman8833]

Ýou are building really cool stuff

[@viziocasaconto5754]

Great. Thank you!

[@TKevinBlanc]

Don't you wish you had made that top of solid spruce? :0) Really innovative, work. I loved it.

[@thorstenfaust153]

Hi Kevin, I've already buit a similar guitar with decent tonewood: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKKYqqWtjr1nrJI This plywood-project was more a proove of concept ;-) Kind regards Thorsten

[@davidsims1329]

Guitar co. Have been making plywood guitars for years. Most sound ok because the advantage person don’t know what great guitar sounds like.

[@ConditionZero76]

Really cool, not much body as far as sound but overall not bad all things considered

[@tarsiousmunalembohol]

How does it sound on raw not mic'd up?

[@fuzzypoet1018]

MIssion acomplished!

[@danielscroggins2688]

How much do you charge for a purchase.

[@thorstenfaust153]

Hi Daniel, I'm really sorry, but this guitar is not for sale. But you can download all the adobe illustrator files for free:

[@thorstenfaust153]

drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1EFFX0LVMEzKGviaKTRpvD5UxrY79-7Ty

[@lawrencerasmus]

I like it !!!!

[@NicholasANappiNick]

Just an idea,since you used plywood maybe nix the braces

[@thorstenfaust153]

Nice idea! I did something similar in this project with a laminated spruce top: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKKYqqWtjr1nrJI

[@yowild9629]

its more as a push on top than a pull

[@thorstenfaust153]

Interesting! Thank you for the hint ;-)

[@elielgoncalveslouro9684]

Perai tem um calço entre os leques harmônico, isso não mostrou 🤷🏼‍♂️, muda tudo o som porque o tampo não vibra né, e é porque se não o tampo afunda né 🤔.

[@BaldEagleHead]

Mission accomplished

[@tupobogi]

Hallo, Sie könnten den Verweis auf das Projekt in Adobe Illustrator nicht verlassen. Das hast du im letzten Video gemacht, es hat mir sehr geholfen

[@thorstenfaust153]

Ich werde nächste Woche die Illustrator Datei zum Download in der Beschreibung unter dem Video bereitstellen. Next week you will find the downloadable Illustrator-File in the video-description below.. Best regards! Thorsten

[@thorstenfaust153]

Hi, now you can download the Illustrator-Files in the video-description below. Have fun! Thorsten

[@tupobogi]

@@thorstenfaust153 Thanks you

[@sammyprestwood3182]

Custem made plywood guitars are around $100 why spend twice that much to build one

[@chordshape8753]

Wow

[@nevada150]

Many guitars are made from Laminate, isn’t that just another name for Plywood?

[@thorstenfaust153]

Yessss! Even a 335 is made of laminate / plywood. But in the acoustic-guitar-world these guitars still have a rather bad reputation ;-)

[@nevada150]

@@thorstenfaust153 Yours sound good Torsten. Keith.

[@numberkruncherr]

Usually the laminations are used to make the shape, rather than a block that is then carved our as here. Macaferri guitars (As played by Django Reinhardt) were laminate.

[@adityasable8370]

Honestly bad sound .. But the design and work is great and also it's a very great idea of making a guitar.

[@thorstenfaust153]

Totally agree ;-) No the best sounding guitar in the world. It was more a proof of concept. But it works surprisingly well live on stage. Best regards Thorsten

[@philipsanders7694]

Shame you didn't just play the one you built without the other it would have sounded better

[@emmanuelwood8702]

sounds boxy

[@brstilson]

This.... Doesn't sound good. It's thin and tinny. No bottom end at all. Sounds more like an unamplified electric guitar or a child's toy guitar. It's a noble cause for sure, but guitar makers have already done better with sustainable materials. I have a Martin with the sides and back made of a composite material, a stratabond (similar to plywood) neck, and a spruce top. It sounds amazing and it doesn't use any endangered woods.

[@abztractboxingandstuff8384]

I’m gonna be real with you, it sounds like shit but that’s to be expected with plywood build and big hunks of metal hanging from it at various places....