Members tuck88 Posted July 18, 2019 Members Share Posted July 18, 2019 I'm building a custom guitar and the plan is to cover the whole top with acrylic mirror. the thing is I'm going to use a strat-like hardtail bridge on top of it. Am I going to face any kind of sustain/tone issues if I attach the bridge to body w a 2mm acrylic glass sheet in between? Should I drill a hole in the cover to screw bridge directly to wood? I've heard that it might kill the tone, but I'm looking for a second (3rd/5th/100th) opinion to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted July 18, 2019 Members Share Posted July 18, 2019 Acrylic is usually very brittle so it'll probably crack eventually if it has to bear the load the bridge. I'd attach the bridge directly to the wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tuck88 Posted July 18, 2019 Author Members Share Posted July 18, 2019 by "bear the load the bridge" you mean it's weight or tension coming from strings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 18, 2019 Members Share Posted July 18, 2019 Tuck, as you probably know, guitars have been built out of all sorts of different materials - including solid body electrics made entirely out of acrylics. We even have a guy at one of the lutherie forums building all glass guitars (including the necks!). What is sounds like you are describing here is a 2mm (approximately 1/16) acrylic top sheet somehow affixed to the top of an otherwise wooden guitar. I see no reason that won't work - your bridge mounting screws will go thru the acrylic and be embedded in the wood - no problem. If you are really worried about it structurally you can simply plug some numbers into this little model and calculate the actual forces on your particular geometry (its basic high school math) [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32554704}[/ATTACH] As far as how it will sound, will it affect sustain, yadda yadda - that is almost impossible to predict. I'm one of those people who feel that the choice of body materials makes a small but significant impact on the sound of an electric guitar, but it is mostly a result of pickups and electronics, followed by some basic design elements of the guitar (solid vs hollow body, type of bridge, internal bracing and support..........). You must be going thru all this work for a reason - probably appearance - and I think you will have a lot of other decisions as you go along, but the bridge should be structurally sound. Whatever you do, I'd like to see the results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tuck88 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Members Share Posted July 19, 2019 What is sounds like you are describing here is a 2mm (approximately 1/16) acrylic top sheet somehow affixed to the top of an otherwise wooden guitar. I see no reason that won't work - your bridge mounting screws will go thru the acrylic and be embedded in the wood - no problem. it is mostly a result of pickups and electronics, followed by some basic design elements of the guitar (solid vs hollow body, type of bridge, internal bracing and support..........). Whatever you do, I'd like to see the results So as long as the screws go into the wood through the acrylic layer it should be fine? does the way I attach this layer to guitar body make any difference? It's going to be a solid body tele-shaped guitar with gotoh hardtail bridge, Fernandes Sustainer in neck position, DiMarzio Double Whammy as bridge pu. Sure thing I'll upload it when/if it gets done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted July 19, 2019 Members Share Posted July 19, 2019 Nother issue these infinitone guys miss is can you (figurative) even play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted July 19, 2019 Members Share Posted July 19, 2019 So as long as the screws go into the wood through the acrylic layer it should be fine? does the way I attach this layer to guitar body make any difference? It's going to be a solid body tele-shaped guitar with gotoh hardtail bridge, Fernandes Sustainer in neck position, DiMarzio Double Whammy as bridge pu. Sure thing I'll upload it when/if it gets done It may be fine. That thin stuff, sometimes cracks will spread radially from holes like a spider web, or you'll get crazing where it's stressed. Crazing is tiny cracks inside the material that can make it look cloudy or fuzzy. Be careful to cut the holes really cleanly so there aren't sharp edges where cracks may start, and you may be ok. How are you planning on sticking it down to the body? How are you cutting out the shape? Go slow. If the cutting tool is taking too much of a bite it can easily grab and crack the sheet, especially when drilling holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 19, 2019 Members Share Posted July 19, 2019 My humble suggestion would be to relieve the holes in the acrylic by 1/32 or so and lightly counter sink them. Make sure the threads are only in the wood, that the shanks of the screws are completely isolated from the acrylic. You might have some other issues with bonding the acrylic to the wood body - I've never dealt with anything like that but I have done some veneering projects. Vacuum bagging might be your best method of doing the lamination, I frankly don't know. On a separate note, I did install a Sustainiac sustainer in a flying Vee clone - spend some time thinking about placement of components, wiring, how you want access to your batteries. We used an active pickup so that meant two batteries and some additional circuitry. It will be much easier for you if you do all your routing before mounting anything (including the acrylic) Should be interesting, I'll look forward to the pictures [ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32555215}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"medium","data-attachmentid":32555216}[/ATTACH] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tuck88 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Members Share Posted July 19, 2019 I bought a noname pickguard for my stratocaster and it got all cracked through these years, so this time i don't plan to put any screws in it, except for the bridge and pickups. should I polish the holes so there won't be any sharp edges? About sticking it down to the body - my plan was epoxy glue, but one luthier advised me to put some heat on this cover to make sure that it won't crack as the glue dries (don't know how should I do it). It's going to be cut out with a vertical automatic saw, don't know how to name it in english, looks like makita JV0600k (as an example, sorry guys, not a native speaker). Sure thing, countersinking screws is a good idea, got it. This guitar is going to get a sustainer and a midipad (yeah, musefag here, laugh all you want, but this stuff is quite inspiring), so I'm gonna get two battery chambers as well, already bought them. The whole wiring is going to be done before applying the acrylic, holes will go through the wood, so i can get access from the back as the acrylic is never meant to be taken off. The only holes that acrylic cover is going to get is pickups, pickup screws, pots and maybe a hole for the bridge. One more thing - is this 2mm (1/12") acrylic layer going to survive pressure from supporting all the pots and switches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 19, 2019 Members Share Posted July 19, 2019 As I said before, I have no experience with acrylic so I can't give any advice. Pick guards on acoustic guitars are usually about 2mm thick and are often stuck down using double sided sticky tape (3M carpet tape or similar). In the "old days" they were often stuck directly to wood using finish - lacquer usually - and because the plastic p/g and the wood expand at different rates often the tops of the old guitars would crack along the edge of the p/g. Certainly one option for sticking your acrylic down would be to finish the wood and then use the carpet tape. I don't like epoxy for anything related to guitars. The manufacturer of the acrylic might have some suggestions for adhesives - what ever you use you should definitely experiment on scrap. I also think it will be very important to remove all irregularities and any air from the interface - that is why I suggested vacuum bagging but you might be able to do it with clamps and cauls. Again, experiment before you commit. As I mentioned, most laminated PVC style pick guard material is 2 to 3 mm thick, it should support the controls just fine. I think acrylic is much more prone to cracking and breaking however. We made a new p/g for the flying Vee - you can kind of see it in the picture. Think thru your sustainer installation very carefully. There are lots of bits and pieces, several switches and your "normal" (non sustaining) controls. The sustainer uses a lot of battery power when active, we installed a battery meter so the player would know just how much he had left. I dubbed it "the guitar from hell" but in the end it all worked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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