Laying out an acoustic body

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 10:28 pm

I have been serching for a tool or formula to lay out various acoustic body drawings I do use Autocad 2009. I have seen a layout type java application but can't for the life of me find it again....(thought I saved it but didn't oops_sign

). Does anyone have a formula or application that can do this. I am not that proficient with autocad yet...(still in school..quite a ways to go). All in all the classes are going great though. I would greatly appreciate any help on this matter as I am not that great at drawing lol. Thanks in advance, Shawn

Martin Turner · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 3:21 am

Dump the CAD......get your hands on a drawing (plenty of plans and books with plans around) or draw around an existing guitar. Much quicker and cheaper than getting tied up with CAD.

bob_connor · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 3:41 am

I think this might be Java applet that you are after

Guitar Design

Regards

Lars Stahl · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 7:01 am

Or if you have Illustrator, then just download an image of a nice guitar and place the photo in Illus....in a new page with the right size settings make the guitar fit the scale and then "draw" around with the right tools then alter it to make it the way you want it to look [:Y:]

. this is ofcause if you know illus... Its one way to go.

Ive tried the program Bob Mentions, and its a nice program.

Lars

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 7:35 am

Martin Turner wrote:

Dump the CAD......get your hands on a drawing (plenty of plans and books with plans around) or draw around an existing guitar. Much quicker and cheaper than getting tied up with CAD.

I'm not gonna dump a $3300.00 program that I use in my occupation as a cabinetmaker! I use it often it just seems difficult to draw the boddies of an acoustic guitar. I seen the application I am looking for before and i can use it and then import the drawing as a dwg. file and do the necks on cad and finish it up. Shawn

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 8:26 am

This is a similar program but the one I am looking for allows you to input dimensions and it is based upon the 3 circle concept. If anyone knows where to find this it would be great. Thanks Shawn

PS until then I will try this one out

Chris Paulick · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 9:20 am

If you want to see a way to do it long hand then this might help.
http://www.luthiercom.org/phpBB3/viewto ... f=72&t=283

P@uL · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:25 pm

good link^ i was gonna say set up a center line the length of the body. draw three lines 90 degrees to your center upper bout, waist and lower bout then connect the dots however you see fit. helps to make a half template first then just use it and flip it over to draw a full pattern.

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:55 pm

Hey guys! Thanks for the info I found it very educational but I did however find my link to the program and it is pretty cool! They have some examples of different guitars in the file section. When you pick your file you can modify it or just click "try it" for the circle patterns or "Ok" for the laid out pattern in 1.1 with your bridge located (estimated I'm sure)....Anyway here is a link to the program I will post up a drawing I did real soon I got to get back into my cad program lol..This program exports dxf. files so you can complete the drawing or just print out your template. I hope this helps some other people. Also If you have a drawing that you like in the program i can find the radius' and the different dimensions for you just hit me up! Peace, Shawn
http://www.LiutaioMottola.com/formulae/gthang.htm

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:25 pm

Here is the drawing that I did with GThang and finished with autocad and critique's are welcomed...For some reason it left out the dimensions on the rendered drawing.. idunno

anyway here it is drawn i will see if I can get the dims and radius' to render. Peace, Shawn

Hmmm [headinwall]

for some reason the converted jpg. file doesn't look as good as the Dwg. file If you would like to see in dwg. let me know it is way better quality! Oh!! I almost forgot this application is on a 1:1 scale as are the rest of the stuff drawn onto the body.

Martin Turner · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:59 am

shawnsblues2 wrote:

Martin Turner wrote:

Dump the CAD......get your hands on a drawing (plenty of plans and books with plans around) or draw around an existing guitar. Much quicker and cheaper than getting tied up with CAD.

I'm not gonna dump a $3300.00 program that I use in my occupation as a cabinetmaker! I use it often it just seems difficult to draw the boddies of an acoustic guitar. I seen the application I am looking for before and i can use it and then import the drawing as a dwg. file and do the necks on cad and finish it up. Shawn

Fair enough. Youll have to forgive this old fashioned low tech luthier...you see I escape to my workshop to get away from the world of computers and mobile phones.

Glad to see you found what you were looking for.

Cheers Martin

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:40 am

Martin Turner wrote:

shawnsblues2 wrote:

Martin Turner wrote:

Dump the CAD......get your hands on a drawing (plenty of plans and books with plans around) or draw around an existing guitar. Much quicker and cheaper than getting tied up with CAD.

I'm not gonna dump a $3300.00 program that I use in my occupation as a cabinetmaker! I use it often it just seems difficult to draw the boddies of an acoustic guitar. I seen the application I am looking for before and i can use it and then import the drawing as a dwg. file and do the necks on cad and finish it up. Shawn

Fair enough. Youll have to forgive this old fashioned low tech luthier...you see I escape to my workshop to get away from the world of computers and mobile phones.

Glad to see you found what you were looking for.

Cheers Martin

No problem Martin! Its nice to hear the various opinions of different people. I can appreciate getting away from the different technology at times; sometimes it is nice to have a good modern tool though! Peace, Shawn

JasonM · **Joined:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:38 am **Posts:** 195

Wow - awesome tool!

Thanks for posting that - that was the thing I was struggling with in CAD as well. I use CAD lots, and it's an extremely valuable design tool. Also makes great full size templates to double side tape to blanks, and then shape up to the template.

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:21 am

JasonM wrote:

Wow - awesome tool!

Thanks for posting that - that was the thing I was struggling with in CAD as well. I use CAD lots, and it's an extremely valuable design tool. Also makes great full size templates to double side tape to blanks, and then shape up to the template.

Jason, I used that same site to download parts as well IE necks, bridges however the bridges are all elctric but the have about five different zip files in there you can download. They have different necks I happened to use the fender 25.5 neck and drew a headstock here is the link for those as well. Peace, Shawn
http://www.liutaiomottola.com/components.htm

Steve Saville · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:39 am

I use autocad for all my guitar drawings. It is quite capable of doing that. I don't understand what you are looking for.

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:54 am

Steve Saville wrote:

I use autocad for all my guitar drawings. It is quite capable of doing that. I don't understand what you are looking for.

Steve, I have found the program I thought I had lost! It is here in this link way faster than laying out in autocad!!! and exports directly to a dxf file to use in autocad. Here is the link! to check it out.
http://www.LiutaioMottola.com/formulae/gthang.htm Very cool program! Highly recommend this! Peace, Shawn [:Y:]

Bob Garrish · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:25 pm

When you get out of school and need to do CAD work (which will require buying software), just make sure not to buy AutoCAD. The price is about six times what the software's actually worth compared to competitors. They put a LOT of effort into ensuring schools use their software; that way, the students coming out will be compelled to buy it rather than learn something better (and cheaper!)

Once you're proficient with it, you'll be amazed how fast you can turn your ideas into drawings. My design process for most things now either never hits paper at all or only does for a few minutes with a sharpie and a clipboard before it's time for CAD. The ability to take your parts and test sizing, fit, and looks together before you ever make a cut is huge!

shawnsblues2 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:06 pm

Bob Garrish wrote:

When you get out of school and need to do CAD work (which will require buying software), just make sure not to buy AutoCAD. The price is about six times what the software's actually worth compared to competitors. They put a LOT of effort into ensuring schools use their software; that way, the students coming out will be compelled to buy it rather than learn something better (and cheaper!)

Once you're proficient with it, you'll be amazed how fast you can turn your ideas into drawings. My design process for most things now either never hits paper at all or only does for a few minutes with a sharpie and a clipboard before it's time for CAD. The ability to take your parts and test sizing, fit, and looks together before you ever make a cut is huge!

Bob, I already have autocad 2009 so I wont be purchasing any cad programs for a while hopefully. This tool I have posted the link to is super fast at making bodies in dxf formats I would highly recommend checking it out. Peace. Shawn

http://www.LiutaioMottola.com/formulae/gthang.htm

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