Novo - ish inspired build out of a bit of old worktop...

markblack · May 2023

My father in-law gave me his old router and and I fancied trying to build something... inspired by this guy (and his free PDF) I thought I'd have a go a building a guitar body.

I had a piece of old oak kitchen work top - made out of about 30 pieces glued together. so one day i attacked it with the jigsaw...
Bought a cheap Vintage neck of ebay (which turned out to be very nice)...
Bought a cheap tele bridge pickup and few other bit...

Made a mess when I mounted the bridge at 25" rather than 25.5"... came close to making it firelighters...

Set about painting it with Montanta Gold rattle cans...

Bit of gloss spray I had over the top...

Let it dry and then set about it with sand paper... razor blades... and danish oil. To give it a burning water /extreme relic / someone not quite sure what he's doing look.

And here it is...

To my amazement it plays well, sounds good...

and is HEAVY! Guess that's why use make kitchen worktops from this stuff not guitars.

I would like to make a scratch plate for it... maybe.

I really enjoyed building it, learning more about how guitars work and the skill that must be needed when you make something properly... this is about as simple as it can get can't imagine how some of the proper builders build what they do on here do it on here! Starting to make a neck or build a Les Paul would have me running for the hills.

I also learns that routing a neck pocket is stressful! Mine's not perfect but it ain't bad...

Tools used - router, jigsaw, chisels, hand drill - no real 'proper' wood working set up.

Thanks for looking.

Now do I upgrade the pick up...

Neilybob · May 2023

That looks the biz. Great work.

benvall · May 2023

Very nice.

Thanks for sharing the video, I’d not seen that. I love the Novo’s.

Roland · May 2023

Excellent video: good subject material, well filmed, and well presented. I like the titles which draw attention to key points.

Would we like this stickied?

Neilybob · May 2023

Roland said:

Would we like this stickied?

If you have the power then use it!

richman6100 · May 2023

Superb work! The video is fascinating, informative and very professional. Thanks for sharing.

Jez6345789 · May 2023

Nice work the Novo is about the coolest look around at the moment although hard to get over here you home brew version has the vibe

Roland · June 2023

Neilybob said:

Roland said:

Would we like this stickied?

If you have the power then use it!

Pinned

markblack · June 2023

small update... the green is gone, I sat looking at it for a week and thought...'that just looks too messy' so it's now in a fetching shade of anthracite over a couple of layers of white... yellow and neon pink!