1963 Gibson Flying V Replica

Hi! I'm Joe, Makership recipient(Thanks again to everyone who voted on that.). I'm documenting my Makership project here, which is to build a replica of a 1963 Gibson Flying V electric guitar.

In and of itself, building the guitar in three months shouldn't be a problem. If time allows, I intend to build a period-correct amplifier(a 1964 Fender Champ replica) to go with it, and build a pickup winder to hand-wind the pickups.

Progress so far has been gathering parts and learning about the process. I've acquired about two-thirds of the parts. For the guitar body and neck I'm re-purposing wood from a hundred year old piano. The piano isn't worth restoring, but it has a lot of beautiful wood, and this way it can continue to be a nice musical instrument.

There's more to learn about the woodworking involved than I'd originally thought, but the CNC router will do most of it for me with a high degree of precision. So I just need to learn to use the CNC machine, which I'm doing. Beyond the CNC work is mostly fine tuning and much, much sanding and finishing with traditional shellac. Traditional shellac is inconvenient to use, but the results are worth it.

Installing the electronic parts will be simple, the only challenge there will be accumulating the best parts that the budget allows. I've been happy to learn that I can 3D print some parts and luthier tools for a lot less than they'd cost otherwise. I'll still be going well over my original budget, but I don't care. I'll end up with a much nicer guitar than I could buy ready-made, with some neat custom touches.

Pictures will be forthcoming; I still have to learn how to host them online.