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 replica of a Fender amplifier(a 1964 Fender Champ) 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 the woodworking 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 old-fashioned, traditional shellac.

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.