Part 1: Mmmmmm... nutty.

(click on images to enlarge)

So, here I am - back at it again. After having built a six string electric and a lapsteel electric I figured my next challenge should be a 12 string electric. I'll be honest - I'm not a huge fan of the Byrds (the band with the most famous electric 12 string sound) but I am into Tom Petty and early R.E.M. (two bands with enough Rickenbacker 12 string to choke a horse).
I also saw a local band recently that had a 12 String lead player and it definitely is a cool sound when done right.
Plus - who wants to pay $1000 (more like 2K to 3K) for a 'Ric' when you can build one for $600 and 60 hours of labor?

Who am I kidding?
This will probably cost me $1000 and be 100 man-hours by the time I'm done. But - you gotta have hobbies.

First off. I'm not building a Ric. I'm building a 12 string, semi-hollow body, PRS-style electric. I'm a big fan of the PRS body shape and I wanted to try a carved (or shaped) top once before I attempt to build a Les Paul (probably my next project - sometime in 2012). In addition - I have a PRS - so making templates and measurements will be a little easier.

So here's what I did:

Last year I bought a chunk of Butternut wood. I bought it because it was 20 x 14 x 1 3/4 in size - which meant I didn't have to do any gluing/joining to get to the size I need to build a guitar - which makes me happy. And heck - who says you can't build with butternut? There's some dude in New York building Tele's out of Pine.
Vivre la différence!

What is butternut you ask? Check it out. It is sometimes called 'white walnut' but I'm not sure how closely they are related. Butternut has some of the same characteristics as walnut and mahogany (huge pores that will need to be filled later) but it is the lightest wood I've ever worked with. A similar sized chunk of mahogany or walnut would take two hands to hold. This takes one hand.
...could be something good.
...could be something bad.

I then traced the outline of my PRS (a 1989 CE - aka bolt-on) onto a sheet of 3/4 inch MDF and made a template. Trace it, cut out the rough shape with a jig saw, and sand it smooth. Et voila! You have a template of the PRS body.

I then made a second template of the PRS out of MDF that I will use to route out the body cavity. I would like to tell you that I measured meticulously and took into account what frequencies will feedback in a chamber this size - but I didn't. I took some measurements (how much wood I'll need to mount the bridge, pickups, neck, etc) but otherwise I just made sure that the outer wall of the chamber was 1/2 inch thick so that the body has enough strength to stand up to 100 plus pounds of string tension.

After creating both templates I traced the outline on the wood and marked off what areas will be removed. By the way - sanding these MDF templates using a drill press and a 'drum' bit made life much nicer - especially for the template that I'm using for the chamber.