[LuptonM]

Hi, this is my first post in this sub forum and I've decided to post here as I've been impressed by some of your modelling. I am a bit of a noob when it comes to modelling as I've recently been teaching myself some of the basics.
I'am half way through my first basic model. I started a thread on the my les paul forum here:http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...-tutorial.html
Bare in mind as I post on this thread I have just learned to do what I've just posted, so you can kinda see how my noobish skills evolve!!!!

Here are some pics of what I've done so far:




However I find that now carved tops seems to be the next step after I've finished this model- its supposed to be a les paul jnr sc.

So firstly I ask what information do I need to produce an accurate carved top?

Secondly do u know of any Rhino tutorials (or information) than could help me complete such a task?

[Kammo1]

Bro nice to see a fellow UK member here on this board, all I can say is I wish I had your skills bro they are superb and I'm sure that you'll fathom the top out sooner or later. There is a guy on here by the name of CyborgCNC who has done this sort of work before and I think he sells some How To DVD's on guitar building. I don't know whether he would be able to share what he can do but its worth doing a search on here and PM him and see where you go. There are alot of people who could tell you but won't and there are some that would love to help but don't know theirselves how to do this. I am just touching the surface of CNC and if I could help in files,info etc I would help but sadly I am still struggling to model a guitar fretboard!!!! hope you can get sorted bro as I would love to see the results. Do you have a CNC machine ? where are you based ? Kammo1.

[LuptonM]

I am not sure if cyborgcnc could help as he uses solidworks as opposed to Rhino but PM'ing him might be worth a try.

It is true that everyone seems to be pretty careful about what knowledge they let leak out.

I personally do not have a CNC machine nor do I know someone with one.
I am a chemistry undergraduate student at Oxford so this for me is something I just do with my spare time. The end goal is just be able to design by own guitars, and then in the future when I have the funds to build a CNC, I will make my owncustom guitars on a very small scale (more of a hobby project).
When I am not at Uni I am based just outside Ringwood (a market town near Bournemouth)

There is a post on here about a les paul top (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...=34666&page=15) but I don't really understand the wording (what exactly does he mean by 'cut') and what Goocarts trying to achieve in this part

"Untrim the patch surface, extrude the contour curves of the body through the patch surface, cut the extrude with the patch surface and cut the patch surface with the extrude. Join the parts to a polysurface."

Why would u extrude the contour curves through the patch surface? I really don't understand......

If someone could explain this to me very simply then I could make a very basic carved top from some crossections (I did email him and he said it was not the best way to model a carved top). However I think this would be a good starting point for me.

If your interested I've started my first guitar build (its a bit hap-hazard) but the thread can be found here
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/luth...d-attempt.html

The neck work is pretty rough at the mo, but the body is nearly finished. Heres a pic of the body if u the viewer can't be bothered to click on the link above:


The fretboard just needs fretting ect

[ger21]

I think he's creating the patch surface (top) larger than the body, and using the contour like a "cookie cutter" to fit the top with the contour, then joining them together.

[LuptonM]

Thanx Gerry

Oh I was being an idiot. I was thinking the patch surface was the neck- fingerboard intersection surface rather than the carved top surface we just made doh!
The use of 'contour curves' was quite confusing as well but now I see that it = the body outline

If this isn't the best way to make a carved surface, then do you know which way is?

[ger21]

I recall reading about someone using a cycloid plugin for rhino for doing carved tops.

A little info here that might point you in the right direction.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10213

[bostosh]

All the CAD systems need input curve data for the contoured top,
do you have a model to start from,
then it can get scanned in to curve point data
Doing the actual 3-D surface is easily done.

[LuptonM]

I can get a length ways crossection throught the middle (from the Barlett les paul plan) and several crossections across the width (from the Steward mac les paul) in order make a les paul carved top - I will have to adjust them slightly so that they intersect.

I would also like to model a prs custom model (process would be the same if I wanted to carve a top by hand and make a model of it) of which I own the actual guitar. However I am unsure about how to extract accurate data from it by hand.

Any help would be appreciated

I've looked at the cyloid plugin but all it does is generate a curve (its not a very helpful curve anyway as guitar tops often have a flat area for pickups ect where as the cyloid plugin is unable to create a curve with a flat at the top)

[bostosh]

Could you post the top curve data files and a body outline ?
There may be all the data needed already.

[LuptonM]

These aren't my crossections but if I did use the cross sections from the plans I'm intending to use it would look simular (about the same number of crossections)


If I made my own guitar and wanted to model the carved top would I need a digitaliser of some sort?

[bostosh]

I can do a surface from the shown data,
or digitize an actual guitar.

[LuptonM]

Do u think there is a better way than using the patchsrf command with this data to create a top (ie how would u use the crossections to create the surface)?

WRT digitalising, the scanners and the probes seem to be very expensive, are there any options for under £300 (I've heard u can make your own probe- any opinions on this)?

[bostosh]

One could use the existing curve data to extrapolate the additional curves to completely define the surface. I would first set the perimeter boundary curves, check the slope continuity of the input curves, then build a set of patch surfaces linking slope continuity to adjacent patches. This is tough to describe the techniques with words.

Digitizing is just a way to begin the full surface definition.

patchsrf command?
Google / Look up "Bezier surface" "aircraft lofting"
I don't use Rhino but have another trusted system to do this.
Some think that there are totally automatic ways of creating this data, there are tools and techniques which must be learned.

Rent someone with a digitizer much cheaper