So today I started thinking up my design for my first custom stick. I’ve been wanting to make my own stick from scratch for a long time now, but as with everything else I want I just procrastinate until I usually don’t want to do it anymore. I have to thank my friend Anecdote who, because he ordered sticks and buttons for me, started to put things in motion for me. If I hadn’t spent money on the parts I probably wouldn’t have ever done it, because that’s just how lazy I am.

Anyway, I start by grabbing a piece of A4 paper, put it on my desk and put my hands on top of it like I was holding a stick. I wanted to get an idea of how far apart my hands would be. I then marked where the stick would be and then I outlined my fingers. I put the buttons up-side down on the paper to make sure it was possible to place them in that configuration and still have a little room left in between. I traced the outlines of the buttons and then I had a template for the layout. I was getting ahead of myself, but I did need to know what my ideal button layout would be like. I needed to know how big the top panel was going to be so I could buy my materials. It turns out that a piece of A4 paper is about as big as I want my stick, except that I don’t want my stick to be that wide. In the end I decided to go with a 25cm by 22cm top panel.

My plan is to have the top panel rest on two wooden beams mounted on the inner side of the left and right side-panels. Everything will be held together with glue and the front and back panels will only provide sturdiness to the side-panels (as opposed to bearing weight). Then on top of the top panel will be a piece of Plexiglas to provide the recess for the stick’s mounting plate. This prevents me from having to buy/rent/use a spindle router. On top of that another Plexiglas layer which will sandwitch the arwork with the layer below. With this idea and the basic measurements the next step is to buy the basic materials for constructing the box. Off to the hardware store!