Hi all

Just wondering if any guitar players out there have ever built there own guitar

Its something im looking at doing, and was looking for some advice/tips etc

Steve

I built one using an old strat body. Not from scratch though.

I just attacked it with a jig saw, increased the cutout size to make access to the higher frets easier, flattened the edges a bit more, and routed out the pickup cutout to take a set of twin coil pickups.

Fitting the new neck was a bit of a pain though. I made the mistake of measuring it up without the neck in place so when i had the trem (floyd rose) fitted the harmonics were out of position when i bolted the neck on. I ended up having to move the neck back about 1 cm and adjusting the trem to compensate.

The finished result sounded and looked decent but the trem often pulled it out of tune when it was used with any force (a bit like most cheap guitars).

A friend of mine built one for GCSE in Resistant Materials.

He got an A but also managed to compile a list of don'ts as long as your arm!

I seem to remember he bought himself a book.

If you want I can check with him and give you his email.

Cheers

j.r-xrs

I have thought about getting a slab of decent wood, and attacking it with jigsaw, router, sander etc

I may do in time, but I may start off with a strat body, and neck, then do some custom electrics etc

we do have an old Strat single pickup, and it needs a new neck, and routing so we can add more pickups

was looking at maybe 2 single coils (ala standard strat), and possibly a stacked humbucker, and single coil at the bridge (dont want to lose that Twangy single coil bridge sound)

and maybe even a piezo acoustic pickup at the bridge too, heard a guit the other day with one, and it was awesome

Email would be good, as we are looking for lots of do's and don'ts

Steve

I've done a few, the body is no problem if its solid body electric as I assume you mean.
The neck is a different matter though, I would suggest a serious bit of decent mahogany and the hardest wood you can find for the fingerboard. Truss rods are another challenging concept!.You may be better off buying a ready made neck but if you need more info and fret spacings email me.

Buy a pre-made neck for your first attempt :D You can always make your own neck to suit it once you've got everything else sorted out.

been looking at some pre-mades tonight

well as for the neck, ive found one that I want

its Indian Rosewood, with Ebony Fretboard, with a cool Quilt top in Trans Black

bit pricey but very nice

Steve

I used to repair guitars + basses for a living and have done alsorts like refrets, fitted active electrics, etc. But i wouldn't fancy building a neck from scratch, sod that! :D

If this is your first attempt, buy a kit!

Have a look in any of the guitar mags for suggested suppliers.

Mak.

Unless youve got good practical skills in woodwork and general DIY then I wouldnt even think about it!
You can get a decent second hand guitar far cheaper than the materials to build one. Its also far less hassle and you have something that looks and plays like a guitar that you can resell later on.
If you are dead serious then yes get a book for ideas, but if you are going to do it properly then make every part you possibly can yourself - at the very least all the wooden bits, - body, neck and fretboard - not easy unless youve got some good tools. Buying in ready made necks and bodies is just guitar assembly that anyone can do, - to make a good useable unique guitar from scratch takes patience, skill and dedication. If you think you have these qualities go for it and good luck. (I started and gave up! I had the skill but....)