Starting a guitar build

D-Man

I'm really interested in building a guitar. Mostly for the experience. I was wondering though, how would one start such a project. I mean, I know there are places like stewmac (Which could keep me online for days) but something tells me there has to be a slightly cheaper way to build your first guitar. Is there? What would that be?

WantzChas

Read this http://www.tundraman.com/Guitars/001/Index.cfm

MikeM

Building a guitar is not cheap.

If you plan to do it to save money, you're making a mistake.

D-Man

MikeM wrote Building a guitar is not cheap.

If you plan to do it to save money, you're making a mistake.

Not at all. I just think it must be one of the best feelings ever to spend so much time on something and then to be able to put it to good use in the end. It must be pretty awesome to know just about everything that's happened to create something that you can play and enjoy.

Ray

Do it! Electric or acoustic? I am in the planning phase for my first acoustic. That involves building a kit and tooling up a bit as well. So I have been buying stuff , bandsaw, router and have also ordered a kit guitar. Kit is just the first one I want to build just to get the feel of it like you know. Also building other things. Subscribe to some building forums. Lots of support and info there.

guitarboy2828

Ray wrote Do it! Electric or acoustic? I am in the planning phase for my first acoustic. That involves building a kit and tooling up a bit as well. So I have been buying stuff , bandsaw, router and have also ordered a kit guitar. Kit is just the first one I want to build just to get the feel of it like you know. Also building other things. Subscribe to some building forums. Lots of support and info there.

+1 Ray. D-man if you have money, time, space, and resources (you will need some woodworking tools, depending on how much of it is a kit and how much is made from scratch), then you should do it. I think you will learn a lot and how cool to be able to say you made something.

D-Man

Ray wrote Do it! Electric or acoustic?

I'm thinking electric. Acoustic requires quite a bit more attention to detail and has more delicate tasks involved like bending the sides and bracing it etc.

guitarboy2828 wrote you will need some woodworking tools

We have quite a lot of that. My father is quite passionate about his woodwork.

Where should I buy the wood? The cheapest I could see at Stewmac for a body blank, neck blank and blank fretboard was R800 roundabout. That's not bad but then there's R700 shipping which goes a bit overboard and there will probably be some custom duties.
Is there maybe a cheaper alternative. I mean it is my first guitar and I don't want to spend a lot of money on something that could go horribly wrong.

Ray

Ag there are so many timeryards that have imported woods. I know of a few but right now I'm just flitting in and out here becasue like hellish busy. And these guys actually have imported woods as well becasue when you want to make a neck and you decide to ordera mahogany neck blank from USA you arent going to be able hey. But you can get it here or you can even get cheaper wood here that can do the job. But you dont have to go thru stewmac. Look at places like grizzly, lmi, etc.. Anyway, I will be ordering from stewmac again in the next month or so and maybe can include your item in my order but i'm not ready to order right now. see, some of the tools that they say you going to need you are going to need and then you go to the woodworkers association and you show them this tool and they say to you just go to suchan such a place and you can buy it but it's not called the fangly dangly name that the guitar site calls it but essentially the same thing at a fraction of cost. Now, you must speak to your dad becasue he is going to help you lots. with wood he can probably tell you where you can score ash and mahogany and stuff.

D-Man

zohn wrote You should find all the wood you need at in Silverton Timber Merchant. They have awesome Maple - Birds eye and Curly, South American and African Mahogany - also Alder and American Ash.

OOOOOOOOHH. Local! Now I'm getting even more excited! Has anyone worked withttheir woods? Hows the quality and pricing?
Which woods are recommended. I'd like reasonable quality but I also know that some woods are harder to work with than others.
Any recommendations for which woods to use for the neck, body and fretboard (respectively) would be greatly appreciated

Ray wrote Now, you must speak to your dad becasue he is going to help you lots. with wood he can probably tell you where you can score ash and mahogany and stuff.

Well maybe this will be a good father-and-son project...

Sean

D-Man wrote OOOOOOOOHH. Local! Now I'm getting even more excited! Has anyone worked withttheir woods? Hows the quality and pricing?
Which woods are recommended. I'd like reasonable quality but I also know that some woods are harder to work with than others.
Any recommendations for which woods to use for the neck, body and fretboard (respectively) would be greatly appreciated

If you search through the topics you should find a fair amount of info for all these questions. Guys like MikeM, Alan, Wizard and Gearhead ( to name a few ) have discussed these things; all have discussed local wood and builds that they have done.

Sean

In fact, and take this from where it comes ( I have no experience with this ), it might be an idea to start with something like a pine body. I've read that some folk have done this to practice and build some experience rather than turning the good stuff into firewood ?

guitarboy2828

zohn wrote
D-Man wrote
I'm thinking electric. Acoustic requires quite a bit more attention to detail and has more delicate tasks involved like bending the sides and bracing it etc.

I rest my case ?

You should find all the wood you need at in Silverton Timber Merchant. They have awesome Maple - Birds eye and Curly, South American and African Mahogany - also Alder and American Ash.

http://www.timbermerchant.co.za/

Wow, that place has some nice wood, you're making me want to build a guitar! ?

I would start with a cheap wood.. Like pine.. because, you will most like make a mistake, so unless u want a guitar with extra routed holes or a crack or something, practice on a R100 piece of wood first, work out everything and then go for the big stuff! ?

Ray

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/tpope/supplier.htm

glenton

My long term plan as well, (to build my own electric that is..).
I've been buying up a few battered 2nd hand cheapies (vintage as well) and tinkering with them to get ideas. Maybe buy a real cheapie from a pawn shop and strip it down completely to get all the individual components and then build your own body, neck scratch plate etc. Then go ape with your own concept!

D-Man

well i actually just bought an ibanez gax70. I personally quite like it and considering i paid R500 for it and got a hardcase with it, its something I can mess around with.

It isn't perfect. For starters, the previous owner painted the contoured bits green. This looks really good until you get closer. there are 'burs' on the edges of the green paint. he also apparently put 'fender hotrod pickups' in. the electronics bugs me a bit but i'll expand on that after i've played it a bit more. so i think i'll be able to experiment on this guitar as far as hardware, electronics and maybe even finishing is concerned and then i'll use the advice of working with a cheap wood for a bit

BTW any good suppliers of guitar hardware in gauteng or sa?

Gearhead

D-Man wrote BTW any good suppliers of guitar hardware in gauteng or sa?

Common pups/bridges/nuts/jacks/pots/tuners/screws: yes look for the better guitar store
New fretwire/tees/neck plates/pup rings/covers/etc: only if you get lucky at a store that happens to have some
Tools, bridge parts/truss rods/just-the-pup-you-need: very very hard. Import but do it cleverly.

D-Man

Gearhead wrote Common pups/bridges/nuts/jacks/pots/tuners/screws: yes look for the better guitar store
New fretwire/tees/neck plates/pup rings/covers/etc: only if you get lucky at a store that happens to have some
Tools, bridge parts/truss rods/just-the-pup-you-need: very very hard. Import but do it cleverly.

The better guitar store??? Would Bothners stock stuff like the pots and switches? For now I'm only gonna work on that. I'll upgrade pickups later but I'll import those. Would websites like Sweetwater and musicians friend be a smart place to import from (generally)???

MikeM

They won't ship to S.A even ? If you look around, some places do. www.proguitarshop.com for one.

D-Man

This is a photo of my new baby. It's been properly cleaned since this photo was taken. The green bits were painted by the previous owner. From a distance it looks ok. But the paint isn't level with the black. There's a "bur" on the edge of the green. Firstly the electronics are going to be redone. I might want to put Seymour Duncan Custom Customs in there (anyone used those before?). But my main aim is to use this guitar for my first refinishing project. I've read many tutorials and how to guides so I have a basic idea of how it's done. My main problem lies in the actual finishing supplies. Can I buy these from a normal paint or hardware store? Because most of the time you can't import them.

Gearhead

I would advise against using a CustomCustom in the neck (you can overdo the dark thing), tried that myself.

There is plenty of paint available, but you will have to figure out whether you're going to go for water/nitro/poly based and whether you want to use a gun or cans. Not every combination is possible, ie I don't think there is nitro in a can locally.

The other thing to consider is where you will spray. You need a place that has very good light, good ventilation and is not drafty or dusty. Also, you don't want to spray somewhere where you can either clean or leave your overspray on the floor/walls.