Home Built Guitars

[Clive]

I had a dream last night that I was walking past a shop window of an old carpenter, and on display were some wooden items, one of which was a slab of wood in the earliest stages of being the body of a guitar. I really like the idea of crafting something like this oneself (perhaps a distant future project).

I'm just curious whether anyone has tried or succeeded making their own guitars? (from scratch, or heavily modifying an existing one in an unconventional way) I know Brian May's guitar was made from elements of an old fireplace, motorcyle parts etc (more info (http://www.guitargods.com/GuitarGods/May/MayGear.htm) )

I've also heard of a few 'happy accident' stories, like someone who left their guitar storred next to a heater for months, only to plug it in and discover a totally new instrument... (actually I don't think this particular one was a 'happy' accident :D ) but it would be interesting to hear if anyone has something unusual out there.

Cheers

Clive

[RM II]

I wouldn't say I've even tried but I priced out what I would want on it (in it) and it came out to be an unearthly price.

It was cheaper for me to buy an existing guitar and use that as a base for all my wants. Still expensive, though.

Basically it comes down to putting out the money for all the equipment one would need to pull it off. If you're talking about scratch-scratch building (doing the inlays on the board, frets, painting, etc.), you're talking some bucks for everything and the time, patience, and know-how.

Good luck to ya! I would love to be able to do it someday.

[szulc]

I built one in high school but did not attempt the neck, it was great. I built numerous ones from pre made parts ( from the defunct kramer company and from warmoth). I do not suggest finishing or refinishing a guitar your self this is a great deal of work and unless done professionally it will suck, I have done this.
Lately I just buy pre made and pre finished parts from warmoth and construct them. I would definately leave the neck up to a cnc machine, because they need to be perfect!

[EricV]

Well, about having one built to my specifications, I´ll get this done by a great luthier as soon as he and I do find enough time. There´re some ideas, and I always liked the concept of having a guitar designed to my specifications, i.e. the exact right neck-shaping etc.
But about building one myself... well, I did do that in the early beginnings... first I built a guitar out of a board ( 1 board ! ) of plywood. It was supposed to look like the Brian May-guitar, and it had thin silk rope instead of strings. I used to stand in front of a mirror and impersonate dudes like Brian May, Paul Stanley and Eddie Van Halen...

Next, I wanted to get a real sound out of it. So I slapped in a cheap pickup ( was more of a microphone ), and put on 3 strings ( any more and the neck would have folded over :D )
My amp was a combination of two old tape decks... one had a broken input stage so it distorted like crazy... I had instant feedback :rolleyes:

The next project was more ambigious... we took three boards of plywood, cut them into a Tele-shape and screwed ( ! ) one onto the other... we had this incredibly thick neck-shaped piece of wood. We cut into it and applied thin wires as the fret ( we had calculated the right distances between those ).
Pickup was a cheap one, plus an on-off-switch, and a selfmade-bridge.
Sounded like crap ( of course ) and you could only play it with a slide, but we were like 10 or so, and it was a bunch of fun.
Finally, a friend of mine went to Poland and bought a guitar body ( made from CHERRYWOOD ! ) there... we bought a used Ibanez neck. Then we cut the holes for pickups and switches ( LP-switching ), put in two DiMarzios... that guitar actually sounded pretty good, but was retired as soon as I got my first electric.

There are quite a few manuals and stuff, which you can find in guitar stores or the internet. But to get decent results, you need good wood, some special tools and compnents etc.
Plus a bunch of knowledge cuz you don´t wanna mess up anything.
So I would leave it to a real luthier. Most of them will let you be part of the process anyway, so you can ask for all the stuff you want to have, and you´ll see most of the steps necessary.
Another way-too-long bedtime story from me
Warm regards
Eric

[Clive]

I'd have to be highly naive to think I could build a great guitar all on my own ;-) - unless I was a serious scientist/mathematician and a perfectionist - which, even so, wouldn't necessarily guarantee a good sounding guitar. I can also imagine the precision/maths that must be involved in creating the neck/frets etc...

I must admit I was thinking more in terms of the crafting of the body, putting it together with other pre-made parts, and the satisfaction of creating something unique. Very interesting to hear what you guys have so say - I guess I should really learn how to play before I even think about this kinda stuff tho ;-) I think I'll stick to the web design for now...

Clive

[EricV]

I didn´t mean to discourage you.
I like the idea of i.e. getting a plain body & neck to assemble it and add components of my choice... I used to slap together several guitars like that ( I loved Eddie Van Halen´s old guitars, which were created that way )

The german company Rockinger is offering assembly-sets, like ie. a rather cheap Strat-set... you get all the parts, just have to assemble it.
During my time at the GIT, I assembled several axes that way, like i.e.
- the guitar I used to record the "Beat It"-solo-ripoff ( I described that one in the first "Beat It"-solo thread.
- A Kramer body with a Warmoth neck, DimArzio pickups ( Tone Zone & Fred ), Schaller FR etc.
- The body of an Ibanez RG550, with a new pickguard which allowed installation of only one humbucker and a volume knob ( The pickup was a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom )
Neck was custom-made, plus I installed a Schaller FR.
- The "Bastard", which I had pictured on my site for a while ( will eventually be back in the future )... that one had a regular Fender Strat-Body with a Custom-Shop neck, a "psychedelic vomit"-paint job by myself and a luthier ( not related to the trademark psychedelic vomit-paint job on Michael Landau´s Tyler-guitars ), a Bill Lawrence L500-HB, fixed bridge, roller nut and... a pink volume knob... Steve Vai´s worst nightmare, I guess :rolleyes:

That was a lot of fun, and I loved those guitars
Eric

[RM II]

I think it's natural for a guitarist to want to eventually start building his/her own guitar or put one together with high quality parts. It all really depends on what you really want out of it.

I have "built" a couple of Frankensteins and still have one. Bought a cheapo guitar with a bad pink paint job that nobody wanted from a used shop and went to town changing things out. It was decent wood but I put a different neck, trem, went from S/H to HB only, different P/U, custom paint job, re-wire. It was fun and people get a kick out of the graphic.

[Bongo Boy]

Please check out the Musical Instrument Makers Forum at:

http://www.mimf.com

I think you'll find it fascinating. There are many resource links at this site, as well as dialog among those who've built anywhere from 1 to maybe a 100 guitars.

Being into archtops, I bought the book authored by Benedetto, and if you have experience in woodworking, then you can tell that much of your life will be spent buying or building the tools, jigs and fixtures needed to actually make the guitar. As you may know, hand-holding the tools or the work and hoping to get accurate lines and angles is just a joke--it can't be done.

But...building a solid-body electric is something else, and I have to think a bit easier.

As for all the stuff available to make the job have a higher probability of success, check out:

http://www.lmii.com

These folks supply everything--from fret wire to pre-slotted fingerboards to $400 chunks of 'master grade' flamed maple.

Also, you may have already seen a book entitled "Building a Solid-Body Electric Guitar" (or similar). Barnes & Noble carries this one.

I have not built a guitar, and have decided I need to learn to play one first. But, there's an odd tempatation I succumbed to while pricing out the materials--you'll find that pre-slotted fingerboards in rosewood are like $8 USD, so you get tempted to add in the high-grade ebony one for 'just' $13. This process continues until my materials bill for my planned archtop was close to $900.

Now, those materials, in the hands of a craftsman, would easily produce a guitar that sells for at least $6000. Probably would end up being just a beautiful, shiny piece of wood in my hands, though!

Benedetto's book is inspiring, if you love archtops as I do.

[nickwellings]

Bongo, the pricing thing. I know it well.

All adds up.


I have designed a guitar to be made from carbon fibre. Stupidly light. I designed it to be ergonomic, and nice to look at.

Probably never get made, but I DID make a cardboard model of it.


(I have pics of it :D )

[Bongo Boy]

Met a guy in Scottsdale AZ that had a carbon fiber acoustic. Who--babeeee...it sound very, very nice and felt great. Like I know squat. Made in Hawaii I think, so that may tell the savvy what the brand was. Beautiful instrument.

[Bongo Boy]

Originally posted by Clive
I'd have to be highly naive to think I could build a great guitar all on my own ;-) - unless I was a serious scientist/mathematician and a perfectionist - which, even so, wouldn't necessarily guarantee a good sounding guitar. I can also imagine the precision/maths that must be involved in creating the neck/frets etc

Fretboards are available pre-cut for frets and even pre-radiussed, rosewood and ebony for anywhere from $15-$35 each. Again, one source is www.lmii.com. All the reasons for buying them this way should be obvious. I think they charge a total of $7 US to cut the fret slots and another $7 to radius the board. (You couldn't even buy the materials to build the fixture you'd need to do this for that kinda pocket change.)

Originally posted by nickwellings
Probably never get made, but I DID make a cardboard model of it.

...well, how did the cardboard model sound? Maybe you can just use your prototype as the production unit. :D