Building your own guitar

Da GOAT

Forum is providing me with some inspiration.

Ive not been playing long but would love to build my own. Ive found 2 kits on ebay;

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Unfinished-Tele-Electric-Guitar-Kit-Project-Basswood-/310234657631?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item483b6d335f

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Unfinished-ST-Style-Electric-Guitar-Kit-Project-/310250945654?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item483c65bc76

Right now Ive an Epiphone LP and Ive been browsing others and Im unsure if I want a Strat, Tele or ES 335. I dont NEED another guitar which is why Im slow to buy another but the idea of building one is cool.

Anyone recommend the kits you can buy or better ways to go about this??? If I do start one Ill post stuff in this thread about it, Id like to fit it with some cool stuff.

Da GOAT

Sorry links fixed.

dochara

Here's my K Lulu which I finished in 2006:

Body: carved from an old alder tree which was knocked in a storm close to my home
Neck: Ibanez maple neck with rosewood board ~ headstock adapted with fretsaw
Tuners: Schaller chrome
Front pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jazz
Back pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck
Control knobs: Rickenbacker
Neck-plate: Jackson 4-bolt
Bridge: Gotoh hardtail through-body
Switches and sockets: Various

damonjewel

This guy in germany has a wider range of kits

http://stores.ebay.ie/ML-Factory-Gitarrenshop_Gitarren-Bausatze_W0QQ_fsubZ15833480QQ_sidZ65910970QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322

I haven't done a kit yet but there seems to be a bit of extra work on them, e.g. Headstock needs to be finished, paintwork, and on some of these kits the boltholes for fixing the neck and body are not in place. Still they look like good fun. Personally I'd get a finished body and neck and load it with your own hardware to give it a more professional finish (decent pickups, tuners, bridge, controls etc). Or get a cheap guitar and do it up.

Dochara that Guitar is fantastic looking!

dochara

damonjewel wrote: »

Dochara that Guitar is fantastic looking!

Thanks Damon ~ the project went on for years though. I kept coming back to it.

It's more fun carving your own body but it's vital that you get the neck pocket routed by a craftsman. A local bespoke carpenter/joiner (and guitarist!) routed my neck-pocket for me. After that, it's plain sailing.

The body is a hybrid of a Vox Teardrop and a PRS.

Here are some photos which I took during the project. I will add some more over the next few days.

damonjewel

One question I have is how did you finish it, spraypaint?

Also how is the SD jeff beck pick up working out?

dochara

I finished it with three coats of red wood dye (sponged on) and 7 coats of polyurethane spray varnish.

The Jeff Beck is a loud, bluesy pick-up with a cutting edge - I love it.

rusty999

dochara wrote: »

Here's my K Lulu which I finished in 2006:

Body: carved from an old alder tree which was knocked in a storm close to my home
Neck: Ibanez maple neck with rosewood board ~ headstock adapted with fretsaw
Tuners: Schaller chrome
Front pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jazz
Back pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck
Control knobs: Rickenbacker
Neck-plate: Jackson 4-bolt
Bridge: Gotoh hardtail through-body
Switches and sockets: Various

How long did you have to wait for the wood from the tree to dry out ?
Thanks
Rusty

eoin5

dochara wrote: »

Here's my K Lulu which I finished in 2006:

Body: carved from an old alder tree which was knocked in a storm close to my home
Neck: Ibanez maple neck with rosewood board ~ headstock adapted with fretsaw
Tuners: Schaller chrome
Front pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jazz
Back pick-up: Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck
Control knobs: Rickenbacker
Neck-plate: Jackson 4-bolt
Bridge: Gotoh hardtail through-body
Switches and sockets: Various

Lovely stuff!

Da GOAT

sweet guitar man, id love to build something. strat, tele or even archtop.

Rented Mule

If I was going to buy a kit, I would go through Ed Roman in Las Vegas. He's a very interesting guy who has big issues with most of the corporate guitar manufacturers. Having worked in the industry for many years his site is worth a look.

http://www.edroman.com/parts/kits.htm

He are some of his kits. Consider the exchange rate at the moment, and you could do quite well for yourself.

Bjorn Bored.

there is a huge difference between actually building your own guitar from scratch,and buying these kits,which are essentially really just assembly jobs,one takes awhole lot of skills,the other a trained monkey can do.

68 lost souls

Rented Mule wrote: »

If I was going to buy a kit, I would go through Ed Roman in Las Vegas. He's a very interesting guy who has big issues with most of the corporate guitar manufacturers. Having worked in the industry for many years his site is worth a look.

http://www.edroman.com/parts/kits.htm

He are some of his kits. Consider the exchange rate at the moment, and you could do quite well for yourself.

I have only ever bad reviews about ed roman online, basicly everything I have read has put me off buying there. Apparnatly the shop itself is quiet nice though.

Altoid

If you really want the experience of building your own guitar, but have no idea where to start or any of the tools you need that have a look at :

http://www.baileyguitars.co.uk/

In the build your own section.

Mark Bailey runs courses on building all types of guitars from standard bolt on neck electrics to set neck to neck-through to accoustics as well.

I built a bass with him a few years back and you go from picking out the wood all the way through to finishing it off. and you do do it all yourself.

He helps you with every detail and he is a perfectionist, you will end up with a really great guitar.

On top of that I had a great time staying there while we built them!

- Altoid

-Blanco-

if you're interested in a tele or similar have a look at

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/

I bought one of those ebay kits (from the OP's post) and it turned out grand. It sounds much better then I expected anyway. As said previously it is just an assembly job with some simple soldering. A good place to start if you're new to building.
I found getting a good quality finish was a major pain and quite time consuming, especially as I don't have much finishing knowledge or don't have the right tools. The neck holes lined up fine but I ended up buying a different neck with a maple fretboard.

I actually ended up assembling another guitar with the neck I hadn't used when I couldn't sell it for a reasonable price. Got a body and full electrics really cheap on ebay. The neck holes didn't line up with the body at all and I had to shape the headstock so there was more work involved. So if you end up buying parts from different sources keep that in mind.

But anyway, it's good fun I'd recommend giving it a go.

legologic

I build my own from scratch and let me tell you there's nothing like the feeling. If you go the scratch or the kit route though there's a few good (and a handfull of great) books on the subject I might suggest. The two best books I've read were "Build your own electric guitar" by melvyn Hiscock and "Making an Archtop Guitar" by Bob Benedetto.

Benedetto's book, though about archtops has lots of great tips thatare across the board just great. Benedetto himslef is imo one of the best archtop builders in the world. The melvyn Hiscock book is guide that will take you through every step from design to parts to woodworking right up to finishing. It's very thorough and invaluable.

Finally I'd also suggest checking out stewmac.com and lmii.com I think you can order stewmac's catalogue on the website. It's a good idea to get one just to look through and see what tools or parts you may need that you havent thought of.

Best of luck!

FruscianteFan

Some great advice there leologic!

Get the stewmac catalogue and sign up for their trade secrets newsletter. Even if you arent going to build a guitar they are still a good read!

JCJCJC

I'm about 75% of the way there on a tele build. I bought the neck from guitarfetish.com but cut the body myself from a slab of wood I got from www.irishwoods.com. They advised me to start with sycamore for my first, and when I've learnt from that to graduate to a more expensive wood. I intend finishing mine with Danish Oil. I have tested it on scraps and it gives a really nice finish, like the stock of a shotgun, not mad shiny but smooth to the touch. I have enough sycamore for five bodies, and I have a slab of beech big enough for seven bodies drying out in a shed. If you are thinking of getting into this, get your wood and let it be seasoning and curing, it takes a year per inch of thickness.

Unless you have a jointer and a planer-thicknesser its easier to use a full-width piece, but that means you will have to find a saw mill to cut it that big for you. I have a few sources ifr anybody is interested.
I got all my pickups, bridge, pots, knobs etc from guitarfetish. Here's a dry-assembly pic. The bits of masking tape are just marking centres of the parts for alignment:



I used a LP-type switch just because I preferred it. The headstock has to be shipped oversize because of trademark infringement issues. It can easily enough be reshaped to something more recognisable. I'll make my own neck in time, this will do to begin with. I will be looking for broken antique furniture to get slips of rosewood etc.

It would be good if we had some contact between Irish builders to share tips and info re suppliers etc. I post on tdpri as well.

JC

JCJCJC

I've pretty much finished building my first tele now, here's a pic:



It plays well and sounds pretty good, particularly the bridge pickup. the neck p/u isn't as powerful but makes an acceptable soft acoustic sound. The pickups are tele vintage style from guitarfetish.com, next time I'll use something different just to try something else. The finish is Danish Oil, I like it and it feels nice:



This board is very quiet - any chance of perking it up a bit?

JC

damonjewel

Really nice job, Is there any chance you can show the back of the guitar, I'd be interested to see what back plates you used to cover your wiring.

blackmoustache

Recently built (assembled) a Tele with parts off eBay and Warmoth.

Fender neck, MIM body, tuners and bridge, All Parts electronics and Warmoth hardware, then stuck a pair of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounds in it.

Made a gorgeous looking guitar, (I'll stick a pic up soon), but still having a few issues regarding wiring (mainly due to my inexperience with a soldering iron) and getting different brand parts to fit together (some boring and sanding required).

Still, it was something I've always wanted to do, even if it did work out a little more expensive than a MIM Tele, but I've now got something a lot more personal to me and I've learned a heck of a lot in the process. It sounds great, (dodgy wiring aside), and I'm slowly working on the playability which is coming along. Gonna get it set up by a tec soon to finish the job off.

Next up a homemade Strat!!!

JCJCJC

No problem showing the back, I just made a cover from an offcut of the same material. You can see the LP switch turned sideways which meant I had to widen the chamber at that point. I marked all my earths (grounds on US sites) green and yellow and all the lives are marked red, because by the time it goes worng I'll have forgotten. I made the cover just by eye but it is a tight push fit and doesn't need screws to stay in place. The whole thing is shielded with sticky copper tape and the capacitors came from maplin.



The g-string ferrule is half a millimetre off line, unfortunately.

I'm in West Limerick, if anybody needs a hand with soldering and electric matters etc I'd be pleased to help.

JC

Johnny Storm

The G-string is ALWAYS a tricky little bastard
Looks really nice!

JCJCJC

Thanks for the obs, all. If anybody wants a slab of wood to start a build, try Terry Goggin at www.irishchainsawmills.com he is based near Cork and he is very obliging. However, since his timber is freshly sawn, you will have to store it properly and let it season and dry out fully before you can use it, which could take approximately a year.

I would like to get a bit of dry spalted wood, proobably beech or ash, to attempt a guitar like this but in a tele or Les Paul Junior shape and with single coils:



Note - that isn't my guitar, I'm just linking to the image.

JC

shofukan

Anywhere near Dublin (I don't drive...) for buying wood?

JCJCJC

seanor3 wrote: »

Anywhere near Dublin (I don't drive...) for buying wood?

I am expecting some ash this week, and I also have some sycamore. I'll be in D4 on buiz on Tuesday of next week, maybe we can organise something?

JC

JCJCJC

I started to build another tele at the weekend. I am using the blank on the left here, which is sycamore sawn from the plank behind it:



the blamk on the right successfully became my first tele. As you can see, this present one is much browner, therefore I am expecting a different look when it is finished. I haven't bought any hardware for it yet, but I'm thinking of different pickups, a traditional three-saddle bridge (which i might even make myself), maybe a blend pot, and on the visual side, a leather pickguard, a wiped dye tobacco-burst type of finish, an arm relief cut and a belly cut. The aim is to try a few new things, and do an all over better job where possible.

First improvement was to fit a wider base to one of my routers, this is just an offcut of laminate flooring:



Next get set up with the Terry Downs template on 12 mm MDF attached to the blank with countersunk screws through the neck pocket area and in the area under the bridge:



And start the routing:



That cutter is very good, it leaves a clean cut and doesn't burn the wood. The end-grain on this body blank is already much smoother than it was on the first one. Notice how the wide base easily keeps the router well supported as well as plumb and square to the work. To do this you have to screw the template down, you can't have G-cramps obstructing the bigger base. To be continued...

JC

damonjewel

seanor3 wrote: »

Anywhere near Dublin (I don't drive...) for buying wood?

I was given these details by Frusciantefan for a supplier he used; I haven't got round to checking them out yet.

DH Timber in Santry (01) 8483037

JCJCJC

Does anybody here know of a source in Ireland of water-based aniline wood dyes? I want to try a tobacco-burst finish on an ash telecaster, using wiped dyes and either tung oil or Danish oil.

JC

Banjo

seanor3 wrote: »

Anywhere near Dublin (I don't drive...) for buying wood?

Just picked up some finished Sapele (he mentioned it was "Sapele Mahogany" but I thought they were different trees?) for the neck of my first Cigar Box Guitar attempt from a chap out in Celbridge, Gaffney's Woodworkers (01 6288697). If you take the 67/67A and get off at the first bus stop after you come off the main street* you're right outside his front door. I know nothing about wood but the piece I got was straight as an arrow, knot free, a lovely reddish brown colour and 5 quid, so I'm not complaining

*if you're unfamiliar with Celbridge, after the bus goes over the bridge it'll turn right. There are two stops on the main street, then it turns left - hit the button there and you should be fine. Although I haven't been on the bus for ages so if you end up in Maynooth or Narnia don't come crying to me.

eoin5

Banjo wrote: »

Just picked up some finished Sapele (he mentioned it was "Sapele Mahogany" but I thought they were different trees?) for the neck of my first Cigar Box Guitar attempt from a chap out in Celbridge, Gaffney's Woodworkers (01 6288697). If you take the 67/67A and get off at the first bus stop after you come off the main street* you're right outside his front door. I know nothing about wood but the piece I got was straight as an arrow, knot free, a lovely reddish brown colour and 5 quid, so I'm not complaining

*if you're unfamiliar with Celbridge, after the bus goes over the bridge it'll turn right. There are two stops on the main street, then it turns left - hit the button there and you should be fine. Although I haven't been on the bus for ages so if you end up in Maynooth or Narnia don't come crying to me.

I get stuff off him, top chap

JCJCJC

Has anybody here got any experience of GFS's 'super-smooth Gotoh-style' tuners (or machine heads if you prefer). I fitted a set, and I'm not happy with how often the guitar needs to be re-tuned, maybe every 30 minutes or so in play. They were relatively cheap at USD22.95 so I'm wondering if they were a bad choice. I think I'll get a different set when I'm next ordering hardware and see if that solves it - it can't be anything else.

JC

JCJCJC

Well I'm pressing ahead with my second tele build, so far it's going significantly better than the first one and that turned out ok. I got the body blank cut out, routed, drilled and rounded over to a considerably better standard of finish than the first one had at the same stage. I thought long and hard about doing an arm relief cut and a belly cut, and last night decided to have a go. I was amazed at how easy it was. The arm relief cut took only a few minutes with my Aldi belt-sander and 40-grit paper, and the belly cut was also dead easy with a 4-inch angle grinder fitted with a flap wheel and followed up with a rasp to level the surface, then sanded. I won't hesitate to do those cuts again, they are far easier than I thought. So today I have to do a lot of sanding, I hate that stage, dead boring.
The angle grinder wouldn't have ocurred to me as a woodworking tool, but I saw the technique on a build by John Kingma, one of the best builders on tdpri.com, and it looked feasible.

I also got a big slab of bone-dry burr elm during the week, it has very dramatic grain patterns. I think it's too good to use in one piece, so I'll try to find a joinery to make 10mm veneer caps from it and use it on a built-up body maybe, with something like a hollow ash or teak core.

JC

darrenw5094

JCJCJC wrote: »

Has anybody here got any experience of GFS's 'super-smooth Gotoh-style' tuners (or machine heads if you prefer). I fitted a set, and I'm not happy with how often the guitar needs to be re-tuned, maybe every 30 minutes or so in play. They were relatively cheap at USD22.95 so I'm wondering if they were a bad choice. I think I'll get a different set when I'm next ordering hardware and see if that solves it - it can't be anything else.

JC

Gotoh, Schaller and Grover can all be found on eBay for €40 to €50.
I should mention Sperzel too.

JCJCJC

Anybody know of an over-the-counter source of aniline dyes in Ireland? I have seen great burst finishes being acheived on www.tdpri using aniline, but apparently it can't be shipped from the US.

JC

JCJCJC

Still pressing on with this build, it will soon need a neck. I have about twenty coats of Danish Oil on that body, it's beginning to look good. has anybody got a cheap neck for a tele?

JC

red_hot_nirvana

Heres a few pictures of a guitar i built for my leaving cert a few years back, the quality of the image isnt great but i have more......somewhere!

JCJCJC

red_hot_nirvana wrote: »

Heres a few pictures of a guitar i built for my leaving cert a few years back, the quality of the image isnt great but i have more......somewhere!

It looks good - Strat wiring in a Flying V / Explorer shape? What pickups did you use and how does it sound?


JC

fuzztone

JCJCJC wrote: »

Has anybody got a cheap neck for a tele?

JC

Possibly. I have a neck off a MIM Deluxe Nashville Tele lying around (this model http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0135300332). I bought it for a project I was going to do ages ago that just never happened. How much are you looking to spend?

JCJCJC

fuzztone wrote: »

Possibly. I have a neck off a MIM Deluxe Nashville Tele lying around (this model http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0135300332). I bought it for a project I was going to do ages ago that just never happened. How much are you looking to spend?

If it is in really good nick I'll spend about the same as a new neck from GFS (with shipping) would cost me - PM me if interested, and give your location.

JC

PS - edit - I'll be in Dublin on thursday of this week, just in case you're based there - travelling Limerick-Dublin-Abbeyleix that day.

JCJCJC

If anybody is looking for cheap spray-cans of paint or lacquer Lidl have them today. I don't know if they are any good for guitar-making but I have bought some to try out anyway.

JC

nialldabass

JCJCJC wrote: »

Anybody know of an over-the-counter source of aniline dyes in Ireland? I have seen great burst finishes being acheived on www.tdpri using aniline, but apparently it can't be shipped from the US.

JC

Have you tried Mylands in the JFK trading estate?
Dont have info to hand but should be able to supply most finishing needs

JCJCJC

nialldabass wrote: »

Have you tried Mylands in the JFK trading estate?
Dont have info to hand but should be able to supply most finishing needs

No sign of them on Google or eircomphonebook.ie, are you sure about the sp? I can have a look there, I'll be in Dublin a few times in the next few weeks - where are they in the estate?

JC

nialldabass

JCJCJC wrote: »

No sign of them on Google or eircomphonebook.ie, are you sure about the sp? I can have a look there, I'll be in Dublin a few times in the next few weeks - where are they in the estate?

JC

Damn I hope they are not gone, I have not been there for a couple of years
This is there main office in England http://www.mylands.co.uk/contact/

Maybe e-mail them and see what they say they may ship

nialldabass

I'm so sorry I got mixed up Its Morrells not Mylands here is the link
http://www.morrells.co.uk/branch/7

And if you go in and speak to them they should be able to show you the full range of colours

And by the look of it they still sell cellulose laquer

nialldabass

Check the build in tdpri and see if the dye was water or spirit/alcohol based and then that will narrow down your choices, the yanks speak differently to us and use different terms for materials

JCJCJC

nialldabass wrote: »

I'm so sorry I got mixed up Its Morrells not Mylands here is the link
http://www.morrells.co.uk/branch/7

And if you go in and speak to them they should be able to show you the full range of colours

And by the look of it they still sell cellulose laquer

Thanks for that - I'll go and have a look the next chance I get, I see they also have brush-on tinted wax finishes, as used by Rico Daniels in 'Le Salvager' on Discovery.

nialldabass

JCJCJC wrote: »

Thanks for that - I'll go and have a look the next chance I get, I see they also have brush-on tinted wax finishes, as used by Rico Daniels in 'Le Salvager' on Discovery.

Haha yeah that was a great series, I suppose you visit the Luthiers corner over at mylespaul, I've just started looking at valve amp kits aswell now:rolleyes:
There is somthing about making stuff with your hands that becomes addictive

JCJCJC

nialldabass wrote: »

Haha yeah that was a great series, I suppose you visit the Luthiers corner over at mylespaul, I've just started looking at valve amp kits aswell now:rolleyes:
There is somthing about making stuff with your hands that becomes addictive

There is something about doing joinery and cabinet-making with a chainsaw and angle-grinder too, like Rico does :cool:. He's still on the channels somewhere. I used an angle-grinder to make a tummy cut on a tele lately and it was actually the ideal tool for the job, fast and easy to control.

I don't read mylespaul, but I do follow the tele builds on tdpri.com. A LP wouldn't be my first choice, I prefer single-coil twang, but I love the SG shape and the two-horn PL junior. I have the drawings for those shapes, might build one with a bolt-on neck sometime - a tele in Gibson clothes.

nialldabass

Yeah the angle grinder is not as scarey as you first think, many people carve LP tops with them
And what do you think of Scaterlee's work I'm gobsmaked looking at his builds

JCJCJC

nialldabass wrote: »

Yeah the angle grinder is not as scarey as you first think, many people carve LP tops with them
And what do you think of Scaterlee's work I'm gobsmaked looking at his builds

He's amazing, always thinking outside the box. Two other guys whose work I like are JKingma and CJFearn, amongst the 'small' builders.

The flapwheel and anglegrinder are ideal for this stuff ok, I wouldn't have thought it. I learnt traditional school woodwork a long time ago, guitar-making makes you find different ways to do things. If you're building LPs or any G-style guitar with a 3 degree tilt on the neck, you'll be interested in this very clever jig:
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=29117

A lot of thought has gone into the design of that, it's deceptively simple, and would not be a big deal to build.

Where are you located? PM me if you don't want to put it up here for any reason.