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Building a guitar

WhittyWhitty Posts: 61
edited March 2004 in Musicians and Gearheads
Hey,

Lately I've been thinking that I may want to work on building my own guitar over time. I don't really want to spend too much money on it, and will probably buy the neck and pickups and electronics off Ebay or something similar. What I am wondering is how hard is it to build a guitar body? I want to make a guitar with the body of a Fender Jaguar or Mustang, with the stratocaster neck, and double humbuckers. I don't have any measurements for the guitar body, so I do not know how much wood is needed.

Any help would be great. Thanks.

-Mitch
"It makes much more sense to live in the present tense."

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Comments

  • MissYouAllDayMissYouAllDay Posts: 939
    Although I am no expert I can tell you it isn't he most difficult thing in the world. I'm sure quality is a whole other story but as far as a basic solid body.

    As a point of reference for difficulty, building a guitar (solidbody electric) was an option in my grade 9 woodshop class. In fact if you're still in highschool it couldn't hurt to talk to the wood shop teacher to ask about wood prices and availability of school workshop etc.

    If you're outa highschool head on over to your bookstore. I am sure there should be 2 or 3 books on this subject.

    Unless you have sometype of tim taylor garage moulding and routing the body could be a problem. Hopefully your a dremel man.
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  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Bumfuq, MT Posts: 6,395
    I second the idea of picking up a how-to book. A book will cost you maybe $20-30, and save you a lot of trouble on the rest of the project. I have a really lousy generic Les Paul body, neck, and hardware that I'd sell ya for $50.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • GrungeminionGrungeminion Posts: 28
    yeah it wouldnt be imposible but it the hardest thing would be to get the finish done great yeah u could get it ok but man its all about how goo (a) it plays and (b) it looks and in that order
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  • djyman15djyman15 Posts: 181
    congrats bud, im building a jag with with a strat neck so i can help you probably. First thing your gonna want to do is trace the body onto a sheet of paper. I dont want to take forever, so keep replying to this or PM for specifics. First Recommendation, unless your a pretty strong guy, dont use mahogany, Jag bodies are big and the density of mahogany weighs it down a ton. your also probably going to worry about a case. Jags are designed for a 24" scale length, and with the strat neck, your gonna want to go 25 1/2" standard strat. Theres tons of things to worry about....
    "Even if your heart would listen, I doubt I could explain"-Jimmy Eat World
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    http://www.stewmac.com look around. There's all kinds of how too stuff and parts.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • who's_pearljam?who's_pearljam? Posts: 2,104
    This is a great book that talks about all kinds of guitar repairs. Dan Erlewine is the guru of guitar repair and building. He has vcr tapes and books on building
    http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plans/Building_and_repair:_Guitar,_electric/Guitar_Player_Repair_Guide.html

    This is a pretty good book to do the deed:
    http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plans/Building_and_repair:_Guitar,_electric/Electric_Guitar_Construction.html

    The easiest one to build is probably a Strat or a Tele style. You can buy a neck prefretted for them and bolt it on. (cutting the fret slots in a homemade neck is pretty precise, but possible, too, but tough for a first time.) The body is not too hard to build. the tricky part is cutting the neck mortise in the body. Finishing it is an art, but hell, if you screw it up , you sand it off and try it again!

    I've built a fair amount of guitars, and it really rewarding. You learn a hell of a lot about existing guitars while doing it.
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