Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

[Fatty]

I've been tossing the idea around for a while, and I think this summer I'm going to try my hand at making a guitar from body and neck blanks (actually carving out the body,etc)

I bought "How to build an Electric Guitar" by Melvyn Hisc0ck and read through it a few times, so I've got the basic ideas down. I'm thinking the hardest part is going to be the neck (installing the truss rod and fretting the board, mainly)

I'm going to order a 3 piece Ash blank, a maple neck blank, and a pre-slotted maple fretboard... I'm trying to keep the cost down for my first attempt, so if something goes south I'm not out like $200.00.

I'll probably start simple with a Tele copy or something like that.. just a very basic design.

Anyone have any tips/potential pitfalls to share?

-alex

 

[proxy]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

Anywhere you'll be able to get your hands on the right tools?

 

[Fatty]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

Anywhere you'll be able to get your hands on the right tools?

Definately, I can get all the guitar-specific stuff at work, and I've got a router, a table saw, files.. the whole 9 yards at my parents house I can use. (My dad is finishing his basement)

 

[Skullkrusher]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

I bought "How to build an Electric Guitar" by Melvyn Hisc0ck and read through it a few times, so I've got the basic ideas down. I'm thinking the hardest part is going to be the neck (installing the truss rod and fretting the board, mainly)

I'll probably start simple with a Tele copy or something like that.. just a very basic design.
-alex

I'm doing the exact same thing right now. I agree, it seems the neck is going to be the hardest part. I've already got my guitar body cut out and it's half way shapen. If I run into any problems I'll give you a heads up on what to expect. Good Luck.

 

[Fatty]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

I'm doing the exact same thing right now. I agree, it seems the neck is going to be the hardest part. I've already got my guitar body cut out and it's half way shapen. If I run into any problems I'll give you a heads up on what to expect. Good Luck.

Good luck to you too.. definately keep me posted on your progress!

If you haven't already, check out http://www.mimf.com/ . I've been lurking there for a few months.. lots of good info in the archives.

-alex

 

[Blueline]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

Alex,

We'll talk
I'll give you a call when I have some pics of your tele and we'll discuss guitar carving

Cheers

 

[Fatty]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

Alex,

We'll talk
I'll give you a call when I have some pics of your tele and we'll discuss guitar carving

Cheers

That'd be awesome. Thanks buddy.

 

[Imp]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

first of all, if you have a *real* nice piece of wood you want for the finished product, PUT IT AWAY

build prototypes. lots of them. once you are totally happy, bring out the nice peice. never rush.

 

[Charvel]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

first of all, if you have a *real* nice piece of wood you want for the finished product, PUT IT AWAY

build prototypes. lots of them. once you are totally happy, bring out the nice peice. never rush.

I totally Agree you dont wanna waste any good wood unless your sure you kno what your doing cause one screw up could put you down in the hole,

If you make prototypes you got an idea of what you want and some practise as well so it would be a good idea to use cheap wood till you got you mind set.

Then you can make an UBER guitar haha :bigthumb:

 

[Skullkrusher]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

first of all, if you have a *real* nice piece of wood you want for the finished product, PUT IT AWAY

build prototypes. lots of them. once you are totally happy, bring out the nice peice. never rush.

Yeah, the one I'm working on right now is just a piece of second rate alder.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

Hi Fatty -

You're a braver soul than I am. I still want to make my own body, but after reading and re-reading all the info on making a neck it's going to be a long time before I give that a try.

The MIMF is a great resource for guitar builders - I just wish the folks over there were half as friendly as the people here.

You probably know already, but the Guitar ReRanch has a great forum regarding finishing and there are some good people there.

Chip

 

[Blueline]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

Fresh STrat

if you ever need any help, just PM me
if you want me to do it for you - i understand that too

Cheers

 

[Fatty]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

Oh, also forgot to mention one of the more obvious sites: http://www.projectguitar.com/

 

[StefanM]

Re: Thinking of carving my own guitar.. Tips?

I built my tele body from scratch - using that very same book - but used an aftermarket neck. Thought making the neck was a bit beyond my skills - the way I see it, the neck is really crucial to the playabilty of the instrument - if it doesn't play nicely, it's useless. Is the blank you're buying carved at the back already or not?

Good luck to you, do your planning, be careful with power tools and have fun with it. Building a guitar is a very rewarding (IMO) expereince - I'm going to do the same again , not so muc hbecause I need another guitar but because the project was so fun. A strat-ish guitar this time with a trem. My single biggest tip - apart from plan & measure everything a lot first, and get comfortable with using routers, angle grinders etc on scrap wood first - is to make templates and try them on scrap wood until they are perfect before going near the guitar. Neck pocket, pickups, control cavity (not AS crucial as the first 2 if back-routed with no pickguard). The extra effort will be way worth it and a lot less stressful!

Any questions, feel free to ask me. I'd never really even played electric guitar before I built one!