Building an elctric guitar from scratch

[Marcus Pryce]

I'd really appreciate ANY tip whatsoever on how to build my own electric guitar from the very beginning (wood, electronics, you name it). The only thing Im considering getting ready-made is a neck.
I even want to have a go at making pick-ups.

Why do I want to make an elctric guitar?

I have my own designs, and I'd like to experiment with the purely technical aspects of the guitar, because I'm not the best of players...
so, anyone with advice, tips, comments or pure criticism of this rather cocky scheme, please drop a message.
thank you

[Ukalali_Solo]

just buy pickups seriously, IF u can even make them, they'll sound like poo poo, just buy them

[milo]

lol i swear i postid somthing just like this befor so now ill just ride on yours somone plz PLZ respond http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/tongue.gif

[dkitt]

Do you have all the tools - Band saw or Scroll saw, Dremel tool, Router, etc. Making a neck is mission impossible for most people, but I thinks the best place to buy one is either Ebay or Carvin.com.

I've read a hell of a lot of guitar making books and can give you some titles if you wish. I'm always schemeing about my dream guitar, and divide my time between playing and tinkering!

[Marcus Pryce]

thanks everyone for replying. Milo stick around and let's get some ideas from you *** well.
My idea was to have the design and cavities cut out for me by a local carpenter with serious equipment.
After that I've sort of ran out of ideas. I don't want to use clearly ready-made elctronics (I have to to some extent though) because otherwise I can just buy a ready made guitar, which I've already done (a crappy SX where you can shake the rhythm pick-up about and let it crash into the strings!)
Anyway, more factual help would be vastly appreciated.

[TomN]

Well for starters, some of the best pickups are made by hand today and wound by hand. So if you have the desire and the skill, there is no reason why you can't make your own once you gain the appropriate knowledge.
Not that it wouldn't be a serious undertaking. But Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio started off in their garage and look where they are now........A much bigger garage.


The first thing to do is read and get info.
Before you do any cutting, drilling or sanding. Get books on making solid body guitars. There are tons of them.

Then I would also subscribe to a Luthiers magizine. Whenever you find a new interest, no matter what it is. Get a magazine. There has to be some kind of luthier magizine. And that is where you will pick up the latest trends and tips.
www.stewmac.com (http://www.stewmac.com) is a great website for luthiers. They have every file, tool, glue and spooge you could ever need to make a guitar from scratch.
They also have tons of books and videos on the entire process.


Keep in mind this will be much more expensive than buying an equal quality guitar. And it will probably take you a while before you can make a good pickup.
But there is no reason it can't be done.
Just understand it's a pretty big chunk to bite off and chew.

Do it because you like to work on things, like to build and want a hobby. Don't do it to try to save money from buying a new guitar.

I find a lot of guys do either all the wood work, or the electronics. Most people don't seem to do both because the skills and techniques are totally different.
I myself am an Electronics guy and never get involved in fret work, or body making or bridge installation etc.
But I have a couple of guys who build guitars and they do everything but the electronics. They send them to me and I put in the electronics and look in awe at what they can do with a piece of wood.
Me and wood just don't get along.
But I have a very good relationship with solder and wire.

So when you get to the electronics stage, I will be happy to help however I can.

[Marcus Pryce]

Tom N is the master of self-confidence building. Much appreciated.
By the way, just out of curiousity, do you really have to wind the coil around the pick up 7000 times?


[This message has been edited by Marcus Pryce (edited April 08, 2004).]

[TomN]

At least that many.
And the coil wire is finer than a human hair. That's why a lot of guitar builders just buy pickups and leave pickup whinding to ssomeone who specializes in that.

I would start off with the woodwork and the hardware. Start there and while doing that, do research on handmaking pickups.
Because that will be the last thing you add to the guitar you will have plenty of time to research the topic.
Once you do the research you can decide if it's something you want to do.

Like I was saying, I don't know many guys that do both. Building your own pickups is an art, one that anyone with the patience and desire can master. But like any art to be truely good it will consume a lot of time.
So it's just a really lot to consider guitar building and making your own pickups all at one time.
You might get overwhelmed if you try both at once and then give up.
So just start with the Body and finishing and go from there.
Then learn about necks and Fret work and then after you have mastered that and your 60 years old you will be ready to add pickup making to the mix.

Or start off with making pickups. And do the woodwork in your spare time.
But learning and doing both at once would overwhelm just about anyone.

[TomN]

BTW.
When they say Hand made pickups, they still mean pickups that use a machine that holds the holds the bobbin of the pickup. You then hold the coil wire and as the machine rotates the bobbin, you guide the wire around. Sounds really boring to me and would make my eyes bug out, because it doesn't rotate very fast. And with my luck, I would get to whinding number 6995 and the coil wire would snap and I would have to start over.

Then you need to Pot the pickup in Wax to prevent microphonics.

I assume there is somewhere to buy the Bobbins and magnets, but I haven't seen a site for that.

The Bobbin is the plastic peice that the coil wire is wrapped around and the pole pieces go through.

Check out sites like
Lindy Fralin and Kinman
These guys handmake their own pickups and may have some info on the art.
Do a search because I don't know the actual web addresses.



[This message has been edited by TomN (edited April 09, 2004).]

[Marcus Pryce]

Thanks again, Tom. I checked out stew mac, but I think this is an inaccurate guideline for the very beginner like myself. I mean, a block of ash for $95?! I knew this would not be a cheap project, but this is pure rip-off because on the same page they say you can get three chunks for $85! Which makes each block of ash only $28 in reality, including mac's profit. Bloody Hell!
Anyway, this is beside the point, but I felt like *****ing.
As (I think) I've said before, I will start with the wood and it'll be a long time before I start considering pick-ups, so anyone with wood-working info please lend your knowledge here.


[This message has been edited by Marcus Pryce (edited April 09, 2004).]

[Shibby]

i bet if someone came up with a different way to make pickups they would become very rich. not to mention saving hours and hours of time.


edited for clarity

[This message has been edited by Shibby (edited April 09, 2004).]

[in_the_basement]

Albert King built his first guitar out of a cigar box. Who needs high tech?

[milo]

is there anywere on the net were there is a site with the basic electric gutiar and then i cold just change the shape and stuff


o ya and i have woodshop in school and they have it all so hmm


or i guess if you knwo any books ro anything that wold help plzz post

[milo]

http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/warlock.htm

check this out

[Marcus Pryce]

Thanks again to anyone who replied.

To milo: "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" by Melvyn Hiscock is apparently the book to get, according to www.projectguitar.com/tut/body/htm (http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/body/htm) (a step-by-step site of making an Ibanez body).

To TomN: Being the electronics expert, can you tell me if the electronics bay [one selector switch, 1 pair oftone and volume controls, nothing complex] can fit into a section of wood that's 5 inches at the most across, and about 2 inches deep?
Of course anyone else who knows can answer.
Tomorrow I should be getting my design carved out at the wood shop.

[This message has been edited by Marcus Pryce (edited April 12, 2004).]

[55'gibby]

I just finished building an electric from scratch (most folks use wood). I am an amature luthier and have built a dozen or so electrics and a couple of acoustics.

one of the biggest things is starting from a complete set of plans. this will stop any road blocks and helps prevent catasrophic failures.

I'm assuming that if you buying a neck that it will be a bolt on. the key thing here is the neck pocket. it absolutely has to be straight, at the proper depth, and tight fitting. if you blow this the body will be worthless. be very careful and take your time doing this. remember measure twice cut once (actually measure 4 or 5 times).

make sure you have all (and I mean all) of your templates and jigs made before you start. this will work as a dry run and will save you bunches of time once you start.

as for wood selection i love using maple, but your options are pretty wide. if you going to paint it grain doesn't matter nearly as much as if you just staining it.

make sure that it's balanced, nothing worse than playing a guitar that doesn't stay in place

[Marcus Pryce]

Nice have a professional amateur woodsman reply.
But I really need to know, because I'll be starting the carving business tomorrow, several things:
1. How much depth does a simple electronics set need?
2. Does all that effect the pick-up's nature as treble or rhythm have to do with its location (bridge or neck) or is wiring involved?
3. How much depth do pick-ups need?

I'd much appreciate any response to any or all three of the questions.

[55'gibby]

let me give you the order of machining:

1) define you centerline. everything is based off your centerline. DON'T SKIP THIS STEP
2) cut rough body shape. leave it proud of your line by at least 1/8" (for sanding and finishing)
3) layout your neck pocket. you MUST be true to your centerline, if not the neck will be crooked and create havock setting it up.
4) layout your bridge. make SURE you have the right scale lenght (front of nut to center of saddle). make sure you position all of your bridge attaching points correctly (and hole if it's a whammy)
5) measure EVERYTHING again
6) repeat step 5
7) AFTER your SURE it's correct (you may need to repeat step 5) it's time to make chips.
8) route a rough pocket for your neck be sure to leave it at lease 1/8" or more shy of what the final pocket size will be.
9) dry fit the neck. use a atom splitting sharp chisel an SLOWLY carve the neck pocket until you have a VERY tight fit. make sure you constantly check that the neck is true to the centerline and you are at the height that you want to be. this height is typically 3/32" minium above the lowest position setting of the bridge (it's measured from top of saddle to top the high point of the radius of the neck. make sure that the neck is either flat (strat style) or at the proper angle (like a gibson) to the body. make sure that the neck and body are paralelle as far as the top surface are conserned.
10) place neck in pocket (maybe one or two screws to keep it in position
11) repeat step 5
12) attach your bridge (way too many types of bridges for me to give you the sequence in this post). make sure that the bridge has the correct scale lenght to the mid point of the saddle adjustment and is true to the centerline and parallel and perpendicular to the neck.
13) repeat step 5
14) layout your electronics pocket(s). route the pocket(s) to a depth of about 3/4 to 7/8 (I go 15/16) and I go 1" for the pots and switches cavity. makeing sure that you remain true to the centerline and parallel and perpendicular to the neck and bridge. the exact fore aft dims are not really critical you can very as much as a 1/2" without any difference in tone. make sure you have NO break thru from your bridge or neck.


whew that was a lot of typing

[SKEETER]

At one time there was a place called "exotic woods" that sold guitar necks with ebony fretboards precut. If you can find them, they had the best prices anywhere. Also, don't fall for the "designer pickup" nonsense, pickup design ceased being brain surgery years ago, some of the best pickups I have heard have come in some of the cheapest guitars. Just about any pickups made after the mid 80s are good quality. It is more a matter of taste than anything else, for example, if you want all midrange and loud, go with seymor duncan invaders. If you want nice smooth tone with not a real hot output (nice for recording) use EMG inactives. If you just want to put some pickups in it to get going, get some el cheapos some kid took out of a guitar to replace with gazillion dollar gibson pickups thinking it would make him sound like his favorite star. I have not heard a bad sounding pickup in any guitar for the past 20 years (except for the gibson 490s I have, they are moderate output but distort way too easy).