Help me build my guitar!

[Dominik Gräber]

Hey guys, I need your help. Within this year I wanna start a project in which I build my own guitar. Not completely, just collecting all the parts, assembling them and giving them my own touch. Now I really don't know anything about measurements, good parts to use and whatsover. It's also only an idea at the moment.

So my goals is gathering some information on what to watch out and also advices which hardware I should use. So let's start with my rough idea. I want
- A really classic strat with
- a classic pickguard
- 3 single coils
- a maple neck / fingerboard
- a good trem system, no floyd, doesn't have to be floating
- probably locking tuners.

This guitar is really ment to be the opposite to my metal oriented guitars. So I'm cool with a really round fingerboard radius, fender style look, don't necessarily need 24 frets.
I wondered if I should buy a Harley Benton Kit to get a body

Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit ST-Style

Harley Benton ST DIY-KIT Do it yourself, Bausatz, geschraubter Hals, Rengas Korpus (Holzfarbe kann variieren), Ahorn Hals, "Double Action" Halsstab, Amaranth Griffbrett mit DOT Inlays, Radius 305 mm (12"), 22 Bünde, 648mm Mensur, 42mm Sattelbreite,...

www.thomann.de

But I am not sure if that makes sense as the only thing I want to keep is the body itself. Also it has a floating system which I am really unsure about installing myself.

So, maybe you have some tips for me on what to use and how to know what I buy fits my spacings. I would like to keep the price low, not more than 500-600 Euro if possible. I am aiming for that really characteristic single coil sound, my main influence right now is John Mayer (no need to get his exact tone / pickups though).

Oh and @Edward John can we please leave the Chad Chat out of this thread?

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Also, I hope I can make a list with the help of you guys with reliable hardware you can recommend so I get an impression of the costs to come

 

[Edward John]

Hey guys, I need your help. Within this year I wanna start a project in which I build my own guitar. Not completely, just collecting all the parts, assembling them and giving them my own touch. Now I really don't know anything about measurements, good parts to use and whatsover. It's also only an idea at the moment.

So my goals is gathering some information on what to watch out and also advices which hardware I should use. So let's start with my rough idea. I want
- A really classic strat with
- a classic pickguard
- 3 single coils
- a maple neck / fingerboard
- a good trem system, no floyd, doesn't have to be floating
- probably locking tuners.

This guitar is really ment to be the opposite to my metal oriented guitars. So I'm cool with a really round fingerboard radius, fender style look, don't necessarily need 24 frets.
I wondered if I should buy a Harley Benton Kit to get a body

Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit ST-Style

Harley Benton ST DIY-KIT Do it yourself, Bausatz, geschraubter Hals, Rengas Korpus (Holzfarbe kann variieren), Ahorn Hals, "Double Action" Halsstab, Amaranth Griffbrett mit DOT Inlays, Radius 305 mm (12"), 22 Bünde, 648mm Mensur, 42mm Sattelbreite,...

www.thomann.de

But I am not sure if that makes sense as the only thing I want to keep is the body itself. Also it has a floating system which I am really unsure about installing myself.

So, maybe you have some tips for me on what to use and how to know what I buy fits my spacings. I would like to keep the price low, not more than 500-600 Euro if possible. I am aiming for that really characteristic single coil sound, my main influence right now is John Mayer (no need to get his exact tone / pickups though).

Oh and @Edward John can we please leave the Chad Chat out of this thread?

No promises.

 

[idssdi]

first two things that come to mind to watch out for is distance between frets, if you get that wong you're guitar will always be intonated wrong and never be in tune). other important things would be wiring and making sure the neck can withstand the tension in the strings(thats actuall pretty high forces right involved with it).

I think the closest you can get to the pickups he used in his black strat on continuum and where the light is are these https://www.thomann.de/nl/fender_texas_special.htm his guitar had underwinded version of those which are not sold separately. these are better options according to reddit:

Fender Fat 60´s Custom Shop PU Set

Pickup set voor elektrische gitaar Voor Stratocaster, Set met 3 single coils, Licht verhoogd aantal wikkelingen en dus sterke aanwezigheid in de bassen, AlNiCo 2 magneten zorgen voor een warme output, Rijk in het middengebied, Zachte en...

www.thomann.de

Jazzy Cat Stratocaster Pickups - Klein Pickups

Jazzy Cat Stratocaster Pickups

www.kleinpickups.com

basically what youre looking for is a pickup with scooped mids and I found this too( little bit cheaper too)

1962 Scooped Mids Pickup for Strat®

Handmade in the USA to order! Underwound for that killer scooped mids blues tone!Singles are $44.95 each or Calibrated Sets for $124.95Current Lead Times There is no mistaking the scooped mid-range tone from a low output set. The near absence of mid range provides a unique Strat® tone. Not only...

planettone.com

the pickups he has in his BL1 strat arent sold separately and the pickups from his PRS aren't either.

Also, SRV is a big influence for John and they sell a signature SRV guitar, you can look at those specs or a 60s strat in general.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster® | Electric Guitars

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster®, Pau Ferro Fingerboard, 3-Color Sunburst

shop.fender.com

 

[Dominik Gräber]

first two things that come to mind to watch out for is distance between frets, if you get that wong you're guitar will always be intonated wrong and never be in tune). other important things would be wiring and making sure the neck can withstand the tension in the strings(thats actuall pretty high forces right involved with it).

I think the closest you can get to the pickups he used in his black strat on continuum and where the light is are these https://www.thomann.de/nl/fender_texas_special.htm his guitar had underwinded version of those which are not sold separately. these are better options according to reddit:

Fender Fat 60´s Custom Shop PU Set

Pickup set voor elektrische gitaar Voor Stratocaster, Set met 3 single coils, Licht verhoogd aantal wikkelingen en dus sterke aanwezigheid in de bassen, AlNiCo 2 magneten zorgen voor een warme output, Rijk in het middengebied, Zachte en...

www.thomann.de

Jazzy Cat Stratocaster Pickups - Klein Pickups

Jazzy Cat Stratocaster Pickups

www.kleinpickups.com

basically what youre looking for is a pickup with scooped mids and I found this too( little bit cheaper too)

1962 Scooped Mids Pickup for Strat®

Handmade in the USA to order! Underwound for that killer scooped mids blues tone!Singles are $44.95 each or Calibrated Sets for $124.95Current Lead Times There is no mistaking the scooped mid-range tone from a low output set. The near absence of mid range provides a unique Strat® tone. Not only...

planettone.com

the pickups he has in his BL1 strat arent sold separately and the pickups from his PRS aren't either.

Also, SRV is a big influence for John and they sell a signature SRV guitar, you can look at those specs or a 60s strat in general.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster® | Electric Guitars

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster®, Pau Ferro Fingerboard, 3-Color Sunburst

shop.fender.com

Fret distance should Not be a Problem as I Wand to buy a complete Neck. Don't know how to watch Out for that tension aspect.

I think those Pickups are already too expensive, I will have way more costs than Just those. As I said, I don't need to Nail His Tone, Just a good Set of single coils.

 

[Nocturne]

That's an awesome project, I was also planning to start building mine (but from scratch) this year! I can't wait to see the building of your guitar.

 

[Jacques]

Hey guys, I need your help. Within this year I wanna start a project in which I build my own guitar. Not completely, just collecting all the parts, assembling them and giving them my own touch. Now I really don't know anything about measurements, good parts to use and whatsover. It's also only an idea at the moment.

So my goals is gathering some information on what to watch out and also advices which hardware I should use. So let's start with my rough idea. I want
- A really classic strat with
- a classic pickguard
- 3 single coils
- a maple neck / fingerboard
- a good trem system, no floyd, doesn't have to be floating
- probably locking tuners.

This guitar is really ment to be the opposite to my metal oriented guitars. So I'm cool with a really round fingerboard radius, fender style look, don't necessarily need 24 frets.
I wondered if I should buy a Harley Benton Kit to get a body

Harley Benton Electric Guitar Kit ST-Style

Harley Benton ST DIY-KIT Do it yourself, Bausatz, geschraubter Hals, Rengas Korpus (Holzfarbe kann variieren), Ahorn Hals, "Double Action" Halsstab, Amaranth Griffbrett mit DOT Inlays, Radius 305 mm (12"), 22 Bünde, 648mm Mensur, 42mm Sattelbreite,...

www.thomann.de

But I am not sure if that makes sense as the only thing I want to keep is the body itself. Also it has a floating system which I am really unsure about installing myself.

So, maybe you have some tips for me on what to use and how to know what I buy fits my spacings. I would like to keep the price low, not more than 500-600 Euro if possible. I am aiming for that really characteristic single coil sound, my main influence right now is John Mayer (no need to get his exact tone / pickups though).

Oh and @Edward John can we please leave the Chad Chat out of this thread?

Hell yeah man, I am stoked for you to get started on this journey! And depending on how much you have worked on guitars prior it can also be a huge learning experience for a slew of other things like it was for myself.

I recently "finished" rebuilding my C1-FR, check this out for the rundown ---> https://syngates.com/threads/schecter-c-1-fr-diamond-series-rebuild.2968/
"Finished" meaning I am still in the process of working out the bugs with my wiring job... when toggled in the bridge position I have an annoying crackle so i suspect i have a bad soldering joint at the toggle or bridge volume pot.

I checked out the kit you mentioned and however it looks awesome I also agree that if you're only after the body/neck i would skip the kit and find a reasonably priced guitar of your choice and gut all the parts and pieces and start from scratch. Then you dont have to worry much about painting/staining/sealing the body.

If you go this route, then you will have to start diving into the knitty gritty details. Most manufactures websites are good about listing what their compatibility is for an easy installation but others simply provide a unit spec's and that's it. I would suggest always referencing the product spec's and double checking all your measurements with your guitar regardless if they say it will work.

In example; I jumped on Floyd Rose's website and found both the unit dimensions of what the new floyd rose bridge measures along with the factories suggested routing diagram for the guitar body. I printed them out and compared with my Schecter to find i would have to re-route my existing bridge cavity. I got lucky with the bridge post's center to center measurement and only had to increase the diameter for the new bridge post's.

I understand you're not wanting a floating bridge, i just wanted to throw that example in there to give you an idea of how to ensure accuracy with the different products. I had to use this same method for the humbuckers, fine tuners, locking nut, volume/tone pots, toggle switch, input jack all the way down to the knobs.

Cross referencing information wasn't too bad however my biggest hurdle was soldering all the electronics together. Holy shit this can become a nightmare quickly! And im not saying this to scare you away from it, you can TOTALLY do it. One just needs to do alot of practice with soldering on your old tone/volume pots. I literally removed all the old electronics and took a small cardboard box, drilled a couple holes and made a mock-up of the layout of all the pot's and toggle and rewired them all together utilizing one of Seymour Duncan's wiring diagrams. This gave me alot of practice perfecting my soldering joints with a low volt soldering iron. I would suggest using 60/40 rosin-core for all solder joints. Be mind-full when soldering, things get SUPER HOT, maybe a cardboard box was a bad idea but it did not catch fire

As far as manufacturers of choice for your different components i cannot speak with years of experience to back my opinion since i just finished mine but i found these guys have ample amounts of info out on the web to get the job done. Also keep in mind that anything in the musical industry that is durable and of high quality comes with a pretty price tag, consider it a great investment for yourself Floyd Rose is a huge name for bridges etc., they have a rail tail option you might be interested in for a strat set up, you will have to buy a locking nut also since it is not included with the bridge. Seymour Duncan has a pickup/humbucker for every style of playing along with potentiometer's and they really have their shit together with wiring diagrams making your wiring job effortless. As far as capacitors i went with a Sprague Orange Drop, however your capacitor derives alot off of what type of pickup/humbucker you're using along with desired tone. Switchcraft is a great source for jacks and toggles etc.

Let me know how you're progressing with this project, I will gladly do some additional research for you if you're unsure about anything. Together we can all become a true Luthier!

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Hell yeah man, I am stoked for you to get started on this journey! And depending on how much you have worked on guitars prior it can also be a huge learning experience for a slew of other things like it was for myself.

I recently "finished" rebuilding my C1-FR, check this out for the rundown ---> https://syngates.com/threads/schecter-c-1-fr-diamond-series-rebuild.2968/
"Finished" meaning I am still in the process of working out the bugs with my wiring job... when toggled in the bridge position I have an annoying crackle so i suspect i have a bad soldering joint at the toggle or bridge volume pot.

I checked out the kit you mentioned and however it looks awesome I also agree that if you're only after the body/neck i would skip the kit and find a reasonably priced guitar of your choice and gut all the parts and pieces and start from scratch. Then you dont have to worry much about painting/staining/sealing the body.

If you go this route, then you will have to start diving into the knitty gritty details. Most manufactures websites are good about listing what their compatibility is for an easy installation but others simply provide a unit spec's and that's it. I would suggest always referencing the product spec's and double checking all your measurements with your guitar regardless if they say it will work.

In example; I jumped on Floyd Rose's website and found both the unit dimensions of what the new floyd rose bridge measures along with the factories suggested routing diagram for the guitar body. I printed them out and compared with my Schecter to find i would have to re-route my existing bridge cavity. I got lucky with the bridge post's center to center measurement and only had to increase the diameter for the new bridge post's.

I understand you're not wanting a floating bridge, i just wanted to throw that example in there to give you an idea of how to ensure accuracy with the different products. I had to use this same method for the humbuckers, fine tuners, locking nut, volume/tone pots, toggle switch, input jack all the way down to the knobs.

Cross referencing information wasn't too bad however my biggest hurdle was soldering all the electronics together. Holy shit this can become a nightmare quickly! And im not saying this to scare you away from it, you can TOTALLY do it. One just needs to do alot of practice with soldering on your old tone/volume pots. I literally removed all the old electronics and took a small cardboard box, drilled a couple holes and made a mock-up of the layout of all the pot's and toggle and rewired them all together utilizing one of Seymour Duncan's wiring diagrams. This gave me alot of practice perfecting my soldering joints with a low volt soldering iron. I would suggest using 60/40 rosin-core for all solder joints. Be mind-full when soldering, things get SUPER HOT, maybe a cardboard box was a bad idea but it did not catch fire

As far as manufacturers of choice for your different components i cannot speak with years of experience to back my opinion since i just finished mine but i found these guys have ample amounts of info out on the web to get the job done. Also keep in mind that anything in the musical industry that is durable and of high quality comes with a pretty price tag, consider it a great investment for yourself Floyd Rose is a huge name for bridges etc., they have a rail tail option you might be interested in for a strat set up, you will have to buy a locking nut also since it is not included with the bridge. Seymour Duncan has a pickup/humbucker for every style of playing along with potentiometer's and they really have their shit together with wiring diagrams making your wiring job effortless. As far as capacitors i went with a Sprague Orange Drop, however your capacitor derives alot off of what type of pickup/humbucker you're using along with desired tone. Switchcraft is a great source for jacks and toggles etc.

Let me know how you're progressing with this project, I will gladly do some additional research for you if you're unsure about anything. Together we can all become a true Luthier!

Hey man, thanks for the Tips and Insights! I definetly wanna go with a Natural Wood Body because I wanna do the Paintjob and colour myself. This will be all really difficult because I don't know what Neck fits, how to adjust everything and so on. Also I have no experience with soldering guitar electronics, but a good friend that might Help me with that.

 

[Jacques]

Hey man, thanks for the Tips and Insights! I definetly wanna go with a Natural Wood Body because I wanna do the Paintjob and colour myself. This will be all really difficult because I don't know what Neck fits, how to adjust everything and so on. Also I have no experience with soldering guitar electronics, but a good friend that might Help me with that.

Gotcha, you're a brave soul, and you're welcome! Thinking about painting one gives me a headache lol But that will certainly add another layer of your own personal touch.

After doing a little bit of digging on Reverb's website it appears the body and neck are sold together so you shouldn't have to worry about that part. As far as adjusting there are fret board notched straight edges out there to fine tune the truss rod. If that is what you're referring to for adjusting.

String height is almost a personal preference, however whatever nut and bridge you decide on will have suggested string heights. You can adjust your bridge height along with shimming the nut as well to tweek string height. I adjusted my action as low or close to the fret board as possible before causing an open string "buzz" on the frets. That's just how mine was set up prior and am comfortable with it. Once your desired string height is achieved you can adjust the pickups, Seymour suggests to adjust each side of the pickup height whilst fretting the highest note allowed at high and low e since these string heights are not typically the same. Once fretted the face of the pickup should be around 1/8" to 3/16" below the string, again you can adjust according to your ear too. This is just a manufacture's suggestion.

There is also a ton of youtube videos out there of peeps explaining proper techniques for soldering guitar electronics. I was in the same position you were, i just practiced for a couple days before soldering the real deal! And if you've got another set of eyes to work on it with you, you cant go wrong!

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Gotcha, you're a brave soul, and you're welcome! Thinking about painting one gives me a headache lol But that will certainly add another layer of your own personal touch.

After doing a little bit of digging on Reverb's website it appears the body and neck are sold together so you shouldn't have to worry about that part. As far as adjusting there are fret board notched straight edges out there to fine tune the truss rod. If that is what you're referring to for adjusting.

String height is almost a personal preference, however whatever nut and bridge you decide on will have suggested string heights. You can adjust your bridge height along with shimming the nut as well to tweek string height. I adjusted my action as low or close to the fret board as possible before causing an open string "buzz" on the frets. That's just how mine was set up prior and am comfortable with it. Once your desired string height is achieved you can adjust the pickups, Seymour suggests to adjust each side of the pickup height whilst fretting the highest note allowed at high and low e since these string heights are not typically the same. Once fretted the face of the pickup should be around 1/8" to 3/16" below the string, again you can adjust according to your ear too. This is just a manufacture's suggestion.

There is also a ton of youtube videos out there of peeps explaining proper techniques for soldering guitar electronics. I was in the same position you were, i just practiced for a couple days before soldering the real deal! And if you've got another set of eyes to work on it with you, you cant go wrong!

Getting body and neck at once would be a huge help. That is my main concern with this project, fitting the neck to a body. Thing is I have to find a place where I can get a good combination, also because I want the fretboard to be maple and fender style.

I will keep your tips in mind, thanks again! Makes me wanna start right now. I'm so impatient with those projects.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

After doing a little bit of digging on Reverb's website it appears the body and neck are sold together so you shouldn't have to worry about that part. As far as adjusting there are fret board notched straight edges out there to fine tune the truss rod. If that is what you're referring to for adjusting.

Could you link me where you found offers that sell body and neck?

 

[Dominik Gräber]

21 Frets Tiger Flame Maple Guitar Neck for ST Strat Abalone Dots Rosewood Inlay | eBay

Finden Sie Top-Angebote für 21 Frets Tiger Flame Maple Guitar Neck for ST Strat Abalone Dots Rosewood Inlay bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!

www.ebay.de

Man, that is a sexy lookin neck (I don't say that too often, believe me)

 

[Jacques]

Could you link me where you found offers that sell body and neck?

There is one available here; https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=maple neck kit
But that comes with all the components too, however i bet they're imported items.

 

[Jacques]

21 Frets Tiger Flame Maple Guitar Neck for ST Strat Abalone Dots Rosewood Inlay | eBay

Finden Sie Top-Angebote für 21 Frets Tiger Flame Maple Guitar Neck for ST Strat Abalone Dots Rosewood Inlay bei eBay. Kostenlose Lieferung für viele Artikel!

www.ebay.de

Man, that is a sexy lookin neck (I don't say that too often, believe me)

That IS a sexy neck Looking at that i would presume that would bolt up to a fender strat body with a radius or rounded heel body pocket. However im not a big Fender guy and to my understanding there are quite a few different varieties. Check out this forum; https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=108820 to get a better feel. Also this one goes into more depth of the varities ----> https://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/faq2.aspx

 

[Dominik Gräber]

There is one available here; https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=maple neck kit
But that comes with all the components too, however i bet they're imported items.

Oh got it. Honestly the Harley Benton Kit seems just as good to me. Just have to make sure the new neck will fit.

 

[Jacques]

Oh got it. Honestly the Harley Benton Kit seems just as good to me. Just have to make sure the new neck will fit.

Are you ok with the neck that comes with that Harley Benton or do you want to see if that tiger flame neck fits the Harley Benton body?

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Are you ok with the neck that comes with that Harley Benton or do you want to see if that tiger flame neck fits the Harley Benton body?

I definetly want my own neck. So the tiger flame is in my mind right now. So if I want a set up with a new neck the HB kit might really be worth it's money.

 

[Jacques]

I definetly want my own neck. So the tiger flame is in my mind right now. So if I want a set up with a new neck the HB kit might really be worth it's money.

Cool, let me do some digging and I will get back to ya!

 

[Jacques]

I definetly want my own neck. So the tiger flame is in my mind right now. So if I want a set up with a new neck the HB kit might really be worth it's money.

One thing that concerns me right off the bat is the HB kit comes with a 22 fret neck, and your tiger one is a 21 fret. I want to take some time to review what else is different.

 

[Hiroshi Nakauye]

I can try and help what ever way I can. I have done a bunch of partcaster builds. And I am working on another one.

Scale length, neck pocket shape and bridge dimensions are really what are going to determine what your choices are. I would say 90% of strat necks and bodies are interchangeable as long as they maintain the traditional neck pocket and neck bolt holes.

For your bridge you will want to know what the hole spacing is to mount it. those generally go into three groups. American six screw vintage bridge, Mexico and import six hole bridge, and two point. Plus floyd rose which is a whole other issue.

Good tools to have for this is painters tape, a sharpie, precision ruler, a chunk of candle wax, a set of good screwdrivers, sharp drill bits and a drill, hex keys that fit the bridge and truss rod, a small block of wood, sand paper in various grits, solder and iron.