MAKING a Guitar

[Little Laguna05]

So since I made the Buying a new guitar post I had wondered about MAKING my own guitar from like the start. A block of wood and it gets turned into a guitar, but I just wouldn’t know where to start neither do I have the space to do it. And I wanted to ask here because I am too lazy to type my questions in Google/ safari and have to search. But I figured I would get the best answers and advice and stuff here because it’s fun and I enjoy reading your replies and what not.

here are some of my questions:
1. What type of wood would be best for me to use for me to make the base and neck and all the major parts.
2. What tools would I need I’m sure there are tools I have not learned of I know the basic, chop saw, table saw etc. but what else is there that I would need
3. And… so far that’s all I got I’ll probably ask more later on

 

[Aaron_Turner]

 

[Aaron_Turner]

Does this help?

 

[Eric Kane]

Building a guitar from scratch is not something I would recommend for the average guitar player, unless you have major woodworking skills, and lots of specialized tools. Especially the neck - I would definitely not try to build your own neck. I would however, recommend looking into guitar kits. There are lots of kits out there that will still feel like building your own guitar, except all of the carving/routing/fretwork/etc. (the really hard stuff) is already done. Most kits would have pretty junky pickups and hardware, so you might want to consider replacing that stuff before you even start. Or, you could buy all the components separately instead of in a kit. Those are just my thoughts. I took an old guitar apart, refinished it, and replaced all pickups and hardware - so it was building a guitar from components - and that was hard enough!

 

[Little Laguna05]

Building a guitar from scratch is not something I would recommend for the average guitar player, unless you have major woodworking skills, and lots of specialized tools. Especially the neck - I would definitely not try to build your own neck. I would however, recommend looking into guitar kits. There are lots of kits out there that will still feel like building your own guitar, except all of the carving/routing/fretwork/etc. (the really hard stuff) is already done. Most kits would have pretty junky pickups and hardware, so you might want to consider replacing that stuff before you even start. Or, you could buy all the components separately instead of in a kit. Those are just my thoughts. I took an old guitar apart, refinished it, and replaced all pickups and hardware - so it was building a guitar from components - and that was hard enough

I have seen those but like I want to do woodworking really bad it has always interested me, and I figured there would be very pain in the ass stuff to it, other than getting sizes and stuff right but if you insist. Could I not make my own base and just buy a fretting board tho, I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t get to build the whole thing I just want to like make my own unique design that would work for me but also make the guitar itself AMAZING

 

[Eric Kane]

I have seen those but like I want to do woodworking really bad it has always interested me, and I figured there would be very pain in the ass stuff to it, other than getting sizes and stuff right but if you insist. Could I not make my own base and just buy a fretting board tho, I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t get to build the whole thing I just want to like make my own unique design that would work for me but also make the guitar itself AMAZING

Sure, you can do whatever you want! I'm just saying the woodworking is going to be difficult and you will need special tools to do it.

 

[William B.]

He did some tap strumming thing at the end, I didn't watch the entire video. Lot's of intricate work

 

[Aaron_Turner]

He did some tap strumming thing at the end, I didn't watch the entire video. Lot's of intricate work

Lot of sanding. Also, this video uses a lot of machines, such as CNC.

 

[Little Laguna05]

I’m about to watch it right now I’ve had shitty reception all day.

 

[Little Laguna05]

Okay… so I don’t have a cnc machine….

Well maybe this should be an idea for a much older me

 

[Ed Seith]

Might be better to start with a pre fabricated kit, where you still build your own, but a lot of the machining work and stuff is already done.

 

[Little Laguna05]

Mkay, I’ll look into that

 

[Ed Seith]

Search - StewMac

www.stewmac.com

 

[actnkr25]

Hi, I know I'm a little late to reply but I'm building my own guitar from scratch as well so I thought I'd give you my take on it.
If you're completely clueless on where to begin, I'd recommend watching this video This guy has 3 part series with in depth explanations. He basically answers all your questions about what tools you'll need and what kind of wood to use. However, the more "fancy" woods that are commonly used for guitars like rosewood or mahogany or whatever are quite expensive. I live in Switzerland so I just went to jumbo and bought oak and birch wood and it's worked out fine for me.
I pretty much have no real woodworking experience so don't let the lack of it stop you from giving this a shot.
Depending on the type of wood, the amount of tools you bought and all the hardware you'll need to make the guitar, it can be pretty expensive. But honestly, building a guitar from scratch has been one of the most rewarding experiences ever. Just seeing this block of wood slowly become shaped into a beautiful instrument that you're going to use to make music is so cool and imo worth every cent I spent.
If this is too big of a jump tho, you can always buy kits online or buy pre made fretboard or necks. There are even fret slotted fingerboards that you can buy, some of them already have inlays. This could make your life easier but if I were you, I'd just build the whole thing myself.
I'm not sure where you live but some online stores that I trust are gear4music, stewmac, rall guitars and tools, and madinter. I bought all the hardware, inlays and specialty tools that I needed for building my guitar on these websites.
If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them

 

[DGLee]

I built this one from scratch. The only thing that I did not "build" was the fretboard, I didn't have tools proper enough to measure and accurately slot the board. So I bought a slotted board. I did place and finish the frets. Also IF you do this, be careful of the wood choices you make. My original neck was made from Bolivian Rosewood, it was gorgeous, but while shaping it I had a ferocious reaction to the dust that was created and was on meds for 9 weeks. Ended up ith a Maple neck