Make an Electric Guitar
Want a guitar that allows you to express yourself? What better way to get one than to make it yourself.
Steps
- Have some money. You don't want to spend too much, but get what you want for your guitar.
- Make sure you really want to do this, making a guitar can take a while and will waste your good money if you decide to quit halfway through.
- Look through guitar magazines and on the Internet for inspiration for a design. If you like a certain guitar, try to at least make some minor changes in the design to be original.
- Once you have a design make a scale drawing of it on graph paper, or if you are good with computers draw it on a vector drawing program like CorelDraw. Make a full size drawing or print out of your design to use as a plan.
- Get access to power tools. The most important tools you'll need would be a jigsaw or band saw, a belt or oscillating sander, and a drill. If you know a guy who knows a guy who's willing to help you out that is a good way to borrow the tools you need. You can also use hand tools if you want to improve your arm strength.
- Get some nice pieces of wood for the body (alder and ash are most commonly used for their sound - ash is heavier but is less expensive and alder is a lot nicer because it is lighter but probably a bit harder to find and a little more expensive), the neck (any type of maple is good for this), and the fretboard (ebony and rosewood are the two most common woods for this. The sound will be affected by which one you choose, ebony has a much tighter grain and clear sound. You can also use maple wood for the fingerboard, but ONLY on electric guitars). Avoid using plywood, unless you are on a tight budget, as it will slightly effect the sustenance of your guitar in a negative way due to its lack of density, but if you don't really care, then go for it. (More Dense=More sustain.) Mahogany, Alder, etc. are good for bodies and necks, ebony and rosewood are good for fret boards, but any hardwood will do nicely.
- Trace your design onto the wood for the body, include the outline and anywhere else where there will be holes or cavities for the electronics.
- Cut out the body with your jigsaw or band saw (or hand saw). Try not to mess up because this is very important.
- Hollow out the cavities for the electronics and pickups, and the area where the neck sits, and drill holes for the neck to be bolted on to.
- Sand down the body, round out sharp edges, and do whatever you want to finish the body.
- Get the wood you want to use for the neck, make some rough cuts to get a basic shape, cut out the area where the truss rod goes.
- You can get a truss rod at guitar stores, repair shops, the Internet, or you could go to a hardware store and buy a threaded rod. Insert the truss rod in the channel with some powerful glue to secure it in place.
- Glue the fretboard on, use wood glue. Go on the Internet and find the fret distances for a common scale length around 25". (scale length=double length from nut to the twelfth fret. Get a ruler and measure out the frets and cut slots for them to sit.
- Now you must radius the fretboard, and the only good way to do it is to get a radius sanding block on the Internet or at luthier supply stores. Sand out the radius and deepen the fret slots.
- Get fret wire, pre bend it to the approximate radius and hammer it in.
- Now you can make final cuts to your neck, drill holes for the tuners and neck blots, and sand it to its final shape.
- Get a pickguard, bridge, nut, tuners, knobs, and electronics. Choose which of these you can make yourself, and which you MUST buy, because it will reduce the quality and sound of your guitar. You could buy the tuners, and electronics. You can also get a pickguard, and a nut. All a pickguard is made up of is plastic; you should be able to find some plastic in your house for free. All a nut is, is a small rectangular piece of bone, plastic or metal, you might be able to find something like that for free.
- Assemble your guitar to see how it looks, now disassemble it.
- Get some quality spray paint and primer at a hardware store. Follow the wikiHow article on how to paint your guitar.
- Let it completely dry for a couple of weeks.
- Assemble your guitar, assemble the electronics (you'll need a soldering iron and know how to use it.)
- String it up, plug it in, and rock out!
Tips
- Templates can be a big help when you are cutting holes in the body.
- You may want to practice fretting on a piece of plywood before trying it on the real thing.
- If this is your first time, consider getting a kit and putting it together instead of building a guitar from scratch.
- Don't forget to look for an appropriate carrying case. This will come in handy soon enough.
- There's a DVD "A Complete Custom Electric Guitar Build" - the best $20 you'll ever spend!
- Be very accurate when cutting frets.
- Being resourceful can save you a lot of money, the only things you really need to buy are the truss rod, the tuners, fret wire and the electronics, and even those things can be made with expertise, or found used for cheap.
- Here are some suggested measurements:
- 330mm 13" wide
- 430 mm or 17 " long
- 45mm or 1 3/4" thick
- The pickups are the most expensive thing that you will need to buy for this project, two cheap humbuckers could cost $100 in all look for used stuff for cheap, you can always change them later.
- Stewart MacDonald (www. stewmac.com) has a huge supply of guitar making tools and parts; you should definitely check it out.
- If you want to save some money, use some old guitar parts in addition to the new ones.
Warnings
- Don't get too mad, this will take time and patience.
- Also make sure to keep all of the wood that using away from any unnecessary moisture. Doing so may cause the instrument to change shape and sound.
- Power tools are dangerous, you will need your hand to play guitar.
- You should also ask someone who actually knows how to assemble one because if you're like me who wants to actually know how to make one and is trying to find at least something to help him. In other words, turn somewhere else.
Things You'll Need
- The right kind of wood (tone woods)
- A guitar design
- Power tools
- Wood glue
- Fret wire
- Radius sanding block
- Pickguard
- Truss rod
- Nut
- Tuners
- Bridge
- Electronics (pickups, Pots, capacitors, wire, etc.)
- Soldering iron, not a soldering gun
- Spray paint and primer
- Some books on guitar building
- Patience
- Your creativity
Related Articles
- Paint a Pickguard
- Change a Pickguard
