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Post subject: Build a guitar
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:44 am
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Is it possible to build an electric guitar at home (wooden part)? With regular home appliences like hummers, saws, screws etc...
Just wondering... I used to do everything at home with my own hands from nailing a picture on the wall to building an additional room... Would be funny to try to built guitar at home. Is that possible? Is there any instruction anywhere like what wood to use or what sizes everything should be... 8)

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:59 am
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Please don't discriminate against butter knives, 2 lb iron weights and razor blades. Those play an imperative role in home-made guitars! :D

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:03 am
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the_philth wrote:
Please don't discriminate against butter knives, 2 lb iron weights and razor blades. Those play an imperative role in home-made guitars! :D


yeah right :?

cmon i'm serious :wink:

i'm not saying that i actually could do it and most possible that i won't, but still it's funny to try, just have to learn somewhere some specific things like sizes, materials etc

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:06 am
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There would be some specialized tools needed.

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:10 am
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Brian May built his famous Red Special guitar out of an old mantlepiece and some motorcycle parts. Seemed to work out okay for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_special


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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:11 am
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CAFeathers wrote:
There would be some specialized tools needed.


i'm ready to spend some bucks to get some fun :wink:
but just a FEW bucks :lol:

anyway, where can i get full instruction?

who knows, may be i'll build some guitars and in 100 years they whould be sold for 10 mils $ 8)

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:13 am
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russianracehorse wrote:
Brian May built his famous Red Special guitar out of an old mantlepiece and some motorcycle parts. Seemed to work out okay for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_special


yeah, that' what i'm talkin about :wink:

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:27 am
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The body is EASY if you are careful. Building a neck, I'm not sure I'd try THAT.

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:40 am
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mthorn00 wrote:
The body is EASY if you are careful. Building a neck, I'm not sure I'd try THAT.


why not))
there's nothing to loose eccept some wood pieces ))

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:55 am
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Well, getting the neck shape and radius consistent and correct is one reason.
Keeping it "dead balls" straight is another.
Slicing that super thin rosewood fretboard is yet a third.
How good are you at spacing,aligning, and drilling tuner holes? (there's 4)
Ever installed and dressed frets? (Aiiii 5 reasons)
Good wood is not cheap, mistakes could get costly (number the sixth)

There is a reason luthiers get paid pretty well.

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:59 am
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You'd need routers, drills, dremel's and "household" tools of the like if you really wanted to "keep it real" like that.

I swear, this is a true story; when I was maybe 17 (1987) a friend gave me an old Jackson neck that he took from a guitar he smashed at a backyard party - I always had guitar parts lying around, I don't know why because i sure as hell didn't know one thing about wiring pickups or pots - oh, check this out - Jeez, I just remembered this - my first soldering experience was with a Bic lighter and a Flathead screwdriver (hehe). I would burn the tip of the screwdriver hot enough to melt the solder from the pots. When that didn't work, I resorted to just burning the hell out of the pots holding them with pliers. I've got a nice-sized crater on the inside of my right ankle to remind me of my childhood shenanigans.

Anyway, my dad had his wood pile out back and I remember taking this huge plank to the garage, using his circular saw to cut the desired body size; my expert eyes knew exactly what I wanted - to hell with measuring! I then drew a Strat shape on the wood blank - used a router to shape both the top and bottom of this masterpiece. I then proceeded to draw where my expert eyes presumed where the pickup and neck cavity should go - (I did trace the Jackson neck on the *body* in case you were wondering) routed out the holes as well as the control cavity around back and voila - absolute craftsmanship at its finest!

So, I cut out all the holes, drilled the neck on - yes, I just went ahead and drilled the drywall screws right through the body until that baby was locked. I then took two lines of fishing wire, tied to both E-string tuning pegs, ran em down the length of the neck and held the butt-end down with Thumb Tacks - slipped the bridge underneath the lines, tacked it down - dropped the pickup in and the other "electronics" and I was ready to rock!

Before I strung it up, I had this wild "Artistic" moment and decided that since my guitar wasn't gonna be painted, it needed something else... like Holes! Yeah! I'll use the biggest bit and route out some holes! It was great. Well, the thought was pretty artistically advanced for me at the time, but in reality, I just turned my brand new masterpiece into a Swiss Cheese Sponge! Not cool!

I actually did put strings on eventually - but the action was about 2 inches off the fretboard and the neck now looked like a Half-Pipe! That thing hung in my basement until 2003.

Long story longer and point of this Elephant Talk - I was able to - nay - [attempted] to build a guitar out of the "household" items to my avail - *irregardless* of the tools involved being non-standard or the not-so-typical household tools, I worked with what I had and I almost built myself a homemade guitar - and I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those pesky kids . . .

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 12:07 pm
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the_philth wrote:
You'd need routers, drills, dremel's and "household" tools of the like if you really wanted to "keep it real" like that.

I swear, this is a true story; when I was maybe 17 (1987) a friend gave me an old Jackson neck that he took from a guitar he smashed at a backyard party - I always had guitar parts lying around, I don't know why because i sure as hell didn't know one thing about wiring pickups or pots - oh, check this out - Jeez, I just remembered this - my first soldering experience was with a Bic lighter and a Flathead screwdriver (hehe). I would burn the tip of the screwdriver hot enough to melt the solder from the pots. When that didn't work, I resorted to just burning the hell out of the pots holding them with pliers. I've got a nice-sized crater on the inside of my right ankle to remind me of my childhood shenanigans.

Anyway, my dad had his wood pile out back and I remember taking this huge plank to the garage, using his circular saw to cut the desired body size; my expert eyes knew exactly what I wanted - to hell with measuring! I then drew a Strat shape on the wood blank - used a router to shape both the top and bottom of this masterpiece. I then proceeded to draw where my expert eyes presumed where the pickup and neck cavity should go - (I did trace the Jackson neck on the *body* in case you were wondering) routed out the holes as well as the control cavity around back and voila - absolute craftsmanship at its finest!

So, I cut out all the holes, drilled the neck on - yes, I just went ahead and drilled the drywall screws right through the body until that baby was locked. I then took two lines of fishing wire, tied to both E-string tuning pegs, ran em down the length of the neck and held the butt-end down with Thumb Tacks - slipped the bridge underneath the lines, tacked it down - dropped the pickup in and the other "electronics" and I was ready to rock!

Before I strung it up, I had this wild "Artistic" moment and decided that since my guitar wasn't gonna be painted, it needed something else... like Holes! Yeah! I'll use the biggest bit and route out some holes! It was great. Well, the thought was pretty artistically advanced for me at the time, but in reality, I just turned my brand new masterpiece into a Swiss Cheese Sponge! Not cool!

I actually did put strings on eventually - but the action was about 2 inches off the fretboard and the neck now looked like a Half-Pipe! That thing hung in my basement until 2003.

Long story longer and point of this Elephant Talk - I was able to - nay - [attempted] to build a guitar out of the "household" items to my avail - *irregardless* of the tools involved being non-standard or the not-so-typical household tools, I worked with what I had and I almost built myself a homemade guitar - and I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those pesky kids . . .


sweet story :D
it pushed me even more to the idea...
just need some info, where to get it?

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 12:15 pm
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Google something along the lines of "how to build a guitar" and you'll get all kinds of results. You can probably do the same in YouTube.

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:05 pm
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You could probably get by if you had access to a decent wood workshop with many of the wood working tools and had some carpenter and woodworking skills/experience.

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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:12 pm
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You might want to start with a kit. There are all kinds available on the internet. Just look around. A kit would give you some idea of what you're getting into.

Find the Stewart MacDonald website. Find the Project Guitar website. And from there you'll go on to dozens of other websites.

Very doable if you're willing to commit the time and effort.


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