Tell me it's a bad idea

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How hard is it to actually build a guitar?

I've been thinking about buying a new Telecaster but I know there will be so many little things I won't be happy with that I wonder whether building something myself might be the best way forwards. I've never done anything like this before but I don't mind doing general DIY stuff on the house and car and in my general gung-ho style I think 'how hard can it be?'

Tell me this is a bad idea before I end up spending a load of dosh on a pile of firewood!

MLten80

Buy a cheap kit first imo
 You'll get an idea of the building/wiring/setup

If you bugger it up....sell it on fleabay 

lovestrat74

Check out some of the excellent build threads in making and modding then you will get a better understanding of the level of work involved and the tools you will need

Mark1960

This is a bad idea! - But do it anyway.

I'm thinking on similar lines. My son who also plays guitar is back from Uni next week, and i thought it would give him / us something to do together over the summer months, so i think I will invest in a Gear4music kit or something similar. They only cost around £75.00, and it will be a (hopefully) half decent backup guitar for gigs.

Megii

Useful/necessary skills include:

- ability to do a fret level (not needed if you buy a neck from GSPBASSES on here)
- ability to cut nut slots
- ability to do the soldering/wiring you want, and it helps to understand a bit about guitar electronics (not rocket science)
- ability to drill holes of the right diameter/depth, in the right places
- if using an unfinished body, then you need a do-able way to finish it e.g. Tru Oil, Wudtone or whatever
- some sensible approach to getting the neck alignment right, so that the strings line up down the centre without one of the E strings getting too close to the edge

Also, do not assume parts from different sources will work perfectly together - it is often/usually necessary to do a bit of filing to things like scratchplates where they will go around the bridge and/or neck pocket. Also sometimes some work needed on the sides of the neck pocket to get the neck to fit nicely.

But there is a lot of useful help and info available on pretty much all of the above on the internet these days, and if you're a careful/thoughtful kind of person, who won't just rush at the whole thing, and will pay attention to the details, then you should be good. You could do a lot worse than order a tele neck and body from GSPBASSES on here.

First guitar I made was a tele, it came out great, and I still use it. 



And beware, if you do take to parts building, then it is highly addictive.

stickyfiddle

Lots of wis above.

No individual step is hard per se, but there are lots of little things that can be screwed up, or that are easier with specific tools that non-guitar folks won’t have. 

But it you can skip a bunch of that by buying specific parts where that’s been done, from basic unfinished bodies & necks right up to fully-constructed parts ready to bolt together and set up. 

Funkfingers

It is a bad idea BUT an educational experience. 

Anyone looking for a “kit”, I have assorted electric guitars in unfinished project condition. PM me.

prowla

Buy a selection of parts or a barebones project of ebay/wherever, bolt them together, do a bit of soldering, put some strings on.

I've built a few that way and have had some pretty good results.

I've not made one from scratch - cutting the timber, making a fretboard, etc. But I might one day...

Roland

www said:

How hard is it to actually build a guitar?

Making a Tele or Strat isn’t hard. Fenders were designed to be assembled by unskilled labour. Gibson’s need a bit more work. There are things you need to know, but you can read them on the Internet. There are some tools you’ll need. If you have to buy these then the guitar won’t turn out any cheaper than buying one, but you will have learned a lot. 

An alternative approach is to buy a Squier or Epiphone or similar, and upgrade the hardware.

If you trawl through Making and Modding from previous years you will find some interesting  threads. Scratch builds, kit assemblies, and guitar upgrades..

www

Haha - some great replies here - many thanks! I think I need to spend a few days trawling through the forum gaining a bit more knowledge but I can see me doing it sooner rather than later.

Corvus

Do you mean scratch build? I'd start with making a body and fitting a bought neck. You can make a neck later without the whole project depending on it. There's really a lot more in making a good neck than making a Tele body.

If you go toploader bridge instead of string-through that takes away the biggest f-up point. Or use one o'those drop-in ferrule blocks.

Body making, want a router pref that can take 1/2" cutters and some way of sawing to the outline. Bandsaw ideal, handsaws perfectly do-able just slower. You can level/flatten a wood blank with a router sled without needing a planer/thicknesser. If you get a 1-piece slab you don't have to worry about jointing and buying clamps.

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Corvus said:

Do you mean scratch build? I'd start with making a body and fitting a bought neck. You can make a neck later without the whole project depending on it. There's really a lot more in making a good neck than making a Tele body.

No, I'd buy the body and neck and then put it all together. That's the plan anyway.

Are there many places around that would finish a new body in nitro for me? I've seen a few videos around of DIY spraying but I know that's something I'd rather get done for me so it's done properly

Jonathangus

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Are there many places around that would finish a new body in nitro for me? I've seen a few videos around of DIY spraying but I know that's something I'd rather get done for me so it's done properly

@GoldenEraGuitars

@lamf68 ;

ICBM

It's a bad idea, because you'll build a guitar, which won't be perfect because that's the way of guitars (even if they are), and you won't be able to sell it because 1) home-build partscasters are worth nothing on the open market, and 2) you will be emotionally attached to it because *it's the first guitar you ever built for yourself*.

So you will then build another one, which will be better but still not perfect (even if it is), 1 will still apply, and 2 will still apply even if slightly less. So you will then build another one. And another. Before long you will have a house full of partscasters, no space, no money, and you will need a shed at the bottom of the garden to put them all (and yourself, once the divorce papers come through) in.

There lies the road to ruin.

Roland

Making your own guitars is similar to buying them, but cheaper. Whatever you’ve got there’s always that next thing which will improve it.

GoldenEraGuitars

Making your own guitar is a real journey of discovery and enlightenment. We all assume that because we buy a guitar with (insert brand/type) components that these were picked because they’re the best parts for the job... well, that’s not the case. 

Okay, so there’s lots of cons if you don’t know exactly what you want or what you’re doing. But we’ve all been there, some of us like it and some of us don’t. The best thing you can do is have a goal as to how you want/envisage your guitar to end up. Have a look around for parts both new and used to get an idea of what is available and what will fit in with your plans. 

My advice is to get a decent body and neck to start the build with. You can change these later, sure... but why bother? Everything will be attached to these two key parts so it’s best to start as you mean to go on. Once you have a nice fit between the neck and body you can start to look at hardware, pickups and wiring components. Teles are great because they’re a lot more simple than a strat or offset to build up. 

Once you have sourced the parts (id have to recommend @gavin_axecaster for the hardware) id get the body, neck and bridge to a tech for a quick once over and even a possible fret dress/rolling the board in unless you’re happy to learn how to do this yourself? If you can do fretwork you will save a small fortune and it’s another part of the guitar building journey that you’ll be glad you did. 

After that, get the body and neck painted. Once that’s done, dry and ready you’ll be able to start assembling. If you’re not happy with wiring then get the guitar back to your tech for assembly and set up. Or... learn to DIY. 

You will make mistakes, possibly buy the wrong part here or there and get annoyed with choosing a finish or even a wiring diagram. But you’ll have fun. And if you do some basic things right then you’ll have a “custom shop” level guitar for a grand or so. 

Jez6345789

As said Tele and Strats were meant to be put together by low skilled workers.

i have always liked that you can get the wood hardware pickup etc that you want.

I wanted a light weight swamp ash Strat with a V neck 50’s style pickup. With a nice worn in fit. All very doable with ready made necks and ready done bodies and diligent use of fine burnishing.

With DIY the world is your lobster

Keefy

When you go guitar shopping, you can try loads until you find the one that 'speaks' to you. If you are parts building, you will imagine that the components that you have selected will produce your ideal guitar, but once it's all together that may turn out not to be true - don't ask me how I know! The good news is, if you can work out which part(s) aren't cutting it, you can swap them over.

Also the playability and performance of your build will rest heavily on your setup skills - can you adjust a truss rod, cut a nut, level a high fret?

It will be fun, but you may end up spending far more money than you intended, to the point where you could just have bought a much better instrument.

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Lots to think about, thanks!

In doing a bit of research I found that there's a guy local to me (MG Guitars, Frodsham) that runs 'build your own guitar' weekends. It probably works out at about £250 on top of the parts, but you do get to use his tools and he teaches you how to cut a nut, level frets, set up the guitar etc etc. A number of people I've spoken to rate him very highly. I'm quite tempted by this option as it may well end up cheaper in the long run but I need to check with him that I could supply my own nitro finished body, as he typically only finishes his guitars in Briwax or Wudtone, neither of which I want

Fuengi

If you're doing it because you want a guitar it's a terrible idea. 

If you're doing because you want a project, it's a great idea. 

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Fuengi said:

If you're doing it because you want a guitar it's a terrible idea. 

Why so?