I want to make a guitar body ...

axisus

Where does one go for a suitable bit of wood? Anything one should know from the outset?

WezV

Traditional or alternative?  

Prepped or un-prepped?

Single or Multipiece?

Budget?

 

David Dyke is always worth a call for traditional or more exotic stuff, but bare in mind a lot of luthier supply houses will assume you have the skills to fully prep the wood and don't assume 2-piece means the same as centre joined 2-piece.  essentally, make sure you ask for what you want and David is great.  Just order a 2-piece alder bdy blank without saying anything else and you will get some great wood that may need a bit more work or may not be what you had in mind... just let him know what you have in mind

http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/

 

At the other end of the spectrum you can pop to allparts and order an ash or alder body blank that is so fully prepped you can pop a template on and build with it with no more work.  but you end up paying a lot more for the convienience.    The wood is usually comparable to decent fender stuff

http://www.allparts.uk.com/collections/body-blanks/products/body-blank

 

As an alternative I recently ordered some wood from sherwin timber on ebay.  Its none traditional stuff like Idigbo and meranti, but it was a very good price and nicely prepped so it just needed glueing up  the multipiece bodies.  I have not tried the ash or sapelle and wouldn't without going to check it out, both can be very heavy

 

worth lookign in the body blank section - but have a looka round the rest of the shop too... i got an idigbo mantlepiece for very little money, and it makes a very large body blank once cut in half

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-Body-Blanks-Ash-Tulipwood-Sapele-Meranti-2-3-PIECE-UNGLUED-/181773608773

 

there are also a couple of other guys where the websites are never up to date but if you have specific requirements its worth giving them a call to see what they have

http://www.primetimber.co.uk/products/instrument_woods/

 

 

axisus

Wow, great answer!

I've built up guitars from parts before, I want to go the whole hog and make body/neck from scratch. It will be tele shape, worn finish. 

WezV

here is my recent stash from sherwin timber

That's maple, douglas fir and dark red meranti neck blanks, 2x dark red meranti body blanks and an idigbo (korina/limba) mantelpiece big enough for a very large 2 piece guitar body.  cost roughly £130 for the lot and i expected much rougher wood than this at that price

octatonic

David Dyke has (or had) some 1 piece ash and alder body blanks.

I used one for my recent telecaster build.

Joining a 2 piece body is pretty simple though- plane the sides flat and 90 degrees to the face, glue with Titebond and clamp overnight.

SimonRF

We stock Swamp Ash and Alder blanks, ready glued and thicknessed for Strat/Tele, that we make up ourselves for our own in-house body production:

http://www.rothkoandfrost.com/body-blank-for-solid-body-electric-and-bass-guitar/

JohnB

I have been using building sapele from Arnold Laver - you need to sort through the rack till you find what you want. You can make  a guitar body and neck from 3m of 68 x 44 mm planed and it will cost about £35.  My S types have come in a bit heavy (around 9lbs all up) but the through neck (JB004 in finished projects thread) is a nice 7lbs or so.

melvynhiscock

I have copies of 'Make Your Own Electric Guitar', you can do a lot worse

impmann

That book is brilliant and has been an inspiration for years.

IvisonGuitars

@axius I've got a few blanks of ash that would do the job for a Tele/Strat style build, you're most welcome to a couple of them if you can cover postage?

jd0272

melvynhiscock said:

I have copies of 'Make Your Own Electric Guitar', you can do a lot worse

Yer correct. I'm chewing me way through it.

melvynhiscock

impmann said:

That book is brilliant and has been an inspiration for years.

Thanks, I also have copies of Make Your Own Acoustic Guitar

jd0272

melvynhiscock said:

impmann said:

That book is brilliant and has been an inspiration for years.

Thanks, I also have copies of Make Your Own Acoustic Guitar

Acoustic??? What's that then???  

melvynhiscock

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/Melvynhiscock/media/MYOAG_zpsd4tgyj97.jpg.html