Making Electric Guitar

[Hypno Toad]

I plan on doing this sometime this year, I have a lot of experience in precise carpentry and woodwork, and we just received a large shipment of wild maple, and wile cherry lumbers in the shop (both very solid, dense material)

Does anybody have an good sources or info/experience on making solid electric guitars? And if possible where to buy pickups and other parts in Vancouver?

I don't know a huge amount about electric guitars, so some advice would be cool.

First Step:




Progress as of now (about 6 months in):

[Ryder1234]

You should be able to get all the pickups, switches etc at Long and Mquade

[randman21]

I plan to get into amateur luthier field myself, some day. Maybe when I have more than one room to work in. I have absolutely no experience in carpentry or woodwork, but I still plan on trying my hand at it. Anyway, here's my contribution to the thread:

If you're looking for cheap, good quality stuff, try Guitar Fetish. In spite of the name, they're known for being good and reliable. I've bought pickups, input jacks, tuning heads, and a soldering iron from them.

Steward-MacDonald is another name I hear being thrown around, more so than Guitar Fetish, so I'd imagine that they're better. At some of those prices, they'd better be.

Warmoth is the third one that I've been recommended. I only spent a few minutes on their site, and if I recall correctly, it was mostly out of my price range, but it might not be for you. Check it out.

And I'm sure there are many more.

[Hypno Toad]

Thanks for the advice.

I never liked the idea of buying an instrument. Feels cheap. The idea that you made it feels a lot more rewarding, too. Especially if it is done really well. I would recommend it to anybody who has the skill, time and resources. Electric guitars from what I hear are very easy to make, plus you get the quality bonus if you do it yourself.

Maple and Cherry are the primary materials for pricey guitars, I have them in bulk, which helps too :P

[lost_nvrfound]

musiciansfriend.com will be able to give you a lot of choices for all of your bits and pieces. Far more than maybe a local music store. I'm in the process of rebuilding a guitar. I've got the body of a 60s something or other, that only one person in the state might be able to identify (and thats a long drive away, so i'm keeping a close eye for a possible opportunity to take it to him). I'm trying to research parts and whatnot.

The only advice I can provide about actually making the guitar is that when you make the neck join (provided you make the body and neck to separate pieces) You want it to be as tight as humanly possible. Not only will it make the neck more solid when you secure it, but it will also make the sound richer because the contact between the woods will help with resonance (thats part of why godin's guitars are so fantastic.)

[Ryder1234]

I'm going to be doing this myself. In woodwork this year. But I'm only gonna make the body. The neck would be difficult and I don't want to go through all that work to find out I fucked up. Also, Allparts is the way to go.

I've also reassembled two guitars before, so I know the process. So as long as I get the measurements right and don't fuck up when routering the cavities, I should be good.

[drummerbecca]

You could try this site. You have to register but I think it has a fair bit of useful stuff on there from people who have also made their own guitars.

http://www.guitarbuild.com/

[Ryder1234]

So in woodwork I'm planning a couple of guitar related projects. The first will be a guitar body (custom shape), mahogany with a maple top. Luckily I have a Strat body a can base my final measurements from (really only the width, and of course bridge placement).

The second will be some pickguards for my RG. The first will be the most complex, oak with a mahogany border/rim. The second will likely be yellow cedar. I don't know about the third yet, I'll have to look at some other woods. am excited about this almost more than the body (Because it'll take me a while to buy all the electrical parts and other things for it)

[dreaded]

try this site.,they have all the info.you could get with regards to guitar assembly..www.guitarsampsetc.com







guitars

[Ryder1234]

Here's what one of the pictures should look like: