Building a guitar

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:59 pm

Well, i want to try and possibly build my own guitar. Has anyone done such a thing? Really, what I want to achieve, is a super small form-factor body, with a standard 22 fret neck, and dual or maybe tri humbuckers (not single-coil pickups). Does anyone have any experience? Any Tips? All help would be appreciated. Thanks

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:21 pm

It shouldn't be too hard. I mean they're only, what, 5 buttons and a little flipper?

Seriously, you might be better off buying a decent one. (Acoustics and resonance and all that...) You might be able to retrofit new pickups onto an old one... Sorry, I don't know much about guitars other than the fact that I can't play them.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:30 pm

lol. Thanks for that

Well, I plan on building an electric, not acoustic. It'll probably just be a franken-guitar, seeing as im not that handy with woodcrafting.

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:04 pm

Check out my les paul build progress thread. I posted a few tips along the way. Its a good read if you're building a guitar.

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php ... ess+thread

Edutainment · Post by **Edutainment** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:16 pm

If you wanna use pre-fab parts, check out Warmoth. They do sell a template body so you can shape it yourself if that's what you want, but they have a bunch of pre-fab ones.

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:24 pm

Warmoth is insanely expensive though unfortunately.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:01 am

Im thinking something like this for the body, just not as bleh, and not as big. Way smaller.

I forgot the name of it, but in Guitar Hero III they have that small guitar.. Something like that.

Super Cameraman · Post by **Super Cameraman** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:59 am

This instructable looks pretty good.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Y ... ric-Guitar!/

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:17 pm

there is a 404 error with that link

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:22 pm

A few years ago I'd die for a Warmoth Gecko Bass. I had it all planned out and everything. Now, I don't play bass, barely touch guitar, and play a few hours of piano every few weeks.

Don't be wasting tons of money on something you may not want to keep, especially if it's so customized nobody else will want to buy it when you're bored.

Also, Tim made his own guitar, with the help of several insane woodworking tools and my grandpa, who carves wood and soapstone in his free time. Oh, and some guys down at Lee Valley, a wood-working store. He only made the body (Rewiring pickups and making a preamp doesn't count, all of us can do that). It took him quite a while to do. The chunk of wood he carved it from alone cost upwards of $70.

I would suggest ASSEMBLING your own guitar versus building one. Who knows, people might be selling guitars on eBay dirt cheap because some frets broke off or something! Take that, buy one with a broken body, and voila!

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:00 pm

ghosstt wrote:there is a 404 error with that link

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Y ... ric-Guitar

Click that and add a ! at the end of it.

Edutainment · Post by **Edutainment** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:48 pm

ghosstt wrote:I forgot the name of it,

Gretsch Bo Diddley

HazmatB · Post by **HazmatB** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:26 pm

Edutainment wrote:
ghosstt wrote:I forgot the name of it,
Gretsch Bo Diddley

I'm pretty sure he was saying he couldn't remember the name of the guitar hero one. Which is in the style of a Gibson Les Paul I believe.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:06 pm

No. its not les paul, and its not the bodiddly. Its gray.. and really tiny.