subject: Making An Electric Guitar From Home - Is It Possible? [print this page] If like me you are an enthusiastic guitarist, you would possibly at some period have asked yourself how tough it would be to one day make your own electric guitar at home. This is a question that I wondered a long time ago and since that time I have made various electric guitars utilising fairly basic and reasonably priced tools.
Yes it is undoubtedly feasible to create an excellent instrument at home, and below I will run through some tips I have acquired over the years and also some of the tools I have used.
The first thing I would suggest is to do some searching online for one of the many publications on guitar building. Additionally, there are some superb online resources offering priceless information on the subject.
The next thing to do will be to begin sketching the body shape of the guitar you would like on a big piece of paper. Consider the various double and single cutaway styles available on the market to help you with your design. You may of course just elect to emulate one of the popular designs.
To get started on your project you should find a good work area (the garage is always very good) plus some high quality hardwood. You can find a good number of traders of instrument wood on the internet and if you do some research you can discover what woods have been utilised by the top manufacturers, for example Gibson and Fender. You will require wood for the body, neck and fretboard.
Many of the suppliers will also supply a lot of the hardware needed for the project for example the machine heads, fret wire, bridge, tailpiece and so on. They might even supply pearl inlays for the fret board. For the guitar pickups I'd personally visit a specialist maker as good quality humbuckers, Stratocaster, P-90 or Telecaster pickups are essential.
As far as the various tools required to do the job go, there will be a need for typical woodworking tools which include: files, electric sander, electric drill, jig saw, chisels, high-quality steel ruler, sandpaper, coping saw, fret saw, soldering iron, good wood glue, some strong clamps and so on. Of course there will also be the need for a few more advanced electric tools, the most crucial being the electric router. The router is definitely the guitar makers number one friend and would be implemented during the entire project to do numerous jobs for example: routing out the pickup and control cavities, routing the guitar neck socket and also the truss rod channel and many other jobs. You may manage with a lot of chiseling instead of a router but I definitely would not advise this, especially as routers have come down a lot in cost. Many people insist that you need to have a band saw to cut out the body and neck shapes but I have consistently managed perfectly with a good quality jig saw.
Other tools that I use that aren't vital are an electric spindle sander, a drill press and a tiny hobby drill. The spindle sander is an excellent way of sanding the body and neck sides without burning the wood. The jig saw can cut to within just 5mm of the finished design and then the spindle sander can finish up to the template line.
One of the most difficult areas of the entire process is definitely the cutting of the fret slots as these must be really exact. Thankfully some suppliers provide fret boards already slotted.
Once you have the appropriate hardwood, your layout on paper, your tools (standard plus some advanced) and your parts, you're on your way.
This isn't a 'how to' article, it aims to address whether or not it is possible to construct an electric guitar from your home, which it most definitely is. Of course it goes without saying that electrical tools can be extremely hazardous and you should only undertake a project like this if you're confident in your woodworking ability, if not, you might have to simply purchase a guitar after all.
