building an electric guitar? :)

[pinky78]

Hi.
Has anyone here ever build an electric guitar by himself (including the pickups)?

Info pls

[tonemonster]

Do you mean carving the wood, making the neck etc... or creating an instrument to YOUR specifications from available and or custom parts? Listed below are two excellent souces of parts, instructionsm and materials.

www.warmoth.com

www.stewmac.com

[MuaDibb]

ESP used to make bodies, parts etc. Built a really nice Jazz Bass from their stuff.

[GRollins]

I build basses. I'm here to tell you that cutting the slots for a fretboard is not for the faint of heart (a couple of thousandths of an inch off and the notes be sharp/flat forever). Learning to make and install a truss rod can slow you down, too.
Unless you have access to serious woodworking equipment, good seasoned wood, and have a practiced pair of hands you'll do better to start with at least a pre-made neck. Once you build the rest of an instrument, you can decide for yourself whether you're ready to tackle the more difficult parts.
On the other hand, if you're looking to buy bolt-together parts, you can whip up an instrument in no time. Stewart MacDonald sells various necks and bodies that you can assemble in whatever combination you please.
Winding your own pickups is relatively easy. The trick is to get the sound you want. If you intend to go active, you can get away with a low output pickup (which, amongst other things, will give you more sustain), but then you're going to need a really clear idea of how the pickup and the circuit (and the instrument) interact in order to give you the final tone.
Can it be done? Yes. Is it easy? No. And if you really, truly build an instrument from scratch it takes months. Fortunately, it's not an all or nothing proposition. If you don't want to build a neck, you can buy one and wind your own pickups...or vice versa.
It will take patience and a willingness to fail in order to learn what works. But the results can be very nice indeed.

Grey

[elementx]

I never dreamed of building a guitar from scratch, talk about a time investment!

I found a lot of satisfaction in refinishing/stripping old guitars/basses. That might be a place to start. It takes some time and effort, but yields nice results.

[lineup]

1.
Building an electric guitar from ready made parts is reasonably possible project.
You can get a unique custom guitar and modify details.

2.
Building an electric guitar and make most of them parts yourself is a very difficult project.
If you want a good guitar.

3.
Buiding an amplified acustic/halfacustic guitar from parts can be nice alternative project.
May be much more difficult to find parts, than for a standard electric guitar.

[Peter M.]

It is not easy, but it very very satisfying.
I make classical guitars, have also made a couple of electrics. It takes time and effort but i am enjoying every moment.

Links to read:
http://tomacorp.com/pickups.html
http://www.cybozone.com/fg/index.html

[Peter M.]

The motherload of musical instrument making links:
http://www.mimf.com/link.htm

[DoomPixie]

a mate of mine who is a carpenter built a totally awsome b.c.rich style guitar from scrap.. the only things he bought premade were the pickups and the fretboard, body and neck he made himself and he did all the wireing himself. it sounds awsome and is a really nice guitar to play.. I'll see if i can persuade him to come on here at some point..
Owen

[phil mailloux]

I build my own bass guitars and pickups, here's my site.

www.geocities.com/philmailloux