Building an electric guitar.

[Spencer McCullough]

Hello, I was just inquiring as to difficult or easy it is to build an electric guitar from Guitar Plane Unlimited (Jamie Undens website/company) for a first time builder like myself who is not well versed with electric guitars (as I've only been around or played acoustic guitars)? Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts, opinions, or answers.

Regards,
Spencer

[Peter Wilcox]

Welcome. My advice would be, unless you have some wood working experience and a modicum of tools, that you start with a kit that has all the parts. They will need sanding, finishing and you put it together. Places like this have kits for under $200.

http://www.byoguitar.com/Default.aspx

After you do this, it will be easier to build from plans, or design your own.

[Spencer McCullough]

Thanks for your thoughts and response Peter Wilcox. I actually do have some experience with wood working as I used to carve songbirds out of blocks of solid wood I also had/have an excellent teacher/instructor although I'm not sure if he has ever made an instrument or even would be willing to help me . I have just never made an instrument like a guitar (either solid body, chambered, or hollow before). Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts, opinions, or answers.

Regards,
Spencer

[JC Whitney]

Hello Spencer. Jamie’s plans are excellent, but they’re not a step by step instruction manual. They and other plans assume a certain amount of knowledge about the process. Whether you are building your first from a kit or from scratch, I’d recommend first getting a copy of Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvyn Hiscock. Read it front to back a few times... then pick a style (and perhaps a set of Jamie’s plans) and start building.
... and please don’t forget to post your results here at the MIMF.

[Bob Gramann]

It won’t hurt you to read a couple of “How to build and electric guitar” books. Seeing the approaches of a couple of different authors will help you to get an idea of what you might want to do for the features you want. Making a trial version out of cheap wood doesn’t hurt either. And, even though you have plans, drawing it out full size from the measurements on the plans will help you to understand the relationships between the parts. In other words, do it with a pencil before you do it with cutting tools. The part to worry about is the neck angle and the bridge height to get appropriate action. When you undrstand that, the rest is pretty straightforward. Good luck and enjoy. You won’t build just one.

[Spencer McCullough]

Thanks everyone for all of your help. Does anyone recommend any other books on building electric guitars ? Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts, opinions, or answers.

Regards,
Spencer

[Gordon Bellerose]

I always reccommend a book called:
Electric Guitar Construction
By
Tom Hirst

Very clear instruction with lots of pictures.
Aimed at the first tjme builder.

[Spencer McCullough]

Thanks Gordon Bellerose I will look into purchasing that book, I just didn't know if there are other books that I should look into. I prefer to use more than one source of information for research to help eliminate biases.

Regards,
Spencer

[Gordon Bellerose]

Another book that will make your life easier is:

Guitar Player Repair Guide
by
Dan Erliwine.

Buy it at Stewmac.com

This book covers A LOT of ground. It gives specs for set up which are your target when building.
It helps to understand exactly where you are going and why, while building.

These are other books that have helped me also. See Stewmac again.

Fretwork Step By Step
Guitar Finishing Step by Step

[John Clifford]

Another book that helped me get started:

Building Electric Guitars, by Martin Koch

That and the Hiscock book pretty much got me through my first build. The two books complement each other well.