Building / Assembling your own guitars ?

[AJ6stringsting]

 

Back in 1997, I used to buy Kramer guitar bodies and necks from Victor Litz Music. Many of those guitars turned out to be as good as my "Off The Rack" guitars I bought from the big guitar manufacture It was fun and I have a special attachment to them.

Have any of you , built or assembled your own guitars ?

 

The Red and Black Crackle Kramer is one awesome Metal guitar, Home Assembled.

 

 

 

 

The one on the right is a Kramer Knight Swan neck with a Kramer body.

 

 

 

 

The White Strat body is a 1979 Fender and the neck a Mighty Mite neck and the Sunburst Strat is a Alder

Stewart-MacDonald body with a rosewood Squire neck.

 

 

 

 

I got a couple more, postem later

 

Post your home made pride and joys !!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr.Grumpy]

Still unfinished, literally. The neck was bought from a 'bucket of necks' at a music store, I think it's an Ibanez neck. The body is my design, built with my father's help in his wood shop. Basically a 'boat tail' explorer with the back edges beveled, like an SG. I didn't have a slab big enough for the whole body, so it's made of 5 pieces of mahogany, two layers thick. Two pieces for the top, three on the bottom,

 

 

I mucked up the pickup routs pretty badly. The plan was/is to have a brass pickguard and finish the body with a deep red stain with lacquer clear coat over it.

 

 

[AJ6stringsting]

Wow !

It's one thing to assemble, but to made and shape the body, is even better.

I used to be a cabinet maker, I made some Flying V bodies ( two H,S,H and one H,H,H, with Floyd Rose routes) and a Jackson Soloist style bodies. I routed them out for 24 frets, two S,S, H , one S,H,H and one H,H,H routes and Floyd Rose mounts.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I've never built a guitar from raw wood, but it looks like it would be fun to do. I just lack the tools to do it properly - and the knowledge, and the skill...

 

I've put together a few partscasters over the years, and one of my main guitars was a bit of a project - although I had some help from a friend at the Fender Custom Shop. It's a '75 Musicmaster that was stripped and one step away from the scrap heap... I found it on ebay and bought it. I had my buddy route it for the second pickup and turned it into a Duo Sonic II. Refinished it in seafoam green, added some compensated saddles, threw in a couple of Abagail Ybarra handwound pickups, and now I absolutely love the thing...

[Phil O'Keefe]

That's a cool looking guitar Mr Grumpy!

 

[WRGKMC]

I have a bunch of parts casters. Strat, semi hollows, even a bass with a mint Washburn Neck.

 

I don't build necks because you can buy good ones very cheap. Even if they need refretting, they are likely better then something I can build from scratch. If I had a router I'd be able to whip one out but by the time you add up quality Wood, Truss Rod, Fretboard, Frets, Nut, Tuners, Finish supplies and time involved building it, its just not worth my effort. I can buy great necks wholesale from $30 to $50. Worst I have to do is a little fret leveling and polishing.

 

Out of the 25 or so I've bought I only had one that was a dud. It started off nice and flat but that one started back bowing on me really bad. I still salvaged it though. I put it on a belt sander and made the fretboard dead flat then refretted it. Its got no radius at all now and plays like a classical guitar neck which is a very interesting effect on an electric guitar. Chords and Arpegios are ultra confortable. I put that neck on a Rick shaped Mahagont body and its a killer guitar getting jangle chord tones you hear in Beatles tunes.

 

 

I do build the bodies however. The last 5 have been made from antique wood that's hundreds of years old. My drummer does antique restorations for a living and he's always bringing me great solid pieces of rare wood. The stuff is hard to work with and really chews up tools. The wood is so old and petrified its like cutting into rock.

 

The one I have part way done now is made of Purple Heart.

He got the wood from an antique bed post. The original slab weighed as much as a cinder block so he cut it thinner on his band saw. He also cut the neck pocket for me. All I have is a Dremmil for routing and its pretty worn out from my last job. I got to give it a kick start to get it spinning.

 

I don't doubt that Purple Heart will start smoking when I start cutting the pickup routes. I have to cut three too because this ones going to be a three pickup Jag/Firebird build. I'm going to use a Tele or possibly a Strat neck, with three mini Humbuckers. I'll keep the electronics real simple. 3 volume knobs and no switches. Hardware will be real simple too. A Moserite Tom Bridge, Hard tail, Brass nut, and Grover 18:1 tuners.

 

I predict the sound will have a scooped mid tone. Bright high end from the all maple neck, deep bottom end with incredible sustain from the Body. Mids will come mostly from the Mini Humbuckers. When driven they will sound fatter then others I've built and sound similar to a full sized HB except with a little high and low end roll off.

 

I haven't actually used Purple Heart before but I've built two others, one with Walnut and one all maple and I can figure this one to have a sound between those two.

 

I do have Firebird and Normal Mini Humbuckers so I can swap pups to get a different tone. The Firebirds are hotter and brighter sounding but don't clean up as much when turned down. I'll have to use a little trial and error and decide whats best. The rest should have solid acoustic tone and with a natural finish, The purple color should be fantastic.

[WRGKMC]

Here's the two that were completed. The first one is a rock solid player with a simple setup. I have changed the bridge on this one since this pic to having a Moserite Roller Bridge and it now maintains its tuning no matter how much I bend the strings. I'm thinking about putting a shorter tail on it to increase string harmonics but its still fine as is. The neck has Stainless steel frets and the neck is glued and screwed on so there is no movement at all. The big problem with bolt ons is the wood is just pressed together. When glued, the resonance and sustain go way up. The neck doesn't move transporting either so you don't have any neck shift and the intonation/action remain solid.

 

 

This pic was taken before I had the finish completed. I has some Dremmil marks near the bridge pickup I had to sand out and finish. This ones a semi hollow body. Its got a curved walnut top made from a single piece of wood. The sides are maple and the back is a single piece of rosewood. This guitar has a great neck and has been my #1 player for several years now. The tone it gets is quite unique. It will go from a clean jangle to raging wild fire and anything else in between. Here's a quick example https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...BMaster%5D.wav

 

 

This one is the Purple Heart I mentioned. Its got a ways to go. It had just been rough sanded at this point. This wood gets more purple as its exposed to the air. Once I get all my routes cut and fine sanding dole I'll likely leave it unfinished for a month or two so it gets a rich hue before doing a lacquer finish. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with the maple neck. The frets aren't super on it and I may just strip the neck and Give it a dark natural finish.

 

[LeBerbs]

Nice looking guitars!

Have you ever tried the Carvin Kits?

[WRGKMC]

They didn't exist when I first started building guitars about 45 years ago. My father taught me carpentry as a kid and I spent allot of time working in music shops so I just learned things the old fashioned way.

 

Kits are a great introductory for a beginner who can learn the basics from assembly, to wiring, to finishing.

 

After that you should be able to start buying parts and assembling your own.

 

The question really comes down to how much you really save. I can buy an Affinity Tele for $189. If I add up all the parts and time to build one from scratch I'd be hard pressed to match that price and get the same quality build.

 

I build them because I like doing it and because I can get some unique tones I cant get from a store bought instrument. The prices of kits keep coming down though. Some of the ones coming straight from China are very inexpensive. One like this would be allot of fun to build. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-SG-selectric-guitar-kit-unfinish-guitar-Diy-electric-guitar-with-humbucker-pickups/32340587703.html

[AJ6stringsting]

I own a few of Abagail's pick ups. Just look for the AY with the date and it's one of her wound wonders.

Word has it, is M.s. Ybarra retired ....

[AJ6stringsting]

I agree with ya on that one. Nothing like making your own, after you get a hang of it, it becomes a passion.

While I was a cabinet maker,many of my lunch hours was were spent, cutting, drilling, routing,beveling and sanding guitar bodies.

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

This one is the Purple Heart I mentioned. Its got a ways to go. It had just been rough sanded at this point. This wood gets more purple as its exposed to the air. Once I get all my routes cut and fine sanding dole I'll likely leave it unfinished for a month or two so it gets a rich hue before doing a lacquer finish. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with the maple neck. The frets aren't super on it and I may just strip the neck and Give it a dark natural finish.

 

 

I'd definitely go with a darker fingerboard with the purple heart body. Maybe a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard?

 

Very nice looking guitars BTW.

[WRGKMC]

It was going to be a firebird shape but my buddy accidentally cut the neck pocket on the wrong side. I didn't have the heart to tell him he botched it cause he did give me the wood and did the rough cut. He even tapered the back like a strat for me to cut down on the weight. The rest I can do in no time with a power sander.

 

I figured by the time I get it loaded up and finished it will still wind up being cool. I'll use the top horn for the strap. I think three Mini HB pickups on this one will look cool. Maybe I'll use a wrap around bridge this time. The wood is surely solid enough for that. I want it simple and effective as possible. There is one hole in the lower tail. That's from the bed post screw. I'll either mount the controls there or put the switch there.

 

I have been using Tele control covers. This avoids cutting through the back and then having to add the back panel. I may try something creative with some pick guard material.

 

I saw this 60's Vox plate I like allot.

 

 

Maybe a Banana would work.

 

 

 

If I decide on switches, A 4 way like this with DPDT on/off/on switches would allow for series/off/parallel on off for three switches.

I just don't know if I want to bother with all that. I mostly dial up tones by attenuating the pickup gains a little, especially with Mini HB's I'll adjust one down from 10 to 8 and just use one volume to cut them off. May be a little more complex with a three HB setup.