Members YEMandy Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 How much does it cost to build your own electric guitar? minus the cost of tools, materials only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members YEMandy Posted September 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 Originally posted by choklitlove free if you live in a junkyard in the woods. Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members choklitlove Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 free if you live in a junkyard in the woods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members choklitlove Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 that's strange... is it like that for you guys too? (a quote of my post showing up before mine) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members YEMandy Posted September 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 yeah...that is weird... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bendafender Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 Unless you can buy quality parts at wholesale prices, it's cheaper to just buy a new guitar. A bolt-on neck on Warmoth runs like $175.00, a pair of sd buckers will run about $150.00. Add tuners, bridge, tail piece and other electronics and you can't build one for the price of buying one. Havn't even mentioned body and finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Mow Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 If you are aiming for a 'custom shop' quality strat, yes, much cheaper (and as good if you have access to the right people for paint), if you just want a decent Strat, buy one.. Building custom Strats to save money is false economy. Body $200+ (there are cheaper options..)Neck $175+Hardware $100Electrics $100+Paint... slippery one that.. The Strat I'm building at the moment has cost so far.. Body $250 (premium USACG Ash)Neck $300 (Fender 62RI nitro neck)Hardware $150 (Callaham Nickel vintage stuff)Electrics $200 (SD Antiquities, best available parts)Paint $400 (thin skin Nitro, custom colour) So, thats all cheaper than a Fender Custom shop.. and its all premium stuff.. You can do it cheaper, but you won't be saving much to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members superpoo Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 if you build it from scratch, just planks of wood and a pile of parts, it'll be a buttload cheaper than buying the body already cut and the neck already fretted ETC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walfordr Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 Originally posted by superpoo if you build it from scratch, just planks of wood and a pile of parts, it'll be a buttload cheaper than buying the body already cut and the neck already fretted ETC. But it will still be more expensive than buying the same components already made into a complete guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members markas214 Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 Originally posted by bendafender Unless you can buy quality parts at wholesale prices, it's cheaper to just buy a new guitar.A bolt-on neck on Warmoth runs like $175.00, a pair of sd buckers will run about $150.00. Add tuners, bridge, tail piece and other electronics and you can't build one for the price of buying one. Havn't even mentioned body and finish. An unfinished neck maybe, Warmoth neck $300. Allparts or Mightmite can be found on Ebay for $100. Otherwise that's right. I priced building one and it was over a grand. I bought a Les Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Knottyhed Posted September 13, 2005 Members Share Posted September 13, 2005 I looked into and yeh - it's just an expensive, if not more so to build your own. To be honest you don't have a massive amount even if you just buy the wood - particularly if you assume you're going to make a few mistakes along the way and have to chuck things away. But that all misses the point, if you want to build a guitar you shouldn't do it to save money, but for the sense of achievement and satisfaction IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gnurph Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Originally posted by Knottyhed if you want to build a guitar you shouldn't do it to save money, but for the sense of achievement and satisfaction IMO. Or to have a unique body / neck / headstock design of your own. Or uncommon woods, even. I have a dream of making / owning a Les Paul - type guitar made of walnut neck and body (neck thru design) with a carved cedar top. Clear coat finish, nickel hardware, stainless steel frets, rosewood fingerboard, abalone trapezoid inlays, Burstbucker pickups, tonepros locking bridge/tailpiece... yes I'm drooling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mighty Coogna! Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Stewmac, again. Their bodies used to be a lot cheaper. It's about $400-$500 to build your own from prefab parts - a basic model that it, no frills, as nice as any $1000 guitar - if you know how to set it up and tweak it. Like a fender strat style guitar. A gibson style will cost you a lot more too "tool up" for since the construction is more involved. IMHO it's about half what you pay retail, which makes sense in a way considering the markup by the factory to the dealer, and the dealer to you. To build from scratch is a whole 'nother ball-game. The tooling, jigs, tools and specialized gear add up, not to mention being proficient with them. For r instance to build a bolt on neck you have several steps: Squaring the wood Joining & profiling Routing/jigs the trussrod slot. Holes for the tuners Gluing up the board Cutting the nut slot Cutting the fret slots Installing the frets Inlays Profiling the neck Sanding Finishing And that's just simple bolt on neck. A glue in style having a few more steps. Now if your talking about a real custom job - if you have the skills you could end up with a very valuable instrument for a lot less than buying something equivalent. By that time, you aught to be building them and selling them. I've stuck with building up custom strats mainly, and a lot of customizing others. I've built a few solid-bodies, done a few refinishing projects and messed around with various electronic con-figs. I'd consider my self an expert at a few of those things, as ell as set-up's and fret dressing. I'm going to work on building necks, fretwork, finishing and inlays next. Then who knows, maybe my own custom line. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Edward Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 I'm currently acquiring all the bits to put together my own custom Strat. I am aiming for a total price of under GBP500; to put this in perspective, i could buy a new privately imported domestic spec MIJ Fender for that price; an MIM Std would be about GBP400, and a new MIA approaching GBP700. If all i wanted was a regular strat or a 50s style, I'd probably be looking at the MIJ / MIM Fender ranges, along with MIJ Tokai (the MIJ Tokai Strats are beautiful, and come out at just over GBP300 new here - main difference is the headstock is slightly different, but that's no biggy to me). However, I want something that's not quite the norm - basically a mix of modern and vintage (probably modern neck and machineheads, vintage style bridge), with three trisonics, and some custom wiring, a varitone type module etc. I would probably end up spending the same buying a new or used Strat and just replacing the plate, but then I also want a specific finish on it, so that would be something else I'd have to change too.... Maybe if i wasn't left handed, it would be much easier.... Overall, though, my advice would be if you want something that's fairly standard, buy it, otherwise if you want something that's really offbeat and you can't get the same combination of finish, pups, wiring, neck profile otherwise, build it yourself. DO however have an upper budget in mind and stick to it; think carefully what you want in terms of neck etc, and shop around for price. Don't rule out using a reasonably priced copy as a donor - if you find a basic used Squier that has a great acoustic tone, and you love the neck and body, then that could well be a great donor for neck and body, much cheaper than buying them seaprately new, and you know before you part with the cash whether they're going to be a good fit or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackbelt1 Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 My son and I are putting together a SAGA Telecaster kit right now. We've sanded, painted, and sanded the body and stained the neck. We'll be putting down the first clear coat tonight, weather permitting. The kit, brand new, was $75 + shipping on eBay. eBay is the only source I could find them at. We spent another $25-$30 in paint and sandpaper. Yeah, we know it won't be something that would give James Burton a woody when we're done, but for just over $100 it's been a fun father-son project. ~Blackbelt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bruce Bennett Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 if you build every part, and you don't have to purchase any specialty tools to do so. Then you can expect to pay about 700.00 + or - 100.00. and thats useing nice stuff.. Why would you want to build with crap right?.. point being you COULD build it cheaper, but you would end up with a "Squier strat" or something close in quality. so no reason to go there. But the liklyhood of haveing access to every tool your gonna need is really slim. and the "first" of anything you build, is gonna cost the most due to one time tool purchases and supplies. also unless your a really well seasoned craftsman.. I would suggest assembleing from parts, so that you can end up with a working instrument instead of a pile of non- functioning parts. Heed my warning, I have a storage barn FULL of non-functioning parts. and I have been building for 27 years now. even when your experienced at it, you'll still make mistakes, and the first time is ALL ABOUT the mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members angus_old Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Originally posted by superpoo if you build it from scratch, just planks of wood and a pile of parts, it'll be a buttload cheaper than buying the body already cut and the neck already fretted ETC. only if your time is worthless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members maxnew40 Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 I have built a nice tele with a swamp ash body,warmoth neck Duncan LIttle 59 in the bridge GFS Retro_tron in the neck for about $600.00. I did all the finish work myself using nitro laquer. The case is not included in this total. Max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Greg Bogoshian Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Build 'em like mine and it gets more expensive yet. 9 pieces of exotic woods in the chambered body alone. Bookmatched tops and backs (4) with either koa, padauk, or bloodwood, Cuban mahogany chambered skeleton (1 large piece), 2 layers of maple veneer (one each between the skeleton and top and skeleton and back), and two strips (one top seam and one back seam) of combined maple and cocobolo inlay. Haven't even gotten into the time to shape it all by hand or the cost of the pickups, hardware, bridge, tailstop, electronics, tooling for routers and tons of high quality sandpaper, neck, tuning machines, finishes... I'd tell you what it costs to build my guitars, but then I would have to kill you. I charge $2,000 to $2,500 for them depending on options and they are true hand-builds from raw woods. I ain't gettin' rich off of 'em, especially if you consider the hours (way over and I mean WAY over 100) I have in each one. Boggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members celtic30 Posted September 14, 2005 Members Share Posted September 14, 2005 Originally posted by Blackbelt1 My son and I are putting together a SAGA Telecaster kit right now. We've sanded, painted, and sanded the body and stained the neck. We'll be putting down the first clear coat tonight, weather permitting.The kit, brand new, was $75 + shipping on eBay. eBay is the only source I could find them at.We spent another $25-$30 in paint and sandpaper.Yeah, we know it won't be something that would give James Burton a woody when we're done, but for just over $100 it's been a fun father-son project.~Blackbelt Reasons like this are why you should build your own...not just to save a few bucks. Cool story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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