Rarely do I make the effort to plan out my projects in advance. With a few exceptions, I envision a project, I think about the project, I research techniques and processes, I buy the wood and sometimes I will make a quick sketch on a piece of paper, [...]]]> This is when I make traditional woodworkers cringe….

Rarely do I make the effort to plan out my projects in advance. With a few exceptions, I envision a project, I think about the project, I research techniques and processes, I buy the wood and sometimes I will make a quick sketch on a piece of paper, the wood itself or often on the white melamine surface of table saws extension table.

In the case of the guitar I did make a couple small drawings on scrap paper working out the proportions of the “trademark”. I then purchased the wood and marked the key locations necessary for a project requiring such precision.

Hopefully you can see in this picture the marks for the centerline and possibly for the nut, 12th fret and bridge. These are critical in making a guitar that actually sounds like a guitar.

Next I marked the outlines of the body, neck and head. Before cutting out the basic shape I used the straight edge of the side to set up a router to cut out the fret slot.

From here, all journeys occur by taking one step after another. Additional posts covering the basics steps of building this guitar follow chronologically. See the final product here.

Admittedly, it is unconventional for guitar. What do expect from a novice with no background for music let alone an interest in music prior to this project?

While slow going however, I am learning how to play. Inspired to build, inspired to play… thank you son!

(Please feel free to comment on this project. I would appreciate feedback from those that know better than I!)

This custom guitar however was made out of one solid piece of maple for reasons noted in other posts.

Again, [...]]]> The first big step in building the guitar is rough cutting the guitar body shape. Generally, for electrics this involves two primary pieces of wood, the body and the neck which is later mated to the body.

This custom guitar however was made out of one solid piece of maple for reasons noted in other posts.

Again, the design was based on a “trademark” of my son’s design. Frankly, it was a fairly simple design luckily. However cutting both the neck and body of one piece presented some challenges.

At 12″ wide, a basic band saw was not going to enable cutting the thickness of the neck profile before cutting out the neck. However, once the neck shape was cut there was not reasonable way to cut the neck thickness on the band saw without taking risks… I took the risk cutting from the head up to the last few inches before the body.

From there it was all about shaping… let me count thy ways to shape! Chisels, hand planes, electric planes, grinders, rasps, files and sandpaper are all choices but if you are like most homemade guitar makers you may not have one of every tool. In this case you have to use what you have. In my case most of the heavy work was done with an 80 grit sanding belt on my Grizzly disc/belt sander. However the approach was a little unconventional.

I raised the belt rollers vertically. Instead of using the conventional belt top, I used the underside of the belt bed. Without a solid surface under the rotating belt, the pressure of the neck against the belt forced a natural curve that I used to an advantage. It took short work to shape the neck and most of the transition between the body and the neck.

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For those interested in making their own, here is a great resource of information and resources all in one place.

ww.toolcrib.com/blog/2009/06/08/11-free-guitar-plans-20-guitar-building-jigs-and-35-more-resources-for-newbie-luthiers/

I began with a template for the size and shape of the pickups. Crazy, I know but [...]]]> Routing the cavities are straightforward. As with any work that demand precision it’s always best to work with Jigs or Fixtures. In this case for the Stratocaster styled single coils I used a scrap piece of MDF.

I began with a template for the size and shape of the pickups. Crazy, I know but I had a thin piece of padauk (the red piece of wood) which I used for the pickup template. Next on the MDF, I laid out center lines and marked the location of the back of each pickup hole. Using the padauk template I marked each cut-out, drilled and then used a scroll saw to rough cut out each shape. A little work with files and sandpaper quickly resulted in a usable jig.

The jig was clamped in place and the cavities were cut using a router with flush cutting straight bit.

I took the same approach to creating the cavity in the back for the electronics. The only difference was that I marked the location on both the front and back of the body. Using the outline on the front I correctly spaced the holes for the potentiometers and pickup switch.

The greatest challenge was cutting the narrow slot for the pickup switch. I concluded it is this challenge that causes people to use the chrome plates common to telecaster guitars.

Wanting to avoid a plate, I carefully marked the dimensions of the slot and carefully cut along these line using a fresh razor blade in a box cutter. Unconventional for sure…. but it worked. Using the blade and a dental pick repetatively I cut and scraped through the first 1/16″ or so. Then using a 1/16 drill bit I drilled several holes through the body within this channel and worked the bit back and forth like a mill to remove as much material as possible. I finished the slot with progressively finer grits of sandpaper cut into narrow long strips.

On a solid body guitar binding really just adds to the aesthetics. [...]]]> When making acoustic guitars binding is much more important than on most electrics. These small strips of wood, abalone or other materials are used to hide the joints between the tops and sides. In addition they serve as an added level of strength in these joints.

On a solid body guitar binding really just adds to the aesthetics. In my case the “binding” was used as an inlay to achieve the ultimate design concept. I set out to make a custom guitar that looked like a “trademark” that my son had used on some artwork and schoolwork.

Cutting the rabbet for the binding in my case was primarily accomplished using a trimmer/router with a fence attached. However, as you can note in the picture below to continue the inlay into the body of the guitar, and up to the neck, I  also used a dremel and a couple of chisels.

The yellow handled chisel had to be custom ground to a very narrow width to facilitate the narrow channels.

Once the rabbets and channels were cut it was a simple matter of adding a thin layer of glue and taping the binding in place until cured.

At this stage the guitar simply needed a little sanding and prep for finishing.  

There are a [...]]]> An earlier post noted the importance of defining the scale length of the guitar before you begin. Setting the bridge exactly in relation to the nut is one of the last steps in building the guitar. But for it all to work, correctly, your frets must also be positioned perfectly.

There are a number of sites that have electronic calculators that will provide your fret spacing based on your chosen scale length (I used www.Stewmac.com). However, Stewmac also has the choice of great fret ruler. Even for a single guitar, I opted to spend the $29.95 due to the critical need for proper spacing. In addition, I had purchased a custom inlayed fret board… I just could’nt handle the thought of screwing up the effort the craftsman put into the inlay!

With the Fret Scale Rule marking my frets was easy enough with a sharpened marking knife. Cutting them was the next step likely to result in catastrophic error. Whenever accuracy or consistent repeatable results are necessary the best method is alway standardization.

I build my own fret slot miter box. It is simply made with a piece of squared and true quality plywood to serve as the base. I attached the fret board, centered and parallel with the sides. Over this I place an easily built carriage/saw guide. Looking at the picture you can see the top of the saw guide is two layered pieces of plywood to provide an ample face against the saw. On both edges of the guide is mounted a side that fits squarely and flush with the sides of the base.

(Note the center line, and the scale rule to the right)

The carriage/saw guide is then positioned over each fret mark and clamped securely in place. Placing the fret saw against the face of the guide and holding it flush with my left hand, I slowly begin cutting.

To control the depth I used a piece of card stock. Placing a piece of fret wire against the edge I measured the depth of the tang and marked the card slot. I would then periodically insert the card stock into the fret slot being cut to ensure consistent and even depth.

Guitars are not cheap to [...]]]> It’s only been in the last few years that I have begun to recognize the long-term cost of current expenses. That thought alone is worthy of its own blog post and deeper consideration, but in this context it leads to trying to save a few bucks while making my first guitar.

Guitars are not cheap to buy and even more expensive to make, unless you are planning on making many.

Regardless, inevitably you are likely to find yourself with the need to remove a fret. Either for the purpose of restoring an old guitar or like in my case due to inexperience installing frets. Of course, when the need arose for me, it was a Friday evening. With no guitar tool suppliers within driving distance to remove Frets, I had two choices… wait 5-7 days, spend another $28 + $8.50 in shipping from Stewmac (I figured they had enough of my money already!) or plan B.

Plan B – Buy a pair of 10″ Concreter’s Nippers at Lowe’s. They came with a double sided bevel. I ground down the outer face until the outer bevel was removed. Then I rounded the outer face to provide a smooth surface to leverage the frets once gripped. Cost – $15.98 and 5 minutes with the grinder.