jgordonXXX 6 Report post Posted January 18 Hi, new member here, I would like to have dialogues with builders in the group who are able to build good looking, great sounding solid bodies without spending a ton of money. I realize that a person could spend “thousands” using the best parts (electronics, etc) and have better odds of hitting a home run. For some of us that’ Just not in the cards. Anyone feel that way? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mistermikev 162 Report post Posted January 19 I'm not sure I'd like to admit to that... but I AM a frugal builder! I'm on scratch build #3 now... my last build was a dano style that had very modest (and by modest I mean chinese) pickups... wilkinson tuners... but the wood was fairly upper-mid-level. As i move fwd as a builder I'm temped to go with better stuff as its an awful lot of effort to build... so a couple bux for this and that seems worth it. That said throughout my years of partscaster builds I've tried to buy bargain-quality... get pickups from craigslist, got a babicz bridge from amazon for $70!!! I like to think that I buy smart. I think that not everything that is expensive is great, and not everything that is cheap is trash. 'nuff said! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ADFinlayson 70 Report post Posted February 11 My first guitar was built on the budget side. I didn't set a budget but I tried to keep it as cheap as possible. Sapele form the local timber yard, £30 for 2-piece body blanks, £9 for the neck blank. £8 chinese tuners, £15 tunomatic, that sort of thing. You can also get premium pickups on the cheap if you're prepared to buy second hand (no reason why not to) A lot of people will buy a brand new gibson and put the pickups straight on ebay, I'm of the opinion that wood has such a small affect on the tone of a solid guitar, that buying cheap wood is really only an aesthetic compromise, and you can always upgrade pickups/hardware later if you want better sounds of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andyjr1515 839 Report post Posted February 14 There are a huge number of opportunities for budget builds and there has probably been no better time - albeit there are some shockers amongst them - for excellent quality and cheap hardware, fittings and pickups. And you can build some very nice playing and nice looking instruments for not a lot at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
