Newbie- Where do I start?

[1337-n00b]

I'm 16, been playin 8 years on the git box, got round to thinkin maybe i better start buildin stuff. Saw this forum, read some stuff, and I felt like an ass. I'm so outta my league, any of you guys help me with advice on to build a fretless 4 or 5 er with a neck thru (pocket routing makes me squeamish to think about, actually all routing does)? I have virtually no tools, no real building experience, but im sure someone i know could borrow me up some! and the whole radiusing thing, how do i keep it constant and or consistent? any routing advice i'd greatly love..matter of fact I'll take any and all, please help! Edited January 9, 2005 by 1337-n00b

[Phil Mailloux]

Go to the main site and read every single tutorial you can find, then go the the build sites pages and read every single page there. After you're done come back with more specific questions about what you want to do once you have a plan.

[zephyr7]

My advice is: Don't rush into anything.

I'm a noob myself. I'm in the process of making my first guitar. I guess we need to know our strengths and weaknesses. Start by making modifications to a guitar you are willing to sacrifice. Gain experience, make mistakes and learn from them. Save some money and invest in tools if you want to keep doing this. So far I've bought a spray gun, a dremel, and other small tools. Keep reading. Keep trying.

Good luck.

[dlaxer6]

I would start out with one of those Saga kits.. or if you have an extra guitar laying around take it totally apart and put it back together.. it gives you a muchh better understanding for guitars.. as for tools.. i made my first guitar with a $99 router and some other basic hand tools.. but the router was my only powertool.. Granted its not the most well sanded..

routers really arnt that bad if you set up guides to make sure you come out with a strait line.. its just the freehand stuff thatll kill you

as for making your first guitar go for it man, id pick up a neck from somewhere.. like rondomusic.net they have some nice cheap ones.. and get some wood.. mine was 4 2x4's glued together, i didnt really care how it sounded, which turned out suprisingly weel.. but it gave the the expirience to start on a new one with some real wood

[westhemann]

Go to the main site and read every single tutorial you can find, then go the the build sites pages and read every single page there. After you're done come back with more specific questions about what you want to do once you have a plan.

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this is good advice.

i read the main site and the forum for months before i ever started asking questions.

just let it all soak in for a while.and look....my opinion is that the best advice was handed out early on in many,many cases...so start at the beginning ,from the very first forum post.back then it was all knowledge and very little bickering and hearsay

[ToneMonkey]

Buy Melvin Hiscocks book and . Mine has a permanent position next to the bog

BE WARNED - Building guitars is not cheap, especially when you need to get hold of tools, I wouldn't like to know how much I've spent (I wouldn't like the missus to know either as it's a fair bit).

I think the cheepest way of getting into it is to go to the pawn brokers and buy an old knackered guitar with all the bit's and pieces on. You can do pretty much anything you like to it...look at idch's Bocaster for a very good example.

But read first and good luck.

[orgmorg]

The best advice I can give if you really want to build one from scratch, right off the bat, and are unsure of your ability, is this: Start hoarding scraps of wood, wherever you find them, furniture from the dump, whatever. Then, whatever tool or technique you need to learn, do it on that. Rout humbucker cavities in desktops, radius table legs, etc. You will be bummed if you bugger up a decent piece of wood making your first guitar... Believe me.

[Daniel Sorbera]

BE WARNED - Building guitars is not cheap, especially when you need to get hold of tools, I wouldn't like to know how much I've spent (I wouldn't like the missus to know either as it's a fair bit).

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agreed. Dont even start to think that it's going to be somewhat reasonably cheap. So far my guitar (the best componants and wood that I could find) Is going to cost $800 USD. Thats not BAD. I mean I could buy an american strat for that. But there peices of crap with horriable parts. So if I build mine right it MIGHT auccually be cheaper in the long run. But dont underestimate your costs. Right now I dont have much money so I just build one part than wait for the money to buy the next stage.

[Recursion]

I went to a local music store and bought cheap bodies and necks, then I built a whole guitar out of the scraps I got, so I could get use to working with the woods and tools. Ive built only 1 guitar from scratch. The best thing to do is pick a guitar that you want to copy and read up how they build them.

Edited February 13, 2005 by StudentGuitarBuilder

[robbie_rnfr]

Much is I hate to say it, find a kit. It will get you physically familiar with what goes into putting a guitar together. Plus it is a nice baby step that will give you a faster result rather than constantly looking at the chunk of wood sitting in the corner that on day is supposed to one day be a guitar but is just beyond your skill.

Read, read read.

Get currious.

Make friends with yr local guitar repairman.

And be the best wood shop student in the world. If you can't make a simple bookcase, you will never make a guitar.

And as for the $$$$ issue, all the time you put into an instrument plus cheap parts, like tuners, rarely make for a good instrument that you will end up happy with. You don't need the gold plated, locking tuners, but the difference between a $12 set and a $30 set is huge.