Guitar For My Daughter..

[Ropes4u]

My daughter wants a new guitar and I am thinking about building her one, I am a knife maker and have some experience building things but I want an honest opinion.

Should I get a kit or build one from scratch? I have seen the Sagas and read many reviews of them most not all that great. Are there any other options for a decent kit? My other options are to just buy all the parts from one of the many suppliers, or start from scratch. Which would do you think would make the most sense?

Thanks, John

[fryovanni]

John,

What type of guitar would you want to build? I am assuming solid body. Different guitars will vary as to degree of difficulty. Some guitars such as a Strat or Telecaster could allow you to buy completed or almost completed necks. If you want you can even buy body finished or waiting for finish. Basically you can choose how much to do. Other guitars with different features increase in difficulty. Some features such as; carved tops, figured wood tops, set neck, neck-thru, angled neck, angled headstock, binding, pearl inlay etc.... It is really hard to say how much you are willing to take on or how much you can handle on a first guitar. You said you have some experience with tools & woodworking thats a huge plus.

You will find tutorials, and probably all the info you need by doing a search on this site. A lot of people have documented the building process on certain models with good detail and photos. If you have a question that has not been answered by someone allready. I am confident you will be able to get the question answered by one of the people around here.

Hope that helps. Rich

[guitar_ed]

Hi,

You might try asking your daughter what she wants. If she wants things that are not available with a kit, you have your answer.

Guitar Ed

[thedoctor]

As the others have said, we don't know what your daughter even wants. That aside, I haven't seen a kit that has been worth the ease of getting all the parts at once. Something is always comprimised in the process of assembling a "fits-everyone" kit. There is also the issue of building versus buying. It is cool to build a relative a guitar. A lot of my output goes to relatives who want to start playing or get a better axe. If they stay with it, great. If they lose interest in a year, I want my axe back. VERY hard to pull off. Balance your desire to create a work of love with the very real possibility that this could be a passing fancy.

[Curtis P]

Here

Here

Here

That will get you started, if you want to build her a solid or hollow body

Curtis

[MzI]

if you want a little bit better kit, check out the grizzly kits they have on their website, they are more expensive but id assume the quality is also better then the saga kits

MzI

[ThePlague]

if she wants a strat style guitar, look into carvin bolt kits. for under $400 you can assemble a pro-level guitar.

[foreigner]

Hello John.

I'm in the middle of my first guitar, and i must say that it is one of the most fun things that i have ever done. I think the beauty of the process is that you can make it as easy or as difficult as you possibly want.

Does your daughter want a carved top? Does she want an attractive topwood? What kind of music is she interested in playing? There are so many different directions that you could go, but im sure that no matter what road you take, your daughter will absolutely love her guitar. I cant imagine giving a better present than a beautiful instrument that you made with your own two hands.

So once again, it simply comes down to what she wants and how much time you have. The possibilities are endless, but im sure that the end results will be very much worth every minute.

Ja.

[mledbetter]

I would ditto the recommendation for the carvin Bolt kit.. A strat style guitar is hard to go wrong with. The sagas pretty junky from what I hear. The grizly heirloom kits look pretty nice. With those at least you have the choice between a strat style, or an LP or PRS style kit.

The other convention is "will she stick with it?" You could get a mexi strat for 350 bucks or so, save time and hassle and if for somereason she doesn't like it, sell it on ebay and at least guarantee yourself 60-70% recovery of your investment..

www.wdmusicproducts.com has some pre finished kits that probably aren't great.. but better than sagas.. Also, if you want to build one still they have pre packaged assortments of hardware, pre wired pickguards, etc.. They will upgrade them too for better stuff if you call and ask. They are a wholesaler but they have retail sales to the public too. You'll still spend 5-600 bucks in parts though, but they will be better than the average kit and you won't have to worry about a parts list..

[skibum5545]

It's hard to give many more suggestions without your feedback on the previous ones, but I can say this: building a guitar body is not that hard, especially if you avoid carved tops or difficult woods. If all you want is a strat style body, you'll need a bandsaw, a router, and a spokeshave/rasp, as well as sandpaper and lots of elbow grease.

The other thing you need is patience. Routing neck and pickup pockets takes a lot of detail in measurement and placing the templates or guides. You can't settle for good enough. If you're willing to devote your time and energy to a high level of detail, it sounds like you've got the skills you need.

Regarding the neck, I can't comment as I have not built my own. However, I bought a neck from Warmoth.com and it was well worth the trouble of not having to carve, radius, fret, etc. on my first build. The neck is also great quality. I have no regrets.

Everything else there is to say has already been said, as far as I can tell, so I look forward to hearing your response.