Building My Very First Guitar

[wildchild247]

I got some medite today

dunno what its like but it is really heavy

got any suggestions

if medite is crap any suggestions for alternative to mahogany

or where I can get cheap mahogany

its for a neck thru guitar so i need a good length

[Primal]

What is your location? We can't give any advice if we don't know where you live. :-P

I've never heard of medite before. If you are looking for cheap practice wood, try poplar. Otherwise, if you can't get mahogany for a neck, try maple. Maple is probably more available where you live.

As for the batteries, I would recommend using just two batteries to run the pickups and preamp. If you use the EMG preamp, you should easily be able to run both the pickups and the preamp at 18v. My bass has EMG pickups, and I have been running them on the same batteries for over a year. Just make sure you always unplug your guitar when you aren't playing it. ;-) You can get individual battery compartments for 9v batteries that allow you to change the batteries without unscrewing the control cavity plate.

If you are tight on cash, I would recommend scrapping the EMG pickups altogether and use passive Seymour Duncan pickups. You will likely save $100 at least. Also, to simplify the electronics, I would suggest using two volumes at the very least. That way, you can just turn down the volume on the neck pickup and use the 3 position switch as a kill switch.

[wildchild247]

I live in Ireland Europe

the really small place beside the UK

wood is really hard to get here as most of it is imported

I like emgs(although my other guitars have di marzio and seymour duncan in them) and I would be using them anyways

I just need good quality cheap wood to start

[Primal]

Maybe some of the builders from the UK could chime in and suggest some locally available woods for you.

[wildchild247]

i got a hold of some mahogany and cherry

Guess what happened to the wood!!!

I cant believe my money went down the drain

OK heres the story:

I bought the wood and left it in the shed out back

I thought what could go wrong its a huge piece of wood

Ok then I notice my brother skating on a ramp

I asked "Where did you get the wood?"

Replied "out back"

I run to check if the wood was there and it wasnt

then I ran out and shouted "That was supposed to be my guitar youF*&^5 sh*t"

Thats the end of the story

Edited August 15, 2006 by wildchild247

[mammoth guitars]

I run to check if the wood was there and it wasnt

then I ran out and shouted "That was supposed to be my guitar youF*&^5 sh*t"

That's a shame, sorry to hear that.

[RGGR]

Ok then I notice my brother skating on a ramp

I asked "Where did you get the wood?"

Replied "out back"

I run to check if the wood was there and it wasnt

then I ran out and shouted "That was supposed to be my guitar youF*&^5 sh*t"

Thats the end of the story

Not promoting violence......but gosh is this nice anger management in situations like these. LOL!

[jaycee]

Heres a link to a guitar forum based in the UK.

http://simnettguitars.co.uk/bb/index.php

It's not as extensive as this forum but I found it very helpful with getting stuff over here (in the uk).

Apart from that I use this forum (project guitar) because of the vast amount of experience that these guys have. There are also some awesome tutorials in the tutorials section of the web site. One thing I would suggest is if you can't do it in your head then dont touch the timber until you can.

I made a neck out of 4 x 2 Pine it was good practice and the only real thing it cost me was time, but then it gave me experience.

Edited August 15, 2006 by jaycee