First guitar

[Tom]

Im thinkin about making my first guitar, but have been put of by a freind going on abot the balance and other weight isues, i have known him to talk out of his arse. is he ?

[krazyderek]

depends how you like your guitars, and it will after all be for you so why should his opinion affect you? some people like heavy guitars, some light, some neck heavy some body heavy and some balanced. I prefer a tad on the heavy side and slightly body heavy. Easiest way is just trace a guitar you like and find out what kind of wood it's made out of, you should be fine.

[westhemann]

put the upper strap button even with the 12th fret and it will balance correctly.if you are making a v,make the bottom horns longer to make up for the top strap button placement.

[DividedByJames]

I have also found that on strat-type guitars if you angle the strap buttons from being parallel to the neck to being pointed towards the neck (like 7th fret) it'll help balance. I got that from watchign and sort of mimicing Fieldy from Korn. I did it once on a bass and the strap popped right off. So I moved it more around the edge so that the bass would hold the strap in while vertical like Fieldy holds it. I've since stoppedholding the bass this way, but at that angle the strap pin works wonders.

On V shaped bodies, it also works to put the strap pins on the neck joint area (same direction as the 4 bolt neck plate screws). Then screw in just that button and attach one end of the strap. hold the other end up and see if your headstock goes for a dive. If it does, you need to move the button. If not, secure the other strap button to the end of the guitar and you should be set with it being balanced. Keep in mind that the headstock needs to be lighter than the body for this to work. If you don't keep that in mind your neck joint will look like swiss cheese looking for the most balanced place.