First Guitar Build.

[screamindaemon]

Good day.

I am getting ready to build my first guitar.

I have Melvyn's guitar bible, and I've been reading up on this and other guitar build forums, so hopefully I have some informed questions.

I want to build an 8 string electric solid body, neck-thru, single pick-up, minimal electronics, hard tail bridge.

I haven't decided on the shape of the body, (I'm debating between Explorer/Iceman) but I dont' think that matters just yet. I'm trying to plan out as much as I can before starting to draft out pictures.

When I start building the neck, will I NEED to include two truss rods? or is this just an option to consider? If this is the case, then I assume I will need a 5-ply neck.

How does this sound, and do you have any suggestions for me at this point?

Thanks for your time

-Cam

[Bmth Builder]

You dont need two truss rods or a 5 peice neck. I think the RG2228 only has the one truss rod, but two is a consideration.

But I would advise on at least a 3 peice neck, more than that is mostly aesthetics.

[screamindaemon]

Thanks.

Now there is some information that I haven't been able to find:

What should the neck width and depth be?

I'm looking at a 27" scale.

[Bmth Builder]

That all depends on how you design it.

If you have the bridge and nut already place them 27" apart and draw a line connecting the nuts F# string to the bridges F# string and the nuts e string to the bridges e string and that will give you the taper of the strings, add a couple of mm either side and thats your neck/fretboard width.