Where To Start?!?

[Craig9045]

hey guys, im completley new to this feild as after some tips.

I want to be able to make my own guitar, but im also a realistic person lol and know that its going to take a lot.

I want a small project to start practicing the skills ill need when making my guitar, i dont really have much woodwork experience, or many tools, so it would be a great help if someone had a small woodwork idea that i could get started with that didnt take many tools (as i will be buying them), but are the same tools needed in building a guitar.

Or any books or information that helped you when you were in my situation would be great!

thanks guys

[ihocky2]

Melvyn Hiscock's book on how to build your own electric guitar is pretty much considered the bible and pre-requisite reading around here. I've probably read it cover to cover at least for times and refer to it constantly.

[IPA or death]

Here is a comprehensive, step by step build that will help. guitar build

I also recommend the Hiscock book, and I like Martin Koch's book too Martin Koch

I would read all that more than once before I bought the first tool or piece of wood.

[jessejames]

I don't recommend the Hiscock book. I bought it, and it told me nothing more than I already found out just by using the search function.

[WezV]

the search function here? my god! its completely random and lacks any structure - learning from that would be like bailing out the titanic with a teaspoon

I FULLY recommend the hiscock book simply because i never would have built a guitar without it. Sure - all the info is probably available on the web, but thats mainly because people who learnt from that book (and other texts no doubt) have reposted it or posted their own version of the methods within it (as the book does encourage you to develop your own methods rather than merely copy what has gone before!)

So why am i recommending the book if its all out their anyway?

It tells you just what you need to know to build a guitar in a structured way. you can build many styles of guitar from that book without ever looking at anything else... but its real strength is that a couple of read throughs of that book will give you the knowledge and terminolgy needed to use a search function on a forum effectively. The book will give you a sound and wide ranging knowledge base from which to start

[westhemann]

i agree with Wez.The book is concise,informative,structured,and easy to understand with zero clutter and crosstalk...it gives you an information base to start from in hours,not weeks...and if you had nothing else BUT that book for information you could still build a very classy instrument.

The best thing is to read that book and study it,then come back with questions like "Where can I buy a quality dual action truss rod?" or Do you guys slot your own boards or buy them preslotted?"

That book polishes away the wide eyed newbieness in record time.

[verhoevenc]

You can also give my free eBook a wizz through. TOTALLY comprehensive like a real book? No, but it'll take you from start to finish on how to build a your first guitar with minimal tools in a less than desirable locale. Cause it follows me building my first guitar with minimal tools in my backyard of a small college house.

It's in the lutherie resources section of my site: www.muxguitars.com

Chris

PS: As a favor to me (and the above guys who are all super helpful) learn to use the search function before posting You'll make more friends here that way. And I assure you, there's good friends to be had.

[Tim37]

get the book.

[jessejames]

I have to respectfully disagree. If you read it, it doesn't tell you how to build one. Just gives general ideas. There are some great builders here, i mean just great great builders, and a lot of them like the book. But when I got it I was looking for more specific details, such as how deep to route for humbuckers, neck pockets, how much to angle a headstock, etc.... And this book really doesn't have that. It does have scale lengths and the measurements on the fretboard for them, and does have a nice section on how to angle a neck properly.

But the search function here can provide you with the exact same info for free.

I personally went through the book once or twice and just resold it.

My first build was disasterous, and there are only things you will learn from just sheer experience.

[jessejames]

You can also give my free eBook a wizz through. TOTALLY comprehensive like a real book? No, but it'll take you from start to finish on how to build a your first guitar with minimal tools in a less than desirable locale. Cause it follows me building my first guitar with minimal tools in my backyard of a small college house.

It's in the lutherie resources section of my site: www.muxguitars.com

Chris

PS: As a favor to me (and the above guys who are all super helpful) learn to use the search function before posting You'll make more friends here that way. And I assure you, there's good friends to be had.

To expand on this I read Chris's PDF file and it was very informative, and his youtube videos are very informative as well.

[westhemann]

Not to be disagreeable,but I have to respectfully disagree with your disagreement.

No "dis" intended...

[jessejames]

Not to be disagreeable,but I have to respectfully disagree with your disagreement.

No "dis" intended...

No problem! I dont get all bent out of shape! People can disagreee respectfully, no need for any static!

[Tim37]

I have to respectfully disagree. If you read it, it doesn't tell you how to build one. Just gives general ideas. There are some great builders here, i mean just great great builders, and a lot of them like the book. But when I got it I was looking for more specific details, such as how deep to route for humbuckers, neck pockets, how much to angle a headstock, etc.... And this book really doesn't have that. It does have scale lengths and the measurements on the fretboard for them, and does have a nice section on how to angle a neck properly.

But the search function here can provide you with the exact same info for free.

I personally went through the book once or twice and just resold it.

My first build was disasterous, and there are only things you will learn from just sheer experience.

the books name is "how to build your own electic guitar" not "plans for an electic guitar" there are some things you need to do in the planning stange

[jessejames]

I have to respectfully disagree. If you read it, it doesn't tell you how to build one. Just gives general ideas. There are some great builders here, i mean just great great builders, and a lot of them like the book. But when I got it I was looking for more specific details, such as how deep to route for humbuckers, neck pockets, how much to angle a headstock, etc.... And this book really doesn't have that. It does have scale lengths and the measurements on the fretboard for them, and does have a nice section on how to angle a neck properly.

But the search function here can provide you with the exact same info for free.

I personally went through the book once or twice and just resold it.

My first build was disasterous, and there are only things you will learn from just sheer experience.

the books name is "how to build your own electic guitar" not "plans for an electic guitar" there are some things you need to do in the planning stange

Right. Because none of what I pointed out goes into building a guitar.

[sam_c]

But when I got it I was looking for more specific details, such as how deep to route for humbuckers

Depends on the type of humbucker and how you plan on mounting it.

...neck pockets

Depends on what bridge you use

...how much to angle a headstock

Depends on which type of nut you use.

Im pretty certain those points are in the book, but even if they are not, it is a great starting point that is relativelty low-cost and you will use it time and time again.

My advice is get the book AND use the search function here. It would be crazy to ignore any available reference material as there are lots of ways to do things and some work better for certain people rather than others.

[IPA or death]

the search function here? my god! its completely random and lacks any structure - learning from that would be like bailing out the titanic with a teaspoon

Ain't that the truth! I thought I was the only one that found it fairly useless.

I would give one more piece of advice to a beginner, and that would be to buy pre made templates for the first build (and it wouldn't hurt for subsequent builds either if you're not doing an original design). But after you've built one or ten with good templates, you can design and make your own. Templates make a world of difference.

[WezV]

I have to respectfully disagree.

and that right there is the problem with trying to learn everything from a forum - ask 1 question, get 20 different answers... dont have the knowledge to know which is best for you

I was looking for more specific details, such as how deep to route for humbuckers, neck pockets, how much to angle a headstock, etc.... And this book really doesn't have that

the pickup thing can be worked out in 30 seconds with a ruler.

Neck pecket depth is really worked out with the neck angle bit which is covered in detail and relates to choices you make with materials and hardware.

It does describe two ways to do a headstock splice... with specific measurements - it works well. I am sure it mentions common headstock angles too, but i could be remembering wrong on that.

[jessejames]

I have to respectfully disagree.

and that right there is the problem with trying to learn everything from a forum - ask 1 question, get 20 different answers... dont have the knowledge to know which is best for you

I was looking for more specific details, such as how deep to route for humbuckers, neck pockets, how much to angle a headstock, etc.... And this book really doesn't have that

the pickup thing can be worked out in 30 seconds with a ruler.

Neck pecket depth is really worked out with the neck angle bit which is covered in detail and relates to choices you make with materials and hardware.

It does describe two ways to do a headstock splice... with specific measurements - it works well. I am sure it mentions common headstock angles too, but i could be remembering wrong on that.

With your 3 points right there, you went into more depth and detail than the book did on these areas. When something says "Make your own ________" it had better be pretty detailed go over every aspect of whatever it is you are wanting to make. This one was detailed, but did not go over every aspect.

[verhoevenc]

Would you have been more pleased if the book had said something along the lines of "make the pickup route of a depth equal or greater than the height of the pickup plus your chosen distance you wish the pickup to be away from the strings, minus the distance from the strings to the top or the guitar. However, not greater in depth than the thickness of your tenon if making a set-neck guitar if thinking about the neck pickup route." Cause that's pretty much the answer... cause it all depends on your other choices of bridge and fretboard height above the body (leading to the figure of how high the strings are off the body at any given location), what pickup you use (since it's height will play a role in the minimal depth), etc. etc. etc. I'm sure if he HAD given that answer people would have gone "what the heck does all that mean?!" because it is an overly complex way of explaining something the brain naturally does. In this case, it's much easier for him to show "oh, well I need to route deep enough that I can fit the pickup under the strings, plus a little space for adjustment" and then the brain goes off to figure out what that depth may be.

("height of pickup" + "desired distance between pickups and strings") - "distance from top of guitar to strings at pickup's desired location" =< route depth < "depth of tenon below surface of body if contemplating route depth for the neck pickup"

There's some things you'll always just have to do for yourself. That... or after you've read a book on HOW to build a guitar, go buy some plans and make a copy of that guitar to exact specifications... As it was said above, the book is there to put the process out there and teach HOW a guitar is built. That is not the same thing as plans. If you want plans, but plans. If you want to learn, buy the book. If you need both... BUY BOTH!

Sorry for my smart-assed tirade... but come on folks. If you have EVERY last detail hand fed to you so you don't have to do ANY thinking... then what's the fun? What have you REALLY learned besides an ability to regurgitate numbers? That, and if you don't LIKE thinking like that, then good luck with lutherie.

Chris

[DC Ross]

... if you don't LIKE thinking like that, then good luck with lutherie.

Chris

+1. There are many variables that can't be generalized that you need to calculate yourself. It's not difficult if you go about it logically.

[WezV]

When something says "Make your own ________" it had better be pretty detailed go over every aspect of whatever it is you are wanting to make. This one was detailed, but did not go over every aspect.

then you may be missing the key point of the title. It is not called 'make a stratocaster copy' - if it was i would expect the level of detail you seem to want

I appreciate it may not have given you what you want - but its probably the go to suggestion on every guitar building forum, and there is good reason for that.

colour pictures would be nice though!

[supplebanana]

colour pictures would be nice though!

Melvyn visits this site occasionally..... after your suggestion it looks like Issue 3 might be on the way..... damn - looks like I'm gonna have to fork out for a 3RD copy.... DAMN YOU WEZ!!!! (lol)

let me just say this.... i managed to build a guitar WITHOUT the book, before the internet - only because I'd done woodwork at school so I knew how to use handtools(all I had!) AND I played, set-up & repaired guitars for about 3 or 4 years beforehand - so I knew all about the mechanics of a guitar - it played, but it was still a dog. I soooooo wish I had access then to all the resources available now and i'm pretty damn sure if I'd access to THAT DAMNED BOOK I wouldn't have made as many DAMNED mistakes as I did.

i'm not a religeous person - far from it.... but this book IS THE BIBLE when it comes to guitar building. I'd rather have it & not need it than need it & not have it..... nuff said.

[WezV]

by the by - if you want to build acoustics you have a choice between incredible amounts of detail and a good overview.

'Guitarmaking, tradition and technology' by cumpiano & natelson takes the tell all approach, but something like kinkead's 'Build Your Own Acoustic Guitar' or sloane's steel string guitar construction' are much more like the hiscock book - it that they give you a nice overview and a place to start. I have those 3, and a couple of others and the cumpiano & natelson one gets left on the shelf the most. It good at what it does - but it is not a nice read like the others mentioned!

jessejames - just to warn you, you would do well to stay away from the benedetto book. its brilliant, insightfull and a pleasant read - but it gives you a lot less specifics than any of the others mentioned here

[jessejames]

No worries with that Wez. I haven't even heard of that book or considered it.

My biggest point is, you can introduce a beginner to guitar building, give him that book, and I can guarantee he wouldn't be able to use it to do a complete build. The book does have some good sections, but I found the best resource is the search function, and asking questions. A lot of you guys are VERY good at what you do, and it's good to get the information from someone you can directly interact with.

[verhoevenc]

...it's good to get the information from someone you can directly interact with.

I could not agree more. That said, you have to know the field before most will talk to you. Most people will get annoyed if you come onto a guitar forum and ask "what's the difference between a humbucker and a single coil" (yes I realize that's a pretty drastic example lol). So it's best to learn and read as much as you can, and then, once you have a grasp of the general knowledge, have researched things specific to your building needs, then it's time to have some great, INTELLECTUAL, guitar-building conversations with people. I've found interaction, be it here on the forum or in person, to be one of the biggest reasons I have ANY guitar-building skill today.

Chris

PS: I never bought the book... I built my first couple electrics with just the forum (and the counter-productive advice of a woodshop teacher lol). I only ever started buying books when I started acoustic work.