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This is quite the expensive hobby!


PRSpoggers

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Hey y'all, so I recently, around August got a kit guitar and it spiraled into getting a lot of tools for this. I got most inspired by Paul Reed Smith (as a Marylander why not!?) and watching a lot of stew mac videos. My dad has a lot of tools and is pretty handy himself. So I got a LP kit from the fret wire, not the most high end kit but I got upgraded parts (seymour duncan mayhem distortions, CTS pots and switch and jack, hipshot locking tuners) and all that was around 3-400 bucks. I decided if I am going to make a kit, why not get some better parts? So that is in the works at the moment. My next project I decided I am going to re fret my squire strat. I thought why not? The thing is all sorts of beat up, dents, dings, divots in the fret wire. So my first time ever dissecting a guitar was in my bedroom! Not the best place right?

So I knew the basic construction of a strat and knew it was bolt on and how all that worked. So I took the neck off and all the electronics and hardware. My first time taking off frets was quite disastrous. I knew you needed heat and a pair of fret pullers or something similar. So I didn't have a soldering iron at the moment. I used razor blades, tiny screw drivers and a hammer. The chips were somewhat large but I filled them. So I keep doing that process for a little bit and then I just pull them out regularly.

So I thought next, "Why don't I build my own actual guitar neck?" I bring the idea to my dad and he thinks it would be something for me to do. So after waiting for a few weeks we eventually go to the wood shop. I did my research prior and the store offered for musical instrument woods white limba necks and Honduran rosewood fingerboards. The white limba was a god send for me because it was only 5 or 6 bucks for a blank. The rosewood was 16 for the board. 22 bucks in total for all of it. So we go to choose and I got some nice rosewood with some awesome streakiness in it.

So I already asked for a set up kit and a set of radiusing blocks and sandpaper. Black friday rolls around and I go to guitar center the day after. Not the best experience in my opinion from my past visits. So we go to harbor freight which is right next to GC and I got a file, a hand planer and a moisture gauge. Stew Mac also had a sale and I ordered a neck template, a neck shaping tool and a truss rod. Most recently, I made a big order, fret wire, hide glue, super glue, fret saw, depth stop for that saw, both trade secrets books and a fret scale template! This is one expensive hobby!

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2 hours ago, PRSpoggers said:

This is one expensive hobby!

Most all hobbies are. Just think about ice hockey: Skates, shields, sticks, licenses, team memberships... Or horseback riding: Saddles, clothing, horse, stable... Or any motor sports... Or scouting: Clothing, backpacks, wanderings, jamborees... Or any other woodworking: The wood, tools etc...

I'm surprised that your dad doesn't have most of the tools already, having read how handy he is and how he's got a lot of tools!

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