guitar_ed

Hi MzI, I like the staggered thru-holes. Quite cool. Guitar Ed

Hey BLM20, Having gramps handy to help and comment will be great for the both of you. I would bet good money that he can teach you a lot. He just might surprise you. And if you really want to have fun, get the Bennedetto (sp?) book on building Archtop guitars. Ask gramps to read it while you guys build the neck through. Archtops and violins are very similar in concept, building wise. Ask him.... He just might. Take care and take photo's. Guitar Ed

Toothpicks are my holefiller of choice. Guitar Ed

Hi SouthPaw, You might want to check out the Carvin website. If you go into Guitars/In-Stock/Solid Body or Acoustic-Electric, they often will have one or two quilt top guitars with a clear finish. It will give you an idea as to what it might look like for you. Guitar Ed

Hi Alexander, Don't worry too much about the drill running the wrong way. I have done it so often that checking the direction is now just "one of those things" that I always do with out thinking. Guitar Ed

From personal experience trying to cut body blanks on a jigsaw, make sure you have extra blades available and that you know how to change them. Guitar Ed

Hi Plague, What kind of guitar? Tele? Strat? Les Paul? SG? Another brand or model? And why do you want to build your own guitar? If you think that it will be cheaper than buying a standard factory model, you are probably wrong. The next question is: What can you do, or do you want to do, for yourself? As many people have mentioned, what about tools? Does it make sense to buy a router and band saw (approx. US$200) for only one project? Or does it make sense to buy a body? These are just some of the questions that you need to answer before figuring out how much it will cost you. Guitar Ed I have a PhD in the school of hard knocks. And the bruises to prove it.

Howdy, There are two things that are not available in books, that I think you will need: 1) Common sense 2) Patience Otherwise, the books you have outlined are probably some of the best books available. Take care. Guitar Ed

Turn down the volume on the guitar. Guitar Ed Master of the Oblivious

Hi BB, You have posed a good question. Unfortunately, there is no really good answer. Part of the answer lies in what you are attempting to build. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that you want to build a pure Telecaster. Ash or Alder body. The dimensions of the body & neck perfect. How are you going to get those measurements? If you do it yourself, do you have the tools and do you know how to use them? Continuing the assumption of a pure Tele, would it be cheaper to buy one from Fender? (The answer is probably yes.) The real answer lies in your goals, your skills, and your desires. And only you know the answer. Guitar Ed After inflation, my $0.14 worth.

Hi Phil, Use more than one speaker to produce different frequencies , use a crossover. Or it will sound like crap. It is that simple. One of the things that separate lower end from higher end speakers (home audio) is the quality of the crossovers. And doing them properly is not cheap either. If you want a full soliloquy on the subject, let me know. Talk to you later. Guitar Ed

Hey Dylan, Keep at the woodworking with your father. I would lay odds that it will pay off, but not when or where. From time to time, take some of the stuff you have built down to Pushic's shop and show him. Say "hey, I just wanted to show you what I have done recently." He knows that you are into the guitar thing. He will know why you are there. You need to prove to him that you are not some idiot kid with no skills and no dedication. And that is a hard and time consuming thing to do. Keep at it. Guitar Ed

Hi Meegs, Also being older, 43, I would like to add a few comments. Broadly speaking, the more eductation you get, the better off you will be in the long run. Going to school sucks. I realize that. And a college degree does not mean you can actually do something. But all things being equal, the person with the degree gets the job before the person without the degree. Also, the person with the degree gets promoted faster. But most important, at least to me: The person with the degree has the most options when deciding on a career or job. There are fewer things that you "can not do" compared to the person without the degree. So grab the most education you can, and find a local luthier who will let you work part time. Many are looking for apprentices. My local guy has two of them. BTW: Assuming, without evidence, that you are male, there are lots of chicks in college. Guitar Ed My $0.02 ain't worth what it used to be.

Hi Razzark, In my opinion, it would be very difficult to create a definitive list of tools, much less their prices. A great deal of your tool choice depends on what you are doing. For instance, are you doing your PUP cavities by template or freehand? And, how do you prefer to work? Because freehand you can use either a router or a chisel. Same with a template. My suggestion would be, think about what type of work you are actually going to do and what type of tools you need to achieve that goal. I find that it helps to go to the store and look at the tools while planning. Go down and get some cheap woods and the tools and see if they work for you. This is the only way that I know of to develop the list of tools that you will need. And the price of the tools depends on the quality of the equipment that you buy. Same with buying guitars. Having said all of the above..... For making a guitar body, not neck, from a hunk of wood, what I need are: Band saw Router Orbiting spindle sander Long straight edge Pencil Hand held drill Drill bits Adjustable square/ruler Power sander of some sort With these, I can make a guitar body. Have fun, and welcome to the insanity. Guitar Ed One mans opinion in a very crowded field.

Hi MK, I spray in my garage. I open the garage door, close the door into the house, and I go for it. I try to finish 3 ours before my wife gets home so that the garage gets a chance to air out. Guitar Ed

Some updates are now available. Click Here and then scroll down to Tube Amp and click. Take care, Guitar Ed

Ho-Lee Crap! Un-freaking real. Just amazing. I have run out of superlatives.

Hi Thunder, Another idea that I would suggest is to look at the Fender guitars and analyze what woods are used and how they impact the sound, as compared against "the book." Guitar Ed

Hi Clavin, What is your source or brand for such small router bits? BTW: The quality of the bird is fantastic, same level of quality as your other work. Keep it up. Thanks, Guitar Ed

Howdy, I don't know about the guy who told you that you HAVE to locate the neck first, and then the nut. I always do the nut first, put it in the slot, attach to the body and run some string for measurement purposes. Having said that, all I do to the nut is rough it out, it is not final cut. Just my $.02 Guitar Ed

Hi Steve, My suggestion would be to fill the holes in the neck, then drill new holes through the body and into the neck. Guitar Ed

I like the body. The way the wood is grained/colored it looks almost like a neck-through. I like the effect. Guitar Ed

Hi Daveq, In my personal opinion, you should more things to worry about in this world than the opinion of some ignoramous who thinks your fretboard looks "gay" or "fem". And if they give you a bad time and you want a come back, tell them "I'm man enough to play this guitar. Are you?" Do your artwork from your heart, and play your guitar from the same place. Let the idiots be idiots. You can't stop them. Guitar Ed my $0.03 worth

Checkout ReRanch. They have some "burst packages" that might fit what you want. Guitar Ed

Check out Midwest Guitar As for why a school rather than a DVD and your own ingenuity? 1) It is always nice to have somebody to ask questions of. It can save a ton of time, not mention sanity. 2) Why reinvent the wheel? You might think: "Why not do it this way?" And the answer might be that "it has been tried and the results were such & such." The Fender Stratocaster is the shape it is for a reason. 3) TOOLS!!!! Lots and lots of tools. 4) Learn theory as well as application. Guitar Ed Opinions are like @ssholes. And I just showed you mine.