Hello fellow guitar enthousiasts.
As a long-time player with no building experience, I am planning on building my first DIY instrument, a T-style guitar, mostly of ready parts. From the research I’ve done, every step (picking and assembling the parts) seems fairly affordable and easy, even for an atechnical person like myself – except for the neck, which I’d like to make in a way that it is and stays straight with minimal/no need for adjusting the truss rod whenever I change strings/tune down or up, which I do often. Also it should allow for good intonation and for the guitar to stay in tune. In other words, I want to make a neck that does its job, without having to break the bank. And from what I understand, this would mean that
- the neck, a single piece of maple, I suppose, should be straight and sturdy with accurately placed fret grooves, laid in with stainless steel frets
- the tuning machines must be stable
- the nut must be of high quality too
Now, if this is correct, then a) how do I make sure I pick the right parts; how should I check they are and will stay good? b) what are things that I, as a beginner, and fairly atechnical person with access to and willing to invest in woodworking tools, can do on my own, and what are things I should see a luthier for, or buy readily?
If it is not correct, please tell me what I should look out for instead.
Any help would be much appreciated. After a few very frustrating experiences with electric guitars, it would be a relief to finally own (build) a guitar that sounds good, feels good and doesn’t let you down in some unexpected way.
Tnanks in advance!
