Thread: Tools and equipment needed for guitar building

Start with a search of this forum for previous threads on this subject. Here's one to start with. Im an acoustic builder so the books in my library wont interest you. Let me know when you're bored with electrics and want to switch to the dark side and we can talk turkey.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f98/gu...ginners-80121/

Andrews builds are worth following as he documents them fully with pics and commentaries. Hes also got some neat tats.

Cheers Martin

Thanks kiwigeo,
will look up some old threads that have been posted here-never would have thought of that
Will also follow andrew's builds and read some of his older threads, got a lot of reading to do haven't I haha

And when I decide to make an acoustic guitar, I will look you up then haha
Cheers

Originally Posted by flame.on

Hey guys,
I have been interested for a long time, and have been wondering if I do build a guitar, that should I read about guitar building, how do I find out what to do while building an electric guitar? Any specific tools that I need, well the tools needed to build an electric guitar? What would I actually need to build a guitar, like for materials? Sorry for the all the questions, Im just a curious teenager haha
Cheers

You might want to try one of the kit guitars for your first one, just to get a feel for how everything goes together. I`m 57yrs old and didn`t build my first guitar till 4yrs ago, but began working with wood before I started grade school, so I had plenty of experience and had aquired over the years a good supply of tools, hand and power. I found that I still had to purchase a good many specialty tools just for guitar building to produce one from scratch. You can spend a small fortune getting the tools you need to build a guitar, plus the learning curve it takes to use them. You didn`t mention if you had any woodworking experience, if you don`t or it`s limited, a kit would be a good starting point because the pieces are already cut and shaped for you. You may have to do some minor fiiting, but mostly just some sanding, finishing and assembly. There`s alot of good makes online Mike

Originally Posted by flame.on

Thanks kiwigeo,
will look up some old threads that have been posted here-never would have thought of that
Will also follow andrew's builds and read some of his older threads, got a lot of reading to do haven't I haha

And when I decide to make an acoustic guitar, I will look you up then haha
Cheers

i think all the pics in all my threads are down at the moment,
they will be back up on saturday or sunday when my photobucket comes back to life

theres plenty of buildng info available free on the net, your a young bloke, you should know your way around the net...
google the hell out of everything to do with guitar building

Flame - Welcome aboard young mate. Know that this forum, the MIMF, and the ANZLF are full of helpful folks that can give you a leg up.

If you have a vision in your head as to what kind of solid-body guitar you want to build, have a look around on the net and you will find a whack of really good information.

As for building a kit piece, they tend to be of lesser quality, yet fully functional, materials. When we started building some 10 years ago we built a number of Hippie Sandwich neck-thru pieces. Go to Alembic - Fine handcrafted basses and guitars to see this style of guitar.

We would recommend doing a bolt-on build up for your first go... and you may want to buy an aftermarket neck, build the body, wire it up and string it up. The neck is the most complex and demanding part of most solid-body build. To do this you will need access to:

- Clamps and glue
- A band saw
- A router
- A soldering iron and solder
- A typical set of around-the-shed tools (screwdrivers, drill, hammer, etc.)
- Some way to level, thickness, and square your wood.
- Patience with yourself
- Humility
- A learner's mindset
- A willingness to connect with others that have been where you are and to ask questions.

Attached are pics of a Tele knock-off that we built when we still lived in LA. By hand... from scratch. It is not difficult, but you do have to stretch your headspace a bit brother.

If there is anything we can do to give you a hand, hit us up.