The MISC builds a guitar

[gtrzrus]

Now we are at a step that separates the men from the boys. The neck build.

I had a rough blank that I was planning to to use for the neck made of several different woods, but I’ve decided to go in a different direction.

This will a flamed maple neck and fret board.

First, I find a relatively flat piece of maple void of any knots or deformities. Then I plane it to be 100% balls accurate, but still leaving as much wood as possible for thickness. A neck needs to be precisely 1 inch once the fret board is planed and glued.

Then I take my template made of MDF and trace the outline on the board. I mark the center line for the truss rod route

Next, I attach a twinkle truss rod jig that I made that act as a guide for my router.

The common think here is to attach the jig with double sided tape, but I’ve learned from experienced luthiers that there is a much better way. You use blue painters tape on the neck blank and the MDF template. Then you add a few drops of superglue and carefully line up your template on the neck blank. I give it about 5 minutes to dry and it is really tight and hard to remove double sided tape can move on you from time to time in my experience and you can end up tuning your project.

Here a pic of the jig mounted to my blank



I used to drill out the truss rod cavity with a smaller diameter bit to make the work easier for the router. That generally makes for much cleaner lines. With my jig, I don’t have to do that anymore as it locks the router on line.

I do take very shallow cuts into the wood until I reach my desired depth which is roughly 12mm, but it can vart slightly from truss rod to truss rod. I have an old truss rod that I use to measure with which is the same manufacturer that I will be using.

Here’s a pic of the routing process.



After about 15 or 20 minutes of taking slow 1mm deep passes. I have reach the desired depth. The truss rod adjustment net is slightly deeper toward the nut so I take another 2mm off there.

In this pic, you can see my tracing of the neck as well as the freshly cut truss rod cavity. You can also see some of the heavy flame figuring in the wood. This will pop much more once I start adding oil.




Tomorrow, I will install the truss rod. I always add a little silicone around it to keep it from rattling.

I will also need to make the fretboard. I use a special jig for this as well.

[gtrzrus]

I’ve been negligent on posting neck progress. Here is where I am today. Truthfully, I haven’t been working that much on it lately, but with Xmas two months away, I need to step it up.

Here the current state:



I will post progress pics of the neck build to this point later.

[gtrzrus]

I made a wormy maple fretboard today. I’ve never seen one on a guitar before so I don’t exactly know it will work, but I’m going to give it a shot.

If it doesn’t work, I already have a few other options already slotted and ready to go.

The big issue will be if it will hold the fret wire as it takes a very hard wood to hold the frets. It’s a form of maple so I suspect that it will work. Plus, I glue my frets in your help too.

[MBisonSon]

How much in general does it cost to build one from start to finish?

Also how do you do those burst patterns?

[TBO1313]

That is awesome dude! Have you ever built an acoustic guitar?

[blindsideflank]

“Misc guitar...” expected something like this

[JonZ]

I worked for a Luthier for a few years after getting the boot from I B M.

We did the finishing work for Specter Bass, Anderson, Villiette, Jarrett and made guitars for Rex King, Dave Mathews, Geddy Lee, Richy Sambora, John 5, Sting...


Nice work. Nothing like a custom guitar.
Brian Ristola made a beautiful bass for me back in 2005. Beast of a guitar.

Pics...
https://www.ristolainstruments.com/spalted_myrtle_4.htm

[EagleOfWar]

Have a friend who builds guitars that he gets 1k’s for. Can link site if you’re really interested.

[TwoHumpChump]

Guitar looks amazing OP. So does your other work.

How do you get the fret spacing correct?

It's unreal how much time goes into these finished products. I've heard a lot of custom guitar makers end up making very little because they put so many hours into it and the wood/parts are expensive themselves. Truly something you would have to love to do as a career.

[gtrzrus]

How much in general does it cost to build one from start to finish?

Also how do you do those burst patterns?

It really comes down to hardware. The wood has only a limited affect on pricing. This guitar will cost me about 300 probably. I have a large stock of hardware on hand. I’m winding the pickups myself which save a lot too. If I were to put Seymour Duncan’s or similar it would almost double the cost. I do use name brand pickups on a lot of build though, but my I’d put my single coils against any ones.

For the burst I use the same stuff that The PRS factory uses. It’s leather dye. I start with a dark base color, stain the top and sand it off. This makes the grain pop more. Then I just use old scraps of t-shirts to fade the colors in. It takes some practice of course.

[gtrzrus]

That is awesome dude! Have you ever built an acoustic guitar?

Not yet, but it’s on the to-do list.

[gtrzrus]

Have a friend who builds guitars that he gets 1k’s for. Can link site if you’re really interested.

I’ve topped out at 3500 for some contract builds, but it’s hard to find business to get established in. I have another job so I dialed my building back a good bit.

I have 1000s of pics of guitars on my phone. Anytime I see something interesting, I save it.

[deft0nes]

Here are a few:

fuking beautiful work man!

[lightsarefallin]

That's awesome, OP. I've been playing guitar half my life. Your guitars are really beautiful.

[gtrzrus]

Guitar looks amazing OP. So does your other work.

How do you get the fret spacing correct?

It's unreal how much time goes into these finished products. I've heard a lot of custom guitar makers end up making very little because they put so many hours into it and the wood/parts are expensive themselves. Truly something you would have to love to do as a career.

There are seven ways to do the fret spacing. There are measurements for the distances for each scale.

There are also places to print out a full sized fret template to glue onto your fretboard. Then you just saw in the printed lines with a thin handsaw. I start out doing this technique and it works well, but it takes about an hour to do one fretboard.

I have a more professional setup now with special blade made for fret slots and a jig that allows me to cut a fretboard in about 5 minutes. It’s much cleaner looking from the start and I don’t have to worry about fukups. It is expensive though. I have about a grand into my setup.

If you are just starting out, just use the templates at fret2find.com and buy a cheap saw. It cost about $7 and can will work good enough to get the job done decently.

It’s a rough business to get into. I have friends in the industry that have 5 year waiting lists. They have sold guitar to Garth Brooks and some other well know guys that I can’t think of right now. A lot of it is having money to throw at marketing on Social Networks and guitar forums. That takes a lot of time in itself.

The guitar design makes a huge difference. Most people want Something that has already been done before like Strats, Tele or Les Pauls. I kinda got tired of building those and usually turn those contracts down. I like to build original looking guitars, but they don’t sell as well. The guitars also have to have a flawless finish. A lot of customers judge your guitar based off of the finish. I take great pride in my finishes, but I think the neck and fretting play a much larger role.

The time it takes when you through in the actual building, marketing, customer service is crazy. It’s a 24 x 7 job. When I was going well, I would get texts and emails at all hours. I’d also get a lot phone calls. All of this of course makes it much harder to build the guitars which is truly all I really ever cared about.

So let’s say I sell a custom built Strat for 2000 bucks. It takes me about 18 hours to build one. It cost 250 in hardware, I build the pickups, marketing, customer service and whatever else goes into it. I’d say I would make 1k off of it with all of my hours of work.

As I said before, I only liked the luthier role. The other tasks are just not part of my makeup . I am not a salesman or promoter at all, but I was successful until the hours got to be too much with my regular IT job.

[gtrzrus]

fuking beautiful work man!

Appreciate it brah!

[gtrzrus]

That's awesome, OP. I've been playing guitar half my life. Your guitars are really beautiful.

Appreciate it brah. I’ve been playing for about 37 years now. I still love it (metal head, shred guy).

I think my building started when I simply could not afford the guitars that I lusted after as a kid. If I wanted that 89 Ibanez JEM, I had to make it my self.

I’ve been somewhat successful in my other line of work since then and I have bought some of my dream guitars. Some were good, other just okay.

I mainly just make my own now, but I will still buy something that catches my eye.

[lightsarefallin]

Appreciate it brah. I’ve been playing for about 37 years now. I still love it (metal head, shred guy).

I think my building started when I simply could not afford the guitars that I lusted after as a kid. If I wanted that 89 Ibanez JEM, I had to make it my self.

I’ve been somewhat successful in my other line of work since then and I have bought some of my dream guitars. Some were good, other just okay.

I mainly just make my own now, but I will still buy something that catches my eye.

Big metalhead here as well. I'm finally going into a phase in my life where I can purchase better gear. One of my main guitars I use for my post-rock project is a strat. There's something about that hot twangy single coil pickup sound that sounds great routed through a bunch of delays and reverbs and stuff. I use an old Jackson for shred stuff and I also have a Les Paul when I want to open tune for other projects.

[JJMacD]

I assembled a guitar from a kit once, many moons ago. A Jaguar replica. Was a pretty fun project, but I just couldn't get the paint right. No matter how many times I sanded and resprayed I always ended up with tiny little lumps in the paint.

[gtrzrus]

I assembled a guitar from a kit once, many moons ago. A Jaguar replica. Was a pretty fun project, but I just couldn't get the paint right. No matter how many times I sanded and resprayed I always ended up with tiny little lumps in the paint.

Finishing was the skill that Required a lot of practice for me too. One of the biggest helps for me in this area was the quality of materials.

Once I started using high end automotive products, my results jumped several levels. I have moved away from those in the last year and used alternatives due to the hazardous materials though. Now I use with Surfboard resin or water based instrument laquers. They are expensive but, work really well.

With that said using materials commonly found at hardware stores are a limitation, but I have gotten decent results, but nothing I would ever sale due to durability of the finish.

Putting those kits together is a great way to get started. In fact, I started by buying bodies and necks and going from there. I did about four or five of those until I took the leap on my first scratch build. It addicting.

My first build was using a cheap jig saw, a bunch of sandpaper and a butter knife. It was ugly as snit, but it played in tune and sounded ‘okay’.

[gtrzrus]

I’ve glued and clamped the fretboard. I let it sit a few days, but 24 hours is usually fine.



Then I route the edges flush. This is what we have at this point:



Then I mark and drill the inlay dots. I wanted to keep them subtle and not take away from the grain. You can also see the worm holes I. The pick below.



I’m going to use dyed epoxy on the inlays to match the guitar body. I mix the epoxy and color match as close as I can. Then I fill in the inlay dots and worm holes. It looks like a crap at this point.



Then I radius the fretboard to 16 degrees. It will clean up the epoxy.



I also shape the headstock. I keep my headstock a little thicker since my design is relatively thin.

[YUL]

OP have you ever considered using non wood materials like aluminum or acrylic?

[gtrzrus]

Here’s a little tip for wood workers that you can use for things around the house.

When I build, I get little dings in the wood here and there. For instance:



To remove it, I heat up an iron. Place a wet rag or paper towel on the spot and apply the iron. The steam from the iron will pop the grain back up. Easy fix.



Finished:

[gtrzrus]

OP have you ever considered using non wood materials like aluminum or acrylic?

I have. I do a little metal work too, but The amount of work for an aluminum body guitar is may be out of my skill range unfortunately.

[Komytea]

repped

[gtrzrus]

I let the ball drop on this thread, but I did want to post the final results once it was done.

I did take progress picks but I didn’t post them. If there are anything that someone is curious about let me know and I’ll see if I can find pictures of the process and post a description of the work done.

Here are a few shots:

[MrSchons]

Repped, awesome work OP

[EagleOfWar]

Damn forgot about this thread. Looks really nice man. Repped.


I’ve always thought about getting into building these myself but never really committed. More of a wishful idea. I’d like to know how much money you’d put into something really high quality just for materials. I’ve been a musician forever but never really looked up the best woods for what parts. I’ve got electric preferences for pickups and stuff but that’s it really. I’d like to do a Paul reed smith style since I got rid of mine a while back.

[gtrzrus]

Damn forgot about this thread. Looks really nice man. Repped.


I’ve always thought about getting into building these myself but never really committed. More of a wishful idea. I’d like to know how much money you’d put into something really high quality just for materials. I’ve been a musician forever but never really looked up the best woods for what parts. I’ve got electric preferences for pickups and stuff but that’s it really. I’d like to do a Paul reed smith style since I got rid of mine a while back.

I have about about $200 in hardware. I wind my own pickups so that eliminates a big part of the cost. There maybe $100 in wood on this one, but all of this was leftover pieces from other builds. All of the finish materials, I already had, but I may have about $20 bucks of finish on it.

I guess I have some where around $400 out of pocket for this one. I would probably get around 2200.00 or so for it if I sold it. I spent somewhere between 20 to 30 hours of labor on this one.

A lot of the cost is in tools which I’ve acquired over time. It all adds up.

I appreciate it brother.

[pengh]

repped. MMGA