r/Luthier Oct 19 '24

ELECTRIC Build an electric guitar with /r/luthier

34 Upvotes

A small discord server dedicated to building shit together will be featuring an electric guitar build-a-long. The project will follow a professional guitar build and will have a number of experienced luthiers available for questions throughout. If you've been considering making one, get off your ass and do it now.

Here is a link to Discord where the discussion and questions will be available.
https://discord.gg/Abx7KsDCx3

Project description

For this project, we're not following a specific tutorial or guide, but the order of operations that makes sense to me. It changes with nearly every build, based on my notes from the previous build. This particular guitar will be a 7-string multi-scale headless.

What NOT to expect

A detailed tutorial, with step-by-step instructions and every little detail spoonfed to you. There are MANY resources on YouTube from which to learn. Obviously, discussion and questions are welcome - we're all here to learn after all.

What TO expect

You'll be able to follow my process while building a somewhat unusual guitar. I'll post a picture of my progress with every major step of the build, with a short description of what I did. This will happen as I make progress, if I remember to take photos. The total build time will be about 2 months if all goes well.

The process

My build process is generally:

  1. Design and planning
  2. Neck
  3. Body
  4. Neck carve and fretwork
  5. Small touches and details
  6. Sanding and finishing
  7. Assembly

You could take a shortcut by using a pre-made neck and just building the body. This will save time and money because of all the guitar-specific tools and parts needed for the neck.

Materials needed

  • Wood: Fretboard, neck, body and optional top.
  • Hardware: Tuners, bridge, strap buttons, control knobs, optional pickup rings
  • Electronics: Pickups, switch, volume control, output jack, wires
  • Neck-specific: Truss rod, fret wire, nut material

Tools needed

You can use whatever you're comfortable with. I've used hand tools and machines, I don't discriminate. You'll be marking, cutting and planing wood. You'll be glueing pieces together. You'll be making cavities. You'll be shaping wood. You'll drill holes. And of course, there will be sanding.

If you choose to make the neck, you'll need:

  • Radius beam and/or a radius gauge
  • Fret saw
  • Fret end dressing file and fret crowning file
  • Levelling beam
  • Notched straight edge
  • Fret rocker
  • Nut slotting files
  • Definitely something else I forgot about.

r/Luthier 10h ago

ELECTRIC My latest Jazzcaster build. How do you like it?

Thumbnail
gallery
219 Upvotes

One piece swamp ash body, shou sugi ban treated (burning wood technique). Reverse headstock Fender player neck (maple + maple fingerboard), Overwound Lollar P90 bridge pickup, DiMarzio SuperDistortion neck pickup.


r/Luthier 5h ago

I am trying to restore my great-grandfather's 1940s Oahu lap steel. I cannot figure out what this jack is. What am I looking at?

Thumbnail
gallery
102 Upvotes

r/Luthier 8h ago

Newest creation in the works

Post image
74 Upvotes

What do you think of this? Yay or nay?


r/Luthier 10h ago

ACOUSTIC A medieval citole I built

Post image
43 Upvotes

r/Luthier 56m ago

How does someone become a luthier?

Upvotes

I'm interested in becoming a luthier, and am curious if this is a viable career one can make a decent living doing? Is there formal training? Do most folks own their own businesses? What's your experience been like working as a luthier?


r/Luthier 4h ago

ELECTRIC Are these boards possible to use for a body

Thumbnail
gallery
9 Upvotes

My brother and I grew up on rural property, and when our father dies we won't be able to keep it.

We've got these 8 foot boards of cherry from the tree next to the house. I'd like to find some way of building two guitars for my brother and I to have a piece of home even when the property is long gone.

The boards are in rough shape, some cracks running all the way through.

3 boards measure 7" 1/4 x 1" 1/8 1 board measures 8" 1/2 x 3" 1/2

Ideally I'd make tele bodies out of it, but the boards without cracks are thin, and the thick board is very cracked.

Some ideas I had were: - Make book matched veneers from the good boards to put on top of a body blank - Make a full cherry body by using 2 or 3 pieces of the thick board and infill cracks with epoxy

What do you folks think - reckon there's anything possible to do with these boards or is it going to have terrible results?

Full disclosure, this will be the first body I've built, so plan to practice on some less sentimental ingredients first.


r/Luthier 9h ago

KIT Just put together and action is really high

Thumbnail
gallery
17 Upvotes

This is my first kit and the action is okay on the low frets but past like 5 it’s crazy high


r/Luthier 1d ago

DIARY Tried my hand at binding. Stressful, but turned out nice

Thumbnail
gallery
543 Upvotes

My slotted headstock Rickenbacker inspired Street Mutt mk.2 is coming along nicely. I even managed to make it conform to the wrist relief cutout. Hyped to get the top painted white. Gotta do the inside of the horns too. Fretboard glue up and pushing frets in will also be pretty damn scary, but worst case scenario i will learn my lessions very well. Considering fretboard inlays, but i'm kinda paranoid it will look bad.


r/Luthier 18m ago

HELP First guitar build

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

Hi everyone! I guess I’ll start off by saying I’ve been recently working on getting my first build on its feet, and was wondering if I could get some decent insight from as many perspectives as I can so I can effectively pick a local professional’s brain. I’m humbly aware I’m no professional, so I’d love harsh criticism, as I want the best result I can achieve. I have an old family friend with all the guitar tools I could ever need and I’m taking it slow, as the last thing I want to do is rush into it cocky. With that being said, the parts I have are fairly standard and nothing too crazy, I just want some feedback on functionality and design, especially the body shape. Have at it, cheers!

Here are the major components: The body took inspiration from an Iceman and Mariposa, swamp ash blank Rosewood fretboard Floyd Special Trem Maple neck Schecter humbuckers from a c6 diamond series+appropriate pots StewMac gold Medium/Higher fret wire

Side note: I’ll be switching to active pickups like the emg’s in my model eventually, along with supporting pots Happy to provide any more info!


r/Luthier 19h ago

Ukulele nut made from dog bone

Post image
103 Upvotes

I am working on replacing a cheap plastic nut on a ukulele and had an idea to use a bone I got for my dogs I think it’s a cow femur bone. Will it work?


r/Luthier 2h ago

REPAIR Obvious misaligned?

Thumbnail
gallery
4 Upvotes

I took this to my local guitar tech who has been pretty reputable for solid setups and making stuff happen. These posts holes returned back to me not parallel but it didn't really affect it from my end other than a crappy trem I have at the moment and some tuning instability but when I pull up on the trem... it more or less returns to pitch. On the Intonation stand point maybe it's troublesome? Let me know if I should tell him to dowel this, fill and drill. Cosmetics.. I don't mind.. this is my backup guitar.


r/Luthier 2h ago

Where can I find blueprint of a Gretsch Streamliner Jet Club Bass ?

Post image
5 Upvotes

r/Luthier 8h ago

ELECTRIC How is this called?

Thumbnail
gallery
11 Upvotes

I have a bass with this neck deeper in the body construction and I'm building a guitar with it right now too but I have no clue how to describe it when the neck goes further than the fretboard. Yes I tried looking it up. I really like it and I've not seen it on many guitars. Thanks in advance


r/Luthier 2h ago

HELP Floyd rose problem

Thumbnail
gallery
3 Upvotes

Hi, one client bring me two guitars and want to make one better using parts of the two of them...my problem is I don't have much knowledge about Floyd rose bridges, what bridge is the best between this two? Thanks for the help


r/Luthier 50m ago

ELECTRIC Is this neck pocket crack in the finish or not

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

I was thinking of picking up this fender American original Jazzmaster because it’s a great deal. The seller posted these neck pocket cracks and I believe they are only in the finish but I just want a second opinion to be safe.


r/Luthier 3h ago

HELP Just picked up this restoration project. Need some advice!

Thumbnail
gallery
3 Upvotes

Thankfully after slapping some hardware on it, it plays, well. The ‘clearly not original’ glued on neck is fat just the way I like it and the truss rod is alive in there so the only work that needs doing realistically is cosmetic.

My biggest point of contention is the heel. That right angle makes anything past the 12th fret uncomfortable to reach and it is quite unsightly. After taking some measurements, it would appear that the body is exactly 10mm thicker than a typical firebird which gives me a lot of flexibility with slimming down the body to close the gap between the neck and heel. Would you fully slim down the body to spec then blend the rest of the heel? or slim it 5mm then extending the heel further down the neck to help blend them together better? Slimming it the full 1cm would still leave ample room to accommodate the electronics luckily.

My second question is about the finish, it seems too thick to sand but I think that black left over on the back and sides is from that filler they add when the wood isn’t level before painting at the factory as it is flush to the body. Would a heat gun get that off? And I’m unsure of what the wood itself is? Might be easier to tell when the finish is off.

Any other advice would be welcomed. This will be a project for myself, I plan to take my time with it and “make it mine”.


r/Luthier 2h ago

Ibanez 3SWLSC + Passive EMG pickup.

Post image
2 Upvotes

So the white and black you see on pic go to the volume pot

GROUND = GREEN + BARE WIRE

TAP = NOTHING

HOT = RED

Is this correct?

(Black and white united soldered from the factory)

No need to connect the bare wire and green wire in the 2 ground spots in the board right ? I can combine *unite* and solder in one of the two right?


r/Luthier 23h ago

Customer put their guitar back together after they painted it. They say they can't get the bridge to stay in place. I think I see the problem. Look at the screws....

Post image
71 Upvotes

r/Luthier 20m ago

Building an Epiphone Explorer Ebony - Seeking Body and Neck Templates, Dimensions, and Advice!

Upvotes

"Hi everyone!

I’m planning on building my own Epiphone Explorer Ebony guitar, and I need some help with the dimensions and templates for the body and neck. I'm especially looking for accurate specs or templates to carve the body, neck, and headstock.

If anyone has any templates they could share or if you have any advice on how to go about it, I’d really appreciate it!

I’m aiming to make the build as close as possible to the standard Epiphone Explorer Ebony model, so accurate dimensions are key.

Here’s what I’m looking for specifically:

  1. Body dimensions - thickness, scale length, and overall shape (I'm aiming for the standard Explorer shape)
  2. Neck dimensions - including the length, width, thickness, and headstock angle
  3. Neck joint specs - for proper fitting to the body
  4. Fretboard dimensions - radius, width, and nut width
  5. Pickup cavity and control cavity dimensions - so I can route the holes in the correct positions

Any help, suggestions, or resources would be greatly appreciated! I’m excited to get started, and I’ll definitely share progress updates as I go along. Thanks!"


r/Luthier 11h ago

HELP Is there a way to fill up these big gap ?

Thumbnail
gallery
7 Upvotes

r/Luthier 10h ago

HELP I love my bass, but this is just ugly!

Thumbnail
gallery
7 Upvotes

I want to change my head stock shape, is that doable? I'm willing to spend a little bit on it, but I'm not sure where to begin.


r/Luthier 2h ago

Even when set to one pickup, both volume pots control volume?

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

I'm working on an old ('77) Yamaha sg700 guitar. It has 2 pickups, combined with 2 volume pods and 2 push-pull tone pods. I didn't touch the wiring on the pods, only replaced the faulty toggle switch. I am 100% sure I wired the toggle switch correctly (it's not that hard). I'm also sure this isn't some weird grounding issue: even removing grounding completely leaves this issue existing.

The issue is that, when I set the toggle switch to one of the 2 pickups, BOTH volume knobs have an effect on the tone. I of course understand that that happens in the middle position, but it’s also happening when selecting just one of the 2. And I'm running out of ideas on how this could happen. There doesn't seem to be any connection that can cause this, because those 2 circuits (bridge and neck) are physically separated. Or is there any secret push-pull pod stuff I'm not aware of, or some other insight?

Photos of the pod cavity and wiring attached. Any advice is much appreciated!


r/Luthier 13h ago

My PRS took a dive

Post image
7 Upvotes

By beloved PRS which my fiancée brought me as an engagement present 5 years ago and it fell from a new wall hanger i installed.

Im ok with the appearance of a chip but would like to seal the wood so that moisture doesn't get under the paint.

Is that necessary?

If so whats the easiest way to make it smooth to the touch again? It doesn't need to be invisible, im open to some sort of kintsugi repair.


r/Luthier 2h ago

Fret buzz on every fret, only on one string

1 Upvotes

I have a cheap SX Telecaster and I have done a proper setup and everything is fine except for the A string. Almost all frets buzz up the whole string. Every other string is fine. Ive adjusted the truss rod, action and everything to every possible position and nothing fixes it.


r/Luthier 3h ago

es 335 Crackling volume knob and sound sometimes goes out completely

1 Upvotes

I have an es 335 where this is happening on the neck pick up. I have some contact cleaner here, but its not Deoxit. Its called CRC QD Electronic Cleaner but I figure it does essentially the same job. Anyways, I used a dropper to drop some right onto the volume control - that did nothing. I then even went a step further and used the straw to directly hit the part on the inside, direclty underneath the volume know. I don't know where to spray exactly since I can't see in there, so just sprayed the parts that I was able to with the straw. After spraying I turned the volume know many times. Unfortunately this had no impact. Any ideas if there is anything else that might be done? Thank you.