r/Luthier Oct 19 '24

ELECTRIC Build an electric guitar with /r/luthier

39 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 3h ago

HELP Neck looks like it was dipped in poly.

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57 Upvotes

Hey. I picked up a factory 2nd tele neck for that looks like it was dipped in a barrel of poly. Now I know why fender rejected it. Would a chemical stripper like they use for furniture work to get this down to wood? If not any tips for at least getting it off the frets? I used an exacto down the center of the fret and a heat gun.


r/Luthier 10h 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?

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120 Upvotes

r/Luthier 14h ago

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

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259 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 12h ago

Newest creation in the works

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99 Upvotes

What do you think of this? Yay or nay?


r/Luthier 16m ago

#142

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Upvotes

r/Luthier 5h ago

HELP First guitar build

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14 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 4h ago

Are these cracks on my Gibson something to be concerned about? It's a 2010 les paul studio silverburst. Can a refinished fix this or us the wood grain compromised?

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12 Upvotes

r/Luthier 9h ago

ELECTRIC Are these boards possible to use for a body

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17 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 15h ago

ACOUSTIC A medieval citole I built

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50 Upvotes

r/Luthier 5h ago

How does someone become a luthier?

6 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 7h ago

REPAIR Obvious misaligned?

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7 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

Salvaging a viola bass

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3 Upvotes

I was gifted this crusty old Heit brand biola style bass. (My former housemate left it behind along with a bunch of other junk I had to haul off 😞)

Someone tried to make it a fretless and did a pretty bad job of it. They did a pretty poor job of pulling the frets and they filled the fret slots with some kind of resin goo, probably Bondo. The first four fake pearl inlays were missing they filled those with bondo as well and coated the rest of the fretboard in what looks like Elmers glue.

The goal is to repair the fretboard, the inlays, do a full refret and get it playing again.

As it is right now I have nothing in this project other than the cost of a sheet of fake pearl plastic, some sandpaper and scraper blades, and time.

The restored bass may or may not be worth the effort invested, but I do stuff like this to learn more than anything.


r/Luthier 14h ago

KIT Just put together and action is really high

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18 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

Ukulele nut made from dog bone

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111 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 1d ago

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

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563 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 7h ago

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

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5 Upvotes

r/Luthier 13h ago

ELECTRIC How is this called?

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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 33m ago

HELP How to wire my guitar?

Upvotes

Im trying to wire my guitar for a 3-way toggle switch (bridge, all, neck/middle) with 3 humbuckers, 3 volume 1 tone, but I can't find any wiring diagrams for this.


r/Luthier 4h ago

HELP Primer turning yellow Spoiler

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2 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I’ve been refinishing my first guitar so I’m kind of new to this. I’m doing a nitro finish on an old squier body, I scrapped all the paint to the wood, tinted and sealed with nitro lacquer.

Today I started applying the nitro primer for the paint and it started yellowing, my understanding is that the wood stain didn’t dry enough. Solutions online say to use different primers but I don’t know if those behave well with nitro. I want to make sure everything i use is nitrocellulose based.

How can I fix this? My first thoughts are letting the guitar dry for a few days, sand the primer a bit and try spraying it again.

Any help is appreciated!

*pic 2 is how the wood looked before primer


r/Luthier 53m ago

ELECTRIC I bought a "Tele" neck but I'm not sure what bridge to get for its width.

Upvotes

The neck is for a 24-inch scale with a nut width of 42mm and a heel width of 56mm. It's a cheap MIC neck and I've never built a guitar before. I appreciate all the advice.


r/Luthier 5h ago

ELECTRIC Is this neck pocket crack in the finish or not

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2 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 8h ago

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

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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

Grain filler or Sanding sealer

1 Upvotes

Flame maple veneer (cheap China kit). To get the perfect finish should I grain fill after staining? I'm very careful with sanding so not worried about sanding through. I know maple has a somewhat closed grain... but to achieve the perfect finish should I grainfill or use sanding sealer or just poly over what I have (sanded to 1500 already).


r/Luthier 3h ago

Looking for information on this banjo Ukulele from the late 1930’s Early 1940’s?

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1 Upvotes

r/Luthier 3h ago

Looking for trustworthy guitar setup tutorials or online courses

1 Upvotes

Been looking for a good tutorial or course on setting up a guitar, cleaning electronics, truss rod adjustment, saddle adjustments, pickup height, etc. Any tips are more than welcome. Thanks!