I have been thinking about making my own guitar(s!) for a while. And then recently i heard about the guitar builders support group organized by Ladeana here at MakeICT. I rushed to join the organization just for that support.
First step in my path is to build a guitar from a kit. While a kit is a good place to start, it did come with some downsides, which i might mention later. Still, less than six months after joining, i put together my first guitar.
Do i know why i’m building guitars? I do not! It might be O—F—-itis. If i’m going to do something, i gotta do it now. Or something. Who knows.
My “second” build (the first is on hold waiting for spray paint weather, i know several months out), my second build is a “Les Paul/Gibson style” electric guitar. I started with a kit made by Fesley. I chose the style because i don’t have one of that particular style in my collection. I chose the kit because it was affordable collection of everything needed to make a guitar. The kit is complete and except for painting, could be assembled fairly quickly. I customized the kit, choosing different hardware and electronics than the kit contained. Can’t say my choices were better than what came in the kit, just different and ended up pushing me to learn important skills.
Am happy to report partial success. The guitar makes sounds! Even musical sounds!
Painting the guitar body was trickier than expected. The kit wood was sealed already. It would have been great if i used an opaque finish, but i wanted to stain the body with a walnut stain to show off the wood grain. The stain acted more like a tint, a tint that unfortunately disappeared in spots when sanding between coats for smoothness. Eventually, i decided to accept what i could accomplish with the tint, and decided not to attempt a more professional glass smooth finish.
Replacing the hardware went well. One has many choices in the parts world to wade through is all.
The electronics was perhaps the trickiest. While the kit electronics were plug and play, i wanted to try other components. Which would require some soldering. I got the soldering right on one of the pickups, but not so well on the second. Good thing is one can fairly easily redo soldering. Multiple times if necessary to get it right.
What’s left? Fixing the connections for the second pickup of course. Lastly, guitars need to be “set up”. A series of steps to optimize the intonation and playability of the guitar. I have a good idea of what those steps are, and the tools to accomplish them.
Only got this far thanks to the guitar builders group here at MakeICT. Thanks Ladeana for setting it up!