Official Luthiers Forum!

Guitars (especially basses) are awesome and I love them to death, so I would really like to try making guitars as a hobby. Is this a fairly expensive practice for just a hobby? And where could one find parts like the machine heads and frets (guitar shops possibly?).

Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Not wanting to sound rude Andrew, but you haven't looked very far. Yes, it's (relatively) expensive. You can't make one cheaper than you can buy one. You can get everything you need from the list of sponsors at the top of this page; especially Stewart McDonald and Luthier's Mercantile. Just click on the names.

Well lets say I want to make an acoustic bass guitar from scratch using plywood. Obviously I can't easily make my own tuning heads, frets, bridge, etc. and I think going to a guitar shop would be easier and cheaper than ordering online. How much would one most likely expect to pay for the frets and everything (for one bass guitar)?

I'm a two-three month old noob and my advise is to get a kit. You would be surprised how cheap they can be on ebay or a sponsor. Go buy a book and that will also help alot. It will give you an understanding of wood and what wood to use. Look for somone that builds guitars or other string instruments. I found out that theres a guy in my little little town that makes $3000 madolins and He's helped me alot.

_________________
" Blues is a low down achin chill, if you ain't never had it, I hope you never will."

Robert Johnson

Ok thanks!

I would recomend you read a book. You will not find the magic answers your looking for on this site. You will find a lot of great info and tips. This site is great but you are not going to be told how to do it step by step. The first book i would highly recomend is Melvyn Hiscock's book Make your own electric guitar. The best on this subject in my opinion. It was the first book i bought omn the subject and could have been the last since others i bought didn't compare to this. I and many here have been around since before the internet. Yes there was such a time. Books where one of the only ways to gather information on these subjects and still one of the best ways in my opinion. You can find this book on ebay and many other places.
http://books.google.com/books?id=2mZVa9 ... ews_anchor

I agree with MRS and also bought and read the book he suggests.

I would also recommend Martin Oakham's book "Build Your Own Electric Guitar". It comes with a set of plans and the photographic instructions provide terrific guidance.

These two books were my only physical reference and I found that there was nothing missing.

I also have the Martin Oakham's book. i just recently picked it up on ebay cheap. I enjoyed it a lot. I would rank that my second favorite.