Official Luthiers Forum!

hello everyone my name obviously is wes, i have been a woodworker most of my life i do reproductions of period furnitur. ball and clow type stuff , really any thing people want me to make,any way i have been playing guitar since i was 8 i am 46 , so a long time i have always wanted to build my own guitar and so now i am going to do it , and would really love the advice of people who know what they are doing, along the way and i feel i have come to the right place. thanks

Hi Wes,
It's great you are taking the plunge. You sound a lot like a guy who came on here with the dream of building a guitar with an elaborate inlay. He had a few hiccups along the way, but he did it, sold the guitar for $17,000, wound up in Guitar World, and has a new career. You are truly only limited by your imagination. You have the right attitude and I can't wait to see what you produce!

Welcome, Wes!
This site is chock full of great information, and the users have always given me good advice.
I started with a Guitar Fetish kit and I have since made 7 from scratch.
Don't be shy about asking questions, and good luck!
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

well thanks guys, would you like to hear what i have in mind?

Welcome to the fold. Look forward to seeing pics as you move along.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

well i am a huge fan of the less Paul stranded sound, after i found out that tone didnt come from a knob on a guitar,any way i want to do a lesspaul style guitar,i have a gorgeous piece of curly burl claro walnut for the cap,no binding on the body,body and neck in mahogany i just want two knobs and a three way toggle switch at the bottem of the guitar ,locking tuners and a schroder stop tail bridge and two humbuckers ,all hardware in nickel ,but i am thinking about a maple binding on the neck and headstock,i have to design a headstock for it ,i am very excited about the project. oops i forgot to tell you it will be a neck through design with no inlays in the fretbaord .

A neck-through is a little tricky as a first build, but not too difficult to construct as long as your planning takes the geometry and all the pieces into account.
The tricky part is cutting the neck-through part of the neck so that it fits together with the cap at the correct height and neck angle. Work that all out on paper first and it shouldn't be too difficult.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

yep ,i know that is why i am here, i have read several book ,watched countles video on u tube my full scale less Paul plans came today,i am still waiting for my schroder stop tail piece then i will design it ,and then i will drive you guys crazy with questions.

At least you don't have far to drive!

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Wes, I would recommend getting a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's book on building an electric guitar. He covers the three basic neck designs (bolt on like Fender, set like Gibson and through neck). He also discusses all of the geometry issues which you need to work out before you start - neck angle vs bridge and pick ups. He also has a good chapter on wiring and kind of a brief one on finish.

I built a Les Paul clone using his book and StewMac's plans and have been very happy with it. If you want to struggle thru a long build thread, here it is

http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Electr ... p/31808721

thanks freeman have just got done reading it for the second time

Get all of your hardware before you start (or at least the dimensions from someplace like StewMac) and carefully work out neck angle relative to top, bridge and tailpiece and pickups. The normal LP angle is 4 degrees if I remember but your hardware may make a big difference. With a thru neck you won't be able to change the neck angle like you can with a set neck. Also on a Lester the pups are different thickness and the bridge has some up and down adjustment, but you may need to compensate for different height of whatever you are going to use.

Good luck, post pictures.

Also check out Warmoth. They have dimensions of their hardware with a different selection.