The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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12/31/2011
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Member Details
Not like, invent a new instrument, but design a custom one, like a custom guitar.
Personally, as a hobbyist woodworker, I find the idea very interesting and am currently considering attempting it.
According to a post on the Acoustic Guitar Forum that I found via Google, most cheap acoustics with sides labelled as "Whitewood" are actually made of Basswood or Poplar, both of which can be used for guitar bodies.
This makes me curious as to what the "Whitewoods" at local lumberyards and hardware stores are. If they are Basswood or Poplar, I could easily get enough wood for around 2-4 guitar bodies for around $3-$12 due to their insane sales. (Seriously, they're the Steam of the Lumber world)
AFAIK Lowe's sells 2"x4"x96" that I believe are made of Maple for around $3-$5. This could potentially be used for the neck. I forgot about the truss rod. While I'm sure I can make a neck with a truss rod, it may prove simpler to buy a premade neck and forge the guitar around it. (or potentially buy a broken guitar solely for the neck and base it around that, potentially getting hardware in the process)
As far as hardware goes, I don't need the most expensive stuff. The guitar I'm using currently has kind of crappy tuners and pups, so cheap used Squier stuff would be an upgrade from what I'm used to. I could probably get everything for $100-$150 max.
Paint and Clearcoat would add around $10-$20, depending on if I have any available. (Seriously, I need to organize my workshop)
The most difficult parts for me would be soldering and the pickguard.
Soldering is self explanatory. I've never soldered before, though I'm sure I could get it relatively easily after watching a few videos. (I tend to pick up on how to do things quickly.)
As for the pickguard, unless I design the body of the guitar around a preexisting pickguard (which is extremely limited creativity wise), I am not sure how I would do this. While it's not necessarily required, I kind of like the aesthetics of it.
Overall it would be a very interesting project and possibly reap rewards of getting a higher-quality instrument than what most cheap ones are, the fun of doing it, and the fact it will be designed to my exact specifications of what I want from a guitar, which most guitars in my price range (which is low because I'm poor) don't have.
Anyways, what are your thoughts on it? Have any of you done it? If so, any tips?
[EDIT] Immediately after posting this I searched on Amazon for Fender pups. Turns out I can pretty much all of the Hardware for $50. It has a tremolo bridge, tuning pegs, jack, 3x single coil pups, pretty much everything needed. It's a made-in-China product, so probably not the highest quality, but like I said before, I really don't need the highest quality stuff. Besides, if it really matters I can always upgrade to a set of MIM Fender pups for like $50 used.
[EDIT2] Apparently Lowe's 2x4x96 is whitewood, not maple. Kind of strange since it doesn't look like most whitewood, is a lot heavier, and is a lot harder...
Personally, as a hobbyist woodworker, I find the idea very interesting and am currently considering attempting it.
According to a post on the Acoustic Guitar Forum that I found via Google, most cheap acoustics with sides labelled as "Whitewood" are actually made of Basswood or Poplar, both of which can be used for guitar bodies.
This makes me curious as to what the "Whitewoods" at local lumberyards and hardware stores are. If they are Basswood or Poplar, I could easily get enough wood for around 2-4 guitar bodies for around $3-$12 due to their insane sales. (Seriously, they're the Steam of the Lumber world)
AFAIK Lowe's sells 2"x4"x96" that I believe are made of Maple for around $3-$5. This could potentially be used for the neck.I forgot about the truss rod. While I'm sure I can make a neck with a truss rod, it may prove simpler to buy a premade neck and forge the guitar around it. (or potentially buy a broken guitar solely for the neck and base it around that, potentially getting hardware in the process)As far as hardware goes, I don't need the most expensive stuff. The guitar I'm using currently has kind of crappy tuners and pups, so cheap used Squier stuff would be an upgrade from what I'm used to. I could probably get everything for $100-$150 max.
Paint and Clearcoat would add around $10-$20, depending on if I have any available. (Seriously, I need to organize my workshop)
The most difficult parts for me would be soldering and the pickguard.
Soldering is self explanatory. I've never soldered before, though I'm sure I could get it relatively easily after watching a few videos. (I tend to pick up on how to do things quickly.)
As for the pickguard, unless I design the body of the guitar around a preexisting pickguard (which is extremely limited creativity wise), I am not sure how I would do this. While it's not necessarily required, I kind of like the aesthetics of it.
Overall it would be a very interesting project and possibly reap rewards of getting a higher-quality instrument than what most cheap ones are, the fun of doing it, and the fact it will be designed to my exact specifications of what I want from a guitar, which most guitars in my price range (which is low because I'm poor) don't have.
Anyways, what are your thoughts on it? Have any of you done it? If so, any tips?
[EDIT] Immediately after posting this I searched on Amazon for Fender pups. Turns out I can pretty much all of the Hardware for $50. It has a tremolo bridge, tuning pegs, jack, 3x single coil pups, pretty much everything needed. It's a made-in-China product, so probably not the highest quality, but like I said before, I really don't need the highest quality stuff. Besides, if it really matters I can always upgrade to a set of MIM Fender pups for like $50 used.
[EDIT2] Apparently Lowe's 2x4x96 is whitewood, not maple. Kind of strange since it doesn't look like most whitewood, is a lot heavier, and is a lot harder...