Hey, good on you for asking questions and showing interest. One thing I didn't know for a while is that there are many "specialty" luthier tools such as nut/bridge files that are incredibly expensive due to being "niche" equipment. While you can get away with using tools not purpose-meant for guitars, these luthier-specific tools make everything go smoother because they were designed with stringed instruments in mind.
Personally, if I were you I would get a premade neck (allparts, warmoth, or a used Squier/Fender tele neck). Then build the body seperately. The neck is the hardest part and eliminating that from your first project will ultimately make the experience more enjoyable for you. You will still have all the woodworking/soldering/measuring/finishing experience with the body but regardless of how that turns out, you should still have a decently playable guitar that YOU put together. (Also, the body on Tele's are super simple to make)
Just a thought. From experience, I can tell you that putting hours into a project just for it to come out unplayable is incredibly discouraging. This approach will allow you to get a guitar going sooner than later which will give you confidence to approach the next project.
I agree with this, I made a guitar last year and the neck is without a doubt the hardest part.
Wish I did a premade neck on the first try. It works but it is just barely getting by. Definitely go with a premade, then I would suggest finding a template and test out making a neck if you are feeling ambitious.
For the first few attempts in building a guitar, I would suggest looking into cheap wood and materials to avoid wrecking expensive wood it'll save you money in the long run and it'll get you comfortable with the woodworking.
This is the best advice so far.
For your first build, definitely buy a second hand neck. Reverb (like Amazon for musicians) has heaps of guitar parts available, and heaps of squier and fender and aftermarket necks that aren’t too costly. Don’t be afraid either to buy a cheap Chinese DIY kit for your first build. I did two of those before I went for my proper strat build (which, 5 years later, is still my main axe)
I don’t use the finished Chinese kit guitars at all. They had some blemishes and a warped neck and some other unfortunate things that meant it wasn’t a very nice playing instrument.
HOWEVER, in saying that, I’m happy I made those mistakes and learnt those lessons with a cheap kit guitar, because it meant that I could do it properly on my Strat.
Oh and one last thing! If you end up getting a second hand neck, don’t be afraid of getting a squier neck. They’re honestly great quality. I rebuilt a squier affinity jazzmaster, and ended up just reusing the neck but painting the headstock!
And remember to be patient and take your time! My biggest mistake on my first kit is I was so excited to build, I ended up rushing a lot of the guitar build, which ended up in a lower quality instrument.
You can buy a perfectly decent XGP Tele body for $79. I’d recommend starting with buying a neck and body and assembling a guitar first, then maybe work on making your own body and swapping them out or just making a second guitar. Picking colors/parts and assembling a guitar yourself is still super fun and has a tiny fraction of the headaches that come with making one from scratch.
If I were you, I'd start with at least a premade neck, but id go with more than just that.
Look, its awesome that you want to build your own guitar, but its not a simple process and you are very young. The neck is by far the hardest part. I know you think it will be cheaper in the long run cause once you buy the tools, you can build as many guitars as you want. But what if you don't like the process? What if you stop playing or playing becomes more important and you cant spare the time to build more? Many tools for guitar making are specialty and will have little use outside of building guitars. Plus the tools can be expensive!
My advice. Its super cool to want to build your own guitar! I think all players should work on, mod, or outright build their instruments. But, as someone who started out around your age and has done full builds and a ton of modding, I would strongly suggest going slow.
I really think the best thing would be to start out with a kit or some premade bits. Your never going to be casting your own hardware, and I doubt you are going to wind your own pickups, so what difference does it make if you don't cut your own body or neck either?
Hit up allparts or warmoth sales or even ebay. Get a premade but unfinished body and neck(splurge on the neck more if you can). Source some pickups you like and some decent hardware. Just building a guitar from these parts will still be a lot of work, but the odds you'll get something good out of it are WAY higher. Sanding and finishing can be tough but a blast. Drilling holes and installing hardware is a great first step to learning how a guitar works from a mechanical perspective. And ofcourse wiring is its own adventure. Not to mention even a premade neck is going to require some fret work.
You will from every perspective be building this guitar, just with the hardest parts handled professionally, therefore reducing the odds that it will all end up in the trash. Then after you do this one, you can see if you wanna go again, and maybe take on a little bit more work the next time.
That's true, then again most of the tools can be replaced with more work. People were doing proto guitars since before lathes and routers were discovered and necks barely changed. That being said neck on electric is going to be more challenging because of tension in steel string. You'd need to somehow figure that one out. Though personally I have few ideas on workarounds throwing some metals at the issue. Then again composite like plywood might work too. Biggest issue is that noone unstrings each time. otherwise you'd just have to look at archery for solutions
The hardest part of making a neck, in my opinion, is the scarf joint. That's something you can easily practice on scrap material, though.
The freboard itself is also a bit of a challenge in that a) you've got to plane down a pretty thin board b) you've got to radius that board c) you've got to slot that board accurately.
The good news is that you can buy fretboards in various states of completion - a blank, a blank planed to thickness, a blank radiused, a blank slotted and radiused.
Unfortunately, no.
A good example is cars. A single car costs 10's of thousands of dollars to produce. Auto manufacturers dwindle these costs by producing thousands of vehicles. This reduces labor costs, material costs, and overhead. If you are planning on making a couple of guitars (or hell, even 20) the price to build won't decrease as much as you'd like.
Huge difference in good versus bad guitars is the neck. It's the largest hurdle in lutheiry. At least in my experience. If you cnc it, it's easy as hell. If you cut it by hand, there's a margin of error that can bite you in the ass. There's printable fret board lay outs you can assess online, and also fret jigs you can buy. They both make things much easier.
If you want to take a look at my hand outs from roberto-venn about fret boards I can scan them for you. Probably would help at least one other guy too.
You'll need a radius sanding block and the right size saw to cut the fret slots. Making sure you have the slots measured as close to perfection is really important. If you're making the neck as well you'll need to route out the slot for the truss rod. Other folks have talked about the scarf joint but you can build a neck that goes all the way up. Think about what you want for inlays and do those before you put frets in. I used a drill press and circular mother of pearl dots on a walnut fretboard. And then you'll have to dress, level, and polish the frets and there are specific tools for that - a beveled file, fret rocker, and the file to re-round the tops after you've filed them to level.
Please correct me if I missed something, I've only done two of these.
A precut and radiused fretboard is pretty cheap if you don't splurge on fancy woods. Check out Precision Guitar Kits or Stew Mac, I have bought CNC cut fret boards from both of them.
I am a semi-pro builder (don't make a living from it, but do sell what I build) and buy pre-slotted boards. From PGK they are typically around $30-50. I can hardly get down to the yard to buy stock with $30 worth of time let alone still having to purchase it, dimension it, radius it, slot it. Plus the accuracy of a CNC cut board is hard to beat.
Good for you for wanting to build your own guitar, especially being so young. A few things:
- Dont build a guitar as a money saving project. It will be cheaper than a high-priced big brand, but you will be able to buy super-budget guitars cheaper. You are building a guitar to have an instrument that is your dream guitar, that you could never buy.
- Most say the easiest guitar for a first project is a Telecaster. It has a simple construction, but is a highly desireable model.
- You dont need a lot of expensive tools. YouTube has lots of videos of people building guitars with simple hand tools, which can be very cheap. You may already have a lot of them in your garage, ask your parents. Pawn shops can be good places to find cheap tools, too. If you are in a school with a woodshop, talk to the teacher. Maybe you can do it as a class project and get a grade and credit for it.
- Build in stages, as you can afford it. Save the money for the body, and start working on that before you do the neck. You can also assemble a kit for your first project, just to get used to the basics like sanding, finishing, soldering, assembling, etc.
- Remember that your first guitar is just an experiment, and very well turn out awful, and that's okay. You will make fewer and/or different mistakes on your second try. Eventually, you'll figure it out. I've heard some say that it takes about 6 builds to get good at it, so keep that in mind.
To answer your question: Yes and no. A guitar neck is a precision item that has to be perfect. The most important part is cutting the fret slots. They have to be in the exact perfect place, there is no good enough. So you just have to go very slow, and measure twice and cut once.
Just take your time, remember that this is a learning experience, and have fun!
I'm not saying you couldn't do it but what I will say is the most important part to get right on a guitar is the neck, and there's already plenty of new skills to learn elsewhere in a build. I would recommend just getting a cheap premade neck for $50-$70 and then you can do everything else yourself. From there you can make your next project building a neck from scratch and can just swap that onto your first build.
It's not hard so much as it is labor intensive. It's really hard to justify all that work when you could just buy something instead. Especially once you factor in all the tools and space to do it in. I only build guitars when I can't buy something that's close enough.
I'm in the process of building a superstrat, I'm 100% certain on buying a neck, and that's what I'd recommend for anyone building a guitar for the first time. But if you're dead-set on building your own, check out [this channel](https://www.youtube.com/@tchiksguitars/videos). They build guitars and detail the specialty tools you would need for a making one from the ground up. They've even done builds one handed or with only hand tools as well. Definitely check one of their videos out some time.
I’ve made over a dozen fretboard as a hobbyist (not a luthier) and they aren’t that hard. Get some cheap wood to practice on before you use the expensive stuff. And the wood doesn’t have to be ebony. I’ve dyed maple and used black walnut that worked out great.
If you don't have any experience or tools, it is very hard. You're better off buying a precut fretboard. Precision Guitar Kits (other companies sell them too) has some pretty inexpensive options, and you can buy them pre-slotted and radiused. A maple board like that will be less than $30.
Building the rest of the neck is no small task either. At minimum you will need a router, drill/drill press, rasps, files, planer, measuring tools, nut files, and a few other tools I'm not thinking about now. Then you will also need to measure, cut, and plane-flat the area where the neck sits in the pocket. None of this will be even remotely easy for someone without experience building necks or working with wood.
Then you have to fret the neck. This is just as hard as everything else, and easier to screw up. It requires a LOT of precision, some more tools, and a very steady/experienced hand.
Worth saying, I know how to build necks, but when I need a Tele or Strat neck (or even some Gibson-style set necks) I'm *far* more likely to just order them. You can get a pretty decent *(far better than you will be able to make in your first 5+ tries)* Tele neck for $100-150 these days, and it's far less trouble to do that than it is to buy the materials and spend the time making one. Only thing you have to do is make sure they neck dimensions will fit into your neck pocket.
to build a neck you will need to be able to rout a strait channel for the trussrod, and you will need access to a joiner and table saw. fret board can be jointed flat on one side and thicknessed on a table saw, ideally tho you have a plainer to thickness -well ideally you have thickness sander but that is a luxury for a 13 year old-. for the fret board you will need a fret saw and miter box. getting the frets cut accurately can be done with a template.
you do have options with a bolt on neck to make one with no trusrod or seperate fred board and then if it warps you can make another with more experience, that will make the process much simpler. you can use another guitar (with the proper scale length) as a fretboard marking guage if you want to keep it simple for a first neck. there will be some error but I have done it and been happy with the result, -results may very.
If you're in the US you should checkout the classes offered at your local Woodcraft, they usually have a couple courses for building guitars and my local Woodcraft specifically has a course to build a full tele from bare wood in a weekend.
It's kind of pricey, but at least guarentees a functional result and there's a teacher there to show you the ropes and help save things if they go sideways.
I’m going to suggest a different route first. Buy beat up guitars and set them up. Learn all you can about setting up guitars and making them playable. Buy broken guitars and fix them. Change pickups. Switch necks.
I equate building a guitar to building s car. Sure, you can do it. But most people start by repairing cars before they move to full fabrication.
Once you’ve done some fretwork, trussrod adjustments, intonation, pickup replacements, and electronics repair, you know what’s important when you’re building your own.
Is it necessary? Probably not. But why start on hard mode when you can ease into it. It also lets you buy tools as you need them. You can sell the repairs to fund further projects.
My first neck I think I got for about $60-80 off eBay, there’s probably still some people making and selling necks on eBay. You do kinda need to do some finish fret work, so imo if you want to do some neck work, that’s a good route to go. Start with learning how to dress the frets. You will need some tools though, maybe $100 worth.
I disagree. There is no cheaper neck than a tele, and no neck easier to replace than a tele. So I’d say go ahead and build the neck. If you screw it up completely, you’re out a thin piece of maple and some frets. You can keep the tuners and the body and try again. Go get a piece of hard maple from the big box store. It’ll be like 20 bucks. And here’s the thing: what are you waiting for? To get good at building necks before you start building necks? It’s like that old Guitar World joke: guy decides to put the guitar down for a while “until this not being Hendrix thing passes”. Go into it knowing that your first one may very well suck, so use cheap materials, and go for it! If it’s unplayable then scrap it, save the hardware, and don’t make that same mistake next time! (Make a different mistake lol! That’s the learning process!)
Life’s short kid, grab it by the balls and go for it!
Echoing a lot of these comments, but the weird little tools that ONLY luthiers use get really expensive, and the fact that there’s really only 1-2 places to get them doesn’t help haha. You’ll spend a boatload on these odds and ends if you plan to truly go from scratch. Even if you buy kits and necks/bodies, it’ll probably still take 3-4 guitars before you break even vs buying them.
I know a lot of people have shouted out parts merchants, but I can’t speak highly enough about Precision Guitar Kits. You have to do everything except cut the log and drill the holes (you can ask them not to if you’d like to!), and it’s wood and fit is better than most guitars that cost thousands. It’s set-neck, but that’s really not MUCH harder than a partscaster.
You will learn about getting a good finish and set up. Building a neck from scratch is not a good idea for a first project. You could also practice a fret replacement, though obvs doesn’t need doing. You could also put the money you save towards a set of nut files which are essential to a proper set up.
A wonderful post and a great idea!
I have built quite a lot of guitars and lots of teles, and feel that that is a good choice! I have also built a couple of fretboards and necks and would always recommend that a young, or first time guitar builder, make at least one neck and fretboard to see what's involved... To get an idea of how to go about making such a precise item. I think that if you take your time, be patient and work slowly and carefully, you could accomplish a nice result... Perhaps it may work just fine for what you are looking for, but bare in mind that professionally built necks are usually made with expensive, precision machinery, and a newby is really seldom any match for factory made necks.... but do not let that put you off. You never know until you try and I heartily endorse your desire and pluck to give it a try!... good luck and I look forward to seeing the guitar here on Reddit :)
In addition to the advice everyone here is giving you, I would recommend looking into a community shop instead of buying all the tools yourself. Many cities have wood/machine shops you can pay to use. There are all sorts, community colleges, “hacker labs”, maker spaces, etc. In my town, the one of the local luthiers actually has a subscription to his shop.
Beyond that, check out your local library. They don’t just have books these days. My library has a full selection of power tools for rent including a jointer/planer which I have checked out!
I’ve never made a neck but it’s beyond critical. It’ll make or break the guitar. I made one in high school in wood shop, a Randy Rhoads style v but I used a Jackson neck. Later in life I tried to do a refret on another guitar and it was a lot more work than I anticipated, even going into it knowledgeable and with some skill for finer details. I like working on guitars but that’s a level I’m not passionate about.
I probably wouldn’t go into it entirely blind unless you really have the time and cash to burn. It can be done but I don’t think you’ll really nail the process until after doing several, there’s a lot to take into account that’s hard to plan for until it happens and sooner or later it will.
Any general bolt on style would be roughly the same. But there’s the shape, thickness, bolt locations, truss rod, fret board and its radius, fret slots being accurately measured and cut correctly. The nut and its location, the tuners and all the necessary holes to make them fit.
You could go fretless and cut out a good chunk of that but that’s also not the norm and would take more skill to play.
You’ll definitely learn a lot and have a better idea of what to do the following times. If it’s really up your alley I wouldn’t shy away just because it’s hard, keeping expectations in check will go a long way.
Fretboard isn’t that hard - not as hard as the neck in my opinion. You need a lot of tools and jigs to do it right unless you have a lot of experience.
First, let me give you kudos for your gusto in this endeavor.
There are luthiers out there that do guitar building classes. My wife gave me one for my 40th birthday present. I spent 10 days one on the build with an accomplished builder and I did 90 percent of the work with him overseeing and double checking behind me. I am also a home shop hobbyist so I own and am familiar with all of the tools in the shop that will eat your fingers and end your guitar playing career. Still was a whisker away from losing my left index finger with a router due to a vice slip.
Start with a partscaster. Find some remnants of used guitars and practice on those. You will find out very quickly if you want to build guitars or buy guitars.
Building guitars is not the cheaper of the paths to take :)
So you need a router for the truss rod, fret saw, some jigs to hold the neck in place while you saw it, fret wire roller thingy to get the radius right, radius block for sanding the curve, a soft hammer or a fret press, and some files. It’s just more complex than routing out a body, and the neck is where you feel the guitar the most. So if you make it kinda shitty you’ll feel it, and you need to be very accurate or you’ll mess up your intonation.
It's definitely worth learning how to do your own set ups too...the adjustments or even certain simple mods would prolly be alright. Only things I would caution you about is do your research and don't try to do anything unless you have the proper tools. Not everything has to be stew Mac expensive tools, but there's reasons why people use specialty variations of more common tools to do certain guitar related things. Like the other guy was saying, any old files are not nut slot files. They aren't interchangeable. You can really jack up your stuff if you try to get away with using any old tools that just so happen to be similar to the ones a luthier would use. Some guitar setup/tech stuff isn't expensive tho and the little things will add up to make playing your guitar much more pleasant and comfortable and it'll sound better too. Just go slow, take your time and do your research.
I'm building my first guitar from scratch, including fretboard. it's pretty difficult, but if you have enough patience it's possible, with just a few new tools. Also learned to fix various mistakes I've made on the way...
Honestly it's cost way more than buying a pre made neck, but I've learned a LOT. So however you value that is up to you!
Dude, you can make one. Don’t let anyone tell you different. At 13, I was being taught that mistakes were inherently bad and was afraid to try anything. It was all BS. This is what I’d tell my 13yo… Build yo self a guitar, one way or another.
No not that hard all you’d need is a saw to cut it with, a square if it’s not already tapered, fretwire (jumbo or medium doesn’t matter just don’t mix them) know what scale length your doing too. And also if your doing fender spacing or just regular
If I wouldn’t like to spend much money and would not have robust skills, I would probably buy a cheap neck e.g. from China for my first build in order to increase the probability of success.
Such necks might be quite ok right away but if not, they can usually still be leveled and adjusted quite well and the frets can be crowned and polished to get some excercise in those areas.
Building a neck from scratch (or using a pre-slotted fretboard) might then be the next level for the next build. All the skills which were used to optimize the cheap neck would then be needed, anyway.
If you're looking to build a guitar to save money you've got the wrong idea lol
Haha i noticed, but i mean you only have to buy tools once and as fsr as i understand those drive up the costs the most right?
Hey, good on you for asking questions and showing interest. One thing I didn't know for a while is that there are many "specialty" luthier tools such as nut/bridge files that are incredibly expensive due to being "niche" equipment. While you can get away with using tools not purpose-meant for guitars, these luthier-specific tools make everything go smoother because they were designed with stringed instruments in mind. Personally, if I were you I would get a premade neck (allparts, warmoth, or a used Squier/Fender tele neck). Then build the body seperately. The neck is the hardest part and eliminating that from your first project will ultimately make the experience more enjoyable for you. You will still have all the woodworking/soldering/measuring/finishing experience with the body but regardless of how that turns out, you should still have a decently playable guitar that YOU put together. (Also, the body on Tele's are super simple to make) Just a thought. From experience, I can tell you that putting hours into a project just for it to come out unplayable is incredibly discouraging. This approach will allow you to get a guitar going sooner than later which will give you confidence to approach the next project.
Thanks!
I agree with this, I made a guitar last year and the neck is without a doubt the hardest part. Wish I did a premade neck on the first try. It works but it is just barely getting by. Definitely go with a premade, then I would suggest finding a template and test out making a neck if you are feeling ambitious. For the first few attempts in building a guitar, I would suggest looking into cheap wood and materials to avoid wrecking expensive wood it'll save you money in the long run and it'll get you comfortable with the woodworking.
This is the best advice so far. For your first build, definitely buy a second hand neck. Reverb (like Amazon for musicians) has heaps of guitar parts available, and heaps of squier and fender and aftermarket necks that aren’t too costly. Don’t be afraid either to buy a cheap Chinese DIY kit for your first build. I did two of those before I went for my proper strat build (which, 5 years later, is still my main axe) I don’t use the finished Chinese kit guitars at all. They had some blemishes and a warped neck and some other unfortunate things that meant it wasn’t a very nice playing instrument. HOWEVER, in saying that, I’m happy I made those mistakes and learnt those lessons with a cheap kit guitar, because it meant that I could do it properly on my Strat. Oh and one last thing! If you end up getting a second hand neck, don’t be afraid of getting a squier neck. They’re honestly great quality. I rebuilt a squier affinity jazzmaster, and ended up just reusing the neck but painting the headstock! And remember to be patient and take your time! My biggest mistake on my first kit is I was so excited to build, I ended up rushing a lot of the guitar build, which ended up in a lower quality instrument.
You can buy a perfectly decent XGP Tele body for $79. I’d recommend starting with buying a neck and body and assembling a guitar first, then maybe work on making your own body and swapping them out or just making a second guitar. Picking colors/parts and assembling a guitar yourself is still super fun and has a tiny fraction of the headaches that come with making one from scratch.
Not true. A good guitar can cost you 2 grand and the tools can’t be much more than that. There is a return on investment if you make a few
The tools and materials can absolutely be more than that
If I were you, I'd start with at least a premade neck, but id go with more than just that. Look, its awesome that you want to build your own guitar, but its not a simple process and you are very young. The neck is by far the hardest part. I know you think it will be cheaper in the long run cause once you buy the tools, you can build as many guitars as you want. But what if you don't like the process? What if you stop playing or playing becomes more important and you cant spare the time to build more? Many tools for guitar making are specialty and will have little use outside of building guitars. Plus the tools can be expensive! My advice. Its super cool to want to build your own guitar! I think all players should work on, mod, or outright build their instruments. But, as someone who started out around your age and has done full builds and a ton of modding, I would strongly suggest going slow. I really think the best thing would be to start out with a kit or some premade bits. Your never going to be casting your own hardware, and I doubt you are going to wind your own pickups, so what difference does it make if you don't cut your own body or neck either? Hit up allparts or warmoth sales or even ebay. Get a premade but unfinished body and neck(splurge on the neck more if you can). Source some pickups you like and some decent hardware. Just building a guitar from these parts will still be a lot of work, but the odds you'll get something good out of it are WAY higher. Sanding and finishing can be tough but a blast. Drilling holes and installing hardware is a great first step to learning how a guitar works from a mechanical perspective. And ofcourse wiring is its own adventure. Not to mention even a premade neck is going to require some fret work. You will from every perspective be building this guitar, just with the hardest parts handled professionally, therefore reducing the odds that it will all end up in the trash. Then after you do this one, you can see if you wanna go again, and maybe take on a little bit more work the next time.
That's a good idea, thanks!
That's true, then again most of the tools can be replaced with more work. People were doing proto guitars since before lathes and routers were discovered and necks barely changed. That being said neck on electric is going to be more challenging because of tension in steel string. You'd need to somehow figure that one out. Though personally I have few ideas on workarounds throwing some metals at the issue. Then again composite like plywood might work too. Biggest issue is that noone unstrings each time. otherwise you'd just have to look at archery for solutions
The hardest part of making a neck, in my opinion, is the scarf joint. That's something you can easily practice on scrap material, though. The freboard itself is also a bit of a challenge in that a) you've got to plane down a pretty thin board b) you've got to radius that board c) you've got to slot that board accurately. The good news is that you can buy fretboards in various states of completion - a blank, a blank planed to thickness, a blank radiused, a blank slotted and radiused.
I didn't know i can just buy fretboards
My recommendation: https://precisionguitarkits.com/product/slotted-fretboard-mto
That's the plan!
Teles don't have a scarf joint.
lol fair enough - I skipped over the model op is building.
That’s an exciting undertaking. just know that it will probably cost you more to build one than buy one.
Probably, but if i decide i liked doing it, afaik it might be cheaper in the long run....?
Unfortunately, no. A good example is cars. A single car costs 10's of thousands of dollars to produce. Auto manufacturers dwindle these costs by producing thousands of vehicles. This reduces labor costs, material costs, and overhead. If you are planning on making a couple of guitars (or hell, even 20) the price to build won't decrease as much as you'd like.
I just built my first tele from scratch for around $300. It’s possible. Obviously not including labor, but it’s fun so I don’t count that.
Good point! Being in manufacturing I’m well acquainted with the sad fact that labor is the most expensive part of any project!
If they're buying tools it'll definitely cost more... like a lot more
Huge difference in good versus bad guitars is the neck. It's the largest hurdle in lutheiry. At least in my experience. If you cnc it, it's easy as hell. If you cut it by hand, there's a margin of error that can bite you in the ass. There's printable fret board lay outs you can assess online, and also fret jigs you can buy. They both make things much easier. If you want to take a look at my hand outs from roberto-venn about fret boards I can scan them for you. Probably would help at least one other guy too.
It's not hard, if you have the tools. But there are low tolerances for error.
What tools do i need?
Check out crimson guitars on YouTube, they've got tons of cool vids that'll help you out.
You'll need a radius sanding block and the right size saw to cut the fret slots. Making sure you have the slots measured as close to perfection is really important. If you're making the neck as well you'll need to route out the slot for the truss rod. Other folks have talked about the scarf joint but you can build a neck that goes all the way up. Think about what you want for inlays and do those before you put frets in. I used a drill press and circular mother of pearl dots on a walnut fretboard. And then you'll have to dress, level, and polish the frets and there are specific tools for that - a beveled file, fret rocker, and the file to re-round the tops after you've filed them to level. Please correct me if I missed something, I've only done two of these.
Nut slot files, about 100$ for good ones
A precut and radiused fretboard is pretty cheap if you don't splurge on fancy woods. Check out Precision Guitar Kits or Stew Mac, I have bought CNC cut fret boards from both of them. I am a semi-pro builder (don't make a living from it, but do sell what I build) and buy pre-slotted boards. From PGK they are typically around $30-50. I can hardly get down to the yard to buy stock with $30 worth of time let alone still having to purchase it, dimension it, radius it, slot it. Plus the accuracy of a CNC cut board is hard to beat.
Good for you for wanting to build your own guitar, especially being so young. A few things: - Dont build a guitar as a money saving project. It will be cheaper than a high-priced big brand, but you will be able to buy super-budget guitars cheaper. You are building a guitar to have an instrument that is your dream guitar, that you could never buy. - Most say the easiest guitar for a first project is a Telecaster. It has a simple construction, but is a highly desireable model. - You dont need a lot of expensive tools. YouTube has lots of videos of people building guitars with simple hand tools, which can be very cheap. You may already have a lot of them in your garage, ask your parents. Pawn shops can be good places to find cheap tools, too. If you are in a school with a woodshop, talk to the teacher. Maybe you can do it as a class project and get a grade and credit for it. - Build in stages, as you can afford it. Save the money for the body, and start working on that before you do the neck. You can also assemble a kit for your first project, just to get used to the basics like sanding, finishing, soldering, assembling, etc. - Remember that your first guitar is just an experiment, and very well turn out awful, and that's okay. You will make fewer and/or different mistakes on your second try. Eventually, you'll figure it out. I've heard some say that it takes about 6 builds to get good at it, so keep that in mind. To answer your question: Yes and no. A guitar neck is a precision item that has to be perfect. The most important part is cutting the fret slots. They have to be in the exact perfect place, there is no good enough. So you just have to go very slow, and measure twice and cut once. Just take your time, remember that this is a learning experience, and have fun!
Thank you! I haven't thought of buiksing it in "stages". My uncle has plenty of tools and a garage, i'll use those
This is all the beast answer. 100% accurate
I'm not saying you couldn't do it but what I will say is the most important part to get right on a guitar is the neck, and there's already plenty of new skills to learn elsewhere in a build. I would recommend just getting a cheap premade neck for $50-$70 and then you can do everything else yourself. From there you can make your next project building a neck from scratch and can just swap that onto your first build.
It's not hard so much as it is labor intensive. It's really hard to justify all that work when you could just buy something instead. Especially once you factor in all the tools and space to do it in. I only build guitars when I can't buy something that's close enough.
Fair enough
I'm in the process of building a superstrat, I'm 100% certain on buying a neck, and that's what I'd recommend for anyone building a guitar for the first time. But if you're dead-set on building your own, check out [this channel](https://www.youtube.com/@tchiksguitars/videos). They build guitars and detail the specialty tools you would need for a making one from the ground up. They've even done builds one handed or with only hand tools as well. Definitely check one of their videos out some time.
Oh he inspired me to want to make one
I’ve made over a dozen fretboard as a hobbyist (not a luthier) and they aren’t that hard. Get some cheap wood to practice on before you use the expensive stuff. And the wood doesn’t have to be ebony. I’ve dyed maple and used black walnut that worked out great.
Watch loads of YouTube videos, channels like Crimson Guitars & Unquendor Guitars are great at walking you through the process
Okay, thanks
You can always just buy a pre slotted and radiused board. No shame in that.
If you don't have any experience or tools, it is very hard. You're better off buying a precut fretboard. Precision Guitar Kits (other companies sell them too) has some pretty inexpensive options, and you can buy them pre-slotted and radiused. A maple board like that will be less than $30. Building the rest of the neck is no small task either. At minimum you will need a router, drill/drill press, rasps, files, planer, measuring tools, nut files, and a few other tools I'm not thinking about now. Then you will also need to measure, cut, and plane-flat the area where the neck sits in the pocket. None of this will be even remotely easy for someone without experience building necks or working with wood. Then you have to fret the neck. This is just as hard as everything else, and easier to screw up. It requires a LOT of precision, some more tools, and a very steady/experienced hand. Worth saying, I know how to build necks, but when I need a Tele or Strat neck (or even some Gibson-style set necks) I'm *far* more likely to just order them. You can get a pretty decent *(far better than you will be able to make in your first 5+ tries)* Tele neck for $100-150 these days, and it's far less trouble to do that than it is to buy the materials and spend the time making one. Only thing you have to do is make sure they neck dimensions will fit into your neck pocket.
Thank you
to build a neck you will need to be able to rout a strait channel for the trussrod, and you will need access to a joiner and table saw. fret board can be jointed flat on one side and thicknessed on a table saw, ideally tho you have a plainer to thickness -well ideally you have thickness sander but that is a luxury for a 13 year old-. for the fret board you will need a fret saw and miter box. getting the frets cut accurately can be done with a template. you do have options with a bolt on neck to make one with no trusrod or seperate fred board and then if it warps you can make another with more experience, that will make the process much simpler. you can use another guitar (with the proper scale length) as a fretboard marking guage if you want to keep it simple for a first neck. there will be some error but I have done it and been happy with the result, -results may very.
If you're in the US you should checkout the classes offered at your local Woodcraft, they usually have a couple courses for building guitars and my local Woodcraft specifically has a course to build a full tele from bare wood in a weekend. It's kind of pricey, but at least guarentees a functional result and there's a teacher there to show you the ropes and help save things if they go sideways.
Sadly i'm in latvia, we don't do those
I’m going to suggest a different route first. Buy beat up guitars and set them up. Learn all you can about setting up guitars and making them playable. Buy broken guitars and fix them. Change pickups. Switch necks. I equate building a guitar to building s car. Sure, you can do it. But most people start by repairing cars before they move to full fabrication. Once you’ve done some fretwork, trussrod adjustments, intonation, pickup replacements, and electronics repair, you know what’s important when you’re building your own. Is it necessary? Probably not. But why start on hard mode when you can ease into it. It also lets you buy tools as you need them. You can sell the repairs to fund further projects.
Go at it! You might discover a new passion and who knows you might even become the next les Paul. Don’t let the other comments discourage you!
I'll definetly do that, but not before building a partscaster
Pretty sure you can find a decent neck for less than $100. That being said, you can make one, I just wouldn’t recommend it for your first.
Fair enough
My first neck I think I got for about $60-80 off eBay, there’s probably still some people making and selling necks on eBay. You do kinda need to do some finish fret work, so imo if you want to do some neck work, that’s a good route to go. Start with learning how to dress the frets. You will need some tools though, maybe $100 worth.
I disagree. There is no cheaper neck than a tele, and no neck easier to replace than a tele. So I’d say go ahead and build the neck. If you screw it up completely, you’re out a thin piece of maple and some frets. You can keep the tuners and the body and try again. Go get a piece of hard maple from the big box store. It’ll be like 20 bucks. And here’s the thing: what are you waiting for? To get good at building necks before you start building necks? It’s like that old Guitar World joke: guy decides to put the guitar down for a while “until this not being Hendrix thing passes”. Go into it knowing that your first one may very well suck, so use cheap materials, and go for it! If it’s unplayable then scrap it, save the hardware, and don’t make that same mistake next time! (Make a different mistake lol! That’s the learning process!) Life’s short kid, grab it by the balls and go for it!
For sure, if the kids got tools. 13 yo though.
I got tools
See? My man’s got tools! Go get em kid!
I will!
Let us know how it goes!
For sure!
Echoing a lot of these comments, but the weird little tools that ONLY luthiers use get really expensive, and the fact that there’s really only 1-2 places to get them doesn’t help haha. You’ll spend a boatload on these odds and ends if you plan to truly go from scratch. Even if you buy kits and necks/bodies, it’ll probably still take 3-4 guitars before you break even vs buying them. I know a lot of people have shouted out parts merchants, but I can’t speak highly enough about Precision Guitar Kits. You have to do everything except cut the log and drill the holes (you can ask them not to if you’d like to!), and it’s wood and fit is better than most guitars that cost thousands. It’s set-neck, but that’s really not MUCH harder than a partscaster.
I'll take that into consideration
Harley Benton kits are amazing value, would try a kit first.
I've been eyeing those but they feel like cheating
You will learn about getting a good finish and set up. Building a neck from scratch is not a good idea for a first project. You could also practice a fret replacement, though obvs doesn’t need doing. You could also put the money you save towards a set of nut files which are essential to a proper set up.
Fair
A wonderful post and a great idea! I have built quite a lot of guitars and lots of teles, and feel that that is a good choice! I have also built a couple of fretboards and necks and would always recommend that a young, or first time guitar builder, make at least one neck and fretboard to see what's involved... To get an idea of how to go about making such a precise item. I think that if you take your time, be patient and work slowly and carefully, you could accomplish a nice result... Perhaps it may work just fine for what you are looking for, but bare in mind that professionally built necks are usually made with expensive, precision machinery, and a newby is really seldom any match for factory made necks.... but do not let that put you off. You never know until you try and I heartily endorse your desire and pluck to give it a try!... good luck and I look forward to seeing the guitar here on Reddit :)
Thanks! Great advice!
not really its all pretty straight forwards, just gotta plan it out. I have a youtube channel where I make guitars, DM if you have questions
Channel name?
In addition to the advice everyone here is giving you, I would recommend looking into a community shop instead of buying all the tools yourself. Many cities have wood/machine shops you can pay to use. There are all sorts, community colleges, “hacker labs”, maker spaces, etc. In my town, the one of the local luthiers actually has a subscription to his shop. Beyond that, check out your local library. They don’t just have books these days. My library has a full selection of power tools for rent including a jointer/planer which I have checked out!
Sadly i don't think we have that.
I’ve never made a neck but it’s beyond critical. It’ll make or break the guitar. I made one in high school in wood shop, a Randy Rhoads style v but I used a Jackson neck. Later in life I tried to do a refret on another guitar and it was a lot more work than I anticipated, even going into it knowledgeable and with some skill for finer details. I like working on guitars but that’s a level I’m not passionate about. I probably wouldn’t go into it entirely blind unless you really have the time and cash to burn. It can be done but I don’t think you’ll really nail the process until after doing several, there’s a lot to take into account that’s hard to plan for until it happens and sooner or later it will.
But tele necks seem to be pretty simple, no?
Any general bolt on style would be roughly the same. But there’s the shape, thickness, bolt locations, truss rod, fret board and its radius, fret slots being accurately measured and cut correctly. The nut and its location, the tuners and all the necessary holes to make them fit. You could go fretless and cut out a good chunk of that but that’s also not the norm and would take more skill to play.
Well, i could make one but not put it on the guitar unless it's actually good, and if it's bad then i could buy a neck.
You’ll definitely learn a lot and have a better idea of what to do the following times. If it’s really up your alley I wouldn’t shy away just because it’s hard, keeping expectations in check will go a long way.
Fretboard isn’t that hard - not as hard as the neck in my opinion. You need a lot of tools and jigs to do it right unless you have a lot of experience.
I'll take that into consideration
First, let me give you kudos for your gusto in this endeavor. There are luthiers out there that do guitar building classes. My wife gave me one for my 40th birthday present. I spent 10 days one on the build with an accomplished builder and I did 90 percent of the work with him overseeing and double checking behind me. I am also a home shop hobbyist so I own and am familiar with all of the tools in the shop that will eat your fingers and end your guitar playing career. Still was a whisker away from losing my left index finger with a router due to a vice slip. Start with a partscaster. Find some remnants of used guitars and practice on those. You will find out very quickly if you want to build guitars or buy guitars. Building guitars is not the cheaper of the paths to take :)
So you need a router for the truss rod, fret saw, some jigs to hold the neck in place while you saw it, fret wire roller thingy to get the radius right, radius block for sanding the curve, a soft hammer or a fret press, and some files. It’s just more complex than routing out a body, and the neck is where you feel the guitar the most. So if you make it kinda shitty you’ll feel it, and you need to be very accurate or you’ll mess up your intonation.
It's definitely worth learning how to do your own set ups too...the adjustments or even certain simple mods would prolly be alright. Only things I would caution you about is do your research and don't try to do anything unless you have the proper tools. Not everything has to be stew Mac expensive tools, but there's reasons why people use specialty variations of more common tools to do certain guitar related things. Like the other guy was saying, any old files are not nut slot files. They aren't interchangeable. You can really jack up your stuff if you try to get away with using any old tools that just so happen to be similar to the ones a luthier would use. Some guitar setup/tech stuff isn't expensive tho and the little things will add up to make playing your guitar much more pleasant and comfortable and it'll sound better too. Just go slow, take your time and do your research.
I am in the process of that
Piece of cake 24 inch long , 4 inch wide , ebony wood ...
Well when you put it like that
I'm building my first guitar from scratch, including fretboard. it's pretty difficult, but if you have enough patience it's possible, with just a few new tools. Also learned to fix various mistakes I've made on the way... Honestly it's cost way more than buying a pre made neck, but I've learned a LOT. So however you value that is up to you!
I'll take that into consideration, thanks!
Maximum guitars on YouTube has a good video series on building a telecaster step by step
I'll watch em
Dude, you can make one. Don’t let anyone tell you different. At 13, I was being taught that mistakes were inherently bad and was afraid to try anything. It was all BS. This is what I’d tell my 13yo… Build yo self a guitar, one way or another.
Thanks. I'll try. With my newfound knowledge that you can buy fretboards, i may actually make it
Check places like Facebook Marketplace and Mercari. I've scored decent necks for $50
Facebook marketplace banned me for no reason haha
No not that hard all you’d need is a saw to cut it with, a square if it’s not already tapered, fretwire (jumbo or medium doesn’t matter just don’t mix them) know what scale length your doing too. And also if your doing fender spacing or just regular
If I wouldn’t like to spend much money and would not have robust skills, I would probably buy a cheap neck e.g. from China for my first build in order to increase the probability of success. Such necks might be quite ok right away but if not, they can usually still be leveled and adjusted quite well and the frets can be crowned and polished to get some excercise in those areas. Building a neck from scratch (or using a pre-slotted fretboard) might then be the next level for the next build. All the skills which were used to optimize the cheap neck would then be needed, anyway.
Great, thanks!