I've learned more in 1 day from you than I've learned in 2 or 3 weeks watching other various channels. Thank you so much for making these videos. The best on youtube I say. So thankful.
@@theelectricluthier1928 It is true. I have been scavenging all over the Internet and so far ive just found basic things that tell you that you need templates and stuff, but nothing about actual measurements, like the size of normal guitars, and where pickups and bridge cavity need to go.
@@theelectricluthier1928 Hello, after watching the video I have learned a large amount of what I needed to know for style and type, but I cannot find a single good website that actually offers customizable options for necks. If you could point me to a great site that would be extremely helpful.
@@yoavbinyamini Yes, I am looking for a good place to find great guitar necks, that have different styles, like fender types, Gibson types, and music man types.
Long before i negan my first duitar build/mod project I already knew what i wanted in my guitar. I like the "Strat" shape and knew that the bolt on neck was easier to deal with. Starting with a Basic Strat type guitar would work well for my build so the "Starcaster" was a cheap guitar that I could strip and begin with a body and neck already the right size and I could sand and paint as I liked as well as the mods to the body i needed to make to fit the added pickups and controls. all the special parts were easy to get from Amazon< with only a relatively short wait for them. the paint scheme was inspired by the guitar that i started with and the idea of continuing the name progression that Fender used to this point and take a step or two further, so the name "Stellarcaster to reflect all these factors. plus the extent of the mods and upgrades i went to in this build. starting with the custom hand made extended brushed stainless steel pick guard and loading it with the 3 quad rail/coil humbucker pickups and wiring it like a 50's les Paul with coil splits for a start and adding the third pot pair and adding another P/P pot in the bridge tone position to activate the bridge and neck pickups together, regardless of other controls took a little extra planning and design to make it all work together as I wanted. soldering all those connections and wire routing in the control cavity was a lot of precise work. but then i used a smaller wire for the circuit to save room and because the traditional size wire is really too big anyway. back then they simply used what they had available, cheap and was easy to get. and making what they had to for the designs Leo Fender and crew came up with. I came up with a few twists on those designs and went a little further for what i wanted. special parts starting at the headstock include locking tuners,roller string tree and a titanium nut in the stainless pick guard are mounted the 3 quad rail.coil pickups, Fender 5-way blade selector switch adorned wth chrome tip, the 6 pots all of which are 500K audio taper units 4 of them P/P and 2 regular style (coil splits and the other little trick) all adorned with Tele styls chrome knobs. the output jack is in the pick guard as well mounted behind the bridge at the regular angle just further toward the end of the body strap locks do their duty as they should. the pickups mesure at 18.5K ohms average and when split sound like regular Strat single coils. perhaps because they each have 4 smaller coils and blades, with 3 very strong ceramic magnets between the 4 rails and bobbins and coils the ceramic magnets are about 1/4" high and thick then as long as the pickups are wide as usual. the pickups are 50% heavier that most humbuckers owing to the size of the parts used in them the ends of the rails are also soldered to the base plates. they have 5 wires ..one braded ground with and the the paired coils starts and finish of north and south a with regular humbuckers with the color code like a Seymor Duncan ... I tested them to find out which was which wire end of which coil to know how to connect them. I learned a lot from you tube videos about guitar building and repair. LOL even at 65 I learn almost too fast when write it down once and it stays in my head. i researched wiring for the Les Paul and chose the 60's style wiring for the brighter tones from that circuit design. So my guitar would sound like any other Strat when coil split. and make the active coil(s) when split the one closer to the bridge helped. . Yes, I thought of that too... with the hums and the rest, planning the sound of the many tones from my guitar was only one part of all I considered for this build. I like to cover as many variables as i can to ne certain than i get the result I want. as they Say "The Devil's in the Details" So good thorough research of all aspects of this build really helped a lot. and the skills I already had, plus those I learned along the way helps too. I got another Black Strat to keep stock. for comparison and to play as well. I got it partially stripped of parts. It needed a bridge and knobs, which I had and still needs a 5-way switch I will get soon enough. then i will have to decide the controls which tone controls which pickup(s). keeping this one stock- ish . Planning and and then execution are essential for a good result in any endeavor. Wanna Play???
My first guitar build is a used (Chinese Made) "Starcaster" Strat electric guitar By: Fender (said it on the head stock from factory) . I bought used in order to do an extreme upgrade/mod to my design. I totally stripped the body and head stock for total repaint in a space theme stars and planets design I did with spray cans and airbrushed details. I hand made a brushed stainless steel extended pick guard lo0aded with 3 quad rail/soil humbuckers wirwd like a 50's Les Paul with coil splits. 3 P/P 500K audio taper vol. pots, 3 500K audio taper tone pots but the bridge pot is also P/P to activate the bridge and neck pickups together regardless of other controls. because i used a Fender 5-way blade selector switch and mounted the output jack in the pick guard behind the bridge. upgrqades include a full size brass bridge block and roller saddles in the bridge which is floated when strung up and tuned to E flat standard like any good Strat should be. the headstock got a titanium nut, roller string tree and locking tuners.. since the output from pickups is nere Millivolts the traditional 22 AWG wire is really just to big so I stripped out a computer VGA cable for the thinner stranded wires in it that are fine for the minimal current from the pickups, saving room in an already crowded control cavity even though I extended it to fit the 6 pots and addd a kill button just for fun. Soldering all those connections for the controls was quite the adventure. but it all works just as I designed it to work and sounds out of this world. I went totally overboard for the challenge and to learn along the way. I now have a very cool looking guitar that is both unique and plays as good as it looks. I used chrome Tele style knobs on the pots and a chrome switch tip on the 5-way Fender blade switch. Strap locks secure the guitar well as I play. the new name for my creation is the "Stellarcaster. for its "Starcaster roots and the naming progression fender used throughout the line. starting with the "Broadcaster (Sued) and then the Telecaster and Esquire ( my next project) then the Stratocaster the recently the Starcaster. And so... I went further out to the Stellarcaster, and webt sort of to the extreme with my build. I won a Tele bridge pickup from Dylan of Dylan Talks Tone and decided that a classic version Esquire was a good choice for this special (To me) pickup. and I domean classic style build, meaning a Pine body and the ashtray covered bridge, along with ther classic wiring circuit. I researched the wiring and all so thats covered. just have to get the parts and materials as well as a prefab Tele neck as i don't yet have skills to make a neck from scratch. thats a skill I plan to practice soon but want to make the Esquire first. then maybe a SG Special or :Les Paul JR. (bolt on neck for a start) I plan to hand build my guitar collection one by one. for the fun of the hobby and for the pride of having done them all myself. Wanna Play???
That was so much information in one video I'm going to have to get that checklist! Great video and thank you for giving me a lot to think about before I get started!
what I'm about to tell everybody it's the easiest way to make your own template whatever kind of guitar you want to make whether it's a Les Paul or whether it's a fender strat just borrow one from somebody lay it down on poster board and draw it out on poster board make sure after you draw the bottom base out on poster board to draw you a center line going down the middle as far as the neck is concern you can order next already made already Fretted where you could slide right in your new base at the bottom that is your Les Paul or your strat that you're making.
have you considered having your templates laser cut . you can draw out the template in Inkscape and upload it to some place like ponoko.com . pick the material such as acrylic, bamboo , I think they even have MDF . they will laser cut it and ship it to you.
Thanks for the comment Greg. 🙏 That sounds great, but it kind of misses the point of DIY. For most familiar guitars I could just buy templates online anyway. Other than the extra cost, I think there is great value, especially for first-time builders, to make thee own templates. You get familiar with the shape and you also start thinking about the process and how everything fits together. If I was producing the same shape guitar multiple times, I can see the benefit of acrylic templates, but then I would make them with the CNC I would probably have. 😉
i should have seen your channel before but i happy anyway. Great videos . thanks a lot i just wanna make guitar now. i just need all the tools and time and effort. You make it seem easy
A bass is certainly on my 'To Do' list, especially considering I played bass on first (and only) band. It may be a while though, just started the build for the Great Guitar Build Off 2021 #greatguitarbuildoff
Welcome to the wonderful world of guitar building. It's a lot of fun and you should check out th-cam.com/video/NdAUNnS66pw/w-d-xo.html&lc=Ugxb_gOL-WbU8oN4wZB4AaABAg, to understand the cost a bit better. Feel free to ask anything in the comment. Good luck 🙂
Hi! Could you please give me an advice? I bought a quarter inch (6,35mm) wide truss rod from Stew Mac. The problem is that I only have a 6mm router bit, and cannot find a 1/4 bit anywhere around here... What could I do? Thanks!!
The easy option is to find it on either Aliexpress or Amazon and have it delivered. You should be able to find it for under 10$ including shipping. Do make sure that the shaft matches your router. You can also use a parallel attachment that comes with most routers. and do two passes with a 0.35mm difference. This has to be done before you shape the neck, otherwise, you need a jig. The third option is to rout with 6mm bit and then take a 5.5mm scrap piece of wood, with an 80grit sandpaper, and run it in the channel back and forth until the truss rod fits. Cheers
@@yoavbinyamini Thanks!!! I think that the 3rd option might be best... Aliexpress is cheap, but it takes 2 months to ship.. I WILL get a bit for future builds though :) Yes... my router is metric..I bought an awesome bit once from England (4 flute flish trim bit), paid about 60 pounds, and sits in my shelf for 10 years.. it has a 1/2 shank :( and my router only sees 6mm, 1/4" and 8mm shank bits..
You can use MDF to build a guitar body (don't think it can make a good neck) but there are a few things to consider: Thin Mdf is not very strong and maybe risky at the neck joint area. Thicker MDF is quite heavy. Sound-wise it should be fairly neutral although I am sure some people would object to it altogether. Check out the Danelectro guitars built from Masonite. They were very cheap to make but have a unique sound and many followers.
This is such a great series. In fact, all your content is top notch 👌 I’m gonna build my first body soon, so i guess i'll be revisiting the shit out of this videos 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wood choices can be a subject for a whole other video or even more. I've mentioned some practical aspects like the hardness of the wood. I would try to avoid the really hard ones like oak, and the very soft ones like pine. The classic ones are always a safer bet. As far as tone, there is a huge debate on how important or critical it is and, again, a much too big a topic for this video. It also depends a lot on what you can find in your area or how much you are willing to spend on it. I use wood that I already have and that I know is fairly dry and stable. In my humble opinion, if you are not very particular, goo construction is more important than the type of wood.
Probably you. 🙂 I a using a clip from the youtube library (avoiding any copyright issues). This is "Welcome-to-the-show" by-kevin-macleod. And I have noticed that it's overdubbed in the beginning - Oops. 🤦♂️
![ละลาย (LALALYE) - DAOU PITTAYA ต้าห์อู๋ พิทยา [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wo6r9TgausI/mqdefault.jpg)
I've learned more in 1 day from you than I've learned in 2 or 3 weeks watching other various channels. Thank you so much for making these videos. The best on youtube I say. So thankful.
Thanks 🙏, I am kinda blushing...
@@theelectricluthier1928 It is true. I have been scavenging all over the Internet and so far ive just found basic things that tell you that you need templates and stuff, but nothing about actual measurements, like the size of normal guitars, and where pickups and bridge cavity need to go.
@@theelectricluthier1928 Hello, after watching the video I have learned a large amount of what I needed to know for style and type, but I cannot find a single good website that actually offers customizable options for necks. If you could point me to a great site that would be extremely helpful.
@@SWFGaming Not sure what you mean by 'customizable options for necks'. Do you want to order a custom neck?
@@yoavbinyamini Yes, I am looking for a good place to find great guitar necks, that have different styles, like fender types, Gibson types, and music man types.
Long before i negan my first duitar build/mod project I already knew what i wanted in my guitar. I like the "Strat" shape and knew that the bolt on neck was easier to deal with. Starting with a Basic Strat type guitar would work well for my build so the "Starcaster" was a cheap guitar that I could strip and begin with a body and neck already the right size and I could sand and paint as I liked as well as the mods to the body i needed to make to fit the added pickups and controls. all the special parts were easy to get from Amazon< with only a relatively short wait for them. the paint scheme was inspired by the guitar that i started with and the idea of continuing the name progression that Fender used to this point and take a step or two further, so the name "Stellarcaster to reflect all these factors. plus the extent of the mods and upgrades i went to in this build. starting with the custom hand made extended brushed stainless steel pick guard and loading it with the 3 quad rail/coil humbucker pickups and wiring it like a 50's les Paul with coil splits for a start and adding the third pot pair and adding another P/P pot in the bridge tone position to activate the bridge and neck pickups together, regardless of other controls took a little extra planning and design to make it all work together as I wanted. soldering all those connections and wire routing in the control cavity was a lot of precise work. but then i used a smaller wire for the circuit to save room and because the traditional size wire is really too big anyway. back then they simply used what they had available, cheap and was easy to get. and making what they had to for the designs Leo Fender and crew came up with. I came up with a few twists on those designs and went a little further for what i wanted. special parts starting at the headstock include locking tuners,roller string tree and a titanium nut in the stainless pick guard are mounted the 3 quad rail.coil pickups, Fender 5-way blade selector switch adorned wth chrome tip, the 6 pots all of which are 500K audio taper units 4 of them P/P and 2 regular style (coil splits and the other little trick) all adorned with Tele styls chrome knobs. the output jack is in the pick guard as well mounted behind the bridge at the regular angle just further toward the end of the body strap locks do their duty as they should. the pickups mesure at 18.5K ohms average and when split sound like regular Strat single coils. perhaps because they each have 4 smaller coils and blades, with 3 very strong ceramic magnets between the 4 rails and bobbins and coils the ceramic magnets are about 1/4" high and thick then as long as the pickups are wide as usual. the pickups are 50% heavier that most humbuckers owing to the size of the parts used in them the ends of the rails are also soldered to the base plates. they have 5 wires ..one braded ground with and the the paired coils starts and finish of north and south a with regular humbuckers with the color code like a Seymor Duncan ... I tested them to find out which was which wire end of which coil to know how to connect them. I learned a lot from you tube videos about guitar building and repair. LOL even at 65 I learn almost too fast when write it down once and it stays in my head. i researched wiring for the Les Paul and chose the 60's style wiring for the brighter tones from that circuit design. So my guitar would sound like any other Strat when coil split. and make the active coil(s) when split the one closer to the bridge helped. . Yes, I thought of that too... with the hums and the rest, planning the sound of the many tones from my guitar was only one part of all I considered for this build. I like to cover as many variables as i can to ne certain than i get the result I want. as they Say "The Devil's in the Details" So good thorough research of all aspects of this build really helped a lot. and the skills I already had, plus those I learned along the way helps too. I got another Black Strat to keep stock. for comparison and to play as well. I got it partially stripped of parts. It needed a bridge and knobs, which I had and still needs a 5-way switch I will get soon enough. then i will have to decide the controls which tone controls which pickup(s). keeping this one stock- ish . Planning and and then execution are essential for a good result in any endeavor. Wanna Play???
My first guitar build is a used (Chinese Made) "Starcaster" Strat electric guitar By: Fender (said it on the head stock from factory) . I bought used in order to do an extreme upgrade/mod to my design. I totally stripped the body and head stock for total repaint in a space theme stars and planets design I did with spray cans and airbrushed details. I hand made a brushed stainless steel extended pick guard lo0aded with 3 quad rail/soil humbuckers wirwd like a 50's Les Paul with coil splits. 3 P/P 500K audio taper vol. pots, 3 500K audio taper tone pots but the bridge pot is also P/P to activate the bridge and neck pickups together regardless of other controls. because i used a Fender 5-way blade selector switch and mounted the output jack in the pick guard behind the bridge. upgrqades include a full size brass bridge block and roller saddles in the bridge which is floated when strung up and tuned to E flat standard like any good Strat should be. the headstock got a titanium nut, roller string tree and locking tuners.. since the output from pickups is nere Millivolts the traditional 22 AWG wire is really just to big so I stripped out a computer VGA cable for the thinner stranded wires in it that are fine for the minimal current from the pickups, saving room in an already crowded control cavity even though I extended it to fit the 6 pots and addd a kill button just for fun. Soldering all those connections for the controls was quite the adventure. but it all works just as I designed it to work and sounds out of this world. I went totally overboard for the challenge and to learn along the way. I now have a very cool looking guitar that is both unique and plays as good as it looks. I used chrome Tele style knobs on the pots and a chrome switch tip on the 5-way Fender blade switch. Strap locks secure the guitar well as I play. the new name for my creation is the "Stellarcaster. for its "Starcaster roots and the naming progression fender used throughout the line. starting with the "Broadcaster (Sued) and then the Telecaster and Esquire ( my next project) then the Stratocaster the recently the Starcaster. And so... I went further out to the Stellarcaster, and webt sort of to the extreme with my build. I won a Tele bridge pickup from Dylan of Dylan Talks Tone and decided that a classic version Esquire was a good choice for this special (To me) pickup. and I domean classic style build, meaning a Pine body and the ashtray covered bridge, along with ther classic wiring circuit. I researched the wiring and all so thats covered. just have to get the parts and materials as well as a prefab Tele neck as i don't yet have skills to make a neck from scratch. thats a skill I plan to practice soon but want to make the Esquire first. then maybe a SG Special or :Les Paul JR. (bolt on neck for a start) I plan to hand build my guitar collection one by one. for the fun of the hobby and for the pride of having done them all myself. Wanna Play???
Excellent tutorial. Special thanks for homemade luthier tools which save a serious amount of cash.
1 video 1000 information. Thanks sir.
This is the most helpful beginner guitar design I have ever seen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
That was so much information in one video I'm going to have to get that checklist! Great video and thank you for giving me a lot to think about before I get started!
Thanks 🙏. Good luck
such an awesome video! Made me feel confident I could do a build
Thanks 🙏. I say: go for it. Start with a less complex model such as Telecaster, go slowly and enjoy it
Very insightful and wise. The way you deliver the message and the actual tips allow for others to take notes
This channel is the real deal. Really appreciate all the info you share man.
Thanks 🙏
Very very informative! I want to build my first ever electric guitar and found your video. Thank you very much!
Great video. Thanks for this valuable knowledge session
And here's the extra tips. Ty
what I'm about to tell everybody it's the easiest way to make your own template whatever kind of guitar you want to make whether it's a Les Paul or whether it's a fender strat just borrow one from somebody lay it down on poster board and draw it out on poster board make sure after you draw the bottom base out on poster board to draw you a center line going down the middle as far as the neck is concern you can order next already made already Fretted where you could slide right in your new base at the bottom that is your Les Paul or your strat that you're making.
Dragonfire pickups are nice. Guitar fetish ones are too. They are cheaper and sound quite nice
This is a fantastic video, I'm surprised it doesn't have more views! Thank you!
Thanks, Much appreciated 🙏. Still waiting for TH-cam to catch on 🙂
Excelente explicación muy importante para mí Gracias
Gracias @JD Mequeo 🙏
Thanks so much, very good information, lessons and tips!
Thanks Andrew 🙏.
Thanks, I learned a lot
Thanks for the succinct info.
have you considered having your templates laser cut . you can draw out the template in Inkscape and upload it to some place like ponoko.com . pick the material such as acrylic, bamboo , I think they even have MDF . they will laser cut it and ship it to you.
Thanks for the comment Greg. 🙏 That sounds great, but it kind of misses the point of DIY. For most familiar guitars I could just buy templates online anyway. Other than the extra cost, I think there is great value, especially for first-time builders, to make thee own templates. You get familiar with the shape and you also start thinking about the process and how everything fits together. If I was producing the same shape guitar multiple times, I can see the benefit of acrylic templates, but then I would make them with the CNC I would probably have. 😉
This is the most informational video I've been able to find. This is super helpful!
Thanks 🙏
You’re amazing. What a wonderful help!
Thank you @Finn MacDiarmid. 😊
Thanks for this video, sir! It's very infomative!
i should have seen your channel before but i happy anyway. Great videos . thanks a lot i just wanna make guitar now. i just need all the tools and time and effort. You make it seem easy
can you do the same video but for bass please? its very helpful
A bass is certainly on my 'To Do' list, especially considering I played bass on first (and only) band. It may be a while though, just started the build for the Great Guitar Build Off 2021 #greatguitarbuildoff
@@yoavbinyamini thank you for answering
Great channel. Do you do any acoustic building?
Thanks M Thomas 🙏, but no, I have no plans to go acoustic any time in the near future.
Amazing video!
Thank you kindly 🙏
Thank you
Thanks 🙏.
So very helpful. Thank you!
Thanks, Glad it was helpful! 🙏
I'm just learning and want an electric guitar so bad. I have wood in my garage and my school's wood shop equipment.
Welcome to the wonderful world of guitar building. It's a lot of fun and you should check out th-cam.com/video/NdAUNnS66pw/w-d-xo.html&lc=Ugxb_gOL-WbU8oN4wZB4AaABAg, to understand the cost a bit better. Feel free to ask anything in the comment. Good luck 🙂
This is so helpful thank you!!
Thanks for the comment 🙏 @Angela Watkins , You're very welcome
Hi! Could you please give me an advice? I bought a quarter inch (6,35mm) wide truss rod from Stew Mac. The problem is that I only have a 6mm router bit, and cannot find a 1/4 bit anywhere around here... What could I do? Thanks!!
The easy option is to find it on either Aliexpress or Amazon and have it delivered. You should be able to find it for under 10$ including shipping. Do make sure that the shaft matches your router. You can also use a parallel attachment that comes with most routers. and do two passes with a 0.35mm difference. This has to be done before you shape the neck, otherwise, you need a jig. The third option is to rout with 6mm bit and then take a 5.5mm scrap piece of wood, with an 80grit sandpaper, and run it in the channel back and forth until the truss rod fits. Cheers
@@yoavbinyamini Thanks!!! I think that the 3rd option might be best... Aliexpress is cheap, but it takes 2 months to ship.. I WILL get a bit for future builds though :) Yes... my router is metric..I bought an awesome bit once from England (4 flute flish trim bit), paid about 60 pounds, and sits in my shelf for 10 years.. it has a 1/2 shank :( and my router only sees 6mm, 1/4" and 8mm shank bits..
Can i build an electric guitar from MDF?
You can use MDF to build a guitar body (don't think it can make a good neck) but there are a few things to consider: Thin Mdf is not very strong and maybe risky at the neck joint area. Thicker MDF is quite heavy. Sound-wise it should be fairly neutral although I am sure some people would object to it altogether. Check out the Danelectro guitars built from Masonite. They were very cheap to make but have a unique sound and many followers.
Can we make pick ups.
my favorite guitarist is bocchi
This is such a great series. In fact, all your content is top notch 👌 I’m gonna build my first body soon, so i guess i'll be revisiting the shit out of this videos 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Why would you not talk about wood choice!?
Wood choices can be a subject for a whole other video or even more. I've mentioned some practical aspects like the hardness of the wood. I would try to avoid the really hard ones like oak, and the very soft ones like pine. The classic ones are always a safer bet. As far as tone, there is a huge debate on how important or critical it is and, again, a much too big a topic for this video. It also depends a lot on what you can find in your area or how much you are willing to spend on it. I use wood that I already have and that I know is fairly dry and stable. In my humble opinion, if you are not very particular, goo construction is more important than the type of wood.
tyty
🙏
is it me or is he using the soundtrack from House of the Dead?
Probably you. 🙂 I a using a clip from the youtube library (avoiding any copyright issues). This is "Welcome-to-the-show" by-kevin-macleod. And I have noticed that it's overdubbed in the beginning - Oops. 🤦♂️