Hey everyone i recently finished up my first guitar build. I'm still in college and i decided to take on the challenge of building a guitar from scratch during my winter break. I got most of my supplies from stewart macdonald (they're great) and did all the work in the shed behind our house. I'm new to the forums but i hope to contribute! Since this was my first build, i had to do a good amount of research and experimenting to get everything right, but i finally got it. I wish i had visited this site earlier- there seems to be some very knowledgeable people here.
My main reason for posting this up here is to get feedback and to answer any questions you all my have about my build. Feel free to ask!
I will put up videos of how the guitar sounds later.
specs:
24.75 inch scale, seymour duncan pearly gate in bridge, fender humbucker for neck, gotoh 510 bridge + tailpiece, grover tuners, mahogany neck, flamed maple top w/ mahogany body.
the finished guitar!
planning/ drawing out everything(rough)
gluing the matchbooked maple top
cutting out the body on a bandsaw
finished cutting out the body
routing the top to the right thickness
routing pickup cavities
routing/drilling holes for electronics cavity
sketching the top-carving pattern
routing the top to the pattern
sawing out truss rod pocket
shaping neck w/ bandsaw
shaping neck w/ spokeshave
test-fitting fingerboard
used a dremel router attachment to rout out cavities for inlays (had to go in w/ an exacto knife to clean it up)
primer (used the wrong kind at first)
i finally used some rustoleum spray primer and it worked pretty well
used some gloss black nitro from stewmac to paint the back black. 2 coats
used black stain from stewmac mixed with water
sanded middle with random orbital sander to get sunburst effect
ready for spraying lacquer
after some rubbing + buffing
wiring up the pots w/ a mock cardboard cavity (tip i learned from stewmac)
back of guitar w/ clear acrylic covers i made
