Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm pretty new to all this, and I'm looking to learn a lot. I've tinkered with my own guitars some, but just electronics and hardware and set up kinda stuff. I wanna start doing some fret work and nut work and serious, no looking back mods & such. I want to learn to build guitars, but first I'd like to learn some repair techniques. I'd like to get some sacrificial guitars to hone my skills, but I don't know where to look. I've tried ebay & craigslist, but maybe I'm not entering the right search words. Any tips I could weasel out of you would be a big help.

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"Real guitars are for old people, Mr. Marsh."

Eric Cartman

Look in used guitar stores and craigslist for old Japanese import Les Pauls from the Lawsuit era. They can be bought pretty cheap and usually need a full workup, frets, nuts, setup, electroncics, sometimes even the hardware.

A friend of mine just bought an old Univox for $120, he's going to rip it apart and do everything to it. It has a warped neck that nees refretting and truing up, should be fun!

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Old growth, shmold growth!

My favorite search term is "project"... seems to produce results for me on craigslist and ebay. Hope that helps!

I find alot of project guitars by searching "damaged guitars" on the Ebay. Pawn shops will part with p.o.s. guitars that they've had for years because they're too ragged out for the normal buyer. Make a lowball offer and they'll usually take it. If you let them know what you're looking to do they'll give you a call if any candidates come off pawn.

Thanks for the tips. I'll give em a try!

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"Real guitars are for old people, Mr. Marsh."

Eric Cartman

I was asked to fix an acoustic recently where the top was busted around the bridge. (Manufacturer drilled dowel holes right through the braces...SMH). Since the guitar was probably $79 new, I could just buy them a new one if I really screwed it up. I ended up patching the top and making a new bigger bridge (kind of odd looking but more surface area for glue) and they were very happy. If you have a little courage, jump in and see what happens with the low risk situations. There is no substitute for experience.

Usually if you ebay project guitar you get tons of hits on damaged guitars. Ebay will also suggest some other key words to click on. Some new and some old. Usually they are guitars damaged in shipping. Also check thrift stores and flea markets. Craigslist is just to shady anymore. I stay away from there. To many fake ad's these days....Mike

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Another day, another dollar.

Search local. Pawn shops, music shops, flea markets, garage sales, craigs list, etc. Money looks different on a computer screen than in real life.

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Whatever you do DON'T confuse me as an EXPERT, or MASTER, just a self learned trial and error guy. I had to build a dozen guitar before I found out what a "Luthier" even was (????)

You could buy a $99 Epiphone LP or SG and try to turn it into a "good" guitar.
You would not have to mess with the finish.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I always liked buying broken guitars that needed some type of repair work to make it a playable guitar. You know, bridge ripped of or body and beck cracks. You can learn a lot from doing it this way.

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Another day, another dollar.