Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi, I am a student currently studying Product Design at Coventry university and am in my final year.

My final major project is to design and make my own guitar. I am new to this site but I would love to get feedback on my ideas and maybe some problems that I may encounter. Any help would be appreciated.

I firstly wanted to know how deep do you drill out for the pick up slots? I know that pick ups are different sizes and depths so how do you find out this information?

Thanks in advance.

Well the easy answer is to buy the pickups you want and measure them! Alternatively have a look at manufacturers web sites where they may give you dimensions.

Cheers, Bob

Hi Ruven,
Welcome to the forum!
Post photos and ask questions.
The people here will gladly answer questions.
Dan

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I was also wondering, when the time comes for a router to route out the electronics is there any brand or specific model you would recommend?

As any good student knows the best way to do research is to read everything you can about your chosen subject. One of the very best books on designing and building electric guitars is by Melvyn Hiscock. He covers the three basic construction designs (bolt on, set neck and thru neck), tools (including routers), all of the significant parameters that go into a successful guitar. Very important is the plan view of the neck, bridge, pickups and how all of that mounts on the body for different designs.

I would also suggest getting plans for a guitar similar to the one you want to build - after all "designing" your own guitar is pretty much constrained to shape, size, scale length, number and type of pup - that sort of thing. Lets say you want something with a Les Paul flavor (carved top, set neck) - get some good LP plans and modify it to your hearts content. it will show you exactly how deep the cavities are routed on a Lester - you can use or modify that for your design.

Designing a guitar is one thing, building it will be something else. My last suggestion is that in addition to Hiscock's book you read as many build threads as you can on the internet. Complete threads are frowned on in this forum but some others allow them - I've posted a couple and could point you to them. You don't say what your woodworking skills or shop is like - there will be a certain investment in tools.

Finally, in my little shop (I am a very small time hobbyist builder) I have three routers - a Ryobi laminate trimmer which I use all the time, a Ryobi table router (both available at Home Depot and decent quality) and a Dremel with a couple of router bases that I use for inlay. I just finished routing out a chambered guitar body with the laminate trimmer and decided that if I do that again I'll buy a full sized router.

Good luck

Thanks for your suggestions. I have been reading and learning through videos online and I know the theory of building a guitar. I have also practised wiring an electric, finishing it and to a certain amount customising the shape. I would be interested in seeing your build threads. I'm up for learning as much as possible.

In terms of using guitar plans, I was planning on working off of a travel guitar shape, as in compact wiring and narrow shape in the body. Then to customise it by adding modular components. Thanks for your help. I'm now going to try and hunt out a decent guitar plan.

Here is a very long and detailed thread of my first electric build. It is more or less a copy of a Les Paul but as I said, it would be very easy to customize (my current project is a flat topped version of this guitar, chambered internally - but I haven't done a build thread yet).

http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/for ... 1/1104633-

Other people will do things differently depending on the tools and experience available so don't take this as gospel. Unfortunately the StewMac plans that I used are no longer available but there are lots of choices for plans, including some that you can download as CAD files (which lets you modify them all you want). The Hiscock book is also shown in my thread - I simply cannot recommend it enough.