advice for an absolute beginner?
- Thread starter KarkJones
- Start date
mayfly
Epic Member
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Hi there, and welcome to the forum.
Well, from where I'm standing "absolute beginner" and "cnc router" are pretty far apart from each other. I've made a lot of guitars, and I've had wooden parts made on a CNC machine, but for me making the leap to having a body made on a CNC machine would be a huge time investment in Solidworks to get the CAD model for the body. Unless doing CNC is your day job and you're really comfortable with it, I would say buy a body.
If you're hell bent for leather to do your own body, start with a warmoth body blank. At least the important stuff will be pre-routed alleviating you from that little problem.
The next thing I would say is to know your specs ahead of time. Go to your local nice guitar store, and try every guitar in the store. Figure out what you like. The neck is the main thing here. Once you've narrowed it down to a few guitars that speak to you, get out the callipers and measure that thing! Write it all down and find the closest warmoth equivalent. Also, construction and setup of a floyd equipped metal machine is going to be different from a hollow body jazz box. If you can tell us what you're looking for, we can offer some better tips.
The next thing I would recommend is to have the guitar finished by someone else. Finishing is one of the very hardest things to get right, and unless it was a simple oil finish, I always had trouble. Warmoth is the way to go here; their finish is top notch and it's actually reasonable cost wise.
Finally, the actual assembly of the guitar is straight forward. If you are at all comfortable with hand tools and drills, then you should have no issues. There is a lot of lore in the details (e.g. "wax your screws", "spin the drill backwards to centre it", "tape on the drill bit") that you will find perusing these pages. If you're stuck on one part, a local repair person can probably fill the gaps.
One last thing: Setup is very important. If you are doing this yourself, invest in some feeler gauges and a set of nut files, and a book on guitar setup and repair.
Have fun,
Well, from where I'm standing "absolute beginner" and "cnc router" are pretty far apart from each other. I've made a lot of guitars, and I've had wooden parts made on a CNC machine, but for me making the leap to having a body made on a CNC machine would be a huge time investment in Solidworks to get the CAD model for the body. Unless doing CNC is your day job and you're really comfortable with it, I would say buy a body.
If you're hell bent for leather to do your own body, start with a warmoth body blank. At least the important stuff will be pre-routed alleviating you from that little problem.
The next thing I would say is to know your specs ahead of time. Go to your local nice guitar store, and try every guitar in the store. Figure out what you like. The neck is the main thing here. Once you've narrowed it down to a few guitars that speak to you, get out the callipers and measure that thing! Write it all down and find the closest warmoth equivalent. Also, construction and setup of a floyd equipped metal machine is going to be different from a hollow body jazz box. If you can tell us what you're looking for, we can offer some better tips.
The next thing I would recommend is to have the guitar finished by someone else. Finishing is one of the very hardest things to get right, and unless it was a simple oil finish, I always had trouble. Warmoth is the way to go here; their finish is top notch and it's actually reasonable cost wise.
Finally, the actual assembly of the guitar is straight forward. If you are at all comfortable with hand tools and drills, then you should have no issues. There is a lot of lore in the details (e.g. "wax your screws", "spin the drill backwards to centre it", "tape on the drill bit") that you will find perusing these pages. If you're stuck on one part, a local repair person can probably fill the gaps.
One last thing: Setup is very important. If you are doing this yourself, invest in some feeler gauges and a set of nut files, and a book on guitar setup and repair.
Have fun,
Strat Avenger
Hero Member
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- 2,534
Only you know what your skills are.
thanks for all of your quick replies. i found some people on etsy who have STL files for a Tele and other bodies. it seems like most of that is straight forward after buying the wood slabs? i was going to experiment with scrap pieces first and maybe buy the hardware to see how it fits. i'll def go down to try out to see what I like.
I don't much about putting them together but i've been watching a good amount of youtube videos, so if you have any youtube tutorials that are solid, feel free to share. I was going to buy the neck from warmoth and maybe pickups off their website too, maybe?
ill def check out a guitar repair book from ebay or library.
i was planning on setting up as much as i could and then taking it to my luthier to finish up. id like to learn how to put in pickups and some soldering.
any other advice would be great. i'm pretty excited about putting it together and i don't excited about many things so all is appreciated
cheers
I don't much about putting them together but i've been watching a good amount of youtube videos, so if you have any youtube tutorials that are solid, feel free to share. I was going to buy the neck from warmoth and maybe pickups off their website too, maybe?
ill def check out a guitar repair book from ebay or library.
i was planning on setting up as much as i could and then taking it to my luthier to finish up. id like to learn how to put in pickups and some soldering.
any other advice would be great. i'm pretty excited about putting it together and i don't excited about many things so all is appreciated
cheers
stratamania
Mythical Status
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- 11,014
You could also have a look at the post linked in my signature, Welcome to the Forum, that has many links to build threads, and other useful information such as suggested books etc.
If you have a CNC and can get the files, then give it a go with scrap wood etc before committing to using good wood. If you then buy a neck from Warmoth, the rest then becomes assembly and set up etc. Test the fit of the neck pocket on the scrap wood also with the neck to see whether it will need adjustments or not.
If you have a CNC and can get the files, then give it a go with scrap wood etc before committing to using good wood. If you then buy a neck from Warmoth, the rest then becomes assembly and set up etc. Test the fit of the neck pocket on the scrap wood also with the neck to see whether it will need adjustments or not.
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