Why did you build your guitar

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I've assembled 3 complete instruments and have a bass neck and guitar body gassing me on.  But my Tobacco Burst Jazz Bass is what started the habit.  Early on I didn't want something super custom.  I just wanted to combine features from other instruments onto one.  I wanted a string thru bridge, active pickups, a reverse headstock, swamp ash body, and a burst that didn't have black in it.  When you see the finished product, nothing really jumps out as custom.  It's in the details though.  And like many addicts that chase the feeling of that 1st high, I haven't recreated it since.  The first plays and sounds the best and took the least amount of effort to setup.  It remains my favorite.

 

[Johnfv]

After years of changing parts on Fenders (everything from pickups to tuners to bridge saddles to strap locks, etc.) I decided it might make more sense to buy the parts I want and assemble myself.  I don't stray that far from the Fender originals but the Warmoth quality and excellent woods let me make guitars that rival the best "custom shop" instruments at a fraction of the cost and get it exactly the way I want it. I have tried some Mighty Mite parts, not that they are terrible but it convinced me to stick with Warmoth. It is addicting, I've got another body on order...

 

[Mor Paul]

Early on I didn't want something super custom.

Just super turbo deluxe custom.

 

[Cagey]

After years of changing parts on Fenders (everything from pickups to tuners to bridge saddles to strap locks, etc.) I decided it might make more sense to buy the parts I want and assemble myself. 

That's another point. You would think if you're paying premium prices for instruments that you'd get premium parts, but you often don't. In fact, some of the "signature" series instruments are the exact opposite - you get ancient "vintage" hardware that never worked well in the first place, then pay an even higher premium because somebody signed off on it and said "Yup! That's what I use!" Who cares?

I'll grant that Johnson or Clapton or Trower are excellent guitar players - some of my favorites even - but that doesn't mean I want to use the same crummy bridges or tuners they do. Those aren't what make them good. In fact, of the innumerable hours they probably have into their instruments, many of those are likely wasted because they had to learn to work around deprecated hardware. I've already been on that learning curve and don't care to go back. I learned my lesson: don't use poorly designed, substandard or obsolete hardware, pickups, or other features. There's usually more than one reason those items have been superseded.

 

[m4rk0]

hmmm

I am such an awesome and unique guitar player, I think I deserved an awesome and unique personalized guitar!!

or

I am too good to play a guitar with regular woods and maple necks just like all the other sheep! I am special!

or

I sound like shit on a regular McGuitarcenter guitar... maybe I sound better on an exotic super turbo deluxe custom guitar!


ok, the last one maybe a little right, but here is the truth:

movers broke my guitar so I needed a new body, and once I ended up on the Warmoth site and ordered my replacement body, I got GAS sooo bad and really got addicted.. I think I may need help..

 

[Damon]

While I could have legitimately selected a few of those options I ultimately settled on "because you can." I'm into DIY in general and I like the idea of designing my guitars the way I want them from the start, not wasting money replacing parts I didn't want with parts I do. There's something to be said for doing it yourself, or in this case, contracting the woodworking and finishing to Warmoth and doing the rest yourself. It's a fun project that's more rewarding than going to GC and buying a new guitar (although I still do that once in a while, too).

 

[Jusatele]

You know, we should really make this a "Why Did You Build Your Second Guitar" poll

I think we can all agree, our first build was a bit of an experiment. We all learned a lot while doing it. And had we known some of the stuff we were going to have to learn to do we may not have tried it.
I mean I wanted to start from a raw body, I never knew what was involved in doing a finish. I learned that as I went, asking a ton of questions before the start, and during each step. My second build I had it stained, sealled and ready for top coat in a snap.

So why did I start my second build? Got hooked on my first build and realized I could get exactly what I wanted if I just applied myself.

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

one word...

perfection

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

because I needed one

 

[line6man]

Wanted a guitar designed and built by your own hands?

My luthier chat buddies hate Warmoth people for having that attitude. Screwing together some Warmoth parts (I know Warmoth was not specifically mentioned in the OP, but it's pretty much implied.) is by no means "designing and building a guitar with your own hands." It's just assembling. You're not designing and building until you're sketching out drawings and cutting up wood.

In any case, I got into Warmoth because I wanted things I could not find in mass produced instruments.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

What I like, and what is offered do not often coincide.  I often want to try things, or use special parts, without having to pay for a top of the line guitar.  I don't want to buy a guitar only to have to buy another set of pickups, or anything else, to get what I am after.  I'd rather buy it all once, and go from there.  I know quite a few options that I like, and these are not usually available on instruments that are already made.
Patrick

 

[Cagey]

Not to mention that even if you could order to spec to get what you wanted, the retail markups are nearly criminal. Then, there's often little or no justification for it. Guitars, I'll give you that some require some amount of skilled labor is required to build. But, open up a special effects box one time. Many of them look like a grade-school science project, but they'll charge hundreds of dollars for them. Contrast that with something like a motherboard for a computer. Not just a percentage, but easily 20 or more times the design/build complexity, part count/type, size, circuit density, on and on, and you can pick one of those up for $75.

Then people bitch when Behringer produces SFX pedals that sell for $25 or so and sound as good or better than the major brand names. Hell, they're not only producing them and selling them at a profit, the jobbers are then shipping them half-way around the world and reselling them to distributors who mark them up to make a profit then resell them to retailers who mark them up again, shipping charges every inch of the way, and they're still only $25. They're just refusing to support the usurious musical equipment paradigm that has existed since the dawn of time, so the whole industry is up in arms against them.

 

[Eric Banjitar]

Let's hear for THE musicians friend Behringer.  They may not make the highest quality equipment, but for the price they charge, they are easily replacable.

 

[line6man]

open up a special effects box one time. Many of them look like a grade-school science project, but they'll charge hundreds of dollars for them. Contrast that with something like a motherboard for a computer. Not just a percentage, but easily 20 or more times the design/build complexity, part count/type, size, circuit density, on and on, and you can pick one of those up for $75.

I never did understand that $400 boutique stompbox nonsense. I'll build my own for $20.
It's not just big companies doing it, there are all sorts of DIY hobbyists Googling up schematics of existing pedals and making a tweak here or there, selling their "creations" for hundreds of dollars.

Don't forget, if you use fancy metal film resistors and tantalum capacitors (Someone told me the pedal guys prefer electrolytics again now?), you can say you've got a superior product! Worth every dime of that $300 markup!  :tard:

Don't want a new pedal? For only $200 you can mod your existing pedal to do something fun and exciting. :blob7:

 

[Cagey]

Well, to be fair, there is such a thing as "economies of scale". I mean, if you asked me to build you a Big Muff Pi, it'd be expensive even though there's nothing to them. So, I'd change a couple caps or something to justify it. But, it's gonna take me 5 or 6 hours to build the thing assuming all the parts just fall in my lap and everything goes swimmingly. Then, there's fabbing up the box, painting it, testing, on an on. By the time I was done, I'd want $300 for the little bugger or it wouldn't be worth my time. I can only build one at a time, and slowly.

Electro-Harmonix, on the other hand, can set up a line of geishas and turn them out by the bajillion for $4/ea. so they can show up at Guitar Center for $79/ea.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Pedals are an interesting case of economics.  If you have to sell something for three times the cost in order to make enough to survive as a business, then in a lot of cases you are cutting it close.  This doesn't work in all cases mind you, but still.  Building my own pedals is fun, and I can get away with producing them for 20-50 bucks, depending on the enclosure.  But I don't have to design the board and paint ad so on for a relatively small market.  I think that the motherboard is so cheap because of the numbers game.  I am sure that the tube screamer of the week might sell, but I am guessing that there are a lot of pedals that do not, and those costs have to be accounted for.

However, the boutique guys are making things that go for quite a bit more.  A metal zone that is modified for 50-100 bucks for 5-6 parts does make my stomach turn a bit...

Still, the question of why I built my guitar(s) is difficult to answer using a multi choice answer.  Mainly it comes down to it being an extension of my personality in some way, shape, or form.
Patrick

 

[Soylent]

hmmm

I am such an awesome and unique guitar player, I think I deserved an awesome and unique personalized guitar!!

or

I am too good to play a guitar with regular woods and maple necks just like all the other sheep! I am special!

or

I sound like shite on a regular McGuitarcenter guitar... maybe I sound better on an exotic super turbo deluxe custom guitar!


ok, the last one maybe a little right, but here is the truth:

movers broke my guitar so I needed a new body, and once I ended up on the Warmoth site and ordered my replacement body, I got GAS sooo bad and really got addicted.. I think I may need help..

I played one of his.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Agreed, and "build" is often used loosely, at least on here.  It's semantics, and we know what we mean. I take the things I "built" to be setup.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Simple answer for me, it was the Van Halen effect. The more I played guitars, the more I figured out what I liked the most and what I didn't like. But I never found a mass produced guitar that had the perfect combination of the things I wanted. There was always some sort of compromise, whether it was the wood used, fret size, neck profile, pick ups used, finish applied, etc. So I decided to give Warmoth a shot and have my "recipes" come to life. So glad I did.

 

[Cagey]

The curious part is you put together the exact fiddle you want - no compromise, everything's right - yet you almost immediately feel like you need another one. What's up with that?

All my life I've been pretty much a one-guitar kind of guy. If there was something I didn't like, I changed it. If it wasn't changeable from a practical standpoint, I replaced the whole guitar. Been doing that since forever until I started with the Warmoths. Now I've got 8 of them, and I still go cruising The Showcases on the off chance there's something I just gotta have and to hell with everything else.

I need a 12 step program or something <grin>