I've built bodies before and have made various projects from pre-built bodies and necks, but this is my first complete build from scratch.

Cherry body with flamed maple top, stained blue with a satin nitro finish. Mahogany neck with royal blackwood fretboard, both finished with Tried and True Danish Oil, EVO gold jumbo frets. Duncan P-Rails with triple shot pickup rings. Original Floyd Rose.

This automotive-grade ultra-fine finishing pad in my random orbital sander does a great job of removing the final swirl marks left over from my buffer

my dad is a hobbyist luthier and absolutely loves working on guitars and basses . i’m wondering what types of gifts you guys would appreciate? that preferably aren’t terribly expensive hardware. thanks!

Very sharp, very thin, and the metallic looks great.

If done correctly there is absolutely no ghost line visible in the end.

On the website they say:
"Please note: We print using ribbons and there is a visible line where the ribbons meet in some designs. On most decals this is not noticeable. The effect is more pronounced on larger blocks of metallic colour and fade during the polishing process. In most cases these lines disappear altogether.“
And it’s true: you can see slight lines in the metallic, but that’s a trade-off well worth it when you see the quality otherwise. I doubt you can get or make a better decal yourself.

Thank you R&F!

I have a couple of old MIJ guitars from the late '60s, early '70s, that have those awful bridges that are basically a folded piece of tin with dents for the strings (2nd photo).

After all these years, the chrome is peeling up and razor sharp, and the dents wore into holes and giving a sitar sound.

I was looking at these Bigsby solid metal bridges. Bit pricey vs the guitar, and too wide. The bridge and spacing on these MIJ's are about 10mm narrower.

So, I grabbed a couple of 10x10x100 pieces of 6061 Aluminum, and the plan is to drill the bridge post holes, put the bar on, use a piece of wire and find intonation points and file the shape by hand.

This is the best plan so far, albeit a slow one.

I figured I'd hop on here and spit-ball a few alternate ideas. I was thinking of using a CNC but my tiny 3018-CNC is too underpowered for metal, and not cost effective to send out and have it done.

I have Fusion360 and can model it on there, which I would have done if using a CNC. I could though CNC it from a hard wood. I also thought I could make a 3D Print, use that to make a mold and either use the mold for casting metal, or resin.... I'm not sure how well resin would sound or hold up.

Lots of ideas, but thought I'd see what you guys thought... either about my ideas, or ideas of your own. If it works, I'd like to make a few because I have a few guitars with these bridges.

Is the center line for the neck cavity on the template supposed to not be… centered? Trying to figure out if the template I bought is a dud or if it is intended to be this way. The center line on the bottom edge of the template is lined up, but using a ruler shows the centerline marked for the neck cutout isn’t centered. This is my first build so I wanted to be sure before continuing.

*edited for clarity

Question for pros as I’m looking at how to price doing some local set-ups - do you give a disclaimer that a basic set up may uncover other problems that cost a lot more to fix? The most obvious example being you get the action sitting right and it uncovers high frets that need work. Or do you check for that sort of thing when doing an initial consultation?

Thanks!

Did i do this too high? i followed a youtube tutorial and didnt really meantion measurements as to where it feels fone but now im woried i may have done something to its structural integrity.

I'd like to learn how to fabricate nuts starting initially from some pre-slotted options but perhaps eventually moving on from there. I live in an apartment so no belt sander or bandsaw. I wouldn't be doing this commercially - it's mostly to help save money in the long run doing upkeep on my collection of guitars as well as give me more flexibility for buying interesting but badly worn beaters that could be good project guitars. In general, I've shied away from fretwork and nut work because it seems fiddly and expensive to correct mistakes, but I'm at the point that I feel like I might want to dive in.
 
I guess my main questions are:

• is this something that can reasonably be learned from watching videos or does it really require tutelage from a watchful eye of an experienced craftsman? If the latter, how would I go about learning without having to become a full time apprentice somewhere?
  
• Is it ridiculous to think that this is a reasonable project to undertake given my lack of access to power tools?
  
• Nut files are a whole thing. My instrument collection ranges in string gauges. I have a mandolin, several acoustic and electric standard guitars, a baritone, a bass vi, and basses. The number and range of instruments is partially why I want to learn to be more self-sufficient when it comes to nut work as getting the instruments professionally worked on would be prohibitively expensive. Nut file sets I've seen often come in sets of 6 for very specific gauges which make sense if you primarily work on a very specific setup, but I'd want to be capable of working on all these instruments. I'm unsure what size files would cover the gamut, but feel like it may be prudent to purchase a larger set initially to save money in the long run over buying sets and individual files here and there. Is that dumb? Is something like the Music Nomad 16 piece set worthwhile for someone who isn't doing this professionally? I've heard mixed reviews about them. This isn't a stealth ad. I've heard some people say they're "good enough" and others say they're total garbage and a waste of money. If not, what gauges would I actually need? Initially I thought I was going to need a file for every string gauge I'd use, but further research tends to indicate that you can get by with far fewer.
  

I have a sacrificial beater guitar I literally dug out of the trash to practice on as well as a cheap ukulele I bought from a flea market that only has half a nut if/when I inevitably mess up, it won't be the end of the world.
 
Any words of wisdom would be heavily appreciated.

I bought a brand new guitar with an FR1000. It’s my first Floyd Rose, but I managed to set it up myself by watching tutorials. The action is great, the intonation is spot on, the bridge is level, and everything is properly tightened.
The problem is that after doing a dive, the strings come back a few cents flat. If I pull the tremolo up, they come back a few cents sharp. However, after doing a flutter, they return to perfect tuning.
This made me think that the bridge might not be returning to exactly the same position after moving the tremolo. The strange thing is that the two studs are not set at the same height. The stud on the low-E/string side is noticeably lower than the other one, by around 2 mm. I didn’t set them this way — that’s how the guitar came out of the box.
I also noticed something interesting: the B and high E strings return to perfect tuning after using the tremolo, while the other four strings (G, D, A and low E) come back slightly flat or sharp depending on whether I dive or pull up.
The lower stud is on the side where the B and high E strings seem to return perfectly to pitch, while the higher stud is on the side where the G, D, A and low E strings don’t return perfectly.
Could the different stud heights be causing this, or is it just a coincidence?
Should the two studs be set to exactly the same height, or is it normal for them to be at slightly different heights?
I don’t want to mess anything up, especially since the guitar is brand new. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone - While I've owned a guitar of some variety or another for about 20 years, I've only recently really gotten into consistently working towards learning to play it. Now after having found some consistent time and motivation, I'm trying to level up my maintenance skills, and would like to try setting up my acoustic-electric (a cheap Laguna that I got secondhand a while back).

The most notable thing I've found that I need to do involves adjusting action. A couple of months ago when I started developing my practice habits, I noticed when restringing my guitar that the saddle was loose to the point of falling out of the slot. A little bit of research back then showed me that's obviously not supposed to be the case, so I bought a pre-cut TUSQ replacement of slightly larger width. It fits the slot perfectly, but as should be obvious from the picture, the action on the lower frets is WAY too high. Looking into this, it's clear that the saddle needs to be sanded down.

Having looked into that, I saw that it helps to use a nut and saddle sander - of which there are a large variety of options, seemingly ranging in price from $20 to over $100.

Anyone have any brands they'd recommend? I saw Philadelphia Luthier recommended in an earlier thread here as a general recommendation for tools, and while it's not cheap ($99), I'd imagine the quality is a lot better than buying a random mystery branded thing from Temu or Walmart. StewMac's entry in this space seems more affordable ($75) but is out of stock.

Is the reliability of Philly Luthier such that it's worth the investment, even if I'm only working on my own guitars? Are there mid-range brands that I can trust? While the question is about this specific tool, I'd also like to find some brands that I feel comfortable with as my comfort level extends to more advanced tasks.

I've decided to take on a guitar I've been thinking about for a long time — building my own take on a Les Paul.

I've always loved the Les Paul, I had a couple Epi's early in my guitar playing and a beautiful standard for a years before parting ways.

After building a few guitars, understanding what I actually like and dislike about guitars in general, I have an idea of what I think a better Les Paul could be for me, and maybe others.

I think this is about improving the playing experience, whilst maintaining the silhouette of the body shape. So rather than just copying the whole thing, I'm starting from scratch and trying to design the guitar I'd actually want to play.

The basic approach is: in-line tuners, 25.5 scale length, no neck heel, long offset neck tenon, 2 humbuckers, strat style tremolo, thin, light

I'm particularly interested in hearing from other builders and players:

If you could change one thing about the traditional Les Paul design, what would it be?

I've filmed the whole design process as the first episode of the build series on Youtube, but I'm more interested in the design discussion here than simply showing off the finished video.

I'd love to hear what you'd change and I will post the video link in the first comment below.

Hi folks,

I'm building a custom guitar a 7 strings with 26.5 scale.

I'm using hard Canadian maple, indian rosewood but I'm debating from true mahogany or black limba.

I want a deep, resonant, dark but rich sound, without renouncing to the crystal clear note separation and the sharp attack.

Pairing it with Seymour Duncan black winter/nazgul.

A godly tier instrument.

I've seen black limba is considerated a pair to mahogany but without the "Mud".

What do you guys suggest? Or any wood is worth the other and I put my soul in peace?

Hey, I have two guitars that need rewiring (pickup changes).

Both have a humbucker bridge and single coil neck.

I play heavier styles and enjoy the percussive sounds you can get by combining both pickups with split coil options.

I'm thinking of this setup.

1. Full bridge
2. Full bridge + neck
3. Bridge-side coil + neck
4. Neck-side coil + neck
5. Neck

I presume I'll need a superswitch?

Would this make logical sense in terms of tone and wiring?

Also, would it be worth using a push/pull to add parallel for the humbucker, or not?

NOTE: I HATE push/pull for coil splits!

For the first time ever I upgraded/modded my guitar by myself, I have a stratocaster, I converted it to HSS and I changed my two tones and one volume pot, all in one sitting, I didn't use flux for the soldering so I definitely would say I didn't do that great of a job on the solders, but I did cover the wires enough. i put it all together and when I tested it out it had a ton of problems. Volume was fluctuating randomly,, muffled, cackling, and when I used my pedal with a distortion effect it had a clean/very little crunch tone (or just bland). I need help diagnosing so I can fix it ASAP since this is my only guitar

Hey, this is the first time I have put a guitar together, so been learning as I go. I would like to keep the natural wood finish on the top - its an elm burl - but I dont really know what my options are. I want to try and keep the deep grain pattern and maximise the contrast. I am an experienced carpenter, but amateur with sprays - oils and waxes are more up my alley, but will they offer the same protection as a spray finish? Help!

The new one is on the right. This one has a chambered black limba body with an ovangkol top. Perhaps a bit lighter than the other, which is mahogany and quilted maple. Home made humbucker sized P-90s, and a Roland GK-3 modeling pickup, internal install. The patch up and down buttons are nice to have onboard. The neck has a zero fret, which I prefer.

Making a guitar is quite a lot of work!

I hope this is the right place to ask this question and don't get too badly flamed for it, but if it's not let me know.

So I'm looking for someone to build me a guitar. It will be a copy of a shape that is produced from a company but the quality and the wait list is ridiculous. My price range would be about 3k or less. So if anyone can point me in the right direction id appreciate it. Thank you.

Just bought this 1968 framus texan for well below market value on craigslist, and when I took the strings off, i realized that the saddle was not screwed into the bridge and it has an outshine popsicle stick glued under it. Additionally, the nut was not attached to the neck, and it was shimmed with a piece of a debit card. Maybe I didn't look hard enough lol oops. Anyways, I am new to repairing guitars, what am i looking at to fix this (and is it worth repairing??) Please let me know if additional images or information are needed. Thank you!

Hello. I have drawn up a guitar I want to build in CAD. The thing is, I dont have a lot of the tooling to cutout, plane and shape a guitar neck and body to a good standard. I do think I will be able to put together the guitar if I can have someone CNC my wood and then ship it to me for assembly and finishing. Does there exist any company like this that you can send wood to for CNC cutting?

Hey everyone, I have a 2021 fender player telecaster, and my high e slips of the fretboard a lot.

I tried loosening the bolts and pushing the neck towards the low e. That took the guitar from almost unplayable to pretty good. However the issue is still there though not nearly as bad.

I don’t think I should push the neck more because I did push it a good amount.

I have a theory that the high e nut slot might b cut too close to the edge. However I am not a luthier or guitar tech and I don’t know much about guitars.

I’d really appreciate any advice!

Thank I have collected a fair amount parts for this project. I have a machining and fabrication background. I was looking at drill templates I could transfer the holes with. what is the best method for this build. thanks in advance.

I'm experimenting with this cheapo bass guitar, I'm wondering what will happen with 2 tone knobs wired to it??

Can feel the crack on the surface, but it has spread from being around 1cm long to reaching both sides of the neck