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Tej
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Hi everyone, I stumbled across this fantastic site while looking for info around guitar building advice. After finishing and constructing a cheap kit guitar and being pleased with the results I’ve decided doing everything “properly” will be far more rewarding and will definitely help justify improving my tool kit too 😉 So here I am to learn and hopefully avoid many a costly mistake!

…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.


   
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Russ
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Welcome @tej. I'm sure you'll have some fun on this forum and building your guitars. 

Cheers,

Russ

🙏🎸🙂🎶

🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️


   
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Boo
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So here I am to learn and hopefully avoid many a costly mistake!

@tej Hey man, welcome to the forum and get ready to learn some guitar building tricks. You should also get ready to make lots of mistakes, we all do. Being here you will find help when those mistakes occur and you can’t figure out a fix yourself. I would advise starting at the beginning with Mark Bailey’s “Build your own guitar course”. If you do the course from start to finish without skipping ahead, you will learn how to make a guitar the right way. Most of us here have done a course and we talk here in the forum to discuss the trials and tribulations of our ongoing guitar building projects, we are always building something. Once you have built one, you will more than likely catch the bug and be here for ever building guitars. 

Enjoy. 👍

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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tv1
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Welcome from me too @Tej

Kit guitars are the gateway drug into guitar building 😉  but you can learn a lot putting one of those together - often how not to build the parts if you want them to fit together properly!

What are you thinking of *making* for your first guitar?

Online guitar making courses – guitarmaking.co.uk


   
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mattbeels
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Welcome @tej! You’ll have fun here for sure, especially if you have a good sense of humor (see how I spelled that "properly" @boo?) cause there are some real jokers around here...

Practice on scrap...


   
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Rocknroller912
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@tej

Welcome to the mad house, insanity rules so let it rip

Some people call me a tool, others are less complimentary. Tools being useful things.


   
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Tej
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I would advise starting at the beginning with Mark Bailey’s “Build your own guitar course”

@boo There was a design course I'd read it'd be best to look at before that, unles it's part of the same thing? At the moment I'm just going through the list of tools to see what I'm missing, there was a PDF resource with a list (one detailed one less so) I've most of the tools I'd need already except those for making a fret board, looks to be a jig or two to manufacture to get on top of that one too 🙂 As for the making mistakes I mentioned, happy to make them just need to ensure they don't cost too much money. One thing looking at the tools list you might be able to advise on the list stated a 11mm straight cutter for routing the truss rod channel, this seems really wide to me, only truss rods I've seen have been circa 6mm and fitted tightly into the neck?

…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.


   
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Deej
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Hi and welcome @tej

i’m sure you will enjoy..

I have too many guitars...said no one in the world..ever!


   
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Tej
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What are you thinking of *making* for your first guitar?

@tv101 Now that's a question, I'm truthfully not sure, ideally I'd like to make an instrument that I never want to part with but also would like to make something I don't have such as a 7 string. My current plan is to sign up for membership to access the courses and go through the designing one as I expect that force me to think about what I'd really be happy with. From what I've read so far these forums don't seem full of the normal infuriatingly arrogant opinionated sorts I've encountered elsewhere which is very refreshing, so all in all my hopes are high that guidance and support will be backed with common sense, probably 😉

…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.


   
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tv1
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Let's be real for a moment here ...

 

... you're going to make a lot more than one guitar, so I'd plan for this being a journey.  

😀

Each guitar you make, you'll learn some new skills and each guitar you make will be "better" in some way than the previous ones because of those new skills.  You'll set the bar higher each time and take on more complicated designs.

 

So, don't aim to do everything on the first build.  Get comfortable with some of the basics (make a good neck, get the fretting right, etc).  

Leave the 7-string, fanned-fret hollow body for the second build ....

 

Whatever you do, enjoy the journey.

😉

Online guitar making courses – guitarmaking.co.uk


   
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Boo
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You’ll have fun here for sure, especially if you have a good sense of humor (see how I spelled that "properly" @boo?) cause there are some real jokers around here...

@mattbeels No, I’m not biting....... I don’t care...... It’s not my fault the you weren’t taught the English language properly...... No, stop it, I’m not biting, I’m just not. 😆

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Boo
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Let's be real for a moment here ...

 

... you're going to make a lot more than one guitar, so I'd plan for this being a journey.  

😀

Each guitar you make, you'll learn some new skills and each guitar you make will be "better" in some way than the previous ones because of those new skills.  You'll set the bar higher each time and take on more complicated designs.

 

So, don't aim to do everything on the first build.  Get comfortable with some of the basics (make a good neck, get the fretting right, etc).  

Leave the 7-string, fanned-fret hollow body for the second build ....

 

Whatever you do, enjoy the journey.

@tej Yep, everything @tv101 said. 🙄☝️

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Boo
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From what I've read so far these forums don't seem full of the normal infuriatingly arrogant opinionated sorts I've encountered elsewhere which is very refreshing, so all in all my hopes are high that guidance and support will be backed with common sense, probably 😉

@tej We get a little bit jokey from time to time here but we do offer each other good help and advice with no arrogance or rudeness. We won’t tolerate it, it’s a great community here, we offer friendship not antagonism. We stick to the forum rules and respect each other but do like a sense of “humour” @mattbeels 

 

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Tej
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Let's be real for a moment here ...

 

... you're going to make a lot more than one guitar, so I'd plan for this being a journey.

Ok, you got me, clearly one won’t suffice. I’ve committed to my self it’ll probably possibly perhaps be less than at least some 😬

…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.


   
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Boo
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Ok, you got me, clearly one won’t suffice. I’ve committed to my self it’ll probably possibly perhaps be less than at least some 😬

@tej Good man. 🤘😁🎸

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Koendb
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Welcome @tej ! It is a lot of fun, building guitars and man this forum is packed with nice people. You will love the great atmosphere here.


   
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darrenking
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the list stated a 11mm straight cutter for routing the truss rod channel

Hi Tej, welcome to the best and most supportive guitar making forum in the world! You will find everyone is completely on your side (so long as you don’t want to make banjos! eh TV?) and we all a share triumphs and disasters in equal measure. Also learning from everybody else’s mistakes is just so much faster than having to make them all yourself😂😂

I think that the 11mm truss rod cutter may have been one specified for a box section truss rod that Mark used in the past and you are correct in stating that the most common style of single and double acting truss rods only require a 6mm or 1/4” ball nose cutter to machine the correct slot. Either that or it is the cutter being specified to machine the truss rod cover rebate into which the thin strip of wood is bonded prior to the fretboard being glued on.

except those for making a fret board

If only there was a fret slotting jig in Mark’s online shop!! (🍅🍅🍅 ducking tomatoes being thrown for shameless commercialism!)

You are going to have a load of fun here and never be afraid to ask any question, everybody loves to help.

Cheers

Darren


   
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Boo
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@darrenking 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🧃🤣

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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rockpile99
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Hi Tej

Welcome to the most friendly and helpful forum (for any topic) on the internet.

Just to echo what others have said - keep it simple for your first one as it's certainly not as easy as the videos on YouTube make it look.

When it comes to tools you'd be surprised how little you need (necessity is the mother of invention after all) . I mostly built my first guitar body on a Black & Decker workmate using a jigsaw, some cheap rasps from B&Q, a hand sanding block, and a Screwfix router. Where I 'splashed the cash' was on some good quality router bits from Radian Tools. When it comes to necks, if you get your fretboard pre slotted and a radiused then a good levelling beam, fret hammer, and crowning file are probably enough. Chances are you already have the other misc DIY type tools like drills and saws etc. Just build your tool collection as you can afford it.

Top tips: Don't rush and stop for beer/tea/sleep if you're tired or stuck. It's a better to pause and think things through (or ask on this forum) than to fix a cock up. That said, mistakes are great learning opportunities 😀 

 

Guitar making is the art and science of turning expensive wood into sawdust.


   
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Boo
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@tej Yeah, @darrenking is correct. You must use your judgment about which cutter to use, depending on which truss rod you use. If the truss rod is 11mm, use and 11mm cutter. If the truss rod is 6mm, use a 6mm cutter. You may not need to cut the truss rod slot as deep either if you are using a smaller truss rod. Use your measuring callipers to measure everything and act accordingly to those measurements. In Mark’s videos, he has everything matched up to the stuff he is using and I’m sure he says to measure and cut accordingly if you are using different sizes of truss rod. That goes for everything also, you will have to do things slightly differently to the course videos if you choose to use a different bridge of tuners for example. Measure everything, take some time to think about it and measure again. If you are unsure about anything, ask. Remember that if you change one thing, such as the bridge, from a design, it can have a knock on effect to everything else. 

eg. If you followed the course and when it came time to fit the bridge and you decided to fit a different bridge, all the measurements would not match up. If you decided you wanted to use a flat, hardtail bridge instead of the wraparound bridge, you couldn’t because the neck break angle has been built into the construction. 

This is why it is so important to draw out your design from the start and make sure you have accounted for everything. Once you know everything is right, stick to the design, don’t deviate from it. 👍

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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