How to Build a Homemade Guitar
- 1). Draw the shape of the guitar body directly on the wood you are using with a pencil. Choose a common shape such as a Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster. Create a template or draw the shape freehand. Make the shape somewhat comfortable for sitting and standing while playing.
- 2). Rough cut the body blank with a jigsaw or vertical band saw. Cut just to the outside of the pencil outline to leave enough wood for finishing. Sand the rest of the wood off with an orbital sander, following the pencil line. This brings the body to size and cleans up the sharp edges. Use the orbital sander to create any contouring for your picking hand or on the back of the body so that it sits comfortably against it.
- 3). Cut all of the necessary cavities with a plunge router. Rout for the neck, pickups and a control cavity on the back of the guitar body. Drill a small hole leading from the pickup routs to the control cavity for any necessary wiring from the pickups to the electronics.
- 4). Attach the neck with the included wood screws or bolts. Slide the neck heel into the neck pocket, and screw the four large wood screws through the back of the neck pocket into the neck heel. Make sure there is no gap and that neck is not loose in the pocket.
- 5). Attach the bridge by screwing it in inline with the neck. The bridge, neck and pickups must be lined up for the strings. Screw the bridge in with the included screws. For a Les Paul-style bridge, there are two large screws on each side. For Fender-style bridges, there are four or five small wood screws that hold the bridge plate in place.
- 6). Drop the pickups into place, and screw them into the body wood. Make sure to feed the wires through the small holes at the bottom of each pickup cavity. Screw the pickups down enough that the strings can pass over them from the bridge.
- 7). Place and screw in the pots, and solder the pickup wires according to the instructions. String the guitar, and plug it into an amplifier to make sure that it is functioning properly. Check each of the pickups, and make adjustments as necessary.
