The first step of building an electric guitar is to
choose a long piece of 2 inch thick alder wood with a
minimal amount of knots or flaws visible. Then select
the template that matches the type of guitar you
wish to build. Trace ½ of the guitar template onto
one side of the wood bringing the centerline of the
template all the way to the edge of the plank, over
sizing it by ¼ of an inch. Repeat this tracing process
with the other half of the guitar. Make sure you leave
some extra room for when the guitar is table sawed.
Now put on some safety goggles and bring the plank
of wood with your guitar traced on it over to a chop
saw or radial arm.
Line up the wood with the blade, turn on the
saw and slowly, but surely bring the blade through
the wood. Make sure you stand to the side a little in
case saw dust shoots out. Once you have both half's
of your guitar sliced into two individual planks, bring
them over to the table saw. Since this blade is
especially sharp you may want to have an adult or
supervisor help you. Straight line the wood, which
means removing all of the rough wood from the
outside edges. Check to see if the two pieces of wood
fit together snuggly, if they do prepare to glue them
together, if not keep straight lining until the two
planks fit together nicely.
Now get some carpenters glue and two large
clamps. Put three lines of glue onto the inner side of
one of the planks of wood and smear it across the
wood evenly. Then while making sure the pressure
doesn’t cause the boards to slip, clamp them
together. After the boards have stayed glued for
about 30 minutes you can remove the clamps. Next,
redraw the template line onto the wood keeping in
mind to line up the centerlines. Draw the template
on at the exact size, ( no need to oversize it this time).
Get those safety goggles back on and head over to
the band saw.
You are now ready to move on to cutting out
the design of your guitar. Set your body down on the
cutting deck and once the blade is running push your
guitar body through the blade, over sizing the cut by
1/8 of an inch. Try to get through cutting the body
with the least amount of cuts possible, that way the
body will be smoother. Keep in mind that the thinner
the blade, the more it can bend, making it easier to
cut out more complicated guitar bodies. Now that
piece of wood you started with is beginning to take
shape.
Find the template of the guitar you are
building and get two screws and drill the template
onto your guitar body lining up the centerlines. Bring
it over to an adult or supervisor and they will exterior
route your guitar body which means cutting the wood
down to the exact size with a clean cut. Be careful
and stand back because the router will send
woodchips flying. Next grab a carpet square and a
palm sander and get ready for a lot of sanding. Once
the wood feels fairly smooth flip it over and sand the
opposite side. If your guitar has straight sides, you
can palm sand the edges as well. Otherwise take
your guitar over to the spindle sander and slowly
rotate your guitar body around the sander.
Now that the wood is nice and smooth, grab
an interior routing template and some safety goggles.
Clamp the template down with the guitar onto the
table, lining up the top of your guitar’s neck pocket to
the three inch mark on the template. With
supervision place the plunge router on top of the
template. Start it up and plunge the router down and
lock it with 1/5 of an inch increments each time while
routing in a clockwise direction. Take the router
down to the first nail for the neck and pickup
cavities. Then flip your guitar over and screw on the
electronic cavity template, and route all the way to
the lowest nail this time. The routing does seem
intense, but you will get used to it.
Blow all the sawdust out of your guitar and cut
the electronic cavity lip and if you wish go ahead and
round the edges of your guitar. Then grab the palm
sander as well as a 120 grit, 220 grit, and a 320 grit
piece of sandpaper. Start with the lowest grit and
sand every part of your guitar body and then repeat
with the 220 and 320 grit sandpaper. Next get a neck
plate and line it up with 1/8 of an inch extra wood on
each side of the neck pocket. Then grab a drill and at
a slight inward angle drill a hole into the wood. Now
grab a hook and hang up your guitar proudly because
you are ready for clear coat.
Grab a paint sprayer and apply your first clear
coat onto your guitar, being sure to cover the entire
guitar evenly. Wait about a half hour to let it dry and
then you will feel that your guitar is very rough. The
clear coat has raised up the rough areas of your
guitar. Now with 400 grit sand paper sand out the
clear coat until your guitar is smooth again. Make
sure you have sanded everywhere because the next
clear coat should seal the job. You may wish to have
someone experienced apply the next clear coat since
that is the last step before painting.
Once again, pick up a paint sprayer and choose
the color scheme you want on your guitar. I will use
my guitar design as an example. First spray the whole
guitar black and let it dry. Then place a line of tape
on the top and bottom of the side of the guitar all the
way around the body. Once the tape is placed
correctly place some red paint in the shooter and
shoot red paint evenly over the whole guitar body.
Keep in mind that the heavier the coat of red is the
brighter the red will be. If you want a dark tone of
red only spray a thin coat of red paint over the black
layer. After the paint has dried you can peel off the
tape and you will have a red guitar with black
binding.
Now that your guitar has the paint job you
want, it’s time to give it the finishing touches. Shoot
a clear coat over your painted guitar and once it has
dried grab a sheet of 1500 grit sand paper and rub the
clear coat smooth. Do not be worried if the paint
seems to get smeared or rubbed to a dull color, the
clear coat ill bring it back to life. IF the body is very
smooth it is time to shoot the final clear coat onto the
body. Once the clear coat dries our guitar should look
shiny and feel smooth.
Now that it’s time to get started on your neck,
get a long plank of maple wood and on the chop saw
cut out a 36 inch long section. Then cut off an 8 inch
piece so you have a 28 inch and 8 inch piece. Bring
both planks over to the table saw and give them both
more clean cuts. Line up the grains of the wood
opposite each other and place the 8 inch piece on one
side on top of the 28 inch piece. Grab some
carpenters glue and 4 large pipe clamps and smear
some glue on the bottom of the small piece. Then
while keeping the two pieces aligned as much as
possible clamp the two pieces together and let it dry
for an hour.
Now it is time to angle your headstock.
Basically that means cutting it so that it is slightly
bent backwards. Set down your neck so that the
smaller piece of wood is facing upwards and on the
right side of the neck. The first line you should draw
should be a straight line that continues from where
the smaller piece of wood’s inner edge is. Using a
ruler or other straight edge, draw a line from the top
right corner of the small piece to the lower left corner
of the same piece. Then draw a parallel line from the
lower right hand corner of the smaller piece to
bottom corner of the first line you drew.
Take your neck over to a band saw and make a
rough cut just outside of the lines your drew on the
headstock. Then take the headstock over to a belt
sander and sand only the front side of the headstock
smooth. Next take the neck to a table saw and plow a
hole for the trust rod. Basically all that means is you cut
a groove down the middle of the neck with the table
saw blade. Then obtain a truss rod and a chisel. With
the chisel carve into the sides of the groove near the top
so the head of the truss rod will firmly sit in the groove
you've cut out. Once the truss rod is in proper position,
use a piece of tape on the top and bottom to hold the
rod down. Then cut some of the sides of the neck out so
that it is thinner and centered on the truss rod.
The next step is to cut out a plank of rosewood
to us a fret board that is about 1/6 of an inch thick.
Take it over to another radial arm and grab the fret
stencil and tape your piece of rosewood to the
stencil. Then one by on move the fret board into the
designated position and cut out each fret slot with
the radial arm. Only cut out the first 23 slots and
leave the rest blank. With a sander sand off the first
slot since it is not needed. Then grab carpenters glue,
4 large pipe clamps, and 4 c-clamps. Smear glue all
over the fret board and glue it on top of the neck,
lining it up to the center of the truss rod. Then lay it
face down on the table and clamp it down using two
large clamps in the middle, and one on each side.
With the c-clamps placed in between them.
Now attach the neck template to the bottom
of your neck and take it over to the table router.
Then carefully and under supervision get a nice clean
cut so that the neck has an accurate shape. Now
head over to the belt sander and get ready to radius
the fingerboard. First hold the face of the
fingerboard against the belt sander an then slightly
tilt it up and down so that the fingerboard is slightly
rounded. Then grab the template that you want for
your headstock and trace it on so it is lined up with
the fingerboard. Cut this out on the band saw, with a
very close cut since you will not be routing this.
Get a container of lemon oil and rub a light
coat of it over your fingerboard. This helps bring
some life back into the wood so the pounding of the
frets wont damage the wood. Then get two strands
of fret wire and bend them a little to fit the
fingerboard properly. Then get a hammer and wire
cutters. Position the fret wire into the first slot and
hammer it in. Then cut it off from the rest of the
wire. Do this for all of the frets. Once all frets are in
place, bring your neck over to the belt sander and
hold the side of the neck to the sand paper until the
overhanging wire is filed away. Then tilt the neck
both ways so that the frets are filed down to an
inward position.
The next step may seem a bit hard at first but
you will get used to it quickly. So grab a grinder and
one large pipe clamp. Clamp the end of the neck to
the table upside down and mark off the spot to the
seventeenth fret. Now turn on the grinder and move
it across the edge of the wood on both sides so they
start to get rounded. Keep grinding all the way down
to the edge of the fingerboard until the whole back of
the neck is rounded. Round it down until your fingers
can comfortably reach other while your hand is
around the neck. Then get a palm sander and
thoroughly cover the back of the neck with it until all
grooves are gone. Clear coat the neck and then sand
it off using 400 grit sandpaper.
Since you only have a rough cut of your
headstock so far take a palm sander and use it on the
sides of your headstock until you feel the headstock is
shaped properly. Then draw a line ½ inch in from the
side of the headstock. After that draw dashes every
15/16 of an inch up the line. Now take your neck
over to a drill press and make sure you hold the neck
firmly in the crook of your arm. Be careful because
the drill can pull the neck out of your hand if you
don’t hold it firmly. Once the neck is in position bring
the drill press all the way in and then all the way out
of the headstock for all 6 holes. After this using a
band saw cut off some of the back of the headstock
and about ½ inch into the grinded area. This will give
the neck a more of a clean finish.
Your almost done but the next step is to get
your frets ready for play action. First grab a chisel and
run it up and down the neck over all the frets so the
shinier medal is exposed. Then use a sanding block
with 320 grit sand paper to wear down the frets a little
more. Now get a 3 sided triangular chisel and rub it
along the corners of the frets so the medal on each side
angles inward. This makes the fret feel and look much
smoother. Get the 320 grit sandpaper again and this
time place your fingers on top of it and move it across
the fingerboard several times. If you wish to, you can
add dots on the side of the fingerboard with some
white paint. Finally use a chalk hardener and a chalk
shiner and evenly coat it over the fingerboard.
The final step for your neck is to put a final
clear coat over it, do not spray the fingerboard
though since it has already been shined and sealed. If
you wish to have you neck painted you can apply a
paint design and then use the same steps you did
with your body to down the paint and then clear coat
again. Now your neck should look shiny feel smooth
and be ready to play on!