# Plan to make a solid body guitar



## Oakvillain (Mar 7, 2008)

Good day,

New to the forum.:banana:

After 20 years layoff I'm interested in guitars again. I have a Takamine and an old Charvel I bought back in my :rockon2: days.

I would love to buy a Les Paul but can't afford the price. So...I want to make one. I'm an experienced woodworker with a full shop so I think I can do it with your help (please?). Does anyone have any dimensional drawings of a LP or know of a good website to find resources. My concern is making the neck properly, truss rod installation, and attachment of the neck to the body.

Any suggestions, links, pearls of wisdom are much appreciated.

Regards,

V.


----------



## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

Maybe the plans can be found online for free, but this still seems reasonably priced...

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plans/Plans/Les_Paul_Plan.html


----------



## sick-strings (Mar 6, 2008)

Check out 
http://www.guitarbuild.com/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=5

I don't think you'll get as detailed a drawing/plan as offered by stewmac but it might be of assistance.


----------



## bscott (Mar 3, 2008)

Have a look here:

http://www.wdmusic.com/electric_guitar_kits.htm

Just found them on a search today. Some VERY good quality stuff.

Brian


----------



## Oakvillain (Mar 7, 2008)

*Grizzly*

A woodworker referred me to Grizzly.com for guitars kits. I think the owner is a guitar enthusiast. Anyone make of of these?

http://www.grizzly.com/products/searchresults.aspx?q=guitar+kit

Perhaps a kit is a good place to start for learning and keeping the price down?

Thx.

V.

:rockon:


----------



## YJMUJRSRV (Jul 17, 2007)

bscott said:


> Have a look here:
> 
> http://www.wdmusic.com/electric_guitar_kits.htm
> 
> ...


Hello WD employee?

Gotta be as I have yet to see anyone but plants use the word "quality" for anything WD.


----------



## Bussman (Dec 13, 2006)

Buy this book. Read it from cover to cover. Since it's your first guitar I suggest you make a Tele.

Make it from scratch, as an experienced woodworker, a kit is going to leave you unsatisfied. A Tele can be made quite easily from simple jigs and templates, it will be less frustrating to make than trying to carve an LP maple top for the first time.


----------



## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

Bussman said:


> Buy this book. Read it from cover to cover. Since it's your first guitar I suggest you make a Tele.
> 
> Make it from scratch, as an experienced woodworker, a kit is going to leave you unsatisfied. A Tele can be made quite easily from simple jigs and templates, it will be less frustrating to make than trying to carve an LP maple top for the first time.


I agree 99.9%! I grew up in a wood shop myself, and at age 15 (in the mid 80's) built my first guitar totally from scratch (I still have that first neck I did) using the 1st edition of Melvyn's book.

If you are experienced enough to build a piece of furniture, you should have no trouble building a simple guitar such as a tele or strat. I do suggest buying a prelotted finger board from someplace like Stewart Macdonald or Luthier's Mercantile though - after slotting a lot of my own boards, and having cut 21 slots only to have #22 slightly out of place more than once is annoying. Unless you want to splurge for a template and the right kerf saw, get a preslotted board.

Many people think there is some sort of "magic" to building electric guitars. There is not! It is simply woodworking and if you break it down into steps you do the same cutting/shaping/sanding/finishing that you do with other wood projects.

Buy Melvyn's book. Take a look at the Stewart Macdonald web site as well, and for doing set ups buy one of Dan Erlewine's books. Thats really all you need, along with practical experience you get only by actually trying to make guitars.

I speak from practical experience and making 30+ guitars over the years (some basses and acoustics as well).

AJC


----------



## bscott (Mar 3, 2008)

YJMUJRSRV said:


> Hello WD employee?
> 
> Gotta be as I have yet to see anyone but plants use the word "quality" for anything WD.


Opps!! No not an employee and surely didn't know they had such a reputation. Cruising their website, of course many many things look great.
Sorry if I have mislead you. On the other hand, Stewrat MacDonald, somebody else has posted a link to their web site, is very popular with people building acoustic guitars using their kits. They also have solid body blanks where you can shape your own or buy preshaped blanks, full size plans, tuners, pups, necks, fret boards. Many different combinations. They ship fast and package stuff really well.

Brian


----------



## Oakvillain (Mar 7, 2008)

Thanks Fellas.

After doing some more reading I think my first saw will be a strat. Not a tele kinda guy.

Someone mentioned "kerf saw". I used to make WW saws as a side business(dovetail, tenon, hand, specialty etc.) so I am interested in what this saw is. My dovetail saws had a set of .026. Is this adequate? Can someone post a pic of a kerf saw?

Thx.

:food-smiley-004::food-smiley-004:


----------



## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

Oakvillain said:


> Thanks Fellas.
> 
> After doing some more reading I think my first saw will be a strat. Not a tele kinda guy.
> 
> ...



The most common fret saw kerf (I think they meant the kerf, or width of the set teeth = the cut slot width) is 22 or 23 thousandths. 26 might leave the fret a little loose in the slot. Frets should be a nice tight fit without having to pound them in (too tight is almost worse than too loose as you will introduce a severe back bow to the neck that may not be able to be taken out with the truss rod).

If you want to build a strat type guitar, there is a book available through chapters that I bought a few of and gave away to prospective builders. The book has been on sale for $15 and even included full size drawings. I am not at home and I cant remember the name... but I believe it was another Brit author.

To cut fret slots, you can buy a Japanese saw (from a place like Lee Valley) with a .023 inch kerf if you really want to cut your own. I used to make my own fret saws by grinding down a hacksaw blade to the correct thickness! The cut is so shallow, it worked but was a bit of a pain.

AJC


----------



## Oakvillain (Mar 7, 2008)

AJC.

beautiful work. I hope mine is half as nice as yours. 

I think I'll just reduce the set on my DT saw to .023 and give that a try on some scrap.

How much should I expect to pay for "good playable" hardware for a strat? Are there any particular brands I should use? I suspect the OEM from Fender would be more expensive than aftermarket?

V.


----------



## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

Not sure what you want to spend of if you plan on building more in the future but Stewmac has many fret slotting options.
I have been looking at this for when I decide to tackle my first neck
Fret Slotting Saw Blade
Or this
Fret Slotting Miter Box 

Also there is the option to go with a pre-slotted fingerboard if you are only going to do the one

25 1/2" Fender Scale Fingerboard

As far as hardware,it's all in what you want to spend.You can sometimes get stuff pretty cheap on ebay but you have to watch.I have been using lots of Allparts parts for my tele's and have had good luck.They do have listings for OEM Fender parts too but are out of stock on much of it.


----------

