Has anyone here ever built a guitar?  I mean from scratch, not one of those kits that you assemble. I mean going out and buying the wood, cutting it all etc...

Personally I haven't, but I was looking around the workshop of a guy that does repairs and builds his own brand - fascinating.

I'd like to try sometime (an electric, but not in the near future) - I'd like to hear about anybodies experience doing this, opinions, references, or recommended reading.

For those that are interested, this is a pretty informative link:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/skgs/sk/Telehawk/telehawk_guitar_building.htm

no but I wish I had that'd be fun

thanks for the link!

buy a book by Melvin Miscox (i think thats how its spelt) called "make your own electric guitar".  its well written and very informative.

I started one quite a while ago. But then i just had too much other stuff that neede doing. So i gave up. I might try again some time, but probably not for a while

on second thought... I think i'd rather devote my time to practice and let the luthiers do their jobs

im with entheon - i thought about making one for a while (which is why i bought the book) but then decided my time would be better spent on playing rather than building.

Yeh, it's a great idea in theory, but there are a million and one other things to be getting on with. Still, its interesting though. I don't have even half the tools that would be needed either. So JonnyC - what do you do with half a guitar?  

Anyone here know how the hell to pronounce that cymbal brand, Zildjian? (The only reason i'm bringing it up is because Daeljan's name sorta reminds me of it.) But, uh...no, i never built a guitar.

I always pronounced it:

zil-G-ann

I never built a cymbal either...

zil-j'n

zil (rhyming with the name bill)
j'n (say the female name "jan" quickly)

Don't know if they are still available but 2 books I can recommend are:

The Electric Guitar - Its History & Construction by Donald Brosnac. Panjandrum Press. ISBN 0-915572-00-1

Classic Guitar Construction by Irving Sloane. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-860001-232-8

Even if you don't follow this through, the information in these will enable you to keep your own guitars in top shape and spot faults when out buying guitars.

Dude, I say if it interests you go for it! I have made one guitar from scratch and have one half made both electric and let me say it is the ultimate feeling of satisfaction stepping back admiring a guitar that you have made yourself. And what do you do with half a guitar you ask, have it sit there collecting dust making you feel guilty that you never finished it! (I'm hopeless for starting a project but not finishing)

Firstly, you must recognise that in preparing to make your first guitar it wont be a way to get a decent guitar cheaply, you will need to make sure that you have decent tools. Which will probably make your first fairly expensive. I would suggest the following for a successful electric guitar build.

1. Electric router with 1/2" shank. Probably the most useful powertool for this sort of work. To go with this I would recommend also buying a 2" straight cut bit, a 2" straight cut bit with bearing guide, 1/4" radius half round w/bearing guide (for tele style edges) or a 1/2" radius half round bit w/bearing guide for strat syle round edges.

2. Hand planes. Get one that is really long, so that you can get a really flat surface if you need to. You will need a honing stone to go with it to sharpen your blade.

3. Decent set of chisels.

4. Decent set of flat and round files + fret files if you are gonna be doing frets too.

5. Air compressor + spray equipment

6. Good set of drill bits, plus a couple of specialty forstner, brad point and auger bits for particular jobs where required.

7. Soldering Iron.

8. Various standard tools ie screwdrivers, spanners etc..

9. Various grades of sand paper etc.. (you will go through a LOT)

There is more stuff that you will probably need too, I couldn't possibly list it all here but this is what I think is the essential stuff. Bottom line is that you mustnt be afraid to buy the tools you need to get the job done.

You MUST check out this website. http://www.stewmac.com The best guitar shop supplier that I have found. Subscribe to their catalogue, its full of parts, books, and even hints and tips on how to do things.

There is so much stuff to say on this topic, couldn't possibly do it here. But if you have any questions in particular, let me know and hopefully I can help you out