Building electric guitars : how to make solid-body, hollow-body and semi acoustic electric guitars and bass guitars

I bought this book and the Hiscock book so that I could build an electric guitar from scratch, not as a kit. It is possible with just this book. However, it reads like a textbook more that a how to, "step one: step two:" kind of book. If you think you are going to buy this book, follow a simple step by step procedure and build a guitar then this is not the book for you. If you want to learn both the how and why of guitar design in order to design and build your own instrument then this is the right book. I am almost done with the two guitars I designed and built based on the information in these two books and the help of [...] and I would give the potential first time guitar builder (like me) the following advice... 1) You need at LEAST: a bandsaw, a drill press and a table saw. I also used my chopsaw, vertical belt sander, jointer and planer. 2) I have been woodworking for 25 years and selling my stuff for 15 and I found building a guitar neck to be quite challenging. It was fun, but challenging. So if you are a first time woodworker, heads up. 3) Knowledge of CAD or drafting is a big plus since you need to be able to create full size templates. Also drawing things accurately and full scale is the best way to figure out some things like the depth of the neck pocket. So, in a nutshell, if you want to design your own guitar from scratch and are confident in your woodworking skills this a must have book. Table of contents......Page 7 Foreword......Page 4 PREPARATION......Page 9 Parts of an electric guitar......Page 10 String frequencies......Page 11 Guitar classics......Page 13 Wood for solid-body guitars......Page 14 Buying wood......Page 16 Drying wood......Page 18 Tuners......Page 20 Nuts......Page 22 Fretwire......Page 23 Bridges......Page 24 Tremolos......Page 25 Other hardware parts needed......Page 27 Strings......Page 28 Pickups......Page 29 Magnets......Page 38 Wire......Page 39 Dimensions of a typical Humbucker......Page 40 Pickup covers......Page 41 Winding pickups......Page 42 Potting pickups......Page 45 Passive circuits......Page 46 Classic circuits......Page 56 Active electronics......Page 58 Shielding......Page 64 Scale length......Page 66 Fret distances tables......Page 68 Calculating fret distances......Page 70 Laying out the guitar......Page 71 Design options......Page 72 Non-adjustable truss rods......Page 80 Adjustable truss rods......Page 81 Some effects on sound......Page 84 Sustain......Page 85 Design examples......Page 86 Making templates......Page 91 Workshop......Page 92 Tools......Page 93 Plunge router......Page 94 Router bits......Page 96 Planes......Page 98 Scrapers......Page 99 Sanding tools......Page 100 Japanese Tools......Page 101 Sharpening......Page 102 Alternatives for sharpening......Page 103 Safety......Page 104 BUILDING......Page 105 Preparing the body blank......Page 106 Gluing up the body blank......Page 109 Cutting out the body......Page 111 Smoothing the body side......Page 112 Sanding the body......Page 114 Rounding off the edges......Page 115 Hollowing out the body......Page 116 Making the top......Page 117 Binding......Page 118 Making a semi-acoustic body......Page 120 Bending the sides......Page 121 Making the lining......Page 123 Gluing on the lining......Page 124 Gluing on the top and back......Page 125 Routing the binding rabbet......Page 126 Making the neck pocket......Page 127 Preparing the neck blank......Page 128 Making a glued-on peghead......Page 130 Options for making a angled-back head......Page 129 Making a one-way twin-rod system......Page 134 Making the trussrod channel......Page 136 Cutting a straight truss rod channel......Page 137 Making a curved truss rod channel......Page 138 Gluing up a heel......Page 139 Fitting a truss rod into a one-piece neck......Page 140 Fitting a two-way twin truss rod......Page 141 Gluing on the peghead veneer......Page 142 Sawing out the peghead shape......Page 143 Fitting a peghead inlay......Page 144 Marking the fret positions......Page 145 Making the fret slots......Page 146 Gluing on the fingerboard......Page 148 Routing the neck shape......Page 150 Shaping a Fender-style peghead......Page 151 Fitting fingerboard dots......Page 153 Fitting side dot markers......Page 154 Radiusing the fingerboard......Page 155 Bending fretwire......Page 159 Fretting......Page 160 Shaping the neck......Page 163 Routing the neck pocket......Page 166 Mounting an angled-back neck......Page 168 Bolting on the neck......Page 170 Positioning the bridge......Page 171 Fitting a tremolo......Page 172 Routing the pickup cavities......Page 175 Routing the control cavity......Page 177 Mounting the hardware......Page 178 Wiring the electronics......Page 181 Shielding the electronics......Page 183 Preparing for finishing......Page 184 Finish-sanding......Page 185 Staining......Page 186 Filling the grain......Page 187 Applying oil......Page 188 Applying wax......Page 189 Shellac......Page 190 Coloring clear finishes......Page 191 Using a brush......Page 192 My favorate finishing choice......Page 194 Using spray cans......Page 195 Using a spray gun......Page 197 Sanding the finish......Page 198 Several weeks later......Page 199 Polishing the finish......Page 200 Fret dressing......Page 202 Stringing the guitar......Page 206 Tuning......Page 207 Adjusting the neck relief......Page 208 Setting the string height at the nut......Page 209 Setting the action......Page 210 Adjusting the pickup height......Page 211 Setting the intonation......Page 212 Your self-made guitar......Page 213 Straight-through neck......Page 214 Making a neck-through headless bass......Page 215 A VISIT TO .........Page 219 Steve Jarman guitars......Page 220 Sadowsky guitars......Page 224 PRS guitars......Page 226 Literature......Page 231 Suppliers mentioned in the book......Page 233 Additional instruction materials......Page 234 Acknowledgements......Page 235

Everything from the first steps of design to the final set-up of of solid-body, hollow-body and semi-acoustic electric guitars is covered step by step in this book. It also contains a section about winding your own pickups.

"Explains step by step, with almost 600 photos and more than 100 illustrations, how to build an electric guitar"--Back cover