Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hopefully not too off topic..

I really love building pedals, and I've been so impressed with BYOC and this whole community.

I'm thinking abt dippt my toes into building a guitar. The first two companies that I've found are Stew Mac, and The Fretwire. For some reason, I lean towards The Fretwire between those two, but I don't know much about either.

Anyone have any suggestions about good diy guitar kits/companies out there? Or tips on getting started with this?

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It sounds like you are where I was 3 years ago. I spent some months trying to figure out the best guitar kit for me to buy, and in the end decided to just collect the various parts needed from a variety of sources and piece them together as best I could.

After building one tele-style and getting close to finishing a second, I decided to buy a short-scale bass kit from The FretWire (almost exactly 2 years ago). I was quite happy with what I got and with the communication with "the company" (possibly comprising just one guy!). However, I have heard that within the last year or so the company got sold to other concerns and that this has negatively impacted the quality of the experience.

I had looked at a number of "kit companies" over various price ranges but since I haven't tried any other kits I won't try to comment on them. I have now completed 3 tele-style partscasters, none from kits, and it is viable to build a guitar from parts obtained from multiple sources. Should I decide to build another electric guitar, not in solid body, I'll definitely take a spin again through the web pages of the kit vendors and see what there is to be had.

One thing I will say is that the lower-priced kits likely include pickups and/or hardware that, while serviceable, you may find yourself wanting to upgrade. It might be easier to just source the desired quality of parts right from the start (I note that a lot of kit companies offer upgrades at the time of ordering the kit). But I did appreciate that the one time I did buy a kit, the body and the neck were (by design) matched beautifully.

I also found myself making my own pickguard from a big sheet of four-ply for my most recent partscaster because I wanted it to very closely match the body (which I bought from BYO Guitar, but not as part of a kit). A few pickguards I had bought online just didn't line up properly.

Wishing you the best of luck ... it's a much deeper rabbit hole than is pedal-building ...

I’ve built several BYOguitar.com kits, bought various parts for other parts casters and used woodtone (?) dyes. I’ve bought bodies from eBay, necks from guitar center and parts from GFS. The one thing I would recommend is buy a good neck or learn how to do fret work. Stewmac has some great tools for that.
I promise you this, once you build your first, you’ll be looking for time to build pedals, it’s way addicting.


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Pedal building is like the opposite of sex. All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

You may want to read through THIS THREAD where forum moderator sjaustin (Scott) documented his build of a beautiful LP Junior style double-cutaway guitar from a kit he was gifted. Wouldn't be a bit surprised if Scott comments in this thread.

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“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2

That sounds pretty cool, but I wouldn't feel too confident trying to piece one together myself! It's like with pedals, putting together a kit is within my skill level.. when I try to engineer something myself, it ends up taking a lot longer, and the results aren't usually too good. And I don't want to cut into my guitar playing time too much!

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I'll look into byoguitar. Solo also looks to have quality stuff.

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Nice! I'll take a look.

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I have a lot less experience at this than jimilee or oldlefty (haven't seen him around these parts lately), but I'm happy to offer whatever advice I can.

I can't recommend Precision Guitar Kits highly enough, especially if you're going to build a set neck guitar. There are a lot of things that can go permanently wrong when you combine taking precise measurements with applying wood glue. PGK sends a body and neck that are already perfectly matched to each other, which removes a great deal of the margin of error. And their fretwork was stellar. It allowed me to focus on cosmetics and hardware. But they are a little pricey.

If you're trying to dip your toes in, you might go with a cheap bolt on kit, where you can adjust the neck more easily and learn the ropes. An even cheaper version of this is to buy a used Squier Strat or Tele on Craigslist and practice taking it apart and looking at the wiring and maybe upgrading some of the hardware or electronics. I had done this a bunch of times, which helped. And you can usually sell the body and neck separately on eBay for more than you paid for the whole guitar.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

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Scott

My band, Austin Hollow

Thanks for the link! Those so look like nice guitars. I will definitely consider these. Interesting that they don't come with any electronics - but I guess that just means you can go straight for what you want. It it's a quality guitar, then seems worth the price.

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