Building a guitar requires patience and some skill in woodworking. Given a little time and the typical power tool talent, you can learn how to build a guitar. With a little practice, you’ll be building guitars to conform to your exact taste and playing style.
Creating your own guitar not only lets you play well, but the guitars becomes a one-of-a-kind object: an extension of your personality, your love of music, and your playing skill. Below are the steps for building a version of a Fender Stratocaster-style guitar with neck-through body, ebony fingerboard, single coil pickups, and a fixed bridge.
1. Order Parts and Supplies
To build your electric guitar, you will need the basic woodworking supplies such as sand paper, belt sander, disk sander, router, drill press, and drill. If you have a planer, it will be used in lieu of a belt sander for the wings. For the guitar itself, you will need the following parts, which can be ordered online through parts retailers or even auction sites:
- Pickups and pickguard
- Swamp ash or alder wings
- Stratocaster wiring kit
- 3 Stratocaster knobs
- 6 inline guitar tuners
- Strap buttons
- 6 string Stratocaster-style bridge
- Jack plate and jack
- Neck for neck-through body
2. Plane Wings
Using a planer or belt sander, plane all sides of the wings until the wing thickness is about equal to the neck. Planers work best for this, but a belt sander can be used, as a second option. The belt sander leaves some marks that require hand-sanding to remove, later.
3. Trace Wings
Using a friend’s Stratocaster or one of your own guitars, trace a pencil outline of the guitar’s body onto the neck and wings. If one side of the wings’ wood is smoother than the other, place the smoother side toward the neck before tracing, so you will be able to obtain a better glue joint later. Clamping the neck and wings together makes placement of a Stratocaster on top and the tracing much easier.
It’s preferable to leave some space between the actual size of the Stratocaster and the traced line, as you sand the size down, while building the body.
4. Cut Wings
Unclamp the neck and wings and use a saber or band saw to cut out the wings. Be aware that saber-saw blades tend to bend around corners, so you may wish to drill holes every few inches, to ensure the blade remains straight. Save the cut away pieces for use as guards under clamped pieces, to prevent any marking of the wood, during the glue drying phase.
5. Sand Wings
Set the clamps onto the sides to be glued. Using a belt sander, smooth the sides until the hips are even. Next, remove the clamps, separate the wing sides and continue sanding, until the outside of the wings have a good shape.
Use a drum sanding bit on a hand drill, for the inside of cutaways. This is an exhaustive step, so it may require several sessions of work to complete to the point that the wings are ready for finish sanding, after neck attachment.
6. Cut a Neck Bevel
Note that one wing may be tall, compared to its neck attachment. If that’s the case, clamp the sides back onto the neck. Draw a pencil line along the neck’s bevel, onto the side of attachment.
Following the pencil marking, use a hand saw to achieve the appropriately sized slice. Sand the cut with the belt sander, to ensure it is a good fit.
7. Attach Sides to Neck
Before gluing, ensure the front pieces of the neck and sides flush, by turning the guitar upside down onto your workbench or table and lining the parts up. Check for a solid match between the sides and neck, using a pencil to make alignment markings, for ease in realignment at the time of gluing.
Using quality wood glue, coat the areas to be glued in generous amounts of wood glue. After attaching, remove any excess glue, as residue affects the quality of staining or paint. Piece the sides and neck together and clamp tightly for at least 24 hours of drying.
When clamping, be careful to avoid marking or scarring the wood, by using some of the scrap wood from the wing cutting as guards between the clamp and your guitar.
8. Adjust Thickness by Sanding
If the sides are not equivalent to the neck in thickness, sand as needed to adjust to flatness.
9. Make Neck Adjustments
How to Build a Guitar
If you’re building a 25” scale guitar, but your Fender Stratocaster pick guard is for a 25-1/2” model, you’ll need to make some adjustments for the pickguard to fit.
This can be done by cutting away part of the pickguard or part of the fingerboard. An easy means is to cut away the bottom two frets of the neckboard, then a slot under the fingerboard for the pickguard to slide beneath.
This is not unusual for a Stratocaster, as the pickguard slides under the fingerboard.
10. Remove Glue Residue
Lightly sand, to remove excess glue and to smooth the top, so the router doesn’t catch on splinters or snags.
11. Route and Drill
Place the pickguard on the guitar face and slide it under the neck, until it is in its correct position. Put the bridge on, too, to ensure the neck slot is deep enough, that the bridge fits.
It’s important to ensure the pickguard and bridge are centered, as misalignment causes the strings to default to the side of the neck. After ensuring everything aligns, trace the pickguard outline onto the guitar face in pencil and mark screw, pickup, pots, and switch positions.
Determine placement of the input jack and trace for the outline and screw positions. Providing at least ¼” additional space for pickup routing, draw a path for the route.
Ensure plenty of room is available for the pickups, pots and wires, as well as a channel between the pickups for wiring. Most routing can be about ¾” deep with the exception of the switch, which usually requires about one inch. After routing, plug the cord in, to ensure its depth and position are accounted for along its path.
12. Drill String Holes
Using a drill press, mark and drill six string holes through the body. For the finished guitar to look good when the string ferules are in place, evenly-spaced holes are important. Without a drill press, the results tend to be messy and off balance, so it’s important to use a press for this step.
13. Refine the Sanding
The initial sanding likely won’t be to a finished quality of smoothness. So, using an orbital sander or wood block with sandpaper attached, sand the guitar to a smooth finish. Start with 60-grit paper to remove any marks, then switch to 120 grit for the entire guitar. Finally, using 220 quality paper, finish everything, including the neck and bevel cut.
Upon first completion, take the guitar into the sunlight, or other bright lighting, and examine it at multiple angles, to ensure all scratches are removed. Remember that scratches stand out much more after staining or other finishing, so make certain you find even small scratches to sand.
14. Fill Extraneous Holes
If your guitar has small unnecessary pilot holes in the back neck near the tuners, either use wood filler or sawdust mixed with glue to plug the holes.
15. Finishing
Select your desired finish and apply as directed. Allow each of about four coats to dry overnight, before the next coat’s application. You may need to sand ever so lightly between coats. Before the final coat application, use wet sandpaper to ensure, by touch, that all bumps and irregularities are smooth.
Apply the last coat of finish. Allow the guitar to dry for several days. Using a wet cloth and rubbing compound from an auto parts or hardware store, rub in a gentle fashion the guitar to remove any marks. This should provide a light shine, as well.
Finally, apply carnauba wax and fretboard oil.
16. Wire the Electronics
Using a schematic supplied by your wiring retailer or one available online, attach the electronic components to the pickguard and solder all connections.
17. Assemble the Hardware
This is Important: Run a ground wire from beneath the bridge to the ground on the input jack. Drill a small hole from the main wiring area to beneath the bridge. Route a wire with its insulation removed.
Attach the bridge on top of the wire and apply the screws. Attach the pickguard, jack plate, and tuners. Before running the strings, plug into an amplifier, tap the pickups and move the switch around, to ensure it is working as it should.
The amplifier needs to be at a high volume, to resonate the pickup taps.
18. Apply Strings
Apply the strings, to ensure the pickups are working properly. Tune at this point, but bear in mind that the tuning changes under the newly applied tension, as the neck adjusts.
Clean the guitar with a lemon-based cleaner. Allow it to sit overnight.
19. Adjustments
Adjust your string height and compensation, as well as the truss rod, if necessary. Start with the saddle height, using the Allen wrench supplied with the bridge, for screw adjustments. Ensure the saddles remain level and that the guitar remains in tune, as these adjustments are made. Follow with the compensation, using a digital tuner, keeping the guitar in tune throughout the process.
Building your own guitar does require some woodworking skill and a desire to see the project through, from start to finish. However, when the finished product is in your hands and you’re tuning the strings, the personal reward is great.
Many musicians play guitars, but you’ll be one of the few with a handmade, custom guitar suited precisely to your taste and talent.
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