More guitar talk: my first build!

Okay, maybe 'build' is overstating, but it has a better ring than 'my first assemble!' Got the neck as a gift, bought the body on stupid-cheap closeout.

The body is GFS Paulownia, and it's shockingly light and resonant.

It came to me in dark orange, which I spray painted over in a couple thin coats of red then my favorite shade of rattle can satin black. Then I used a clean red shop rag and a lot of elbow grease to polish the forearm rest spot to thin/wear the paint in that spot just a bit and get things moving along. I'm hoping to encourage some fun finish wear in the usual spots - I figure the rest of my guitars are 50+ years old, I don't want the new guy to feel left out.

To that same end, I also aged all the metal hardware with hyrdochloric acid. These were all brand new shiny parts, so I knocked off some of that polish.

(Don't mind my jar of rye whiskey in the background there...)

Pickups are Fender Original Vintage '62 in the bridge and a Twisted Tele neck, wired to a 4 way switch on a reversed control plate. Bridge is also OV Fender, and the tuners are Fender Kluson reps. No philips screws to be found on this guy aside from the neck plate - I gave up a little style to be able to put some decent torque on the neck screws.

Speaking of the neck, it's a Warmouth piece of unknown specs. Somebody special ordered it and didn't use it for a build, so I got it (as a birthday gift - thanks, Mom and Dad!) for a good discount. It's mahogany with a rosewood board and nice fat profile in 24.75" scale - all major pluses in my mind. The Strat headstock may not have been my first choice, but it's actually come to grow on me in a big way. It's a quick clue to the casual observer that something's different about this guitar.

This should give an idea of how fat it is:

What I was going for with this build was a guitar that fit in with the rest of my kinda weird old stuff, but had a bit more of a raw, outlaw/rock feel. I made several out-of-the-ordinary choices that I think add up to something unique, yet doesn't look outwardly weird at first glance.

And I think I've created a dilemma: my #1 guitar up to this point has been by '64 Harmony H59 Rocket III... ...but this new one is already fighting for a spot on stage. I think I'll just have to start bringing them both up with me.

Very cool.

Very cool! I like the industrial look about it.

Chuck has just finished his first ever guitar build, and he is already talking about what he will do differently on his next one.

Chuck asks me one day, "Hey. Do you have an empty cigar box laying around?" Because, I imagine all gals have a few dozen empty wooden cigar boxes laying around "just in case". At least I do.

So not too long after that he turns up with this. Acoustic Electric three string guitar and a glass slide. This isn't a kit, he saw a picture of one online (oddly enough the exact same box that I brought him) and made everything from scratch. Now all he needs to do is learn how to play guitar.

This is inspiring me to build a guitar. I have a body and neck I made in shop class years ago and never got farther than that. I'll have to dig them out and post some pics when I get off work.

Nice, ECM! [Just between us] I've been planning to build a cigar box uke for my lady for a while now.

Oh yeah: I've got less than $250 in this thing, excluding the gifted neck, which would probably come close to doubling that.

Funny part is, this started out as a project to modify my Peavey Reactor AX (their Tele copy) - throw on the neck, swap the pickguard and the pickups, done and done - but their body is just different enough, and I didn't want to significantly alter the structure of an otherwise nice guitar. So this quickly turned into a 'while you're in there' type build.

By the way, if anybody wants an awesome US made swamp ash Tele made by some good ol' boys in Mississippi, my Peavey is for sale.

That neck is beef.

Not sure about the pickguard, that skinny part looks prone to breaking? The rest, though, I'm all about. I still miss my old Tele- first ever decent guitar.

I was concerned about that little isthmus while I was filing it (had to make that slot for the standard control plate in a blank '68 Thinline pickguard, hence the less-than-perfect fit around the control plate), but the PG is 3mm thick, so it ain't going anywhere.

Here are some pictures of the body and neck I made in HS shop class. Not the best quality (especially the routing on the neck pocket). I recently sold my Paisley Tele since I never played it but I think it would be fun to build one. I may just keep an eye out for cheap used components and build it slow.

In reply to alex:

Neat. Looks great. It would be useless in my hands, though. I play Gibsons and I can't get a sound out of Fenders to save my life.

I started on Les Pauls and never touched a single coil or 25.5" scale before 3-4 years ago. That's one of the reasons I like this neck, it feels like going back home.

EvanB: Hell yeah, build that thing! Complete, drop-in Strat pickguard assemblies can be found really cheap if you keep your eyes open. That's one of the benefits of building a fairly popular platform: parts everywhere.

Lots of win here. I've been considering building a warmoth-necked baritone somethingeruther (probably SG) for a while now. Wiring has me a little scared. I should go check out that "other" guitar thread :)

Option B: I picked up a lawsuit era MIJ SG on the bay a couple weeks ago. Could just swap out the neck I suppose. Looks sorta like this:

I like all of this. Kind of makes me want to find guitar parts on craigslist....

poopshovel wrote: Lots of win here. I've been considering building a warmoth-necked baritone somethingeruther (probably SG) for a while now. Wiring has me a little scared. I should go check out that "other" guitar thread :) Option B: I picked up a lawsuit era MIJ SG on the bay a couple weeks ago. Could just swap out the neck I suppose. Looks sorta like this:

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.

I have a '74 SG Standard.

The JDM copy is awesome though. I've always been fascinated by those 70's JDM copies--I have a couple of friends who have them and love them. Neck on that SG looks wide for my stubby fingers, but the color is sweet.

I like it a lot. $250 shipped. I figure that's hard to beat for anything made in '71. GFS Fat Pats. I was really disappointed in the fretboard (I SPECIFICALLY asked dude about it.) It's got gouges and crap, but surprisingly, they don't really affect the playability at all.

I really like those 60's tribute SG's too. $600 (used) is a little out of my comfort zone for a twanger though.

Don't let the wiring scare you, Poopy. It's dead easy when you're starting from scratch. I'm just learning diagnostics, so I'll report back when I know more.

I will say, though, that you especially want a good soldering pencil for this kind of job. Or hell, any kind of job. I scored an giant old tabletop model from a Boeing electrical engineer friend o' mine, and that thing has changed my damn life!