Build Your Own Electric Guitar

It has never been more tempting to put together your own "custom" electric guitar and today the internet offers unprecedent mail-order access to the world's best materials.

However, few of us have the specialist routing and shaping tools to start from scratch. This easy-to-use, step-by-step manual shows how to use good-quality pre-finished components (or if you have access to a spraying facilities, then a raw, unfinished neck and body), together with suitable hardware, to build your own individual dream custom 'S'-type. Alternatively, you could follow Eric Clapton's lead and recycle a "Bitsa" from "bitsa this and bitsa that"!

With a detailed look at four project guitars built especially for this book, and case studies on possibly the world's most celebrated homebuilt guitar - Brian May's "Red Special"- as well as Bo Diddley's "Cigar Box", this book provides all the information that is satisfying both to build and play.

The down-to-earth text features advice and guidance from luthiers John Diggins and Andrew Guyton, who between them have built guitars for Tony Iommi, Mark King, Roy Orbison and Brian May.

CONTENIDO:

Foreword

Introduction

The classic 'S' type

Choosing ideal components
-The body
-The neck
-Hardware
-More hardware
-Matching up pickguards and pickups
-Reclaimed, recycled and licensed components

Getting started
-Safety first
-Toos and working facilities

Assembly and fitting 1: pre-finished components
-Fitting a bridge with integral trem and aligning the neck
-Bolting the neck
-Checking the initial neck alignment
-Initial set-up

Installation of the electrics
-Pre-wired
-Vintage-style
-Modern "stacked" humbuckers & lace sensors
-Humbucker and single-coil arrangements
-Installing piezo saddles

Assembly and fitting 2: unfinished components
-Wood preparation and finish
-Vintage-style 'S' types assembly
-Headstock shaping
-A fret polish, different approaches

Set-up is everything!
-Neck alignment and truss rod adjustment
-Fine set-up of the nut
-String height, string radius and intonation
-String trees lubricate and adjust
-An alternative "evolved" trem
-Rattle and hum: screening issues

Case studies and interviews
-Brian May's "Red Special"
-Brian May on the "Red Special"
-Pete Malandrone, a guitar tech's perspective
-Andrew Guyton, a luthier's perspective
-Bo Diddley "Electromatic" G5810
-Constructing a cigar-box guitar

Optional extras
-Hard-tall conversion
-Tremsetter option
-A little light relic work

Our four "project" guitars
-"Buddy", a '50s-style "S" type
-"Surf's Up", a '60s-style "S" type
-"Tasty" quilt top, a modern "S" type
-"Dark Side" modifications

Appendices, glossary and contacts