I built a guitar

I built a guitar, and I’m thrilled about it. I’m not ready to call myself a luthier yet, for I didn’t build this from scratch. I bought a bunch of parts then, drilled, painted and soldered everything together. People call these ‘partscasters’, which is an intro to guitar building I would say. I enjoyed the process, so I would love to build one from scratch next. I just need to buy all of the tools and other necessary templates and jigs.

Having played guitar my whole life, I had always wondered how to build a guitar, but knew it was beyond me at the time. I would rather buy a professionally and perfectly built instrument than go through the ‘hassle’. Years later, my tone has changed. I started watching videos, and seeing people actually build guitars from scratch, sometimes using just a chisel! Amazing people out there, which has inspired me to go further.

My new partscaster is inspired by 80’s shred guitars. Stratocaster styled body, just one hotrod humbucker pickup, and a Floyd Rose whammy bar. A minimal hotrod guitar…mostly inspired by Van Halen’s Frankenstein guitar. Most guitars in the 80’s had the same recipe. Loud, obnoxious, and in your face. I feel like mine is not as in your face, but a little more subdued. I would think maybe a classy 80’s shred guitar, if there is such a thing.

There Will Be a Phase 2

The guitar, at this point, is not perfect. Little things here and there, that need tweaking, which will be addressed in the coming weeks. The volume knob doesn’t even work, and I have to add some copper tape in the control cavity so there is no electrical humming. It’s cool having this guitar, because I get to do stuff like adding copper tape in the control cavity. I get to experiment, and mess around, which is something I may not do on some of the guitars I own. I don’t want to ruin them, for they are perfectly built.

I will hopefully fix these issues in the coming weeks. Exciting!