Starting a project guitar...

[Szostak]

I was thinking about starting a project with my dad soon, but the thing is, i have no clue about any of it. I don't know roughly how much I should be paying for everything i need, i don't know WHAT i need, i don't know where i should start, or even if it's WORTH starting. I looked over at warmoth (For those who don't know warmoth, http://www.warmoth.com ) and found a bunch of parts that i thought i'd need, and it came up to close to 1200$ US :O

If any of you have any suggestions, please do tell!

Thanks,
-Paul

[Kurtma]

Buy an used neck out off eBay and make the body yourself. If you don't have any luthier skill at all it's difficult to make a neck.

Just look in your guitar (I assume you got one) and you'll see what you need. Tuners, bridge, pickups, knobs, pots, if you want floyd rose etc (It's obviously easier making a guitar with a hardtail)

There are hundreds of website out there showing how to build a guitar.[/

[mm2002]

It's a common misconception that you can build a high quality axe cheaper than buying one, but that's just not true. If you buy all the parts new and use high quality stuff, you'll easily spend the $1200.00 in parts alone. Then if you want a finish on it, plan on at least another $200.00 just for something basic. After all that, you need to have some decent assembly/setup skills. I've seen many guitars that people spent a ton of cash on parts, and the guitar played like shit.

[Szostak]

Aye, okay, thanks guys. I guess no project guitar for me anytime soon

[texasfury]

.

[Guitardude86]

Hmm.. Then what's the big secret? What does Squire know that that luthier didn't? Now I'm curious

[Bengal65]

I was thinking about starting a project with my dad soon, but the thing is, i have no clue about any of it. I don't know roughly how much I should be paying for everything i need, i don't know WHAT i need, i don't know where i should start, or even if it's WORTH starting. I looked over at warmoth (For those who don't know warmoth, http://www.warmoth.com ) and found a bunch of parts that i thought i'd need, and it came up to close to 1200$ US :O

If any of you have any suggestions, please do tell!

Thanks,
-Paul

If you and your Dad have some wood working experience or have worked on cars or other hobbies involving tools, setup etc., you should be able to tackle a project pretty easily. Here's my best advice in getting started. It's better to start this way than muddle through all the information on the internet on guitar building. The following is for a "bolt on neck" guitar.
First as a minimum, get Dan Erlewine's video on assembling a solid body electric guitar here:http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Video,_D...ic_Guitar.html It's only available in VHS, so have a player ready. (they are working on converting it to DVD)

Also get Dan Erlewine's book on Guitar Player Repair Guide here:http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_p...air_Guide.html
As your first project, you can build a top notch guitar, using parts from a like Manufacturer like Warmoth. I suggest Warmoth because they stock hardware, bridges, pups, and electronics in addition to their necks and bodies. You can have them put a finish on the neck and body or you can do it yourself if you are handy with paint and the overall finish process. Or, you can perform a simple oil finish process.
With Dan's books and video's and some parts from Warmoth, you will be able to build a quality instrument that is unique and be able to say you built it.
Down the road, you can branch out on other projects using parts supplied from various suppliers and eventually start designing and building your own designs. Read all you can about guitar construction. It never gets boring.
There's nothing like building your own guitar and sometimes is a guessing game to see what wood combinations, and pickups will result in the best sound.
My best guitars are the one's I built for myself and I have never sold one and my first one I built was back in 1984.